Note : Oh my, oh my. There's another chapter for you to have something to gnaw on while I write the next one. I got about half of what I wanted to put in that one. I promise it shouldn't take long. Thank you so much for the reviews, I can see some of you are loyal readers, it feels so good. If you have any questions on the story, just ask, I'll do my best to anwser them in a note like this one in the next chapter. Disclaimer : X-Mens and foes are not mine, they're Marvel's.
Enjoy.
Chapter 9
Thinking too much
The boy I had thought young was in fact in his late teens, and had a sweet smile he gave me every four or five seconds. We talked all the way, while Remy stayed in the back, silent, as the boy's father drove the cart into the town, and stopped in front of a tavern. The man opened his mouth for the first time and barked orders to his son to lead the horses in the back. Then he looked at me with a stern look.
"They'll be somethin' to eat and drink inside, lassie. Ye can also rent a room fo' yaself, and another fo ye'friend" he howled with a burring scottish accent. Resisting the temptation of putting my hands on my ears to protect them from the (probably half deaf) man's voice, I waited for Remy to jump of the cart before taking the hand he offered to help me down. I looked into his eyes while the man was uncharging the cart and whispered in his ears. "Don't worry, we'll be more careful this time. Although it's a bigger town, maybe they won't chase us with wooden sticks and pitchforks." I smiled when he gave me a narrow look and turned to enter the tavern.
It seemed I was right. It was a bigger town, with a lot of people, and our entering the tavern went unnoticed. There were dozens of people here, drinking, playing cards, laughing and talking loud, and I saw several women sitting and chatting in a corner, each with a baby plugged to their breasts. Three small children chasing each other passed in front of us, yelling their lungs out. I smiled when I felt Remy's shoulders relax. I streched my neck and whispered : "Told yah". He didn't reply.
I went to the counter and rented a room. Several men saw me and gave me their most precious smiles, witch generaly consisted of missing and rotten teeth. I smiled back, chuckling as the remarks on my backside and breasts they didn't even care to whisper came behind my back. I gave the key to our room to Remy. "Wait for me, Ah'll get us something to drink." He nodded. There was a strange glow in his eyes, but I forgot about it and head back to the counter.
A man leaving the tavern stood up just in front of me and his shoulder collided with my chin, knocking hard and sending stars before my eyes.
"Aow!! Ouch, that hurt!"
"Oh my Lord, I am so sorry, miss, I hadn't seen you coming. Here, my dear, please sit down, I'll get you something to drink, something… anything…" He was already leaving for the bar but I stopped him by putting a hand on his arm.
"No, Ah thank yah, Ah'll be alright. Ah just need to sit down a few seconds, Ah don't need anything." I smiled at him and he looked down at me, smiling back. He was a handsome man, in his early twenties. Quite tall and with broad shoulders, he had light brown hair, quite long, tied up with a blue ribbon in his back. He was well dressed, with a black coat and white jabot shirt, and silver buttons orned the front of his vest. He had a long and homely face, and startling sky-blue eyes. I was wondering what else he had so different from the other men in the room when I noticed that his smile was entirely white. No rotten or missing teeth in that sweet smiling mouth. I blushed, and his grin widened.
"Then if you are feeling well, miss, I'm afraid I must leave. An emergency is waiting for me. May I say I hope we meet again, miss?"
"I yah want to, Ah won't stop yah, sir… Have a good day." He put his hat on his head and made a small nod in my direction.
"Have a good day, then, miss." He left throught the tavern door, and I shook my head. I stood up and went to our room. I had totally forgotten our drinks.
***************
He closed the door and went to the window. He leaned on the frame and stared at the man and his son that had taken them here, taking care of the two horses before leading them in the small barn. He sighted. What the hell was wrong with him? He had never felt jealous before in all the years he had known and loved Rogue. Well, maybe a few times, he thought with a smile, but never when he had absolutely no reason to be. And here, there were only disgusting, barbarian and drunken men that saw her as prey. No reason to be jealous of them, bringing himself to the smallest common denominator.
But she acted so naïve, it made him mad… No. He shook his head, closing his eyes. Rogue wasn't naïve. She never was. He only wished she could be, so it would give him a reason to act stupidly like a possessive caveman. She knew the dangers of this time, and she knew how to defend herself, especially with her powers back on line.
His jaw tightened. She was his. He wanted these bright green eyes to hold love only for him. He never was jealous or possessive before, because of her powers. She was untouchable. She couldn't be taken away from him, because it seemed only him wasn't bothered by the impossible flesh-to-flesh contact. He didn't care. He loved her and she loved him, that was all he asked.
But now, he loved her even more since she was touchable. He could now tell her all his heart with more than words.
He wanted her to smile at him. He wanted to hold her on his lap and squeeze her until he hears her ribs crack. He wanted her hair on his face, and her tears on his shoulder. He wanted her to hold him in her arms and drive her fingers through his hair as he fell asleep.
He wanted to ravish her at once, and hear her short breathing in his ears. He wanted to feel her shake in his arms, and hear her moan as ecstasy filled her body and ran through her blood.
Since she had begun taking the miracle pills, she had more confidence in herself. A better self esteem. She had finally learned to love herself.
She was desirable.
Approachable.
Even for others. Other than him.
Even worst…
She had the choice.
His fingers gripped the window frame. He had found his problem. His heart skipped a beat when he thought of his life without Rogue.
Would she think about it?
About what it would be with another man?
What it would be without him?
He certainly did. And he knew it was stupid to be scared. But he was.
***************
I gently closed the door behind me and looked at him. He was looking through the window. He had heard me. Would have known I was there even if I would had not made a noise. But he kept looking outside, silent as a rock. What was going on with him, I didn't know. After so many years, he was still a mystery for everyone, even me. I felt heat in my brain as he unlocked his telepathic wall and his empathy filled me. He felt my worrying and questionning. My love for him, I hope. He slammed the door to his mind and slowly turned to meet my eyes. I saw worries too in the red irises, and fear also.
"I don't think even I know m'self, Rogue. I wish I coud." I hated when he read my thoughts like that.
"Aren't yah going to tell me what's goin'on in ya head, sugah? Or Ah'm goin'ta have to shake yah until yah spit it out?" He actually smiled at that and tilted his head to the right, stars in his red-on-black eyes.
"I'd certainly like'ta see dat, chérie." He walked towards the bed and let himself fall on it, half laying on the high bed. The sides of the mattress raised as the middle went down under his weight. "Dat is really uncomfortable. Care for a night on the carpet, again?" I walked to the bed and sat on a corner of the mattress, carefully checking for bugs before placing my bottom on the woolen sheets.
"Yeah, as long as we're far from tha bedbugs." I poked him in the ribs. "Don't try ta change subjects, swamprat! Yah were going ta tell me why yah're suddently looking like a lonely wolf without his herd." His smile disapeared and he sat up. He stared at his hands for what seemed a long time, then raised his head to look at me. He looked ashamed of himself, and attempted a small smile.
"Well… Rogue… Do you ever think, sometimes… Of what it could be like? With another man than me?"
I hadn't been waiting for that kind of question. My eyebrows went high and I stared at him. He honestly was afraid, but of what? Of me cheating on him? Of me leaving him? He kept his mind closed and didn't use his empathy powers, but he searched my eyes.
"Remy… You're honestly asking this?" He swallowed hard and nodded.
"I need to know, or I won'survive another day. Der's too much in my head right now. Don't lie to me, Rogue." I was beginning to feel uncomfortable under his helpless stare, and I looked down to smooth the wool of my dress with my fingers.
"Ah couldn't lie to yah, yah'd know it raht away." I paused. He didn't move, waiting. "Since Ah began taking that pill, Ah've thought of what it could be with others, sugah. But Ah never thought of doing it." I looked at him in the eyes. The corners of his mouth twiched upwards and his hand reached for my face. "Yah think too much, honey. Yah weren't thinking Ah would leave yah someday, were yah?" I said.
"Oh well, not dat you would, but dat it was a possibility. I'm glad dat it's not."
"That was why yah were acting so strange? Yah were jealous?" I didn't know what to feel, he had never acted possessive in any way. In fact, I was feeling quite… flattered. I put my hand on the one he had on my cheek and put a kiss on his palm, only to notice he was wearing his gloves. "Yah have the intention of blowing up something?" He smiled.
"No, actually, I was feeling cold inside." He took a deep intake of breath. "The gloves didn't help, though. Talking to you did."
I opened my arms and he took me by the waist, burrying his head in the hollow of my neck. "I don't know why, chérie." His voice was muffled by my shirt against his mouth, but I could feel him shaking. "I just thought my life would be like hell, I you'd ever left me."
"Shhht. Don't say things like that, silly man. Ah love yah anyways, damn yah."
He squeezed me hard, and my breath went short for a few seconds before he loosened his grip.
"I love you too."
To be continued…
You have to love the sweetness! They just had to have an update on their relation, as all couples do. And I know you guys aren't always as tough as you want us to think you are. *grin* Now I have a question… I'm doing my best and English isn't my mother tongue. My brother keeps saying I'm commiting all sorts of spelling and grammar mistakes, and since the pages of my English-French dictionnary are beginning to tear up with using, it's kind of frustrating. Am I so bad? Please say no… s'il-vous-plaît?
