--
She sat at the side of the bed, hanging over him with her chin gently touching the side of his head. With one arm wrapped loosely around his shoulders for support, she traced patterns on his bare chest with her free hand.
They were both quiet, and barely had said anything since she walked into his room only hours earlier.
He easily sensed something was wrong. The Cajun closed his eyes, focusing on Rogue. She was like an emotion wreck on the inside but that didn't stop him from knowing something other than him was bothering her. She was keeping something from him.
"Rem?" He heard her call softly minutes later. When he tried to respond, he realized how numb his body felt. Remy felt waves of pain and panic ripple through him but it seemed to vanish as he sunk deeper into the darkness. He felt as if he were hanging by one string. One string was holding him from plunging into the deepest part of the numbing darkness.
One string full of hope, full of light; a puny thin string kept him from the other side where the grass wasn't always greener.
Remy blinked several times, trying to comprehend on what was happening to him.
"Remy!" The scream echoed and faded in the black sea. "Remy." A hopeful whisper; his eyes widened.
Rogue was the string. She was the balance keeping him from dying. He felt pangs of pain as the feeling came back to his body, ever so slowly.
"Rogue." He whispered, feeling a painful jerk. Red lightning flashed from above. He stared up to see a small, green fading light in the dark mist. "Rogue!"
--
Beep.. Beep.. Beep..
White.
That was what he saw.
White.
He was staring at the ceiling.
Beep.. Beep.. Beep..
He sat up quickly, only to see Rogue sitting in a chair, in a ball, sleeping. He glanced up at the clock to see it was now well after two in the morning. When did that happen?
Well, time doesn't stop for anyone.
He laid back down, not taking his eyes off the sleeping Southerner.
"Remy." Hank whispered from the doorway of the room. "You're awake." He sounded both startled and surprised by the words as he quickly walked over to his bedside. "How do you feel?"
"What happened?" He asked in a hushed voice, nodding over to Rogue. He avoided the 'how you feel' question seeing as how Hank was supposedly a genius and should know how someone infected with a killing virus felt.
"You slipped into a coma."
He arched a brow in disbelief. "A coma?"
"Two days ago." Hank explained with a nod, "We were worried about you. Since Kitty, I've been even more determined to find out how to skip this retched virus."
"Since Kitty?" Remy repeated, shaking his head. "What does that mean?" By the look in Hank's eyes, he already knew. "Merde. I knew somethin' was botherin' Rogue."
"Oh?" Hank said, raising his furry brows. "You've talked to Rogue since you woke up? Rogue found out before you slipped into the coma. When she came back from learning about Kitty, she found you asleep and just thought.." When he saw Remy relax from possible boredom, he chuckled, "You need your rest. I'll leave. I have a lab to get back to anyway.."
But by now, to Remy, Hank was already thousands of miles away as he stared over at Rogue.
--
"Ugh." Rogue groaned as she stretched out on the chair and fell out of it. "Remy?" Her eyes widened when she stood up to see Remy sitting at the edge of the bed, clothed in his usual clothing, putting on his boots. "You're up.. where are you goin'?"
"Need some cards. Not cheap ones either. And a pack of cigarettes before you put patches all over my body."
"You can't go anywhere, you're dyin'."
"Think it'll get me a discount?"
"How can ya say somethin' like that?" She asked softly as she wrapped her arms around her frail self.
"Think sayin' 'the evil killing virus inside of me made me say/do it' will get me off the hook?"
"Go rob a bank and tell me how it works out."
He smirked, although it wasn't a happy or amused smirk and crossed his arms over his chest. "You're pissed off at me."
"Damn right I am! You're not smokin' anything, an' you're not leavin' this room. Now sit your ass down before I sit it down for you."
"Is that so?" He asked, cocking a brow at her. His arms soon unfolded and relaxed by his sides as Rogue walked up to him. Since he was a good five inches taller, he stared down at her, their eyes met.
"You really wanna try me, LeBeau?" Rogue asked in a cold, warning voice. If she had used this tone with anyone else, they would've flinched, or said 'no, not really' but Remy just leaned in and licked his lips.
"Maybe."
"I'd like to take several blood samples if that's.. am I interrupting something?" Hank asked walking into the room with a chart.
"Yes." Remy stated rolling his eyes while Rogue shot him a look.
"No."
Hank did manage to get two blood samples from the cranky Cajun who tried to bite him. Rogue had slapped the back of his head and told him to behave or else John would be his roommate. Oh, that shut him up. Shut him up, indeed.
"Was that so hard?" Hank asked, bemused of Remy's sudden behavior. Before the cocky ragin' Cajun could respond with a remark, Hank had added, "Because you know, we could always check your temperature. The way they did when you were an infant."
"He's been through enough Hank." Rogue patted the top of Remy's head. "Now he's just goin' to stay here, relax and eat some frozen peas an' processed turkey smothered in fat free, salt free gravy."
"Really?" Remy asked, wrapping an arm around her waist. "'Cause I could use some gumbo. Spoon fed by nurse Rogue."
Hank smiled. "I could get you some cherry jell-o!"
Remy responded with fake, sarcastic enthusiasm. "Ooh, really? Now I can die a happy man!"
"Hank, do me a favor." Rogue said monotone. "Go through Mr. Happy-fulfilled-with-jell-o's trench coat, every pocket please, and dispose of any cigarettes. There's a secret pocket he added on the inside of the sleeve, so check there too."
"Geesh Rogue, you might as well tell 'im to check my boots!"
"Oh yeah, those too."
Hank just laughed. He surely was a crazy old, fuzzy, blue brute. "I'll be back in a few hours. And Gambit, I advise you take off those boots because you're not going anywhere. It's not like you'll get any kind of discount for being in your state of well being."
"Hah!" Rogue stated, smiling as she leaned her head against his.
"You're a funny man, Hank. A real funny one. Who's about to get blown up!"
"Someone needs a nap." Hank winked at them before leaving the room.
Remy made a face. "I don't like him. He nearly punctured my whole arm when stickin' me with the damn needle."
"Sugah, that's because you jumped up two feet."
"It hurt."
"If I could change situations with you, I would."
"Rogue, if we switched situations, I'd say the same thing. And I'd mean it."
"You're such a sweet talker." She couldn't help but to feel touched by what she said. Hello, she read romance novels. No wonder she felt so touched. It was like a romance novel slash soap opera.
"Must be the morphine."
"Yeah, must be." They both ignored the fact Remy hadn't had any morphine.
--
"Do you have any fours? I can't believe you didn't trust me."
Rogue handed Remy a card. The two Southerners sat across from each other on his bed. "You said you wanted playin' cards an' I got 'em. Do you have any aces?"
"Go fish. Jean stood in the doorway for a half hour blowin' her nose into the same Kleenex. She kept goin' on about her happy moments wit' Scooter. I wanted to hang myself."
She picked up a card from the pile and made a face at it as she added it to her deck. "It was either that or I put a harness on you and used a leash to take you to the store with me."
"Kinky. Got any queens?"
Rogue rolled her eyes and then threw her remaining cards at him. "You're gonna win anyway."
"For some reason, in all the card games I pay with people, they end up sayin' that before the game is even half way over."
"Aren't we unassumin'."
"Assumin' what?"
She sighed, "Nothin'. Bein' in here with you so long makes me crave a cigarette."
"They cause cancer." He stated matter-of-factly. "If I ever see one in your pretty little hands, I'm goin' to cut off your pretty little fingers." Oh, the irony.
"Ooh, I love it when you talk dirty." She laughed, not taking him serious. Although, he was serious he would never do it. He had other ideas for her hands. Heh.
"When do I get my goddamn sponge bath?" Remy asked, wiggling his brows at her.
"Well, now." Rogue slid off the bed and walked over to the spot besides him. "I'll go get Jean."
"Not funny."
"I thought it was. You're well enough to take a shower."
"But I could slip and fall in the shower. It's better if someone I trust is in there with me." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her down. "What do you say?"
"I'll go find John?" She suggested, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Nah. John an' I only do that on Sunday nights."
"Okay, now that was disturbin'." Rogue stated, making a face. "I don't think I can ever look at you the same again."
"Guess I'll have to change the way you see me, eh?" When she felt his hands brush against her sides, she let out a short squeal and jumped off the bed. He immediately got up and chased her around the small room. It wasn't long until he had her pinned up against the wall. "Uncle?"
"Fine, Uncle."
"What about mercy?"
"Screw you."
"Ah, you want to screw me? Against the wall, perhaps? Looks like we reversed situations then."
"Sure looks like it. Too bad there's somethin' preventin' on the screwin'."
Remy smiled as he leaned his head in towards her. "It's so cute when you say 'screwin'. An' as far as I'm concerned.." His lips ever so lightly brushed against her. When he looked up, he stared into her widened green eyes. "What's the matter?" He asked, his voice no higher than a whisper as he greedily captured her lips with his.
--
"This is.." Hank sighed, leaning against a wall in his lab. "So confusing."
"What is?" Jean asked, glancing over at him. She had been glancing down into a telescope. Although her eyes were red, she didn't look as bad as before.
"Gambit." Hank answered, his left eye twitching. "It seems the virus serum had effected him but not in the ways of the others.. check out the blood samples taken from the four victims. This is all so confusing."
"But what does it mean?"
"Frankly, I do not know, but I will find out."
--
I'm gonna be a bit busy this week and next but I'll try to update this by the end of next week and for 'Replaced' I'll try to finish soon. :) TRY being the keyword.
Star-of-Chaos - Yep. Apparently someone barked up the wrong tree. Eh, ignore that. I'm half asleep..
Kitsu Lebeau - Nope. Kitty = dead. Exactly.. screw Kitty.. worry about Remy. 3
ishandahalf - Yes! Remy is the important one. By killing Kitty I wanted to point out that if Kitty can die, so can Remy.
Rogue14 - Kitty's dead. And I don't bring people back. Guess she meowed for the last time.
ASGT - You pretty much got my point.. cookie for you!
RoguesHeart - I could never flatline Remy.. or could I?
SperryDee - Yes.. Poor Kitty.. :(
cool-chick-rae - Today, my friend told me I should kill off Jean instead of Scott. I looked at her and said, "she's going to kill herself." I don't think anyone would cry over that. Unless they're a Jott fan.
Tempete - I'm glad ya love it! How about now? NOW can you not wait to see what happens next? ;)
spectra2 - Don't worry about the language. I hear worse just in the hallways at school. :P Thanks.
Roguechere - I think that commerical was playing for the billionth time that day when I wrote it. I don't even use Dial which I think is ironic.. Wouldn't it be cool if we could get paid for advertising in stories? Ah, one could only dream..
Rogue4787 - Your review inspired me to finish this chapter. :) Jean'll die. I don't need her so no loss. Pyro is a very special boy. No cameos in this chapter.. but I think he's mentioned like twice but I keep referring to him as John since St. John just bothers me anymore. Hope ya liked this chapter.
Thank you all for reading and reviewing.
And thank you to those who read but don't review.