Remy opens their bedroom door and is mildly surprised to see Scott standing there. Their field leader looks frazzled.
"Is Nori here? The Professor couldn't find her."
Remy steps back and nods at the bed. "She's here. Just fell asleep is all. Had a bit of a long day, yknow."
Scott sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Do you think it would be okay if we woke her? It's… kind of an emergency."
"Okay," Remy says. "What's wrong?" He gently shakes Nori, who gives an endearing little stretch.
"Mmm?" she says.
"Cher, wake up. Scott needs to talk to you."
She sits up and pushes her hair behind her ears. "What's going on, Scott?"
"It's—it's the mutants from the lab." She tilts her head, and he continues, "Their powers are coming back, but they can't control them."
"Oh dear. So you want me to block them?"
"Just as a temporary measure, so Hank can look at them."
"Okay," she says. She stands and slips on a pair of canvas flats. She grabs a sweater on her way out the door. It's always so cold in the basement. Remy follows them downstairs, a little anxiously. They're both surprised when Scott leads them to the Danger Room. He opens the door and they see that it's been filled with cots. There's a man who looks more like a lizard. He's weeping. Someone else is burning. Random explosions occasionally fly through the air.
Nori puts a hand over her mouth and Remy squeezes her shoulder. She carefully shields herself. The obvious misery in the room is taking its toll on her. She closes her eyes and reaches out, feeling the strange unstable energy in the room. She draws it all to her and trembles. The room gets quieter. Nori sinks to her knees, and Remy kneels beside her. Hank strides into the Danger Room and sighs with relief. "Nori, I'm glad you're here. It seems you were right about the instability of the cure."
She nods. "So, uh… I can't do this forever…"
Hank nods. "I know. But if you can keep it up for the next half hour or so, it would permit me to safely examine the mutants."
"I think so. It's just, I've never done it with so many people…"
"… And she's just getting over a concussion," Remy says disapprovingly.
"I know. I know. Believe me, Nori, I would not ask this of you today if it were not urgent."
"It's fine," Nori says. "Go." She hums quietly to herself while Remy rubs her shoulders. A few of the mutants approach them curiously. Nori keeps her eyes shut to stay focused, but she and Remy tell everyone who approaches that yes, they're mutants, and yes, everything will be fine. Remy watches as the lizard man's light skin slowly starts to gain a scaly look. He nudges Nori.
"Cher, you okay?" She sighs in response. "Cher. You have to focus or Hank is gonna get hurt."
"Oh!" The lizard man's skin returns to a pale peach color. "This feels so weird, Remy. There's so much weird energy in here."
He can hear how fast her breathing is. He moves a hand to her throat and feels how rapid her pulse is.
"Hank? You almost done?" Remy calls.
"I assure you, I am working as fast as possible."
"I don't think this is good for her."
Hank sighs and murmurs something to Scott, who leaves the Danger Room, only to return promptly with a tray full of syringes. Remy watches as Hank begins injecting some of the mutants. Finally, he walks back over to Nori and Remy.
"Nori?"
"Mm."
"You can stop now," Hank says gently. "Thank you."
"Did you just sedate them?" Remy asks, watching the mutants drop off to sleep.
"It is less than an ideal solution, I am aware."
Nori opens her eyes. They're glassy and her pupils are enormous. She's still breathing shallowly.
Hank frowns and feels her pulse. His eyebrows lift.
"Nori, how do you feel?"
"Fine. Fine fine fine." Her whole body is trembling.
"She usually gets kind of like this after blocking someone's power," Remy says. "Just, you know, less."
Still kneeling on the floor of the Danger Room, she suddenly uses her empathy to send Remy a huge spike of lust. He sucks in a breath and says, "Let's get you upstairs, cherie."
"Is she all right?" Hank asks.
"Ah… she will be," Remy says.
"All right," Hank says doubtfully. "Do not hesitate to call me if… if she needs help."
"Merci, but I think she will be just fine. C'mon, cher," he says, pulling her to her feet. She wraps her arm around his waist possessively and starts sending him telepathic images. He hopes to God that her shields are working. He's hard by the time they make it up to the first floor, and when they get up to the third floor he's almost groaning in anticipation. He locks the door and pushes her onto the bed.
"Cher, you are a bad girl."
"No," she gasps. "I'm good, I'm such a good girl."
He bends down and kisses her neck, urgently. She tangles her fingers in his hair and squirms under him. Remy cannot imagine anything more difficult than forming a coherent thought while listening to the sounds she's making right now, but something is fighting to come to the surface of his mind. Something… he absently nibbles her earlobe and then abruptly pulls back from her face. "Nori, are you okay?"
"No," she moans. "Need you."
He grins. "I mean. Before. Your pulse was so fast…"
"You're not going to make my heart explode, LeBeau, promise." She pulls his face back to hers and kisses him, hard.
He gasps and pulls her shirt over her head. He rolls her nipples in his fingers. She whimpers and puts a hand down her skirt. Remy travels down her body and stops her hand. He sucks her finger, gently, then slides down her leggings and panties and flips her skirt up. He parts her thighs, and starts to tease her with his tongue. She runs shaking hands through his hair and cries out incoherently. Occasionally Remy hears his name. Nori doesn't talk much during sex—usually just "please" and his name, which he admits he loves hearing. It took him some time to realize she says it more for herself, to remind her who she's with. For the same reason, she likes when he talks to her. It doesn't really matter what he says, she just likes to hear his voice. Remy's always been a talker anyway.
Remy loves sex. He supposes most men do, but Remy had loved sex as a personal challenge. He loved to figure out what women (and occasionally men) wanted, and to give it to them. Nori had presented a special challenge. He was a little surprised she'd want sex at all, after what she'd suffered at the hands of Stryker's guards and even before. But she does, on her terms. (She'd told him once that she'd had a very "sex-positive" therapist, for which Remy was eternally grateful.)
His relationship with Nori is by far the longest relationship he's ever had, and at first he'd privately wondered if it would get boring to only have sex with one person. But, of course, that had been before Nori had gained new powers and figured out how to use them on him. It's true that he now knows what Nori will respond to (and what she won't), but that just makes it easier to tease her, easier to maker her whimper, "Please, more, Remy, please." He likes it when she pleads—both for his own ego, and to be absolutely confident that he's doing what she wants.
Today, though, it's almost like he is with a different woman. She's electric. When she comes, her empathy hits him so hard that Remy comes in his pants, still fully dressed. He can't remember the last time that's happened to him, but he'd estimate age 14. He lies with his head on her abdomen, panting. She's still gasping for breath and running her fingers through his hair. After a few minutes her breathing returns to normal and she gives him a sleepy smile.
"Whoa," she says, shakily. She runs her hands over his cheeks. "C'mere, you." He returns to the top of the bed and accepts a kiss. She snakes a hand down his torso and finds his soft, sticky cock. "Oh!" she says.
He chuckles. "You were putting on quite the show there, cher."
"Sorry," she murmurs.
"Oh, no, don't you apologize." He looks into her wide eyes and asks, "How you feeling, ma mie?"
"Good," she sighs. "I think we burned off all that extra energy I picked up."
He kisses her. "Happy to help."
She makes a small content sound, and he strokes her cheek before getting up to change his pants. She goes to the bathroom and brushes her teeth.
"What time is it?" she asks.
He glances at their alarm clock. "It's nine."
"PM?"
"Oui."
"Huh," she says thoughtfully. "What day is it?"
"Thursday."
She looks up at him, disheveled and confused and adorable. "I think—I think I'm going to sleep."
"All right, cher. You should rest."
"Stay with me?" she asks, knowing he's probably not ready for sleep, but not wanting to be alone.
"Of course. Always."
She gives him a sweet, pure smile and he lies down behind her, pressing his body against hers. He melts a little inside when her empathy gives him warmth, comfort, safety… all the things Remy had wanted during his years on the run.
Nori wakes up around four. She hadn't had a nightmare, she simply isn't tired any longer. She relaxes against Remy for a few moments, then pads down to her office. She turns on some music, sits cross-legged on the floor, and waits for Logan to turn up. They have unfinished business.
She sits peacefully for about an hour until she hears a knock. "Come in," she calls, and in comes Logan. She smiles up at him.
He licks his lips, seeming nervous. "Nori… can you help me? With my memories?"
"I can try."
He sits down next to her, and she reaches up and touches his face. "Relax," she says gently. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you." He feels a light touch in his mind, and then she retreats. "Breathe with me. In…out…in…out…" She lulls him into a quiet state and then slips back into his mind. She finds her way back to the room with the puzzle in it. It's a mess. She kneels down and starts to reassemble it. Logan joins and finds that he's able to help.
In his mind, he says, "Do we really have to do this again? It was mostly finished before."
"Yes," she says. "It's important. I-I'm not sure why. But it's very important."
"All right, darlin'." The puzzle goes faster this time, since Logan vaguely remembers what it looked like. It still takes quite some time, since it's a huge puzzle.
When they reassemble the picture of Kayla, Logan starts breathing shallowly and his vision goes red.
"Logan, breathe with me," Nori says again. She quietly calms him down, and they return to work. Now they're starting to understand why this was so difficult. It isn't a coherent image at all. There are smaller images inset around the larger image of Logan and Kayla.
They have no way of knowing how much time has passed in the real world, but they finally finish it and gaze at it proudly.
"Who are these people?" Logan asks.
"You don't remember?"
"No."
"Oh. I just… I just assumed… that you would. It seemed very important," she repeats. "Hmm." She taps at one. "That one looks kind of like Sabretooth."
"You're right. You're right. Hey, uh, Remy told me that—that he used to look different. More human. That must be him."
"And I'm going to go ahead and guess that this is why you speak Japanese," she says, indicating a photo of Logan and a beautiful woman in a kimono.
"Mariko," he remembers. "She…" He trails off and his breathing gets faster.
In Japanese, Nori says, "Breathe, Logan. Just breathe."
"Maybe I don't want to remember."
"You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm here for you, either way."
Logan breathes hard and his hands shake. Unbeknownst to either of them, he's gouging the hardwood floor in Nori's office.
"All right," he says, "What else can you tell me?"
"Ah… well, let me look around. I'm new at this, you know." She walks around the room. It's barren. "Remy's mind looks more like a library. I guess all your books are overdue. Ah," she says, running her fingers over a seam in the wall. "I think there is a door here. Can you open it?"
He pops a claw and runs it along the seam. "Eek! Doesn't that hurt?" Nori asks, returning to English.
"I'll heal," he says tersely.
They pry it open and find some faded and torn photographs on the floor. "Oh, Logan, whatever that bullet did to your memory… well, it was pretty thorough. But let's look."
They kneel down and pore over the photos. "Look, you were in the Army. With Sabretooth."
"Victor."
"What?"
"His name is Victor," Logan remembers.
She nods. "You guys were in the Army for a long time," she says.
Logan picks up another photo and lets out a primal scream. "What? Logan? Oh, boy," she says, standing up and backing away from him, hands out in a pacifying gesture. He stops screaming and falls to his knees, weeping. "Oh, Logan," Nori says. She slowly approaches him and kneels next to him. She gently rubs his shoulder. Wordlessly, he hands her the photo. The Japanese woman from before is lying dead, in a puddle of blood. Nori's eyes fill with tears too, and she keeps rubbing his shoulders.
He catches his breath and reaches up to take one of her hands. He remembers Kayla's words. He's not an animal. "I'm all right, darlin'. Can we keep looking?"
"Of course." She gives him one more reassuring pat before returning to the photos. She starts organizing them. "There are a lot of Victor."
There are a few of Stryker, and she puts those face down.
"Oh, look, here's Remy! He looks so young," Nori says. "And kind of pissed." Logan looks at the photo. Remy's brandishing a wooden bo staff at him, a cocky expression on his face. It stirs something in his memory, though it might just be because Remy had already told him about the fight they'd had in New Orleans.
After all the photos are sorted, she sits quietly while Logan looks through every one. Sometimes he remembers a name, a place; sometimes, he doesn't. After he's gone through all of them, he says, "I guess we're done here."
"Okay," Nori says. "I'll just show myself out."
He gives her a small grin and says, "Thanks."
"You're welcome." She turns and heads for the door. A moment later, they look at each other in the real world. Both of their faces are tear-streaked.
"You did it, darlin'," Logan says. "Thank you."
"You're still welcome. Doesn't seem like we found that much, though."
"More'n I had before. I think… think I need to hit the road. Canada. Japan. Maybe if I see some of those places… I'll remember more."
"That might work," she says. "I… I could go with you, if you want. Or Remy, I'm sure."
He smiles and shakes his head. "No. It's something I should do alone."
"Okay," she says. "But you don't have to be alone. Not if you don't want to."
"I know."
They sit in companionable silence for a few moments, before Logan says, "Darlin'? What in God's name are we listening to?"
She tilts her head. "Tori Amos. From her electronica phase. You're not a fan?"
"Not so much."
"It's an underappreciated album, in my book." She gently rocks to her feet and changes the music. "How's this? Beethoven, from his extremely pre-electronica phase."
He laughs. "Better."
She glances again at her laptop and says, "Wow, it's almost seven."
"You know, maybe that's why Xavier never found anything. I never let him try for that long."
"That could be. Or perhaps you simply were not ready to remember yet."
He nods. "Hey. Sorry about your floor, Nori."
"What? Oh," she says, following his gaze. "Eh. I'd been thinking about getting a throw rug anyway."
He grins. Nori had walked right over the gouged floor and not noticed. Xavier's fancy mansion was wasted on her. He rises to his feet. "I'm going to go pack."
"What the hell? You're going to Japan now?"
"Well, Canada first, I thought."
"Logan, you can't just leave. You have classes."
"Remy can teach all that stuff."
"Or, you can wait two months and go in the summer. You waited almost twenty years, you can wait a little longer."
"What if…what if I forget again?"
"I'll help you remember, again." Her face is soft as she says, "There's only two months until Rogue graduates, you know. Don't you want to be here for that?"
"Well… of course."
"Your past will always be there, Logan. The present is ephemeral."
He nods slowly. "Okay. I guess I could stick around a few months."
"Perfect. Also, I think Remy and I are getting married in May, and we want you to be a witness."
Logan grins. "I knew you had an ulterior motive."
"Always." She gives Logan a tight hug and says, "Well, I'll see you at breakfast, then."
"Seeya, darlin'."
Nori returns to her bedroom to find Remy half-awake. It's early for him, but they had gone to sleep at 9PM the previous night. She smiles and climbs back in bed.
"Where'd you run off to?" he murmurs.
"My office. I… I helped Logan again with his memory. Remy, I think he is at least a hundred years old."
His voice is more alert as he says, "You were in Logan's memory? Alone?"
"Well. Yeah."
"He could have hurt you, cher."
"Logan wouldn't."
"He wouldn't if he was in control of himself. But… he ain't always in control!"
"Well, everything was fine." Almost everything—she decides she doesn't have to mention her office floor right now.
"Thank God for that. But cher, promise me you won't take any more risks like that. Not without Xavier, or me, or somebody around."
"Okay," she says in a small voice.
He wraps an arm around her. "It's just that if you got hurt… "
She sighs and rolls over to kiss him. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking about that. I just wanted to help."
"Of course you did," he says fondly. "So. Did you find anything interesting?"
"I think Sabretooth might be his brother."
Remy whistles. "Talk about an awkward family reunion. I never saw a tougher fight than Logan and Victor on Rue Bourbon."
"I always forget that you knew Logan before. What was he like then?"
Remy considers. "Oh, just about exactly the same as he is now."
"Least he's consistent. What were you like then?"
"Handsome and charming."
She laughs. "Well, you're consistent too, I guess."
He runs a thumb over her cheek and says, quietly, "I was scared. I was so scared when he came into that bar and started talking about Stryker."
"Well, why wouldn't you be? Seems like the only sane response." Remy shivers and Nori strokes his hair. She continues, "You went, didn't you? You helped them escape. You were brave."
He shakes his head but doesn't say anything. Nori says, "Remy, you were just a kid, really. A kid who'd been imprisoned and experimented on for two years. You were brave and clever and you escaped, and you went back. And now Stryker is dead." It unsettles her to think about how often the two of them use the phrase "Stryker is dead" to console each other—but she can't deny that is an extremely comforting piece of knowledge. She keeps petting his hair and she whispers, "You're safe, now. We're both safe."
They both cry, a little, and lie together quietly for several minutes. Finally, they shower and dress. Nori's a little worried when they don't see Logan at breakfast, but she reaches out with her mind and finds him in the garden.
Just wanted to make sure you weren't halfway to Calgary.
I told you I'd stick around until graduation, didn't I?
She sends him the psychic equivalent of a smile and then breaks their connection. When she opens her eyes, Remy's smiling at her.
"What?" she asks.
"You're awful cute when you do that," he says.
She smiles back and is about to respond when Hank walks up to them. She turns and says, "How are they?"
"Well…"
Nori twists her lips into a pretty moue. "You want me to come downstairs?"
"Yes. After you finish eating that," he adds, as Nori half-rises to her feet despite the unopened yogurt in front of her. She sits back down and shrugs.
"But are they okay? Are they in pain?" she asks, peeling back the foil.
"They… they are distressed," Hank says. "I do not believe any of them are in physical pain, however."
"So, um, the—"
Hank interrupts, "I can explain more when we are downstairs."
"Oh. Okay," she says, licking raspberry yogurt off her spoon. She falls quiet and eats as quickly as possible before depositing her spoon in the silverware bin. Remy's still eating half a bagel, but he follows Hank and Nori downstairs.
"I have been studying the so-called cure, as well as the notes we obtained from the lab," Hank says. "I believe that it does work, but only if they receive a daily dose. What I have not been able to determine is if the effects they are currently experiencing are permanent, or simply a form of withdrawal."
Nori slips her hand in her mouth and bites down on her knuckle. "That sucks," she says after a moment. Remy gently takes her hand and rubs his thumb over the faint teeth marks she's left behind.
"So, what are you going to do?"
"That's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" They stop in front of the Danger Room and Nori abruptly realizes how tired Hank is.
"When was the last time you slept?" she asks.
He shakes his head. "There's so much to do."
She takes his hand and focuses her power on him. She's not really sure what strengthening his power will do—she'd never tried it on Hank. But she's heard that her power boosting feels pleasant, and if nothing else, she can give him that. She pulls away after a moment.
"Well, thank you," Hank says, blinking.
"Any time," she says.
"Now. I am working in the lab to recreate this… cure… but I would also like to keep the mutants here under observation, to see whether or not they are detoxing the drug from their systems. I would like it if you could block their powers, so I could perform some tests."
"Yes, of course. But—do you think, this time, we could try a few at a time?"
Hank nods.
"I could just follow you? And do it case by case?"
"I think that would be fine."
"Hang on, there," Remy says. "The whole reason you didn't do it that way yesterday was because that room was on fire when we got there."
"Yes. There are a few… I will point them out to you, and you can block them the entire time, as a… precaution," Hank says. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Nori says. Remy squeezes her hand and Hank keys in the Danger Room code. Nori takes a deep breath and then links herself, Remy, and Hank telepathically.
Which ones, Hank?
Well. Aidan is the young man in flames. Jenny is shooting sparks. Amara is melting the floor. One by one, those powers wink out. The rest are merely… inconvenient.
Right.
Nori trails behind Hank, blocking powers and struggling to keep her empathy under control. Remy trails behind Nori, keeping a protective hand on her shoulder. They're an unusual trio, but they get the job done. Nori starts getting a little twitchy, but compared to the previous night, she's fine. Hank finishes his rounds and sends Nori and Remy on their way.
"How you feel, cher?" Remy asks hopefully.
"Hungry," she says, to Remy's disappointment. She smirks at him. "Let me get a bagel or something and then we can go upstairs."
"I can live with that."
She spreads peanut butter on a bagel and eats it with, Remy thinks, an unfair amount of deliberation. Finally, she licks her lips and rises to her feet. She looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, but she is sending him downright pornographic mental images. He sucks in a breath and follows her up the stairs. After being with a telepath, he's not sure if he could ever go back to being with regular women, even if he wanted to.
Nori's worked up from using her power, but not quite so desperately as she'd been the night before. They take their time in bed, and when they're finished, Nori kisses him and says, "So, I think we should plan our wedding, or whatever."
He laughs. "Well, you've got me where you want me."
"I'm an excellent negotiator," she says. She climbs out of bed and comes back wearing his discarded shirt—which he loves seeing on her—and carrying her laptop. "So, I think we should do it in May."
"That's comin' up real fast. Don't people usually take a year or so to plan this kind of thing?"
"Yeah, but we don't need a church or a caterer or anything. I mean. Unless you just want to wait for a year?"
"Think I'm gonna get cold feet?"
"I just don't want to rush you."
He looks over at her fondly. "I'd marry you right this minute if you wanted."
She shakes her head. "I promised you cake, didn't I?" She bends down and kisses him softly.
He sighs. "May, then."
"Okay. So Here's what we need: a couple of rings. A wedding license. A witness or two. And I was thinking, I'll just make a bunch of cupcakes rather than get some giant creepy cake."
"You forgot champagne. We need that."
"Right," she says, adding something to her Word document.
"Cher, you didn't even have champagne on that list? Let me see."
She tilts it so he can see. It is a bulleted list:
Rings
Wedding license (at least 1 day in advance)
Witnesses need state ID (Logan has one, right?)
Cupcakes
Champagne
"That's like, it, right?" she says. "I thought we could have it the day before graduation. That way the kids are all done with schoolwork, but it's before any of them leave for the summer. Also, Logan's going to Canada after graduation."
"What about music?"
"Oh, of course. I was just going to make a playlist and put it over the sound system in the ballroom."
"You don't want to play?"
"I've played at so many weddings. I'd rather just dance. What do you think?"
He grins at her. "I want to dance with you."
"Good. So, the day before graduation is May 30. It's a Friday. Do you want to invite your brother and his family?"
"Ah… well, they probably won't come, but it would be nice to invite them, non?"
"Of course," she says. She opens a new document and writes "Invite: Henri and Mercy. Rachael. Ken and Aiko. Mom. School."
"School?" he laughs.
"Well, you know, I'm not going to write out all their names right now. Is there anyone else?"
"You don't have any friends you'd want to invite?"
"Ehh… I haven't really told any of them about the school, or, whatever. It just seems… safer to keep it small. Maybe Andrew. And maybe… hmm…oh, I don't know. I kind of want to invite Pyro. I know he wouldn't come, but…"
"Hmm," Remy says, noncommittally. Logan had told him all the things Pyro had said to Nori at the lab, things that Nori didn't remember. "Well… whatever you think."
"I guess." She quirks her lips. "Is it okay with you if I ask Rae to design the invitations?"
"Of course, cher. Whatever you want."
"I will remember you said that."
Remy grins. "Also, you need a dress."
"Yeah, I'll get Rae to go shopping with me I guess. I'm not getting anything fancy, though."
"Whatever you want is fine with me."
"I know," she says with a grin. "What are you going to wear?"
"I will look presentable."
"You always do," she says, smiling up at him. She stretches her arms out in front of her, satisfied. "Man, they act like wedding planning is hard. Is there anything you want to do? Any family traditions, or anything?"
He shakes his head. "My family traditions didn't work out so great. I'm happy to start some new ones."
"Okay. Okay, also, rings?" She pulls up a website. "This is a friend of a friend, he's an artisan and he makes wedding rings from recycled metals. These are just samples, but, I was thinking, white gold? Do you like this one?" she asks, tapping an image labeled "Classic wedding band." "Or," she says, "There are some ones with engraved designs? Or do you want gold?"
He holds his breath for a minute and looks down at his hand. He imagines seeing a wedding ring on it. "I just want…" he trails off. "I like the simple one. White gold, I guess." He beams.
"Okay," she says. "And then for me…" She looks at her own left hand and smiles. "Well, he can design something that goes with this ring. So, I'll call him, and maybe next week we can go to his studio? It's in Brooklyn."
"Well, sure, cherie."
"Are we forgetting anything?"
"Hell, it's only March. We got all the time in the world."
She clicks "save" and puts the laptop away. "We're getting married," she says.
He pulls her toward him and starts tickling her ribs, loving the silky feel of his shirt against him and the gentle shaking of Nori's laughter. "Nooo," she protests, though her struggles are insincere. She giggles and shares her feelings with him, and he laughs too.
"You are my favorite," he says.
"I should hope so." She curls up on his chest and he sighs.
"Je t'aime," he murmurs.
She grins into his chest and uses her empathy to tell him the same thing.