What is to Come

Chapter Eleven

In the three months following the attack at Xavier's very little had changed. Crowds of protesters gathered daily in front of the gates, the occupants of the mansion were only allowed to leave the grounds with police escort, and only to replenish supplies, or attend medical or legal meetings. Only the Summers, Remy, Rogue, and John remained at the mansion with Charles and Beast (Hank). Logan had taken Bobby with him following the attack, and joined Ororo further north. Lance had found Tabitha,Todd and Fred, but they had decided to travel back to California to be with Pietro and Wanda.

There were more police guarding the gates than there had been that night, mostly to keep the protesters from attacking again, but also to keep an eye out for the Phoenix. Jean however was far to drained for a repeat performance, even if she had wanted to. She had recovered from the injuries of the fall, but mentally she was still fragile. Scott had arrived the day after the event, just as she was coming out of her second surgery. He felt guilty over their fight, worried that it may have lead in part to what had happened, and knew that if something happened to her he would never forgive himself. Charles arrived just after Scott, and though he had assured Scott repeatedly that what happened was thanks to the attack Scott was not comforted.

Remy and Rogue had been working together and with Charles on power-control, though he refused to allow her to practice absorbing with Remy. It made sense to them both, Remy's powers had continued to grow over the last few weeks, and much like Jean's, they didn't want it to overload Rogue. Remy was still having slips, and Rogue was having less difficulty with her powers. Charles explained to them that he wanted them to work together because it was his belief that the same problem was the root of both their struggles. When asked what he thought the problem was however, he refused to say more than that. It was frustrating for both of them, to feel as if the answer was in their grasp, but still completely out of reach.

Rogue's first break-through, minor though it was, happened this morning. She had manged to turn off her powers, for about thirty seconds, while practicing with Scott. She claimed that it was just a delayed reaction, and that they weren't really off, but the others saw it as a step in the right direction. Jean and Scott both insisted on a celebration, and went off to the kitchen to prepare a feast, Charles assured her that she had indeed turned them off momentarily. Hank came out of his lab long enough to offer encouragement (and more tests). John thought a light display was mandatory.

Remy kissed her. It was impulsive, he hadn't meant to do it. He knew it was a bad idea, not just because of her powers but because he had gained her trust and friendship, and now here he was wanting more than that. He was going to be lucky if he walked away from this with anything at all. Amazed that he'd had time to think all this, and that she hadn't punched him, he pulled away. Only to realize he was still awake...and that she'd kissed him back. They scared wide-eyed at each other for a moment. "Y-you kissed me?!"

"I'm still awake."

"Yeah. And you kissed me. Why? Why are you still awake? Why'd you kiss me? What's going on?"

"I don't know why I'm still awake. I kissed you because I wanted to, for a really long time, and didn't think about it. I lost my head. It's good you didn't absorb me...I shouldn't have done that, Charles said-"

"You wanted- Never mind, we'll talk about it later, right now we need to talk to the Professor, and Dr. McCoy."

"Ugh... He's going to drag us to the lab isn't he?" Remy said as he followed her to Xavier's office. Xavier was on the phone when they came in, he raised an eyebrow at Rogue's excited face, and held up a finger to show he would be finished soon.

He was on the phone with Erik, who called frequently to update them on Pietro's so far unchanging condition. The other two sat down and waited for him to finish. They could tell from Charles' end of the conversation that things still hadn't improved.

Eventually Charles hung up and turned his attention to the others in the room. Rogue felt the need to demonstrate instead of explaining what had occurred and pulling off her glove, she grabbed Remy's hand and yelled 'Look!'. Remy smirked, enjoying her obvious delight at touching someone without harm, Charles leaned forward as if to stop her, and she just smiled holding their joined hand aloft.

"Let go if you begin to absorb him." Charles said as he entered her mind to look at her powers. He emerged a few minutes later, concerned frown on his face. "Nothing has changed from earlier. Which is to say you have made progress my dear, however, not to this extent."

"I didn't think I had, which means something's going on with his right?" Rogue said as Remy groaned. He knew this is where the testing would come up. Before it did, he stood and walked toward the door hoping to at least avoid it.

"So, since it's no new progress, then there's nothing to talk about. We'll just let you get back to business here Professor, and I believe Rogue wanted to have a talk." It was a sign of how little he wanted to visit the lab that he reminded her of this, since just a few minutes ago he would have sworn he'd do anything to delay her probable anger at him over the kiss.

Charles stopped him before he reached the door. "Remy, yes it does appear to be a change. To your mutation. I understand your discomfort, however, we must attempt to understand. We do not want any accidents that could have been prevented." Remy slumped back into his chair, glaring at Charles. The man always knew what buttons to push to get you to see things 'reasonably' in moments like this it didn't feel reasonable to him, more like manipulation. Rogue promised to stay with him, and he felt a bit better about his trip to the lab, but not much. He hated labs.

He'd never been fond of doctors, but after his brush with Sinister, he was terrified of them. He'd thought some of the stuff Magneto got up to was twisted, but it was mild in light of the things he'd seen and felt under Sinister's 'care'. After Charles contacted Hank, Remy walked down to the lab with the air of a condemned man, Rogue by his side assuring him the whole way.

~0~o~0~

Erik and Wanda had agreed that they would never leave Pietro alone. Neither wanted him to wake in a strange place , no familiar faces around. Wanda had spent too much time alone to want that for him, and Magneto regretted that.

Erik had left an hour ago, just after Wanda arrived, and called Charles with the update. Wanda sat by her brother's side reading aloud from the paper, then a novel they had started last week. A nurse arrived along with the doctor in charge of Pietro's care. Which is how the first thing Pietro saw when awaking was the face of the nurse, who was bending over him, checking his temperature, as the doctor and Wanda stood a foot away talking.

The nurse called to them, and Wanda rushed to her brother's side before the doctor traded places with the nurse, and began checking Pietro's monitors. Wanda help his hand, and was overjoyed when he squeezed it weakly in return. She wasn't hopeful enough to think that this was the end of their ordeal, but it had to be a step in the right direction.

The doctor left a few minutes later to call their father, and Wanda turned all of her attention to her brother. "You're going to be okay now. You should've known better than to step in front of a bullet brother, you had everyone worried."

"H-h-h cough How l-l-long."

"Three months, you been in a coma. Look on the plus side, you did all that painful healing asleep. I'll ask if you can have something to drink."

Erik rushed into the room a few minutes later, as Wanda was just setting aside the cup of water the nurse had provided. He was beside his son, before either twin could register he'd walked in and did something he hadn't since they were very small. He swept Pietro into a hug, and a moment later dragged Wanda into it as well.

These last few weeks, all he'd done was sit and dwell. Dwell on how his actions had led to all of this, how he'd nearly lost his son...and his daughter. He had vowed o himself, if his children were restored to him, he would change. He would stop seeking fights, he would cherish his time with them. These were promises made in grief, and over the next few weeks and months his resolve would be tested, but for now he was simply happy to have his son rejoin the world.

~0~o~0~

Remy was sullen as he finally made his way back upstairs with Rogue. True to her word, she had stayed with him through the entire process, which did little to soothe his nerves at the moment as he rubbed the bandage around his elbow. The doctor had taken several blood samples, ran a battery of scans, asked for a urine sample, and then ran more scans, and finally released Remy three hours later. The sullen and annoyed look was directed at the Hank's parting statement. "Well that should do for today, Please return in the morning so we can finish up."

They arrived in the deserted TV room, and Rogue turned to him, now ready to finish their conversation. One look at his face however told her that he was not in the mood to talk about anything serious, so instead she challenged him to a movie marathon of her choosing. Soon they were engrossed in mindless movie violence as she chose an action movie series to try to cheer him up.

They were on the third and final movie when John joined them. He noticed the bandage on Remy's elbow, and said "What happened there?"

Remy, who had relaxed greatly over the last few hours stiffened and said. "I don't want to talk about it John."

"He had some tests done, and isn't in the mood to go over it." Rogue said when John opened his mouth to continue the questioning.

"Testing?" John said as he looked from Remy's elbow, to his face,to Rogue. Rogue was sitting slightly closer to Remy than normal, though this was to comfort him from his ordeal. What John actually noticed was she was slightly less tense as well, and didn't jump when they both reached for their sodas at the same time. He pieced together rather easily that something had gone on, and was about to ask further when Charles informed him telepathically that Wanda wished to speak to him. As he was leaving he threw over his shoulder. "I knew you liked her mate, but I didn't know you were that bad."

Rogue blushed and Remy groaned. He should have known better than to confide in John. Sooner or later everything he heard came back out of his mouth. "I- John's a freak."

"So do you actually like me, or is he making things up again?" Rogue asked, unsure what answer she hoped for. She liked Remy, but with her powers being what they are, she was afraid of dating anyone. On the other hand, Remy was able to kiss her earlier and that lessened the fear a bit. She wouldn't have to constantly worry that she would accidentally brush his hand, or that he'd hug her wrong. Provided this wasn't a freak moment in his powers or hers.

"I care a lot for you Rogue. I don't want to loose your friendship." Remy said. He was worried about this most of all. It had taken him months to earn her trust, after all. He knew that was his own fault, and something he regretted often. He'd been attracted to her the first time he saw. He'd realized he liked her and would love to be at least her friend while he was monitoring her. Then he kidnapped her to use her to find his father. "Would you like to go to dinner with me? And if you decide it's not what you want, we can pretend it never happened."

"I'd like that Remy, but we can't go to dinner. We can't leave the grounds."

"I private picnic then, just the two of us."

"There's four feet of snow on the ground!"

"In the Danger Room. Logan's not here to smell food in there and rip into us."

"Okay. One date, that's all I'm promising."

The moment was ruined by John rushing back into the room, holding the phone and yelling that Pietro was awake. Jean and Scott rushed in after he yelled to find out what was going on, and Hank joined them as well. He had been on his way to the kitchen when he heard the yell.

Everyone cheered at this, and Scott informed everyone the feast he and Jean had been working on all afternoon was nearly ready, suggesting that they use it to celebrate this good news as well as Rogue's. Rogue agreed, uncomfortable with being the center of attention anyway and glad to have at least some of it redirected.

A/N: I realize I am terribly behind in responding to reviews and I apologize. I will do my best to respond to everyone in the next few days, but in the meanwhile I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to review. I'm glad you are enjoying the story so far. :)