Chapter 5: Reprimanded

             "I cannot believe you did this!"

             Rogue winced, Professor Xavier rarely raised his voice in such a way, but now seemed the perfect time for him to – and she deserved it, she knew it deep down.

             Remy and Rogue were in Professor Xavier's office, Logan standing near the door.  Rogue was being reprimanded, Remy however, didn't have too much to do with the situation.  There was an uncanny silence, only the sound of the clock on Xavier's mantel could be heard, Rogue noted it was almost midnight.

             "Running out to a nightclub for adults!  Absorbing Logan's powers to render him unconscious and then you disappear for an hour only to be found with Remy!" Professor Xavier yelled.

             Rogue looked to the floor.

             "Professor?" Remy tried, "there is a reason for everything, perhaps we can try to explain…" Remy looked at the Professor with much concern.

             Professor Xavier frowned, "what reason would this be?"

             Rogue tried to think of a reason, and came up with nothing in her head.

             "Back on Muir Island, me and Rogue got the blame for a break in that was not our fault…we knew we didn't do it, of course, but we still felt as if we were the only suspects," Remy admitted, he looked at the Professor.

             Rogue glanced towards Remy.

             "I heard rumours that there were drugs going around New York, drugs that could stop a mutants power…" he explained.  "So I called Rogue from New Orleans, told her to meet me at the nightclub, and I flew out quick as I could…" he lied.

             Rogue looked at him, god, he was so good at this lying.

             "She got to the nightclub before I did, and found out about the drugs…" Remy explained, "Before she even had the chance Logan dragged her out of there…"

             Logan frowned, "why didn't you say anything to me about this?" he demanded of Rogue.

             "You were mad at me, I didn't have a chance," Rogue lied, Rogue sighed and looked towards the Professor, "I found out where to get the drugs and I went there, Remy caught up with me…this guy selling them was in this old abandoned toy factory, so we shook him up and took all the drugs he had…and when we did we found out that he was the Muir Island thief – he took all those chemicals from Muir Island, Professor, not us…" she looked at him pleadingly.

             "His name is Pinocchio…" Remy remarked.

             The professor's eyes widened a little, "Pinocchio…I have not heard that name in years…"

             "Who is he Professor?" Rogue asked curiously.

             "A run away mutant I had taken in long ago…almost fifteen years ago…" Professor Xavier explained, "he has the ability to take absorb massive amounts of information and understand anything in a matter of seconds, even by looking at a machine he'd never seen before he could instantly work out how to operate it, dismantle it and put it back together – without even reading any information on the machine what so ever…"

             "So he was supersmart?" Rogue asked.

             "One way of putting it," Professor nodded, "his curse was that taking in all this information would leave him confused, and other memories of things would fade with every piece of information he would take in…almost like a small harddrive on a computer."

             Remy, who admittedly was less of a computer fanatic than most of the youth of America, was confused, "I don't understand…" he said.

             Rogue turned towards him, "like a computer that has maybe an 8 gigabyte harddrive, and you've stored about 7 gigabytes worth of information on it – and you want to store 2 more gigabytes of information on it – which you can't because there isn't enough room -  so you need to kind of clear some room out of whats already there to get more in," she explained.

             "Oooh," Remy nodded.

             "Anyway, after taking the drugs from Pinocchio, we disposed of them in the river," Rogue said to the professor, "we thought it would be safest for mutants that way…" she turned to Remy, "in case the pills weren't kosher," she explained.

             "I…see," The Professor looked as if he were understanding the story, "but why did you feel the need to handle this on your own – why did you not come to us."

             "Professor…" Remy looked at Professor Xavier, "Even though Rogue was with me when we found the Lab in the way it was, she still thought I was the one responsible for the break in – she didn't trust me, I knew I had to get her to come with me to solve the mystery so that I could be proven innocent," he explained.

             "I see…but still, you cannot go un-reprimanded for this," Professor Xavier looked at Rogue, "grounded for a month, with extra chores…" he looked at her.

             Rogue looked down sheepishly.

             "And there's still one more there's still one more thing that needs to be dealt with," Professor Xavier noted.  "You and Remy."

             Rogue felt her cheeks turn scarlet.

             "Professor, I assure you it's not what you think…" Remy tried.

             "Hank told me about you two sneaking away at night to be alone, and I'm not so thrilled with this piece of info, I've already spoken to Rogue about this of course," Professor Xavier stated, "But I want to confirm you two will be behaving in future…otherwise I can arrange for full time chaperoning for the pair of you," he looked at them both warning.

             "Professor, we can behave.  Just because there's a four year age difference between us doesn't mean that it's a bad thing…"

             "I understand that," Professor Xavier nodded, "but still…please tone down your behaviour – especially around each other.  And if you must date…you'll do it at reasonable hours, and have Rogue home BEFORE curfew," Professor Xavier saw Rogue's surprise.

             Rogue looked at the professor, "So we…can…date?"

             "Yes, but you both know the risks, so even though you are both intelligent young people I want to remind you to be patient and take all the necessary precautions," he looked at them both, "and before you ask, Remy, I am talking about Rogue's powers, not sex as you were thinking."

             Remy shrugged, "hey, an average guy thinks of sex at least once every ten minutes," he shrugged, "I can't help being average."

             "Indeed," Professor Xavier raised an eyebrow, "If you cannot abide by these rules, then I will do something about that libido of yours…putting a suggestion into your head might help."

             "Yeah, you could convince him he's a girl," Rogue smirked.

             Professor Xavier smirked, "I can have Jean braid your hair," he gestured to Remy.

             "I'll…keep that in mind," Remy drew his breath, touching his hair worriedly for a moment.

             "You can both go now," Professor Xavier stated, noting it was now after midnight.

             "Professor?" Remy asked, "I'm leaving in the morning, I need to go back to New Orleans right away, I only came back this one night…I was wondering—"

             "Yes?" Professor Xavier queried.

             "I know its after curfew and all for Rogue, would it be alright if we watched a movie together?  This may be the last time I see her in the next few months," he explained.

             Professor Xavier sighed, "Alright, since it is Halloween," he rolled his eyes.

             Rogue smirked, as if Halloween were like Christmas and could be made allowances for.  "Thanks, Professor," she pulled on Remy's sleeve and yanked him out of the office.