"Look who decided to come back to the table." Tabitha grinned at their arrival. "Get all your probs worked out?"

Rogue smiled and sat down. Remy sat down as well. "Did y' miss us?"

"Not really," Todd admitted. Surprisingly, he didn't receive the slightest scowl from the couple. "But Freddy finished his fruit crepes in record time."

Fred smiled proudly. "I clocked 4.87 seconds," Pietro stated.

Lance looked at Rogue and Remy. "And you guys wonder why I wanted to join." He shook his head.

"Aww, Rocky, you know you were cheering him on. Anyway, I owe you a couple bucks since you said he would get it down in less than five." The southerners glanced at him while he smiled sheepishly.

"I never said I was perfect."

"Ah, a fel'ow gambler. We should play poker t'get'er sometime, homme."

Lance snorted. "With the guy whose code name is 'Gambit'? I think I'll pass."

Remy laughed. "De ot'ers told y' 'bout me, eh?"

"I think it's safe to say I did my own deductive reasoning on that part." He paused for a minute. "And you made Jamie cry once," he mumbled.

Rogue looked at Remy, aghast. "You didn't!"

Remy was just as surprised. "I only played de kid in 'war' back den! It was jus' f'r candy 'cuz it's all he had! He never tol' me he was dat upset t' lose his stash."

"Ya should be ashamed o' yoahself, Swamp Rat! Stealin' candy from li'l kids..."

"I can't believe you made that little sweet boy cry! You meanie!" Tabitha scolded.

The other boys were trying very hard not to show their amusement at the guilt trip the girls were laying in the Cajun as heretofore unknown maternal instincts surfaced.

"Merde, I'll buy him some b'fore we go back, den!"

Lance chuckled. "This was two months ago, ya know."

"Don' matter. I hate bein' called a 'meanie'."

Rogue rubbed his shoulder. "We're jus' messin' with ya, Rem. Ah think it's sweet you're gonna pay him back."

"Yeah, we're sorry," Tabitha cooed. She reached across the table to playfully ruffle his hair. Remy grinned at the other boys from the feminine attention. They rolled their eyes.

Courtney appeared once again, holding two trays of deserts. She set them down with a flourish in front of Fred. "Your desserts, sir."

Fred looked up to her as if he were going to kiss her. "Thank you."

She smiled uneasily. "No problem. Anyone else need anything?" A few expressed that they needed drink refills. "Oh, yeah, and James said you left your drinks at the bar," she told Rogue and Remy, retrieving them from one of Fred's trays. "Here ya go. I'll be back with your last string of desserts, Fred, and your drinks." She winked and sauntered away.

"Ah completely fohgot about this," Rogue said, taking a big sip. Remy's eyes opened in anticipation. 'Oh, merde.'

She coughed at the sudden burn as the liquid slid down her throat. "What the hell is this?!" she sputtered.

"Coke, 'cordin' t' Lilith." Remy shrugged and took a sip of his own with a smirk.

"Since when does Coke translate into bourbon?!"

"Chere, I know f'r a fact dat you like bourbon so jus' be quiet an' drink it. Y' don' want to' get dem in trouble f'r givin' us liquor, do y'?"

"Well, no..."

"I do!" Pietro interrupted.

"Non, y' don'. Not unless you want anot'er 'talk' wit' Hans and Sven."

Pietro paled. "I'm not having any luck with scary men today," he whispered.

"You're not having any luck with men, you say?" Lilith said, her head appearing over one of Pietro's shoulders. He yelped and jumped into Tabitha's lap. Lilith laughed. "I know for a fact that Hans and Sven swing that way, but they're definitely not your type. Hmm... I'll have to check with Bert though."

He glared and climbed off Tabitha, much to her disappointment. "Did we not have this conversation already today?"

"I t'ink we did, homme," Remy replied with a smug smile.

"And it ended with me kicking your ass, right?"

Remy's eyes blazed red behind the glasses. Rogue put her hand on his arm. "Not here, Rem..."

Lilith laid her hand on Pietro's shoulder as well. He shuddered involuntarily. That made her smile. "You and he were fighting? Didn't your mother ever tell you violence never solves anything?"

"ThiscomingfromYOU?!"

"Ah, but we're not talking MY little idiosyncrasies."

"Wait, wait, wait" Todd interrupted. "You mean those guys who look like they probably go out and wrestle packs of rottweilers as a morning warm up exercise... are gay?"

"Yes. Is that so surprising?"

Todd put his hands up. "Never mind. I didn't ask. I'm not going to be the politically incorrect one here."

"Big words from Todd. Oooh," Lance mocked.

Todd shrugged. "I have my moments."

"I think we are all missing a very vital point here," Pietro stated calmly, sitting back down in his own seat.

"Which is?" Tabitha asked.

"IAMNOTGAY!!!!!"

Remy whistled innocently. It was either that or cough "bullshit" into his hand. Pietro growled with such ferocity that Logan would have been proud. Lilith smirked in Remy's direction, who in turn mirrored the expression. Then she looked at Pietro.

"Calm down. If you start shouting things like that, Hans and Sven are sure to come out and see what the commotion is."

"Oh,yes,you'djustLOVEthatwouldn'tyou?" he sneered.

"Of course I would. I'm evil like that." She grinned. "I'm going to check on my other tables. See ya!" She patted him on the head again and strolled away.

"They just seem to come and go, don't they?" Lance asked rhetorically about out about the waitresses. They all nodded in unison.

"Well, I f'r one am hap'y wit' dis fine establishment."

"Ofcourseyoudo.TheyLIKEyou." Pietro was still rather upset.

Rogue for once played along. She twirled a strand of Remy's hair. "He can't help it if he's damned sexy, Pietro. You should know that." Her finger brushed the side of Remy's face.

"She's got a point, homme."

"Oh,I'msorry,weren'tyoutheonewhofreakedoutwhentheredheadwasdroolingoverhimearlier?"

Rogue shrugged. "He knows who he's goin' home ta at night. Ah know that now." Then she scowled. "God, Ah just sounded like one of those trailer trash people on the Springer show."

"Refraining from making actual trailer trash comment..." Lance muttered slyly.

"Too late!" Rogue reached over and hit him upside the head semi-hard. His face landed in the remains of his dessert.

"Well, that was uncalled for." He dipped a napkin in his water and began to wipe his face off.

"And that concludes today's portion of the lunchtime theater," Fred said, mimicking an announcer's tone.

Todd made a sound of disbelief. "I really doubt that."

Fred smiled. "Actually..."

"What?" the other boy asked him, bewildered.

"I think I'm full."

A collective gasp ran around the table. Lance's jaw hit the table.

"Excuse me while I ski in hell," Pietro said, standing up.

Lilith magically appeared again. "Someone is going skiing in my kingdom? What's the occasion?"

Fred blinked at her. "Huh?"

"I'm Queen of Hell," she announced as casually as others would announce that it was sunny outside.

"Wow. I never would have guessed!" Pietro exclaimed in mock surprise. "Oh, and by the way, how have you NOT been committed yet?"

"Well?" she asked the rest of the table, ignoring him.

"Fred's full," Lance told her.

"He's what?" Courtney all but shrieked with her arms full of his last string of desserts. Her face glanced wildly from the trays in her hands to the plates that were only seventy-five percent finished in front of Fred. "Dammit, I told the cook to work overtime for you, Freddy!" She whined.

"Aww, hun, it's okay," Lilith consoled her. "Here," she helped Courtney place the trays on the table and offered her the strawberry cheesecake on one of the plates. "You go take your break, and I'll take care of the extras." Courtney nodded whimpering "hmm-mm" and was ushered away by the brunette.

"Look what you did, Blob!" Tabitha pointed at the retreating waitresses.

"I can't help it! This has never happened to me before!" He looked as if he would cry.

Remy couldn't help but snicker. Rogue looked at him strangely. "Sorry, jus' sounds like an excuse ot'er guys use f'r ot'er t'ings..." he laughed again.

Rogue shook her head. "Like Ah said, sick mind supreme."

He wiggled his eyebrow at her. "Y' never cared before." That made her blush.

Lilith came back and took a plate, plunking down in chair Pietro had vacated. On the plate was a chocolate pie with a chocolate graham cracker crust, chocolate filling with pieces of soft chocolate mixed in, chocolate syrup drizzled over it, chocolate shavings and chocolate chips covering the top. Basically it has as much chocolate as you could fit into a single dessert.

"Excuse me, but that was my SEAT," Pietro told her, irritated.

"Key word: WAS," she responded, not moving.

"Don't you have tables to be waiting on?"

"I took my break." She took a bite of the pie and made a deeply contented noise, her eyes closing for a moment.

"Here we go again, yo," Todd muttered.

She opened her eyes and smiled. "What do you mean?" Pietro, not happy with being ignored, made a move to take her plate and she snapped at his hand, teeth clicking together entirely to close to his flesh for comfort. He snatched the extremity back. "NO ONE touches my chocolate."

"So what're ya'll plannin' ta do with the rest?" Rogue asked Lilith as she nonchalantly took another bite of the pie.

She swallowed the chocolate and smiled. "We're treating James and the boys. Just a quick question though... you don't think this Professor Xavier guy is going to mind that it's still on his tab? Someone needs to pay for it."

"He figured he was gon' be payin' f'r it anyway. Dig in."

She smiled. "Great." She took another bite. After a contented sigh, she froze. "Needs milk... or some sort of beverage... I'll be back." She got up, but not before glaring at Pietro, practically daring him to take a step near her plate. He waited until she was gone and looked speculatively at the desert. He was temped... so very tempted.

"I wouldn' if I were y'..."

"I should lick her fork," Pietro said, contemplatively.

"Seriously, Pietro. Ah don't think ya oughta mess with that chick."

"She did say she was the QUEEN of HELL, yo," Todd mentioned.

"I'll get her back for humiliating me," he mumbled, ignoring their warnings. His hand inched towards her plate.

"It's like watching a train wreck," Tabitha commented. "You want to look away, but you just can't."

They all watched him, no one making a single move. Pietro actually moved in slow motion, or what seemed like it. "Why aren't we doing anything?" Fred asked.

Remy shrugged with a smirk. He was betting himself in his head if whether Pietro would stop or not. "Ten says he goes all the way," he mumbled unconsciously.

"Nah, he'll lose it the last second," Todd said smiling, sliding a crisp ten-dollar bill onto the table without taking his eyes off Pietro. Another disgruntled customer could be heard yelling as he discovered his wallet missing.

His eyes flicked from side to side, and he quickly darted forward and snatched a tiny bite, then all but leapt back to his former position, trying not to look guilty. Todd scowled as Remy smugly took the money.

"You suck, yo."

"If y' can't run wit' de big dogs den stay on de porch."

TBC...