Disclaimer: I don't own the x-men; they are the property of Marvel and are being used without permission. So please don't' sue me!
Author's Notes: You guys have NO Idea of how much your reviews have helped me to write. It's so much fun to write…whether it's going to turn into Rogue/Remy or Ororo/Remy. So hold tight and see what happens!
Oh to clear out the confusion in case, Logan was on a mission that I must have forgotten to mention. I apologize for any confusion I may have caused in doing so! Now on with the fic.
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Waited for so long
by Samman
Part VIII
"Spill out it Cajun. Jus' what the hell did you say to her?!" Logan slammed Remy into the kitchen table knocking the tables and chairs into all directions.
"Get y' filthy paws off me Logan." Gambit got up and produced a good bundle of cards from his coat. He swiftly shuffled each card one by one. The intense heat in the embers of his eyes was not a good sign, especially when it was against an equally angry and aggressive Logan.
Logan popped three sharp blades from each hand that he clacked against one and other as he took a step near the Cajun. "Sorry bub, can't help it, when it comes to 'Ro."
"Wolverine, Gambit! You need to stop right there before I make you." Jean's voice roared through the kitchen as she came in between us.
Gambit looked at Jean and then at Logan. "Let 'im do whatever the hell he wants to."
"I'm not lettin' that Cajun hurt 'Ro again. Fer how long are y' guys gonna let him hurt everyone? I say, no more chances for this one." Logan lunged forward but Jean came between him.
"Logan, NO. Please..hear me out, will you?" Jean pleaded him with her eyes and there was no way it wouldn't have worked on Logan. She knew him. She had always been the one to control Logan. He looked at her and took a step back.
Jean grabbed his broad shoulders and let her soothing voice calm him. "There's already too much havoc created, our sole purpose right now should be take care of Rogue. Besides its not Gambits fault, its nobody's fault. We're the x-men, why do we go blaming others for any mishaps that come our way? They're bound to happen, we're not humans Logan, we're mutants, remember?"
She turned to look at Gambit. "Now you, what happened?"
Gambit kicked the chair that flew and collapsed against the oven. "A talk wit' Ro."
"Just leave the bastard to himself and he'll be fine." Logan spit the toothpick and retrieved his claws. Jean glanced at him sharply quieting him.
"Logan..I'm going to ask you one last time..please."
Logan glared at Gambit with sharp eyes. "I can't help it Jean…he always hurt Rogue, always, and now that he got his dirty hands on Ororo, he's gonna break her apart too…just what he did to Rogue."
"Shut de hell up Logan!! Y' should be de last person I be havin' dis conversation wit'." Gambit shoved past them and stormed out of the kitchen where the quarrel had erupted.
Jean clenched her teeth and crossed her arms in front of Logan. "Care to explain me what happened?"
"I saw 'Ro cryin' jus' when I came in, an' I smelled the Cajun on her and I knew he said somethin' to her to hurt her." Logan grabbed a bear from the fridge.
Jean shook her head and took a seat in one of the kitchen chairs. "Logan, just leave the matters in their hands, I'm sure they can figure it out. It's just that everything came clashing down on him because he happened to be with Ororo, and then the news of Rogue's powers and her injury just messed everything up."
"Y' always blame everyone else for that Cajun's doing. It ain't gonna happen no more, trust me." Logan chucked the bear in a minute and dumped it in the trashcan with a loud thump.
"Let's go, don't you want to see Rogue? I thought that'd be more important to you than going after Gambit." Jean said as she led Logan out of the kitchen.
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"I have discussed these conclusions with the Professor and now I am going to elaborate it for you so you can fully understand the situation. With the help of the Professor, Rogue controlled her powers, however after a while, she lost her powers. How?" Hank paused to scribble something on the note pad he had.
Everyone sat down in the huge, metallic, conference room as they paid close attention to the briefings that the mansion doctors gave them. Their appearances were rather relaxed than they were before as each of them fought to find peace in their hearts and convinced themselves that they couldn't help their team mate in anyway until she came out of the coma—which would be only through her own ability.
"This shouldn't be very confusing since I'm trying to make it as simple as possible. Rogue's brain was over functioning as it tried to keep the powers in check. What happens when you put too much air in a balloon? It bursts. Consequently, Rogue's brain was over functioning as it had too many other personalities to restore, her own psyche, and now the ability to help keep her absorption powers in check was out of her brain's ability to manage. All this resulted in a massive spontaneous disintegration that shut down all her powers soon after she controlled them, without the Professor, or me knowing it."
Hank explained the details to the x-men staring at him. Although he had been doing this job for years now, but today, it felt more difficult than ever. He hated to disappoint his teammates, but it had to be done in this case.
Cecelia Reyes noticed the hiatus in Hank's speech and she resumed it from there on. "So, from the water on her bathroom floor, we assumed that Rogue's foot slipped on it like any others' would have, but when she did fall, she was vulnerable to any injuries that came." She finished with a low, hushed voice in the already silent room.
Cyclops cleared his throat and asked after an, awkward silent moment. "So…what now?"
The professor answered Scott question. "Unfortunately, Rogue's brain activity is stable but we cannot calculate the period of time of how long she will stay in the coma. It would be foolish to jump to any conclusions considering her current state of mind. God forbid, if her position becomes worse, we are going to have to put Rogue on a…life support system,—which can only remain temporary. So…all we can do is pray."
Professor looked at his students sitting in grief for a teammate they were going to loose. It hurt him, especially when he saw them helpless and found himself unable to help them. But he remembered, how on their first day of the team's unison, he had asked them to be prepared for any obstacle, any tragedy that may come their way. And he hated to admit, that one of the worst of them had finally arrived.
Distressed and tired, Professor found it harder to speak as time passed. "Thank you Hank and Cecilia. And as for all of you, you are dismissed for today." Professor said as he waited for everyone to leave. "With the exception of Dr. Reyes and Hank who will take care of Rogue, you all are to recommence your daily sessions and practices."
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"'Ro?" Logan questioned as he followed Ororo to the women's dormitory. She refused to reply and remained silent on her way to the room. Logan hated distraught and weak women and even more so, he hated the fact that one of the bravest from the x-men had become one of those women. Never in his life had he seen Ororo so upset, quiet and unlike herself as she walked pretending she did not hear a word.
But Logan followed her nonetheless. "'Ro, what's so bad that ya can't have a word with me?" He grabbed her shoulder but she rejected it and stood a step away from her room's door.
"Logan, let go of my hand." Ororo took a deep breath as he let her hand loose, however she remained at the door, a signed that gave him permission to speak. "What is it?"
Reclining one shoulder against the wall, Logan crossed his arms and stared at the floor. "What's the matter darlin'? I could sense something in you when I landed." He waited for a response.
"I…I don't know." Ororo looked at her hand and it took a lot of strength for her to not Logan see the tears in her eyes.
Sensing her helplessness, he grabbed her chin to make her face him. "Tell me, what is it? The Cajun hur--"
"It's not about Remy! Okay? He did not do anything to me. For the thousandth time, I am pleading you Logan, to not talk about Remy." Ororo blew up as she smacked his hand away. She raised her hand, gesturing him to stop as he searched for a reply. She slumped her shoulders in defeat. "I..got into a relationship with Remy and…"
"Well that's something hot off the press. Newsflash 'Ro, we all know 'bout it. Even that kiddo, Jubilee knows." Logan huffed loudly.
Ororo opened the door and mentioned him to come inside. "And I did some things that I should not have..I eavesdropped on Rogue when she controlled her powers, and then did not tell Remy about it." She clasped a hand on her mouth as she tried to maintain her composure. Her teary, blood shot eyes weren't helping much either.
"'k, you made a mistake. So what now?" Logan came closer and grasped her shoulders warmly.
Not meeting his eyes, Ororo turned around and faced the window. "The sad part is…Rogue got hurt and Remy hates the fact that I did not tell him about her powers. Even though it was supposed to be a surprise, Remy thinks that if I could have told him, he at least would have gotten a chance to cherish her happiness with her, but…that seems impossible now that Rogue is hardly alive." She finished with a sob.
Logan closed his eyes and went to envelope her in her arms. "Shh..Its okay now, it's not your fault. See it wasn' that hard darlin'. All you had t' do was to explain it." As Logan soothed her hurting away, deep down in his heart, he himself longed for some comfort as he found himself coming very close to loosing a friend--a daughter--a sister--a companion…
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"Jubes, please hear me out. Your starving and skipping meals will not help any one of us, neither will it bring Rogue back so easily." Bobby pleaded his younger friend as he lingered the spoon around her mouth, trying to convince her to eat her breakfast.
Logan patted Jubilee on the back and went to take his seat beside the empty seat. "C'mon kiddo, we shouldn't have t' do this."
"Logan's right Jubilee." Professor added while Jean, Scott, Ororo, and Hank sat in their respective places. Dr. Cecilia Reyes remained in the ICU, in charge of Rogue's care at the moment while Hank took a break for himself.
"I…can't. I just can't. It's hard because I'm sitting here eating and Rogue's there all alone, in pain." Jubilee wiped her red eyes with a tissue. "And I'm sorry for being like this."
Defeated, Bobby threw the spoon in the cereal bowl and took his own seat. "Fine. Do whatever you want to." The iceman occupied himself in his own breakfast. Starving or fasting was out of his beliefs and he thought that doing so only created more tension as others begged one person to take care of themselves when it was not a priority.
"Excuse me. I'll..be back in no time." Jubilee excused herself from the breakfast table and walked out of the kitchen in a hurry.
Scott and Jean talked telepathically while the others discussed some other issues trying to get their minds away a little.
"Has anyone seen Gambit lately?" Hank asked.
"I'm right 'ere." Coincidently, Gambit stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Ororo noticed he had showered, shaved, and changed. She sighed in relief and averted her eyes from his view.
Jean cleared her throat and forced herself to smile. "So, you finally went to bed last night hmm?" She grabbed a plate full of pancakes and passed it around for Gambit as he took his chair.
Gambit nodded. "Uh…oui."
Jean studied Gambit's face closely and very carefully tried to feel something. The moment she felt Gambit's gaze upon her, she got up and reached for the kettle. "I..will get some more coffee. Scott, hon do you want anything?" She moved towards the countertop to gather her ingredients.
"No thanks, I'm okay." Scott continued eating.
Professor took his bite and a frown appeared on his already concerned face. "Is there something on your mind, Gambit?"
"Uh..yeah. Prof, I've decided t' leave dis place..for a while." Gambit felt everyone pause as they tried to take the news. "Not f' good, but at least for a short period o' time."
"What the hell?!" Bobby's blue eyes widened as he banged his fists on the table. The glass slipped from Jean's hand but she raised it with her telekinesis. Everyone stared at Gambit and asked him all sorts of questions.
Logan cut in before Gambit got a chance to speak. "Don't think that we didn't expect somethin' like this from ya." I say you go to hell an' I don' give a shit.
Ororo kept one slim, shaking hand to temple as she tried to find the right words to speak. "Remy…do you have any idea what you are going to do by leaving? Don't stay for us, but stay for Rogue…" She looked at him with helpless, pleading eyes.
Gambit remained quiet and lowered his head as he himself did not know how to reply.
"Gambit, what is the reason that you came to this decision, I believe all of us at least have the right to know this." Professor said in a low voice, disappointed voice.
Gambit tried his best to make out the words from his already raspy voice as he spoke. "I t'ink its for de best. F' me an' for Rogue..and f' Ororo." Gambit quickly let his eyes glance at Ororo who had bowed her head in shame. "All of us know dat Rogue not gonna last long...its not dat I don' believe in God savin' her. But I'm gonna wait f' her t' be okay. As much as I hate to say dis, I'm goin' t' wait until we know dat… she's got not'ing left in her. Dats all. I…don' t'ink loosing Rogue will be some'ting I'd be able t' go t'rough so easily. Surely I'll come back, but f' now, I need t' get away. So I've come up wit' dis decision."
Gambit finished and stared at their faces. He expected pathetic reactions, but this was nothing. From their looks, he felt they accepted it. And their acceptance was all what he needed right now.
"Its your decision Remy, you know better. But if you need to talk, we are here." Professor announced numbly.
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A/N: Okay, so did this chapter clear out any confusion? And yes, Gambit's leaving! But that is after…Rogue dies…Mwahahah..More DRAMA…Things are getting worse and worse, aren't they? Well I hope you enjoyed reading. Stick around, because I'll be updating another chapter sooner than you think I will :) Those who are reading and reviewing, THANKS a lot.
Samman