Of Jealousy and Love ch 25
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She walked the halls like a zombie, sadly maneuvering her way to her old suite. Though others seemed to stare at her because of her soaking wet attire, she paid no mind to them as she focused on reaching her destination.
As she rounded the corner and entered another hallway, she was happy to find that no one was present and it was as empty as sweater shop in the middle of July. Making her way to her room, Rogue sighed as she looked left and right, double-checking to make sure no one was around before opening the door.
She found Scott, Alex and Adam in the room, casually sitting on the bed and mindlessly watching TV, more focused on their conversation than anything the newscaster had to say.
They paused however when Rogue entered the room, Scott being the first one to acknowledge her.
"Rogue?" he asked, getting up off the bed and ushering her inside, closing the door behind them. He was worried to see her like this but that last thing they needed right now were onlookers.
"Rogue what's wrong, what are you doing here? And why are you all wet?"
She didn't know where the feeling came from or why she reacted this way, but as soon as she saw Scott's concern for her and heard his barrage of questions she broke down into tears again.
Feeling absolute pity for his girlfriend, Scott embraced her in a hug and let her cry into his chest, without a care in the world that he was getting wet himself from her soaking attire.
"Rogue?" he asked concerned. "What happened? What's the matter?"
She continued to cry, not feeling up for an explanation but more rather in the mood to just be held by the one she loved and comforted as she cried.
Worriedly Scott turned to his two brothers who might have any possibly explanation for his girlfriend's behavior but they shrugged as a response, just as flabbergasted as he was and watching the displays of affection like a soap opera.
"Rogue, c'mon tell me" Scott urged, gently tilting her chin up to face him and wiping away one of her tears with his thumb. "You're worrying me, what's going on?"
"Everything's going on Scott, everything" she replied, crying in his chest once more.
Scott held onto her tighter.
"I don't care anymore, I really don't care. I just want to be with you Scott. I just want you to hold me."
Sighing a hard sigh, Scott embraced her again, concluded all of this could only come from the one and only mommy and daddy dearest and he couldn't imagine the amount of pain she was going through right now.
To say the least, today had not been such a very good day for Rogue and he wasn't surprised that all she wanted to do was cuddle with him for comfort.
Even though they were still hiding their relationship from the others, Scott assumed that behind closed doors, they would be safe from any onlookers and he wasn't about to leave his girlfriend alone in a state like this so he let her stay.
"It's going to be alright Rogue." He comforted as she continued to cry. Glancing out the window, he noticed a constant steady of rain was beginning to tap against the mansion. "Everything is going to be just fine, I promise."
………………………………
"Is she asleep yet?" Alex asked, re-entering the room with a sandwich in his hand. It had been about three hours since Rogue came in crying, and since then she had showered, changed and headed for bed, Scott comforting her until she fell asleep.
"Fast asleep" Scott confirmed, stroking her hair once more and turning out the light on the nightstand by her bed. "So don't you even think about making a sound."
"C'mon Scott, I'm as quiet as a mouse"
Just as those words left his mouth, Alex tripped over Rogue's wet shoes that were lying in the middle of the floor and let out an abrupt "Whoa!" before tumbling to the floor, dropping his sandwich, which was caught mid-air by Adam.
Rogue stirred in her sleep before rolling over and resting peacefully again and Scott glared at his baby-brother.
Looking up at Adam who had his sandwich in his hand (which was missing a bite), Alex grinned as his eldest brother shook his head in dismay before turning to Scott who was looking at him disapprovingly.
"Quiet as a mouse ey?" Cyclops asked and Alex grinned sheepishly, getting up and dusting himself off.
"Eh, sorry about that, I didn't see the shoes."
Again Adam shook his head in dismay before taking another bite of Alex's sandwich. "So Scott, you think she's going to be ok?" he asked. Meanwhile Alex glared at him, snatching back his food.
Scott turned to Rogue who was bundled up in the sheets, sleeping with a disturbed look on her face, before turning back to Adam and sighing.
"I hope so, I guess today was a rough day for her."
"I'll say" Alex pitched in, taking a bite of the sandwich he brought before it was snatched away again by Adam. The eldest brother took another bite, and held it away from Alex's grasp. "I mean look at her parents man. Can we say……….bitches." the last words came out huffed as he dove after his brother for his food back and he stuffed the rest of it in his mouth.
Adam glared and Alex stuck his tongue out at him, careful not to drop any crumbs. "Pig" Adam retorted.
"Well I don't know" Scott continued, choosing to ignore his brother's antics. "I mean her dad seems reasonable. He just seems to be stuck in the middle of her mom's wrath."
"I repeat, bitch" Alex said, once he swallowed the bread and ham combo. He really wished he brought some milk to wash it down. "A real man wouldn't allow his woman to keep him on a leash like a dog; especially a woman he's divorced from."
Scott shook his head at Alex's logic.
"Well that's not the point Alex, the point is how Rogue is coping with all of this."
"I'm sure she'll be fine Scott, if she's the woman you describe her as, than I'm sure this will be no hard thing for her to pass." Adam reassured.
"I don't know Adam, I mean this is her parents were talking about. They've practically disowned her the moment they found out she was a mutant."
"So why should she care now?" Alex asked.
"Because they're her parents"
"So"
"So, wouldn't you care if mom and dad were still alive?"
Alex frowned. He hated being reminded of their parents, even if it was for the basis of comparison. He supposed Scott had a point. If their parents were still alive, he would have cared about their marital status even if they disowned him for being what he was. They were his parents after all; he loved them; even more so now that they passed away. Of course he didn't know what their reaction would be to their three sons being mutants, as they had died before they could find out, he guessed whether they rejected him or embraced him, his opinion would be the same; he would still care.
Alex sighed a hardy sigh. "Yeah, I guess you're right Scott; I would care."
Scott sighed as well. "Look Alex, I don't mean to get you all upset with the mention of mom and dad but just please try and understand, Rogue is going through a lot now and well I don't know, I guess I just feel it's my job to defend her."
"Yeah it's alright bro, I understand. And I know how you get when it comes to your women"
"Don't we all know" Adam chimed in.
Scott chuckled.
"I really didn't mean anything by what I said."
"It's ok. Didn't mean to get all offensive on you either, it's just—"
A knock at the door, interrupted Scott mid sentence and he whirled around to face the wooden frame.
"Who could it be now?" Alex asked, completely forgetting that his brother was just talking to him.
"Who is it?" Scott called to the door, mildly panicking about Rogue being in the room. He hoped it wasn't her parents looking for her.
"It's Santa Clause, coming with a bag of goodies, who the hell to you think it is twinkle toes?"
Scott sighed again, rolling his eyes. Of course, naturally it had to be Logan.
"Is there anyone with you Logan?"
"Rudolf the red nosed reindeer, what the hell do you think Scooter, now open up the damn door"
Sighing and rolling his eyes again, Scott made his way to the door and opened it up, coming face to face with a grumpy Wolverine.
He smiled sarcastically. "Gee Logan, it's so nice of you to drop by. Anything I can help you with?"
Logan rolled his eyes, entering the room as Scott shut the door behind him.
"Don't flatter yourself cream puff I only dropped by to check on the kid."
"And you came here first?"
"No" Logan retorted. "I stopped by yellow's room earlier and she said the kid never showed so I suspected there was only one other place she could be."
"Oh well that's very clever of you Sherlock Homes."
Logan glared again. "Zip it Boy Scout."
"Well as you can see she's fast asleep Fabio so you're job here is done. You can go now."
Logan gruffed staring at Rogue for a few moments, before pulling a cigar out his jacket and searching for his lighter. He looked at Alex and Adam.
"Who are these two, you're Siamese twins?"
"A, they're Adam and Alex and their my brothers, B, it takes two to be Siamese twins and they have to be conjoined by a limb, and C, if you light that cigar in here I'll tell Pyro where you keep your stash of cigars." Scott defended.
Logan grunted again, removing the cigar from his mouth. "Whatever"
"Jeez, you know if you don't mind me asking, what's gotten you in such a chipper mood? And in my room no less; you really do take it to a whole knew level of rudeness when you insult me in my territory."
"Eh whatever, cream puff. Jean and I are in a fight so naturally I'm not going to walk around the mansion all sunshine and rainbows."
"So you come to my room to bother me?"
"It passes the time."
Scott rolled his eyes. "So what'd you two fight about huh? She finally couldn't stand that biker aroma you carry around?"
Logan glared. "No" he retorted again. "We were actually fighting about you"
"Me?"
"Don't get your panties in a twist, it wasn't all about you. But you did have some part in it."
"What did I do now?"
"It's not what you did Scooter, it's the Emma Frost girl"
"Emma?"
"Yeah, I don't like her; she's a bitch and I think she's up to something."
At the mention of Emma, Adam and Alex were beginning to loose all their judgmental opinions of Logan's attitude and they peeked an ear in to listen. Whatever Logan had to say about her could not be good.
"So you and Jean fought about that?"
"No. I had a chat with the kid earlier, and she told me that she thought something was fishy between Jean and Emma. She said Emma kept staring her down and she found it weird the two of them were friends."
"Yeah I know that. But what does that have to do with you and Jean fighting?"
"Well the kid said that Emma knew you two had a thing going on so naturally I put two and two together and figured Jean must have had something to do with it so I—"
"Wait a second, Emma knows Rogue and I are dating?" Scott exclaimed frantically. He glanced out the corner of his eyes and saw Rogue stir in her sleep again and he immediately clamped a hand over his mouth.
Logan noticed this as well. "Shh, not so loud Scooter, you'll wake the kid."
"How the hell does she know that?" he whispered this time.
"She's a telepath. There aren't many things you can keep from her."
"But the professor promised me—"
"The professor doesn't know about the possible allegiance miss Frost and Jeannie could have going on"
"Allegiance?"
"Think about it Scooter. The two of them hated each other but now all of a sudden their best friends. Jean has never mentioned Emma's name before this weekend, Emma decides to drop by conveniently when you two are hiding your relationship and somehow she magically knows about your relationship."
Thinking about what Logan just told him, a light bulb suddenly dinged in Scott's head and he was beginning to draw the same conclusions. Feeling himself beginning to panic, he could only imagine how the end results of the situation could not turn out good.
"Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick"
"You think you're going to be sick now, just wait till' all this gets out in the open. You'll be on the floor in a stroke."
"Don't say that Logan; there's still hope that this is all a big misunderstanding."
"Feh. You haven't even let me reach the good part yet."
Scott's heart skipped a beat. "Oh God, what now?"
"When I went to confront Jean about it, she played dumb with me and pretended like she didn't know what was going on, then she turned the tables on me and made it seem as though I was just jealous and rash of God knows what and God knows who."
"So she talked you out of it."
"She tried. I could tells he was playing mind games cause' I got a killer headache afterward and that only happens when she probes into my mind."
"So what'd you do?"
"There was nothing I could do, I was like a walking, talking adamantium dummy."
"Logan, you're always like a walking talking adamantium dummy"
Logan glared. "Shut-it Scooter I'm trying to tell you a story."
"Whatever, so what happened after that?"
"After that she promises me some alone time and I head for the shower while she tells Emma something or the other, then the next thing I know she's chewing me out for accusing her of being jealous and wanting you back. And well, now, here I am, ranting about this shit to you and your flesh and blood."
"Oh Goodness, I think we need to warn the professor about this" Scott fretted. "If what you're saying is true than I think tomorrow is going to be hell on all of us."
"No, are you kidding me? Leave the professor alone; he's got enough damage control to fix with this one's parents." He said, nudging in Rogue's direction. "If we're going to fix this thing, we've got to do it on our own."
"How?" Scott asked. "I mean how do we even know we're right about this whole thing."
"Simple" Logan said, staring at Scott mischievously, then staring at the door. "We run a test drive."
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Walking down the halls of the mansion, the four men made their way down to the kitchen where they new Emma was located, going over the plan they had concocted in their minds.
"Ok so remember Scooter, get as much information as you can and if she makes a move, then split ok?"
"Ok" Scott said nervously.
"Yeah and whatever you do, do not think about anything we just told you" Adam reminded. "Telepaths can smell sneakiness from a mile away."
"Yeah sure"
"And don't be so nervous man" Alex chipped in. "We're all right here behind you, you'll do just fine."
Scott suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"Oh man I don't know if I can do this you guys, this has backfire written all over it."
"Oh c'mon Scott, you have to do it; don't you want to know what's going on?" Adam asked.
"Yes I want to know but there are other ways of approaching this. I don't think you understand, Emma Frost is a very, sneaky, sly and conniving woman, she can convince anyone to—"
"C'mon Scooter stop being such a pansy." Logan interrupted. "Where'd all your big X-men leader traits go?"
"They're still here" Scott defended. "They're just being smart. I don't want this to backfire in my face; it's already happened once before."
"It won't happen again cream puff. It's not like you're going in there begging for sex, you're asking her about herself, finding out as much as you can. We need to catch her in the act before we make a scene of this."
"Can't we just tell the professor?"
"No!" all three men said in unison.
"We can't kill chuck of a heart attack you monster so just gear up and take this like a man." Logan said right as they reached the kitchen entrance way.
Scott sighed as he stood at the entrance to the kitchen, taking in a deep breath and thinking once more about what he was doing. This had bad idea written all over it but his brothers and Logan did have a point when they said it was most likely the only way they could get to the root of this. They really needed to know what the problem was with Emma and Jean now before things escalated and got worse.
Taking in another deep breath Scott walked into the kitchen confidently, glancing over at Emma who was mindlessly reading a book, and watching as she looked over and smiled at him when she saw him enter, setting her book on the counter and swiveling around to face him.
"Well, well, well, look who it is." She said with a smile, crossing her legs over one another sexily.
He hated when she stared at him in the way that she did; she looked as though she was on to him already. Scott could feel himself loosing his confidence quickly.
"My old buddy Scott" she said smiling at him just as seductively as she crossed her legs. "I haven't seen you since this morning when I arrived."
Scott sheepishly smiled.
"How are you?"
"Uh…..I'm doing fine, and yourself?"
"Never better" she said, getting up from her seat at the counter and wondering over to the fridge.
Scott watched her, as she swayed when she walked and she gently scratched an unusually convenient scratch on her upper thigh, which was exposed by her low cut robe.
He gulped again.
"So, who are your cute little friends?" she asked motioning toward Logan, Adam and Alex. "I remember Tarzan from earlier this evening but I don't think I've ever met the other two. They're kinda' cute" she said.
Adam and Alex blushed from the compliment.
"Uh these are my brothers, Alex and Adam." Scott replied, trying to keep his focus on the marble counters and away from her legs.
"Brother's huh?" she asked, inspecting them for a brief moment before turning back to Scott. "That would explain a lot; they look sort of like you."
"Yeah we get that a lot" Scott mumbled.
"Ah, so why don't we make small chat Scott, it's been Soooooo, long since we've lasted talked to one another. What's been going on in your life?"
"Um, nothing much you know; just another year at Xavier's."
"Just another year at Xavier's?" she asked and Scott nodded.
"So there's absolutely nothing new going on with you?"
He shook his head.
"No new pet, no interesting students, no anything?"
"Nope."
"Hmm, that's strange" Emma said thoughtfully, sitting back on a stool at the counter and crossing her legs to give him a good look at her thighs.
"What is? That nothing new is going on in my life?"
"Yeah." She answered. "Word is around the street that you and Jean are over."
"CAUTION! CAUTION! RED ALERT! RED ALERT! WARNING TO SCOTT! WARNING TO SCOTT! APPROACH WITH CAUTION, REPEAT, APPROACH WITH CAUTION!" Scott thought frantically to himself. He knew this sort of thing would come up eventually, he was just wishing for later rather than sooner. Now he knew he'd definitely have a hard time fumbling for a good answer.
"Yeah….I guess we are" he admitted weakly, still staring at the marble top counters. "Just sort of slipped my mind I guess."
"Slipped your mind?" Emma asked questioningly. "The love of your life is no longer your fiancé and it just slipped your mind?" she asked.
"Yeah"
Emma shook her head. "You're a weird one Scott, but that's why I like you" she said with a smile.
Scott pretended to chuckle. "So uh, Emma" he cleared his throat. "Speaking of Jean uh…….when did the two of you become such good friends?" he asked.
"Good job Scott, turn the tables; ask her the questions now." He thought to himself proudly.
"Jean and I friends?" Emma asked pathetically, snorting with a laugh to herself. "Oh please don't humor me" she said.
Scott threw her a befuddled look, turning to the others who looked just as confused before turning back to Emma.
"But I thought you and her told the professor that—"
"Jean and I tell the professor a lot of things Scott" Emma said, examining her nails. "Doesn't mean they're always true"
"So why would you lie about being friends?"
"Why else dummy, so I could talk to you" she said, getting up off the chair and putting herself dangerously close to Scott.
Scott gulped again. This was one of the warning signs Logan told him about. If she made a move it was time to get the hell out of there.
The only problem was if he left now it would be awkward and weird and she'd probably just follow him out and he wasn't done getting information out of her. They just received new and pressing information about her and Jean's friendship; they weren't really friends and they lied to the professor. That brought even more affirmations to their suspicions.
Meanwhile as Scott was walking on pins and needles with Emma, the others behind him were holding their breaths, waiting to see what happened and praying for the best. It seemed like a victory on their part, with Emma admitting she lied to the professor, but when it came to the vindictive telepath, who could really know? She was a very sneaky woman.
"A Emma I don't think that's very—"
"What? Appropriate?" she asked, squeezing herself closer to him, just about to place herself in his lap. "You are single aren't you?" she asked, placing her arms on the side of his neck.
All right that was enough, sneaky little mind games or not he wasn't standing for this any longer.
"Actually Emma, I'm not single." Scott corrected, all his boldness returning as his took Emma's arms from off of his neck and placed them at her sides. "I'm seeing someone"
Now it was Emma's turn to give him the befuddled look but it quickly faded into a sly smile. "Oh are you now? She must be one lucky lady."
"She is"
"Who is she?" she asked devishly, smirking as she began backing Scott into a corner.
Scott however, refused to let her do so. "She's not from around here, you wouldn't know her." he said, diverting all of Emma's pointed questions.
"Are you sure? I'm pretty popular around here Scott. I'm sure I must have run into her one time or another."
"Believe me, you haven't"
"She's here at the mansion?"
"No, she's not"
"So then how are you seeing her?"
"People do have long distance relationships Emma. Oddly enough, they do exist in the world"
"Scott pulling long distance?" she asked. "Ha! Maybe when the world turns a faint shade of purple."
"Can we refrain from talking about me and my relationship please? Let's get back to why you and Jean lied to the professor. I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate something like that."
"The professor doesn't appreciate the whole mansion tying bows to his wheelchair on his birthday and on Christmas but he still tolerates it; I'm sure a little white lie won't send him to his grave."
"Well than why'd you do it?"
"I told you, too see you silly. If I have to pretend to be friends with that redhead just to see your darling face than I can and I am."
"Well it's sort of a lost cause' don't you think? I just told you I'm seeing someone else?"
"Nothing is a lost cause Scott. It's only lost for those who don't try hard enough and as you know, I'm as relentless as they come."
"Whether you're relentless or a quitter, I don't care; you're not going to make me cave like you did the last time."
"You sure about that?"
Red bells and sirens began to ding in Scott's head once more as she gave him that I-have-the-upper-hand look once more and spoke with that same conniving little tone; he was beginning to worry again.
"Yes I'm positive. I'm not so easily brainwashed these days"
"Brainwashing is for ammeters" Emma said, moving back toward her chair and sitting down.
"Is it really?"
"It is." She confirmed, still smiling at him slyly. Scott hated that smile with a passion. If Emma were a boy, he'd slap it right off her face. "Real telepaths know how to use the art of blackmail."
Again the boys behind Scott had their ears peeked with interest. Blackmail she said. This could not turn out good.
"Excuse me?" Scott asked, checking to make sure he heard correctly. For someone who seemed as though she was trying to pull a fast one behind their backs, she sure was making some bolt statements.
"I said a real telepath knows how to—"
"No, I know what you said Emma. I just want to know what do you mean by blackmail."
"Well you know a secret of mine so it's only fair I know a secret about you right? As they say, an eye for an eye."
"I don't have any secrets."
"Right. And maybe Hank is just blue because he painted himself that way."
"Emma—"
"Don't play stupid with me Scott, I'm not an idiot, I know about your little girlfriend, and I know what you two are hiding."
"My girlfriend and I aren't hiding anything and even if we were, it's none of your business."
"Well everything's my business when it comes to my main man" she said sweetly, though her sugarcoated words were filled with sarcasm.
Scott looked at her disgustedly. "You're insane, I'm out of here Emma"
Getting up and preparing to leave Scott was halfway to the exist before Emma called after him.
"You'd better stop right there mister unless you want Mr. And Mrs. D'Acanto to find out that Rogue is in your bed tonight."
Scott froze in his tracks and slowly turned around to face her.
Oh shit, of double shit oh tripled shit, how'd she know that? He was positive Jean wasn't even aware of that. How could she have possibly found out?
"Emma?" Scott asked slowly, still turning to face her and gathering his words together in his mind before he said them aloud.
"How……..How'd you know Rogue was in my bed?"
Her smirk widened and she gave him a devilish stare. "Ha, gotcha'"
"I didn't" she replied vindictively, her smirk growing wider and wider as the seconds pressed on. "But thanks for informing me"
Oh. Fuck.
Scott was sure he felt his heart flip flop into his stomach and both of his organs drop to the floor. He was definitely in for it now. He definitely just screwed himself over.
Meanwhile Logan, Adam and Alex cringed behind him as well, not believing Scott fell into Emma's trap. As they all had to admit, neither of them saw it coming, it was still a shock, surprise and shame that it happened and none of them even wanted to begin thinking of what outcomes this could have.
"Emma" Scott began, completely at a lost of words for anything to say to her. He couldn't believe he said that; he couldn't believe he fell into her trap. He should have walked away when he had the chance; he should have never come here in the first place. "Emma you're—"
"A bitch?" she finished for him. "I know. But you know Scott, for someone who's a bitch I always manage to get what I want. Hmmm, wonder why that is?"
"You know what Emma, I think it's time you just left. You've really overstayed your welcome and I'm sure the professor wouldn't appreciate nor tolerate the childish games your playing."
"And I'm sure the parents wouldn't appreciate knowing their children are going to a school where the teachers date their students." Emma shot back. "Hmm, kind of evens out doesn't it?"
"No, it doesn't. And if you think for one second that you're going to—"
"What are you threatening me now? Clearly you know I have the upper hand here Scott"
"You won't if you just leave like I asked you to in the first place."
"Well if I go, she goes. I'm sure she's overstayed her welcome just as long as I have. I'm positive mommy and daddy dearest would just die knowing their daughter is dating a man 11 years her senior."
Scott glared. "This is stupid Emma, and you're absolutely crazy. Why are you doing this? What satisfaction do you get at trying to ruin me and Rogue's relationship?"
"For pure entertainment Scott. Absolutely one-hundred percent sheer entertainment. I always get what I want and what I want is you. And if I can't have you, no one can, and I'll make sure to destroy anyone standing in my way."
"You're insane"
"Insane, crazy, bitchy, rude, all adjectives just to feed the beast that lies within. But regardless of that, are you going to give me what I want or what? Either way you can kiss that little country girl of yours goodbye, she's history."
"Drop dead Emma"
Emma smirked again. "Fine then, have it your way; I guess this is war."
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