Chapter 6: For the Last Time
Three am came, and Rogue was still awake, the hall had long became silent, and she was beginning to consider perhaps trying to sneak out to visit Remy in his room to speak with him about their alibi. She sat on the floor in silence, she'd built an impressive house of cards upon the carpet, out of boredom.
She felt exhaustion beginning to weigh down on her, but the fact was she didn't want to go to sleep until she was sure that Remy understood their alibi was nothing more than that.
Rogue also found herself feeling concern over what the Professor might think when he heard about this alibi from Hank. She half considered trying to phone to the Mansion to tell him not to believe it, that he could read her mind and see the truth that there was nothing going on.
"God, WHY did I use that as an excuse, I should have told him the truth, that I was bored and went to speak with Gambit, why didn't I just tell Hank that?!" Rogue demanded of herself angrily, she knocked over the house of cards stubbornly and began to pick the playing cards up off the carpet.
She realised if Remy hadn't been smoking and hadn't needed to go outside for a cigarette, this whole thing might have not happened, she hated him for smoking right then. Realising the cigarettes were still in the pocket of the trenchcoat that was in the room with her, she realised she had an advantage.
Rogue dug in to the pocket of his trenchcoat and yanked out the cigarettes, and she opened the packet, there were eight cigarettes remaining. She pulled them all out, walked over to the window, and opened it, she crushed the cigarettes in her hand until they were nothing more than paper and scattered tobacco, and she held her hands open and let the wind carry the remnants of what had been the cigarettes away. She closed the window, feeling much better with herself for having destroyed something.
She idly wondered how long it'd take before he realised she still had his coat – and his cigarettes – and would come looking for her to claim what was his. She climbed onto the bed and lay down, the collar of the coat near her face, she breathed in the scent of Remy LeBeau, nicotine, and cologne, and there was a scent of wine on the coat, she realised it had probably been spilt long ago.
Rogue lay looking up at the ceiling, she wondered if he was even awake at that moment. She wondered if he was thinking about her at that moment. She worried that he may be thinking at that moment that she had finally come to terms with her feelings for him – and that's why she'd used it as an alibi to prove their innocence. She still felt so stupid for having done this. She felt stupid because it was so near the truth and she didn't even want it to be.
She was almost beginning to doze off when she heard her cellular phone – which was in her bag nearby - beeping indicating that someone was trying to call her. She leaned over, picking the bag up, unzipping the front compartment and pulling out her phone, she hit the receive button and put it to her ear, "Hello?" she yawned.
"He's still out there," came Remy's voice, very whispering.
"Remy? You're still up?"
"Can't sleep, keep thinkin' about what happened," Remy's voice sounded equally tired as hers did, "Been some night, huh?" he mused.
Rogue gave a yawn, and rested against her pillow, holding her phone against her ear, she kept her voice low, "Yeah, it has…" she sighed, "I'm still confused as to who did break into the centre…" she sighed, "Y'know…I left my window open when I came out to the beach with you…maybe that's how…whoever it was…got in…"
"I'm sure it wasn't your fault, Marie," Remy sounded particularly sure of this.
"By the way, Remy," Rogue closed her eyes, she reached over and turned off her light, intending to go straight to sleep after she'd said what she was going to.
"Oui?" Remy queried.
"I just wanna make sure that you know I was lyin' when I told Beast me and you were…y'know…and item or whatever…it just seemed like the best way to convince him we had absolutely nothing to do with the laboratory being broken into."
"Oh…that," Remy said, his voice sounded dry for a moment, "Well…I knew that," he sounded as if he hadn't though, as if he were slightly disappointed, "had to play along like I did though, obviously…" he added.
"How'd you learn to lie so well?" Rogue yawned again.
Remy yawned too – as yawns often prove to be contagious, "It's easy when you got a quick enough mind to keep up with the things you make up," he admitted. "Which I have. I've always been good at lying, I can almost make anyone believe anything…"
"Is that so?" Rogue smirked a little.
"No one ever knows when I lie," Remy laughed softly.
"One day those lies are gonna get you into A LOT of trouble" Rogue mused, her laughter died though and she felt seriousness return though, "but…just out of curiosity, how will I ever know if you're lying about stuff to me?" she questioned worriedly.
"You won't…you just have to trust me…" Remy replied, "trust me when I say I won't ever lie to you."
Rogue kept her eyes closed, suddenly she began to realise she had never given Remy LeBeau her cellular phone number, she opened her eyes, "hey…Remy?"
He yawned, "uh huh?"
She yawned again, "How did you get my number? I don't think I ever gave it to you…"
"From the little book of numbers and addresses in Xavier's office," Remy replied very tiredly.
"Oooooh," Rogue answered as if she should have realised this – as if it were something that was obvious, "well…I'm gonna go now 'cause I'm REALLY tired," She yawned again, "see you in the morning…"
"Night, ma cherie," came his reply.
"Yeah…night…" Rogue hung up the phone, she closed her eyes and rolled onto her side, hugging his trenchcoat close to her, breathing in the smell of his cologne again.
She had almost drifted off to sleep when suddenly a thought crossed her mind…how in the hell could Remy LeBeau have possibly gotten a hold of Professor Xavier's personal phone number book, she'd seen the Professor keep it in a locked drawer, in his office, which was always locked when he was not there.
She then sat bolt up right, her eyes wide, she let out a gasp. Remy was a Thief, not just a literal Thief, but a PROFESSIONAL Thief, if he was clever enough to sneak into the locked office of a telepath to get a telephone number from a book – without ever being caught – was it perhaps even possible that…
Rogue put her hand to her mouth. "Was it possible that he did break into the lab?" She asked herself in a muffled whisper, she chewed her lip. Remy could sneak into almost any place, she knew this herself, he'd managed to get into the mansion – highly secured – without even setting off the perimeter alarms. And in a new building, with no security cameras, it would be easy enough for him to break into any of the rooms and take whatever he needed to without there ever being any evidence that he'd had anything to do with the break in.
Rogue knew he was able to disable most alarms – and the fact was hadn't Hank said the rats had set off the motion detectors which had set off the alarms long after the damage had already been done? What if the damage had been done an hour before she'd even seen him on the beach? He would have had time to do it all and then leave the building and go to the beach where she'd seen him. And then when the alarms had gone off, he'd deliberately gone with her and seemed surprised at the wreckage they'd found – lying once again to her. Only to frame himself to have Rogue prove his innocence as she'd been with him .
She tried to reason with herself, "no…it couldn't be," She told herself. Rogue suddenly felt something hard in the inside pocket of the coat she'd been wearing earlier, she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before. She reached inside the coat and into the pocket and pulled out a small box, with lock picking tools, she couldn't believe it. What more proof could turn up that Remy was responsible for the break in?
It seemed like Remy LeBeau actually did break into the Lab…but what had he stolen? And why? What were his motives?
Again, all the trust she'd begun to feel towards him, all the new feelings of wanting to reconcile with him, begun to drift away, with suspicion. She put the box in the pocket and tossed the coat carelessly to the floor.
"This isn't going to work out…" she told herself, "How the hell can it!? He's a Thief! I can't trust him…I can never trust him…not after this…he's the only one who COULD be responsible for this break in!"
Rogue felt tears escaping and she wiped them away, she didn't want to let herself cry over him again. "No, Rogue, you are NOT going to do this to yourself again. This is it, its over, you need to get over this guy – he's no good. A break in happens and he's the only guy smart enough to pull it off…"
Rogue looked at the coat, wondering now if perhaps Remy had ever stopped working for Magneto at all…
"Remy LeBeau," She said as if she were speaking him to directly, but she was the only person in the room, "You've fooled me for the last time…"
