Disclaimer: I Do Not Own The X-Men Or Anything Related To The X-Men. I Also Do Not Own The Chapter Title Song 'The Call' By The Backstreet Boys. I Do Not Own SkyCity Restaurant Either.

The Chapter Title Song Is 'The Call' By The Backstreet Boys.

Thank you for taking the time to read the newest chapter. I appreciate you guys and gals taking time out of your busy lives to read the newest chapter. Big thanks to Jehilew for her sweet review. It seems strange to update this so quickly, but I am interested in getting to a different chapter so they might be a little quicker. Thanks again for reading the story and here is the newest chapter:

There was something about dance class that seemed to create a new relationship between Anna and Remy. The way they began to slowly let go of some of their reservations, despite the fact Remy had few, if any, from the start, and lose themselves in the dance, was a sight to see. Their list of rules had grown to a length that only the two of them understood, but it didn't seem to matter. Even Logan, who still had the duty to watch each of their dance classes, had lost track of some of the stranger rules in translation when the pair started their usual rounds of joking.

"Can't keep up, Swampie?" Anna teased her partner as he tried to catch her before she spun out of his reach.

The one thing Logan had noticed in Rogue was the slight shift in her personality. Each stop on the tour seemed to give her a new boost of self-confidence. It was as if each time she stepped on stage and didn't collapse her grin would grow an inch wider. Sure, she would quickly pull it back if anyone stared at her longer than a few seconds, but he knew it was there. He just hoped that the energy was only from the success of the show and not the closeness to one Remy LeBeau.

By the time their rehearsal ended for the day, they were both in such good moods that Anna uncharacteristically decided to take Remy up on his offer to grab a drink. He had been offering her the same opportunity since their second class, and she had always turned him down flat. But with Kitty busy going over some contract agreement with Ororo and almost eight shows under their belts, it seemed that she had finally decided it wouldn't be too terrible to hang out with Remy for a little bit.

Anna had never been to Washington state, let alone the big city of Seattle, before, and as they rode in their taxi to Remy's choice of restaurant, she continuously snapped pictures of all sorts of random things that peaked her interest. Various buildings with fancy architecture to people who seemed to have what she told him was "emotional deepness" in their faces wound up in her photo album. Inspiration was a strange creature and often found her in the oddest places, so she was not going to ignore all of the new sights surrounding her.

The boy chuckled beside her as he watched a completely random stream of images flash across her phone screen. When she stuck her tongue out at him for making fun of her tourist side, he couldn't help but grin and shake his head softly. For all of Rogue's efforts to create a cold outer shell, she sure seemed to light up at the sight of a simple building. He couldn't help but smile even wider as her eyebrows furrowed and her teeth gingerly bit her bottom lip as she tried to line up a photo when they stopped at a red light. If asked, he would have been willing to stake his life on the fact that this, creative, slightly eccentric, and beautiful side was the real Rogue.

She still didn't believe him when he had said she might be recognized in public, so she had merely thrown on a dark blue sweater, gray skirt, and dark black tights that seemed to accentuate every curve and bend of her long legs. Since the sunglasses blocked his eye movements, Remy spared a few longer glances at the way her legs curved when she leaned towards the open window and the way her tight sweater seemed to hug her in all of the right places. Yes, there was no denying that Bella Donna was hot, but what he found the most eye-catching of all was the way her green eyes sparkled every time she took in a new sight. It had been a long time since he had seen anything that unique and mesmerizing. And the idea that such a color was merely the product of some colored contacts, made the whole thing even more surprising to him.

"Wait," Anna pulled him out of his trance and pointed up at the tall structure they were quickly approaching, "Isn't that the Space Needle?"

"You said Remy could pick the place." He grinned and noticed her fight the urge to snap another picture with her camera. "Besides, you said that you had never been to Seattle before. Seems only fitting to see at least one sight, no?"

For once, Anna didn't argue with him. Instead, she seemed genuinely happy and grateful that he had picked such a scenic spot to have their drinks. The wonder must have been even greater than Remy originally thought since Rogue remained speechless through the entire elevator ride up to the SkyCity Restaurant and subsequent seating assignment. Remy enjoyed the silence to some degree; since it gave him an excuse to watch Rogue's eyes grow wide and scan the view outside of their window with childlike wonder. It was the most open he could remember her being since they had met, and he didn't want to break the spell and force her to shut herself up in that tight little cocoon again.

"How are we doing today?" The waiter broke up Remy's moment and forced Rogue to rejoin them in the world of the living.

"May we see your wine list?" He responded out of habit.

"You want to drink wine this close to show time?" Rogue broke into Remy's question and the boy smirked at her as if he wanted to try and push her out of her comfort zone.

"Alright," He relented, somewhat, and ordered himself a bourbon, before watching Rogue order basic water. Once the waiter left their table he leaned a little closer to her and raised a quizzical eyebrow, "And here Remy thought you were throwing caution to the wind, Chere."

She huffed and gave him a smirk that caused his stomach to twist a little in response, "Hanging out with you is risky enough without liquor, Cajun."

He leaned back in his chair and laughed softly at her response, "Oh, Chere, it may be reckless, but Remy make sure it be fun."

They sipped their drinks in silence for a while, pausing only long enough for Remy to order a large appetizer to share between them. Through skills that he was almost certain stumped Rogue, he managed to keep the menu with the prices away from her eyesight. This was his treat and he wasn't going to let her stubborn side ruin a nice time out.

"So," He asked after they had eaten half of the food in silence, "Jean said you have a mysterious songwriter sending you lyrics."

Anna coughed awkwardly and seemed to almost choke on her food after hearing his question. He hadn't expected a response like that from a simple question, so he merely pushed her water closer to her and waited to see if she would be okay. She thanked him after taking a large gulp of the water but didn't seem too anxious to answer his question.

"Let me guess," He added jokingly as Rogue wiped her mouth off with her napkin, "You are secretly the songwriter, but are in hiding so no one will find out your true identity?"

She didn't laugh at his joke. At least, he could tell it was not an honest laugh when she finally made a strange noise. Instead, she coughed into her hand uncomfortably and put on a rehearsed smile. It was strange behavior, to say the least, and it left him somewhat perplexed as to why she was acting like he had made some giant mistake.

"Actually," Once she composed herself, she tried to cover her odd behavior, "My cousin, writes my songs. She is new at it, but she has some skill."

"Some?" Remy decided not to press the weird behavior and focused on the info she had given him instead, "Trust me, Chere. She has professional quality."

Anna smiled at him and he noticed the honesty was back in her face and shimmery eyes. Figuring her cousin was a safe topic; he asked a few more questions about her writing skills and managed to keep the girl in a happy mood. As she started to explain something about the meaning behind the dress rip song Bella Donna was best known for, a loud chime echoed through the room. In a flash, the girl pulled out her phone from her small clutch purse and hurriedly excused herself from the table.

As Anna walked out of range of Remy's ears, she clicked her phone and held it up to her ear. She had been afraid Remy was starting to unravel her disguise, but after his questions had begun to shift focus she had felt her real identity was safe again. It wasn't until her phone rang with the familiar tone associated with Cody, that she felt like she was back to her old self.

"Hello?" She asked into the phone and received a scratchy reply that she could barely understand. "Cody?"

She had been on the road for quite some time now, and could count all of Cody's phone calls on one hand. He had sent her a few sporadic texts in response to her updates about the tour, but she couldn't deny that there was a large space growing between them. It was as if the further she traveled from New York, the less he could remember who she was. Even Kitty's mother had asked to say hi to her multiple times when she checked in on Kitty, but Anna's own boyfriend seemed like he couldn't be bothered to even text.

Far back in the self-doubting part of her mind, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty being out on the town with Remy. She hadn't done anything wrong, she reminded herself, her relationship with Remy was strictly professional and it wasn't like they were on a date. Cody had always been the type to go out with his co-workers after a hard day at the garage for drinks. Had she gotten upset that some of the co-workers were named Jill or Susan instead of Bob or Jake? No, Anna had trusted Cody to make the right choice and she wanted to believe that he thought she would be just as responsible.

But if it was all so cut and dry, why did she feel weird standing there talking to Cody with Remy only a few tables away? Maybe it was the fact that he didn't know she was playing Bella and having to spend so much time with a rugged Cajun? No matter how much Kitty would detest the idea, it was starting to feel like she had no real option but to tell Cody everything that was going on with the fake Bella. He deserved to know the truth. And maybe if he knew the whole story, it would somehow bring them closer? She knew it was a stretch, but the idea of somehow going back to the excitement of their first year of dating sounded a lot nicer than just stumbling along in confusion about what she meant to him or what he meant to her now.

"Annie?" Cody's voice was still scratchy, but she could make out the words, "You still there, Annie?"

She tried to get his attention without everyone in the restaurant staring at her, but it was hard to keep her voice at a normal level. A few of the patrons began to turn their heads in her direction, and she shuffled awkwardly into the ladies' room where she could speak louder and not worry about the stares.

"Cody, I can't hear you. Why don't you call me back later?"

There was a pause on the other end, then, "I'm flying out to Oregon to see the show."

A sudden happiness filled her chest before she even realized it. How long had she been waiting for her boyfriend to show some kind of interest in her and her career? The idea that he had decided to take the time to look up the schedule and plan a flight, pushed back the more realistic concerns that should have bothered her; like how was he paying for this trip. She was too stupidly happy that he was finally showing some initiative, that she pushed the problems out of her head and quickly added, "I'll arrange the show tickets. I can't wait to see you, Hun."

Remy tapped his fingers on the table awkwardly and looked towards the hallway that led to the bathrooms. He couldn't understand whom Rogue was talking to, but he had gotten used to her somewhat obsessive phone checking skills. It seemed like she was always hoping that something would appear on her screen and was almost always disappointed that whatever she wanted wasn't there. For some reason that he didn't understand, it bothered him to think that someone was messing with her emotions. Of course, he was pretty well aware that had he asked about the mysterious phone calls she probably would have growled at him and snapped out a smart remark.

He had never been the type of person to have trouble understanding what he was feeling. Hungry, horny, mad, happy, or sad was about as far as things went. Things like emotions were simple and easy to categorize in his head. There was no reason to fly off the handle and get yourself in trouble over something as trivial as that. Life was too short to become tied down with things like drama and relationships. He had avoided the second one on that particular list like the plague for most of his life. There was something far too confining to him about having to report back to another person all the time. Besides, he already paid Jean an outrageous amount of money to keep track of anything he had to do. Why would he need to saddle himself with some woman he would probably end up spending tons of money on and would be demanding his attention all the time?

When Bella Donna had stomped into the room, he had been certain that it would be just another fun round of flirt till she gives in, have some fun, and part ways. She had put up a much larger fight, and still was, to his advances, but he found the way she growled at him all the more attractive. She was fiery and worth more of his attention than the random women staking out the hotel lobby for any sign of him.

Yes, Bella was just a fun challenge and that was it. Why should it matter to him if someone was dragging her through some kind of rough relationship or whatever? If anything, her being on the outs with some guy probably made his ideas a lot easier. As he downed the last of his bourbon, he slowly gave in to the growing realization that the bigger question, was why did the idea of her being used so callously make him so furious?

Either way, when Anna finally strolled back to the table, she seemed happier than before. Unlike her childish glee at watching the Seattle landscape fly by their window, this happiness seemed a little more inexplicable. It was like she was nervous and yet calm at the same time. Her hands started to drum nervously on their table as the calmness and warmth of their earlier moment, whatever it had been, died.

The clouds had gathered together during their time in the restaurant and by the time they made it back to the first floor a steady rain was beating down on the parking lot. As he offered his trench coat to her for some shelter from the drops, he noted that she no longer searched the area with sweet green eyes. She no longer seemed to focus on the landmarks that had once been so captivating and merely thanked him as they rushed into the first cab that came their way. Her mood stayed boringly calm and bland as they rode back to the auditorium for the last rehearsal before show time. She would nod at his comments and take a few photos as they drove, but the sweet and honest happiness had been ripped away by something that seemed to be taking a lot of her thought processes.

As the cab pulled into the parking lot and Anna rushed off immediately to find Kitty, he sauntered to the building with little interest in the show. His brain was so focused on the various scenarios that would force Rogue's mood change that he didn't respond when Logan growled out some dig at him. It wasn't until the muscular man nudged Remy a little harder than necessary that he gave any attention to the outside world.

"Snap out of it, Gumbo," Logan grumbled and chewed on the cigar he had finally been able to smoke when he just happened to 'conveniently' lose track of Rogue and Remy after dance class. He trusted the blonde to kick the Cajun swiftly and accurately if he pulled any stunts, and it had been far too long since he had been able to get some alone time on this tour. "You got to get going to the stage."

"Oui," Remy mumbled and scratched at his chin softly, "Did you find anything out about her?"

Logan was not known as the best in the business for nothing. He may have looked pretty strange in the role of background checker, but he had found all sorts of things the best biographers had never discovered about Remy LeBeau. Thankfully, as far as Remy knew, Logan had kept some of the most interesting stories to himself and not alerted Ororo. Aside from studying Remy's life, Logan had a knack for searching for any kind of news on the opening acts from past tours. He had once claimed, that it made security easier when you had a good understanding of the person you had to watch.

This time, Logan took a moment longer to consider Remy's request. Normally, he would have spouted off figures in his usual, unimpressed voice without a bit of care what they sounded like. But now he made a face Remy could only describe as thoughtful than shrugged his shoulders, "Basic stuff. Lived in the south, moved to New York, tried to make it as a singer after years of retirement." He snorted as if he thought the whole question was ridiculous, "Nothing to get your nose out of joint, Gumbo."

There was something missing. Remy could sense that without even trying to study Logan's face for some clue. Something was different or wrong with Bella Donna, but it seemed that Logan was going to remain quiet on the matter. Obviously, that must mean it wasn't too dangerous. He trusted Logan enough to know the man would have long ago jumped into action if something bad were heading their way. The only question was what did he know about Remy's odd little starlet and why did not knowing drive Remy insane?

By the way, thanks for the idea of what drink to give Mister LeBeau, Jehilew. :)