Special thanks to Rogue Star, without her help this would have never gotten posted

The television in the den was on, some black and white, gritty detective drama playing.  Two teens inside the mansion laid on the couch, TV on, but their eyes on each other.

"Ya know Chere."  Gambit ran a finger through her hair, lifting up one of the white bangs and examining it as it lay on his gloved finger.  "That dirty little mind of mine's been working extra hard lately."

"Really?"  Rogue smiled, head still in his lap.  "On what?"

"Tinkin'."

"Thinking?"  Rogue smiled as she corrected his broken English.

"Yeah, dat too."

"Thinking about what?"  She asked, rolling off her side and onto her back so she could look up at him.

"Just some little things."  His hand moved down and placed itself on her stomach.  "Mostly on new and different ways to have a good time together that doesn't end with Remy getting drained and rolling over asleep."

Rogue smiled.  "Ain't that how it's supposed to go?"

"You wound me Chere."  He frowned, but his eyes twinkled.  "But I see your point, and we might discover dat in the future."

"So what you got in mind?"  She asked, covering the hand on her stomach with her own gloved one.

"Well."  Remy thought for a moment.  "The first thing involves a bucket of lard, 50lbs of feathers, and your brother's image inducer."

Rogue punched him in the arm.

He smirked.  "Guess that's a no?"

"Keep tryin."  She pouted.

"Or."  He leaned down.  "A couple of scarves, an air conditioner cut down to sixty, and a soft bed with a lot of blankets."

She smiled looking back up into his eyes.  "I think I like that one better."

"Your wish is my command."  He breathed mere inches from her lips.  "We can always save the lard and feathers for tomorrow."

She punched him again.

"You are a pervert."

"Card carryn' and board certified."  Remy smiled proudly leaning back up.

Rogue was about to respond.  But the door to the den opened.

"So mates?"  John called out when he noticed who was in the room.  "What we got planned tonight?"  He asked, stretching his arms over his head as walked to lean over the back of the sofa.

Rogue blushed.  "Actually, Remy and I were about to go to my room…"

"Cool deal, I'll grab some snacks."  John clapped his hands together.  "Meet you two up there."  He called behind him as he headed off to raid the kitchen.

"What just happened?"  Rogue asked, dumbfounded.

"Not sure."  He deadpanned back.  "But Remy believes de correct term is 'manage a twa'."

Rogue punched him in the arm.

"Mind pickin' a new place to hit Remy?"  He pleaded as she got up off the sofa.  "Arm's startin to get sore."

She just glared at him with her hands on her hips.

"Sorry."  He scratched the back of his head.  "Just takes a while for the dirty mind to power down."  He gave her a smirk to counter her glair as she got up and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.  "Especially after picturing Chere dat way."

Rogue smiled and wrapped an arm around him as they walked for the door.  "Don't worry, we'll get the scarves and bed another night."

"I meant in de lard and feathers."

Gambit spun free and avoided another punch to the arm, fleeing up the stairs with Rogue close behind.

"Better hurry up Chere."  Remy called behind him.  "John'll be up just as soon as he figures out how to get your microwave to pop popcorn."

"Damn Cajun!"  Rogue Grunted as she continued to chase him down.

~~~:*:~~~

"Any luck?"  Logan asked as he entered Hank's lab.

Beast looked up from his work, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose.  "I am making progress, but until I am completely finished deciphering these images I won't know how everything falls into place."

Logan looked at the walls of scripts.  "Kind of an all or nothing deal then?"

"Precisely."

Logan looked at the spear Remy and the others had, borrowed, from the museum lying under the microscope.  "Didn't think you'd need one of those to know it was a spear."

Hank chuckled.  "Yes, even I was able to decipher that fact without the aid of science.  Actually, I've found minuet inscriptions along the head, running all up and down the sharpened edge."  Hank typed in a command on his computer and pulled up an image.  "I have no idea what its saying.  I have a computer program running now which is cross referencing every symbol throughout the world."  McCoy shrugged.  "Only problem is, when it finds an error it has to restart from the beginning."

"Any idea how long it'll take?" 

"It could finish right now, or…"

"Or?"  Logan questioned.

"Or, with my rough calculations, it could take up to 5 years to run through every combination."  Hank smiled as he looked at the images on the screen.  "It's quite a remarkable script if you ask me."

Wolverine crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall.  "Had any more contact with the fuzz-balls?"

"I assume you mean Cyrus and Sage."  Hank corrected.  "No, but that doesn't surprise me.  I fear that unless we have a dramatic breakthrough here those two will attempt to stop Apocalypse themselves."

Logan grunted.

"Tell me Logan."  Hank turned his chair to face the other mutant.  "Don't you find it odd, that the alternate pigmentation preference of the x-gene seems to be blue?  Can you imagine the mathematical impossibilities of this being completely random?  There must be some code, some missing piece, or perhaps an additional combination of genome material which causes this phenomenon.  Not to mention the fact that out of the five mutants known to share this wonderful disposition, all but one as also covered in fir? And three of the five share the same exact mutation?"

"Hank."  Wolverine interrupted.

Beast snapped out of it.  "Yes Logan?"

"You need to get out more."

~~~:*:~~~

"I can't take it anymore, he's driving me crazy."  Remy said as he began to pace about the library furiously running his hands through his hair.  Rogue, Kitty and Piotr sat in silence as Remy continued to rant like a madman.

"Calm down, it can not be that bad."  Piotr tried to talk him down, but it didn't seem to work.

"Not dat bad?"  Remy turned to face his friend.  "Not dat bad?  De boy walked in on me and Chere makin out and just sat there and watched."  Remy almost exploded, and Rogue blushed a little.

"So what, he's got like a sick mind."  Kitty said.  "He isn't that bad."

"The boy brought popcorn Kit.  And I would have drained him dry if the Swamp Rat hadn't of stopped me."  Rogue said shooting a small glair at Remy who just smiled and blew a kiss to her.

"Dere was no way my Chere was havin those thoughts in dat pretty little head."  Remy told her and Rogue fought back another blush as Kitty giggled.

"Why do you think we have to do something about it?"  Piotr asked Remy, who just gave Piotr one of those 'Are you serious?' looks.

"Piotr, the boy has to be stopped.  If memory serves me right, didn't he interrupt you guy's movie last week, at one a.m.?"  Remy asked with an evil smile. Both seemed to go back and remember than night.

"Oh yeah."  Kitty responded blushing.  She couldn't sleep and came downstairs to find Piotr watching a movie and joined him.  Then John came in, and sat right between them.

"An, when he joined you two on your walk around the grounds.  And when he tagged along with you two into town.  And when…"

"Alright Remy, they get the point."  Rogue stopped him.

"Maybe we could do something."  Piotr started warming up to the idea.  "But do we really have to?"  He tried one last time to back out of it.

"Do you really want him to come in and watch while you and Kitty are making out?"  Rogue asked.

"And bring popcorn?"  Remy finished.  Both of them blushed, and Remy and Rogue smiled at their victory.

"What can we do though?  It's not like we can just ship him off to India or something."  Kitty told them."

"Watch me."  Rogue said, an evil look in her eye as she glared at the door.

"Now Chere, don't be rash."  Remy said putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Cant I at least drain him?"  Rogue asked looking up at her boyfriend, who just shook his head.  "Cant protect him forever Swamp Rat."

"Wasn't plannin on it."  Remy answered.

"If only he had a girlfriend of his own."  Kitty sighed back onto the couch and laid her head on Piotr's lap.  They all stared at her with a gleam in their eyes.  "What?"  Kitty asked confused.  "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"Kit, you are a genius."  Rogue told her.

"I could of, like, told you that."  Kitty giggled.  "But what did I say?"

~~~:*:~~~

Tabitha scoffed at the floor with her shoe as she walked through the mansion.

"Bored."  She said aloud, crossing her arms behind her head and staring at the ceiling.  Funny how you want the summer so bad during the school year, but wind up actually looking forward to going back to school because theirs nothing to do after the first month of vacation.  She was looking forward to going to the beach this afternoon, especially since summer was winding down. 

"Wonder who got my old room?"  She asked aloud as she walked into her old wing.  She smiled thinking of all the trouble she Jubilee and Amara used to get into.  It was her understanding that Bobby, Sam and Ray were getting the girls back in her absence, something about iced down toilet seats?

She came to the door of her old room.  It still had stained spots from the tape she had used to hang various band pictures, posters, and other items on the wood.  She started to knock, to see who had been moved in, but as she did the unlatched door creaked open an inch.

She saw someone move across the room.  Curiosity overtook her as she looked in.  It was Gabe, in a towel.  Now Tabby was just downright a peeping tom, but couldn't care less.  Gabe walked back into her view, in a pair of pants this time.  *Dang.*  Tabby though as he finished drying his hair and tossed the towel over the chair at his desk.  *Well, towel's gone.  But the view's all good.*  She thought looking at his chest.

Tabby's eyes widened as she got her first look at his bare back when he turned.  "Oh my God…"  She whispered as her hand came up to her mouth.  Scars crisscrossed over the flesh, some deep enough to cause crevasses that deepened into the mussels of his back.  The scars were old, but the fact imprinted itself in her brain that they were at onetime fresh, and poorly cared for.

Gabe pulled a shirt over his head, hiding the scars behind a thin layer of cotton.  Tabby tried to step back from the door, but in the process bumped it to creek open.

Gabe turned to look as the door creaked loudly.  "Hello Tabitha."  He said warmly, looking at the girl in the door.

"Tabitha?"  She asked, quickly recovering.  "No one calls me that except the Prof."

"Sorry, I forgot."  He ran his fingers through his loose hair, and Tabitha couldn't help from comparing him to some recent Calvin Klein ads.

"So, how do you like my old room?"  She asked as she entered, and stood by the doorway to his bathroom.

"This room was yours?"  He asked, before looking around cautiously.  "Well, that would certainty explain the smell…"

Tabitha put her hands on her hips.  "Hey!"

"Easy."  He held his hands up in defense.  "I was only kidding."  He picked up the damp towel and walked towards her.  "Excuse me."

"Yeah."  Tabby stood to the side and allowed him to pass by into his bathroom.  "Gabe?"  She asked.

"Yes?"  He called back from in the bathroom.

"I saw you pulling on your shirt."  She blurted it out.  "What happened to your back?"

Gabe came out of the bathroom and walked to his desk.  "Nothing."

She followed him.  "Doesn't look like nothing."  She laid her hands on his back, and even through his shirt could feel she scars.  "Looks like you got ran over by a combine."

His back tensed.  "Their old."  He said sharply as he stepped away from her touch.  "Healed a long time ago."

"I'm sorry."  She couldn't help from looking at her feet.  "I didn't mean to overstep…"

"Its fine."  He turned around and smiled at her.  "Like I said, they healed a long time ago."  He said as he gathered his lose hair up and bound it behind his head.  "Can we not talk about it anymore?"

"Sure."

"Did you want something?"

"Oh."  Tabby snapped her fingers.  "Jubilee, Sam, Bobby, Ray, Rahne and I were going to make one last run to the beach this afternoon before it gets too cold."

"Sounds like fun."

"Oh yeah."  Tabby rolled her eyes.  "An afternoon of watching Bobby and Ray drooling over a sunbathing Jubilee.  Sam trying to surf on one-foot waves, and Rahne complaining about getting sand in her shoes."

"So why are you going then?"

"One last trip before winter gets here."

"Why are you going with them?  Go by yourself."

"Awwww…  Its no fun by myself."  She sat down on the foot of his bed.  "That's why I was seeing if you wanted to go."

"No."

"Come on."  She pleaded.  "It'll be fun; don't even have to get wet.  Watching Sam trying to surf a one-foot wave gets entertaining."  She laughed.  "Just pull off your shirt and get some sun…"  Tabitha stopped, and could almost see the crisscrossing lines under his shirt.

He was quiet for a moment, but turned and smiled at her again.  "No thanks Tabby."

"Okay Gabe.  We'll be back later this afternoon."  She got up quickly and started to leave, but turned back at the doorway.  "You sure you're okay."

"I'm fine."  He shrugged as he opened a drawer on his desk.  "Like I said, they healed along time ago." 

Tabby looked back as she shut his door, watching him take a seat at his desk and open a book.  "Scars like that never heal."

Rogue Star 1:  Hey, I crashed a few girl-parties back in my day Missy!  Still ranting about Kitty and Piotr, haven't you ever heard of 'deferred gratification'?

Samantha:  I have reached yet another milestone in my ff career.  I have made someone run to the bathroom.  Actually, I'm not too sure whether or not this is a good thing…

Sorry for not responding to everyone, in a hurry this morning.