DISCLAIMER: The X-men do not belong to me. But my spiffy X-men paperweight does. So there.

Remy was unconscious on the couch.

"This is crazy. Ah'm never gonna get the hang of it."

"Yes you are. Just try again when he wakes up."

He had been the somewhat willing guinea pig in Rogue's lessons to control her power. She figured that since she had already absorbed him, and knew about just about his entire life, he was the best choice for the job. He had agreed up until right before she touched him. But by then, it was too late. Marie had been instructing Rogue for a good three hours, a total of one of which Remy had spent "asleep." During that time, Rogue had a chance to get to know her daughter. Marie had offered to let Rogue use her for practice, but Rogue was too scared that she would learn things about the future that she wasn't supposed to know.

"Ya know, he's yelling at me right now" Rogue tapped her head, and Marie laughed.

"Yeah, that's never gonna stop."

"Great."

She looked over to the couch, just in time to see Remy squeeze his eyes shut again as if he were asleep.

"Ah saw that, swamp rat."

"Damn. Make it quick, Chere... Remy was havin a good dream."

"I oughta..." She took off a glove and reached for his face.

"Mom! Stop it!" Marie acted as the voice of reason, and received a glare from Rogue. Normally, people shied away when she gave them that look, but Marie just laughed.

"Won't work. Now concentrate."

Remy stuck out his tongue and Rogue gave him the middle finger, closing her eyes.

"When and where, chere?"

"Shut up." She clenched her eyes shut and started to order her thoughts and her psyches. As soon as her head was quiet, she stretched out her arm. She slowly opened her eyes as she brought her exposed fingers to his cheek. Her hand rested on his face, and they all waited. Seconds passed, and neither of them felt the familiar pull of her powers.

"Dieu..."

She exhaled deeply and breathed in and out in rapid succession. A smile played across her face as she continued to touch his cheek. More than a minute passed before Marie opened her mouth.

"Told you so."

Remy reached up and took her hand in his, grinning broadly. Rogue grabbed the back of his head, and the next thing they knew, they were kissing. Actually kissing, without a layer of fabric between them, without Rogue absorbing Remy.

Just then, Jean walked in. She saw them sitting on the couch, Rogue seemingly forcing Remy's skin against her own. She knew that when she got mad she often threatened to absorb him, but she never thought that she would actually make good on the promise. Marie noticed her enter and tried to silence her, but was too late. Jean tried to remedy the situation.

"Rogue?! What are you doing?"

The outburst was enough to break her concentration, and within seconds, Remy was laid out on the couch again.

"Jean! What the hell was that for?"

"You were going to kill him if you held on much longer!"

"That shows how much you know." She grabbed Gambit and flew away, barreling through the door and tearing through the hallways, locking the bedroom door behind her.

Jean stood, dumbfounded, and asked Marie, "What just happened?"

"You broke her concentration."

"Meaning...?"

"She did it." Marie stood up from where she was sitting next to the couch, and walked over to Jean.

"Did what?"

Marie lifted her hand up and touched Jean's cheek.

"That."

By dinnertime, Remy was awake. The team ate together, family style, so that Marie could have a chance to get to know the younger version of her family. Rogue didn't eat much, but Remy shoveled down enough food for three people.

"Chere, you gonna finish dat?"

"Take it."

"T'anks."

Scott looked across the table, and eyed the ever-growing stack of chicken bones on Remy's plate.

"Didn't you eat lunch?"

"Oui. But Remy's had a hectic day."

Jean, of course, had told Scott about the recent development in Rogue's powers, but they hadn't told the rest of the team, waiting instead until Rogue was ready to do it herself. Noticing that the pitcher of soda on the table was almost empty, Rogue stood up.

"Can ah get anybody anything while ah'm up?"

Most of the people at the table shook their heads, except for Hank, who held up the empty basket that they had put the rolls in, and Remy, who pointed to the chicken in his hand and smiled. She took the basket and slapped Remy, then went into the kitchen. As she refilled both the basket and the pitcher, she felt the familiar nudge that meant that she was about to receive a telepathic message.

"When are you going to tell everyone?" Jean was terrible at keeping secrets...

"Ah don't know... Ah was going to wait until Ah had more control, but knowing you and Scooter, the information is bound to get out sometime..." She sighed, as she pulled off her gloves and shoved them into her pockets. "Ok...Brace yourself." She picked up the pitcher and the basket and concentrated, ordering her psyches. She walked slowly and deliberately, rolling her eyes as she saw Jean's apprehensive yet giddy smile. She set the pitcher down in the center of the table, moving slowly. Remy looked up mid-bite, and asked, mouth full of chicken, "Chere, you ok? You forgot Remy's chicken."

She tossed the basket of rolls onto the table and took her seat, turning to him and pointing to his face.

"You're a mess."

By this time, most of the table was paying attention. Despite their generally indifferent demeanors, they all enjoyed watching a good argument, especially when it was between the two hotheaded southerners. And it wasn't like they weren't hard to come by. The pair spent most of their time fighting. Only a few of them noticed, however, that Rogue had taken off her gloves.

"You've got chicken hanging off of your chin. You know that, right?"

"Remy was saving it for later."

"Sure ya were." She reached up and wiped it off. Utensils dropped from people's hands, and Jean let out a little screech of joy. Rogue smiled and sat down, replacing her gloves calmly. She usually ate with them off, but since she was actually finished eating, it was always safer just to keep them on. Hank cleared his throat.

"That was... new."

Marie laughed. She had always been told stories of how people reacted when her mother first gained control, but it was definitely interesting to witness it firsthand. She looked forward to the time when her mom got complete control, but she knew that that wouldn't happen for at least three more months. Her smile widened as she noticed that even the Professor seemed shocked. He had returned just before dinner from his trip to DC, and was still relatively unfamiliar with Marie. Kurt stood up on his chair and collected everyone's plates, disappearing into the kitchen with a loud "BAMF." Logan cleared his throat and stood up from the table.

"That's great, Ace."

He lit a cigar and walked out of the room. Kurt teleported back into his seat and turned to Rogue.

"Good for you, Rogue."

Bobby leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table.

"Yeah, that's pretty cool."

"You're so funny, Drake." She threw a roll at him. It froze midair, before it was able to hit him. Rogue glared at Jean, who just shrugged and propelled the roll back towards Rogue, who ducked, which caused the roll to hit Remy square in the forehead. The Professor cleared his throat.

"Despite the others' inabilities to express their joy, I assure you that we are all very proud of your newfound skills."

"Ah know... it ain't really much yet, but Marie says that soon, Ah'll be able to control it for longer periods of time. And If someone screams at me in th' middle of it, Ah'll not lose mah concentration." She glared at Jean, who smiled sheepishly.

"It is more than what you had yesterday."

"Ah know... and thanks." As happy as she was, she was also always slightly embarrassed when the conversation centered on her. She quickly tried to change the subject. "So...how was your trip?"

"It , to say the least. It seems as if the Senate has been discussing the recent Brotherhood activity, many of them are concerned that they not only represent the entire mutant community, but also that they pose a very real threat to national security. I believe that it would be in our best interest to attempt to contact them." He looked at Rogue. He knew that she had Mystique's contact information; Mystique was very good at making sure that she was able to call her whenever she felt it was necessary. Perhaps it was because she still hung on to the hope that Rogue would re-join the Brotherhood, or maybe it was because she honestly cared about her children. Either way, Xavier knew that Rogue had the information that he sought. Rogue, too, knew that he wanted her to give him their location, but as much as she cared for the professor, she also had promised her mother that she would not give up her location unless it was a life and death kind of thing. Her mother had given up on keeping her location entirely secret, knowing that if necessary, Rogue would give the Brotherhood up. She was, after all, on the other team. But despite that, they were fairly close. Or at least as close as they really could be, given their history.

"Ah don't know, professor. Ah have to call her anyway... there are things that she should know..." she nodded towards Marie. "Ah'll talk to her."

"Thank you, Rogue. I understand that it's a tough situation."

"Yeah..."

Remy poked her in the side. "When you gonna call her?"

"Why?"

"Remy wants to know how long he has t' write his will."

"Just for that, ah'm gonna call her right now."

"Wonderful. Remy's gonna go pack." He stood up from the table and headed towards his room, but was tackled before he even reached the stairs.

"Dieu!"

"Ya ain't goin' nowhere, Swamp Rat."

She dumped him on the floor and stepped over him, heading up the stairs and going into her room.

When Remy had collected himself and joined her up in the room, she had already dialed and was waiting for someone to pick up. As he closed the door behind him and sat down on the chair in the corner of the room, he caught her end of the conversation.

"Hi. Ah'd like to talk to Raven. Just put her on the phone. Ah'm not playing around with you anymore, Pietro. Either put mah mother on th' phone or you're gonna be runnin' a lot slower and with a limp. Don't think ah won't. Ah swear. Ah'll fucki—Oh, hey momma."

A/N Another chapter... woohoo. Remember, Reviews make me want to update sooner :p