Remy slowly woke up and lifted his head up to see where he was. For a moment he'd forgotten that he was still sitting at Rogue's side, holding her hand. It had been two days and she was still unconscious. Hank had explained to Remy that once the swelling went down in Rogue's brain and neck, she'd hopefully wake up. He looked at his unconscious girlfriend.
"Rogue. Please wake up," He whispered. "Wake up jus' to call Remy a swap rat again."
Remy looked up towards the door as he heard it swing open. It was Scott with a bunch of daisies. Scott saw Remy was sitting at Rogue's bedside. "You stayed here all night?" Scott asked as he put the daisies in an empty vase next to all the other flowers the other students had brought.
"We. Remy wanna be here when Rogue wakes up," Remy explained. Scott pulled up a chair on the other side of Rogue's bed and sat. They sat in silence.
After a while, Scott broke the silence. "How do you do it?" He asked. Remy turned to Scott with a confused look. "How did you find a way to love Rogue, even with her powers?" Scott said softly, as if ashamed of his question.
"When you find you love someone, you have to work at it. Remy knew he couldn't touch Rogue. But there always be ways around it, petite," Remy replied.
Scott looked back at Rogue. He still saw Jean every time he looked at her. "Are you happier now, being able to touch her?"
Remy sighed and held Rogue's hand. "Non. Remy loves Rogue, but he feel sad. Every time he looks at her, he see Jean. But Remy made a promise to stay wit' Rogue no matter what," Remy wiped a stray hair from Rogue's face and then turned to Scott again. "And so Remy stick to his word."
Scott let out a small smile. "I've never told anyone this before, but I admire your strength, Remy." Remy looked at Scott with a confused look again. Scott was complimenting him? Scott stood up. He held onto Rogue's other hand. "You had the determination to stay with her and love her in a way I never could. I gave up loving her right after she joined the xmen, but you, you're a better man, Remy." Scott let go of Rogue's hand and turned to leave the room.
Just as Scott reached the door, Remy replied, "Remy see the way you used to look at Jean before th' switch. Jus' because she can't touch, don't mean you can't love her."
Scott kept his back to Remy. He put one arm on the doorframe. "You're right. But I'm not as strong as you think," he replied. Remy watched as the door shut behind Scott, leaving him alone with Rogue.
Jean walked up to Hank's lab and knocked on the door. Once she heard him say 'enter', she walked in. Hank was hanging upside down on one of the poles that ran across the roof of the room. He put his formulas down and jumped back onto the floor once he saw Jean enter the room. "Jean. How can I help you?"
Jean sat down on a stool next to her. "I want you to help me find a cure or something to help me stop absorbing people."
"Honestly Jean, I'm not sure if there is a cure. It's part of your genetics, just as it was Rogue's. The only way to change that is to change your DNA," Hank explained, rubbing his chin.
"I'm sick of hearing Mystique's voice in my head. I know I put this on myself, but I don't want to absorb anyone anymore. Please. Help me find some sort of cure," Jean said sadly. She knew there may be no cure, but she wanted to try anyway.
Hank put his lab coat on and picked up a needle. "Okay. I'll agree to try help you. First, I'll need a sample of your blood."
That night, Kitty came into the infirmary with dinner for Remy. "How's she doing?" Kitty asked quietly, incase she were disturbing Remy.
Remy let out a weak smile. "Hopefully she okay."
"And how are you doing?"
"Remy doin' all right, mon ami. Just a little sick from the concussion."
Kitty placed the tray with Remy's dinner on the table next to Rogue's bed. She then sat on the side of Rogue's bed next to Remy. "Remy, you've been here for two days. And you've hardly eaten anything. Like, if you want, I'll stay here with Rogue while you take a stroll or something," Kitty said.
Remy picked up the tray and played with his mash potatoes. "Remy t'ink about it."
After Remy finished his dinner, Kitty practically pushed Remy out of the room. He decided to go for a walk around the mansion to see how everyone else was doing. He walked into the rec room and saw Kurt playing pool with Jean. Scott sat on a chair watching the game.
"Hey Remy. Vanna play a game vith us?" Kurt greeted. He held the cue stick in Remy's direction. But Remy declined it. He sat next to Scott and watched the game. "Why aren't you playing?" he asked Scott.
"Every time he leans on the table he bumps one of his bruises," Jean explained.
Remy realised that Scott was staring at Jean. Everyone knew Scott had a thing for Jean, but for some reason no one really mentioned it once Jean switched bodies with Rogue.
"I talked to Hank just before. He said the swellings mostly down now, and he thinks Rogue might wake up in the next day or so," Jean smiled.
Remy let out a weak smile in Jean's direction. "Thanx, Cherie."
Everyone heard the doorbell ring, and got up to go see who it was. As the group reached the door to the rec room, Spyke entered the room. "Hey, it's for you Remy."
"For Remy? Remy don' know anyone who would come visiting," Remy said out loud as he walked to the door, with the rest of the gang trailing behind him.
When they got to the front door Storm was talking to a young blonde woman, with a child at her side.
"Bella?!" Remy exclaimed. The blonde woman turned from Storm to Remy and smiled.
"Hello Remy."
"What are ya doin' here Chere!" Remy asked. "Remy t'ought you didn't wan not'ing to do wif him anymore."
Belladonna moved closer to Remy. "I need you're help petite. There's a war among the T'ieves again. You have to come back to New Orleans and help."
"Remy left a long time ago. Why go back for!?" Remy waved his arms around to show Belladonna his friends. "Remy happy where he is," Remy said in his husky voice.
"I know how you must feel Remy. Jean Luc is losing power among the thieves, but with your 'gifts', you might be able to help restore the balance.."
"Just like our marriage was supposed to do?" Remy sneered. Everyone gasped at what Remy said.
"You two were married?!" Jean called out.
Remy didn't take his eyes off Belladonna. He couldn't help but glare at her for her painful return after all those years. "Yeah. Remy married Bella. Both from two different t'ieve guilds. The weddin' was suppos'd t'stop de war between the two guilds."
"Did it?" Kurt asked.
"For a while, but t'ings changed," Remy replied. "Remy ain't goin', petite." Remy replied, still looking at Bella.
"Then do it for your son, Remy!" Bella pleaded as she laid her hand on the young boy that stood by her side.
Remy looked down at the boy. His hair was brown and wavy, but he had his mother's blue eyes. "Son?" Remy repeated to himself. He looked up from the boy to Bella again. "You weren't pregnant when Remy left five years ago. How this be Remy's son?"
"I didn't find out I was pregnant until after you left. Remy, say hello to Romeo." Bella pushed her son forward towards Remy's direction.
Remy knelt down so that he was eye to eye with the little boy. "Hello Romeo."
The boy hunched his shoulders a little bit out of shyness. "Hello." Remy put his hand on the boy's head, and ran his hand down the back of the boy's head.
Belle knelt down next to Remy and Romeo. "Now will you come Remy?"
Mystique looked at the shackles on her wrists. The cold concrete floor was uncomfortable. Magneto had held her prisoner for the last two days in the basement of his safe house with one light and a blanket. She wondered why Magneto bothered to chain her up, when she's perfectly capable of getting out of them.
Magneto asked her what she after at the construction site, but she wasn't about to tell him so easily. And so, Magneto kept her locked up in the basement until she was about to talk. She morphed her hand so that it was small enough to slip out of the shackles. She placed them quietly on the floor and crept around the room, looking for an exit. She wasn't going to tell him about the device she discovered or whom she planned to use it on.
She walked up the wooden staircase to the door to the basement. Magneto had put a towel across the bottom of the door so Mystique couldn't morph into anything small enough to crawl under the door. Instead, she morphed into Pyro, the one who had been bringing her food since she was in the basement. It was about dinnertime, so she stood against the wall, next to the door, waiting for Pyro to come in with her dinner. Like clockwork, Pyro unlocked the basement door and came in with a tray of food in his hands. Before he had a chance to see her, Mystique grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. He dropped the tray as he lost his balance and tumbled down the staircase. She quickly ran out the door and locked it behind her. From where she was standing, she could see Colossus sitting in the lounge room, but he hadn't seen her yet.
She morphed into a fly and flew out the first window she could find. It was an hour before anyone believed that it was Pyro locked in the basement, and not Mystique pretending to be Pyro.
Jean walked to Remy's room and knocked on the door. Once he called for her to enter, she turned the gold plated handle and opened the door to see Remy packing a small duffle bag with clothes.
"Kurt said you wanted to talk to me?" Jean asked as she walked into the room. Remy nodded, but continued to stuff a black t-shirt into his duffle bag.
"Is that all you're taking?" Jean asked, noticing how small the bag was.
"Remy don' need much. Don't plan on being der long," He replied. He walked over to his dresser and picked up a white gift box. "Remy want you to have this."
Jean took the box and opened it. It was a black scarf. The material was sheer and thin, like the shawl she had when she went to her junior prom. "Remy, it's beautiful," Jean commented as she held it up, admiring the embroidered roses on it.
"Remy bought dis for Rogue months ago, but now she don' need it anymore," he explained.
"What do you mean? I'm sure she'd still love it."
"Non. She like the material, but she wont see why Remy bought it. Here. Remy show you." Remy took Jean's right hand and slowly removed the glove. He then used his teeth to remove his own glove. He took the scarf and draped it over her hand then he placed his bare hand over the cloth.
The cloth was so thin, Jean could feel the warmth of his skin, but it wasn't thin enough to absorb him. It felt almost like skin-to-skin contact, which was a welcoming experience since she switched bodies with Rogue.
"Wow," Jean smiled.
"Remy know how cyc look at you. He tries to hide it, but he loves you, mon ami. Maybe dis help you out a little," Remy said softly. He'd seen Scott walk past his doorway as he was taking Jean's glove off. He also knew Scott was now standing in the hallway next to the door listening, thinking Remy and Jean didn't know he was there.
Jean hugged Remy. "Thank you."
"Anytime. But Remy needs a favour." Remy walked to the side of his bed and picked up an envelope and a rose. "Please, stay by Rogue's side for Remy. And give her dis when she wake." Jean took the letter and the rose. "Tell her Remy loves her."
Remy looked down at the girl standing in front of him. Even though he knew it was Jean in those green eyes, his mind still played tricks on him, and he thought he was hugging Rogue goodbye.
She slowly opened her eyes. The room was dimly lit, with a single lamp lit in the corner. She looked around the room to see Jean sleeping on a chair, with her head resting at the foot of Rogue's bed. She looked at the clock on the wall above Jean and saw that it was 3am. She slowly sat up, trying to not wake Jean, but she couldn't stop the grunt at the sharp pain in the back of her neck. The jolt she made woke up Jean.
"Rogue!" Jean squealed. "Oh my god! You're awake!" Jean smiled as she practically jumped on Rogue, hugging her.
"Of course ahm awake. What happened?" Rogue asked, realising that she was in pyjamas and had wires connected from her chest and head to a machine next to her bed. She slowly pulled the wires off one by one as Jean explained how Rogue was knocked out by Mystique, and had been unconscious for four days.
"Remy never left your side, even when Hank told him to go to bed and rest off his concussion." Jean explained.
"Remy! Where is he now?" Rogue asked, trying to step out of bed.
Jean grabbed Rogue's legs with her gloved hands to stop her getting out of bed. "He left the mansion the day before yesterday. He-"
"Left? Why?" Rogue cut in.
Jean gave Rogue a will-you-let-me-finish look. Rogue let Jean continue on. "Some lady named Belladonna came. She's from New Orleans, and told Remy to go back with her to help bring peace between the two warring guilds or something. Remy didn't want to go and told her he was happy here. But.." Jean drifted off. She didn't want to hurt Rogue.
"But what? Tell me!"
"Bella and Remy used to be married until Remy left five years ago. Remy didn't want to go back with her to help, but she told him he's got a son, and to do it for him."
"A son!?" was all Rogue could say. She was left speechless.
"Yeah. You should've seen the look on his face when she told him. In the end, he packed his bags and left. He told me to do him a favour, and stay by your side for him until you wake up. He also told me to give you this," Jean explained as she bent over the side of her chair to pick up an envelope and a rose off the floor. She then handed them to Rogue. Rogue read as the note explained about the war between the thieves guild. Remy had told her about it before, but never mentioned that he was once married, or why he left the guild. Most of the letter was about Bella's arrival to the mansion and how he left only for his son.
..Remy torn Chere. He think the boy is not his but at the same time, he be a bad father if he don't accept the boy. Remy feel bad for leaving you Cheri, but he need to go back to get some questions answered. Remy don't know when he be back, but he hope it soon.
Cant bear to be without you,
Remy.
Suddenly, Rogue felt extremely alone.
-author's notes: I myself think that my writing skills and ideas are pretty bad in this chapter, but it all I could think up†sorry 4 the delay, but I hope you guys like it.. hopefully I can get next chapter up in the next 2 weeks, (bloody hw's drowning me here!) but plz review!!-