Note: more sex.


December, 1997

Remy was having a hard time concentrating on his book. Though he'd read The Martian several times before and it was always good for a laugh, apparently even re-reading was too taxing for his brain. Jean, Rogue, and Kurt were decorating a Christmas tree that had been set up in the parlor in front of the large picture window. The room smelled like fresh pine. Outside the window, it was snowing. There was a fire in the fireplace. Sprays of greenery lay atop the mantle. Kurt had attempted to cajole Remy into participating, but Rogue put the kibosh on that, for which he was grateful. From what Henri had told Remy during their last phone conversation, the same sort of thing was going on back home. Henri observed that Charlie Brown's tree was only slightly less pathetic than the one his wife Mercy had decorated. Remy was getting to feel pretty homesick. The opulent surroundings in which he currently found himself felt like some sort of betrayal to the life he grew up in. Remy briefly entertained the idea of a visit, to sit in Tante Mattie's kitchen for a few hours. Some of the other X-Men had plans to return to their family homes for the holidays; Hank, Jean, Kitty...Bobby seemed less enthusiastic, looking like he was heading to the gallows. No one had heard much from Scott.

Remy must have been staring blankly at the Christmas tree for some time, dimly aware of Jean, Rogue and Kurt using their powers to decorate the uppermost branches, untangle lights and add the star on top. Rogue and Jean applauded Kurt's placement of the tree topper. Rogue looked over her shoulder at Remy, her face half lit in the warm glow of the lights. He admitted to himself by now she was not just a diversion; she was top contender for Remy's Favorite Person.

She walked over to him, took his book from his hand and set it onto the hearthstone beside the fireplace. She made a seat for herself in his lap. "No carols, Remy?" she asked. "Not one Fa La La La?"

"I left my mistletoe in my other coat," Remy told her.

"Maybe we can go upstairs and get it?" Rogue suggested in his ear.

He turned his mouth to her ear. "Here? In dis house?"

"Mostly empty," she replied in a whisper. "All of the boys are off somewhere."

Remy shot a glance at Jean and Kurt. They were exclaiming over ornaments they had forgotten about since they'd last been unwrapped. "Okay," Remy said, smiling. "You sneak off, then me. I'll meet you upstairs."

Rogue suppressed a giggle. "That spare room," she said. "It'll be cold, but...maybe not for long."

She extracted herself from his lap and bopped out the exit leading to the kitchen. Remy pretended to read for a few more minutes. Then he left through the door leading to the foyer, sidling past Jean and Kurt. Once out of sight, he dashed up the staircase, down the right-hand hallway to the very end. He opened the door to the spare room. It was empty.

"Rogue?" he whispered.

The closet doors opened. Rogue was wearing the jacket to the tacky brown suit and nothing else. She sang: "If Ah can't have you...Ah don't want nobody, baby!"

Remy pressed the door closed in a hurry and locked it, erupting with laughter.

She walked over to him. "Happy to hear you laugh, sugah," she said and moved herself into his arms.

"'Preciate you goin' to de effort, Roguey."

Rogue put her arms around his neck, pulled herself up his body and kissed him on the mouth. "Hold me close," she told him. "It's cold in here."

He obeyed, walked backwards to the sheet covered mattress, and pulled her tightly against himself. Remy sat, pulling her legs around his waist so she straddled his lap. Their lips briefly parted as she pulled his shirt over his head. She cast his tee-shirt to the floor, pushed him back onto the mattress, and kissed him some more. His hands ran up her thighs, over her bottom, and up her midriff. She gasped against his mouth. Rogue's hands moved to his jeans, pulled open the button, pushed down the zipper. She stood suddenly, pulled his jeans off by the legs. He laughed again as she nearly tugged him from the bed.

"What do you want?" Rogue asked him, straddling his legs again.

"I would think that's obvious," he told her.

"Ah mean, what do you want to do first, specifically?"

Remy pushed the jacket from her shoulders. "I want t'feel you against me. All of you."

Her breath came in a burst from her lips. "Ah've wanted that from the start."

Together they moved up onto the mattress, mussing the sheet. Remy pulled her body tightly against himself, enjoying the feeling of her warm soft skin against his own. She molded herself to him.

"Oh, you are tingly all over," she breathed. "Will you be on top of me?"

"You okay with that?" he asked, his face buried in her neck, her hair. She tugged his shoulder, pulling his weight onto her body. He watched her face carefully. Rogue's eyes were half-closed. She shuddered beneath him, wrapped her legs around his waist.

Remy sighed out a moan. He kissed her until her mouth and cheeks were scratched vigorously by his stubble. Then kissed her gently where he had chaffed her skin. She moved underneath him, rocking her hips forward. He felt himself slip against her sex.

She gasped. "Remy-," her voice had the faintest hint of warning in it.

"We won't," he whispered. "Don't got protection anyways."

"Ah still want...," she said, inhaled deeply and moved against him again. He sucked in a breath, he was unbearably close to being inside of her. She continued: "Please touch me."

Reluctantly, he parted from her. Rogue guided his hand between her legs. He found her with his fingers and she moved against his touch. She urged him to continue, and he found his fingers surrounded with her slick heat. She gasped, then gave a short moan.

"Is that okay, Rogue?" he asked. God, he hoped it was okay, he didn't want to stop.

"Oh, yes," she breathed.

He lifted himself slightly to watch her reactions to his ministrations, slowly moved his fingers in and out, and slid his body slightly down to bring his mouth to one of her breasts. Rogue's vocalizations became more pronounced.

"Shh," he half-laughed against her skin. "Shh, someone will hear." Though the thought of nearly being caught was something that tended to rev his engine, so to speak.

Rogue pressed her hands to her mouth, muffling her cries. "Oh, Remy!"

"Shh!"

"Oh!" then she whispered: "don't stop don't stop don't stop…"

Her hand was wrapped around his length, moving in an uncontrolled rhythm. He tried to suppress his own sounds by turning his face to the mattress.

"Remy!" Rogue cried. "Ah'm…!" Then quietly at first and suddenly gaining in volume. "don't stop don't. ever!-STOP!"

Remy sat up then, to better see her face, enraptured with her expressions of pleasure. Lips red, parted, eyes, heavy-lidded and dark, cheeks flushed. Her thighs clamped on his hand, he could feel her interior muscles clenching his fingers, so strong. Imagining a time when he might put himself inside of her was almost more than he could bear. He moved to kiss her mouth again when the door behind him was suddenly thrown open, the lock breaking. Remy abruptly found himself tossed backwards into a wall. His breath was knocked from his body. He was startled at the sudden sound: snickt! and the appearance of three blades uncomfortably close to his face. His head jerked backwards in response and he banged it against the wall.

"Wha-?!" he gasped.

"Logan!" Rogue shouted. "What the hell?"

Remy pulled his eyes away from Logan's claws to look up into the man's face. Logan was looking at him with murder in his eyes. Remy was experiencing bewildered shock, failing to process what was going on. Rogue was pulling herself from the bed, wrapping herself in the sheet. She seized an old brass lamp from the bedside and threw it at Logan. It struck him in the middle of his back. He blinked, turned on her with a snarl.

"What the hell!" Rogue shouted at him again. "What the hell is your problem!?"

Logan seemed to come back to himself. "Rogue! What? I-I heard you say-!" Logan jabbed a finger in Remy's direction. Remy dove to the ground trying to avoid the exposed claws. "You said 'Remy, stop!'"

"You heard wrong, ya big dummy!" she shouted, her expression was furious. "Aagh! Ah was so stupid! God forbid anyone get any privacy around here!"

Logan was gaping at her like a beached fish. He sheathed his claws abruptly. The second he did, Remy felt a hot flush of rage. He claimed his jeans from where Rogue had thrown them. Logan was half-standing on them.

"Get the fuck off!" he shouted.

Logan took a step backwards, freeing Remy's pants leg. "Shit," Logan said, rubbing his head.

Rogue took a shaking breath, drawing Logan's attention back to her. Embarrassed, he stupidly said: "I told you to keep an eye on him, not take your pants off for him!"

Remy recoiled as if slapped. Keep an eye…? He jerked his jeans up his legs.

Rogue, with a calm and terrifying fury said: "No one gets to tell me...what Ah can, and can't do...with mah body. Ever. Again!"

Logan had the sense to realize he'd made a grievous error.

"Ah am not a child. Ah am eighteen goin' on eighty...or have you forgotten Ah've absorbed you, Captain America, and who all else!"

Logan raised his hands. "Darlin', I'm sorry. I just… it was a mistake. But, you barely know -."

"Ah know plenty! Don't you tell me what Ah know! Ah've had him in mah head too!" she pointed at Remy. He refused to look at either one of them. He found his shirt and yanked it from the floor.

"And even though we were holdin' him in a jail cell, and had his hand broke...and what he wanted most was to escape, all Ah heard in mah head was him beggin' me to run away, so Ah wouldn't kill anyone! It was his voice in mah mind tellin' me to come back to mahself!"

She struggled to regain composure, even though tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes. "Ah know you care about me. But don't try to father me, Logan. We're friends. Very good friends. You don't have to take care of me. Ah've had enough parentin'!"

Remy marched through the now broken open door, trying to pull his shirt over his head.

"I'm sorry," he heard Logan say.

"Why don't you tell him that!" Rogue ordered. "And say it multiple times! Because Ah know he'll laugh himself stupid hearing you say 'sore-y' over and over!"

Once he'd pulled his shirt on, head clearing the collar, Remy was brought up short. Magneto was standing in the hallway.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Remy muttered to himself.

Magneto took in the sight of Remy's disheveled appearance, then Rogue wearing nothing but a sheet in the hallway beyond. Remy didn't have a moment to prepare himself for Magneto's response. The walls along the hall erupted, and he found himself struck with various wires and nails, one of which sunk into his thigh.

"Stop!" Rogue cried.

Remy pushed back, trying to send the metallic objects backwards and away. Several explosions flowed down the wires within the walls, lighting up the hallway towards where Logan and Rogue stood. Remy heard a pained snarl and turned. Logan was gripping his forearms which looked as if they had been shredded. Blood pattered to the carpet in a steady stream. With a jolt, Remy realized he'd inadvertently set alight all the metal in the hall, including Logan's very bones. Rogue was flying down the hall, unimpeded by residual explosions; debris bounced harmlessly off her skin. Rogue's hand reached out to seize Magneto by the wrist. When her hand made contact with his skin, it had no effect. She looked at him, surprised.

Magneto's attention was momentarily diverted by Rogue's contact. Remy pushed himself through time and space to appear behind Magneto in a flash of light, then he took off running down the hall. Remy slid down the curving banister to the foyer, launched himself at the front door and through it. Then he was running over snow in his bare feet, leaping over the main fence, his hand momentarily gripping the top cross piece, inverting himself before landing back on his feet on the opposite side. He thought he heard Rogue call after him, but he was sprinting full out and away from the School.

He didn't look back.


Next time: Gambit makes plans to get the hell out of Dodge.

Random reference: Rogue sings a BeeGees song.