"You deserved it. I don't feel bad." Bobby shrugged then returned to brushing his teeth.
"I'm going to go gather her some clothes." Rogue tucked a few stray hairs behind her ears and started out of the room.
She could go ahead and wrap her hand while she was at it.
"But I need it!" John walked into Scarlett whining to Logan in the REC room.
It was as if she appeared everywhere John was.
"Honey, you'll just have to wait until I can take you. Both Grandma and I have to teach this hour." Logan bargained with the little girl. "I'll take you as soon as I can."
"Now!" Scarlett demanded. She was used to getting her way with Logan apparently.
"Young lady, do not take that tone with me." Logan warned, the stern look on his face wasn't as convincing as his words.
Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest, and stared right back at Logan. Where did she get that attitude from? Rogue was never that cocky and Bobby was too spineless to act that way.
Just before Logan caved into Scarlett's wishes, he noticed John.
"What is it, Kid? Cant you see we're having a debate?" Logan stood up straight.
"I can see that you're on the losing side." John chuckled back.
"Fire-Man!" Scarlett was suddenly wrapped around John's legs, clinging for dear life.
As Logan eyed the situation carefully, John was almost scared to move.
"Fire-Man! Help me!" Scarlett pleaded from the floor.
She had her blue jean clad legs, wrapped around his right leg, and her upper body hanging tight to his knee.
"What am I helping with?" John asked, children and their fits weren't his favorite things to handle.
"She says she needs something from her house." Logan explained with an unhappy face.
"Your mom is coming to get you later, just chill out and wait." John looked down at Scarlett again, who was now standing in front of him rather than clinging to his leg.
Her pink T-shirt, that he could now read, said everything. My Grandpa spoils me rotten.
"No!" She stomped her foot, "She's not!"
"Rogue called this morning and said she was sick. She wants Scarlett to stay over the weekend." Logan commented.
"And she didn't send whatever she is needing?"
"Apparently not." Logan sighed, "Look Scarlett, why don't you just play with John here until I can take you?"
Scarlett looked back and forth between Logan and John. As if she was really considering her options.
"Can you take me?" She blinked up at John.
Uh…no.
"What a good idea Scarlett! John has nothing better to do, he can take you home and get whatever it is you're needing." Logan's voice was suddenly happier.
"Hey, wait-" John began to protest.
"YAY! I can ride with Fire-man!" Scarlett cheered, now jumping around John's feet.
"You'll do it right John?" Logan's sharp eyes were staring at him. "Drive her home, let her get what she needs, then come back. Not getting out of the car, not bothering Rogue, not talking to Rogue. And without harming one single hair on her precious head right?"
It wasn't so much of a question as a 'You're doing it so shut-up and be happy about it.'
"Please!" Scarlett chimed in from below.
"Let me go get my car keys." John gave in. This mission sucked. He hated being told what to do constantly.
"John! Pick Rogue and Scarlett up something to eat too." Logan tossed John a twenty dollar bill.
"Of course." John stashed the money in his pocket.
0o0o0o0o0
After getting direction from Logan, and picking up a (as Rogue would call it) monster burger and shake, happy meal, and something for himself; John embarked on the drive with Scarlett. She was clapping and singing for most of the car ride, her happiness even rubbed off on him and he smiled.
While she was waving her hands in the air and clapping, John's eyes noticed something through the rearview mirror though.
"What happened to your arm?" John asked, switching his vision back and forth between the backseat and the road.
"Where?" She instantly started twisted her arm to see the bruise John had spotted.
If she had gotten hurt, Logan was going to kill him.
"Oh, that's where I was a bad girl." She acted nonchalant about it.
"Says who?"
"Daddy." Her happiness was quickly draining away.
"Why don't you just make it better?"
"I cant. I cant make my boo-boos. I tried helping Momma's but she just stays sad like it still hurts." She frowned, laying her head back against her car seat and looking out the window.
"Your mom has them?"
"Yeah, she has more than me. Like lots more," She explained 'lots' by expanding her arms out to show him, "than me. Hers have lots of colors and shapes and sizes."
"Why?" John's hands were wringing around the steering wheel.
Scarlett rolled her head back around to look at him, "I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe Momma was a bad girl too."
Just then, John's cell phone.
"Hello?" He answered quickly.
"Any news?" Magneto's voice was cold on the other end.
"No. Don't worry, I'm working on it. This isn't exactly an easy thing to do you know?"
"Who is that?" Scarlett yelled from the backseat.
"Yes, who is that?" Magneto mirrored her question.
"My friend," John answered Scarlett, who then went back to staring out the window, "That would be a Storm and Logan's grandchild."
John knew Magneto's silver eyebrow had shot up.
"Part of the job." John said in a harsh tone.
"Don't let your anger or lack of patients get the best of you. Remember, this is for the good of the Brotherhood. If you would stop acting on your emotions and start thinking with your brain, you might have already been done."
"Cause I really enjoy being here." John's tone melted into sarcasm.
"The new mutant is a girl. Her power is marvelous for her age. Find her and get back. Don't go trying to reignite an old flame." Magneto hung up as John pulled into the house's driveway.
"Help me Fire-Man! I cant get out!" Scarlett was squirming in her seat.
"Hold on." John shoved his phone back into his pocket. This child had no patients.
Doesn't that sound familiar?
O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o000ooo0o0o0
Rogue wasn't expecting company, so when the black Corvette pulled into the driveway, she jumped up and hurriedly tidied up the living room, given she'd been doing laundry and had piles of clothes all over the couch.
"Momma!" Scarlett's voice called from the other side of the door, her little fist hitting it as hard as she could.
Rogue clicked off the television and made her way over to the door. After stopping at the mirror by the door, she pulled a few wisps of hair down to cover a little swollen lump on her forehead, pulled her T-shirt down to make sure her stomach was covered; then she finally opened the door.
"Momma! Look what Fire-Man got for you! Yummy food!" Scarlett darted into the house, leaving Rogue facing John, who had two handfuls of food, and the bright light that shone in behind him.
"May I?" He motioned towards entering the house. Magneto was right, he needed to quit acting like a pansy about this.
"Um, yeah. Come on in." She stepped out of the doorway to allow him in.
Good thing she was wearing jeans, otherwise all the scars and bruises on her legs would be visible.
"You don't sound like you have a cold." John commented as he handed her the bad with her food in it.
"Oh, um, I took some allergy medicine." She set the bag on the coffee table, "Thanks, I was beginning to wonder about what I was going to make for lunch."
"I hope you still like the same stuff." John murmured.
"Oh yeah." Rogue wished the somehow that lights would go dim in the room, it was too bright and she hadn't put on any make-up.
There was a moment of awkward silence between the two, then finally John spoke up, "Scarlett is a-good kid."
Rogue nodded, "Yeah. She is my little angel."
"Does she ever misbehave? Aside from the fits she pitches with Logan?"
"She has her moments, but she is usually a good kid. Why?"
John scanned over Rogue's face. There was some swollen places, and the edge of a bruise seemed to hanging from the sleeve of her T-shirt, along with the fact her hand was wrapped in an ACE bandage.
"She has a bruise on her arm." John could see the alarms go off in Rogue's eyes. "Says Bobby gave it to her when she was 'a bad girl'."
"Bobby isn't-" Rogue bit her tongue to withhold her next comment.
"FOUND IT!" Scarlett came running back into the room.
"A stuffed rabbit?" John raised his eyebrow at he object. It looked a tiny bit familiar.
"Oh, baby, I'm sorry I forgot to pack Nom-Nom." Rogue laughed as Scarlett proudly displayed the bunny.
It had been a gift from John to Rogue while they were dating, he'd won it for her at a fair. When Scarlett was born it became her favorite thing to sleep with. Thinking of the sudden memory made Rogue hurt.
Once again, she was standing so close to John, their daughter was even in the room with them, and she couldn't do anything.
"I'm going to go get Poppy, then we can go!" Scarlett retreated back out of the room.
"I have to know, how long did it take Bobby to convince you to move on?" John's question was one she had been expecting.
John finally realized that the doll Scarlett had been holding, had been his gift to Rogue.
"A long time. And I never really did move on. It was because of Scarlett that I had to accept you were gone and do the right thing."
"By who? By me, you, or Bobby?" John's voice was sharper than he had intended it to be.
"I couldn't take care of Scarlett alone. I had to have someone!"
"Was there another guy in the mix?" John was confused by her statement.
"No! Of course not. I didn't want to bother Logan and Storm by taking care of me. So when Bobby asked," Or when he finally backed her into it, "I said yes."
"Did you wait a whole day? A week? Or maybe even a month." John spat at her.
Rogue chocked, holding down the tears that so badly wanted to pour out. "I'm sorry. No one believed you were ever coming back. I kept getting told how stupid I was to wait around and how it was pointless. That you didn't care enough to come back."
She covered her face with her hands.
"What the hell Rogue?" John's voice went from anger to astonishment.
Rogue's heart froze. Damn this shirt for being too short.
"I fell. Don't make something of it, that its not." She quickly wiped her eyes, then tugged the shirt back down.
John only stared at her in disbelief. All the evidence was laid out in front of him and he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Did Bobby do that to you?" He could barely form the word, due to his anger. "Is that what happened to your hand too?"
"No! I touched the stove eye last night while it was still hot!" She lied.
"Surely, you wouldn't let him! If Logan ever found out-"
"I FELL! Its nothing! Ask Storm and Logan, they'll tell you I'm a klutz!" Rogue boomed back.
John stepped forward and pulled the tail of her shirt up slightly before she could protest, "Oh my-" He was at a loss for words, "You let him do this?"
"Stop!" She pushed her shirt back down and John away.
"I'll kill him." John seethed.
"You can't! He is the only reason that Scarlett and I have a place to live!" Rogue's tears gushed out as she sank onto the couch.
John only stood inches away from her.
"Please, John. For Scarlett's sake. Don't tell anyone. This is the first time it's happened. It was an accident too. So just please-" Despite her head hanging low, her hand came up and found his, "don't bother with it."
"Here are the call records Mr. Allerdyce for." A woman in a gray business suit handed Bobby a stack of call records. "Is there anything else we can do?"
"No. Thank you very much, I'll make sure John gets these the moment I find him." Bobby smiled.
"Thank you. Have a nice day." The woman turned and left, her black pumps clicking all the way down the hall.
Bobby was going to find out what in hell John was here for and he was starting with phone calls.
There was just one constant number, for research's purpose, Bobby dialed the number into his phone.
A voice answered on the second ring, "Hello?"
"Yes, whom am I speaking with?"
It was quiet on the other end, "This is a most interesting turn of events. Bobby Drake."
Bobby turned to make sure the hall was clear of people. "I'm going out on a limb here and say, this is Magneto?"
"Correct, my boy. Now to what do I owe this pleasant surprise? Am I too assume you will now expose the plan you think is being plotted?" Magneto chuckled on the other end.
"No. I don't know why John is here, but I'm going to be more than willing to help you, if it gets him out of here and away from my wife." Bobby growled into the receiver.
Uh-oh! John's stuff is being trifled in! He wont like that at all. I need you all to hang on with me through the next few chapters, its more than likely going to start sounding like a crazy person is writing this (truth be told, I am), but its all going to come together!
I also realized I got on kind of a repetitive hook there, so I'm glad I broke that. REDONE!
I thought today (July 8th was Xmen day...oh well.) Thank you Rain! I'm sorry I forgot to mention it last chapter!
RAWR
