DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters or places portrayed here and if you thought I did then I'm surprised you're here at all.
Hello y'all. Yesh, I'm here again. I have been neglecting you lot, and this part was edited before I thought it would be, so here you go and I hope you all appreciate it and see fit to show that appreciation. Those who do, will as always be replied to and held in great esteem. Midnight Larkin, TitansRule, Chica De Los Ojos Cafe, LadyMageLuna, Dholefire, Khwhitelion, aiRo25, thank you all so very, very much. You people inspire me and your reviews made me want to give you more of this sooner and spurred me on to update this even though I could have waited. To all those of you who I know have me on alert and who were once reviewers of mine as well – we miss you and I hope that every one of you is still alive and well and doing great! To those of you who have me on various alerts but are not reviewers, you will remain anonymous although I could publish a list of all your names if I so chose. I hope you continue to enjoy my work though, and that some of you may feel the urge to review it at some point.
To all of you who review, thank you for telling me the things you tell me. You are literally writing the chapters through me and editing them because the things you tell me you liked I act on and incorporate more of later. Stay safe and well, all of you. Namarie, until next time.
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Who Knew?
Part 7
This time around he was woken by the unmistakable sounds of someone screaming versus someone who was – roaring? Sitting bolt upright he threw back the covers, pulled on his jeans and sprinted out of the med bay towards the sound of the noise. Skidding around a corner, he ran slap bang into the Beast, who caught his arm with one formidable hand and pulled him well back from the scene currently playing out in the living room.
Laura was standing in what Remy recognised as a typically teenage position, the 'How Dare You' feet-apart, head-bowed, eyes-glaring, arms-outstretched stance that was only different to every other teenage girl's screaming-match position by the adamantium claws protruding from the knuckles of her clenched fists.
Wolverine was facing her, squaring off in the well-known 'Outraged Father' position, his own claws out as he pointed the Finger Of Accusation at her and glared at her with the Eyes Of Paternal Disappointment.
Next to Laura, a – young man? – was standing, arms crossed across his very toned, bare chest as he surveyed the clash of wills going on before him with an insolent half-smile on his lips that displayed the fact that he'd been blessed with prominent fangs – much like those found in large beasts of prey. Remy's thoughts drifted to Sabretooth. It couldn't possibly be a Sabretooth clone, could it? The unusually long, blond hair spilling down the guy's back, and the claws – for he did indeed have claws – as well as the fangs were definitely reminiscent of the older mutant, but the faces differed. This guy didn't look quite as feral as Sabretooth, although that could be attributed to the fact that he was clearly younger and had the appearance of someone who didn't sleep rough every night and showered like a normal person. Remy studied him with interest. His proximity to Laura suggested they were on friendly terms, and his lack of clothing other than the tight leather trousers he was sporting implied he'd been up to something Remy definitely remembered was not condoned within the mansion's walls. Satisfied with his deductions, he tuned in to the yelling.
"- filthy hypocrite!" Laura screamed, and Logan narrowed his eyes at her.
"You watch your tone young lady! I won't take that from you when you know damn well I'm doing this for your own good!" he roared back, for he was indeed roaring, and the strange-looking mutant youth grinned at the statement, flexing his claws. Logan's attention snapped to him immediately.
"You better wipe that goddamn grin off your face, bub, or I'll have ta take you out. Side." The last word was more an afterthought, the statement clearly meant originally as a threat on the guy's life, and Remy had to admire his stones for continuing to smile at the enraged Canadian.
"Can't help the way my face looks," he said in a tone that was more a sneer than anything, and Laura looked up at him with disapproval written all over her. Remy noted that his voice was a deep, gravelly growl that wasn't put on.
"Not – helping!" she hissed, and he shrugged and took a step back in clear deference to her desire to solve things through yelling at her 'father' instead of engaging in what would surely end up in some kind of homicide.
"Well maybe you'd like ta have it rearranged then," Logan spat, and Laura raised her arms as if to block an attack.
"You do that and I am moving!" she threatened, and Logan groaned, implying that this one had been heard before.
"Move where, huh kid? Move where?" he asked, as if daring her to come up with something that hadn't been discussed to death.
"I'll move in with Wanda! Or Jean! I don't care, but I'm not staying here if you're going to assault my friends!"
"Friends, Laur'?" asked the blonde in an undertone, and she ignored him purposely.
"We both know that ain' gonna happen, girly. Why won't you just accept that this isn't on?" Logan asked in a weary sort of voice, and Laura stamped her foot.
"You don't get to decide that! Rogue gets to hang out with whoever she wants, Kitty gets to do whatever she wants, why can't I? I'm not a little girl!"
"You are my little girl until you're mature enough to understand why I can't accept this behaviour – you just ask Stripes and Half-Pint whether or not I let them run around all hours of the day and night with teenage boys when they were your age! You ask Rocky how many times I didn't threaten to serve him for dinner if he came within five miles of this Institute! Hell, the only reason that Cajun's still around is because your sister asked me not ta end him once upon a time or his Aunt would have gotten him back in a doggy bag! I'm not taking this crap from you," Logan said firmly, and Remy winced a little at the reference to himself.
"So they get to plead their case but I can't plead mine? That's not fair! You're okay with everyone else doing whoever they want – "
"Hold it right there!"
"- but not me! I can't even go out to see him!" The calm voice of Rogue cut through the tension in the room – half the Institute was watching this go down by now – and she stepped forward, arms crossed under her breasts and hips cocked attractively.
"Laura. Go upstairs." Her 'sister' opened her mouth to protest, but a look from the Southern Belle quelled her rebellion and she grabbed the blonde mutant, sheathing her claws at an angle that sliced a deep gash in his arm that he didn't even seem to register, and dragging him with her, storming out.
"Will y'all give me an' mah fam'ly a minute here, please?" Rogue said loudly, and the crowd slowly dispersed, Beast chivvying Remy out along with everyone else. He was loath to leave Rogue and her irate 'father' alone like that, but the raised eyebrows of the furry doctor changed his mind and he allowed himself to be led to the kitchen where Dr. Hank McCoy, resident furry blue monster, poured him a cup of coffee and sat down across from him with a heavy sigh.
"What de hell?" Remy asked bluntly, and Dr. McCoy sipped his coffee and smiled.
"I think that for all he loves those girls like they were his own, sometimes his 'family' brings that man more pain than anything else," he mused, and Remy opened his mouth to ask again, but was cut off.
"That was Laura's love interest, the illustrious Kyle Gibney," he continued, adding,
"And the bane of Logan's existence. Ironic really that he bears such a resemblance to Sabretooth but as far as we know they're no relation to one another."
"Laura's wit' dat guy? No wonder de Wolverine's out f' blood," Remy said sympathetically, and the blue scientist grinned.
"Never thought I'd hear you say something like that, Mr. LeBeau. But yes, Logan is... upset, that his daughter has chosen such an alliance. He feels that Mr. Gibney is unworthy of her affections."
"Is he?" The Beast mulled this over for a moment before shrugging.
"We can't really know for sure. He turned up a year ago and interrupted a mission, seemingly with the only intention of making Laura's acquaintance. He claimed to have been tracking her for days – which naturally put Logan right on to some old memories of a similar situation regarding one of his other daughters..." he looked pointedly at Remy who had the grace to look away and blush.
"I wasn' gonna hurt Rogue – y'all know dat now," he said firmly, and Beast shook his head with a smile, signalling that there was no lingering malcontent towards Remy for the old misunderstanding.
"Yes, yes. The point is, it put Logan's guard up. Popular opinion has it that Laura was flattered, and she apparently involved herself in an affair with this young man quite soon after that. He admits to having no ties to the organised mutant world whatsoever and is as far as we have ascertained a drifter. He had numerous run-ins with Logan regarding his tendency to circumvent mansion security and disregard the Institute's rules in general when he visited. Incidents like this one have not been uncommon. As of late we haven't seen him and we have noted that in his absence Laura becomes sullen and less talkative, but he has left before for a number of weeks so we all assumed that he would return eventually. Most of us had given up hope but it would seem that he and Laura enjoyed a tryst last night upon his return to the area, and that is what this kerfuffle is all about," he finished, smiling, and Remy whistled.
"Damn. De boy tinks he can jus' up an' leave one o' Wolvie's girls whenever he wan's t'? He's askin' f' trouble, dat one," he said with a laugh, and the blue mutant nodded agreement.
"I believe it would not be foolish to assume so. It is only a matter of time before Logan tires of this arrangement. He has had words with her before but she refuses to comment on her relationship with the boy and Wolverine naturally assumes the worst. You know – he likens him to you at times."
"Moi? I never did notin' like dat!" Remy protested, but the blue giant looked at him over his glasses and he settled down.
"You do know that our Rogue was awfully downtrodden upon her return from your little trip? Logan has always held you personally responsible. He feels that you took advantage of her and that you may have... how to put this... gotten her hopes up for naught?" Remy looked at his coffee and mumbled into it.
"Mmm... peut-être..."
"Well, whatever transpired between the two of you, Logan wants what is best for his girls, just as any father would, and unfortunately this Mr. Gibney shows absolutely no sign of wanting to end this upsetting tradition of his," Hank continued in a friendly tone, and Remy shrugged.
"Boy's gotta run de devil outta himself 'fore he'll be good enough t' stick aroun', mon ami – trus' me on dis one," he offered, and Hank smiled wryly.
"Well I suppose you would know. How's your own exorcism coming?" Remy chuckled into his coffee.
"Je suis toujours le Diable Blanc, mais je suis nes un diablotin pas toutefois," he declared with a self-deprecating gesture towards his eyes, and Hank laughed.
"Je suis un monstre bleu, et Kurt est une diable véritable! Tu es aucun en comparaison de nous!" Remy smiled, eyes glowing.
"C'est vrai, mon ami bleu, c'est trop vrai," he agreed.
~**************************************************************~
"Logan... Ya know you're as good as mah Daddy anyday – hell ya even had them papers drawn up so's we could make it official, an' Ah always wan'ed that, more 'n anythin' else in this world..." she said softly, and he nodded, holding her gloved hands in his as she knelt in front of where he was sat on the couch, looking so utterly defeated.
"You've always taken real good care o' meh – an Kitty, an' Laura too, even though she was so angry in the beginning... Ah don' think she ever would 'a gotten this far without you," Rogue said with a little smile, and he sighed.
"Sometimes I think she still wants t' kill me – she's just doin' it smarter now than when she was usin' those claws back in the day," he said wearily, and she nodded.
"She was so young, Logan, an' what they did to her was so bad... You know what Charles always said to us, the damage they did is irreparable – she won' ever be normal lahke the rest of us. She's always gonna have trouble bein' around people an' Ah wish that wasn' true, but it is an' all we can do is try an' encourage her when she does form a relationship with someone – however unhealthy we might think it is." She said the last part quickly as he raised his head to argue, and he closed his mouth and looked back down at their joined hands.
"I know you're right, Stripes... But she's my little girl... I can't watch her waste herself like that, it's not right to me," he said sadly.
"We don' know that she won't live as long as I have, we don' know if she'll age or if she'll die normally like the rest of you. She's got her whole life ahead of her and she's got so much left to do, a childhood to catch up on... I just want that for her..." Rogue nodded, blinking back tears, her smile weak.
"I just want to make sure that the people around her are treating her right, Rogue... You've all suffered enough, now it's my job to make sure that never happens again," he said seriously, and she squeezed his hands, feeling the unyielding metal beneath his skin. It comforted her like it always did.
"Ah know that. We all love ya, Logan... Ah sure 's hell do..." the tears finally fell and he looked at her in consternation, folding her into a hug as he lifted her onto his lap, as if she were nothing but a child.
"Hey now, honey, don't cry, okay? She'll get over this an' it'll all go back ta normal again, I promise you that. I ain' gonna let no one hurt any of you," he said softly, and she nodded into his shoulder and just let herself cry, feeling at once weak for not being able to stave off the fear that her fragile 'family' might someday fall apart, and safer than she had ever felt before in the knowledge that as long as she had them, nothing could ever harm her again.
~**************************************************************~
"Laura? Honey can Ah come in?" The muffled reply seemed to be in the affirmative, and Rogue opened the door and peered into the gloom of her adoptive sister's inner sanctum. She saw her sitting on the bed, petite figure swamped in one of Rogue's old concert hoodies, and hair dishevelled.
"Sweetie, Ah need t' talk to you," she said, approaching her, and Laura shrugged.
"I don't need to talk," she said softly, and Rogue put her hand on Laura's shoulder and made the younger girl look up at her.
"Ah don' give a rat's ass. Yah're gonna listen." Laura just resumed staring at the floor, and Rogue sat down next to her, putting her arm around the girl's thin but muscular shoulders.
"Where'd ya send him?" she asked, and Laura pointed out of the window.
"Ah see. He comin' back?" Laura shrugged again, and Rogue sighed.
"Ya know Ah'm gettin' jus' a little tahred of his disappearin' acts. Where the hell does he run off to anyhow?" Laura didn't answer.
"Laura. Talk t' meh. Ah'm serious here, ya don' talk ta meh an' Ah can' help you." Quite suddenly, Laura twisted herself around and buried her face in Rogue's shoulder, arms encircling her waist as she howled with tears, and Rogue just stroked her hair and let her cry. When Laura cried, it was because she really needed to, and any rejection of her would only lead to memories of her conditioning being dredged up again. She had once told Rogue how they had beat her when she wept, and left her to figure out that they stopped when she stopped crying. If Rogue had anything to do with it the only people getting a beating in connection with Laura feeling a need to cry were whoever caused her misery in the first place.
"It's okay baby, Ah've got you... Tell me what's wrong Sugar, Ah'm raght here," she soothed, and Laura whined like a kicked puppy.
"I don't know what I'm feeling! I don't know what I want! Why won't he just let me do this? It makes me feel better!" she cried, and Rogue rocked her gently and spoke to her in a low, calming tone.
"Ah know it does, Sugar, Ah know it does... Do you remember when you first came ta live with me? Ya were always scratchin' up your arms when you got sad... Why'd you do that?"
"Because it made me feel better," she sobbed, and Rogue nodded and carried on stroking her hair.
"Exactly, An' what did Ah tell you then?" Laura looked up at her sister with abject misery spilling from her wide, hazel eyes.
"You said that if I have to be in pain to feel better then there's something wrong and that when something is wrong I should talk to you and Dad about it," she said with a hiccup, and Rogue nodded again, wiping Laura's tears away with the satin-clad thumb of her right hand.
"That's raght. Now Ah want you t' be completely honest with me, Laura. Are you happy about this situation?" She shook her head slowly, avoiding Rogue's gaze.
"What makes you unhappy about it?" Laura sniffed back more tears and mumbled,
"I don't like it when he leaves me." Rogue stroked back the younger girl's bangs and smiled sadly.
"Ah know how that feels, baby. Ya gotta trust me on this one. Ah know just how you feel. Have ya told him that ya don' lahke him runnin' off whenever the fancy takes him?" Laura shook her head again.
"I'm not sure he would understand," she tried to explain, and Rogue raised an eyebrow.
"Understand? What's ta understand? If you tell someone ya don' wan' them leavin' ya all the tahme, that's the end of it! Laura, you've got ta listen to me now because what I need you ta hear is very, very important. Ya know how much Kitty loves Lance?" Laura nodded.
"An' ya know how much Wanda loves John?" Laura nodded again, a little smile curving her lips.
"Have you ever seen Lance or John leave Kit an Wanda if they told them they wanted them ta stay?" Laura thought about it and then shook her head once for no.
"An' do Kit an' Wanda need to tell Lance an' John why they don' wan' them leavin' for them ta stay?" Laura shook her head once again for no.
"Why do you think that is, now, baby?" Laura appeared to struggle with the issue for a moment before her eyes cleared and she said,
"Because they care for them."
"Yes they do. In fact, they love them raght back, don' they? You think Lance would ever ask Kitty why she didn't want him to go?"
"I've never heard it," Laura said slowly, and Rogue smiled.
"That's because it never happens. You ever heard John tell Wanda she could 'shove it' when she tells him she wants him ta stay home with her instead of goin' out or somethin'?" Laura's eyes went wide and she shook her head vigorously.
"You think he ever would?"
"No!" Rogue smiled again at the shock in the girl's voice, and wiped a stray tear from Laura's cheek.
"Exactly. Because he loves her. He doesn' need an explanation, or a reason – if she asks him for somethin', he'll do it because he loves her – unless it's illegal or would hurt someone else. If you love someone you don't ask them to do things that maght get them in trouble." Laura's brow furrowed.
"But John's done lots of – " Rogue interrupted quickly,
"Okay, Lance then, we'll use him as an example! Do you think he questions Kitty when she asks him to do things for her? No. Because he loves her and he wants her ta be happy all the tahme. We only want ta be aroun' people who care for us, isn' that raght? An' if they care for us, they'll understand automatically when we want them to stay with us, okay?" Laura nodded slowly, the concept sinking in, and then she paused and asked,
"Does that mean that Wanda doesn't love John as much as Kitty loves Lance?" Rogue laughed and gave her a hug, kissing her hair.
"Oh, child sometahmes Ah wish Ah could jus' – nevermahnd, nevermahnd. But no, sweetheart, that isn't what that means. John and Wanda are very, very in love, and John would do anything for her. Literally. And they're both very, very special people, aren't they? You know that. That means that even though sometahmes the things they do for each other aren't very nahce, or sometahmes even illegal, that doesn't mean they don't love each other, it just means that their love is a different kind of love because they're different kinds of people, okay? Can you understand that?"
"I think so... So Kitty and Lance are in love too, but Lance wouldn't kill for Kitty because Kitty wouldn't like that?" Rogue beamed at her.
"Somethin' lahke that, sweetie. Lance knows that if Kitty asked for somethin' lahke that she'd regret it later. That's the only tahme he'd refuse her somethin'. To protect her."
"Like Dad is doing for me..?" Laura asked tentatively, and Rogue nodded solemnly.
"Lahke we're all doin' for you. We all love you very much, Laura Howlett – especially your Daddy. You are very special to us and we would do anythang for you, but if you want somethin' that maght end up hurtin' you, we have to make sure that doesn't happen. Get it?"
Laura fidgeted with her fingers and looked out of the window again at the clear, white sky.
"Do you think... do you think he loves me?" she asked quietly, and Rogue hugged her closer.
"Ah don' know baby. Do you?"
~**************************************************************~
As he took another breath of the cold morning air, Remy leant back on the railings of the gazebo and considered things. Had he really been as much of a bastard to Rogue back then as this Kyle person was being to Laura now? He didn't really know how to compare the two situations – for starters, he'd never slept with Rogue – however much the idea might have appealed to him - but he was pretty damn sure that Kyle had hit that and hit it good when it came to Laura. He'd used Rogue emotionally, and he was deeply ashamed of that, but surely that was nothing compared to the way Kyle had repeatedly taken advantage of Laura's accommodating ways and then buggered off, as John would say, so as to avoid taking the rap for it. Hell, if Remy had become romantically involved with Rogue he'd have gladly let Wolverine string him up by his genitals to prove that he was worthy of her, and he certainly wouldn't have been buggering off anywhere!
The epiphany of that knowledge hit him like a ton of bricks. He felt the urge to mull over this new certainty with a cigarette, and pulled one from an inside pocket, lighting it with a minute charge before dragging deep and exhaling in a wondrous exclamation of,
"I love de fille..." His rapture was interrupted by a low, amused growl from behind him, that remarked,
"Good for you. Got another one o' those?"
Spinning around and charging three cards out of sheer routine ready to blast the intruder upon his dreams of marriage and Southern nights on a white-painted porch with his chere, he was faced with the very blonde nuisance that had disrupted his entire morning so far. He disliked him on principle now that the issue was thrust upon him suddenly. After all, Rogue couldn't possibly approve of his treatment of her sister, and as such Remy felt honour-bound to show a certain animosity towards this enemy of Remy's future family.
"Y' migh' wanna get y'self somewhere dat ain' nowhere near here pretty quick, chat, looks like y' ain' so popular roun' dese here parts," he said quietly, and the blonde just rolled back his shoulders and looked at the glowing cards between Remy's fingers with interest.
"Ooh, pretty," he said sarcastically.
"Mind telling me why you don't just hand over the fag an' stop making such a fuss about it? Gambit?" Remy flicked his cards back to their original hiding place, uncharged, and narrowed his eyes at the fanged mutant, whose own eyes were blazing with something akin to the joy of small children when faced with a new playmate.
"Dat ain' Remy's name," he growled, and Kyle shrugged.
"So I hear. Laura tells me you're her sister's patient. Apparently she doesn't hate you." He was wearing a long-sleeved black t-shirt that left nothing to the imagination and a long black leather trench coat over that. There were heavy boots on his feet and he'd swept back the blonde hair, presumably to be rid of the annoyance of it blowing into his face. Remy noticed glinting silver piercings in his slightly pointed ears.
"C'est vrai. Tol' me yesterday. Threatened me, too," he said with ill-disguised hostility, and Kyle grinned. Remy thought for a moment of the way Sabretooth would grin when he returned from a violent, successful mission for Magneto.
"Don't take it personally," Kyle advised, and then nodded to Remy's cigarette, which the Cajun had forgotten about for the time being.
"Repeating my original question; do you have another one of those?" he asked politely, and Remy threw him one with a dismissive gesture.
"Thank you," Kyle said, lighting up and inhaling deeply. Remy turned his attention back to his own, hoping vainly that if he ignored the strangely pleasant mutant, he would catch on and fuck off of his own accord. It seemed that this was not to be the case, but thankfully, before Remy felt obliged to take decisive action, they were joined by Kurt, who appeared in a cloud of sulphuric smoke and glared daggers at the feral interloper.
"My sister vants you out," he said tightly, and Kyle smiled, displaying his fangs, and said,
"Anything for her," before extinguishing his fag by grinding it into his hand, and spreading his arms wide.
"Kick me out, then," he said with a laugh, and Kurt rolled his eyes and grabbed onto the other mutant by his hair, teleporting them both to some other place. Two minutes passed before the German returned, an angry look on his face, and he faced Remy.
"Zat one – ve don't like him. Ve don't talk to him, ve don't let him in, and vhen he does get in, ve kick him out. Got zat?" Remy nodded.
"Je suis desolé, mon ami – Remy figured if he blew up de garden his Rogue migh' not be so happy wit' him," he apologised, and Kurt nodded, features relaxing as he sighed.
"I know. It's okay. Just... he isn't good for my sister. I do not like him being around her. I am sorry for speaking to you like zat," he said, accent less pronounced now that he seemed to have calmed down, and Remy smiled.
"Je comprende. De Beas' tol' Remy what dat homme's been up t'. Tink' y' righ' about him, he ain' good f' y' Laura," he said sympathetically, and Kurt laughed.
"Mein freund, don' take zis the wrong way, but zere was a time when Dr. McCoy said the same things about you an' Rogue!" Remy shrugged.
"C'est la vie, non? Anyway, y' don' have t' worry bout' dis Cajun upsettin' y' Rogue. Dere ain' notin' in de worl' I wan' less den t' see her sad, mon ami," he assured him, and Kurt winked.
"I know zat, silly! You would have to be really stupid not to see that you're in love with mein schwester!" Remy stared at him, open-mouthed, and Kurt stopped laughing and looked at him searchingly.
"Uh-oh..." he said, and then grinned.
"Didn't you get ze memo?"
~**************************************************************~
