Learning to Deal
I don't own X-Men Evolution (or X-Men for that matter) characters or anything concerning the show, comics, ect. No suing! Be civil in reviews (if there are any).
It really was not like him to get frustrated over a girl, seriously. How could he let her disappearance get to him? It wasn't as though it wasn't bound to happen even after his little 'kidnapping' trip. After all, this was Rogue after all and true to her name, the girl could become a little unpredictable. Perhaps not always in actions but rather in timing, the girl had the least and the greatest timing one could hope to have.
It wasn't really that Rogue was gone that frustrated Remy it was the fact that she had disappeared without a clue as to where she was and with no real hope of ever returning to New York, whether it be for herself or to the X-Men he didn't really care as long as she returned. However, that didn't seem to be a possibility anytime soon.
The bell of Bayville High School finally rang to release the students, finally. He had only been waiting the last forty minutes going between getting coffees for his 'comrades', waiting outside the school, to fetching some nasty, fatty donuts, then back to waiting outside the school. It was the slowest forty minutes of his life.
Remy had to wait an extra five minutes until Kitty came out of the school speaking with another girl, Amara if Remy's memory served him correctly. Kitty continued to speak to her friend until she noticed him leaning against a tree, then she excused herself from Amara and approached him.
"What are you doing here?" Kitty hissed at him, she had not expected the Acolytes until a more convenient time.
Pushing himself off the tree, Gambit flashed a charming smile. "Wha' can' a man come t' see a fille whene'er he want t'?"
"Whatever," Kitty sighed, rolling her eyes not only at the guy pathetic excuse but also because she noticed herself lapsing back into her valley girl talk, something that has slowly been wearing off. "If you're here to ask about Rogue we haven't found her okay? Apparently she has been taking extra precautions so that no one can touch her skin, so Cerebro can't find her until something happens," Kitty informed him. "There, now get lost."
"Well, ya know, de Gambit is a pretty busy man at times so he was just t'inkin' dat perhaps he could jus' catch ya at school one a week. Wha' do ya say? Is it a deal?" Remy offered, disappointed that there had been no news of Rogue.
The idea of there being a set day and time when Kitty would have to speak with the guy was better than having him just show up out of the blue waiting for her outside of school or something far worse.
"Okay, how about you meet me by the bleachers on Friday at 3:30?" suggested Kitty.
"Dat is okay wit' me," shrugged Gambit, mentally starting to count off the days from that day, Monday, to Friday. "I promise t' be brief when speakin' t' ya."
"Good to know," Kitty nodded slightly, distracted a bit by the look that she noticed Kurt giving her. It was one of bewilderment and almost a sort of accusation, and it was making Kitty a bit uneasy. "Yeah, so I'll see you then."
Without waiting for a reply Kitty took off to Kurt, best not to stay near someone like the Cajun too long, not with her friends within eye sight. She approached Kurt with a false cheery smile plastered on her face.
"Vhat vere you talking to him for?" Kurt inquired immediately, not even bothering to let Kitty greet him in the usual way.
Kitty's expression fell instantly.
"Oh nothing much," she lied but Kurt wasn't having any of it.
"Seriously Kitty, vhat vere you telling him? Vas it something about Rogue?" Kurt questioned.
"Yes," admitted Kitty, she really didn't want to lie to Kurt. "He was wondering where Rogue was…"
"Did you tell him zat she ran avay?" interrupted Kurt, grabbing Kitty's shoulders to make certain that she looked at him.
Wrenching herself from her friend's grasp, Kitty nodded, "Yes, he knew since last week when he had approached me after school to ask where she was. I told him that she had run away and he wanted me to keep him informed in case something comes up…"
"Vhy vould you keep him 'informed'! He's ze enemy and he does not need to know vhere my sister is, much less know anything about her vhereabouts!" Kurt's voice was steadily rising and Kitty was afraid that it might attract attention to them if it continued.
"Kurt, keep your voice down and let me explain on the way home," Kitty whispered harsher than what she had planned while pulling Kurt down the road.
"Zen start explaining," Kurt instructed.
Marian didn't want to leave Rogue at the house for fear that she might try to run away again, but Marian still had to finish work. So, she took Rogue to the diner but rather than have Rogue working the tables she had the girl sit in the kitchen under Joe's watchful eye.
"Ah don't want you to watch her completely Joe but at least keep a good eye on her to make certain that she don't sneak out that back door while your back is turned," Marian whispered to her brother-in-law in the kitchen as Rogue sat at a small table with her hands buried under her arms, which were crossed, and her shoulders shrugged up to her neck.
"Marian, Ah don't see why you're so worried about the girl, she's doin' fine right now," protested Joe as he was busy making another batch of spaghetti noodles.
"That's because she knows that Ah'm here right now to catch her if she should try to pull a fast one," Marian argued, giving Joe a stern look that he met evenly.
Draining the noodles and refilling the kettle with more watch to put back onto the stove for the next item to be boiled, Joe leaned against the counter and looked at the gothic girl sitting on the other side of the room just staring at her boots; she didn't dare meet anyone's eyes.
"Oh alright, but you owe me big on this one," Joe agreed but he didn't get his sister-in-law's famous grin that he was hoping for. Instead she just watched the young girl sit there as though afraid of anyone that would come up to her or afraid to go to anyone.
"Ah don't get why you're so attached to that girl, Marian, after all she's just some punk runaway kid from New York, right? Ah mean she's not like some long lost daughter of yours or something, right?" Joe inquired, raising an eyebrow.
Marian kicked his shin and tossed him a rare glare. "No, you know as well as Ah do that Ah've only had two kids my entire life an' only one of them was not your brother's, and you were there for both births. Besides, Jonathan was born when Ah was seventeen and from what Rogue has told me, she's younger than him. So no, it is impossible that she could be my daughter," she replied.
"Ah was only joking," groaned Joe, returning to his work, place two plates of warm food on the counter and ringing the bell. "But seriously," he sobered up, "what is it about her that attracts you so?"
"The fact that she reminds me of myself when Ah first got here an' Ah don't want her to go through all the same crap that Ah went through. Besides, Ah also get the feeling that she has been through a lot of shit in her life that she hasn't dealt with at all, an' Ah want to help her deal with most of it so that she can get out of her bubble an' into the world more," explained Marian.
Joe nodded but just very slightly as he stared down at the onion he had been chopping, a grim line on his features stated that his mind was back on his brother.
Noticing her brother-in-law's countenance, Marian patted his shoulder and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Ah miss him too," she whispered before going back out to the diner to relieve Carol of the work.
Joe glanced back at Rogue and found a few similarities between her and his sister-in-law, but there were only a few.
"Ah hope she knows what she's doin'," he muttered, returning to the chopping.
Kurt was in the library-music room waiting for the Professor to come meet him. The moment the Elf had returned to the mansion in such a foul mood, Scott told him that Professor Xavier wished to speak to him later that evening.
So for the last four hours he had been dreading this moment for another one on one talk about his emotions towards Rogue's disappearance, apparently the Prof. had decided to take it upon himself to discover how everyone in the household was handling. It didn't make any sense to Kurt as to why he needed to talk about his feelings, wasn't it obvious enough that he was angry with Rogue, yet he was depressed that he had failed her, then he nervous as to how she was taking care of herself.
Most people wouldn't know just how dangerous Rogue could be if they or she wasn't careful, but Rogue was always careful. Still, accidents still seemed to happen often to her for whatever reason.
It was difficult to be complete angry with Rogue when there was probably a number of factors involved in her run away, but then again, it was just as hard to forgive her for taking off suddenly since she didn't give too many excuses in her little note. So, until he heard the entire truth Kurt could never fully forgive her for anything, yet he just couldn't stay angry with his beloved sister either.
"Ah Kurt, glad to see that you have gone off to bed or to watch T.V. yet," Professor Xavier's voice was heard as he rolled into the room, distracting Kurt away from the bookshelf.
"Professor, you need to talk to me about Rogue," Kurt stated evenly, not even bothering to meet the older man's eyes.
"Yes Kurt," confirmed the Prof., shifting around a bit. "Please sit down." The Professor motioned to an empty seat by Kurt.
"I rather stand," Kurt refused, looking up at the older man. "So vhat do you need to tell me about Rogue, or rather vhat do you vant to ask me about Rogue?" He hadn't come to play games so Kurt wanted to this interview done as soon as possible and in a more straightforward manner.
Xavier cleared his throat a bit as he rolled closer to Kurt. "Today while you were at school Cerebro brought to my attention the detection of two mutants," began Charles, finding the next part more difficult to say.
"You found Rogue?" assumed Kurt, breathlessly.
"Yes. She apparently made skin contact with another mutant and it was brought to Cerebro's attention, then to mine."
Kurt couldn't breath. They found Rogue!