A week later
The first thing she noticed was touch: the sensation of a hand lightly enveloping her own; fingers entwining with hers; the warmth of the skin penetrating the light fabric of her gloves. The lightness of the room seeped through her eyelids and stirred her from a deep slumber. The smell caused her nose to wrinkle slightly; it was so...clean; that odour of disinfectant that permeated hospitals. Taste: her mouth was too dry to taste anything of significance. And then her ears; they could hear the whir of machinery that filled the silence, until she noticed the soft sounds of someone lightly breathing, very close to her.
Slowly and heavily, Rogue let her eyes drift open and gazed upwards at the ceiling, letting the light filter through as the room gradually came in to focus: she was in the Medical wing back at the school. As if to confirm the thought, she slowly turned her head to the side and smiled ever so softly at the sleeping person by her bed. Remy's lips pouted ever so slightly as he slumbered, his head resting on his own arm on her bed, one hand grasping Rogue's own. There was an open pack of playing cards on the desk next to him and Rogue smiled at this; he must have been playing solitaire and fallen asleep, and Rogue let herself watch him for a little while, not wanting to disturb the dream she had woken up to. Watching some of Remy's hair fall into his face, Rogue instinctively slid her hand out of Remy's and brushed the hair away, but she didn't pull away her hand and instead slowly began to run her fingers through the thick, soft locks.
At this subtle contact, Rogue's smile widened and her eyes softened, until she noticed the way that Remy's pout had turned upwards into a smile...when her hand hesitated, the Cajun slowly opened his eyes and gazed up at Rogue with a cheeky smirk. Her hand jerked away.
"Why stop, eh? Few more seconds and dis Cajun would have been fast asleep..." sitting up in his chair, Remy took a luxurious stretch - Rogue couldn't help noticing the way that his muscles flexed and the way that Remy's top lifted up slightly, revealing the outline of his hips and a light smattering of hair just above the waistline of his jeans...
Rogue turned away before Remy noticed where she had been looking, and fidgeted about; finding the remote that would elevate the top half of the bed to put her in a more comfortable, seated position. "I thought you were already asleep..." Rogue mumbled, focusing all of her attention on the buttons of her medical gown in her embarrassment.
"Dis Cajun just be resting his eyes," taking the remote, Remy pushed the button to tilt the bed upwards, "that was until he felt someone running fingers through his hair..." He smirked at Rogue but she ignored it, placing both hands in her lap defiantly.
"Oh hush up. It was in your face: I was just pulling it back before it fell in your mouth."
The way that Rogue was avoiding Remy's eyes didn't go unnoticed to him, but he shrugged it off, "sure you was, Chere."
"Anyways," changing the conversation seemed to be the easiest get out; "so I seem to be in the Med wing, huh? How long for?"
Still avoiding eye contact, Rogue pulled her duvet down slightly so she could analyse her lack of injuries whilst Remy watched her. "A week or so," he replied, pulling his arms behind his back to stretch them out further; ignoring the clicking of his bones.
The reply caused Rogue to finally look at him and she frowned, "damn...that's a whole week of Vikings, Arrow and White Collar that I'm gonna have to catch up on!"
As Rogue had been playing with the material of her medical gown, her mind had been elsewhere as she tried to recall how she had got in this bed in the first place...the memories of a blast and then excruciating pain in her side, had flooded back almost instantly; she remembered that relief when she had heard Gambit's voice in the darkness but everything else was a little fuzzy after Gambit had taken her into his arms. Only the faint memory of a kiss on her forehead...but she didn't know if that was a dream or real. Debating whether or not to ask about that - not to mention how on earth they had got back to the school in one piece - another question popped into Rogue's head.
"Remy...have you been here next to me this entire time I was out?"
It was Remy's turn to avoid eye contact and he shuffled his cards, shrugging, "Gambit had to make sure his Chere be ok."
Usually it was Logan by the side of her bed when her eyes finally opened; even when Rogue had been dating Bobby, he wasn't one for hospitals and wouldn't stay the night with her, popping in to check on her only during the day.
'Your Chere?' the thought popped in to Rogue's head immediately and she was glad Remy wasn't looking at her, so he didn't notice her giddy smile. She pointed at the cards instead, "well, I see you've been keeping yourself occupied as anyways. Up for a game?"
Remy chuckled, "nice try. Before we do anything like that, this X-Man gotta go tell Jean that you're up and about: she'll have to do a check up on you. And if Remy don' tell Logan, he really will make gumbo out of me!"
"Okay, okay..." knowing that this would have been the case, Rogue wasn't surprised at the refusal of a game and began to sit up away from the bed, throwing the covers off of herself. "Well, I'm going to pop in the shower then," ignoring the surprised look that Remy gave her, Rogue turned her back to Remy and slid off the bed onto her feet.
The second that she put pressure on her feet though, Rogue felt dizzy and - instead of sitting back down - put both hands to her head, as if this would stop the world spinning. "Woah..." Rogue groaned and then let out a surprised squeal as she began to fall. But Remy was at her side in no time; his arms wrapped around her waist to support Rogue's petite form. As he hoisted Rogue back to a standing position, Remy loosened his grip slightly but kept his hands on Rogue's hips, holding her steady.
"Easy there, Chere. You gonna be a little weak right now: you been out for a week. Wait for Jean to come so she can help ya in da shower...or Gambit could help if you want," unable to resist, Remy shot Rogue a cheeky smile and winked at her. "could help get dem hard to reach spots."
Rogue scoffed, "I can do it fine by myself, Swamp Rat." Laughing, she steadied herself again, "I just don't have my sea legs yet," and this was true as Rogue tried a second time to take a step and collapsed into Remy's waiting arms.
"Okay Chere, that's it: back to bed." Helping Rogue to sit back so she was perched on the edge of the bed, Remy pulled out his phone.
"What are you doing?" Rogue watched Remy typing out a message, one of her hands still clutching his arm, as though for support - for some odd reason, she didn't want to let it go.
"Can't trust you to leave you alone," teased Remy, giving Rogue another cheeky smile and a wink before he finished off his message; "Remy'll just have to text Jean instead of going to get her." After a second or two, Remy pocketed his phone: "done." But when he turned back to Rogue, Remy's eyes had softened with concern and his voice was softer; "do you want to lay back down, Marie?"
Brushing off the use of her 'real' name, Rogue rolled her eyes at him; "no, Gambit. I've been lying down for too long: if I have to stay in bed, the least I want to be able to do is sit up."
"Alright, alright, at least let Gambit make it comfortable." Fluffing up Rogue's pillows, he arranged them for her, tilting the angle of the top half of the bed so that Rogue was more upright now and, as Rogue leant back, Remy folded the duvet over her lower half, making sure she was kept warm. "Bon...you comfortable?"
"Yes Remy; I'm comfortable," laughing, Rogue relaxed: it was cute to see Remy acting this way around her. The mutant sat down in his chair, taking Rogue's gloved hand again in his own, giving it a light squeeze.
Locking eyes with Remy, Rogue couldn't look away: she had seen a similar look with Logan when he had taken care of her; that affection and care in the way that he worried for her...but this was different too; there was so much more written in Remy's eyes. And they just sat there in silence for a few minutes, gazing at one another: no words needed to be spoken.
A knock at the door interrupted them, followed by Jean and Logan entering when Rogue had called for them to 'come in'.
"We interrupting something, Gumbo?" perking an eyebrow at the two younger mutants, Logan was very content when Rogue's hand slipped subtly out of Remy's before she folded both her hands in her lap.
"Not at all." Remy smiled, and raised his own eyebrows, indifferently.
Jean ignored this interaction and focused on Rogue instead - a long line of questions followed, making sure mainly that Rogue was feeling okay before Rogue got to ask the question she had been dying to ask the moment that Jean walked through the door.
"Jean, when can I go back to my own room?"
"I'll just do a full check up and see how well everything has healed...it seems like it took a while for your mind to relax and focus enough to recall Logan's healing ability; good thing the Professor has been doing so much training with you or you may have had to wait to heal like everyone else..." Jean smiled playfully at Rogue before looking over her shoulder at Logan and Remy. "So, if you two don't mind: you'll have to leave for a few minutes."
Neither Remy nor Logan questioned this and both of them nodded. "Okay then...well it's good to see you up kid; make sure you take it easy," Logan smiled.
Jean let out a small laugh followed by "ya, that's like telling you to relax Logan." She said as she looked over at him
Smiling back , Rogue replied as Logan left the room; "I'll do my best."
As Remy was about to leave, he stopped and looked over at Rogue, "you hungry Chere? Remy can go whip you up something..." he offered.
"Sure...but please, nothing spicy just yet."
"Coming right up, Chere! How about dis Cajun's homemade chicken soup, eh? Minus the spice."
She smiled at him, "sounds great...but can I also have-"
"Peanut butter sandwich - extra crunchy - wit a glass of fresh milk, and some soup crackers," interrupted Remy with a smile, ticking each item off his fingers. This earned him a slight laugh and Remy gave Rogue a wink when she thanked him, "anytime Chere." He started to leave but stopped immediately when Rogue spoke up again.
"Remy?" she waited until he had turned and smiled at the Cajun sheepishly. "Maybe a little spice..."
Nodding his consent, Remy blew Rogue a kiss, winked at Jean and disappeared down the hallway, leaving the two women in peace.
"Well..." Jean looked out of the doorway that Remy had just exited and then back at Rogue, "it looks like you two are getting pretty close, huh?" fetching some medical equipment out of one of the drawers, Jean looked at Rogue out of the corner of her eye, noticing that the patient had not stopped staring at the door.
Shaking her head to snap herself out of a reverie, Rogue frowned, "Jean, we're just good friends."
But Jean wasn't falling for that one and smiled in amusement, "honey, my best friend; I've known her for twelve years now, and I can tell you that she has no idea what sandwich I like with my soup...let alone what to drink. Now Scott, on the other hand, he knows what to get me when I have an upset stomach, and he knows what I like on everything." Raising her eyebrows at Rogue, Jean knew it was useless to try to get the point across.
"Jean..." sighed Rogue, trying to think of a good counter-argument.
Jean interrupted her: "I'm just saying. You can keep on saying you don't feel that way...but it's not exactly true is it?" Watching as Rogue looked down at her hands, still folded in her lap, Jean smiled - Rogue did like Remy; it was too obvious, but she couldn't let that show...it would never work. "That's all I'm gonna say about it," Jean let it go, noticing Rogue relaxing immediately. "Now let's check you out and see if you're ready to go back to the rest of the school..."
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Kitchen
Gambit was busy cooking when the door to the kitchen opened; he tasted his soup, looking to see who had come in only after he had seasoned it a little more.
"So, how is she?" he questioned Logan, trying to act nonchalant about the situation.
"Jean took her over to Hank so he could do a few X-rays...make sure everything's healed fully and that Rogue's head is okay: she's been practicing to recall my powers, but this will be the test to see if the training is actually working and if her body really is adapting to the other powers she's 'borrowed'." Reluctantly, Logan added; "if everything's okay then she'll be going back to her own room." He watched for Remy's response to that remark, but the Cajun simply stirred his soup and took another mouthful to taste. Unable to stop himself, Logan asked the question that had been bothering him for a while now: "you care for her a lot, don't you?"
Watching out of the corner of his eye as Logan grabbed an apple off the table, Remy slowly stirred his soup, keeping an eye on the Wolverine whilst avoiding eye contact. "Funny...everyone been asking Gambit that lately," he seasoned the soup a tad more.
Logan scoffed and watched the other X-man, "well, that's because we all see it there, Gumbo."
This caused Remy to look at Logan. Perking an eyebrow, he replied, "guess Remy wear his emotions on his shoulder then."
They stood in silence for a while, just contemplating each other and letting that sentence fill the room before Logan spoke up again. "Well then Gumbo, guess I'll let you finish up in here...but just let me tell you one thing." Remy had turned back to his soup, but Logan waited till he had the Cajun's full attention and was looking him dead in the eye before he told him: "don't ever hurt her. I've seen this kid hurt enough time: dealing with that power; then Bobby and other things to go with it...so if you ever hurt her, I will make Gumbo out of you. And that is no joke."
Letting the threat dangle between them, Remy thought long and hard about his response, eyeing up the soup he was making for Rogue before looking back at Logan. "If dat ever happens...I'll be helping you make Gumbo out of Gambit...dat's the last t'ing Remy want to do to his Chere..."
Logan smirked at this before leaving the room. It wasn't like he didn't like Remy: he did, and he knew that Rogue did too. But Rogue was like a child to him and everyone knew that Gambit didn't have the best track record - he had a pretty bad past...who knows what a bad past could bring up. But there was something about this whole relationship: Gambit just wouldn't hurt her, Logan knew that...or at least, he hoped it. Besides, killing the kid would mean going back to Jean's cooking, and that Cajun sure knew how to cook.
Taking a bite out of his apple, Logan sniggered - that cocky Cajun seemed to be growing on him.
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Gambit had just satisfied himself with Rogue's first meal and had carefully arranged it on a tray when Jean stopped by the kitchen to let him know that they had moved Rogue back to her own room. Anyone who knew that mutant would know she would be happy with this: Rogue was not the kind of person to be cooped up in a medical wing.
Thanking Jean for letting him know, Remy grabbed the tray and headed for his Chere.
When Remy made it to Rogue's door, he noticed it was ajar and could hear the sounds of cards snapping as they were repeatedly shuffled. Pushing open the door with his foot, Remy carried the tray into Rogue's room, smiling as he recognised the pack of cards she was playing with - he'd left them downstairs earlier.
Looking up from her place on the floor, Rogue smiled up at Remy in greeting, hungrily eyeing the tray of food that he placed in her lap.
As she ate, they talked. It was exactly as it had been before the mission: the laughs; the chatter; the easy banter. But not long after she had finished eating, Rogue started to get tired and Remy noticed. "You wan' Remy to go Chere; so you can rest?"
"I just slept a whole week, I'm fine. Besides: we haven't even played cards yet and I've missed a lot of games! You haven't found a new card player, now have ya, Swamp Rat?" Rogue put her hands on her hips and questioned Remy with an accusing look.
"No Chere," smirking, Remy fingered the pack of cards as he eyed up Rogue, "this Cajun only play one on one with you now...but you be tired, non?"
Rogue yawned at that instant but waved it off as Remy gave her another look. "Fine...fine. I'll get some sleep. But tomorrow, we're playing cards, Swamp Rat. Deal?"
"Deal, Chere. Remy have everything set up in his room for tomorrow." Taking Rogue's ever-gloved hand, Remy kissed it.
Smiling, Rogue watched him leave, "night Remy."
"Night Chere."
"Hey, Remy?" as Remy turned from the doorway, Rogue looked to the floor before looking up at him again, "thanks for everything."
"This Cajun do anything for you, Chere." And Remy smiled as he closed the door.
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It was only about five minutes later that there was a knock at Rogue's door.
Wondering who would be calling on her at this time, Rogue looked up from the book she had started reading and called out, "come in." But as soon as the visitor opened her door, Rogue wished she had ignored him.
"Hey Rogue..." Bobby stood in the entrance to his ex's room and looked at her sheepishly, before staring at the ground.
Putting down her book, Rogue bit her lip anxiously, watching him. "Hey."
"I saw Gambit leave and I wanted to check how you are." Bobby made his way into the room, pushing the door so that it was almost closed behind him and stood at the foot of Rogue's bed.
"I'm okay."
"I was worried about you," when Rogue looked away from him to her book, Bobby frowned but carried on talking, "and, well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry...about, you know, what happened on the mission."
When Rogue looked back up at him, she wished that she hadn't: she could just tell by looking at Bobby that he was genuinely sorry. Damn, that was what always got her into trouble with Bobby: he would do something so ignorant and damned stupid but then he would go and do this, and she wanted so badly to be mad at Bobby - he had said so many stupid, hurtful things...but he just had that puppy dog look.
Crossing her arms, Rogue just looked at Bobby and waited.
Bobby took the silence as an invitation to carry on speaking, "listen, I know I was being a dick out there and I shouldn't have said half the stuff that I did-"
"You meant all of it." Rogue interrupted.
"No, just some of it: I still don't trust Gambit...I mean what I said about him."
"Well, I trust him and that's all that counts."
But Bobby wasn't giving up that easily; "yeh, I know...but just promise me that you'll keep an open mind about him, yeh?"
"Bobby, I know you're looking out for me," Rogue conceded, "but I can take care of myself."
Watching Rogue as she fumbled around for her book before putting it back on her bedside table, Bobby took a step closer to his ex. "I know, I know. It's just; I still care an awful lot about you and would like a second chance to show you just how much." He was at the side of Rogue's bed now and took the chance to grab her outstretched hand, looking her straight in the eye, "please, Marie, just one more chance?"
And Rogue felt it: that fleeting moment when she was almost pulled back in. But as soon as those feelings surfaced, so did the hurt that he had caused her so many times...and she distinctly remembered hearing this all before...'just one more chance, Rogue. I won't do it again...I never wanted to hurt you...I can't help it: I'm just a guy...we all have needs...'
Rogue shook her head and pulled her hand lightly from Bobby's grasp. "I can't Bobby, I'm sorry," was all she could say, looking away from him.
They both felt the tension in the room then and Rogue knew that Bobby was more than irritated, but he kept the façade and simply nodded at this response. "That's fine. Okay. But I'm not giving up on it," was his final word, as Bobby left.
She could not believe him: why wouldn't he just leave her alone?
Outside in the hallway,
Bobby's impartial expression turned into a scowl: he was pissed off. All he had ever done was to love her when no one else would dare, and this was how she acted towards him; like he was nothing...like he was...
"Bobby?"
Torn from his thoughts as a different female called his name, Bobby looked down the hallway to see Lorna standing in the doorway to her room; she was holding a hairbrush, clad only in a towel as her green hair dripped water on to the carpet.
Lorna Dane was a confident woman - she had the hourglass figure that many of the other X-girls envied: toned and muscular, with soft curves, accentuated by her waist length, moss-green hair. It wasn't surprising that Bobby was unable to take his eyes off of her: she had the habit of wearing form-fitting clothing; tight shirts that clung to her curves, and short skirts that revealed her long, tanned legs.
"Lorna..." Bobby replied, unable to stop himself from eyeing up the scantily clad woman. Obviously fresh from a shower, Lorna was still wet; and damn that red towel for covering her up...
"I heard that Rogue was well enough to be moved back upstairs...I see you went to visit her." Turning back to her room, Polaris threw her hair brush onto the bed before facing Bobby again.
Taking a few steps towards her, Bobby shrugged at Lorna, "yeh, I did."
She rolled her eyes, leaning against the door frame and folding her arms over her chest, "why do you even bother with her?" looking past Bobby to Rogue's door, Lorna perked an eyebrow, "you know she only has eyes for that Remy..."
Just the sound of that name riled Bobby up and he made his way over to Lorna, placing one hand casually on the side of her door frame; his body tilting towards hers. "I'll get her back, Remy or no Remy..." letting his eyes slowly lower again to Lorna's chest, Bobby's breathing deepened as Lorna's sped up.
The way that he was looking at her made Lorna want him even more...they had always had a kind of arrangement - she was more than attracted to Bobby, and Lorna had always known that he wanted her. She had a boyfriend of sorts out of town but rarely got to see him and, as Bobby was fond of saying, everyone has needs. When Bobby had started to react to her subtle flirtations, Lorna didn't hesitate and made her move: sure, Bobby had been dating Rogue at the time, but the two women weren't friends and would have never even been associated with each other if it wasn't for the school. Rogue couldn't even do a damned thing to please the man...and Lorna wanted what she wanted; sometimes she even felt that Rogue should be thanking her for taking care of Bobby. When Rogue had taken the Cure though...Bobby hadn't come to see her for a while, and Lorna had felt almost lost - she had started to even wonder if she maybe felt more for Bobby than she was letting on. But it was never said. That one night when he came in to her room after so much time away, she had let him take her, without a single word being spoken.
"I'm sure you will," was Lorna's response and she placed a hand lightly on Bobby's chest, slowly sliding her fingertips down until she reached his pants.
He let out a low moan, finally grabbing Lorna and kissing her hungrily on the lips. Moving his lips down to Lorna's neck as his hand caressed her thighs, Bobby smirked and asked; "your roommate in?"
"No..." gasping as Bobby lightly nipped at her neck, Lorna began to tug at Bobby's belt buckle, "she's..."
Lorna didn't even finish her sentence before Bobby had tumbled them both into her room, shutting the door behind them.
** Author's Note **
I'm saying it again: Yes, I am making Bobby a dick in my story. Why you ask? Well, I used to like him, then I started hating him in X-Men 3. Then I found out that Rogue and Gambit had a thing and I started to watch the old cartoons...so I have to make Bobby a dick: that just makes for more fun when Gambit kicks his ass later! Hehe! I wanted to put this little scene in where Bobby goes to try and get Rogue back and then a second later he has sex with another woman; showing he will never get a chance. He only wants Rogue to have her and control her. So I hope everyone is hating him as much as me and is enjoying what I have so far!