--
The institute had never sounded so quiet, well, with a house full of mutants it never had.
Rogue was laying in a bathtub full of water and bubbles. She had her bathrobe all scrunched up and placed behind her head, which was resting against the back of the tub. She stared up at the ceiling, which seemed miles away.
"Unbelievable." The whispered word seemed to echo in the large rest room. She breathed in sharply and shut her eyes tightly as she slowly slid down the back of the tub. Her head went through the bubbles and submerged into the water while her knees stuck out with suds slowly dripping down them.
--
"Piotr!" Pyro dived right off the examine table and grabbed onto Piotr's legs right as Hank came over for a blood sample. "You can't let 'im do it mate, you can't let the bloke stick me with a needle! Y'all can't treat me like a crim! Oh, where is the love?"
Ray's eye twitched as he stared down at the hysterical Australian. "Why don't you just kick him off or something?"
Hank just sighed; he wasn't in the mood to deal with this. "John, if you calm down and allow me to take a small blood sample, I'll give you a lollipop." Hey, it worked with the three year olds.
Ray, on the other hand, wasn't as patient as Hank. "How about we just let him die?"
Pyro immediately got to his feet and glared at Ray. "You just wait, you fruit loop! When I get a lighter, you're goin' to feel the heat of Pyro! In the meantime, you're lucky I don't shove Vegemite down your bloody throat!"
Piotr just exchanged glances with Hank. "You would not happen to have any sedatives, would you?"
--
Rogue opened her eyes under the water. All she could see
was white, due to the white bubbles and the white bathtub. Her pulse quickened
at the lack of oxygen, but she felt so at peace. Long seconds seemed too past,
it was almost as if time had stopped. She didn't even realize what she was
doing until two hands roughly grabbed her and pulled her up by her frail
shoulders. Rogue sat up, jerking out of the person's grip with a muffled yell
of surprise as she coughed and rubbed the suds out of her red eyes.
"You all right, Ro'?" The familiar voice lathered in a Cajun accent had asked
ever so softly. She then felt him brush wet strands of her multicolored hair
out from her face.
Rogue just turned her head and stared at him. She blinked several times,
feeling lightheaded as droplets of water dripped down her face, back and
shoulders into the bath water. She insecurely wrapped her arms around her
chest. Although her face was turned to look at him, her eyes stared down. Remy
then reached over with his gloved hand and gently stroked the side of her damp
face.
"Aren't you supposed to be in the medical wing? Hank wants a sample from all
of us."
"I'm fine." She whispered, slowly parting her pale lips.
"This water is freezin'." Remy said with a soft grunt as he got to his feet. He
walked over to the sink where a pink towel had been placed, and picked it up.
He walked back over to the tub and stopped when his toes stubbed themselves
against the slide of the bathtub. "C'mon, lets get you out of here."
Rogue didn't move a muscle. "The Professor put some kind of mental block up in
my head so I can't use my absorbed powers. He doesn't think I can control 'em
anymore."
"Do you think you can?" He bent down, reached into the
water and pulled out the plug so the water could drain.
"I don't know. I saw the big hole in the wall that I made in the front entrance.
The Professor said I made it when I absorbed Cyclops." Rogue glanced up at him.
"I don't remember absorbing him."
"You need some rest." By now, the water had been drained and bubbles surrounded
Rogue. "Now, come on." There was an impatient strain on his words. He
almost seemed upset about something, and he knew Rogue could feel it. Her eyes
locked on his.
"I don't want to lose you."
--
"So." Piotr was sitting on a chair while Pyro sat on the ground, happily
licking a swirled colored lollipop. Hey now, Hank wasn't the kind of person to
bribe and not keep the promise. "How do you test the blood samples for the
virus?"
"It's quite easily." Hank started explaining stuff to him about the X-gene and
how the virus effects it. "So, if the X-gene is responding and not damaged, it
hasn't been infected with the virus." He sighed softly, and scratched the back
of his neck with his large hand. Hey, you know what they say about big hands
right? "While we were there, Mesmero was supposed to take over my mind and make
me make the chemicals to the mutant killing virus, but the good ol' chap told
me what they wanted me to do, so I pretended to have my mind taken over."
"Everything up until what you had been doing isn't the real virus then?" Piotr
asked feeling slightly relieved.
Hank slowly nodded. "Yes, but I don't know how much they used of my faulty
virus. For all I know, they had a good enough stock and.." He shook his head. "I
don't want to think about it. Now, if you don't mind, I have some testing to
do."
"Of course." The Russian got to his feet and gently tapped his thigh with his
hand. "Come, John." If he knew how to whistle, he would have whistled.
Pyro got to his feet and gave Hank a pat on the back with his sticky hand. "Good
luck to ya!" When he retracted his hand and saw blue hairs stuck to his palm
and fingers, he gave Hank a disgusted look and then walked over to the door and
shot him another disgusted look before leaving.
Hank sighed. "How does he even tie his shoes in the morning?"
"Usually Remy does it for him." Piotr said on his way out, leaving Hank to
wonder if he was serious or not.
--
"Everything will be all right." In Rogue's room, Remy and Rogue stood next facing
each other. Remy had his hand placed on her waist, trying to reassure her. Rogue
was too busy trying to keep her towel on to even bother listening to him.
"When you can see the future, you can tell me that, all right?" Rogue's cheeks
were flushed. Her wet hair was a tangled mess and yet, Remy never thought she
looked more beautiful wrapped in a small pink towel.
"You don't trust me?" He pondered with a teasing smirk as he placed his hand on
the other side of her waist and pulled her tightly against him. "You should
know you can trust me. We used to be friends, remember?"
"Rem-Rem, we've always been friends." It wasn't a complete
lie. They just had a few hard times. Oh, you know, the whole 'latent powers
arising to the surface and joining opposite teams' hard times.
"Really? Maybe I've been lookin' at the glass half empty then." His hand
trailed up to where a corner of the towel was tucked in to keep the towel in
place and pulled it out. He half expected Rogue to slap him but their eyes ever
left one another's. He took a small step back and allowed the towel to fall to
her feet. He sucked his breath in. "Hey, when did you take out the navel
piercing?"
Rogue just touched her navel as she glanced down at it. There was a mark where
the closing hole was. "I have no idea. Must've phased it out."
Suddenly, it was as if someone turned on the light bulb in Rogue's head; She was standing in front of Remy.. naked.
--"I need a cigarette." Amara was laying rolled up in a ball on her bed. Ray was sitting on the edge. He had came up several minutes ago wanting to look 'Vegemite' on Amara's computer since his was still in pieces.
"You don't smoke." He mumbled, glancing over at Rhane and
Roberto who looked pretty comfy sitting next to each other.
"But if I did, I would." Amara mumbled, straightening out to kick him. She succeeded
and he fell off the bed.
Kurt, who didn't want to be alone, was hanging from the light fixture in the
room. "Why would you want to smoke, anyway? You don't need charcoal lungs.
Smoking is very bad for you."
And that kiddies, was the lesson for today.
"Yeah, well, you leave a puff of smoke whenever you teleport." Amara shot at
him. "What does that say about you?"
"That I leave a puff of smoke behind when I teleport?" Kurt tried, not fully
comprehending what she had said. Then again, Amara wasn't even sure what she
had meant by it.
--
"You mean a lot to me." Remy cupped Rogue's cheek as he glazed into her eyes.
She seemed mesmerized by him. If drool had started dripping down her chin, you'd
think he was Mesmero. Get it? Mesmerized, Mesmero? Oh, shut up. "You always
have."
"You've always had a way with words." Rogue mumbled, her tongue feeling numb as
his hand trailed down her neck and rested at the side of her breast. "Somethin'
happened, Rem. Stop ignoring it."
"I ain't ignoring anything." His vision blurred, and he quickly tried to blink
it away. Before he knew it, there were three hovering Rogue's in front of him. "Dieu.
Stand still."
Rogue jerked away from him and pulled her sheet off her bed and wrapped it around herself. "You're not funny, Remy. You're scaring me."
"I love you, Ro'." He whispered, grabbing her harshly. The
tan color seemed to drain from his face as he pulled her into a tight hug. He
then softly kissed the side of her mouth and then proceeded to pass out.
Oh, damn.
--