Chapter 45: Unseen
He woke up in the infirmary. When he moved, Remy saw a flash of white and then Jean's voice murmured, "Ah, you're awake."
Sitting up, he started to ask what the hell happened when he remembered: Rogue's mouth pressing against his, the taste of apples and honey, the familiar warmth of her body pressing to his, and just as his hands had gripped her hips…nothing.
Cursing vividly in French he dropped his bare feet to the cold tile floor. "Don't even try to keep me," he warned as Jean approached.
"I won't." She tipped her head, watching him, considering, before continuing. "You didn't leave her much choice."
"We always got choices," grimly as he made for the door.
"Sometimes its hard to see them."
"You tryin' to give me some sage advice, Jean?"
"I'm telling you what you already know. People make choices because they think they're right or best or they don't see any other way. We can judge them, shut them out, make them suffer for a lifetime-or we can choose not to lose the people we love." She didn't give him an opportunity to answer, turning away, back to whatever work she had while the door swished open in front of him, opening onto a long, empty hall.
Knees tucked up, Rogue dropped her head on the tops of them and coiled her arms around her legs. "I cain't do this, Kitty."
"Sure you can, Rogue." Kitty continued tucking Bobby's books in among her own. They were actually making progress on getting the two of them settled in their new, slightly larger quarters. Rogue was "helping."
Rogue didn't bother looking at her friend. Her voice came back muffled. "He hates me. He hates me an' then I go an' kiss him t'knock him out? What is wrong with me?"
Kitty laughed and that drew a look: green eyes on a black sclera glittering and narrowed. "Why did you come back, Rogue?"
The woman in question turned her head, tucking her cheek on her knees and continuing to look at Kitty skeptically. "I got a handle on things now. I can be a part of the team. I can help other mutants maybe."
"You didn't think Remy would be here?" She tapped a book against her chin, pondering where comic books should go. "You didn't hope he would be?"
"I didn't think he would be." Anna Marie wiggled her toes, individually wrapped as her socks were more like gloves. "Kitty, I, oh, God, this is embarrasin'. I went to see him."
At that, Kitty's head whipped around, the trouble with where to house Bobby's comic collection forgotten. "When? Where? Why didn't either of you tell me this?"
Miserable, Rogue closed her eyes and confessed. "He doesn't know an' I didn't tell anyone not after I….I tracked him down when he was with that artist. Yaxeni."
"Rogue, you didn't."
She peeked and could see the sympathy on Kitty's face. It stung. "Sure did. Right after I was cleared to be on m'own, he was m'first trip. I thought if he wasn't—, if he hadn't fallen…but there he was with her in the middle of the jungle and they spent more'n half their time naked and covered in paint and I….I was still gonna go see him. I was gonna explain everything but I heard him laughin'. He picked her up and he spun her around and he was just, he was laughin'."
She'd felt so helpless, watching him and knowing that she'd never given him that. With them everything had been fraught and tense and risky. Every kiss, every touch had bled him into her and edged her closer to a loss of control. With them, everything would still be fraught. Even with the amount of control she'd gained, the one thing she hadn't learned to do was turn the mutation completely off. They'd never be able to spend days naked and covered in paint.
"Oh, sweetheart."
"She's here, in New York. I guess maybe that's why he came, really. I thought it was 'cause of me but she's got this show and he really just followed her back and I'm an idiot." She dropped her face back into her up-drawn knees and groaned so she didn't notice the door open on Bobby with another box or Kitty waving him off.
Once Bobby had shut the door quietly Kitty said, "He isn't with her."
Rogue dropped her legs, crisscrossing them, and planted her palms on her thighs. "He told me he was."
"He's a liar." Rogue's snorted laugh caused Kitty's mouth to twitch as she betrayed a friendship without a twinge. It was for his own damn good; that stubborn ass Cajun might hate her for a while but he was going to thank her later. She was sure of it.
"He's a liar, Marie. He wanted to hurt you. He spent some time with Yaxeni, yes. He's not in love with her. And he sure as hell isn't with her now," she continued, giving away the last of his secrets without a qualm. "He came back for you. He came back when I called and told him you were coming home."
"Kit-"
"No. You did what you had to do. And it hurt people, worried them, but you needed to put yourself first and there is nothing wrong with that." Kitty was fierce on that point. "I understand it and when he stops pitying himself and nursing his wounded pride he'll understand it too. Now, are you going to wait for him to come around or are you going to knock some sense into him?"
Rogue stared at her friend, speechless. Whatever she felt about Kitty's speech her face was blank. At then she smiled, wide and bright. "I'm going to seduce him."
Kitty felt the first stirrings of unease about revealing truths not her own. "Uh. Rogue? I don't know if that's the best plan."
Rogue's grin went sly and sultry. "S'what he did to me. Spent months at it. First into trustin' him, then into bein' his friend, and finally into his damn bed. Think it's bout time that Swamp Rat got a taste of his own medicine."
Bobby, still standing awkwardly in the hallway, heard the sudden peal of their laughter and grinned in response. Remy, walking down the hall at precisely the moment Rogue had decided on his fate, paused to look at Bobby, then the door, then back to Bobby. "Good luck, homme. You gonna need it."
Bobby should have let him walk away, instead he dropped the box he'd still been holding on the floor and jogged the few steps necessary to catch up with the Cajun. "Uh, Remy?"
Red-on-black eyes slanted towards Iceman, but he didn't slow his pace. "Yeah, homme?"
"I realize that it isn't my business-"
Remy's mouth twisted sardonically. "If it aint' your business, kid, why don't you stop right there, yeah? Save us both some grief."
Bobby stepped in front of the lanky mutant and stopped. "I lied. It's my business because I loved her and you took her." When Remy went to speak Bobby lifted a hand. "No. I'm with Kitty now. I'm in love with Kitty and in six months she's going to say yes when I ask her to marry me. But I loved Marie first so I know what it's like when she walks away. And I know what it looks like when she looks at you half-scared with wanting something she thinks she can't have and doesn't deserve."
Remy knew his eyes had kindled and it was sheer will power that the rest of his body remained loose and relaxed when his fingers itched to curl, to land a punch on that pretty boyish face staring him down. "You want me to apologize, mon ami? Bon. Let me do that. Sorry I stole your girl so you could go be happy wit Kitty. Turns out, Rogue'd just have broken your heart a little later, so mebbe you oughta be thankin' me, no? Looks like you da one got de better girl."
Bobby didn't respond, his gaze focused beyond Remy's shoulder. With a sinking feeling, the Cajun knew who was there. But that feeling didn't show on his face as he turned to see Rogue standing in the hallway, rainbow toes and tousled hair, pale blue track shorts and a Tegan & Sara shirt slipping off of one shoulder. When he met her eyes, eyes that were still tainted with him, he forced his lips to curl. "Well, ain't dis awkward. Two exes and ain't neither of 'em sad t'be past tense, chere. Pardón. I got plans, me, that are a little less complicated."
Remy stepped around Bobby and Bobby didn't try to check him, instead reaching for Rogue. She jerked back. "No, he's right, you know?"
The words followed Remy down the stairs, what came after was too muffled to understand, but he couldn't un-hear her confirmation. He'd spent months trying to convince her she was worth…hell,everything and in one second he'd reneged on all he'd ever promised her.
Author's Note: HI! I love you people. I know this is short, but I wanted to give you sooomething and I've rewritten this chapter so many times I thought it was best to let it go be out in the world. I have started the next chapter, but, again, with all the jobs I don't know when I'll get it finished. However, come August 8th I should be back down to a non-insane schedule so I'll get to some faster updates. Hope you enjoyed! I also hope you all are having a wonderful summer!
