Lance walked into the living room of the Brotherhood house. The rising sun peeked in through the closed blinds, spilling loose bands of pale yellow light across the floor. The strips of light highlighted the room, falling on an empty can of soda, a sock, an un-washed plate with some green substance growing on it. If one were to look just at the items illuminated by light they world think the Brotherhood lived in the cesspool of genetic material that gave birth to mutations. Lance regretfully admitted that they probably weren't too far from the truth.
It was still quiet, he could hear the others rustling about upstairs, but as of yet only he was dressed and ready to begin the day of nothing. He sipped his cup of coffee as he took a seat on the couch, throwing his boots up on the foot table, knocking over some empty pizza boxes. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaning back into the comfortable couch he and Todd had found sitting on the curb.
But the avalanche's peaceful morning would end abruptly today.
His eyes snapped open as the front door flew open, letting a bustling wind carry leaves in with it. "Aww, what do you want?" He asked without even rising.
"Nice to see you too." Pietro huffed, as he appeared in a flash standing before the lounging teen.
Lance grunted.
"Just get everyone together in the living room." Pietro crossed his arms. "Do you think you can handle that?"
Alvers sighed, before taking a large breath and yelling at the top of his lungs. "EVERYONE GET DOWN HERE NOW!"
Pietro wiggled a finger in his ear. "I could have done that." Lance just shrugged, and took another sip of his coffee.
"What yo?" Toad asked as he descended the stairs in a single hop. "I was thinking about brushing my teeth today." He rounded the corner and saw Pietro. "Oh."
"Oh? Is that all your leader gets?" Pietro asked, obviously a little annoyed.
"Be lucky that's all you get." Came a curt reply from the door.
Pietro looked up to see his sister walking in with Fred. "Oh, hey Wanda." He smiled, weekly. He took a moment to glance at her, and still couldn't tell whether or not she was glaring daggers at him for any particular reason, or if it was just Wanda.
"Did you want something?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips as her level of irritation slowly rose.
Pietro cleared his throat. "Listen up. I got good news, load up, we are getting out of this stink hole for the day."
"Where are we going?" Fred asked.
"The Xavier Institute."
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
"My dad and Xavier teamed up…" Pietro lost his train of thought as Todd shot his tongue across the room and flipped the television on, in a complete disregard for his authority. "Toad what are you doing?"
"Just checkin the weather channel, figured they would have some good footage of Hell freezin over."
~~~:*:~~~
Gently waking up was something every person should experience. That feeling when your body slowly comes to life and your mind is the last thing to enter the conscious world borders on pure peacefulness. Her toes woke up first, wiggling about and waving through the warm air under her covers. Then were her legs, sliding across the bare sheets and enjoying the sensation of simple contact. Then her arms as she rolled over onto her right side, feeling the pressure shift.
She laid in the soft, warm bliss of her bed as her mind slowly came to consciousness. *Sunday.* She thought, rejoicing in the fact that the alarm clock would not be snapping her to the harsh reality that she was expected at school. But eventually the calm comfort of her bed couldn't stay the curiosity that resided in her head. She had to know what time it was. Cracking one eye slightly open she searched for the red letters of the clock by her bed, but only found a pair of blue eyes staring back at her.
"You have got to tell me!" Kitty barked out, sending Rogue into a tornado like flurry within her sheets.
"Who? What?" She exclaimed as she managed to fight her way out of the sheets, fully awake much to her disdain, and got her first recognizable look at Kitty. "What are you doing in here?"
"What did you do with Gambit last night?" She asked, still sitting cross-legged on the floor by Rogue's bed.
"What!" Kitty waking her up wasn't even on her mind anymore. "What did he say?" She asked accusingly. *And after that Mr. Sensitive speech last night, I'll kill him!*
"He won't say anything!" Kitty exclaimed, rising from the floor and beginning to pace around Rogue's bed, where she sat, covers pulled up over her head like a small teepee. "St. John asked him this morning how the trip to the city with you went and he said that it went fine, that you two just went into the city, grabbed the files and left. But then John said you two were gone an awful long time to just go to their base and come straight back. Then Scott started questioning him on what exactly you two did. This lead to him being accused of lying both by John and Scott. Then Ray and Bobby were joking that you two might have gotten eloped. Jamie thought they were serious and told Jubilee, and Logan overheard them and went after Gambit. I, like, walked into the living room and Logan had him pinned to the wall with his claws out and Remy had some glowing cards in his hand. They were about to kill each other when the Professor called them to his office. And now nobody will say anything!" Kitty finished. "This is all very hard on me." She hopped up onto Rogue's bed and stuck her face into the sheets where Rogue continued to hide. "Sooo, what really happened?"
~~~~~
After kicking Kitty out of her room Rogue went through her usual routine of shower, dress, and makeup before starting her day. Once finished, she left her room looking down the hall much like a prison escapee would. Scott would want her to run a Danger Room simulation, and ask about Remy. Kurt would start the protective brother thing. Logan would just ask about Remy, no sugarcoating there. And the rest of the younger students would probably just rush at her with a volley of questions that would more than likely cause her to add a few more personalities to her already overcrowded mind.
She listened as she neared the kitchen, where most of them would be finishing off a late breakfast, or early lunch, however you wanted to look at it. Taking a quick glance around the corner she sighed. They were all there, well, minus the Professor and Magnito. How in the hell was she going to handle this?
"Chere, you got some really paranoid people around here." She looked over to see Remy leaning against the adjacent wall. "Did you know we got eloped last night?" He raised an eyebrow.
"God I just need to get out of here." She dropped her face into her hands.
"Go for a ride?" He dangled a familiar set of keys in his hand. "Heard you were a Harley girl."
"Those are…" She gawked, looking at them.
Gambit shrugged. "De Wolverine need to watch his pockets when he pins a thief to the wall."
"Lets go, but if anyone asks, you kidnapped me."
"Oui Chere." He held the institute door open and made a slight bow as she passed through. "Where to?"
She jerked the keys from his hand. "I'm drivin."
~~~~~
They both walked into the room at the same time. Both froze much like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. Neither were frightened of the other, but both were not sure where, if anywhere, to begin.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Listen, you don't have to act like that around me." Fred awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not like I used to be."
Jean shook her head. "It's not that."
"Of course it is." Fred interrupted and lightly laughed, trying to soften the mood. "You had a two-ton stalker there for a while." He looked away, embarrassed. "Even tried to crush your head with a filing cabinet."
"I tried to first." Jean dismissed. "That was the scariest moment for my life."
"Mine too." He said under his breath. "I'm sorry Jean. I'm not making excuses but its hard having a mutation like this. And I do have one heck of a temper along side of it."
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked genuinely.
"Well, you can listen if you want." Jean smiled and nodded, and Fred shoved his hands into the pockets of his overalls. "I'm not freaky enough to be accepted by the freaks, but I'm freaky enough to be an outcast from the normals. Used to starve myself when I was younger. Not eat and exercise until I passed out, but I just kept getting bigger. Had no idea back then that it was the mutation." He kept his eyes on his feet. "Guess that's why I joined the brotherhood and magneto instead of the X-Men. Didn't matter if the world new I was a mutant or not, they still thought I was a freak."
Jean smiled and sat on the edge of the couch. "You know the professor can help you with that temper. It doesn't have to be a problem controlling your power."
"It's okay; I found something that keeps me from blowing up like that."
"What?" Jean asked.
"This." Fred unbuttoned the top flap of his overalls. "Don't freak, it kinda fell out of your bag that day." He stated as he pulled out a crumpled picture. "I just keep it as a reminder. A reminder of what losing my temper cost me." He handed it to her, and she looked at the picture of herself. "Listen, I understand if you don't want me to have it."
"No Fred." She smiled, placing it back into his large hand. "You keep it."
"Thanks." He took it back carefully, and slipped it back into the overall pocket. "Hey Jean, are you going to be here tonight?"
"Yes."
"Good." Fred beamed. "Figured I might try and cook you a meal again."
"Great." Jean smiled. "Thanks, it was Kitty's turn to cook."
~~~~~
Rogue paced through her room. In hindsight, running off with Remy on Logan's motorcycle probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. 1: Logan was waiting on them when they got back. 2: The few kids, who didn't believe they had gotten eloped last night, did now.
There was a knock at her door.
"Who is it?" She asked, instead of calling her customary 'come in'. She didn't feel like explaining herself to anyone. And Logan was no exception. Remy hadn't been seen since they got back, promptly being called to the Professor's office by both Xavier and Magnito before he and Logan, well mostly Logan, got into it.
"Land Shark." She heard a muffled reply from the other side.
"What?"
"Land Shark." Slightly louder now.
"Bobby, I swear you need to stop watching those old SNL's…" She stated flinging her door open, only not finding Bobby.
"Bonjure."
"I should have known." She said looking at the Cajun leaning against the doorframe.
"Nice place you got here." He observed walking past her and into her room.
"Hey!" She called after him. "I didn't invite ya in!"
"Chuck wanted you to come by his office bla bla bla…" Remy flicked his hand in the air, implying that the Professor had probably given him a longer message.
"He couldn't have paged me?"
"I was just in there and he asked me to tell you."
"How'd it go?" She watched him look around her room. "Was he mad?"
"De Professor?" He asked turning around and sitting on the edge of her bed. "No, Remy thankful he was there. Kept calming Magneto down, even told him 'boys will be boys'."
Rogue smiled, imagining the good cop bad cop scenario between the two leaders. "Fine." She said walking through the room. "Stay here."
"Where you going?" He asked leaning back with his hands behind his head.
"Bathroom." She looked back at him from the bathroom doorway. "And you better not touch anything while I'm in there."
He nodded, lopsided grin firmly in place.
"Especially not the bathroom lock." She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Remy promise." He smiled, still lying on top of her covers. "He won't be touchin a thing."
She shut the door; clicking the lock as loudly as possible to be sure he could her it on the other side. She looked in the mirror at her face as she turned the cool water on and let it pour into the sink. He was in her room. Big deal. She didn't let anybody in her room. So why hadn't she kicked him out the minute he put his foot in the door?
*Maybe you wanted him to stay?* Rogue instantly wished she could have blamed the thought on one of the hiding personalities in her head, but truth be told, it was all her. The running water in the sink begged to be splashed on her face, and she needed something to refresh her thinking.
The clear cool liquid gave her instant relief. She dipped her hands under the faucet again and brought it up to her face, exhaling as it seemed to lift the stress from her mind. Grabbing the hand towel she rubbed her face dry and tossed it back down to the counter. Exhaling and collecting her thoughts she quickly moved to the door and opened it in one swift jerk, fully expecting to fine LeBeau going through her underwear drawer.
But he wasn't, as a matter of fact he was in the exact same position she had left him in.
He grinned as she came back into the room. "Everything come out okay?"
"Gross!" She exclaimed which caused his smile to grow wider, reveling his perfectly aligned white teeth. "Now will you get out."
"Cant Remy wait for you here?" He looked up with puppy-dog eyes. "Dis sure be a comfy bed."
"Now!"
"Alright… alright…" He stated as he stood up from her bed as was pushed to the door. At the door he turned and looked down at her. "Remy think this is the best you have ever looked."
She stood there dumbfounded for a moment, wondering why he would think she'd look any different today. But before she could ask what he meant he turned on his heels, and walked down the hall.
~~~~~
"Professor?" She asked as she pushed the ajar door open and stuck her head inside.
"Yes." He responded, his voice a little surprised. "Sorry Rogue, I didn't sense you coming."
"You really should lay off of Cerebro for a while." She looked at the dark circles under his eyes and tired expression.
"I'll be fine." He dismissed with a fatherly smile. "I just wanted to thank you for going into the city for me yesterday."
"No problem." She said as she took a seat in one of the plush leather chairs across the desk.
"You wanted to speak to me before you went?" Xavier prompted.
"Oh." Rogue remembered her decision to tell him everything. "It was nothing." She lied, maybe she would work up the nerve to try and tell him in another year or so.
"You are sure?" Xavier asked, letting her know the he knew it wasn't nothing.
"Yeah."
"Rogue?"
"Yes?" She looked across the desk at him.
Xavier paused, as if carefully choosing his words. "I would like you to be careful with Remy."
"What?"
"I'm not telling you what you can or cannot do; you are one of the most mature students here." The Professor's eyes drifted up as he thought. "Well, barring this morning's joyride on Logan's motorcycle, and when you took off after the Brotherhood that time with Kitty." His brow wrinkled. "Come to think of it that started with Gambit also."
"So you want be to be careful around someone like him?" She asked more venomously than she intended, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back into her seat. "Is that what you're saying?"
"No, I just want you to understand that we may not be allies forever. There will more than likely be a time in the future when you will have to face him in battle."
"You're not the only one who can tell when someone ain't telling them something." She said, and stared at him in silence. "You didn't seem to mind too much when Kitty was dating Lance. So what's the real reason?"
Xavier sighed. "You are opening yourself up to someone Rogue; I just don't want to see you get hurt."
"And you think Remy's going to hurt me?"
"No, it has nothing to do with Mr. LeBeau's character." He dismissed. "It has taken nearly a year for the X Men to gain your trust. I have seen you open up to him in a matter of a couple of weeks. I think it is wonderful, but I don't want to see you go back to your old reclusive self if things do not work out."
Rogue relaxed, taking a breath and realizing that the Professor wasn't giving her the "stay away from people like him" speech so many teenagers received. "Listen professor, I don't like Remy, I mean, I don't like him like 'that'." She looked up hoping the Xavier caught her meaning. "I guess I'm just realizing he ain't as bad as I figured him for, and if we end up fighting with Magnito again, well, I don't think I'll have a problem choosing who my friends are."
"I'm glad Rogue." He smiled genuinely. "I won't keep you any longer, your last week of school starts tomorrow and I'm sure you could be using your time better than listening to me."
"I doubt it." She got up from her seat and crossed to the door. As she reached for the door handle she turned. "Professor?"
"Yes?" He rose his head up from the papers lying across his desk.
"Thanks for caring."
"You are more than welcome." Xavier said, and she turned to leave. "And Rogue?"
"Yea Professor."
His eyes smiled like that of a proud father. "It is nice to see you without all the makeup on."
She reached up to her face and turned to see her reflection in the glass doors of the Professor's bookcase. Gone was the pale complexion and dark gothic eyeliner and lipstick. *I washed my face!* She recalled, and desperately tried to remember anyone she had passed in the hall. *That Swamp Rat!* She stormed out of the room.
Xavier smiled, having heard the last couple of projections coming from his student's mind. *Ah to be young and oblivious to the effect of Cupid's arrows.*
~~~~~
"What are you doing Fredrick?"
Fred turned from the stock pot he was stirring on the range to the doorway. Storm was there, hand held over her heart in shock as she watched him. "Cooking." He explained.
"Nobody ever offers to cook." She looked up at him, expecting to find the boy hallucinating.
"I'm sorry…"
"No child, it's just a surprise to me." She walked in the kitchen. There was rarely an evening when she did not have to drag a member of the school screaming into the kitchen on the night they drew dinner duty. "Is there anything I can do to help you?" She asked, smelling the spices rising from the pot. This time it was the Blob's turn to look surprised. "What is it?" She asked at his surprised expression.
"No body has ever offered to help me make dinner before." They both laughed. "Naw Miss Ororo, I think I got it."
"Well if you need anything just let me know." She walked to the door, when Remy entered.
"Evening Stormy." He smiled stepping to the doorway's side and giving a small bow.
"Mr. LeBeau, I certainty hope you are not confusing me with the younger female students here." She chided, but with a light voice.
"You mean you are not a student?" He questioned in disbelief, looking up from his sill bowing position. "My apologies, you must have graduated last year then."
Ororo rolled her eyes. "Just don't call me 'Stormy' again." She smiled and left the kitchen.
Fred looked back from the pot as she left and Remy stood up straight. "You ever meet a woman you didn't flirt with?"
"Ever eat a meal you didn't like?"
Fred smiled. "Point taken."
"Smells good." Remy observed crossing the kitchen and staring down into the steaming pot.
"Chili."
Gambit raised an eyebrow. "Real chili?"
"Well, had to tone it down for the yankee's." Fred laughed. Toning down his dishes was a crime, but it was the only way he could get any of the Brotherhood members to try anything after he first cooked a pot of chili, which Toad had affectionately dubbed the 'Red Death'.
"What else you got cookin?" Gambit asked.
"Nothing, problem with Grandma Duke's chili is that you gotta keep stirring it."
"Well then, guess I'll chip in." Remy rummaged around in the freezer before emerging with a pack of frozen shrimp. "Etoufe sound good?"
"Fine by me. Think I saw some rice over there in that cabinet." Fred nodded his head in the direction. "And they got a bunch of spices over the fridge."
"De professor got a pretty good selection to work with non?" Remy observed, as he opened the doors and reveled the spice selection.
"I hope you know that's thanks to me." They both turned to see Rogue in the doorway. "Don't tell me ya'll are cookin?" She walked in; sniffing the air and looking into the stock pot Fed still presided over. "Fred, sorry darling but I never could stand Tex-mex chili. We still got any peanut oil?"
"Believe I saw some in there Chere." Remy replied, filling one side of the sink with hot water to thaw the frozen packet of shrimp. He looked at her and shook his head. "I see you done put that awful mask back on Chere."
Making sure Fred wasn't looking she promptly flipped Remy off as she smiled underneath her freshly applied makeup. "Just for not telling me, you get help bread and fry some catfish."
"Sorry, got my hands full wit the shrimp etoufe." He leaned back and gave her a wink as she bent down to a bottom cabinet. "Noting sexier than a femm tending to hot grease though."
"Careful there Remy." Fred smiled. "Nothing more dangerous than a southern woman near hot grease."
"Thank yah Freddy."
Sam passed the entrance to the kitchen, and then promptly stuck his head back in the doorway. "What's that smell?"
"Chili." Fred replied. "Remy's makin etoufe, and Rogue's about to fry some catfish."
"And hushpuppies."
"And hushpuppies." Fred corrected.
"Ya'll got plenty of good stuff. But you can't make a meal out of three main courses." Sam entered and rummaged through the freezer. "How bout some cornbread and black-eyed peas."
"You putting ham in those peas sugah?" Rogue asked as she spread the cornmeal into a paper grocery sack before getting the buttermilk out of the fridge to coat the fish.
Sam smiled. "What kind of Southerner would I be if I didn't?"
One more person walked through the doorway of the kitchen. "Aww... and I got some ideas from Miss Hoover's home-ec class." Kitty whined, before turning and walking back out the door.
~~~:*:~~~
"Remy, Fred, whatever you need its yours." The two looked up from placing their respective dishes in the sink. The meal had been a big success; even Logan seemed to forget about the earlier confrontations with Remy and complemented him on his and Fred's culinary skills. "Just keep cooking when it's Kitty's turn." Bobby looked up at them.
"Come on Bobby." The two dumbstruck mutants looked over to the door of the dining room as Mr. McCoy walked into the kitchen. "I'm sure Mr. LeBeau and Mr. Dukes are very busy." Bobby smiled and left.
Just as Bobby left the room, Remy found two very large, hairy, blue arms wrapped around him. He looked down with a slightly panicked look at the Beast as the arms tightened in a massive bear hug, lifting his feet off the floor.
"When pain and anguish wring the brow, a ministering angel thou." Beast recited as he released the stunned Cajun. "Sir. Walter Scott."
Both Fred and Remy, still neither speaking a word, glanced at one another as the Beast left the kitchen.
"It's just their way of saying thank you." Both looked to see Rogue bringing her plate in.
It was Remy who finally spoke first. "De petite's cooking be that bad?"
"Never trust a skinny cook." Fred sighed.
~~~~~
Well, another one bites the dust. Next chapter picks up on Friday, the last day of school at Bayville High.
P.S: I know Logan doesn't drive a Harley in Evolution, but I got no idea what to translate what he does drive into real life. Therefore, he drives a Harley now, see how well that works?
The Highwaywoman: Not much longer now, in fact, I'd be sure to catch the next chapter. ~wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more~
Ishandahalf: Geeze, give a guy a break; I practically had Romyness gushing out of every orifice you can mention in a PG-13 fic. But there is more on the way… he… he… he…
Rogue Worrior Spirit: I wasn't really trying to have Remy come off as a jerk to Warren. To me it was more of a thief and a wealthy person thing; you know the whole Snake and Mongoose thing.
Classic Tinker: Himm… Tabby and John, its so crazy it just might work! In all honesty I probably won't end up making a paring with John. And if I was to pair anyone with Tabby it would probably be Ray, don't know why, but they just pare up in my head. I originally intended this to just be a Rogue/Remy, and ended up with the Kitty/Piotr, now I find myself preparing for some Kurt/Amanda because I just cant stand to see the Elf lonely, really though, have you ever seen a sad Elf? It'll make grown men cry. So, after doing those three couples, I think my romance mojo will be pretty much exhausted. I could still just throw John and Tabby together, but I wont, if I put them together I'm going to spend time on it and make it worth it. There will be more thief/millionaire security talks in the future.
Alwaysright: Thanks, I checked out the site, and it's a great one. I keep referring back to it for the character backgrounds and spellings. "Huked with phonics worked foor I."
Bunny angel: Well, John wrapped it in a Gut-Bomb wrapper and set an ambush for Kurt, so there is a chunk missing…
Later all…
