- Y'all know the dilly yo that I don't own these character or marvel…blah blah blah…
Author's Note: This chapter has only been proofread once. I kind of like it. It's interesting. Anywho, read and review.
Ludi: First of all, please write another chapter for Threads. I absolutely loved the last one and still can't get it out of my system. I need more! But in response to your lovely review, thank you for the thumb's up. I was actually quite skeptical of the last chapter, but a thumbs up from you dispelled my insecurities. And I'm with you on the whole labour thing… I think I'll look into adoption when the time comes along to have babies. ;P Star-Of-Chaos: I thought Joe was sweet too. Ehh… I actually like Joe. Guess you can tell eh? But thank you for reviewing everything. You are too kind! A chocolate kiss for you! Muah! Keebler-elmo: Okay, there's plenty of Remy in this chapter and there will be plenty of him in the next. Enjoy! T.: I'm not a big Joe fan too… but I do respect him in a way. Though, he had to go… no room for him in ROMY. Thanks for reviewing everything all over again. That's very sweet of you! A chocolate kiss for you! Muah! Ishandahalf: Hahaha… you like Joseph in the last chapter…. Who would have thought? What next, Ish? You gonna develop a fondess for Belle as well? LoL… then the world would really be coming to an end. Just admit that you liked him the last chapter… You like Joseph! Ish and Joseph sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Okay, I'll stop now before you leave a raging review about what a mean and horrible person I am and what not… one last note though: You liked Joseph! Evosmylife: Comic-verse Joseph is as old as comic-verse Joseph. There wasn't a Joseph in Evo, so I wouldn't know. And since this fic isn't based in Evo verse anyway, I don't think it would matter. However, you are a fabulous reader and thank you very much for reviewing so many of my stuff. A chocolate kiss for you! Muah! The 'Pike: Thanks for reading. Exciting to find a new reader actually! It always is for me! But anywho, this story was so different the first time around, so I'm glad you're catching it the second time around. I'm not one for the Antarctica storyline as well… though their one night in Uncanny 348 will always be cherished in my heart. DemonicGambit: Update I did, so tell me what you think. Don't know if I should be glad that you made a NASA reference because of this story… now I'm confused. Oh well… demiducky25: I thought the last chapter was very reminiscent of the Christmas issue as well, although I HATED the Christmas issue because of the whole Joe and Rogue thing, I thought it'd be fitting to fit a feel like that in the story. I'm glad your perception of Joe changed though. Honestly, I like Joe. He's a good guy, just not the right guy for Rogue. Simple as that. hope you like this re-write, and thanks for even reading the re-write!
A Different Way to a Perfect Ending
The moonlight outlined her profile and gave her face that luminous glow which he always saw in her even without the help of the light. The glow that was she, the person whom he thought was the only bright thing in his life. The only reason in his life that made him want to continue living. And there she stood, only ten feet away from him, in nothing but a simple white slip dress.
Every sensible bone in his body knew that this was merely a dream. It had to be. After all, he had rejected her three years ago and hadn't seen her since. So, she had to be a dream – a dream that haunted him in reality as much as it did right this moment. Instead of waking up, he allowed himself to revel in the dream. It was all that he had left.
His steps were quick and swift, and before he could even process what he was doing, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in the crook of her neck. The lavender scent of hers returned as he inhaled it in greedily. "I missed you." He whispered.
Her arms encircled his waist as she whispered, "me too."
He pulled away from her, leaving enough room so that he could stare into her green eyes but still close enough to feel her warm body against his. Those green eyes were the curse of it all – the very pair of emeralds that started it; that made him want more than a one night stand with her; that made him want to perform the greatest heist he would have ever done which was to steal her heart; but she had inevitably wound up stealing his instead. There it went again, one look into her eyes and his heart was hers once more, and that was if it had ever been returned to him in the first place.
"Je t'aime." He murmured as he brought a hand up to her face. He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand as he heard her purr with content. Her skin was soft, exactly like that one night; the one night where he made sure he didn't miss touching a single inch of her body.
"Ah love ya too." She replied in a gentle whisper.
He couldn't take it anymore as he pressed his hungry lips against hers. His arms enclosed her waist and pressed her body against his while he continued to kiss her deeply, ravenously, as if this was the last kiss he would ever receive in his life. After a few moments, he felt the need to look into her loving emerald eyes again, to ensure that she was indeed the one he was kissing. He pulled back from her and gazed into the pair of green eyes. His right hand cupped her face as he said, "Don't leave me again, chere."
"Never again." She promised. Those were the last words spoken.
Those were always the last words spoken.
-xoxo-
"GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!!" She screamed in excruciating pain as another contraction hit her.
"It'll be over soon, Rogue. Take deep breaths, remember Lamaze class." Ororo tried to reason as she felt the blood flow disappear completely from her hand. She was the poor unfortunate soul that had her hand being gripped bloodless by Rogue. The only thing Ororo was thankful for was that Rogue had her bracelet on, which meant her hand was not going to be completely shattered. Then, Ororo felt the feeling back in her hand as Rogue let go. The contraction had passed.
Rogue looked over at Ororo sheepishly and apologized shyly, "Sorry, 'Ro."
The weather goddess was shaking her hand out and said, "It's alright, Rogue. It's my fault to take such a late shift… I thought you would have at least given birth back when Betsy was here five hours ago."
"Ah thought so too…ah don't know why this baby won't come out. Momma demands you to come out now!" She yelled the last sentence at her big round bump.
"Somehow, I don't think that's going to work. Let nature take its course, dear." Ororo stated.
"Ah am… ah just wish nature would speed up just a little. Ah've been in labour for ten hours now and practically every x-men have taken an hour shift with me! Think about it… if this keeps up… Logan is going to be back in here. He is the worse out of all y'all. He was so uncomfortable that he kept giving me curt answers. Not to mention, he kept his eyes on the floor the whole time, as if ah might suddenly turn my body around and shoot the baby out right in front of him." Rogue recalled the memory of the first X-man that had stayed the first hour of her labour with her.
"Well, Logan wasn't exactly on the list of volunteers. After all, him and Hank were the only ones home during the time when you went into labour. He felt obligated to stay with you… and we all know how Logan is around children, babies especially." Ororo excused him.
"That man can take on Apocalypse, Sabretooth, and Sinister, but he can't even deal wit' a little Mother Nature… tell him ah said he ain't a man, and ah'm gonna kick his butt in the danger room when ah get this baby out." Rogue instructed irrationally. Her expression immediately changed as she gripped Ororo's hand tightly again while she screamed in pain.
"AH HATE BEING PREGNANT!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.
"ME TOO!" Ororo yelled in pain as her hand felt as if it was being broken in two all over again.
Then, right on cue, the furry blue doctor appeared in the room with a smile on his face. When Rogue's contraction passed, she hissed at Hank's jovial expression. "Lovely to see you too, my dear." Hank said in a delightful manner.
"Hank… Ah want this baby out. Forget the natural birth and all that crap… cut me open, take it out… ah don't wanna feel anymore of this 'glowing and wonderful birthing experience'." Rogue scowled at her doctor.
"You do not mean that, darling. Plus, we are near the end, there's no point giving up now." Hank said, a little too jolly for Rogue's liking.
"When you give birth… then ya can tell me when ah can and can't give…. AHHHHHHHHHH!" Rogue screamed in mid-sentence, as another contraction came on.
"HANK, GET THIS BABY OUT OF HER! SHE'S KILLING MY HAND!" Ororo screamed in pain that almost matched Rogue's.
"My my, I guess I can't reject two of my favorite ladies' requests. It seems that your contractions are close enough together now, which means I need you to push now, Rogue." He instructed as he sat in front of her, ready to deliver the baby.
Within minutes, a high-pitched scream filled the room. After ten hours of labour, it took only two and a half minutes for the baby to be delivered. Rogue looked at Hank, anxious to see the baby – her baby.
"Congratulations. It's a boy, Rogue. A healthy baby boy." Hank declared and proceeded to clean the babe. He, then, wrapped the now clean baby in a blue blanket and placed him in Rogue's arms. Rogue stared at the wrinkly face of her now sleeping baby boy. Tears welled up as she whispered, "a boy. Ah have a boy."
Ororo kissed the top of Rogue's head and whispered, "Congratulations, my friend." Then, she left the room to declare to the whole mansion that there was now a new inhabitant in the household who weighed no more than six pounds and seven ounces.
All the pain and sweat were forgotten as she continued gazing at her child. She brushed her fingers against the baby's soft pink skin and marveled at how her world had completely changed because of this baby. There was nothing more satisfying than the feeling of knowing her world had changed for the better because of her baby.
"What are you going to name him?" Hank asked which reminded Rogue that he was still in the room.
Without a second thought, Rogue knew the answer with one look at her child. "Jeremy. Jeremy LeBeau."
-xoxo-
His broken body was lying facedown in a pool of blood, a few feet before her. Besides the colour of the crimson blood and his body, all she saw was white – miles and miles of endless white.
The wind blew violently as she found herself, completely stationed to the ground, the pallid ground. Attempt after attempts were made, but she couldn't move, not even an inch. All she could was stare at the broken body while wondering whom it could be.
"Hello?" She called out loudly, but her voice was muffled by the harsh roars of the wind.
"Are ya okay?" She called out louder, but the man didn't hear her. Curiosity mixed with desperation enthralled her as she got down on her knees and attempted to crawl to the man. Still, she was unable to move in the vast terrain of bitter freezing snow.
Frustrated, she screamed at the top of lungs, "ARE YA OKAY? PLEASE ANSWER ME!"
Then, she saw them – two flashes of red that disappeared as fast as they had appeared. But, she had seen them, and she knew. The man who had lifted his head up for not even a second, she knew who he was. Now, desperation and panic were the only emotions running vividly in every vein in her body. She had to get to him. There was no other choice.
"REMY? ANSWER ME!" She cried urgently as she struggled to get to him, but still, she could not move her legs.
Then, the white became black as a dark shadow cast over the land around them. Within minutes, it turned back to white again, Remy was still lying facedown in a pool of blood before her, her legs still wouldn't budge, but the one difference now was there was a new presence.
A sinister presence.
"WHAT DID YA DO TO HIM, YOU MONSTER?" She screamed with fury as she stared straight into the eyes of the madman known to the very few as Nathaniel Essex, but to everyone else who have crossed his path as Mr. Sinister.
A sadistic chuckle flowed out of his thin ash lips as he hovered above Remy's broken body. The glint of amusement in his dark blood-coloured red eyes did not sooth Rogue's mind at all. Instead, she struggled within her immobile state while cursing profusely at the apocalyptic monster that from time to time acted as if he was God, himself.
"It doesn't matter what you do, my dear. You won't be able to move. But, honestly, what do you care? After all, did you not leave Gambit here? Did you not want to see him dead for his sins?" Sinister taunted as he landed softly in the snow next to the pool of blood that matched his own crimson eyes so well.
"No! That is not what ah wanted! This is not what happened! Ah saw Remy, he's in N'awlins, he's fine! If only ah can move these darn legs of mine… what are ya doing to him??" She asked frantically, as she saw Sinister lift Remy's head back by his hair. The way Remy's neck twisted backwards and the way his eyes rolled back into its sockets leaving only the black visible, Rogue was beyond panic now. She tried to pry her legs off, even attempted to gnaw them off, but nothing worked.
"Stop it! Stop hurting him!" She cried as she watched the malicious acts of almost decapitation of her loved one, happening right before her eyes.
"This is what you wanted, right? You left him here to die a freezing death, so what matters what I do to him? You rejected him in the cruelest way possible, what I do now fails in comparison to what you did to this man. You are responsible for what he is right now. But, though you don't want him, I still might find some uses for him. There are still quite a few things that I have been needing a master thief to do." Sinister explained as he let go of Remy's head, which dropped down back into the scarlet snow.
"He's hurt! He's dying! Let him go. Ah'll take him back. Ah need him. Let him go!" Rogue begged desperately, for there was nothing else she could do but beg.
Sinister only stared at her with an amused wickedness and laughed his vicious hollow laugh.
Her eyes popped open as she sprung up in bed. Beads of sweat formed at her forehead and temples, as she reached over to turn on the bedside lamp. His laughter was still ringing in her ears as she tried to calm her shaking. The nightmare had felt so real; Remy had looked so real. The emotional roller coaster that was her dream only caused her to shake further as a sudden coldness came over her.
Quickly, she got off her bed and headed for the dresser. She yanked a drawer open and grabbed her uniform. As she was about to change into her uniform, she realized that it didn't make sense. It was merely a dream. It wasn't real, no matter how real it had felt. The uniform got tossed onto the dresser top as she headed back to her bed.
Remy was fine. He wasn't in Antarctica. He was in New Orleans, probably back with the Guild. He had a life now; a life that didn't include her or Sinister. She was sure of this. Even if she made a trip to New Orleans, what would she say to him when she saw him? That she had checked up on him because she had a dream about him? That even through all the trying times together, she came back to him because of a dream? Not even because she was fighting for their love again. Not even because she was raising his child all by herself for the past two years. But because she had a dream about him?
No, it was an irrational act to do. The dream was only a dream. That was it.
But then again, what if Remy did needed her?
All her collisions of thoughts ended, as soon as she heard a faint crying from the baby monitor. Without another thought, she flew to the nursery in a matter of seconds and took her baby into her arms. His crying ceased as soon as his mother's arms were around him. She examined him, and breathed a sigh of relief knowing that he was fine. However, one look into his eyes, her heart broke all over again. The emerald eyes on velvet black stared straight into her own pair of emeralds.
There was perhaps only one thing that was actually true in her dream. She needed Remy. She had always needed him.
-xoxo-
"STOP IT!" He screamed as he sprung up in a cold sweat. He scanned the pitch dark room feverously, but he still couldn't see her. Rapidly, he got up off the bed and tuned on the lights. But what the light offered him was definitely not what he had hoped for. She wasn't in sight at all.
Recollection arose in his mind, as he realized that she was never in sight in the first place. He had only dreamt that she was being tortured in a malevolent way and that she was being tortured by no other than his former employer, while he watched from the side, completely stationary to the ground and helpless. It wasn't a dream; it was a nightmare.
Reaching towards his pants' pocket, he fumbled for a cigarette. Placed nervously between his shaking fingers, he lit it and inhaled deeply. An exhale of smoke expelled from his mouth as he tried to put some sense and reason to his nightmare. It had started out like all his dreams usually did. She was in the same white dress, he would hold her, she would tell him that she loved him, and it was bliss from there on.
But this time, instead of telling him she loved him, he had appeared. Sinister had appeared.
In a matter of minutes, Remy was standing aside helpless while he watched the heartless bastard do things to his Rogue that he couldn't think another human being could ever do to one person. But then again, Sinister wasn't exactly human.
Yet, it was all a dream. Remy had to keep reminding himself that it was a dream. Rogue was safe in the confines of the Xavier Institute. There was absolutely no way Sinister could get to her with a bunch of X-Men running around. Rogue, herself, was a tough woman as well. She did, after all, possessed incredible strength, invulnerability and the power to fly. She was safe and could protect herself.
With all the sense he made of this matter, he still couldn't shake it though. Something in the pit of his stomach told him that she was in trouble and that she needed him despite all the cruelties that the both of them had endured in their relationship.
All the sense and reason left his mind as he dressed immediately. His instincts were too strong, and the dream had felt too real. Even if he had to watch her from afar to ensure that she was indeed fine, he had to know that she was. After all, he loved her. He had always loved her.
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