Hello hello! I would firstly like to thank everyone who reviewed/mailed telling me to get off my butt and update again, you are very hard to put off. Pomegranite Queeen, Imp, bunny angel and ray1 I take my hat off to you, your persistence is admirable :) Secondly I would like to apologise for abandoning this poor little fic for so long, I have to admit I totally lost interest in it. Of course I can't promise that won't happen again, but I will try my very very hardest to stick it out this time, and if not I'm sure I'll get lots of stick for it :p

In any case, I hope you enjoy this next rather delayed instalment :)

Chapter 6

The mass of swarming beings were so large now Remy couldn't understand how Rogue hadn't noticed them and wished that there was some way of warning her, but it seemed almost that she had read his thoughts as the streams and currents suddenly seemed to focus on them. For an instant he thought that maybe she would be able to stop or contain them in some way, they were part of her mind after all, but even as the thought crossed his mind the creatures attacked. They merged into an oily black slick, rearing up like a serpent before striking, wrapping around and within the stream of thoughts, disrupting, fighting, mixing. Rogue's mind jumped violently and writhed in its hold, trying to hold itself together, twisting and turning to free itself while pure terror flooded through her. Remy was thrown and battered in the hurricane of thoughts and emotions, slamming into first one then another while Rogue's terror clouded his vision.

Suddenly a flailing coil of Rogue's thought's seemed to detect him within the maelstrom and before he could even register what was happening it had snapped out and coiled around him and…

Flashback

Remy watched her as she sat curled up on the roof of the mansion, chin resting on her drawn up knees. He grinned. Time for one of his favourite pastimes: Rogue-baiting.

He made sure she heard him behind her then slipped behind a rise in the roof as she twisted, making his way silently round to her other side while she was distracted. He leaned up against a chimneystack, making sure he was in a suitably sexy position and using the red glow of his eyes to the maximum, before speaking up.

"Lookin' for somet'ing chere?"

Rogue started at the sound and whirled back to face him. He saw her scowl as she spotted him and had to suppress the urge to grin.

"What 'ya want Cajun?" Her voice was tinged with annoyance, and something else Remy couldn't identify, but he ignored it. Instead he moved smoothly towards her wearing his trademark smirk.

"Gambit came to see what de most belle femme in de mansion be doin' dis…" Remy stopped suddenly. He had come close enough to notice the red eyes and damp cheeks answering his unfinished question. Merde! He made his way swiftly towards her huddled form, all thoughts of playing their game banished.

"Rogue, what's wrong cherie?" Remy crouched down before her trying to meet her gaze. She avoided him, keeping her head bowed and shaking it as though to clear her thoughts. He had a sneaking suspicion that this would need a lot more than just a shake of the head but didn't remark on it.

"Jus leave meh be Cajun. Aint nothin' ya could do even if ya cared ta. Jus go back down an' tell 'em ah'm fahn an' foh Gawd sakes leave meh alone." Remy opened his mouth to give an albiet half-hearted attempt at defending himself and her teammates but before he could speak Rogue added, "An' don' even try an' tell me they didn' tell ya ta come up here an' check on me cos Ah've lived with 'em 2 years an' Ah know perfectly well how they work." Remy shut his mouth again. Although he hated to admit it the last remark had stung a little. Did she really think that he cared so little for her? He didn't go out of his way for her, except when he was bored and wanted someone to annoy of course, but that didn't mean he was just going to leave her truely alone.

For a moment they just sat there. Looking down at her he could faintly feel the turmoil brushing the edges of his empathy and added this to what he had already observed. He had caught her muttering to herself on a few occasions when she thought no-one was looking and even arguing or crying out to voices that were not there. If it had been almost anyone else he would have been seriously considering talking to Xavier but, with the nature of her powers added to the equation the situation became much clearer and understandable, if no less worrying. Even then, if he hadn't had the benefit of some of the team's comments - and a totally innocent and accidental look at some of Xavier's more private files - he might still be inaccurate.

Finally deciding that it was time to take an active part in helping her, if not an overt one, he reached forward and gently brushed away strand of hair behind her ear. He then traced her jaw line forward with a gloved finger until he reached her chin and pushed her head up to meet his eyes. When they had locked gazes he sent out a little of his empathy to hold her there and stop her from turning away.

"Talk t' me chere." He let a little insistence and concern bleed into his voice. He was worried about her. Rogue sighed heavily and shook her head before speaking in what was barely above a whisper.

"Ah don't know how much longer Ah can fight it." Despite the situation Remy had to almost physically restrain himself from speaking the rather inappropriate words that poured to the tip of his tongue in response to that comment. Instead he surprised himself by answering quietly and sincerely.

"Mebbe it's time y' talked t' th' Professor" Rogue's head snapped up to look at him in amazement; apperently he wasn't the only one surprised at his sudden show of verbal self control. Remy allowed himself a gentle smile then, deciding he may as well use this oppotunity to it's full dramatic potential, he dropped a kiss on her hair and jumped over the edge of the roof. He caught the gutter on his way over just long enough to swing himself towards the wall of the building then landed softly and gracefully on a third story windowsill. Unfortunately the effect was rather spoiled by his foot then slipping on a small patch of moss and nearly sending him on his happy way downwards, but he managed to save himself in time to catch Rogue's voice drifting down to him:

"Stupid Cajun" He grinned to himself then, with minimal effort, opened the window and made his silent way inside to his own bed, making a mental note to add windowsills to the cleaning rota.

End

Slowly he felt himself detach from what was happening within the memory. Even as he was disentangling he could feel Rogue's mind begin to calm, although whether this was from her strength or the creatures ceasing their attack he wasn't sure. Whatever it was, the whirlwind easing.

Slowly he withdrew from her, extricating himself as delicately as he could until only a tendril of his empathy remained open between them. She remained totally unaware of him within her mind, slowly calming down enough for the heart monitor to stop the wild clammour that Remy had only just become aware of. He maintained his pretense of sleep while Rogue recovered. She fell asleep quickly, probably tired from her ordeal and incomplete recovery, and helped along by Remy and his tenuous link to her emotions feeding her sleepyness.

Only when he was sure that Rogue was asleep did Remy dare to raise his head. His heart was pounding like a wild thing against his ribs and a sense of astonishment was still firmly in place as he watched her sleep. She was curled up on the bed, her face nestling into the covers tangled up one of her hands. She looked unbelievably cute... he firmly ingnored this observation. He could hardly believe that only moments before she had been fighting tooth and nail for her sanity, taking him along for the ride. And the creatures were still there, waiting. This wasn't over. For an instant Remy had an image of the dark swirling mass ready to engulf her completely, spurred on by that black shape.

It was far from over.

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Ok, what did you think? Good, bad, ugly…really ugly? You know you can always tell me in a REVIEW!!!!!!!!!

I'll try not to wait 18 months before my next update this time J

Vagabond