Chapter V: Another Point of View

"Remy and ROGUE!"

Feryal's mouth was hanging to the floor.

"Close your mouth," Piotr instructed. "You are catching flies."

Feryal slowly closed her mouth and composed herself. "OK, now that the shock has passed… if Remy and Rogue are over and done with, how come he got so P.O.'d when this guy showed up?" She hiked her thumb in Sheridan's general direction.

"That would probably be the reason Jennie slammed her door in Remy's face," Aidan pointed out.

"Ah… point taken," Feryal acknowledged, leaning back into the couch.

"Well, Remy's always been a jealous bloke," St. John said.

"Mm-hmmm," came Sheridan's muffled agreement.

" 'Ey! Nobody asked you, y'bugger!" John snapped.

Sheridan rolled his eyes and tried to throw John a look, but was hampered slightly by his duct tape gag.

"You think we should let him talk?" Feryal asked.

"No, no. Absolutely not. No way," John ranted while Sheridan nodded his head vigorously behind John's back.

"I think we should," Aidan said, standing. "You said so yourself, John, that your side of the story was a little sketchy. Maybe everyone's favorite Irishman can shed some light on this dimly lit subject."

She walked over to Sheridan and unceremoniously jerked the tape off of his face.

He cried out in pain. "Faith, lass! Y'bout ripped tha hair right out me chin, y'did!"

"That was for walking through my fire," Aidan said, messing up his hair.

" 'N I suppose that was fahr usin' me powers on ye."

"No, I just like to do this," she said, avoiding a jealous look from John as she messed up Sheridan's hair again.

"Right then," Sheridan said, moving his jaw around trying to get the tingling to stop. "Yer part right, there, boyo, but it din'na quite go down the way ye described."

"Boyo…" John muttered, crossing his arms and leaning back on the couch.

Aidan rolled her eyes and patted St. John on the arm as Sheridan continued.

"So what did happen?" Feryal asked, poised on the edge of her seat.

"Aye, the story…" Sheridan shifted in his thread-trap until he was able to look at everybody in the room. "Well, Johnny Boy's right about the Remy 'n Rogue shenanigans. Basically they broke up over me."

"Oh, do not gloat," Piotr said, rolling his eyes. He directed his next comment to Aidan. "He thinks he is hot stuff…"

"Rhally, i'tis," Sheridan persisted. "I thought Rogue was beautiful that fahrst time I set me eyes on the lass, 'n then I found out about hahr 'n Rem. 'Bout broke my heart. My intentions were nev'a t'break 'em up, but the lass 'n I got on like a house on fire.

"'Pahrently Rem thought his girl was spendin' a wee too much time with a shaper like me. They broke up."

"Next comes the part with the 'holding hands,' right?" Feryal asked, overenthusiastically.

"Aye. T'was our fahrst date."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Aidan cut in. "Back up the potato wagon. How could you hold hands with Rogue and not die? You got some kind of death wish?"

"Bloke's prob'ly a kinky son-of-a—"

Aidan smacked John on the leg before he could complete the obscenity.

"You're close, boyo," Sheridan said with a wink, "but not quite right. It's part 'a me powers. Usin' em on Rogue just basically voids hahr powers. If I warn't usin' em, she'd get a wee bit'a me mem'ries, but not my lifefahrce."

"So this goes for any kind of touching?" Aidan asked.

Sheridan nodded.

"You mean, like, kissing and stuff too?" Feryal's eyes bugged out of her head.

"Aye. Then Rem started t'get jealous. He wanted hahr back, but she was just so overjoyed at not puttin' me in a coma.

"About a few days later, that's when Remy 'n Jen had their ONS."

"O-N-S?" Piotr questioned.

"One Night Stand," Aidan and Feryal clarified in unison.

"'Ey!" John yelped, glaring accusingly at Aidan. "'Ow do you know what that means!"

"Chill out, John," Aidan said, "everyone except Piotr knows what an ONS is."

"I am so sorry I am so far out of the loop," Piotr said, holding up his hands in mock surrender.

"Okay, shut up," Feryal said. "Let the sexy Irishman finish. So, this is the part where Remy takes Jennie back to the mansion?"

"Aye."

"God!" Feryal yelped. "I feel just like Nancy Drew!"

"Colonel Mustard, in the Billiard Room, with a candlestick," Aidan muttered beneath her breath.

Sheridan smirked and continued. "The mansion wasn't rhally the right place t'bring the lass. Jen din'na get on too well with Jean 'n Specky-Four-Eyes. T'be candid with ye, I think Jen's got a wee bit of'a control issue, but, faith, that's just me opinion."

"You've got a point," Aidan said.

"Yeah," Feryal agreed. "I've noticed it, too."

"Rhally? Good. I thought I was th'only one…"

"Get on with it," Piotr growled.

"Aye, right. Anyway, whar was I? Oh, aye, Jen at the mansion… Not the best place t'bring the lass. Not only were Jean and Specky-Four-Eyes a problem, Rogue 'n I were also around quite a lot too. Jen thought Rem was over his last lass, but—"

"But he wasn't!" Feryal yelled, jumping up from the couch, finger pointing in the air.

Piotr grabbed her by the belt loop and yanked her back down. "Sit down. You are an embarrassment."

"Yeah," John agreed. "Why didn't y'jump up like 'at when I was talkin'?"

"Sure, John, like you're one to talk about being an embarrassment," Feryal shot back.

"Guys, calm down," Aidan said, trying to be the voice of reason. "I wanna know just as bad as you all how this little shindig went down, but ya gotta SHUT UP and let Sheridan finish or we'll never know."

"All he is saying is useless propaganda and—" Piotr tried.

Aidan held up her index finger. "Ah-ah. Let him finish."

"Thank ye, lass." Sheridan turned his head toward Feryal. "Yer right. Rem wasn't over Rogue like Jen thought. He kept tryin' t'talk to her and hang out with her like a wee lost pup. The fights 'tween the two lovebirds, and I use that term loosely, warn't all that great either. Somethin' was always wet or smoking…"

"Sounds kinda like 'is place…" St. John muttered.

"Yeah," Feryal agreed, "but you're always the reason for the smoke."

St. John nodded in agreement.

"So, now what?" Aidan asked, glancing at Sheridan.

"Y'mean now that I'm tied up or now what happens next in th'story?"

"Want me to re-duct tape you?" Aidan glared. "You know what I mean, smart-ass."

"Aye, right… So, then thar was the fight."

"The fight?" Feryal questioned. "You mean the one where you kicked Remy's ass?"

"Yep," Sheridan smirked. "T'wasn't rhally all that fun, t'be honest with ye. Rem was quite good 'n I had me own bit o'trouble tryin' t'win. But in the end, Rem did lose… Aye, lost the battle and his lass."

"Well, that sucks…" Aidan said. "No wonder he's so pissed at you."

"Yeah," Feryal agreed. "I mean, if I was him and you took Rogue completely out of the picture, I'd still be pissed…"

"Even after two years?" Piotr questioned.

"As a woman: yes. But Remy, nah, he should probably be over it or forgotten it by now."

"Anyway, please continue," Aidan said, steering the conversation back to Sheridan.

"That's about it, lass. I rhally don't know much about the Florence Nightingale syndrome. That all took place here, not at the mansion."

"So," Aidan said, putting the puzzle pieces together in her head. "There're still a few things I don't understand. When and why did you and Rogue break up? Did you even break up at all? And why come back to tick off Remy now?"