Chapter 10: Tell me something I don't know… already

"She's already sitting next to me," Tabitha saved the day. "Right?" she asked, looking at her friend.

Rogue just nodded, heart nearly beating out of her chest.

"That's too bad." Remy's friend smiled, walking on towards the dining room. During the extent of his stay, Cody managed to gain a general understanding of the mansion, many of its students, and the layout. In fact, he had gained a lot of new friends. Not to mention a fan club of new female recruits. Remy swallowed the lump in his throat, still watching Rogue for a moment. The Southerner was too busy releasing a deep breath to notice him. He did detect that though; crunching his brow briefly. He wondered if that was a sign of relief or nervousness.

Most everyone else had gathered in the dining room; a few students here and there still walking in from the hallway. The walls echoed with chatting and gossip. Remy didn't allow the brief period of discomfort affect him for too long. He slid beside his friend quickly, his ever-loving youth devotees at his feet. Well, not literally, but figuratively speaking. The "fan club" that Cody had developed branched off of the one that Remy LeBeau had acquired since his stay at the institute. Basically, the naïve new recruits swooned over any older males that were freshly through the institute doors; good personality and especially looks in check, of course.

Rogue, hopeful for a distant seat, hung her head in disappointment. The only available spots at the table were still close enough to the two boys to make her uncomfortable. She slid the furthest chair she could find from them out, claiming it. Fortunately, the two were too busy talking to the group of young females to pay much attention.

'Blinded by looks', the Southerner thought. The swooning fan club was a little too annoying for her to ignore. At least it was distracting enough to help her anxiety subside somewhat.

"So Rogue," A nearby Kitty smiled, "Like, have you decided to go on vacation with us yet?"

"What?" The goth who was busy eavesdropping turned to attention.

"The vacation?" Kitty raised an eyebrow, "in a couple of months?"

"Oh!" Rogue shook her head, "Ah don't think so. Going to a beach isn't exactly a friendly environment for somebody like…me."

A merry Nightcrawler suddenly appeared in the room, a cloud of grey smoke following him. The stack of plates in his hands was a little too high for comfort. Nevertheless, the blue X-man cheerfully passed the plates out, stopping when he got to his sister.

"Why so blue?"

"Shouldn't Ah be asking you that question?" The Southerner smiled, receiving a chuckle from Kurt in return.

"She doesn't want to go to Hawaii with us!" Kitty whinned.

"What?" Kurt frowned. "Well, why not? It's going to be so much fun! No danger room, no homework, no…"

"No thanks," Rogue sighed.

"You should at least consider—" The fuzzy teen was cut off by Spyke's booming voice.

"—Alright! Dessert is served!" His aunt trailed him, both carrying platters of chocolate cake and ice-cream.

The occasional get-togethers, such as this for example, Rogue surprisingly found enjoyably. Well, under "normal" circumstances that is. In this case, the assembled student body happened to include a certain individual, whom in which made her completely uneasy.

"So den Cody's mom says, why don' y' boys go sleep by de creek instead…" She found herself refocusing her attention to the boys.

"But I was like, Mom, Remy can't swim! She felt so bad afterwards she offered to pay for his swimming lessons," Cody and Remy laughed.

"Funny ting bout it is, I still can' swim dat well." The herd around them became giggling hyenas. It seemed to be a game of 'who can attract the most attention'.

"She's in her own world," Kitty said, poking Rogue.

"What?" The Southerner snapped back.

"Kurt has like, been asking you how big of a piece you want for like two minutes."

Rogue shrugged, "Ah don't know. Whatever size is fine." Shadowcat and Nightcrawler exchanged glances, both shaking their heads. They had noticed their friend staring off at the Cajun and Mississippi boy; gaining the wrong impression also.

As dessert was doled out, students were summoned back to their seats. It took about fifteen minutes, but the new recruits that had surrounded Gambit and Cody were now gossiping amongst themselves and friends. Rogue had been going back and forth between listening in on the cheesy jokes and stories the boys were narrating, and Kitty and Kurt's inexhaustible conversation concerning the upcoming vacation.

Thought had become too exhausting, and Rogue soon found that she hadn't really been listening to anyone anymore. The Southerner rested her cheek on the palm of her hand, forking around her cake. Part of her felt it wasn't that big of a deal, but most screamed 'it is!' She had already let in a select few people, something she'd never anticipated doing. But, the nightmares and feelings that resulted because of… that night. She swallowed, resting the fork on the edge of her plate. She was the only one in the room who still was on her first piece, let alone hadn't had a single bite. She glanced in their direction again, catching wind of the discussion.

Cody was serious, "So whatever happened to Belle?"

'Belle,' Rogue thought, 'who's Belle?'

Remy's expression was abruptly cheerless and distant, "it's complicated."

"Last I knew you both were engaged," Cody continued.

The Cajun flinched, "we'll talk about it ano'ter time homme."

His friend at last picked up the hint, "we don't have to," he swallowed the bite he was chewing, "I didn't—"

"Dere was just," Gambit took a deep breath, "an accident and—"He shook his head, "What about you and Jamie?"

'Jamie?' Rogue crunched her brow, 'Jamie Torrence? That night Jamie?' Annoyance briefly gleamed in her eyes.

Cody made a 'heh' and replied, "It didn't work out." He spooned some more ice cream on his plate as he maintained the conversation, "seeing her after the year I was gone, well, my coma, it just," he paused, "meant the world to me." A wide-eyed Rogue nearly choked on air hearing the word 'coma'.

"You were in a coma!" Kitty chimed in on the two upon also hearing the word.

The two boys peered in their direction, Cody nodding. He didn't seem to be as enthused as he usually was when answering questions or telling stories. "Yeah, it lasted about a year." He leaned back in his chair, "it's not exactly the best thing; waking up and being a year older."

"How did it like, happen?"

"Chanton," Remy cut short the inquisiton. "Dat seems a bit personal don't it?" The valley girl blushed.

"It's okay," said Cody, but didn't breathe a word about the incident after. The two boys continued to eat in silence, almost awkwardly. Each had resurfaced an uncomfortable topic and didn't want to share any information with the other students. Rogue had assumed such.

"What happened to your accent?" The goth broke her silence, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" Cody practically choked on the cake and ice cream he was eating; shocked that she was speaking. Since he had been visiting the institute, the Southern girl had been very quiet, and he had barely even seen her; very mysterious. The question also shocked him.

"Your accent," she said again. "You're from the South aren't ya?"

He grinned, finally appearing to be his jovial self. "Well," he cleared his throat, leaning back in his chair, "my girlfriend and I decided to go to school in Europe. We wanted to get away from Caldecott Country, you know, just start something new. So, we went! The teachers were real sticklers about perfect English though. They constantly nagged us about our pronunciation and such. Long story short, I've sort of reshaped my dialogue."

"Why petite," her eyes moved to the Cajun sitting beside Cody, "however did y' know dat?"

She paused for a moment, clearing her throat, "know what?"

He smirked playfully; she knew it was sarcasm. "About his 'accent'."

"Ah'm pretty sure you mentioned it before."

"I didn't."

"You said he was from Mississippi."

"Non, Remy has not talked to you about dis Chere."

She clenched her fists below the table in irritation, "Ah guess I heard it someplace swamp-rat." She smiled mockingly, finally picking up her fork and taking a bite of the cake.

Remy narrowed his eyes, staring silently in her direction. The two maintained eye contact. Was she actually annoying him for once? What a wonderful feeling. She was so busy basking in it, she failed to ask herself 'why exactly', was her knowing anything about Cody even so important to Remy LeBeau?

"How did you guys meet anyway?" Asked Cody, he was uncomfortable with the intense staring contest.

"My first night here," said Rogue. But Remy, in chorus, spat the words, "At dat party," as if Cody knew what he was talking about. In that instant, he looked up and quickly became trapped again in her gaze.

"What did you say?" Her eyes grew wide.

Remy stuttered, "dat party, dat partyyyy, innnn, dat party in de," he paused, "in de kitchen."

Rogue's mouth was slightly ajar in shock.

"Dere was no real party," he chuckled nervously, "Logan, Rogue, in the kitchen, close enough to a party right?" He shimmied to the left and right as if to be shaking maracas… awkwardly.

It was too late; she knew what he had really meant.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Things are starting to unravel for everybody's favorite Southern couple; of course, not without their world becoming a snarly mass of drama first. Alert: I'm a sucker for clichés, anticipate silly teenage romance and angst in the near future!

Review Responses:

Wolf Skater – great to hear from you again! It's so hard for me to write about Rogue or Remy with other romantic figures, but for the sake of a more happy ending, I suck it up. I was thinking potentially a love octagon? Kidding! But, you're certainly on the right track with your thoughts ;) Thanks again for the feedback!

Treegona – Glad to hear it's not boring! I guess knowing the future detail of the story makes me restless to write the parts adding up to it. I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. For me, it was average. DeSchaduw is an original character I thought up when I formerly began writing this fic. She should be coming up in the next or following chapter; you'll be able to understand her powers and such over time. Although the X-men series provide a great degree of baddies for me to utilize, I needed something unfamiliar so that I could keep the element of surprise more intact. I want followers to ask the same questions as Remy and Rogue, and be on the same page with unawareness to her abilities and intentions. In short, she came from my X-men infatuated brain, hahaha. Thanks again for the feedback!