Author's Note: This chappy should explain some stuff. Like who the OC really is… sorta. Anyway, there's some fun Bishop/Remy conversations and some cute Rogue stuff. Along with Sam being the sweet, caring, loveable gentleman that we know and love. Okay… that I love. Don't know 'bout y'all. :^D There's some interesting tidbits at the end, IMHO.
Disclaimer: I own… nothing. That about sums it up. Sadness.
Shout outs: Thanks to EVERYBODY who reviewed. I didn't think anyone would read this… so, wow. Thanks a bunch. Please keep it up. Gives me the warm fuzzies. :^D - Ishandahalf: Firstly, thanks for reviewing. I'm surprised anybody is reading this so, YAY!! Busy beaver?? Yes, I do believe that describes me. You know what they say, "When it rains, it pours." ^_^ I know, Rogue should know better. But I figured, they let Marie, the human terrorist stay there, why not a mutant down on her luck. *shrugs* Rogue and Remy are loveable. And in this fic, together with almost no angst. Shocking, I know. But they actually seem HAPPY in XXM. You're intrigued?? YAY!! You are definitely one of my best, and most loyal, reviewers. So, thanks!! - Lori: Aw, thanks. XXM definitely rocks!! ^_^ There are no characters that I don't like, and that's saying something. At least, not since Heather, Davis, and Neal left. Not a fan. *makes ugly face* Moving on, four of the XXM characters (Storm, Sam, Tessa, and Bishop) are moving to Uncanny, so that's a silver lining, right?? Ditto on the keep writing XXM fics. Hell, people still write original 5 fics, so why not?? Thank you for reviewing!! - Leishy: Bishop's just like that. Tessa too, really. Part of what makes them so RIGHT for each other. IMHO. I like the way the X-Treme X-Men interact, more like a family than the other X-Titles right now. Notice that?? Hellfire's around… so is Black Air… and Chris is right in the center. More on that this chappy. Thanks for reviewing!! - Aro: Sam and Rogue… not in this fic. It's cute sometimes, I suppose, but, no. *shakes head profusely* Rogue's just nosy and pushy like that. Tessa and Bishop, just dancing around the issues. ^_^ Chris is NOT the same. Similar but NOT the same. Her name's not really Chris either. See the note at the bottom. And, yes, you are mentally insane. It's what makes you such a good reviewer!! :P Thanks for reviewing. My hero. - Rogue Pryde: YAY!! Another reviewer. Sam and the OC, yep that's where I'm goin'. ^_~ What can I say, I'm predictable like that. You're UBER sweet!! Thanks!!
"talking" - 'thinking' - foreign languages (translations – where necessary)/memories
What Never Happened
by, Caliente
Chapter 3 – Nice and Violent Encounters
Hearing a knock at the door, Gambit reentered the living room to investigate. He and Bishop shot Rogue questioning looks. "Ah'll get it sugah," she told the overprotective X-Boys. "Ah'm expectin' somebody."
"Rogue," Bishop moved to stop her, "I thought we agreed we shouldn't bring anymore people here. You're compromising our position. I mean, bring Marie was bad enough…"
"Funny, thought we were s'posed ta help our fellow mutants," Rogue stated evenly. "Ah met a girl who's fallen on hard times an' offered her a place ta stay. An' Ah expect ya ta be polite." She batted her eyelashes at him. "Fo' me."
Bishop rolled his eyes but let Rogue pass without anymore words. Gambit watched their exchange, attempting to withhold his laughter. He couldn't help himself, he let out a snort. Bishop turned to glare at him. "Something funny LeBeau?"
"Yeah," Remy answered. "Dat girl's got you wrapped 'round her little finger."
"I don't think I like what you're insinuating," Bishop stated through clenched teeth.
Remy fluttered his eyes at Bishop and raised his voice up a few octaves. "Fo' me?" he imitated Rogue. "C'mon cher, admit it. Yo' whipped."
"What's the old saying? Takes one to know one," Bishop shot back. "And don't call me cher."
"Whatever, mon ami," Remy shrugged with his usual lopsided grin. "But at least I'm getting some for my whipped behavior. We both know y'ain't got any since you dropped into dis century. 'Cept mebbe wit' Deathbird, but does dat really count? Her being an evil alien an' all."
"Remy!" Rogue scolded from the doorway. "That's horrible."
Bishop let out a laugh. "See if you get any now."
"You're not much better, Bishop," she added with a glare. Both men gulped and looked at each other. Remy quickly ducked out of the room, knowing Rogue's wrath and not wanting any part of it. Rogue watched him leave, shaking her head. Her attention moved to her guest and she pushed Chris into the room. "This is Christina Cruz, but she goes by Chris. She's a mutant who's bike was totaled. She's had a bit of bad luck, so Ah offered her a roof."
"And I couldn't be more thankful," Chris gushed in her light Spanish accent. "It's not everyday your mechanic offers you a place to stay. Muchos gracias."
"It's really no problem," Rogue assured her. "Let me introduce ya ta the bunch." She pointed to Tessa who was still diligently working with her computer glasses. "That's the resident human computer an' low-level telepath Tessa Niles a.k.a. Sage." 'And former spy for Xavier at Hellfire,' Chris added silently. 'She made a mistake crossing the Club. But, from the looks of the tattoos under her eyes, she didn't escape unscathed. Bogan strikes again.' Rogue gestured towards the still cowering Bishop. "The big black guy there is Lucas Bishop; he has energy wieldin' abilities an' has an unhealthy relationship with his plasma rifle." 'Future boy with a gun fetish, kinky,' Chris laughed inwardly. 'He's the most dangerous of all, better take him out first.' Rogue continued, "You missed my worse half, Remy. He's currently powerless, like me, though the eyes remain." Chris nodded, but inwardly the wheels in her mind were turning. 'Remy… LeBeau. Gambit. I hope he's not here, that pedazo de pelotudo (fucking idiot). Dios I hate him.' She repressed a shudder at her thoughts. "He's also a thief, so if ya notice any of ya thin's missin'…" Rogue trailed off with an eye roll. She then tapped Chris's shoulder so that she turned to see Sam. 'So we meet again. Too bad you don't know it,' Chris thought when she saw him. "That's Sam Guthrie or Cannonball, another Southerner. He's got thermochemical propulsion abilities an' some invulnerability ta boot." 'Just pray he doesn't recognize me,' she thought, keeping her shielding up, knowing that there was a telepath nearby. Her rational side argued with her, 'Why would he? You looked different and gave him your Black Air alias. Isabel Stone. He won't know.' Chris smiled brightly at the room filled with mutants. "It's really nice to meet you all." She looked around at each face, matching the pictures to power and history descriptions. 'Wonder where the leader Storm is? No matter, one less to deal with. Black Air is nothing if not accurate,' she thought wryly. 'Same goes for Hellfire. And these suckers probably have no idea. Heh. That's sad.'
Sam, being a true Southern gentleman, rose to shake Chris's hand. When he reached her, he looked into her dark brown eyes for a moment, they seemed to entrance him. 'Feel like I've met her before,' he thought, confused. 'But I think I'd remember those eyes…' he gave her a quick once over, '…and that body.' "Nice ta meet ya Chris."
"Yeah, nice to meet you," Chris echoed, trying to shake the awkward tension she felt. "Sam was it?"
"Yeah," he echoed her this time. 'Definitely feeling déjà vu,' he told himself. 'But I really don't think I've met her before. Weird.'
Rogue's voice filled the room again, breaking their awkward reunion of sorts. "So, who wants dinner?"
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After they ate, a relatively calm but tense meal, Rogue showed Chris to her room. "Not too small, is it?" she inquired.
"No, no," Chris assured her. "It's great. Much better than the bench I rented."
"Well Ah would hope so," Rogue commented dryly. "Feel free ta get settled in an' what not."
"Settle in with what?" Chris asked. "I have almost nothing. This'll take all of two minutes."
"Good point," Rogue agreed. "We'll have ta get ya some new clothes tamorrow."
"You don't have to," the younger woman argued. "It's really not necessary."
"Nonsense," Rogue insisted. "It'll be a good excuse to exercise my credit cards. Well Remy's cards ta be exact." The girls shared a laugh, though it was a bit strained on Chris's part, before Rogue continued. "Come out an' join us for some down time then."
"Okay," Chris agreed with a small smile. 'Perfect for some recon,' she added silently.
Rogue and Chris reentered the main room to see everybody pretty much back where Rogue had found them when she arrived home. The only exception was that Remy had returned, and was watching the television instead of Sam.
"Gambit could you help me with this code?" Sage requested.
Gambit, please remove her. She heard HIS voice say in her mind, and Chris lost control of herself. She rushed Remy and pounced, her finger nails growing to razor sharp claws (A/N: like a cat's claws). "¡Maleton! (Son of a bitch!)" she screeched, clawing at him with all her might. "¡Vaya al Diablo, pelotudo! (Go to hell, dumbass!)" Remy defended himself against raging woman. He was clueless as to what set her off. She caught sight of his eyes. Red eyes in a sea of black. Red eyes glowing in the darkness. Red eyes trying to apologize as he carried her mother away. Red like HIS eyes. Chris hissed and spat his face. Bishop quickly made his way over and pried her off, using his bulk to hold her down.
Rogue approached Chris furiously. "Ah welcome ya inta my home an' this is the thanks Ah get!" she yelled at the still hissing girl. "Honestly, what's wrong with ya Chris? Ah don't take kindly ta people tryin' ta harm my man!"
"That hijo de pera (son of a bitch) worked for Señior Sinister! Don't you know what that evil el de atras (asshole) has done?" Chris was practically in hysterics.
Rogue recalled her own anger with Gambit for his past crimes and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We know sugah. We know an' we've forgiven him. Gambit's not the same man he was. We all have thin's in our pasts we wish we could change."
"You know?" she shouted. A calm anger washed over Chris as she continued. "You can't know what HE has done to me. To my family." She turned to Remy. "And you. You're nothing but a pendejo (idiot – it's worse than it sounds). You should be brought out back and shot like the perro (dog) that you are."
"An' just what would that be?" Rogue inquired calmly, her green eyes flashing with suppressed rage.
"You wanna know what Doctor Essex did?" Chris asked through gritted teeth. "I'll tell you. That el vete a la mierda (fucking) freak of a scientist killed my mama. Well, the only mother I've ever known. Her death was the result of one of his 'experiments'. And you," she screamed at Remy again, "stood by and did nothing. Nothing!"
Her dark eyes burned with anger and Remy looked away, ashamed. "'m sorry p'tite," he muttered.
Chris let out a sharp, hollow laugh. "And that's supposed to make everything better? That'll bring my madre back?" She glared at him full force. She wrenched her arms from Bishop. "It doesn't work that way." When she reached the doorway, she turned back and gave another laugh. "Forget this. I'm out of here." With that, she turned and stormed out.
The X-Treme team sat in mild shock, unsure of what exactly had just happened. Tessa was the first to recover. "So what do we do now?" she asked in her normal monotone.
"Don't know sugah," Rogue replied honestly. "Don't know."
"I should go try to 'splain," Remy said. "It's de least I could do."
"I don't think that would be wise LeBeau," Bishop cautioned. "She would probably kill you."
"Aw, y'do care cher," Remy teased, trying to hide his pain. 'Just when I think I've escaped my past, it comes back to bite me in the ass.' "I knew all dat talk o' killing me was jus' f'r show."
Sam interrupted whatever retort Bishop was going to make by saying, "Ah'll go." They all turned to look at him. "She an' Ah talked at dinner, maybe Ah can get through ta her."
"Fine," Rogue agreed, rubbing her temples with frustration. "Go fo' it Sammy. But don't get too discouraged if she ain't responsive. She's got a lot of anger." Sam nodded. "Lucky thin' he's invulnerable," she added to the other members of the team, "otherwise he'd never have a shot at comin' back alive."
Remy and Bishop nodded their agreement, while Sage just looked thoughtful as if she was calculating the odds. "I concur," was all she offered after a moment, making Rogue chuckle slightly.
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Chris stormed down the street to the beach. She angrily ripped out her silver flip cell phone and dialed her "father's" number. "'lo," was the gruff response she got.
"Tu pedazo de pelotudo (You're a fucking idiot)," she announced in her mixed Spanish and English accents. "How could you send me to infiltrate a group that had a member associated with Sinister? I completely lost it and attacked the wanker. What the bloody 'ell were you thinking, you tosser!"
Her father's sleepy voice did nothing to soften his harsh words. "So? You knew that goin' in. You agreed to it, so complete it. Not that complicated you incompetent idiot."
"Me vale madre (I don't give a fuck) about the damn mission you asswipe!" she shouted into the phone. "I'm sick of you using me. Fuck you, you bloody prick! You can just jodete y aprieta el culo! (go fuck yourself!) Tell Black Air that as of right now, I'm off the mission."
"I bloody well will not," her father argued. "Don't forget the payoff we're looking at." His voice moved to soothe her. "Let them come to you. Convince you that they mean no 'arm. Go back. Get the X-Men for 'ellfire and Black Air. Do whatever it takes to come out on top. You can do it." He smirked as he added, "You're mother would be so proud."
'That was low,' she thought angrily. "Fine," Stealth gritted out. "I'll do it. But this is it. After this mission, I'm gone. And you will not come after me."
"Deal," her father assured her. "This'll be your last mission, for us. Getting out of 'ellfire might prove more difficult."
"I'll be fine," Stealth argued. "Don't bother to start caring now, papa." That said, she flipped her phone shut. Removing a locket from her pocket, she fingered the engraving carefully. Isabella Cruz. "Would you mama?" she asked the piece of jewelry. "Would you really be proud? Somehow I doubt that." She felt the anger and hurt surging through her, and bitter tears pour down her cheeks. Unable to look at it any longer, she stuffed the locket back.
"Hey… are ya all right?" a hesitant voice asked her a few minutes later.
Chris looked up, whipping away the tears that were streaming down her face. She recognized the speaker immediately. Sam. She blushed as she felt ashamed for showing so much real emotion, 'Real emotion.' She almost laughed at herself. 'It's been so long, almost forgot I had those.' Reigning her feelings in, she struggled to smile at the blonde haired Kentucky native. "I guess," she whispered.
He cautiously sat down next to the distraught girl and awkwardly placed his arm on her shoulder. She collapsed into his chest, forgetting her resolve and allowing her emotions out. Chris cried for her adopted mother who was the only one who truly cared for her, she cried for her father who became bitter and hard because of her death, and she cried for herself, still a lost little girl trying to fix everything for what she believes is right. Sam pulled her into a real hug and murmured comforting words in her ear. Slowly her sobs quieted to whimpers. Sam continued to cradle her in his arms, saying, "Everythang will be all right. Ah promise."
Dark, blood shot eyes, still shining with tears rose to meet his honest blue-grey eyes. "You can't promise me that," she told him. "You don't know that." Chris looked away, a pained expression on her face. "Things haven't been all right for a long time. Why should that change now?"
Gently, Sam placed his hands on either side of her face. He pulled her face up to face his intensely determined greyish blue eyes. "Yer right, Ah can't promise that everythang'll be all right. But Ah can promise that Ah'll do everythang in my power ta make it right. We all will. We want ta help ya Chris, if ya'll let us." He smiled at her in a friendly way. "We all have thangs in our past that we wish we could change, but eventually ya gotta let them go." Chris had a skeptical expression on her face, as if she were considering the offer. "Come back," he coaxed further. "Please."
Silently, Chris nodded. 'Back into the fire,' she quipped silently. She allowed Sam to lift her and cannonball back to the Raven residence. "Are you sure they will let me back?" she asked uncertainly. "And what about Gambit?" She cringed inwardly at the sound of his name. "Will he still be there?"
"O' course they'll let ya back," Sam assured her, squeezing her hand for support. "An' this is Gambit's home too, so yes, he'll be here. Are ya gonna be okay with that?"
'NO!' she screamed inwardly. 'I want to torture and murder that lying hijo de pera. Fucking asswipe.' Addressing Sam she said, "I guess I'll just have to try to make some kind of peace with it."
"Let's go then," Sam stated, releasing her hand. Chris unconsciously grabbed it back tightly for support, praying to herself that it would all be over soon. Sam led the angry, nervous, and fearful girl back into the ranch style house. "Ah'm back," he called as soon as he opened the door. "An' Ah brought a friend with meh."
Chris allowed a small smile to grace her features when she heard Sam call her a friend. They entered the main room to find Rogue alone, sitting on the couch. Gambit, Sage, and Bishop were nowhere in sight. "Hola," Chris greeted weakly.
"Hi sugah," Rogue replied with a smile. "Have a nice walk?"
"Uhm, yeah." Chris was caught off guard by her friendly attitude. "It was, uh, enlightening."
"Good," Rogue responded. Her demeanor shifted as she turned serious. "Listen, Ah understand why ya were so upset, an' Ah don't blame ya. None of us do. Not even Remy. An' we want ya ta stay here, at least fo' the night. But sugah, if ya can't accept who Remy is, then Ah'm gonna have ta ask ya ta leave. Nothin' personal, it's just that this is Remy's home too."
Chris nodded with an equally serious expression on her face. "Gracias for not blaming me." She took a deep breath and willed the words to come out. "And I think I can accept Remy for who he is now. An X-Man. But it may take a little time."
Rogue crossed the room and embraced the younger girl. "Let's get ya some sugar an' then ta bed," she declared with a grin. "It's been a long night."
Chris couldn't stop the smile from gracing her features. "Sugar does sound good…"
As Rogue led Chris into the kitchen, she called over her shoulder, "Don't wait up Sammy boy, this is girl talk. Who knows how long it'll take?"
Sam didn't need to be told twice. He all but sprinted to his room, knowing that girl talk would be fatal to any guy.
Rogue pulled out two pints of ice cream, chocolate and vanilla. Chris pointed to the vanilla, and Rogue handed it to her with a spoon. "Personally, Ah prefer the bliss of chocolate."
"In most instances, I would agree," Chris said with a nod. "But I just love vanilla ice cream." This time Rogue nodded. "Anna?" Chris asked hesitantly after a minute.
"What can Ah do fo' ya sugah?" Rogue inquired, after she swallowed her ice cream.
"Why?" was all she could manage. "I don't understand."
Rogue smiled at the younger girl. "It's simple really. If Ah didn't trust ya, how could Ah expect ya ta trust me?" 'Took me long enough to realize that.' "An' Ah hope ya can learn ta trust Remy."
'Remy… Gambit,' she seethed with anger just thinking about him. "Right. Trust," Chris agreed tightly. "Might take a little time."
"That's fine," Rogue conceited. "Ah'll make sure he gives ya some space. Though he'll want ta apologize first chance he gets." She smiled at her boyfriend's thoughtfulness.
"Okay," Chris mumbled. She looked down into her empty pint of ice cream and sighed. "Think I'm gonna hit the hay. 'Night Anna."
"'night," Anna responded absentmindedly. "Oh, an' Chris?"
"Yeah," Chris answered without turning around.
"Don't forget we're goin' shoppin' tamorrow," she called after Chris's retreating form.
Second Author's Note: In case y'all didn't pick up on it, Christopher Stone III (the bitter British man on the phone) and Isabella Cruz are her parents. All of her alias relate to that.
1) Isabel Stone -- Black Air alias -- Isabel: the English version of Isabella, her mother's name; Stone: her father's last name
2) Brita Kristofik -- Hellfire Club alias -- Brita: Slavic name means from Britain or British; Kristofik: Czechoslovakian surname means son of Kristof, or Christopher in English
3) Christina Cruz -- civilian alias -- Christina: a female form of Christopher; Cruz: her mother's maiden name
Ain't I clever? And for those of you who think Rogue is too nice, I figure she should be understanding since her own reaction was to abandon Remy in Antarctica. *shrugs* Just my opinion. Also, my OC might seem like she's bipolar or something but she's not. She's not really like the "Chris" character, and she's sorta prone to berserker rages. It will be explored more later. Sorry for two notes, won't happen again!!