Authors Note: did everyone have a nice holiday? I sure hope you all did! Now everyone just has 2005 to look forward to ;-). Ah well, can't be much worse than 2004, right? Right? Thanks for being so patient whilst I was on my little hiatus, here's your review responses!

Freak87: I assure you now the Piotr/Rogue relationship is a strictly platonic one. They're friends and colleagues, nothing more. Plus Kitty's got her eye on him. I do know what you mean about the whole boy/girl friendship thing though. Deeply annoying. I hope you had an ace Christmas too!

Ms.Rogue LeBeau: I had a very nice Christmas thanks, I hope you did too! No Rogue in this chapter really, but sit tight! She's not gone far…

Bant: I do plan on continuing, for quite some time really. Thanks for reviewing!

Ishandahalf: I had a superfabulouswonderful time thanks! I'm glad the Moz is making you friends; some of the best friends I've ever made have been people I've met through music things. I actually didn't think about who the deliveryman might be, but now you've brought it up he's very firmly pictured in my mind as Logan! Wolverine the flower boy makes for an interesting image I can tell you that much…I hope all your exams went well!

Heartsyhawk: I'm glad you liked Pyro, he was surprisingly fun to write! Thanks for the review :-)

Chica De Los Ojos Café: anytime. Glad you liked John too! He seems to have been a hit! I hope you had a good Christmas too :-)

Sweety8587: hmm, I think that's the only time he's in it in person; I might be wrong. Roses are a little clichéd I guess, but if you think about it, their quite a safe bet if you buying flowers for someone you don't know that well. You can't really go wrong with them, unless the recipient has a bizarre rose allergy… there's my flower philosophy anyway! ;-)

GothikStrawberry: y'know, I think that out there somewhere, there is a Pyro happy that he was a success! Thanks for reviewing :-)

Miss Ginny: thanks. Hmm. I think most of the ones you've seen are about it, there's one more in this chapter though…

- - - - -

Music When The Lights Go Out
Chapter Six (Something about obsessing)

Remy lay awake that night, his mind filled with visions of a certain green-eyed southern belle. The conversation he had had with his friends earlier had put a little perspective on things, did he really have it in him to break her heart? If he even got that far that was…

For some reason, he felt more strongly about her than he had about his other, previous conquests. He found himself thinking that maybe he didn't want her to be just another girl in his bed.

She was fascinating, and completely unlike any of the bottle-blonde floozies he generally picked up. They were all easy and made the chase far too straightforward, she had given him something to work for, maybe that's what was keeping him interested.

He rolled over and buried his face deeper into his pillow. Whatever he was feeling, she didn't want anything to do with him and it was driving him crazy, why did the forbidden fruit always have to be the sweetest? Surely there had to be a way to show her he was sincere now, that this had gone beyond just trying to get her into bed…

He took a look at the clock by his bed, glowing digital numbers telling him that it was nearly 6 am. He had lain awake all night thinking about this, he may as well get up and keep busy, that surely would at least occupy his mind. Throwing the soft duvet off himself, he went to take a shower and find himself something to wear for the day.

Thirty minutes later he was showered and dressed smartly for work and making himself coffee, but these few small activities had not had the mind-clearing effect he had hoped for. He even put milk in his coffee by accident; he remembered that's how she had had hers when they had gone out that one time. He violently shook his head-this was no good! He was behaving like some lovesick teenager!

He grabbed his keys and cell phone from the side and made for the door without finishing his drink. So he would be early for work today, he didn't mind, in fact he readily welcomed the distraction.

"Good Morning Mr. LeBeau." Someone greeted Remy as he walked through the usually busy communal office space on the floor where his own private office was.

"Mornin'" He called back. Normally there were hundreds of workers in this building, all working for his company, but this early in the morning, there were only a handful. Remy couldn't remember a single occasion since he had started this business that he had been in at this time.

He took off his jacket and slumped down into the swivelly black leather chair behind his desk. The lack of sleep from the previous night was just starting to kick in and take its toll and suddenly he felt very sleepy. His mind started to cloud over and he wanted nothing more than to just put his head down on the desk for a few minutes…rest his eyes…

"Remy?"

"What? Huh?" Remy awoke with a start, practically jumping out of his skin. He picked his head up off the desk only to find there was now a piece of paper stuck to it, exasperatedly he pulled it off and looked up to who had woken him, not that he had even realised he was asleep.

"Were you asleep?" the perpetrator asked him suspiciously. Remy looked up. It was Ororo Munroe, a good friend of his and second in command of the New York strand of his little business operation.

"Non, Remy was jus' restin' his eyes…"

She looked at him pityingly, "you work too hard, you have to rest sometimes."

"I'm ok really, jus' didn' get much sleep last night…"

"Ohh…" Ororo's eyebrows rose, misinterpreting what he meant.

"Not like dat, I jus' couldn' sleep."

"Have some camomile tea," she suggested, before stacking a load of papers onto his desk. "Contracts that need approval, nothing too urgent they just require your signature."

"Right, t'anks 'Ro."

Ororo left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her and leaving Remy alone with his contracts and his thoughts.

Quietly he sat there just reading through and signing the documents in front of him and slowly but surely, he found his mind wandering back to her…

'I wonder what she's doing right now…" he mentally kicked himself for thinking like that, that was the road to ruin!

Finishing his task, he went outside and handed the papers to his secretary. He decided that if this was going to be a productive day, he was at least going to think of one overblown, romantic gesture that would win Rogue's heart.

Only now did his mind draw a blank. Typical. His main stumbling block he thought was that really, he knew very little about her. Sure, he knew more about her that he did his last five other lovers combined but it wasn't really enough to go on. He needed to do some groundwork before coming up with a plan.

Work could wait, this was more important; besides, it wasn't like he had any important meetings today or anything anyway. He went outside and called to his secretary again.

"Angela, will y' find me de telephone number for a Kitty Pryde please?"

He watched as she thumbed through the directory and silently prayed that Kitty wasn't ex-directory.

"There are no Kitty Pryde's…" she told him, "but there are three Katherine Pryde's, will that do?" He nodded-hopefully it would anyway. Angela wrote all the numbers down and handed him the slip of paper.

"T'ank y'" He went back inside his office and fired up the telephone. The first one turned out to be a dud, but the second one sounded like a winner.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Kitty?"

"Yes it is, who's calling?"

"Je suis desole, my name is Remy LeBeau, we met de ot'er week at y' friends gallery."

One the other end of the line, Kitty sat bolt upright. So Rogue's Cajun stalker was phoning her now, this guy really was keen.

"Sure I remember you, why are you calling me though?"

"I was wondering if we could meet somewhere, I need t' ask y' about Rogue…"

Ahh, so that was why he called, Kitty should have guessed. "Look Remy, I think its only fair to tell you that Rogue really doesn't want to see you, maybe you should just leave it now."

"But y're de one who gave me her number in de first place! I know I might o' acted insincere t' start with but I'm jus' askin' fo' a chance."

Kitty sighed. "Fine. I'm working an afternoon shift today at the Rococo café on West 23rd, meet me there at six." (1)

"Thank y', Remy'll see y' then, bye."

"Bye."

He smiled. This was a start, maybe her best friend could point him in the right direction, really any direction other than the one he was currently in would be good. And maybe if he could convince her he was a good guy, she could convince Rogue…ok that was a long shot but worth a try nevertheless.

Now all he had to do was to sit back and wait for six o'clock to roll around. It was going to be a very long wait…


(1) For those that do not know, Rococo was a very elaborate art movement in the 18th century, very big in France, came just after the Baroque movement and just before Neo-Classicism...its also a cool word. I'm an art freak :-P

Sorry this whole chapter was so lame, but look! Remy's beginning to get all enamoured with Rogue, but she still hates his guts. Isn't it fun?

Please review :-)