Chapter 28: Ace of Hearts

                The next day, it seemed Scott hadn't changed his mind. He'd heard through the grapevine, aka Kitty, that she'd accepted his invitation, and had managed to flag her down that morning. Not wanting to risk exposing her secret about Remy, and not wanting to hurt the feelings of a friend and teammate, Rogue agreed to let him take her to a movie.

                She spent the whole time wishing a certain Cajun was here with her instead, while Scott tried to chat her up a bit. It didn't take Rogue long to realize that they had absolutely nothing in common. How could she have ever imagined being with him? He was a good guy, of course, and his heart was in the right place (though the date seemed more like revenge against Jean).

                So, Rogue maintained an air of having a relatively good time, but was all too thankful for when they arrived back at the mansion. The car pulled into the garage, and she got out. She only hoped he'd since got his senses back and would try to fix things with Jean.

                "Ah had a good time, Scott. It was fun hangin' out with ya." She used the term 'hanging out' deliberately. It seemed that people kept trying to take her out on 'dates' against her will.

                Remy had spent some time not-quite-happy that she would go out with Scott even after having said she was just trying to throw Kitty off the trail. Then he thought, that's the problem with lies, isn't it? You always get tangled up in them. He hadn't been able to stay mad long. Besides, the guy had just gotten dumped, he couldn't be feeling too spectacular.

                So Remy just sat in his room, a hat on the floor in front of his chair, several cards all ready in it. The little radio he'd recently acquired played some hard rock music, though it wasn't turned up much. He was just waiting for Rogue to get back, really.

                Scott walked with Rogue into the mansion and up to her room, deliberately taking the long route that went through Jean's hallway, talking with a slightly elevated voice.

                "Yeah, I had a really good time with you, Rogue. We should do this again sometime soon."

                Rogue just nodded. If this behavior didn't stop soon, she'd have to come right out and talk to him about it. There was no way she'd go on a second date with Scott, especially after telling Remy she wouldn't. It felt wrong.

                As soon as Scott went his separate way, Rogue walked immediately to Remy's room, knocking. She looked and felt guilty.

                "I's open!" He didn't want to stand and get the door, besides, he thought, he had important work to do. With that thought Remy tossed another card into the hat and sighed. When it turned out to be Rogue on the other side of the door Remy brightened and grinned.

                "Come on in an' sit down, chere... Remy been waitin' fo' yo' ta get back."

                Rogue walked in, just happy to see his face. She moved around to sit on his bed and seemingly waiting for something. Sighing, she clasped her hands together, leaning on her knees. Her outfit was decidedly casual - a loose sweatshirt, pants, and a jacket. There was no way Scott would be able to accuse her of 'dressing up' for him.

                "So are ya mad at me?"

                Remy was dressed a bit different than usual, though he still wore the jeans, his boots discarded on the floor, his shirt had long sleeves rather than short sleeves, and he still had the gloves on. He sighed and stood up, dropping the rest of the cards into the hat. He walked over and sat next to her, then slid one of his hands into one of hers.

                "Remy ain' gonna lie, p'tite, he was befo'... He had time ta t'ink 'bout it, dough... So, as long as yo' didn't come here ta dump Remy, den he can fo'give yo'." He smiled and gave her hand a little squeeze.

                Rogue smiled, more than a little relieved. She'd noted his dress, though, and saw that her fears were coming true. It bothered her that he was slowly becoming a touching recluse like she was. He did it for her, though, and she knew he'd have none of her trying to convince him to dress otherwise. Back to the matter at hand.

                "Ah don't know why he's bein' like this. Ah'm gonna have ta have a talk with him, or with Jean. Just 'cause ya okay with me goin' on sympathy dates don't mean Ah would rather be here with ya."

                The only reason, she realized, that Scott had even chosen her as his rebound girl was that he must have heard she'd like him. Perhaps she'd have to tell him otherwise, directly.

                Remy nodded and got up again. He went over and grabbed his hat before eh went back to his seat beside her and started to sort through the cards to reassemble the deck in what he considered correct order.      "Why he pick yo', dough, chere?... Dat didn't sound like Remy mean... I's jus', was it cause yo' de first person he saw aftah de fight?"

                "Ah dunno, maybe.. Though Ah reckon it's because he found out Ah used ta have a crush on 'im."                 Rogue was embarrassed slightly at talking about that with Remy, but it was all pretty moot now, except for the fact that it had landed her in a troublesome situation. She smirked bitterly.

                "Besides, who better than the goth who can't touch to hit on, to insult Jean the most?"

                Remy chuckled and shook his head, then tossed a card in her lap - the Aces of Hearts - and continued his sorting.

                "Remy would take dat goth ovah some red head any day, chere. He jus' don' know a good woman when he see one like Remy do. I's all in de eyes, p'tite... de windows ta de soul."

                Rogue looked down at the card, playing with it as she thought. Scott definitely needed to be spoken to. She needed to put a stop to this before it progressed into something disastrous. A smile graced her features once more as she looked up at him, and into his demonic eyes.

                "Then what does that say about *your* soul?"

                Remy stopped what he was doing and looked her in the eye, his face quite serious. He leaned forward, his voice soft as he spoke, eyes never leaving hers, not even to blink.

                "It say like Remy tell yo', he no good, his soul unclean, touched by de Devil hisself an' dat all de t'ings dat happen to him are jus' de tip of de iceberg, de calm befo' de storm, and dat anyone even close ta Remy is gonna have ta pay a terrible price..." Then he leaned back and smiled. "Or it jus' mean dat Remy was unlucky when dey was passin out de eye colahs." He chuckled and returned to his card sorting.

                Remy held her rapt attention during his melodramatic little speech, and Rogue blinked as he broke the tension with a smile. She smiled back, though she couldn't quite tell whether he was joking. It was easier to treat it like one, though.

                "Is that what they told ya when ya were a kid? Hah, what garbage."

                Rogue had to wonder whether the color of his eyes had to do with his mutant powers, though the connection between blowing stuff up and having red on black eyes eluded her. It must have been a purely physical mutation, like with Kurt. Looking like a gargoyle didn't have much to do with teleportation.

                Finally he was done and snatched the Ace of Hearts back from her to complete it, then tossed the hat onto the floor. It slid under a chair and Remy gave a low whistle. "Now dat's a challenge, hm?" He took the Ace of Hearts from teh top and held it up in front of her. "How 'bout a kiss fo' good luck, chere?"

                Rogue smirked and snatched the card from his fingers, kissed it, and threw it herself across the room. The card fluttered slightly as it sailed across the room, spinning. It bounced off the rim of the hat, tipping over before it fell inside.