Chapter 10

Logan and Ororo took the dancers to the Demarchelier Restaurant on the upper east side of Manhattan for their celebration dinner. The atmosphere was relaxing and they had enough of a selection for everyone to find something that they liked. Ororo ordered some champagne and lifted her glass to the couples that competed. "I would like to congratulate you all on your accomplishments. You all made me proud today and brought the studio's name into the news as one that teaches winners. I hope you are ready for all the people that will be coming in for lessons. A toast to Rogue, Remy, Kitty, Peter, John, and Wanda."

"Cheers," everyone said as they clicked glasses and then drank some champagne. Rogue sat back and watched her friends talk about the competition. She smiled as Kitty starting gesturing while telling Jubilee, Amara, and Betsy about the competition. She looked over a Remy who had sat beside her. "Did you enjoy yourself today swamp rat?"

Remy smiled at Rogue and replied, "Remy always has fun when it is with a belle femme."

"You are such a snake charmer."

"But Remy is your snake charmer chere."

Rogue smiled and gave Remy a quick kiss before going back to watching her friends celebrate.

XxX

The week started out a little slowly but before anyone knew it, it was Saturday morning and Pietro's company party was that night. They girls spent the morning in Rogue, Betsy, and Lexa's apartment doing each other's hair. Kitty was sitting on the couch looking at a bridal magazine. "What do you think about these for the bridesmaids?"

Jubilee looked over at the picture Kitty was looking at. "Those are pretty but I like that one," she said as she looked at a picture on the next page.

"I like that one too. What do you think Betsy?"

"They're both nice luv but I have to agree with Jubilee. I like the other one better."

Kitty nodded and marked the page in the book before standing up and heading over to the bathroom. When she came back out the others noticed that she had done her make-up while she was in there. "Oh, I forgot to tell you earlier but Piotr and I have set a date. We've decided that a July wedding should let us have the outside wedding we were talking about. So we have set the date for July 15th at 6 p.m. so that it won't be too hot out."

"That sounds good. When do we get fitted for our dresses? You've only got about five months to plan." Rogue said as she looked up from doing Lexa's hair.

"We've got an appointment with a wedding planner on Monday and she will take care of everything except the dresses." Kitty said as she sat down so Amara could start on her hair.

"That will help ease your stress some." Amara agreed. She pulled Kitty's hair up into a bun with strands framing her face that were curled as well as some that were curled and then pinned up with some decorative bobby pins.

Lexa stood up after Rogue was finished with her hair and headed to the bathroom to get her make-up on. She wouldn't admit it to anyone but she was a little nervous about her date tonight. She had been spending more time with Pietro lately learning the moves to the dances he wanted her to be able to dance tonight. She didn't like admitting it but she greatly enjoyed dancing and was secretly glad that she and Pietro would be entering the amateur section of the competition in New Orleans. They had four weeks to get ready for the competition and she thought that they would be great. After her make-up was applied she came out to do Betsy's hair as Jubilee had begun working on Rogue's hair.

Everyone was ready to go and so the only thing left was to wait for their dates to pick them up. Jubilee and Amara were picked up first since Bobby and Roberto were playing in the band and needed to get there early to set-up. Pietro also picked up Lexa early since he was the one throwing the party and had to be there to oversee the last minute set-ups. That left Rogue, Kitty, Wanda and Betsy sitting around talking while they waited for their dates.

"So, have ya picked out your wedding dress yet?" Rogue asked as she lounged as best she could in her dress.

"No, I have called a bridal shop in town and have an appointment on Tuesday to look at their selection and try some on." Rogue nodded.

Betsy decided to give the brunette some advice. "I think that you should wear a halter top style. It'll show off her shapely shoulders and the bodice is usually a little tighter and would define your tiny little waist."

Kitty nodded while thinking the idea over. There was a knock at the door and Wanda got up to see who it was. "Betsy, Warren is here to pick you up." She called as she opened the door and admitted the blonde haired angel. Betsy came to the door and gave her a boyfriend a kiss and then stood back so that he could admire her. He had to admit that the purple dress she was wearing fit her perfectly.

"You looking absolutely stunning tonight honey," Warren said. His voice was a little huskier then usual due to response his body was having to her in that dress.

"Thank you luv. You look very dashing yourself tonight," Betsy replied with a smile on her face. She knew the effects the dress would have on Warren and she had to admit that she was enjoying it.

They had just walked out the door when the other three men showed up. Knocking on the door they didn't bother to wait for the girls to answer before they walked in. "What do you boys think that you are doing?" Rogue demanded as they walked into the living room.

The three looked at each other in confusion for a moment before all of them answered, "Picking up our dates."

"It isn't polite to just walk in on us. What would you have done if we weren't ready? Besides, it's terribly rude to enter an apartment uninvited."

The three men looked properly sorry before breaking out in grins. "It would have been a lot more entertaining if you sheilas hadn't been ready," John said as he gaze slid over Wanda's body taking in her dress and the curves that it showed off. "Your carriage awaits my dear," he said with a dramatic little bow. Wanda grinned at her dashing prince and took his arm to leave. Looking over her shoulder she called, "See you guys at the party!"

Piotr pulled Kitty up for a quick kiss before stepping back to look at her. "You look very beautiful tonight Katya. Are you ready to head out?" Kitty nodded and grabbed her purse before heading out the door with her fiancé.

Remy was glad that the others had left so that he could have a little time alone with Rogue before they headed to the party. "Chere you look stunning tonight," Remy said. The slight glow in his unusual eyes told Rogue that the dress she had chosen had had the desired effect on him. After he had taken in the sight of her he pulled her close for a mind blowing kiss. "Are you sure you want to go to de party? Remy can think of a lot of way to get you out of that dress."

Rogue smiled as she looked up at him. "Do you know how much trouble ah went through to get ready for tonight and now you want to waste it for a tumble in the sack?"

"You wound Remy chere. It is more then a tumble in the sack when you are with Remy and he promises it will be more fun then the party tonight."

"Aren't you confident?" Rogue teased as she planted another kiss on his lips. "How about we do both tonight? Ah could go back to your place with you after the party and we can try out some of those ideas for getting this dress off."

Remy got a huge grin on his face when she mentioned going back to his place. "You have yourself a deal chere and Remy is going to hold you to it."

"Ah certainly hope so." Rogue grabbed her purse and pulled Remy out the door before he had the chance to go back on his promise. She was in for a little shock though when she ran into Joseph outside the door. "What the hell do you think you are doing here?" She demanded when she realized who she ran into.

"I dug up some interesting news on your dance partner and thought that you might like to know about his past."

"What about Remy's past?" Remy asked with a glare at the white haired man. He was trying very hard not to punch the man in the face for hitting Rogue.

"Just a few interesting tidbits that I am sure you haven't mentioned to her. Like the fact that you are married."

"Married?" Rogue turned around to look at Remy. "Is that true?"

"Non. Remy is divorced. It was an arranged marriage that didn't work out."

"Why don't you tell her how the arrangement came about then?" Joseph said with a triumphant grin. He figured that Rogue wouldn't have anything more to do with Remy if she knew about his past.

"That is between me and Rogue if I tell her the circumstances surrounding my failed marriage."

Rogue stood watching the two men battle it out with words. Knowing that Joseph was a jerk lessened the impact his words had on her but at the same time she felt a little betrayed that Remy hadn't told her that he had been married. 'It's not like we've been going out that long. He probably just wanted to see if things were going to get serious before he told me about it.' She still felt hurt that he hadn't told her but they couldn't have a rational discussion about anything with Joseph standing around trying to play her against Remy. "Joseph, ah really don't have time for this now. We have a party to get to and ah will talk to Remy about what you brought up later. After all it is between me and Remy and you are not involved in this in any way. Ah never want to see you again and if ah do then ah will go to the cops for a restraining order. Do you understand me?"

Joseph glared at the two southerners before saying, "I understand but I really think that you should get some answers from him before you get in too deep. He's not who you think he is and I don't want to see you get hurt. I still love you whether you love me or not." With that being said Joseph turned around and walked away.

Rogue turned to Remy and asked, "Were you ever going to tell me about your marriage or why you left New Orleans?"

Remy looked away from her and answered, "I hoped that it would never come up. I'm not proud of my past and what I did. I will answer any questions you have but I hope that you won't think less of me when you find out."

Rogue nodded. Right now she was going to take that as a good sign. "Why don't we go back inside and talk before heading to the party. Ah don't think either of us would enjoy ourselves if we had this hanging over our heads."

Remy nodded and went back inside the apartment and what he thought would be certain doom for the relationship between him and Rogue. He didn't really want to admit it but he had fallen hard for Rogue and he wasn't sure if he could take her rejecting him.

XxX

Sorry about the shortness of this chapter but I wanted to get it posted and I wouldn't be able to do that if I went into the discussion with Rogue and Remy. Don't worry though; I'm hoping to get the next chapter up in a couple of days.