Disclaimer: If it looks familiar, then it ain't mine. Got that, bub?
A/N: I'm not even going to come up with an excuse…
Chapter 2"Don't even think about it," Gambit all but growled as his hands itched to charge something, anything.
But determined green eyes unflinchingly stared into his red on black ones.
"Non." Gambit said firmly.
A smile that can only be described as absolutely evil crossed her pretty face.
"I'm warning you, petite,"
A small hand reached out without hesitation.
And in the time it takes for a person to blink, Remy's house of cards came tumbling down, literally.
Rogue laughed in glee, one card in her chubby hands.
"That ain't funny!" Remy lectured her, his voice rising. "Do you know how long it took me to get it that high?"
And slowly, Rogue's eyes began to tear up. Her cute face began to crumple.
"Oh, no." Remy groaned. "Not that. Anything but that. Remy's sorry, petite,"
But his apology came too late.
"WAAAAAAH!"
Almost immediately, Wolverine was in the room, all six claws out and able.
"Kitty!" Rogue cried as she ambled towards the aggressive man. She held out her arms.
Wolverine scooped the tiny child with one arm. "What did you do, bub?" He snarled.
"Nothing!" Remy held up his hands as if in surrender.
"Did he make Rogue cry again?" Kitty asked as she phased through the walls, glaring at Remy as if he was the scum of the universe.
"Was that my little schwester?" Kurt asked as he ported into the room. "Why are you crying?" He asked as he took Rogue from Wolverine.
"Ask Gumbo over there," Wolverine said. If looks could kill…
"Remy didn't do nothing,"
"Then are you saying that Rogue just cried without any reason at all?" Now it was Summers on Gambit's case.
Remy sighed in defeat. "Alright," he grumbled. "Remy's sorry. Whatever it is that made Roguey cry, Remy promises never to do it again,"
Rogue sniffled. But when she buried her face in her brother's chest, no one can see that she hid a very impish smile. She got all the people in the Institute wrapped around her chubby little fingers. Just the way she likes it.
Logan was on sitting quietly in the kitchen, reading the morning paper when he felt something wrap around his leg. He looked down and saw green eyes staring back at him. "Half-Pint!" He called out. Kitty had been feeding Rogue earlier.
"Kitty!" Rogue chirped.
"She's not here, Squirt," Logan grumbled as he went back to his paper.
"Kitty!" Rogue repeated as she gazed adoringly at Logan.
Logan grimaced. Now he remembers. To this Stripes, he was Kitty, not the Half-Pint.
"Kitty," Rogue giggled as she started to climb on Logan's lap.
Logan frowned.
Rogue laughed delightedly as she turned around to face the newspaper. "All gone!" She announced as she swiped it out of Logan's grasp. "Paper goes bye bye,"
"Stripes,"
"Stripes!" Rogue laughed.
Logan bit back a groan. He took his cup of coffee and took a drink, wishing it was beer instead.
"Drink!" Rogue cried out as she attempted to take the cup from Logan.
"Not for kids, darling," he told her. He then spied the milk Rogue was drinking earlier on the table. Grabbing Rogue on one hand so that she wouldn't fall off his lap, he reached for the glass with his other hand. "This one's for you."
"No!" Rogue cried out as she pushed the glass away. Unfortunately, the milk spilled from the glass into Logan's face.
"Stripes!" Logan growled.
"Stripes!" Rogue repeated as she turned her back on Logan and tried reaching for the cup of coffee on the table. "Drink!"
Logan wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "Not for kids,"
Rogue growled, much to Logan's surprise. "Drink! Now!"
"Not in this lifetime, kid,"
Then, Rogue screamed, the shrill sound of a baby having a temper tantrum.
Logan winced in pain as he grabbed the cup and shoved it into Rogue's tiny hands. "Knock yourself out,"
"Wheeeee!" A hyper Rogue dashed around the room.
"Rogue!" A harassed Jaime ran after her, afraid that she would hurt herself.
"Alright," an exhausted Kitty grumbled. "Who gave her candy?" She demanded.
Logan, who was stretched comfortably on the sofa watching the sports channel, grumbled something under his breath before lumbering away.
Rogue paused for a moment then waved to him. "Kitty, bye!"
"What's his problem?" Kitty frowned.
"Alright! Just in time for Spongebob!" Bobby crowed as he immediately seized the remote control Logan just relinquished.
"Oh, no!" Kitty protested. "I vote for soaps!"
"Cartoons!"
"Soaps!"
"Cartoons!"
"Soaps!"
"Are we having this conversation again?" Jean asked with an amused grin as she and Scott walked into the rec room.
"Grover!" Rogue cried out delightedly as Kurt ported in.
"Vhat argument?" He asked as he stooped down to grab Rogue.
"Cartoons or soaps?" Kitty asked.
"Let's put it to vote," Scott suggested. "Soaps?"
Jean and Kitty raised their hands. Scott, once again, slowly raised his.
"Cartoons?" Jean asked.
Bobby, Jaime, and Kurt raised their hands.
"It's a tie." Kitty frowned. "What do we do now?"
"Cartoons!" Rogue chirped angelically.
"Kurt!" Kitty protested. "You told her to say that!"
Kurt gave them his best 'who, me?' look.
"I'm not really sure about this," Kurt hedged.
"I know. It would make me feel better if one of the adults was around," Kitty agreed.
"Would you just go?" Remy asked in frustration. "Remy can handle the petite,"
"Right." Kurt said dryly. "The way you've been handling her for the past few days."
"We started off with the wrong foot," Remy admitted. "But the femmes could never resist Remy,"
Kurt shifted Rogue in his arm. "Maybe I should just take her," he mused.
"Mon ami, no offense, but a mission is no place to take a bebe,"
Kurt sighed. Most of the team had been called away because of another mutant hysteria in California. And while the team was away, Cerebro had detected a new mutant lost and confused in a nearby town. The professor had asked Kurt and Kitty to check it out.
And now Kurt was at a dilemma. Should he take Rogue with him or ask Remy to switch with him? But he knew there was a specific reason why the professor had asked him to go and not Remy.
"Ja. Alright. You take care of her, you hear," he started to hand Rogue over.
"No!" Rogue protested. "Bad man! Bad!"
"See, she can't resist Remy," Remy said sarcastically as he tucked the kicking and screaming Rogue under his arm.
"Grover! Grover!" Rogue cried out as her arms reached for her brother.
"Is anything the matter, my dear students?" Hank McCoy strode in the garage in all his furry glory.
Rogue's eyes widened. Her head swiveled from Hank to Kurt to Hank. "Teddy!" Chubby arms reached for the Beast.
Kurt groaned. "I think I had just been replaced,"
"Well, at least Mr. McCoy is here, we got one responsible adult to take care of Rogue," Kitty said.
"Hey!" Remy protested. "Remy's a responsible adult."
Hank grinned. "Of course I'll take care of the sweet angel," he said as he took the squirming Rogue away from Remy.
"Thanks," Kurt grinned. "Let's go, Kitty,"
"And remember, you have to giver her a glass of milk before her nap time," Kitty said before boarding the X-Jeep.
"He'll look after the sweet angel, he says," Remy grumbled as he kept one eye on Rogue and the other on the cards he was playing with.
Hank had retreated to the lab after Rogue dumped chocolate milk on the man's fur. It had been an hour since he walked out and Remy is yet to hear from him.
Riiiip.
"Card goes 'bye 'bye," a sweet singsong voice giggled as a small hand reached for another card in Remy's deck.
Riiip.
Remy refused to believe that he was developing a tick.
Riip.
Girlish giggles floated to Remy's ears. At least she wasn't screaming her lungs out or kicking and biting him.
Riip.
And he was going to charge up those cards anyway. Either way, the cards end up destroyed. So it doesn't really matter how they got destroyed, right? Right? Right.
Riip.
"Rogue, I'm going to give you away if you don't behave."
Rogue's head snapped up and looked at him. Then, she gave him a smile.
Riip.
"You know what, petite?" Remy suddenly stood up from the couch. "Why don't Remy go to the kitchen to get you milk, then you can take a nap?"
Riip. "No!" Rogue said gleefully. "Nap bad. Want milk."
"Alright."
Riip.
Yep. He was most definitely developing a tick.
"Kitty!"
"Wolverine?" Remy frowned as he returned to the rec room with Rogue's milk.
"Good kitty!"
Remy found Rogue playing with a kitten. He frowned. Where on earth did Rogue get a kitten. And how on earth did the kitten get through the mansion's tough defense system? Something was wrong here.
"Rogue, come to Remy," he muttered as he scooped the child from the play mat, away from the kitten.
Rogue gurgled in glee at the unexpected ride. "Go wheee!" She laughed.
"Cute, petite," he glared at the kitten. "Who are you?" He demanded.
The kitten meowed once. Then suddenly, she transformed into Mystique. "You're sharper than I originally thought."
Rogue, upon seeing Mystique, cried on top of her lungs and burrowed closer to Remy.
Mystique's face softened. "I just wanted to see if my intelligence was correct," she said softly. "And to see my little girl."
"She ain't your girl anymore, Mystique."
"Come here, baby."
Rogue clung desperately to Remy. "No." She cried. "Rogue good."
Understanding crossed Remy's face. Rogue must've thought that he was going to give her away for misbehaving. "Am not going to give you to that crazy woman, Roguey."
"Crazy 'man." Rogue agreed.
Remy fingered his coat for his cards. He winced when he remembered that Rogue had gotten her sticky little hands on it. So he settled for his staff instead.
"Go away."
"Not without Rogue," came the reply as Mystique morphed into a bear.
"Teddy!" Rogue cried in delight.
Remy frowned at her. "Non, petite. You've already got your teddy down the stairs, workin' on his lab. You stay with Remy," but the light-hearted words were accompanied by him taking Rogue by the hand, pulling her behind him, and adopting a defensive position. Merde. How do you fight with a kid beside you?
The bear/Mystique growled which seemed to shock Rogue. Her green eyes began to fill with tears.
"Bad! Bad!" Rogue cried out as she attempted to hide herself inside Remy's trench coat. Remy then felt her wrapping her arms around his leg.
Which now severely restricted his movement.
Mystique/Bear seem to know this as she/it now advanced threateningly forward.
Stay or fight? Remy pondered his options. But his enemy didn't give him a chance to decide as it suddenly lunged itself at him.
Remy quickly whipped around, grabbed Rogue, and attempted to move them out of the way. However, he wasn't fast enough. With one swipe, the bear's huge paws connected with Remy's shoulder.
Remy groaned as he slumped on the floor in pain, the bow staff in his hands flying off to the distance, with Rogue safely tucked underneath him. He literally used his body as a shield to keep Rogue from Mystique.
The bear continued its assault with the prone Remy, kicking and pawing in the attempt to get the kid Remy refused to let go of.
Remy, bloody but unbowed, refused to budge an inch.
Rogue, who was quite uncomfortable underneath Remy, was about to protest, when she felt something sticky fall to her hands. It was thick and it was red.
Blood.
And swiftly, comprehension dawned upon her.
"Roguey," Remy's voice was a tortured whisper as he fought to stay conscious. He must protect Rogue. She mustn't fall into the hands of her adoptive mother.
But the bear was stronger. With Remy almost out of it, the bear easily rolled him off Rogue.
"Hello, daughter," Mystique greeted the child as she morphed back to her original form.
"Hello, mother."
~tbc
