Disclaimer: Okay, still don't own X-Men and I'm defiantly not making any money off of this so no one sue. You won't get nothing but a headache. And I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of it's references. Oh, but I do own Ebony and the story idea and probably any characters you don't recognize. Yay me. And I don't technically own Sakura and Eric. My friend Megan does. So let's all thank her. Everyone together, THANK YOU MEGAN.
Authors Note: Everyone, y'all need to go and read Mercury Dream's stuff. It's really, really, really, really, really good. (Did I mention really?) A Rogue's Touch and All Grown Up are my favorites but the others are all really good as well. So go read her stuff to. Now, quickly! Oh, and if any of you didn't already know, Ishandahalf has posted a fic that you all need to go read too.
'text' internal speech
dreams
Wandering Souls
Chapter 31: It's Time to Party.
"Alright here's the plan," Logan barked out landing the Blackbird just outside a group of warehouses. "Gumbo you and Elf take the south wall. Half-pint, you and the Tin Can got the west wall, while Slim and Red here take the north wall. Kid, we've got the East wall." He looked out over the assembled team. Jean, Scott, Kurt, Kitty, Piotr, Remy and Meranda stared back at him. The others had wanted to attended the rescue mission as well, but stealth was a necessity and thirty kids in a plane didn't exactly make for a quiet trip.
"Who you calling a kid old man?" Meranda asked as she climbed out of the jet behind him, tightening her belt. "And I think we all know the plan. You've been over it enough." She smiled out at the kids. "Besides if anyone gets into trouble, there's at least two telepaths present.
Logan growled over at Meranda before looking back at the kids. "You all remember what Chuck said about these guys. They're not playing."
"Dat make two of us den," Remy assured him pulling out a deck of cards and turning towards the building.
"Just be careful Gumbo," Logan growled. "If anyone chops you up, I want it to be me. Now let's move."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In side the warehouse alarms roared to life luring it's residents to the computer terminal, Sakura taking her place behind the screen tapping a few keys. Rogue and Madison watched on over her shoulders as the guys stood back, waiting for instructions.
"Oh look, we have company," Sakura said mischievously, pulling up the security cameras on the monitors.
"And it's the X-Men," Madison added smirking over at Rogue.
"Oh gawd," Rogue groaned throwing her head back and covering her face with her hands for a minute. She rubbed her eyes for a minute before looking back at the others. "Jus' don't hurt em."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Meranda and Logan crept silently through the darkness of the roof of the Warehouse, dropping easily thru the open window into a clean bedroom. Meranda looked around appreciatively noting the pristine condition except for the turmoil that was the king size bed. Blood red silk sheets covered by a black down comforter lay in a tangled mess near the foot. On the wall above the head of the bed a black silk Kimono with red flowers stitched throughout it, surrounded by Samurai swords on the adjacent walls.
"Look familiar?" Meranda asked indicating the tangled bed sheets.
Logan gave a snort. "So that's what it's like to be young again," he whispered back as they edged towards the open door, creeping out onto the platform and gazing over at the other walls. The others were in place, blending into their surroundings, in Kitty's case literally. "Looks like they're all in position," Logan whispered to Meranda as he gazed down over the edge of the railing. "Now where's the target?"
In the center of the room, positioned on the large couch sat Madison, Rogue and Sakura, there eyes glued to the television screen while Tony and Eric sat off to the sides in armchairs, staring in idle interest at the screen, and more intense interest at the girls.
Logan motioned to the others to begin moving closer to the ground floor, hoping to gain the surprise attack advantage.
"There just too cute," Rogue said referring to Buffy and Angel on the screen before them, walking hand and hand thru the snow in Amends.
Sakura nodded, her eyes fixed on the screen as she munched a red piece of licorice.
Meanwhile, Jean floated her and Scott silently down behind a pool table in the back while Kurt ported him and Remy down behind the kitchen counter. Meanwhile Kitty and Piotr had phased thru the wall by the front door, hidden in an alcove. Logan and Meranda found their own ways, Logan leaping down onto a large bookshelf, laden with ancient volumes. Meranda meanwhile contorted the shadows about her, hiding amongst them as she flew down.
Tony shifted slightly in his chair near the kitchen, sniffing the air slightly. He curled his nose and looked over at Eric, opening his mouth to speak before Eric cut him off, looking at him deadpan. "Don't even."
Tony decided to change tactics, turning to Sakura, "Kura, ever thought of excusing yourself there?" he asked, fanning the air in front of his face.
"Honey, I'm not the one who praises your "assets" so much," Sakura replied, air quoting around the word assets, her eyes still glued to the screen. "I wouldn't mind if you lost them."
Eric smirked as Tony visibly paled and Madison let out a sigh, turning and looking over in the direction of the kitchen. "You guys wanna come out of hiding already and shut the hell up! At least till the damned commercial break."
"This is a DVD Madison," Rogue said grabbing a soda off the coffee table. "There are no commercials." She then turned to the counter. "Come on out Rems! And Kurt, ya port again and Ah'll stuff ya in a cooling fan."
Slowly Kurt and Remy rose from their positions looking at all the eyes watching them.
"Next time you try to sneak in somewhere," Madison began, turning back to the television screen, "make sure they don't have silent alarms." She took a drink from her soda before looking at Rogue. "He's not bad."
The end credits began to roll as Madison hit the stop button on the remote. Sakura rose and stretched, looking out around the room. "Obviously, it's not an RSVP party, so why don't you all come out."
"Yeah, we wanna play," Madison added rising and popping her knuckles.
Tony and Eric followed suit, staring over at Kurt and Remy as well as the shadows where the others hid. Sakura grabbed her candy from the table and smiled, biting into it thoughtfully. Suddenly her face brightened and she looked over at Eric.
Madison rolled her eyes smiling over at her friend. "Dirty," she said as Rogue snickered in the background.
"Chere," Remy said taking a step towards Rogue as she rose, pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly. "Y' had dis ol' thief worried."
"Aww," Madison and Sakura said together, eliciting a groan and a death glare from the Southern Bell.
"So seriously," Tony said looking around the group as the others slowly emerged from the shadows. "Which one of you all cut one?"
Sakura turned and glared at him. "Tony, come out of the bubble!"
"Babe, could you contemplate getting over yourself just for a second here?" Madison asked cocking an eyebrow at him. "We know like all macho male pigs your proud of it but we really don't fucking care."
"Vhatever," Kurt said reaching his hand out to touch Remy's shoulder to port the two of them and Rogue to the jet. "Lets just go home."
As the words left his lips a knife appeared in Sakura's hand, hurtling straight for Kurt's head. The blue demon reacted quickly, porting right before it made contact, reappearing next to it, now embedded in the wall. He looked at the knife, still vibrating from the force of the throw, reading the engraved words on the blade and turning back to look at her. "Thou shall not kill?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
Sakura's lips curled evilly as she took another bite of her candy.
"I don't think you all understand just how much she's not going anywhere," Madison stated as Logan and Meranda stepped forward.
Logan let out a growl taking a step forward. "Listen kid," releasing his claws threateningly only to be met by Madison's berretta pointed straight at his eye. He let out a bark of laughter, causing the X-Men in the room to cringe. "I thought you did your homework."
"I did," Madison stated coolly, cocking the gun. "And they never plated your eye ball. And from there it's a straight shot to your brain. And I guarantee you I won't miss."
Suddenly Madison's gun flew from her hand as Jean held her hand to her right hand to her head, her left outstretched towards Madison's arm.
Sakura spun on the red head, a snub nose 35mm appearing in her right hand. 'I dare you to take it,' the thought radiating towards Jean.
Scott took a step forward, his hand rushing to his visor when he was met with a berretta pointed at his chest. He looked down the barrel to find two green orbs glowing at him, framed by two white streaks. For a moment time seemed to freeze as the X-Men looked on at Rogue in shock as she held the gun steadily. "Whose side are you on?" Scott asked in shock as he stared at the gleaming weapon.
"Well, whose side are you making me be on," Rogue replied stepping away from Remy and looking around the room, adrenaline pumping thru her veins. At this point, Tony and Eric pulled weapons of their own, aiming them at the remaining X-Men.
"Alright enough," Meranda said stepping forward, an air of authority about her as she strolled into the middle of the room. "Why don't we sit down and talk this out like the adults we're all pretending to be?"
"Perhaps we should wait in de plane?" Piotr spoke up, as he looked at the others, his metal form shinning in the mellow lighting of the room.
"Might as well," Madison said glaring over at the red head as she pulled out an elaborate designed dagger. "Not like you could really do anything to help anyway."
Remy stood in shock as he watched Rogue slowly withdraw her weapon from Scott's chest, keeping it easily at her side. He didn't know what to think about her at this point as he turned and watched Kitty, Piotr and Kurt disappear in a cloud of smoke leaving him, Rogue, Meranda, Logan and the others.
"You guys go too Red," Logan indicated her and Scott who stood still staring at Rogue.
:"But.." Scott began before Jean quickly cut him off.
"Let's go Scott," she whispered, anxious to get away from all the brandished firearms. And together they exited the room.
"Why don't we all sit down?" Meranda asked looking around the room.
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Tony snorted staring at the other woman.
"I said sit down Soldier," Meranda barked, glaring at the young men before her, remembering vaguely how she'd handled other "disciplinary" problems like them back in her unit.
"We don't do that anymore Sergeant," Eric said stoically, returning his weapons to their rightful positions.
"Alright y'all, disarm at least," Rogue said as she returned the gun to the coffee table.
"Okay kid let's start with you," Logan turned glaring at his daughter. "First off, what the hell are you wearing?"
"What?" Rogue asked innocently looking down at her clingy silk hunter green halter top. It tied up around her neck and fell in a low back, covering everything modestly while ending just above her belly button. Her legs were covered by a pair of hunter green crushed velvet pajama pants, the waist band rolled down revealing the head of a purple dragon over her right hip, emerald belly button ring, as well as her black thong. "Oh come on Daddy! It's not as bad as theirs!" she pointed over to her two friends.
All heads turned to stare at the other two girls. Sakura looked down at her own outfit, seeing nothing wrong with the silver backless top she wore, three thin straps, around her neck and back, holding it to her form and black silk capries, tied off at the calves and a pair of black silk Chinese slippers.
Madison looked down at her black silk drawstring pants and red sports bra and finally at her Garfield slippers. "Hey!" She said shooting Rogue a glare. "These are not slutty!" With that she held up her left foot.
"Ah nevah said they were," Rogue replied rolling her eyes and sinking onto the couch, pulling Remy down with her.
"Yeah well you implied," Madison pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Uh, could we come back to a topic guys?" Meranda asked rolling her eyes at them. "Although suddenly I'm glad I missed out on all the slumber parties," she added under her breath as she sat in one of the chairs.
"And what is the topic exactly?" Sakura asked pushing Eric into a chair and sitting down on his lap.
"Hey that's a good point," Madison said flopping down on a floor pillow. Suddenly a thoughtful look passed over her face as she glared up at Tony. "And where is that popcorn I asked you for an hour ago?"
Tony cringed and looked back at her innocently. "Cold by now?" he offered trying to look cute.
"Well then you should go fix that shouldn't you?" Madison suggested, not falling for his little boy charms.
"Yeah, go fetch boy," Sakura sneered as Tony grumbled under his breath about demanding women and it would have been better to get shot in the military. As he passed the chair, Eric made a whipping sound earning a glare from his bald headed teammate.
"Men," Madison finished before turning back to the others who'd finally all seated. "Now what were we talking about?"
"Meh goin' back ta the Institute," Rogue filled in, propping her feet on Remy's lap as she curled up into Remy's jacket, the young Cajun still in it while Logan glared over at them.
"Oh yeah," Madison said leaning back on her hands. "Why would you want to do that?" Madison looked over at Meranda and noticed the woman's raised eyebrow. "What?" she asked following her gaze as everyone turned to look at Sakura who was helping Eric strip out of his sweater. "Dude, what the fuck are you doing?" Madison asked.
"I'm cold," Sakura stated as if it were obvious as she pulled it over her head, getting lost in the bulk of it.
"Well did ya ever think of going and getting one of your sweaters? Just a thought," Madison stated rolling her eyes.
"But it's cashmere, and warm and it smells good," Sakura argued, snuggling deeper into it.
"Uh, you own like six cashmere sweaters," Madison stated glaring at the other girl. "And if you want it to be warm and smell like him just have him sit on the damn thing."
"Ah'm sure that wouldn't smell as good," Rogue stated, breathing in Remy's own spicy scent.
"Why not? Everything else about Silent Bob over there smells like butt," Madison commented pulling her knees to her chest as she examined her nails.
"Vicious lies Shatner lover," Eric said calmly, hugging Sakura against him. (AN Captain Kirk is the DEVIL! It's all about Picard.)
Madison shot him an evil glare, grabbing for a knife. "You bastard!" she hissed as she realized, her favorite one was still lodged in the floor across the room. "Tony! Bring me Guido!" she yelled as Tony came from the kitchen, stopping to pull the knife from the floor.
"For?" He asked before handing it to her.
"Eric's head," she said innocently, holding out her hand for the knife.
"Why?" Tony asked, handing her the popcorn instead.
She set it on the floor and pouted up at him. "He called me a Shatner lover again," she seethed, glaring over at the offender.
"Oh, you're a dead man bro," Tony said to Eric, handing his girlfriend her knife.
"Okay that's it!" Logan barked, using the voice that always got the newbies attention, as well as everyone else within a ten mile radius. "Just shut up now! Before I have to cut all your vocal cords out."
Everyone looked at him in shock for a moment, noticing the vein bulging in the side of his neck, afraid to break the silence. At least most of them were.
"Dude, what's up with your dad?" Madison asked, glaring at Wolverine. "You should seriously get your blood pressure checked or something cause that whole vein thing can't be healthy," she added gesturing to her neck.
Logan seethed, his skin turning a faint purple as foam began to gather at the corners of his mouth while Meranda tried desperately to contain her laugher from the chair.
"Dude, maybe discretion's the better part of valor here," Sakura suggested, sinking farther into Eric's arms, trying hard not to crack a smile.
"Huh?" Madison asked leaning against Tony, who had joined her on the floor.
"Maybe now's a good time to shut up baby," Tony translated as he watched Rogue burry her face in Remy's chest, trying hard not to laugh while the Cajun bit his lip, trying to keep from laughing at the feral man.
"Oh," Madison said, her voice all innocence as she bit her lip, literally, as a small trickle of blood fell from the side of her mouth.
"Tony, maybe you should distract her," Sakura suggested gesturing towards the bowl of popcorn with her eyes.
Tony looked at her confused and then shrugged. "You're the boss," he said as he stood up and began taking off his shirt.
Meranda finally gave up, falling into the back of the chair in a fit of hysterics as she watched Logan's face turn a bright shade of red and the vein get bigger. Eric just shook his head as Sakura shielded her eyes and did the same while Madison started the cat calls.
"That's it!" Rogue stated rising, noticing the unhealthy color of her fathers skin. "Now Tony Ah really don't want yer slimy perverted thoughts in mah head, especially since yer girlfriends already up there, " she said taking a step towards him and holding up a bare hand. "But don't make meh zap ya! Mah virgin eyes can't take it!" She paused for a moment, unable to just stop there, adding, "Now if Rems wants ta dance though, that's a different story," with a grin.
"ALRIGHT THAT'S IT!" Logan bellowed, extending his claws and bringing his hand down towards the coffee table when suddenly the clicking of a gun came to his ears.
Everyone froze and looked at Madison, her berretta pointed directly at his head. "Still not thinking they plated your eyeball," she challenged holding the gun steady. "Now lets get down to business shall we?" She waited for Logan to retract his claws before she continued. "It's simple really. We need Rogue for a job. When we're done, she's more than free to leave."
"What if she doesn't want to help you?" Meranda asked, regaining her composure and looking at the black and indigo haired girl, obviously their leader.
"I really don't think that's an issue, do you Rogue?" Madison asked turning back to Rogue. "After all, family's help each other right?"
Rogue nodded looking at her parents and then at her hands. "Ah need ta help them," she stated simply.
"Why?" Logan growled, glaring at Madison.
"Cause," Rogue looked up and met his eyes. "They'd do it for meh."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This is crazy, we can't just let her go with a bunch of trained killers," Meranda hissed as she and Logan sat in the corner of the room whispering quietly to each other while Rogue and the others were in the kitchen where Tony and Eric were cooking up a storm. Even those sent out to the Blackbird had been allowed back in to join in the meal, all talking and laughing loudly except for Jean and Scott who eyed the group warily. They had contacted the Professor and informed him of the situation, telling him they'd be home before the end of the night, hopefully with Rogue in tow.
"Well, Chuck ain't gonna want us helping a bunch of professional criminals do a job," Logan growled back, as he watched Rogue closely out the corner of his eye. She was so different around these guys. Laughing and smiling, almost carefree as they all exchanged banter with one another like kids should.
"Well she's not going to come home with us willingly yet," Meranda stated, leaning back in the chair a little. "And I'm afraid they won't let her leave any other way."
"And I thought the kids at the mansion were nuts," Logan muttered as he noticed Remy's arms wrap around his daughters bare waist and his lips descend on her equally bare shoulder. "Gumbo what have I told you about those hands and my daughter?" he growled angrily over at the Cajun.
"Oh, it's okay," Madison said as she added a shot of wine to the pan Tony was stirring. "She doesn't mind." Kitty erupted into a fit of giggles and Kurt rolled his eyes, the rest of the guys smirking except for Piotr, who remained stoically at the counter, sketching the scene before him on a large piece of paper Sakura had provided, and Scott and Jean who sat stiffly at the other end, watching the scene with mild interest.
Rogue just rolled her eyes at them, leaning back against Remy, her arms snaking up over her head and behind his neck, massaging it gently. "Shut up y'all," She said shooting Madison a forced glare, the smile playing in her eyes. This brought more giggles and laughter from the group as they continued to cook.
"So, like, how old are you guys anyway?" Kitty asked Sakura as she started handing out plates and silverware.
"Nineteen," she answered grabbing some glasses and handing them off to Kurt.
"Really?" Madison looked at her skeptically. "My license says twenty two," she smirked at the girl.
Sakura just rolled her eyes and went back to Eric, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind and resting her head on his back.
"So how did you guys meet then?" Scott asked, eyeing them cautiously. "I mean, aren't you guys a lot older than they are?"
"Four years isn't that much of a difference," Tony retorted as he stirred the sauce on the back burner.
"Age matters not in matters of the heart," Eric said smoothly, earning him an adoring look from his girlfriend.
"My street fighting instructor introduced me to Tony about three years ago or so," Madison said leaning against the counter next to him, looking over at Scott. "We hit it off and introduced these two and there you have it."
"True love conquers all right babe?" Tony asked snaking an arm around Madison's waist and leaning over, kissing her deeply.
"Or until I find someone better," Madison supplied after they pulled apart, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"No one else would have you," Tony countered as he motioned for her to move aside so he could place the large pan on the counter.
"Whatever," Madison smiled, rolling her eyes before looking at the others. "Soups on guys."
Meranda and Logan rose and joined the group, grabbing plates and waiting for all the kids to get food first. "So, what's this mission you guys need my daughter for?" Meranda asked as Tony served her some pasta.
"Business," Madison stated plainly grabbing a napkin and fork from the counter.
"Do you ever just answer a question kid?" Logan growled, wishing for a beer or stronger. This girl was trying his last nerve, something none of the Institute kids ever dared to do.
"Do you ever call anyone by their name?" She shot back before taking a bite of her food, staring at him dangerously. She hated when they asked questions. The less they knew the better.
"Let's just say, the less you know the better," Tony stated, not anxious to have to get the blood cleaned out of the rugs again.
"Well, sorry if I think we need to know if our daughter's friends are taking her along to kill someone or get killed herself," Meranda snapped, glaring at them.
"Wow, breathe," Sakura said pausing mid bite.
"Besides, we're against getting killed," Madison added. "It's bad for business."
"Mamma, nothin's gonna happen ta meh," Rogue assured them, finishing up her food and placing the plate in the sink. "Ah know what Ah'm doin. Besides, between the X-Men and Mystique, Ah'd think Ah knew how ta not get killed by now."
"We jus' worried, mon amore," Remy said placing his hand on her back, running his thumb slowly over her spine. "Remy feel better if y' let him come wit y'. Make sure dat y' safe."
"Yeah, well we don't have any openings," Sakura said glaring over at him.
"Why? Afraid to see what team work really looks like," Scott stated smugly as he looked over at them.
"No I'm just not interested in picking up your useless corpse on the way back," Madison growled. "And if you wanna talk teamwork, lets talk teamwork." She leaned over on her elbows, getting in his face. "Can you tell me every member of your teams favorite color? Or favorite team? Or even what their greatest accomplishment is?" Madison challenged. "Oh how about what keeps them up in the middle of the night? What makes them sweat? Can you anticipate what they're thinking or what their next move might be? Or even if they're in danger or not? Yeah, you sure know a hell of a lot. That must be while you looked so god damned surprised when Rogue pulled that gun on you huh? You don't know shit about team work little man and don't for a second think your better than me because you believe you do." As she spoke her voice remained cool and calm, causing a wave of terror to pass over her teammates.
"Madison back down," Sakura warned. "We're playing nice remember?"
"Come on Madison," Rogue said grabbing the other girls arm. "He ain't worth the effort."
"Another lesson for you one eye," Madison sneered, letting Rogue pull her up and turning to wrap herself in Tony's arms. "Learning to listen to and trust your team."
"Y'know, takin' Rem's along might not be a bad idea," Rogue whispered to Madison. "He's a thief and damned good at that. He could be of use."
"You just want to bring along your new boy toy," Tony observed looking over at the demon eyed Cajun. "He better just not turn out like the last one."
"He's not," Rogue growled, shooting Tony a glare. "But think about it, if ya let him come then the X-Men will fill bettah about meh goin' wit ya. And he might be of some use. And he won't preach about how wrong what we're doin' is."
Madison looked at Rogue hard, noticing the pleading look in her eyes. "Fine, he's in but that's it. We can't turn this it to a fucking field trip for bored mutants," Madison said after glancing at Sakura for approval. "But both of you have to stay here till the mission. It's to risky to have you out there warning people. The rest of you can leave whenever your done eating."
"I'm not going anywhere with out them," Logan stated, still trying to gain the upper hand.
"Daddy jus' trust meh for once!" Rogue yelled at him. "Ah don't need ya savin' mah ass every tahme ya think ya need ta! Jus' please let meh handle this on mah own."
"Marie, are you sure this is what you want to do?" Meranda asked taking a step towards her daughter and holding her at arms length.
"Yes. Ah have ta do this," Rogue stated, meeting the woman's gaze head on.
She let out a long sigh before reluctantly handing her a comm unit. "Well, your eighteen so I really can't tell you no," Meranda thought after a bit. "But take this in case you need me, and be careful." She pulled Rogue into a hug and looked over at Remy. 'Look after her or so help me they'll never recognize the body's,' she thought towards him as well as Madison, Tony, Eric and Sakura who all looked on at her with mild amusement.
Logan was about to protest when Meranda's voice entered his mind. 'If we don't let her do this, we may never see her again. She may just walk away from us and everything else. At least if we support her we stand a better chance of getting her back home when this is all said and done.'
"Alright move out then," Logan growled looking at the others deadly as the X-Men rose and headed back out towards the jet.
"Like, thanks for dinner," Kitty said politely. "It was amazing."
"Anytime," Tony smiled at her and offered a mock salute as she left with the others.
"You come back home safe ya hear me kid?" Logan growled down at Rogue. "Remember everything I taught you and you should be fine. And don't make it a habit of pissing me off like this," he added ruffling her hair and pulling her into a hug. "And you might as well bring Gumbo back to. Enjoy watchin' him walk away with Drakes money on poker night."
"Will do Daddy," Rogue replied breaking away from the hug.
"And you," Logan started before Remy cut him off.
"Dey never find de pieces non?" he smirked over at Logan before offering his hand. "Ah would nevah let anything hurt ma chere," he stated seriously, emphasizing his point in the first person.
"Remember that," Logan growled as he headed out the door.
"Bye bye Logan," Madison called sweetly, as Logan growled and left the room. "Good, now that they're gone let's find you guys a place to sleep. We'll fill you in on everything tomorrow. The mission's not till tomorrow night anyway so we've got plenty of time." Madison started walking towards the back and the stairs leading up to the loft's. "We've got a spare room up here. Oh and Tony? Don't forget to do the dishes," she added as she and Sakura led Rogue and Remy up the stairs.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Remy lay wide awake on the large bed, his mind running wild with the days events. Rogue, his innocent Southern belle turned out to be less innocent than he first assumed. And as impossible as it was to believe, that just turned him on even more. He rolled over towards the other source of heat in the bed and pulled her close to him, spooning her into his body as he wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her shoulder.
"Y' asleep mon amore?" he whispered nuzzling her neck.
"Not anymore," Rogue replied as she turned in his arms to look up at him. "What's buggin' ya sugah?" she asked, reaching up a hand to stroke the side of his face. She looked beautiful in the moonlight, her hair falling gracefully around her shoulders in soft curls. Every shred of the Gothic makeup gone, replaced by the natural radiance of her skin, and her brilliant green eyes, shining with out the drastic contrast of her normal heavy eye shadow.
"Nothin' ma chere," Remy whispered, kissing her lips tenderly. "Jus' thinkin' bout how belle y' are in de moonlight wit out all dat crap on y' face," he whispered, kissing her again, longer, her hands reaching up and pulling him hungrily towards her.
They broke apart after a moment, needing air as she ran her hands lightly over his bare chest. "Ah'm sorry sugah," she said, resting her head against him, breathing in deeply. "Ah should of told ya everything and not dragged ya inta this whole mess," she whispered against him, wrapping her arms around his chest and pulling him to her.
"Shh," Remy soothed her, placing a finger under her chin and forcing her to look at him. "It's non important Marie," he said, kissing her softly, the kiss deepening and soon, Remy was on top of her, running his hands thru her hair as her hands explored his chest.
"Rems wait," she said pulling away breathless. "Ah'm not sure if Ah'm ready fer this yet," she sat up looking at him, fear in her eyes. She didn't want to lose him but the memory of Cody was still too fresh and she needed a little more time to sort everything out.
Remy leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. "Take all de time y' need mon amore," he smiled at her, laying down and pulling her close to him, in their original position. "Remy got time."
"Thank ya," Rogue breathed, leaning against him, turning her face to kiss him tenderly. "Ah love ya sugah."
"Ah love ya too. Now lets git some sleep non?" Remy suggested, burying his face in her hair and squeezing her tightly.
Rogue smiled and rested her head against the pillow. 'Ah'm to lucky,' she thought as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
Authors Note: Damn I'm on a roll lately aren't I? Again we must thank Megan for assistance with the Banter of this chapter. Give her a hand for the comic relief. And now a few quick shout outs cause I have to leave soon.
danielle britton ~ Okay not feeling insulted anymore. I now am filled with the wonders of understanding. And don't worry, it took me 31 chapters to get to this point and I refuse to start all the way over. It's too much of a pain in the ass. And I don't really feel like getting lynched this week. Not on my agenda. Thanks for clarifying for me, and sorry if I came off a little bitchy.
HPFANATIC-21 ~ Hey if you want to write another story together I'm game. I just don't know if I have the time at the moment. But when the semester gets out I'm sure it'd be more than possible. I wish I'd know that before the winter break and we could have set up a site and stuff. Well, not much to say today. Just hope you liked and don't worry, only the voices of my inner critics tell me my writing sucks. Little bastards! But Dru likes it so I have one other personality on my side at least.
Aro ~ It's okay Aro I understand. Damn Fanfic.net! Oh well, I liked this review though. I'm just happy to get them Y'know. Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter enough to do it again and maybe the site won't delete it on you this time.
Rogue4787 ~ Glad you liked Alito Dei Draghi cause I do too. Sorry I forgot to mention the girls ages in the last chapter, but I made sure to do it here. Thanks for the review. Made me smile.
Lightspeed Suzuki ~ What's this? Madison, Tony, Sakura and Eric plushies? They're plushie worthy? YES! Sorry, and I get a bo staff? You so rock. And I let my friend know that you thought she did too. She said thank you.
Ishandahalf ~ Don't really have time to reply to your whole review Ish, but as always thanks for sending it and I'm glad you loved. And look, more Romy just for you, although about half the kisses are for Mercury Dream. (She told me she'd hunt me down if there wasn't more smoochies.) Enjoy and can't wait for your review.
SSam ~ the groups only the 5 of them and it's not really so much as a gang as it is a team or family business type of thing. Thanks for the review.
Rogue77 ~ More singing! Now the totals only up to you and Mercury Dream singing to me. Happy day! I'm very interested in your story and I'll try to send you an email tonight but it might be hard cause I got to work. But I will as soon as I can, if not you can always review and remind me. (Hint hint)
Authors Note: Everyone, y'all need to go and read Mercury Dream's stuff. It's really, really, really, really, really good. (Did I mention really?) A Rogue's Touch and All Grown Up are my favorites but the others are all really good as well. So go read her stuff to. Now, quickly! Oh, and if any of you didn't already know, Ishandahalf has posted a fic that you all need to go read too.
'text' internal speech
dreams
Wandering Souls
Chapter 31: It's Time to Party.
"Alright here's the plan," Logan barked out landing the Blackbird just outside a group of warehouses. "Gumbo you and Elf take the south wall. Half-pint, you and the Tin Can got the west wall, while Slim and Red here take the north wall. Kid, we've got the East wall." He looked out over the assembled team. Jean, Scott, Kurt, Kitty, Piotr, Remy and Meranda stared back at him. The others had wanted to attended the rescue mission as well, but stealth was a necessity and thirty kids in a plane didn't exactly make for a quiet trip.
"Who you calling a kid old man?" Meranda asked as she climbed out of the jet behind him, tightening her belt. "And I think we all know the plan. You've been over it enough." She smiled out at the kids. "Besides if anyone gets into trouble, there's at least two telepaths present.
Logan growled over at Meranda before looking back at the kids. "You all remember what Chuck said about these guys. They're not playing."
"Dat make two of us den," Remy assured him pulling out a deck of cards and turning towards the building.
"Just be careful Gumbo," Logan growled. "If anyone chops you up, I want it to be me. Now let's move."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In side the warehouse alarms roared to life luring it's residents to the computer terminal, Sakura taking her place behind the screen tapping a few keys. Rogue and Madison watched on over her shoulders as the guys stood back, waiting for instructions.
"Oh look, we have company," Sakura said mischievously, pulling up the security cameras on the monitors.
"And it's the X-Men," Madison added smirking over at Rogue.
"Oh gawd," Rogue groaned throwing her head back and covering her face with her hands for a minute. She rubbed her eyes for a minute before looking back at the others. "Jus' don't hurt em."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Meranda and Logan crept silently through the darkness of the roof of the Warehouse, dropping easily thru the open window into a clean bedroom. Meranda looked around appreciatively noting the pristine condition except for the turmoil that was the king size bed. Blood red silk sheets covered by a black down comforter lay in a tangled mess near the foot. On the wall above the head of the bed a black silk Kimono with red flowers stitched throughout it, surrounded by Samurai swords on the adjacent walls.
"Look familiar?" Meranda asked indicating the tangled bed sheets.
Logan gave a snort. "So that's what it's like to be young again," he whispered back as they edged towards the open door, creeping out onto the platform and gazing over at the other walls. The others were in place, blending into their surroundings, in Kitty's case literally. "Looks like they're all in position," Logan whispered to Meranda as he gazed down over the edge of the railing. "Now where's the target?"
In the center of the room, positioned on the large couch sat Madison, Rogue and Sakura, there eyes glued to the television screen while Tony and Eric sat off to the sides in armchairs, staring in idle interest at the screen, and more intense interest at the girls.
Logan motioned to the others to begin moving closer to the ground floor, hoping to gain the surprise attack advantage.
"There just too cute," Rogue said referring to Buffy and Angel on the screen before them, walking hand and hand thru the snow in Amends.
Sakura nodded, her eyes fixed on the screen as she munched a red piece of licorice.
Meanwhile, Jean floated her and Scott silently down behind a pool table in the back while Kurt ported him and Remy down behind the kitchen counter. Meanwhile Kitty and Piotr had phased thru the wall by the front door, hidden in an alcove. Logan and Meranda found their own ways, Logan leaping down onto a large bookshelf, laden with ancient volumes. Meranda meanwhile contorted the shadows about her, hiding amongst them as she flew down.
Tony shifted slightly in his chair near the kitchen, sniffing the air slightly. He curled his nose and looked over at Eric, opening his mouth to speak before Eric cut him off, looking at him deadpan. "Don't even."
Tony decided to change tactics, turning to Sakura, "Kura, ever thought of excusing yourself there?" he asked, fanning the air in front of his face.
"Honey, I'm not the one who praises your "assets" so much," Sakura replied, air quoting around the word assets, her eyes still glued to the screen. "I wouldn't mind if you lost them."
Eric smirked as Tony visibly paled and Madison let out a sigh, turning and looking over in the direction of the kitchen. "You guys wanna come out of hiding already and shut the hell up! At least till the damned commercial break."
"This is a DVD Madison," Rogue said grabbing a soda off the coffee table. "There are no commercials." She then turned to the counter. "Come on out Rems! And Kurt, ya port again and Ah'll stuff ya in a cooling fan."
Slowly Kurt and Remy rose from their positions looking at all the eyes watching them.
"Next time you try to sneak in somewhere," Madison began, turning back to the television screen, "make sure they don't have silent alarms." She took a drink from her soda before looking at Rogue. "He's not bad."
The end credits began to roll as Madison hit the stop button on the remote. Sakura rose and stretched, looking out around the room. "Obviously, it's not an RSVP party, so why don't you all come out."
"Yeah, we wanna play," Madison added rising and popping her knuckles.
Tony and Eric followed suit, staring over at Kurt and Remy as well as the shadows where the others hid. Sakura grabbed her candy from the table and smiled, biting into it thoughtfully. Suddenly her face brightened and she looked over at Eric.
Madison rolled her eyes smiling over at her friend. "Dirty," she said as Rogue snickered in the background.
"Chere," Remy said taking a step towards Rogue as she rose, pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly. "Y' had dis ol' thief worried."
"Aww," Madison and Sakura said together, eliciting a groan and a death glare from the Southern Bell.
"So seriously," Tony said looking around the group as the others slowly emerged from the shadows. "Which one of you all cut one?"
Sakura turned and glared at him. "Tony, come out of the bubble!"
"Babe, could you contemplate getting over yourself just for a second here?" Madison asked cocking an eyebrow at him. "We know like all macho male pigs your proud of it but we really don't fucking care."
"Vhatever," Kurt said reaching his hand out to touch Remy's shoulder to port the two of them and Rogue to the jet. "Lets just go home."
As the words left his lips a knife appeared in Sakura's hand, hurtling straight for Kurt's head. The blue demon reacted quickly, porting right before it made contact, reappearing next to it, now embedded in the wall. He looked at the knife, still vibrating from the force of the throw, reading the engraved words on the blade and turning back to look at her. "Thou shall not kill?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
Sakura's lips curled evilly as she took another bite of her candy.
"I don't think you all understand just how much she's not going anywhere," Madison stated as Logan and Meranda stepped forward.
Logan let out a growl taking a step forward. "Listen kid," releasing his claws threateningly only to be met by Madison's berretta pointed straight at his eye. He let out a bark of laughter, causing the X-Men in the room to cringe. "I thought you did your homework."
"I did," Madison stated coolly, cocking the gun. "And they never plated your eye ball. And from there it's a straight shot to your brain. And I guarantee you I won't miss."
Suddenly Madison's gun flew from her hand as Jean held her hand to her right hand to her head, her left outstretched towards Madison's arm.
Sakura spun on the red head, a snub nose 35mm appearing in her right hand. 'I dare you to take it,' the thought radiating towards Jean.
Scott took a step forward, his hand rushing to his visor when he was met with a berretta pointed at his chest. He looked down the barrel to find two green orbs glowing at him, framed by two white streaks. For a moment time seemed to freeze as the X-Men looked on at Rogue in shock as she held the gun steadily. "Whose side are you on?" Scott asked in shock as he stared at the gleaming weapon.
"Well, whose side are you making me be on," Rogue replied stepping away from Remy and looking around the room, adrenaline pumping thru her veins. At this point, Tony and Eric pulled weapons of their own, aiming them at the remaining X-Men.
"Alright enough," Meranda said stepping forward, an air of authority about her as she strolled into the middle of the room. "Why don't we sit down and talk this out like the adults we're all pretending to be?"
"Perhaps we should wait in de plane?" Piotr spoke up, as he looked at the others, his metal form shinning in the mellow lighting of the room.
"Might as well," Madison said glaring over at the red head as she pulled out an elaborate designed dagger. "Not like you could really do anything to help anyway."
Remy stood in shock as he watched Rogue slowly withdraw her weapon from Scott's chest, keeping it easily at her side. He didn't know what to think about her at this point as he turned and watched Kitty, Piotr and Kurt disappear in a cloud of smoke leaving him, Rogue, Meranda, Logan and the others.
"You guys go too Red," Logan indicated her and Scott who stood still staring at Rogue.
:"But.." Scott began before Jean quickly cut him off.
"Let's go Scott," she whispered, anxious to get away from all the brandished firearms. And together they exited the room.
"Why don't we all sit down?" Meranda asked looking around the room.
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Tony snorted staring at the other woman.
"I said sit down Soldier," Meranda barked, glaring at the young men before her, remembering vaguely how she'd handled other "disciplinary" problems like them back in her unit.
"We don't do that anymore Sergeant," Eric said stoically, returning his weapons to their rightful positions.
"Alright y'all, disarm at least," Rogue said as she returned the gun to the coffee table.
"Okay kid let's start with you," Logan turned glaring at his daughter. "First off, what the hell are you wearing?"
"What?" Rogue asked innocently looking down at her clingy silk hunter green halter top. It tied up around her neck and fell in a low back, covering everything modestly while ending just above her belly button. Her legs were covered by a pair of hunter green crushed velvet pajama pants, the waist band rolled down revealing the head of a purple dragon over her right hip, emerald belly button ring, as well as her black thong. "Oh come on Daddy! It's not as bad as theirs!" she pointed over to her two friends.
All heads turned to stare at the other two girls. Sakura looked down at her own outfit, seeing nothing wrong with the silver backless top she wore, three thin straps, around her neck and back, holding it to her form and black silk capries, tied off at the calves and a pair of black silk Chinese slippers.
Madison looked down at her black silk drawstring pants and red sports bra and finally at her Garfield slippers. "Hey!" She said shooting Rogue a glare. "These are not slutty!" With that she held up her left foot.
"Ah nevah said they were," Rogue replied rolling her eyes and sinking onto the couch, pulling Remy down with her.
"Yeah well you implied," Madison pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Uh, could we come back to a topic guys?" Meranda asked rolling her eyes at them. "Although suddenly I'm glad I missed out on all the slumber parties," she added under her breath as she sat in one of the chairs.
"And what is the topic exactly?" Sakura asked pushing Eric into a chair and sitting down on his lap.
"Hey that's a good point," Madison said flopping down on a floor pillow. Suddenly a thoughtful look passed over her face as she glared up at Tony. "And where is that popcorn I asked you for an hour ago?"
Tony cringed and looked back at her innocently. "Cold by now?" he offered trying to look cute.
"Well then you should go fix that shouldn't you?" Madison suggested, not falling for his little boy charms.
"Yeah, go fetch boy," Sakura sneered as Tony grumbled under his breath about demanding women and it would have been better to get shot in the military. As he passed the chair, Eric made a whipping sound earning a glare from his bald headed teammate.
"Men," Madison finished before turning back to the others who'd finally all seated. "Now what were we talking about?"
"Meh goin' back ta the Institute," Rogue filled in, propping her feet on Remy's lap as she curled up into Remy's jacket, the young Cajun still in it while Logan glared over at them.
"Oh yeah," Madison said leaning back on her hands. "Why would you want to do that?" Madison looked over at Meranda and noticed the woman's raised eyebrow. "What?" she asked following her gaze as everyone turned to look at Sakura who was helping Eric strip out of his sweater. "Dude, what the fuck are you doing?" Madison asked.
"I'm cold," Sakura stated as if it were obvious as she pulled it over her head, getting lost in the bulk of it.
"Well did ya ever think of going and getting one of your sweaters? Just a thought," Madison stated rolling her eyes.
"But it's cashmere, and warm and it smells good," Sakura argued, snuggling deeper into it.
"Uh, you own like six cashmere sweaters," Madison stated glaring at the other girl. "And if you want it to be warm and smell like him just have him sit on the damn thing."
"Ah'm sure that wouldn't smell as good," Rogue stated, breathing in Remy's own spicy scent.
"Why not? Everything else about Silent Bob over there smells like butt," Madison commented pulling her knees to her chest as she examined her nails.
"Vicious lies Shatner lover," Eric said calmly, hugging Sakura against him. (AN Captain Kirk is the DEVIL! It's all about Picard.)
Madison shot him an evil glare, grabbing for a knife. "You bastard!" she hissed as she realized, her favorite one was still lodged in the floor across the room. "Tony! Bring me Guido!" she yelled as Tony came from the kitchen, stopping to pull the knife from the floor.
"For?" He asked before handing it to her.
"Eric's head," she said innocently, holding out her hand for the knife.
"Why?" Tony asked, handing her the popcorn instead.
She set it on the floor and pouted up at him. "He called me a Shatner lover again," she seethed, glaring over at the offender.
"Oh, you're a dead man bro," Tony said to Eric, handing his girlfriend her knife.
"Okay that's it!" Logan barked, using the voice that always got the newbies attention, as well as everyone else within a ten mile radius. "Just shut up now! Before I have to cut all your vocal cords out."
Everyone looked at him in shock for a moment, noticing the vein bulging in the side of his neck, afraid to break the silence. At least most of them were.
"Dude, what's up with your dad?" Madison asked, glaring at Wolverine. "You should seriously get your blood pressure checked or something cause that whole vein thing can't be healthy," she added gesturing to her neck.
Logan seethed, his skin turning a faint purple as foam began to gather at the corners of his mouth while Meranda tried desperately to contain her laugher from the chair.
"Dude, maybe discretion's the better part of valor here," Sakura suggested, sinking farther into Eric's arms, trying hard not to crack a smile.
"Huh?" Madison asked leaning against Tony, who had joined her on the floor.
"Maybe now's a good time to shut up baby," Tony translated as he watched Rogue burry her face in Remy's chest, trying hard not to laugh while the Cajun bit his lip, trying to keep from laughing at the feral man.
"Oh," Madison said, her voice all innocence as she bit her lip, literally, as a small trickle of blood fell from the side of her mouth.
"Tony, maybe you should distract her," Sakura suggested gesturing towards the bowl of popcorn with her eyes.
Tony looked at her confused and then shrugged. "You're the boss," he said as he stood up and began taking off his shirt.
Meranda finally gave up, falling into the back of the chair in a fit of hysterics as she watched Logan's face turn a bright shade of red and the vein get bigger. Eric just shook his head as Sakura shielded her eyes and did the same while Madison started the cat calls.
"That's it!" Rogue stated rising, noticing the unhealthy color of her fathers skin. "Now Tony Ah really don't want yer slimy perverted thoughts in mah head, especially since yer girlfriends already up there, " she said taking a step towards him and holding up a bare hand. "But don't make meh zap ya! Mah virgin eyes can't take it!" She paused for a moment, unable to just stop there, adding, "Now if Rems wants ta dance though, that's a different story," with a grin.
"ALRIGHT THAT'S IT!" Logan bellowed, extending his claws and bringing his hand down towards the coffee table when suddenly the clicking of a gun came to his ears.
Everyone froze and looked at Madison, her berretta pointed directly at his head. "Still not thinking they plated your eyeball," she challenged holding the gun steady. "Now lets get down to business shall we?" She waited for Logan to retract his claws before she continued. "It's simple really. We need Rogue for a job. When we're done, she's more than free to leave."
"What if she doesn't want to help you?" Meranda asked, regaining her composure and looking at the black and indigo haired girl, obviously their leader.
"I really don't think that's an issue, do you Rogue?" Madison asked turning back to Rogue. "After all, family's help each other right?"
Rogue nodded looking at her parents and then at her hands. "Ah need ta help them," she stated simply.
"Why?" Logan growled, glaring at Madison.
"Cause," Rogue looked up and met his eyes. "They'd do it for meh."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This is crazy, we can't just let her go with a bunch of trained killers," Meranda hissed as she and Logan sat in the corner of the room whispering quietly to each other while Rogue and the others were in the kitchen where Tony and Eric were cooking up a storm. Even those sent out to the Blackbird had been allowed back in to join in the meal, all talking and laughing loudly except for Jean and Scott who eyed the group warily. They had contacted the Professor and informed him of the situation, telling him they'd be home before the end of the night, hopefully with Rogue in tow.
"Well, Chuck ain't gonna want us helping a bunch of professional criminals do a job," Logan growled back, as he watched Rogue closely out the corner of his eye. She was so different around these guys. Laughing and smiling, almost carefree as they all exchanged banter with one another like kids should.
"Well she's not going to come home with us willingly yet," Meranda stated, leaning back in the chair a little. "And I'm afraid they won't let her leave any other way."
"And I thought the kids at the mansion were nuts," Logan muttered as he noticed Remy's arms wrap around his daughters bare waist and his lips descend on her equally bare shoulder. "Gumbo what have I told you about those hands and my daughter?" he growled angrily over at the Cajun.
"Oh, it's okay," Madison said as she added a shot of wine to the pan Tony was stirring. "She doesn't mind." Kitty erupted into a fit of giggles and Kurt rolled his eyes, the rest of the guys smirking except for Piotr, who remained stoically at the counter, sketching the scene before him on a large piece of paper Sakura had provided, and Scott and Jean who sat stiffly at the other end, watching the scene with mild interest.
Rogue just rolled her eyes at them, leaning back against Remy, her arms snaking up over her head and behind his neck, massaging it gently. "Shut up y'all," She said shooting Madison a forced glare, the smile playing in her eyes. This brought more giggles and laughter from the group as they continued to cook.
"So, like, how old are you guys anyway?" Kitty asked Sakura as she started handing out plates and silverware.
"Nineteen," she answered grabbing some glasses and handing them off to Kurt.
"Really?" Madison looked at her skeptically. "My license says twenty two," she smirked at the girl.
Sakura just rolled her eyes and went back to Eric, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind and resting her head on his back.
"So how did you guys meet then?" Scott asked, eyeing them cautiously. "I mean, aren't you guys a lot older than they are?"
"Four years isn't that much of a difference," Tony retorted as he stirred the sauce on the back burner.
"Age matters not in matters of the heart," Eric said smoothly, earning him an adoring look from his girlfriend.
"My street fighting instructor introduced me to Tony about three years ago or so," Madison said leaning against the counter next to him, looking over at Scott. "We hit it off and introduced these two and there you have it."
"True love conquers all right babe?" Tony asked snaking an arm around Madison's waist and leaning over, kissing her deeply.
"Or until I find someone better," Madison supplied after they pulled apart, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"No one else would have you," Tony countered as he motioned for her to move aside so he could place the large pan on the counter.
"Whatever," Madison smiled, rolling her eyes before looking at the others. "Soups on guys."
Meranda and Logan rose and joined the group, grabbing plates and waiting for all the kids to get food first. "So, what's this mission you guys need my daughter for?" Meranda asked as Tony served her some pasta.
"Business," Madison stated plainly grabbing a napkin and fork from the counter.
"Do you ever just answer a question kid?" Logan growled, wishing for a beer or stronger. This girl was trying his last nerve, something none of the Institute kids ever dared to do.
"Do you ever call anyone by their name?" She shot back before taking a bite of her food, staring at him dangerously. She hated when they asked questions. The less they knew the better.
"Let's just say, the less you know the better," Tony stated, not anxious to have to get the blood cleaned out of the rugs again.
"Well, sorry if I think we need to know if our daughter's friends are taking her along to kill someone or get killed herself," Meranda snapped, glaring at them.
"Wow, breathe," Sakura said pausing mid bite.
"Besides, we're against getting killed," Madison added. "It's bad for business."
"Mamma, nothin's gonna happen ta meh," Rogue assured them, finishing up her food and placing the plate in the sink. "Ah know what Ah'm doin. Besides, between the X-Men and Mystique, Ah'd think Ah knew how ta not get killed by now."
"We jus' worried, mon amore," Remy said placing his hand on her back, running his thumb slowly over her spine. "Remy feel better if y' let him come wit y'. Make sure dat y' safe."
"Yeah, well we don't have any openings," Sakura said glaring over at him.
"Why? Afraid to see what team work really looks like," Scott stated smugly as he looked over at them.
"No I'm just not interested in picking up your useless corpse on the way back," Madison growled. "And if you wanna talk teamwork, lets talk teamwork." She leaned over on her elbows, getting in his face. "Can you tell me every member of your teams favorite color? Or favorite team? Or even what their greatest accomplishment is?" Madison challenged. "Oh how about what keeps them up in the middle of the night? What makes them sweat? Can you anticipate what they're thinking or what their next move might be? Or even if they're in danger or not? Yeah, you sure know a hell of a lot. That must be while you looked so god damned surprised when Rogue pulled that gun on you huh? You don't know shit about team work little man and don't for a second think your better than me because you believe you do." As she spoke her voice remained cool and calm, causing a wave of terror to pass over her teammates.
"Madison back down," Sakura warned. "We're playing nice remember?"
"Come on Madison," Rogue said grabbing the other girls arm. "He ain't worth the effort."
"Another lesson for you one eye," Madison sneered, letting Rogue pull her up and turning to wrap herself in Tony's arms. "Learning to listen to and trust your team."
"Y'know, takin' Rem's along might not be a bad idea," Rogue whispered to Madison. "He's a thief and damned good at that. He could be of use."
"You just want to bring along your new boy toy," Tony observed looking over at the demon eyed Cajun. "He better just not turn out like the last one."
"He's not," Rogue growled, shooting Tony a glare. "But think about it, if ya let him come then the X-Men will fill bettah about meh goin' wit ya. And he might be of some use. And he won't preach about how wrong what we're doin' is."
Madison looked at Rogue hard, noticing the pleading look in her eyes. "Fine, he's in but that's it. We can't turn this it to a fucking field trip for bored mutants," Madison said after glancing at Sakura for approval. "But both of you have to stay here till the mission. It's to risky to have you out there warning people. The rest of you can leave whenever your done eating."
"I'm not going anywhere with out them," Logan stated, still trying to gain the upper hand.
"Daddy jus' trust meh for once!" Rogue yelled at him. "Ah don't need ya savin' mah ass every tahme ya think ya need ta! Jus' please let meh handle this on mah own."
"Marie, are you sure this is what you want to do?" Meranda asked taking a step towards her daughter and holding her at arms length.
"Yes. Ah have ta do this," Rogue stated, meeting the woman's gaze head on.
She let out a long sigh before reluctantly handing her a comm unit. "Well, your eighteen so I really can't tell you no," Meranda thought after a bit. "But take this in case you need me, and be careful." She pulled Rogue into a hug and looked over at Remy. 'Look after her or so help me they'll never recognize the body's,' she thought towards him as well as Madison, Tony, Eric and Sakura who all looked on at her with mild amusement.
Logan was about to protest when Meranda's voice entered his mind. 'If we don't let her do this, we may never see her again. She may just walk away from us and everything else. At least if we support her we stand a better chance of getting her back home when this is all said and done.'
"Alright move out then," Logan growled looking at the others deadly as the X-Men rose and headed back out towards the jet.
"Like, thanks for dinner," Kitty said politely. "It was amazing."
"Anytime," Tony smiled at her and offered a mock salute as she left with the others.
"You come back home safe ya hear me kid?" Logan growled down at Rogue. "Remember everything I taught you and you should be fine. And don't make it a habit of pissing me off like this," he added ruffling her hair and pulling her into a hug. "And you might as well bring Gumbo back to. Enjoy watchin' him walk away with Drakes money on poker night."
"Will do Daddy," Rogue replied breaking away from the hug.
"And you," Logan started before Remy cut him off.
"Dey never find de pieces non?" he smirked over at Logan before offering his hand. "Ah would nevah let anything hurt ma chere," he stated seriously, emphasizing his point in the first person.
"Remember that," Logan growled as he headed out the door.
"Bye bye Logan," Madison called sweetly, as Logan growled and left the room. "Good, now that they're gone let's find you guys a place to sleep. We'll fill you in on everything tomorrow. The mission's not till tomorrow night anyway so we've got plenty of time." Madison started walking towards the back and the stairs leading up to the loft's. "We've got a spare room up here. Oh and Tony? Don't forget to do the dishes," she added as she and Sakura led Rogue and Remy up the stairs.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Remy lay wide awake on the large bed, his mind running wild with the days events. Rogue, his innocent Southern belle turned out to be less innocent than he first assumed. And as impossible as it was to believe, that just turned him on even more. He rolled over towards the other source of heat in the bed and pulled her close to him, spooning her into his body as he wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her shoulder.
"Y' asleep mon amore?" he whispered nuzzling her neck.
"Not anymore," Rogue replied as she turned in his arms to look up at him. "What's buggin' ya sugah?" she asked, reaching up a hand to stroke the side of his face. She looked beautiful in the moonlight, her hair falling gracefully around her shoulders in soft curls. Every shred of the Gothic makeup gone, replaced by the natural radiance of her skin, and her brilliant green eyes, shining with out the drastic contrast of her normal heavy eye shadow.
"Nothin' ma chere," Remy whispered, kissing her lips tenderly. "Jus' thinkin' bout how belle y' are in de moonlight wit out all dat crap on y' face," he whispered, kissing her again, longer, her hands reaching up and pulling him hungrily towards her.
They broke apart after a moment, needing air as she ran her hands lightly over his bare chest. "Ah'm sorry sugah," she said, resting her head against him, breathing in deeply. "Ah should of told ya everything and not dragged ya inta this whole mess," she whispered against him, wrapping her arms around his chest and pulling him to her.
"Shh," Remy soothed her, placing a finger under her chin and forcing her to look at him. "It's non important Marie," he said, kissing her softly, the kiss deepening and soon, Remy was on top of her, running his hands thru her hair as her hands explored his chest.
"Rems wait," she said pulling away breathless. "Ah'm not sure if Ah'm ready fer this yet," she sat up looking at him, fear in her eyes. She didn't want to lose him but the memory of Cody was still too fresh and she needed a little more time to sort everything out.
Remy leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. "Take all de time y' need mon amore," he smiled at her, laying down and pulling her close to him, in their original position. "Remy got time."
"Thank ya," Rogue breathed, leaning against him, turning her face to kiss him tenderly. "Ah love ya sugah."
"Ah love ya too. Now lets git some sleep non?" Remy suggested, burying his face in her hair and squeezing her tightly.
Rogue smiled and rested her head against the pillow. 'Ah'm to lucky,' she thought as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
Authors Note: Damn I'm on a roll lately aren't I? Again we must thank Megan for assistance with the Banter of this chapter. Give her a hand for the comic relief. And now a few quick shout outs cause I have to leave soon.
danielle britton ~ Okay not feeling insulted anymore. I now am filled with the wonders of understanding. And don't worry, it took me 31 chapters to get to this point and I refuse to start all the way over. It's too much of a pain in the ass. And I don't really feel like getting lynched this week. Not on my agenda. Thanks for clarifying for me, and sorry if I came off a little bitchy.
HPFANATIC-21 ~ Hey if you want to write another story together I'm game. I just don't know if I have the time at the moment. But when the semester gets out I'm sure it'd be more than possible. I wish I'd know that before the winter break and we could have set up a site and stuff. Well, not much to say today. Just hope you liked and don't worry, only the voices of my inner critics tell me my writing sucks. Little bastards! But Dru likes it so I have one other personality on my side at least.
Aro ~ It's okay Aro I understand. Damn Fanfic.net! Oh well, I liked this review though. I'm just happy to get them Y'know. Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter enough to do it again and maybe the site won't delete it on you this time.
Rogue4787 ~ Glad you liked Alito Dei Draghi cause I do too. Sorry I forgot to mention the girls ages in the last chapter, but I made sure to do it here. Thanks for the review. Made me smile.
Lightspeed Suzuki ~ What's this? Madison, Tony, Sakura and Eric plushies? They're plushie worthy? YES! Sorry, and I get a bo staff? You so rock. And I let my friend know that you thought she did too. She said thank you.
Ishandahalf ~ Don't really have time to reply to your whole review Ish, but as always thanks for sending it and I'm glad you loved. And look, more Romy just for you, although about half the kisses are for Mercury Dream. (She told me she'd hunt me down if there wasn't more smoochies.) Enjoy and can't wait for your review.
SSam ~ the groups only the 5 of them and it's not really so much as a gang as it is a team or family business type of thing. Thanks for the review.
Rogue77 ~ More singing! Now the totals only up to you and Mercury Dream singing to me. Happy day! I'm very interested in your story and I'll try to send you an email tonight but it might be hard cause I got to work. But I will as soon as I can, if not you can always review and remind me. (Hint hint)