Everyone is going to love the last bit of this chapter!! I feel
so honored, I got my first threat, do I thought I'd deliver! And everyone
can use the word "yayness," just don't claim you invented it *glare*
anyway, long chapter ahead so r/r. I don't own X-Men, for the millionth
time, Marvel does.
Chapter 10: Calmer Maintenant
The door snapped quietly shut behind her before she chose to lean against it. Why had she said that to him? Sometimes she just didn't understand what went on inside her head, which could actually be the justification. It was a stupid comment to make, stupid and not true, nope, not true in the least. Who was she kidding? It was true, this had been one of those nights where everything just felt okay, hell, better than okay, everything felt excellent. Rogue couldn't even remember the last time she had a nice quiet dinner with just one other person, let alone a guy who was like Remy. Remy. Behind the façade he wasn't as invincible as he seemed, he had fears, and regrets, but it was amazing how much of a positive attitude he was able to have. She didn't want to confront her feelings at that moment, in fact it seemed like she just wanted to avoid all thoughts that might worry her.
"Let it go Rogue, just let it go," she ordered herself as she stepped away from the door.
The bathroom was very clean, much to her surprise, with white paint, and red towels, which actually went very nicely together. She made her way to the shower, and turned it to the label reading "hot" and waited for the water to heat up. Once she found the water to be of perfect temperature she entered the steamy washroom. Rogue let the water hit her face, and rid her of what little bits of make up were unnoticeably present. She washed her hair with Remy's kiwi smelling shampoo and conditioner, noticing that it was an expensive brand. Rogue laughed silently to herself, dwelling on how expensive it must be to keep Remy's hair so perfect. As she rinsed out the conditioner a thought occurred to her: she hadn't locked the door; he could just walk in at any moment. She shook the thought from her head, most people could imagine Remy being a peeping tom, but Rogue had learned that he was as much of a gentleman as they come. Soaking up the water one last time, she sighed, and let the debris of the mask wash away, the mask which had made her everything she had been; goth, antisocial, bitter, all of those things were gone from her, leaving her clean. She turned off the water, satisfied.
Stepping out of the shower she grabbed one of the red towels and wrapped herself up. Rogue wiped a streak of the fogged mirror with her bare hand and took a good look at herself. For almost a week she had been without a mirror, but then again, most of that time had been spent asleep. The reflection surprised her, because she didn't look like she was in dire need of powder, or concealer, or eyeliner, no, she looked like herself again. There were no dark circles under her eyes, or blemishes on her face, just a beautiful face. This was the old Rogue, who didn't need to shield herself from the world, the Rogue who didn't need to wear all that make up, because she wasn't afraid to touch people. She was afraid though, afraid of what she had done, and what she could do, but she refused to put that mask on again. Quickly she dried her hair with another smaller towel, making it messy with waves and wisps of curls, but she didn't care, she was about to go to bed anyway.
"Oh no," she said aloud, "What am I supposed to wear?" she looked down at the heap of dirty clothes, now damp from the steam. Well, she would have to wear something of his. The thought amused her, her wearing his clothes, it was as if she was one of those one night stands who steals the man's clothing afterward. Now there was the problem of her getting to the bedroom without him seeing her in such a revealing situation. Rogue couldn't find any way around it, so she picked up her dirty clothes and opened the door as quietly as she possibly could. Slowly, and without a sound she moved through the hallway, expecting at any moment to see Remy just waiting for this opportunity; sure he wouldn't purposely walk in on her taking a shower, but in a towel he would be more than happy to sneak a peek. He was not waiting for her though, not that she could she.
Rogue wondered where he was as she looked in the kitchen, and then at the cleaned up table where they had eaten. She found him though. He was fast asleep on the couch, with a blanket on him. Remy looked so serene in sleep, his face that was usually filled with some sort of passionate emotion, was simple and calm. His head band lied on the table, causing his hair to fall into his closed eyes; his hair really was longer than it appeared. His shirt was thrown lazily on the ground, and she had the distinct feeling he had done it on purpose, just to show off his well tones body, lean yet muscular. Rogue paused, and then walked carefully over to where he slept, and pulled up the blanket which he had unknowingly kicked off in his sleep. She was very careful not to touch him, and knew she was taking a chance even going near him with as much exposed skin as there was.
After tucking him in, she went into the bedroom and began to rummage through his dresser drawers for something to wear. She had gotten the impression that he didn't spend much time at home, because there wasn't a whole lot in those drawers. She tried to open the double door shelf connected to the drawers, but with no luck, so she just went back to the drawes. Rogue wanted to find something that would cover her arms and legs as much as possible, but wasn't having great luck. Annoyed at her growing fatigue she gave up the search for something unrevealing and put on a black tank top, which was to big for her but not too bad, and a pair of swoosh workout sweats. Leaving the towel and dirty clothes on the floor, she curled up into the welcoming bed and entered the realm of dreams..
She was on the outside looking in again, viewing somebody's memory, or so it seemed. No, it wasn't a memory, this was just an ordinary dream, she just wasn't in it. It was the Institution, she recognized the briefing room where she had met her team many times to go over battle strategy. The whole team was there, sitting at the round table, in their uniforms, all listening intently to what the professor was about to tell them. He had a grave look on his face that didn't fit him, just like his tone hadn't when he contacted her.
"Well," he said quietly, not sure exactly what to say. His voice was filled with sadness and pain, as if he was delivering the news of death. It was Scott who spoke now:
"Just tell us," he demanded strongly. Oh Scott, always the confident leader, far to old for his own age; Rogue had wondered on occasion if he ever had a real childhood, or was he forced into maturity as quickly as she was? Professor Xavier cleared his throat.
"We have gotten word of the location," he said simply. His words drew a large reaction from the team, each mumbling little words of surprise and looking at each other curiously.
"Well, that's like good isn't it?" Kitty asked in her usual perky fashion, but her attitude was immediately shot down by the Professors unchanging expression.
"She is with one of the Acolytes," he explained bringing a hush over the group, "We aren't sure of she is being held there against her will, or if she is too weak to escape."
"Vat did you contact her?!" Kurt burst out, his voice full of worry for his "sister."
"I tried, but I couldn't get through," which was a lie, because he had contacted her, but then again this was only a dream, wasn't it?
"So what do we do?" questioned Scott.
"Retrieve her at all costs," he sounded more confident now, and it seemed unusually for him to jump from melancholy to giving orders, "The hard part is pin pointing her exact location. Even using Cerebro I was only able to get a very general area, but the coordinates are set in the X-Jet and you are to leave immediately," this was indeed very odd, he wasn't even going over strategy, or a base of action, or anything of the sort. None of the X-Men seemed to notice though, they were all too preoccupied with their mission: finding her.
The dream faded out and Rogue found herself wide awake, contemplating the images she had just seen. It certainly was an odd dream, that was what it was, wasn't it? Of course it was, how else would she be able to see it? It obviously wasn't a memory, and nobody would know where to send her the images telepathically, so it must have been a dream. Still, the thought of the Professor in such an unusual state made her feel uneasy, and a little frightened.
Rogue rolled over onto her stomach, trying to get comfortable once more in order to fall back asleep. The dream kept popping into her mind though, prodding at her mind, making her unable to get to sleep. She groaned into the pillow and decided that maybe a glass of water would help, that is, if she could find it. Getting up, she stubbed her toe on the door, making her curse herself quietly, not wanting to wake Remy, but as she walked out of the room, she saw that he was awake, and doing exactly what she had in mind. He stood in the kitchen, leaning against a counter with a glass of water in his hand.
"Couldn't sleep either chere?" he gave her a smirk; it amazed her that even in the middle of the night, half asleep he could still look so good, and act so awake. She joined him in the kitchen.
"Nope, had a bad dream," she confessed, feeling like a silly child crying to mommy.
"What about?" he took a sip of water.
"I don't really remember," she lied, because she simply felt so stupid for letting an innocent little dream like that bother her. Much to her surprise he didn't push the subject, he just put his glass on the counter and walked towards the bedroom.
"Well now that you're awake," he turned back to her, "And it look to Remy that you ain't getting to sleep any time soon, we might as well watch a movie or something."
"And where do you intend to do that?" she asked not seeing a TV anywhere in the apartment.
"What you think Remy that old fashion?" he raised an eyebrow and beckoned her to follow him into the bedroom. Rogue watched as he took a key out of his sweatpants pocket and opened the shelf which she had been unable to earlier. She was surprised when the contents were revealed as a large TV/VCR with a number of DVDs on either side. She sat on the bed.
"I thought there would be something more dazzling than a television in there for it to be locked," she gave him a look saying that he was too paranoid.
"You forget, chere, Remy is a thief, and Remy know how thieves think. They go for this stuff first," he grabbed the remote and flopped down on the bed too.
"What do you think your doing?" she asked as he brought the covers over half his body.
"Don't worry chere, Remy'll be careful not to touch you," he reassured her, "Besides, it ain't like we're gonna fall asleep, that's when we'd be in trouble," she started to argue but his expression of honesty made her stop.
"Fine," she groaned again, getting under the covers, "But if you die, it's your own fault."
"Hey, you're the one who's wearing one of Remy's sleeveless shirts," he pointed out.
"And you're the one not wearing a shirt at all, sugah," she shot back.
"You got Remy dere," he chuckled, "You look better in my clothes anyway. Now shush, time to watch the movie."
"And what movie are we watching?" she asked as she slumped down into the pillow behind her.
"The Fifth Element," he answered fast forwarding through the opening credits until the movie was actually starting.
"Didn't expect you to have good taste in movies," she teased, he just looked at her and smiled.
"Now why you got to hurt Remy like dat chere?" he joked, getting more comfortable too.
"Because I can, now you shush," she imitated his command, but he laughed it off and fell silent. Every now and then they would make comments on the movie, but eventually they just fell asleep, exactly like they weren't supposed to. At least she didn't have any more disturbing dreams, in fact, she had pleasant dreams the rest of the night.
When Rogue awoke that morning she felt comfortably warm, and secure. She heard something though, something that scared her more than any dream could; she heard right against her ear the thumping of another's heartbeat. She was about to sit up in a panic, but felt a strong arm around her keep her where she was. Rogue looked up to see Remy's smiling face. Her head lay on his shoulder, and her arm came onto his bare chest. She looked at him, unable to speak, he should be dead, but he knew what her pleading eyes were asking.
"Je toujours garde mes promesses chere," he whispered, and while she
didn't understand it, she wanted to enjoy this moment, the moment she
was able to touch! But what he did say was:
"I always keep my promises dear."
Yay!!! I love some parts of this chapter!!! The beginning sucked but I
loved the last bit. I know it was long but I wanted to end it like
that! I'm all happy now! If I rushed I'm sorry, but I had that idea in
my head and needed to get it out there before I lost it. Am I making
sense? Well, r/r please.
Chapter 10: Calmer Maintenant
The door snapped quietly shut behind her before she chose to lean against it. Why had she said that to him? Sometimes she just didn't understand what went on inside her head, which could actually be the justification. It was a stupid comment to make, stupid and not true, nope, not true in the least. Who was she kidding? It was true, this had been one of those nights where everything just felt okay, hell, better than okay, everything felt excellent. Rogue couldn't even remember the last time she had a nice quiet dinner with just one other person, let alone a guy who was like Remy. Remy. Behind the façade he wasn't as invincible as he seemed, he had fears, and regrets, but it was amazing how much of a positive attitude he was able to have. She didn't want to confront her feelings at that moment, in fact it seemed like she just wanted to avoid all thoughts that might worry her.
"Let it go Rogue, just let it go," she ordered herself as she stepped away from the door.
The bathroom was very clean, much to her surprise, with white paint, and red towels, which actually went very nicely together. She made her way to the shower, and turned it to the label reading "hot" and waited for the water to heat up. Once she found the water to be of perfect temperature she entered the steamy washroom. Rogue let the water hit her face, and rid her of what little bits of make up were unnoticeably present. She washed her hair with Remy's kiwi smelling shampoo and conditioner, noticing that it was an expensive brand. Rogue laughed silently to herself, dwelling on how expensive it must be to keep Remy's hair so perfect. As she rinsed out the conditioner a thought occurred to her: she hadn't locked the door; he could just walk in at any moment. She shook the thought from her head, most people could imagine Remy being a peeping tom, but Rogue had learned that he was as much of a gentleman as they come. Soaking up the water one last time, she sighed, and let the debris of the mask wash away, the mask which had made her everything she had been; goth, antisocial, bitter, all of those things were gone from her, leaving her clean. She turned off the water, satisfied.
Stepping out of the shower she grabbed one of the red towels and wrapped herself up. Rogue wiped a streak of the fogged mirror with her bare hand and took a good look at herself. For almost a week she had been without a mirror, but then again, most of that time had been spent asleep. The reflection surprised her, because she didn't look like she was in dire need of powder, or concealer, or eyeliner, no, she looked like herself again. There were no dark circles under her eyes, or blemishes on her face, just a beautiful face. This was the old Rogue, who didn't need to shield herself from the world, the Rogue who didn't need to wear all that make up, because she wasn't afraid to touch people. She was afraid though, afraid of what she had done, and what she could do, but she refused to put that mask on again. Quickly she dried her hair with another smaller towel, making it messy with waves and wisps of curls, but she didn't care, she was about to go to bed anyway.
"Oh no," she said aloud, "What am I supposed to wear?" she looked down at the heap of dirty clothes, now damp from the steam. Well, she would have to wear something of his. The thought amused her, her wearing his clothes, it was as if she was one of those one night stands who steals the man's clothing afterward. Now there was the problem of her getting to the bedroom without him seeing her in such a revealing situation. Rogue couldn't find any way around it, so she picked up her dirty clothes and opened the door as quietly as she possibly could. Slowly, and without a sound she moved through the hallway, expecting at any moment to see Remy just waiting for this opportunity; sure he wouldn't purposely walk in on her taking a shower, but in a towel he would be more than happy to sneak a peek. He was not waiting for her though, not that she could she.
Rogue wondered where he was as she looked in the kitchen, and then at the cleaned up table where they had eaten. She found him though. He was fast asleep on the couch, with a blanket on him. Remy looked so serene in sleep, his face that was usually filled with some sort of passionate emotion, was simple and calm. His head band lied on the table, causing his hair to fall into his closed eyes; his hair really was longer than it appeared. His shirt was thrown lazily on the ground, and she had the distinct feeling he had done it on purpose, just to show off his well tones body, lean yet muscular. Rogue paused, and then walked carefully over to where he slept, and pulled up the blanket which he had unknowingly kicked off in his sleep. She was very careful not to touch him, and knew she was taking a chance even going near him with as much exposed skin as there was.
After tucking him in, she went into the bedroom and began to rummage through his dresser drawers for something to wear. She had gotten the impression that he didn't spend much time at home, because there wasn't a whole lot in those drawers. She tried to open the double door shelf connected to the drawers, but with no luck, so she just went back to the drawes. Rogue wanted to find something that would cover her arms and legs as much as possible, but wasn't having great luck. Annoyed at her growing fatigue she gave up the search for something unrevealing and put on a black tank top, which was to big for her but not too bad, and a pair of swoosh workout sweats. Leaving the towel and dirty clothes on the floor, she curled up into the welcoming bed and entered the realm of dreams..
She was on the outside looking in again, viewing somebody's memory, or so it seemed. No, it wasn't a memory, this was just an ordinary dream, she just wasn't in it. It was the Institution, she recognized the briefing room where she had met her team many times to go over battle strategy. The whole team was there, sitting at the round table, in their uniforms, all listening intently to what the professor was about to tell them. He had a grave look on his face that didn't fit him, just like his tone hadn't when he contacted her.
"Well," he said quietly, not sure exactly what to say. His voice was filled with sadness and pain, as if he was delivering the news of death. It was Scott who spoke now:
"Just tell us," he demanded strongly. Oh Scott, always the confident leader, far to old for his own age; Rogue had wondered on occasion if he ever had a real childhood, or was he forced into maturity as quickly as she was? Professor Xavier cleared his throat.
"We have gotten word of the location," he said simply. His words drew a large reaction from the team, each mumbling little words of surprise and looking at each other curiously.
"Well, that's like good isn't it?" Kitty asked in her usual perky fashion, but her attitude was immediately shot down by the Professors unchanging expression.
"She is with one of the Acolytes," he explained bringing a hush over the group, "We aren't sure of she is being held there against her will, or if she is too weak to escape."
"Vat did you contact her?!" Kurt burst out, his voice full of worry for his "sister."
"I tried, but I couldn't get through," which was a lie, because he had contacted her, but then again this was only a dream, wasn't it?
"So what do we do?" questioned Scott.
"Retrieve her at all costs," he sounded more confident now, and it seemed unusually for him to jump from melancholy to giving orders, "The hard part is pin pointing her exact location. Even using Cerebro I was only able to get a very general area, but the coordinates are set in the X-Jet and you are to leave immediately," this was indeed very odd, he wasn't even going over strategy, or a base of action, or anything of the sort. None of the X-Men seemed to notice though, they were all too preoccupied with their mission: finding her.
The dream faded out and Rogue found herself wide awake, contemplating the images she had just seen. It certainly was an odd dream, that was what it was, wasn't it? Of course it was, how else would she be able to see it? It obviously wasn't a memory, and nobody would know where to send her the images telepathically, so it must have been a dream. Still, the thought of the Professor in such an unusual state made her feel uneasy, and a little frightened.
Rogue rolled over onto her stomach, trying to get comfortable once more in order to fall back asleep. The dream kept popping into her mind though, prodding at her mind, making her unable to get to sleep. She groaned into the pillow and decided that maybe a glass of water would help, that is, if she could find it. Getting up, she stubbed her toe on the door, making her curse herself quietly, not wanting to wake Remy, but as she walked out of the room, she saw that he was awake, and doing exactly what she had in mind. He stood in the kitchen, leaning against a counter with a glass of water in his hand.
"Couldn't sleep either chere?" he gave her a smirk; it amazed her that even in the middle of the night, half asleep he could still look so good, and act so awake. She joined him in the kitchen.
"Nope, had a bad dream," she confessed, feeling like a silly child crying to mommy.
"What about?" he took a sip of water.
"I don't really remember," she lied, because she simply felt so stupid for letting an innocent little dream like that bother her. Much to her surprise he didn't push the subject, he just put his glass on the counter and walked towards the bedroom.
"Well now that you're awake," he turned back to her, "And it look to Remy that you ain't getting to sleep any time soon, we might as well watch a movie or something."
"And where do you intend to do that?" she asked not seeing a TV anywhere in the apartment.
"What you think Remy that old fashion?" he raised an eyebrow and beckoned her to follow him into the bedroom. Rogue watched as he took a key out of his sweatpants pocket and opened the shelf which she had been unable to earlier. She was surprised when the contents were revealed as a large TV/VCR with a number of DVDs on either side. She sat on the bed.
"I thought there would be something more dazzling than a television in there for it to be locked," she gave him a look saying that he was too paranoid.
"You forget, chere, Remy is a thief, and Remy know how thieves think. They go for this stuff first," he grabbed the remote and flopped down on the bed too.
"What do you think your doing?" she asked as he brought the covers over half his body.
"Don't worry chere, Remy'll be careful not to touch you," he reassured her, "Besides, it ain't like we're gonna fall asleep, that's when we'd be in trouble," she started to argue but his expression of honesty made her stop.
"Fine," she groaned again, getting under the covers, "But if you die, it's your own fault."
"Hey, you're the one who's wearing one of Remy's sleeveless shirts," he pointed out.
"And you're the one not wearing a shirt at all, sugah," she shot back.
"You got Remy dere," he chuckled, "You look better in my clothes anyway. Now shush, time to watch the movie."
"And what movie are we watching?" she asked as she slumped down into the pillow behind her.
"The Fifth Element," he answered fast forwarding through the opening credits until the movie was actually starting.
"Didn't expect you to have good taste in movies," she teased, he just looked at her and smiled.
"Now why you got to hurt Remy like dat chere?" he joked, getting more comfortable too.
"Because I can, now you shush," she imitated his command, but he laughed it off and fell silent. Every now and then they would make comments on the movie, but eventually they just fell asleep, exactly like they weren't supposed to. At least she didn't have any more disturbing dreams, in fact, she had pleasant dreams the rest of the night.
When Rogue awoke that morning she felt comfortably warm, and secure. She heard something though, something that scared her more than any dream could; she heard right against her ear the thumping of another's heartbeat. She was about to sit up in a panic, but felt a strong arm around her keep her where she was. Rogue looked up to see Remy's smiling face. Her head lay on his shoulder, and her arm came onto his bare chest. She looked at him, unable to speak, he should be dead, but he knew what her pleading eyes were asking.
"Je toujours garde mes promesses chere," he whispered, and while she
didn't understand it, she wanted to enjoy this moment, the moment she
was able to touch! But what he did say was:
"I always keep my promises dear."
Yay!!! I love some parts of this chapter!!! The beginning sucked but I
loved the last bit. I know it was long but I wanted to end it like
that! I'm all happy now! If I rushed I'm sorry, but I had that idea in
my head and needed to get it out there before I lost it. Am I making
sense? Well, r/r please.