Remy watched as Rogue's image faded away, but not before she told him that the boy wasn't his.
He was relieved that it wasn't his, but it made him wonder why would Bella lie about something like that? Did she say it just so that Remy would go with her back to New Orleans? Or did the woman really believe that the Romeo was Remy's son?
"What?.. Who was that?" Jean Luc stuttered.
Remy turned to face Jean Luc, who was still sitting at the small table, a little shocked by the sudden intrusion. "That was Rogue. Remy sent a sample of Romeo's hair back home so they can run a DNA scan to see if the boy is Remy's."
"I see," Jean Luc nodded in understanding. Remy made it well known that he didn't think the boy was his, so Jean Luc understood why Remy would try to get a DNA sample of the boy. "Rogue? She the new fille in your life?"
Remy smiled. "Yes." Remy's smiled faded as he changed the subject. "Did you know that the boy wasn't Remy's?" Remy asked suspiciously.
Jean Luc took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. "I suspected it. It wasn't until after you left when Bella announced that she was pregnant." Jean Luc explained. Remy walked back over to the table and sat down across from the older man. "She claimed that the boy was the son of Remy LeBeau," Jean Luc continued, "But when I first laid eyes on the boy, I knew he wasn't yours."
"Good to see someone's on Remy's side," He replied. He leaned his elbow on the table and leaned his head on his hand. He then picked up his rum with his other hand. "Bella been trying to make Remy stay here ever since he got here."
"She's never mentioned any other man who could be Romeo's father," Jean Luc explained.
"Doubt she would. If Bella cheated, then there'd be hell to pay. But we not married anymore, so Remy don't care. As soon as you're well enough to take control of the guild again, Remy outa here."
"Your new life wit' the x-men must be good if you're so willing to leave us, Remy," Jean Luc commented. "I remember a day when you would've stayed as long as you can."
Remy nodded. "Once." He then went on to explain to Jean Luc about how Jean and Rogue have switched bodies and how he wants to get home as soon as possible to be there for Rogue.
Jean walked to her room and threw her shopping bags on the bed. It had been a couple days since she had that argument with Scott, and it was bugging her because he denied even remembering the kiss. When she awoke a couple hours after passing out, the professor had explained to her how Scott thinks someone's been tricking her. He also told her how Logan had smelt traces of Mystique's scent on a couple of occasions, which supports Scott's theory. Out of sheer embarrassment for yelling at Scott, and for telling him about the kiss, Jean avoided him. She had been able to do it successfully too, as Scott had spent the last two days hanging out with Taryn. He claimed that they were studying for their final exams, but Jean thought otherwise. 'Who knows what that slut is doing with that bone head!' she thought to herself. Jean sat at her desk and put her arms on the table. She then put her head on her arms and closed her eyes. She couldn't be bothered moving, because thinking about everything was making her more depressed.
Even though she was mainly hiding from Scott, for obvious reasons, she was also hiding from everyone else. Scott didn't tell the professor or Hank about the kiss, but she still felt embarrassed that it may have been Mystique that she kissed. She felt disgusted with herself for not realising that it was Scott and she couldn't bare it if any of the other students found out. After all these years, if all the students found out that she finally made a move on Scott, and it wasn't even him- she wouldn't be able to live it down.
There was a knock on the door and Jean lifted her head up off the desk. "Who is it?"
"It's your former body," Rogue joked through the door. "Ah got yah ah coffee and ah biscuit." Rogue waited to get the okay from Jean to enter the room. After a few seconds there was no response. "Hello?! Can ah come in?" She called through the door again.
Jean sighed and walked to the door. She missed her old powers. On days like this, when she couldn't be bothered moving, she wouldn't have to. She could just use her powers. She opened the door for Rogue. Rogue smiled and walked in, placing the coffee and biscuit on the desk, where Jean had just been sitting.
"Thanks," Jean said, looking at the coffee. She sat on the edge of her desk, and watched Rogue sit at the foot of Jean's bed. "What's up?"
"Ah could sense your mood from the hallway," Rogue explained. "Ah thought maybe the coffee would help."
Jean crossed her arms. "What do you mean?"
Rogue looked down at her hands and played with her gloves. She'd gotten so used to having them on all the time, that she still occasionally wore them. "Ah.. You were projecting. Ah could sense you're depressed.. Ah'm not good at this. This is why telepathy suits yah better. Ah.. ah.. thought maybe you'd wanna talk about it?"
"Talk about our powers or about my mood?" Jean asked, hoping Rogue wanted to talk about their powers instead.
"Yah mood," Rogue replied. She watched as Jean bit her lip at the response. "With mah powers, ah'm not surprised that you're depressed. Maybe it's genetic or somethn' coz ah haven't been as depressed as ah usually am since we switched," Rogue explained.
Jean grunted. "I admit that I was rarely depressed before," Jean replied.
Rogue nodded. She stood up so that she could better access her front right pocket of her jeans. She pulled out small white bottle of pills and tossed it to Jean.
Jean caught the bottle and read the label. "Antidepressants?"
Rogue sat back down on the end of Jean's bed. "Yeah, don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Don't worry, I wont," Jean let out a weak smile, then they sat in silence for a few moments. Jean picked up her coffee and sipped at it while Rogue played with her gloves.
"So are yah gonna tell me why you're avoiding Scott?" Rogue looked up at Jean with a smirk on her face.
Jean nearly choked on her coffee when Rogue came out so bluntly with that comment. "Oh, yeah.. very subtle, Rogue!" Jean said sarcastically as she placed the coffee mug back on the desk next to her. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Um.. Hello?! Which one of us is the psychic one?" Rogue replied. Jean let out a little glare at Rogue. Jean finally knew what it was like to be on the other end of a psychic's abilities. "Ah haven't figured out why yet.. Wanna fill me in?"
"No," Jean crossed her arms and looked at the wall behind Rogue. She could see Rogue continuing to stare at her. "I said no," Jean repeated, but not in a harsh tone.
Rogue smiled. "Whatever you say," She said cheerily as she got up. "But I have something to confess," Rogue continued as she walked towards the door. She stopped just a few feet from the door and then turned to face Jean. "Even though I always yelled at you for reading my thoughts, I couldn't help myself," Rogue explained.
"You read my mind?!" Jean accused, standing up. "Rogue!!"
Rogue held up her hands defensively. "No. Ah don't have tah read you. You're face says it all. Ah read Scott's," Rogue smiled. She grasped the doorknob, turned it and then pulled the door open.
"And!" Jean called. "You're telling me this because.." Jean rolled her hand to emphasise a point.
"He wants you to re-enact that kiss that you were talking about the other day," Rogue said coyly before heading out the door. Jean stood dumbfounded as she watched Rogue leave the room. Just when she didn't want any of the other students to know, Rogue finds out. She was partly glad that is wasn't Kitty who found out, because then everyone would know within a few hours! And with what Rogue had said about Scott, Jean didn't know whether to believe Rogue or not, but she didn't think that Rogue would ever lie to her about something like that. She thought she'd heard the last of Rogue, when suddenly she could hear Rogue from the hallway.
"Oh, HI SCOTT!" Rogue greeted the cycloptic teenager with a louder volume than necessary. Jean knew that it was aimed at her. And the fact that Jean's bedroom door was left open when Rogue left only made Jean more anxious. She prayed that Rogue wouldn't be sending Scott her way. She'd successfully avoided him and she really didn't want anyone, including Scott, bringing up the kiss or the argument she had with him.
"When I get my hands on her, I'm gonna kill Rogue!" Jean grumbled to herself. She was certain that Rogue was going to send Scott her way, and she had no way of getting out of it. She looked around her room, trying to find a place to hide. There was no room under the bed, behind the curtains was too obvious, and behind the door is just too childish. She didn't want to leave her room because Scott was there in the hallway, and that would guarantee bumping into him. Instead, she decided to close the door and stay in her room until he left, and hoped that with the door closed, he would think she's not in there.
Jean quietly walked to the door and slowly closed the door, but just when she thought she was safe, someone pushed it right back into it's open position. "Oh! Hi!" Jean acted surprised, as if she didn't know that Scott was there.
"Hey," he said casually. Even without her old telepathic powers, she could sense the awkwardness between them. Scott rubbed the back of his neck. "Er.. I came past to say hi, you know, cause I've been so busy with final exams that I haven't seen you in a couple days.." Scott mumbled incoherently.
"Yeah," Jean tried to reply casually. "Kurt told me you'd gone to Taryn's to study."
"Yeah, about Taryn," Scott started, "I know she's your friend-"
"Ex friend," Jean cut him off. She tried to not sound so pissed off. "Don't worry about it, and I'm sorry I yelled at you about it the other day," Jean apologised as if it didn't bother her. She mentally kicked herself for bringing up the argument. The last thing she wanted was for Scott to ask about that kiss. Saying that, she tried to take that as her chance to leave, but Scott grabbed her arm. She looked at his hand, which was wrapped around her forearm, and then looked up at his shiny, red sunglasses. He'd opened his mouth, as if ready to say something, but no words were coming out of his mouth. Before he had the chance to muster the strength to say what he was going to say, Jean spoke up. "I have to go help Hank with dinner tonight," She said, pulling her arm away so Scott would let it go. When he did, she gave him a weak smile and left the room.
Scott watched Jean leave her room, but he didn't follow. Their friendship had taken a serious down slope since Jean tried to do something noble by switching bodies with Rogue. To Scott, it was perfectly obvious that a change like that would make everyone unhappy, and it made him mad that Jean couldn't see that. He wanted to tell her he was sorry for going out with Taryn, but the words didn't come out. Even though she acted like she didn't care, he could still see hurt in her eyes. He missed having Jean as his study buddy, and best friend, and now he feels like he might never get her back. After Scott told the professor that he thought maybe mystique had been meddling with Jean, Scott was sent to go with Logan around the mansion to see if there were any trace of Mystique on the premises. When he got back to the infirmary, Jean had already left the infirmary and had told the professor she wanted to be alone. Scott respected her decision, but he hadn't had a chance to talk to her since. He rubbed his jaw and felt the bruise where Jean had punched him. The purple colour had gone, but the pain was still there. He sighed and eventually left her room for the dining room.
Remy walked through the busy streets in New Orleans. He wanted to bring Rogue a present when he got back home. Jean Luc was taking control of the guild once again, and Remy wanted to get home within the next couple weeks. He stood outside a jewellery store and admired a beautiful diamante necklace.
"Shopping for moi?"
Remy turned around to see Belladonna looking at the same necklace Remy was. "You dreaming, Bella," Remy replied. He began walking off, but he could hear Bella following him. Pissed off, Remy quickly turned to face Bella. She wasn't prepared for Remy to turn to face her, so she nearly bumped into him. She managed to stop herself in time, and the glare Remy was giving her froze her where she was standing.
"Remy gonna tell you here and right now," he growled. "Remy don' want anyt'in to do wit' you, the boy, or New Orleans no more. So stop tryin' to make Remy stay, 'cause you gonna fail."
Bella heard what Remy had said, but she wanted him to stay and forget all about his life at the x-mansion. "Why, Remy! Tell me why you don' wanna stay," Bella pleaded.
"Because there ain't not'in keeping Remy here. Remy knows the boy ain't his, so stop lyin' to everyone," Remy glared at her as he waited for her response.
Rogue walked into the large dining room with Kurt. She was anxious because Jean wanted to wait until after dinner before telling everyone about what Toad had told them that day. Rogue knew that she'd probably get into trouble for not going to the professor earlier, but for some reason, she listened to Jean.
"So are you going to come to ze prom?" Kurt asked Rogue as they reached their seats.
"Nah," Rogue replied. "Remy was really looking forward to it, but ah ain't going if he ain't gonna be here. Are yah going with Amanda?"
Kurt smiled. "Ya. I finally worked up the courage to ask her to go vith me," he explained.
"You two have been goin' out for a few weeks now. Why were yah so nervous to ask her to the prom?" Rogue asked. She'd met Amanda on numerous occasions, and she was glad that Kurt could find someone that would love him as the blue furry elf that he was. Kurt shrugged his shoulders at the response. Rogue's eyes widened. "Oh! You really really like her don't you!" Rogue teased. She nudged Kurt with her elbow.
"Stop, Rogue!" He complained. "Is it so vrong that I like her?"
"Nah, ah'm just teasin' yah," Rogue smiled. Almost all the students were seated at the long dinner table, and were waiting for the professor to arrive before starting their meals. Rogue looked at Jean, but Jean was talking to Kitty. She was nervous and felt so stupid for waiting so long before talking to the professor about Toad's threatening message.
'Jean!' Rogue called telepathically. Jean stopped talking to Kitty and looked at Rogue. 'Ah cant wait any longer, and ah'm stupid for listening to yah when you said tah wait 'til after dinner!'
Jean glared back. 'We can't now,' Rogue read Jean's thoughts. 'Not with everyone here.'
'They're gonna have to find out sometime!' Rogue yelled back telepathically.
The professor must have eaves dropped on their little telepathic conversation because as he came into the room, he called for Jean and Rogue to meet him in his office immediately.
'Ah told you it's your ass if we get in trouble!" Rogue yelled at Jean telepathically.
Jean rolled her eyes. The girls followed the professor to his study in silence. They could hear the sounds from the dining room becoming more faint as they walked to the other side of the mansion, past the boys dorms, wolverine's bedroom, and to Xavier's study. The professor opened the door and wheeled his chair in. The girls followed. He positioned himself behind his desk and the two girls sat down in the two chairs on the other side of his desk.
"Is there something you girls wish to tell me?" He asked in his deep, commanding voice.
Rogue looked at Jean, waiting for her to say something. For some reason, Jean wasn't saying anything. Rogue quickly scanned Jean's mind and found that Jean was thinking about something else. A particular cycloptic boy.
'This ain't no time to think happy thoughts,' Rogue said sarcastically to herself. Rogue wanted to tell the professor about Toad's message all day, so she guessed that maybe Jean was leaving it up to her to explain.
"Today Jean and I were at the mall, and Toad came up to us.." Rogue began. She prayed that she wouldn't get grounded for listening to Jean. "He told us that Mystique had a message for us."
"Go on," the professor nodded.
Rogue played with her gloves as she spoke. She looked over to Jean, who was sitting silently, looking at Rogue as she explained. "He said that if we don't give Mystique that device within three days, she'd going to unleash the arcolytes, the brotherhood AND Juggernaught on the x-mansion."
"Remy, don't be a fool," Belladonna pleaded. "Of course Romeo is your son!"
"Remy got a DNA test, Bella, and dat test don't lie. Who's th' father, eh?" Remy yelled. "And don't lie t' Remy."
"Just after you left, there was a guy who tried to steal my brother's bike," Bella explained.
"So ya slept with him?!" Remy yelled, cutting off her explanation. It was bothering Bella that he was yelling at her in public, on a crowded city street. It didn't seem to bother Remy though.
"It was the night I told you to leave the guild," she continued. "I was lonely, Remy! We were fighting for weeks before you left, and once you were gone.. I had no-one!"
"You not'in but a ho, Bella. You lie to everyone, even your own son!" Remy yelled. "You dug your own hole, woman. Now go lie in it. And tell Romeo who his real father is," Remy explained. Bella looked down at her feet. She felt so ashamed. "Or Remy will do it for you." She heard Remy threaten to tell Romeo and her head shot back up.
"You cant!" She pleaded. Tears streamed down her face. She had to stop lying to him, or he would hate her forever. But the truth hurt her so much. "I would rather Romeo grew up thinking his dad was a noble man, who left his mother. I don't want him to know he was the result of his mother being raped by a common thief." Remy felt like his heart had stopped working after he heard the bombshell news. He watched as Bella's knees gave way and she dropped to her knees on the hard concrete footpath. She had lied to everyone, even to herself. And now, she told Remy the truth- but it only made her more ashamed of herself.
Remy looked at the slumped body on the ground and it made him feel bad for everything he'd just said to her. He crouched down on the ground and put an arm around Bella. She had her hands over her eyes and was sobbing uncontrollably. By telling the truth, she was forced to relive those horrid memories that she'd repressed all those years ago.
"Bella," Remy said softly. "I am so sorry," he whispered.
Bella looked up at Remy when she heard him drop the third-person speech. She'd only heard him do that only once or twice before. It was Remy's persona, but he must've felt so low to drop the act for her. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Remy's neck and hugged him as she cried.
"I had to lie to Romeo," She sobbed. Remy rubbed her back to try sooth the blond woman in his arms. "I want him to think you're his father, and not a bastard child of a rapist."
Remy felt his heart sink into his stomach. He could understand why Bella had lied to everyone for so long, but he felt terrible for yelling at her and accusing her all that time he was back in New Orleans. He felt like it was his fault because he left. He felt that if he'd never left, she would never have been violated. Remy wrapped one arm under her knees, and the other behind her back. He then lifted her up and carried her back to her home, hidden under the marketplace.
"Remy make a deal wit' you," Remy said softly. "You can tell Romeo that Remy is his father, but you have to let Remy tell Jean Luc the truth," Remy propositioned.
Bella's eyes widened. She didn't want anyone else to know. She didn't even want Remy knowing! "Why!?" She cried.
"'Cause if Jean Luc know the truth, he can back you up if anyone says the boy ain't Remy's," he explained. Bella nodded in agreement. She rested her head on Remy's shoulder and tried to stop her tears as Remy carried her back home.
"So tell Remy more about Romeo.."
-author's notes: I had originally planned on writing that bella cheated on Remy, but this turn of events was much better, dontcha's think? Remy will be back at the mansion soon, and the xmen are soon going to have to find a way to switch back Rogue and Remy before Mystique tries to unleash hell on them. Leme no what you think!