Rogue wondered if she wasn't appearing perhaps too eager to meet her date at the end of the front wall near the forest path. One annoying voice in her head suggested she was desperate-looking. But then Rogue decided, she was eager, so what did it matter if she was being honest with herself and Remy? She was a few minutes early, her bottom resting on the red brick wall that supported the black metal fence. Fortunately, the day was bright and not too cold. She'd put on her best jeans, some hiking boots, a cream colored crew neck sweater with a collared blue denim shirt underneath. She had her brown bomber jacket and a light orange scarf. Brown gloves matched her jacket. Thank goodness it was fall and her gloves didn't look so out of place as they did in the dead of summer. She had smoothed her hair somewhat and put on the smallest amount of makeup. aren't you fancy, the voice in her head snarked.

Shut up, she informed the voice.

i'll enjoy watching you blunder through this, the voice said, meanly.

Logan had looked at her with eyebrows raised as she trotted down the staircase and across the foyer. "Lookin' nice, darlin'," he told her.

"Thanks, Lo," she said with a secret smile and stepped through the front door. He smiled at her and shook his head, not pressing further.

She was looking up the drive for Remy. She saw his lanky figure from a distance. He saw her too, and waved, though he didn't seem to hurry any faster. Just kept moseying along like he didn't have someplace to be. She studied him as he walked towards her. He still had on sunglasses, but his hair had been pulled back from his face. Several stray strands escaped from his ponytail and fell over his brow. He wore a long brown coat that looked fairly worn. His hands were shoved in the pockets. Jeans with holes in the knees, shabby concert tee-shirt, oversized flannel button down in pink and blue, worn unbuttoned. Running shoes on his feet.

"Am I late?" he asked her when he finally got close enough to speak. "Only that I have been trying to prettify myself this last hour, and have produced mixed results." He held out his arms in a helpless gesture.

"You look good for a hike, sugah. Maybe not the Ritz though," Rogue smiled at him. "And you're not late, Ah'm early."

"It's nice to know you're here lookin' out for me," he told her.

She wished she wouldn't blush within five minutes of him talking to her. he's playing you like a fiddle. "Path's this way," she said and pointed.

"Lead the way, and I will follow you to the ends of the earth."

"You really can spin a line, sugah," she joined his side and they started down the path.

"Have I reeled you in?"

"Maybe a nibble," she said, "but not hooked yet."

He laughed. He had his head turned to look down at her as they walked. He gave her a smile, then looked up at the path ahead. Gold leaves had fallen from trees to cover the trail.

"Look here, Dorothy Gale, it's de yellow brick road," he extended his elbow for her to take his arm. "Will you show this fool scarecrow the way to Oz's Wizard?"

what a dork, the voice said. After a moment of hesitation, she linked her arm in his. "We're not about to skip, are we?"

"I'm more of an ambler," he told her.

"Scarecrow, is it? Certainly not cowardly, coming out with the lines you do. And it seems to me you have a big heart. So no tin man either."

"Girl, you are charming de pants offa me."

She ducked her head and laughed softly, blushing again. Stop it, face! she told herself. like you'll ever get into his pants, said the voice. Rogue smothered her.

"You don't got any homework to do, do you? With it being a school night?" he asked.

She shook her head, distracted a bit by the battle of wills going on in her head. "Ah'm not really a student," she told him, kicking the leaves in the path as she walked.

"I was going to say, 'gifted' you are, but 'youngster' you are not."

"I might've been held back," she said, glancing up at him.

"How old are you anyhow?" he asked.

"Eighteen," she replied.

He clapped his hand to his forehead. "Robbin' de cradle, me! I didn't realize you was jailbait!"

Rogue opened her mouth and made a shocked sound, aghast. "Do not say that!" She pulled him to a halt. prude.

"All right, I'll save my off color humor for when you're older," he said. "Keep it PG-13 for now."

"Ah'm not some little kid!" she said, pulling him along again. She considered treading on his foot as they walked to trip him, but felt that would not be very adult behavior. She challenged him: "How old are you, then?"

"Twenty-one," he said. "So I can buy you beer."

She shook her head, somewhat exasperated. "Incorrigible."

"So, not a student. You're a teacher?""

"Ah'm just here...t'help out."

"How long you been here?" he asked, looking through the trees as if he could see the mansion through the forest.

"Oh, year and a half now," she said. "Off and on."

"You go back home on occasion?" he asked.

"No...Ah. Well, Ah've traveled a bit." san francisco, perhaps?

"Did you now?" he asked, surprised. "So in addition to being gifted, and gorgeous, you're also a citizen of de world."

She grinned. "You can stop with the compliments."

"Why? Does it make you uncomfortable? I'll stop."

Rogue shrugged a bit. "Ah'm just sayin' you don't have to try so hard."

"Am I dat obvious?"

"How about we have a real conversation, instead of you comin' up with cute things to say? Did you finish your study session?" she asked.

"It finished me," Remy told her. A pair of squirrels ran across their path, having an argument.

"It looked like some hard work," Rogue told him. "Ah didn't have a head for math and science mahself."

"Same boat," he told her. "What do you have a head for?"

"Ah like reading, and writing."

"Same. What are you readin' now?"

"Oh," Rogue rolled her eyes at herself. "Just some dumb romance book. Ah like to shut mah mind off every once in a while." ha ha, i see what you did there.

"I know just how you feel. So. Is it dirty, your book?" he asked her.

She laughed. "No, it's romantic."

"Maybe you can read me a few of those romance passages over de phone tonight."

"Remy!" she tugged his arm. "Stop!"

"Ah, I'm just teasin'. You should see the book I'm reading now. At least you're reading books at the appropriate age level."

"So what is it?"

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," he told her, smiling to himself.

dork. "Ah think Ah've heard of that," she said. "Haven't read it though, Ah don't really read a lot of fantasy."

"And romance isn't fantasy? What with the heaving bosoms and throbbing manhoods and all?"

"So you've read a romance book?" she asked disbelievingly.

"I have an open mind. Plus I'm a big sap. Readin' about Harry looking into a magic mirror that shows you your true heart's desire...and seeing his family's faces. It about done me in."

"You homesick? Miss your family?" she asked.

"Weh. Like a phantom limb," he answered.

"It won't be too much longer 'til the semester's over, until winter break," she said, and offered him a tiny hug on his arm. "Be seeing them at Christmastime."

His smile was wistful. "Sounds like a dream come true. How about you? You longing for home?"

"Mississippi? No," Rogue said. "Do Ah miss the weather, the river, the food? Yes. But this is mah home. This is where Ah belong." is it, really? She gestured expansively towards where the mansion lay behind them.

"Pretty nice here then?"

Rogue nodded. She steered him down a turning in the path that took them closer to the lake.

"Why don't you tell me about it then, your home?"

"What do you want to know?" Rogue asked, feeling a little nervous, wondering how much she could say without revealing anything, while still being honest.

"Who's your friends? Tell me about them."

"Well...Ah guess my closest friend is Logan."

"Do I got cause to be jealous?" Remy asked.

Rogue smiled to herself. She had kissed Logan once to absorb his healing factor. But Remy didn't need to know that. "No, we're just good friends. Trust each other."

"You mentioned a Peter on de phone."

"Yup, he's a good friend, too. Like Ah said, gentle for how big he is. He's an artist, a painter. He did me a drawing, which Ah have in mah drawer. I love it, but it's weird to have a drawing of yourself on the wall."

"You could give it to me," Remy suggested. "If it's of you, it's no doubt a work of fine art."

"You said you'd quit!" She shook her head. "And no, never parting with it."

"You said it, incorrigible, right? Seems like you've got a lot of friends."

She nodded. they were my friends first. "Ah can't forget Kurt. You'll never meet a more selfless person. But he's also kinda like an annoying kid brother," Rogue frowned a little, thinking of how Kurt had been so seriously injured recently, when he was depowered and attacked by an angry mob. She shook free of her worry. "And Kitty. She's the youngest of our little group. Ororo, she's our ringleader. A goddess amongst us."

They'd reached the lake by now, and a chilly wind blew off the water. The late day sun was shining bright off the lake's surface, the colorful trees and blue sky were mirrored in the water. They stood for a moment, staring out at the lake.

"What about your...headmaster?" Remy asked. "Xavier?"

"Oh," Rogue breathed out and her breath made a little plume in the air. "He's takin' a...sabbatical." in space, where he can stay, for all i care.

"Oh," Remy said. "But then, the Wet Blanket?"

Rogue did not think it wise to discuss Magnus. That was a non-starter. "He teaches the younger students," she said. "He's not really part of our...group."

"Dieu," he said absently. "Younger students? Just how many of you are there?"

"Maybe like a dozen or so more residents," she told him.

"And you all…you're free to do as you please?"

She was slightly confused by his question. not all of us. "For sure we're less...structured than other schools. Not like a complete free-for-all, there's some learning going on, Ah'm sure," she joked.

She could almost see his eyes from this angle, as she looked up at him and he looked out at the lake. It seemed his eyes were very dark. She wished he would take off his glasses, so she could see his whole face, his brows, the bridge of his nose, his cheekbones. She thought she probably shouldn't be asking anyone to take anything off, when she couldn't even take off her gloves. Maybe, like her, he had his reasons for wearing them.

"Since Ah'm answerin' all your questions, maybe you could answer one of mine?" she asked.

"Okay, shoot," he said.

"It's kind of a sensitive issue. Ah guess you'd say "hot button" even."

"So, like politics, or religion?"

She nodded. "Kind of political, Ah guess. Social issue."

He watched her expectantly.

"What are your thoughts about mutant rights?" she asked in a rush.

She searched his face for a reaction, but saw none. "I guess I haven't thought much about it," he told her finally.

"Do you think all people should have equal rights and standing in the eyes of the law, in society?" she asked.

He nodded. "I do. But some people aren't made equal. They get special treatment, don't they? Because they're better'n us. Or they think they are."

Rogue felt a chill go through her. She pressed her lips together, feeling a tinge of anger. "Ah don't think anyone thinks they're better'n anyone else," she said, a little forcefully. magnus, her traitorous mind suggested.

"Do you think so?" he asked her in a lightly bemused tone, and his face was just as serious as hers. Rogue thought she should just walk away now, but she was going to stand and fight. Give him something to think about anyway, even if she couldn't change his mind. "I know plenty of people who think they're better'n me."

"Ah'm not talking on a personal level, Ah'm talking on a societal level."

"I got no use for society. Some people get the luxury to do whatever it is they want, while the rest of us get ground under their heels as they run roughshod over us. They have it all, all the power. And we're powerless."

hm, starting to come around to this guy. "Luxury? Is that what you think it is? To be a mutant? Like it's so easy? Mutants somehow chose to be the way they are?"

His mouth opened, and he seemed taken aback. "Chѐre, I don't think you and I are talkin' about the same thing."

"Ah asked you about mutant rights, didn't Ah?"

"You asked me what I thought about equal rights."

"It's the same," Rogue answered. "Humans, mutants. Black, white, gay, straight, what have you. And we all should get a fair shake."

"No," he seemed to be exasperated now. "I'm not talkin' about that. I'm talkin-."

"What do you know about it, you bein' a straight white male? What do you got to worry about equality? Ah guess you don't really, and that's why you haven't really thought about it."

Now he was angry, but then so was she. He shook his head and made a dismissive sound, turning away from her. She wasn't going to win any arguments with anger though, or with belittling him.

"Ah'm sorry Ah said that," she said, more softly but not with less conviction. "It came out wrong is all. Ah got mad. I was just thinkin'...If you believed in equality. Maybe think about how some people just need a little extra help, to even the playing field, and make it fair. So everyone gets the same chance."

He had turned away from her, but now he turned his head. "Yes, that's what I think exactly. Exactly that. Some want to play on the field, but can't even get to d'ballpark."

"Do you feel like you're shut out...of the park?" she asked, trying to understand where he was coming from.

He shrugged. "Maybe not me personally. I can always figure out a way to get myself in the door, so to speak. This is my thinking about equality...We came up pretty poor. Like, I'm going to go to bed early, just so I can sleep and not feel so hungry for a bit. That kind of poor."

"Oh," she said quietly. aw.

"And it didn't seem to matter how hard my poppa or brother and his wife-worked-it was always that the money was gone before it even came in de door. Meanwhile, there's no upper limit to what those with power and those with money think they deserve. Happy to take away what little we had. More is never enough for the likes of them."

Realization slowly crept up on her. "So when you were talkin' earlier, about people who think they're better, you were talkin' about the rich and powerful...not mutants. Power as in monetary power, not as in mutant ability," she said slowly.

By way of answer he quoted: "'Careless people. They smash up things... then retreat back into their money. Let other people clean up the mess they had made.'"

gatsby. Rogue felt all her earlier anger melt away. "Ah'm glad we're on the same page. Ah guess Ah jumped to the wrong conclusion. Thanks for arguing with me." She gave him a sheepish smile. "We must have just been seeing through our own personal lens." like i have a choice.

Remy's expression softened. His dimple reappeared. "You're a feisty one. I'll know what I'm in for the next time we tussle."

"Well, Ah hope it doesn't come to that," she told him.

"People can disagree and fight and still be friends," he said. "And as for racial equality, I wouldn't hold your breath."

"You got to at least try, t'stand up for something, sugah."

He drew a breath to respond, then seemed to think better of it. Once again he turned to look at the lake and not at her.

"What is it?" she pressed.

"I need to plot out my argument before I take you on again," he said. "I'm huddling up my defense."

"Okay, Ah'll wait. Why don't we walk some more? Ah'm getting cold standing here."

"You seemed pretty het up a second ago," he told her. Once again he offered his arm.

"Ah get that way when it's somethin' Ah care about." She linked her arm in his.

"Awright, here goes," Remy began as they walked. "So...no matter how hard me and my family had it, the woman who cared for me growin' up, was a mother t'me. None of us had it as bad as her. B'cause she's a Black woman."

He seemed to appraise her carefully for her reaction then. Maybe he wondered if she had her own racial biases. "Tell me about her," she said.

"Well, so if we were out together, people assumed she was my nanny or housekeeper, not her own kid. Talked down t'her or talked to me like I was de one in charge, me bein' ten, eleven, twelve... When we went to de market, people would stiff her, just out of meanness. And knowing there wasn't much she could do about it. That's just a tiny bit of it, there's a million ways they made her feel less than. And she's...been around a long time, and has seen it all. And maybe it's changed, but not in ways to make her life fair. Just enough to make it bearable. And when I thought I'd stand up for her, get mad and fight back, she said it wasn't worth it for me to go t'jail or get hurt on account of her."

Rogue felt angry again, at the unfairness, not at Remy. "Ah'd have stood up for her," she said. "Whether she said boo or not."

Remy smiled and shook his head. "You don't know her. She can put the fear of God in you. I could beat a hundred bigots, but I wither under the force of her glare."

"Another example of someone who needs extra help, to get them where they should be. That's why we got to fight for your momma. That's what Ah think for mutants too. Some of us just need extra help, not just granting us the same freedoms as others, but extra care with the powers we've been given. We need more, not less. Not punishment, not be controlled, not blamed. We need help. If there was something out there, support, then there'd be no mutant menace. There'd be no need for Mutant Control Acts. X-Terminators."

He had stopped in the path to look at her. Because he still held her arm in his, she stopped as well. She had been watching where she put her feet while she talked, but now she felt the weight of his gaze on her face. She slowly turned to him.

"'We,'" he repeated. "'Us.'"

She nodded. "Ah'm a mutant."

Her heart was racing. She felt like she was veering in one direction one minute, then being taken by surprise at a sudden turn. How did this conversation go from flirtatious to serious, then maddening to empowering? How did she open up her most fervent beliefs to someone she'd just met? How was he not running for the hills? Was she articulate? you sound a naive child. She prayed he at least felt the conviction of her words, even if it came out all wrong. She felt his pain, understood now why he had been so adamant in his anger, his feelings of powerlessness. Now she felt excitement, maybe fear...no, trepidation. She also felt hopeful that he might like what she had to say. That he might like her.

By now the sun had started to lower itself behind the trees. His face was lit up orange and red, the light reflecting off the lenses of his sunglasses. His expression was not easily readable. "Y'are?" he finally said. "What's your powers then? Can you show me?"

She nodded. "Well, maybe not a demo. But. Ah'm super strong." She flexed a bicep and struck a pose. oh, so you mean my powers?

"How strong? Can you deadlift me?"

She grinned. "Little ole you? That and then some. Like bench press a tank."

He laughed at that. "I can't picture it."

"Ah'm near invincible," she added. "Like bullets bouncing off me invulnerable."

"You haven't been shot at, surely?"

"Ah mean, Ah could drown. Be poisoned," she said, choosing not to answer his question. "Ah suppose if the Hulk sucker punched me...Thor's hammer could throw me for a loop."

His smile was bright in the darkness. "Is there nothing you can't do?"

"Ah can fly," she said, and lifted herself off the ground a foot or two. He reached out and grasped her forearms as if she would float away like a wayward balloon. She let him guide her back to earth. She was standing very close to him now, face to face. Or chest to face, as she had to look up at him. He could lean down and kiss me now, she thought, which made her somewhat nervous. She stepped a pace away, putting distance between them. But of course he couldn't kiss her, and she wouldn't let him. Not without her absorbing his strength, his thoughts and memories. She didn't tell him that part though. yes, do omit that vital piece of information, why don't you? She didn't want to think about never being able to press her own lips to the softness of his lower lip, feel the scratch of his stubble against her mouth.

"Y'aint afraid of me, are you?" she asked him.

"If you can throw down with de Hulk, I'd be pretty dumb to not fear you a bit, chѐre….I like that you care so much, that you want to fight for what's right. I'm glad you're takin' what you've been given to make things better."

'given,' right...

"You could do the same, Remy," she said.

He shook his head a little. "I am just fightin' to survive."

She wondered what it was he was trying to survive. Poverty? A hard enough problem, but it seemed like he had something he was withholding. Once again, she wished she could see his eyes to gauge his expression. The sun disappeared behind the trees and they were surrounded with blue-green shadows. The waves lapped at the lake edge. A bird called in the forest. "It's gettin' pretty dark," she said. "Can you see okay, in your shades?"

"I see fine, chère, don't worry about me," he said quietly. She felt warm now, standing next to him. His body radiated heat like a furnace.

"Do you want to come up to the house?" She asked, hooking her thumb over her shoulder. Now that she knew where he stood, she felt comfortable bringing him back to the school. She doubted Magnus would, and she'd have to steer Remy clear of him. She thought she could offer him something to eat, but worried he might think she pitied him.

"Maybe some other time, chère," he said. "I should go back, lest I get et by a loupgarou out here in de forest."

"Ah guess Ah shouldn't make you walk home in the dark. Ah could fly you," she offered.

He grinned at her. "I don't think my heart can take it," he said. "I can find my way back, no problem. I could walk with you a ways back towards de house."

She agreed and they started back the way they came in companionable silence. The mansion's lights were on, shining down into the patio, the winterized pool, and yard. They stopped just short of where the lights painted the grass in bright yellow rectangles.

"The path's just that way," she said and pointed. It was a clear path to the front gate and Graymalkin beyond. "Ah'll keep a lookout for the loupgarou." She thought then of Logan out prowling and wondered if Remy didn't have a right to be leery of the dark woods.

She thought he might try to kiss her then, a thought that both frightened her and nearly enticed her. She half hoped he would try, so she could tell him she didn't kiss on the first date. Just so she could know that he felt the same way she felt about him. Instead he nodded. "Thanks for lookin' out for me," he said. "I'd love to see you again."

"Me too," she said.

He had released her arm and was now holding her hand. He bowed slightly and kissed the back of her fingers.

"Adieu... adieu...," he said.

ugh, you're not going to fall for this, are you? "Good night," she told him. "Be safe." She watched him slowly amble off towards the path, the fence. When he'd reached Graymalkin Lane and disappeared from sight, she lifted herself from the ground, spread her arms and twirled about the yard like a top, her hair flying out from her head. Now her outsides matched her insides, wild, whirling, waiting for the next sharp drop, high hill, or loop-de-loop.

Next: Remy's impressions of how the date went.