Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am to a spiritual level beyond material possessions. Therefore, I must borrow everyone else's.
thoughts
telepathy
NINE TO FIVE: Chapter Fourteen - The End of the Longest Day …or is it? *Evil Laughter*
"Hey girl!"
"Hey girl, wake up!"
Rogue's head shot up from her sixth period desk when a purple-haired British punk sitting next to her rudely elbowed her.
"What the hell, Risty?" Rogue grumbled. "Ah was really enjoying pre-calc today." She looked at the blackboard and saw Kitty writing away using some script, unfamiliar to Rogue, to solve the problem. Since when was Kitty in mah math class? Rogue rubbed her eyes and looked up again. Kitty was gone, and the teacher was speaking again. Wake up, Rogue. You're dreaming when you're awake again. Risty brought her back to reality.
"I know you did, luv," her best friend whispered across the aisle. "You spent the whole time dreaming of your self-absorbed, hunny-bunny of a Cajun."
"He is not mah 'honey-bunny,'" Rogue whispered back then yawned.
"I cannot believe you are still in denial," Risty analyzed. "Granted he's not the best fish in the pond, but he is one of the best looking. Incomparable to that Scott chap. Still don't know what you were thinking with that one."
"Whatever," the southern goth rolled her eyes. "Why'd ya wake meh up anyways?"
"Girl, class was over ages ago and we've got a concert to get ready for!" Risty exclaimed and stood up.
Rogue looked around the room, and it was indeed empty. I coulda sworn there were people here a minute ago.
"Come on," Risty grabbed Rogue's hand and pulled her out of the classroom and onto the beach. Risty let go of Rogue's hand and started to run ahead. Rogue stopped and looked at the ocean. There was something strange about it. She took off her sneakers, rolled up her black jeans to just below her knees and waded a few feet and looked into the water. Rogue saw gravel and shells and other normal sea stuff underneath her feet. Another wave rolled in, swelling the water up to her knees, soaking the bottom of her jeans. Then she saw it, a face in the water. Kurt's face. But it wasn't Kurt's face. It was transparent, sickly, and distorted. The Goth shrieked and tried to run backwards but tripped and soaked the rest of her jeans and half of her sweater in salt water.
"What's all the commotion?" Risty called from up the beach.
"There are faces! Faces in the water!" Rogue shouted back. She looked to her left and saw Lance's face, to the right, Storm's. Then Sabertooth's face rolled by. Rogue shrieked again and crawled hastily out of the tide.
"Well I'll be," Risty commented as she came over and took a peak. "It's like the bloody dead marshes. (2)"
One spirit stood up out of the water and started to walk to the beach.
"What are they?" Rogue asked her friend.
"You know what they are," she answered, not looking down at her friend sitting in the sand but at the rising spirits from the water.
"No, Ah don'," Rogue grew irritated. "Tell meh."
The purple-haired Brit, still looking at the horizon, sighed. "We're in your mind, luv. These are the psyches of all the people you've absorbed."
"What?!" Rogue was surprised. She looked at the approaching psyches. "They look angry. What do ya think they want?"
"I think they're bored just sitting 'ere and feel like trying their hand at driving Battestar Rogue," Risty concluded.
Rogue quickly stood up and backed up a few more steps from the ocean of psyches. Then she looked at Risty and with a suspicious look on her face, took a step back from her as well. "What 'bout you? Are ya one o' them?"
Risty laughed. "When did you touch me, Rogue? Nope, I'm just a regular ole' figment of your imagination. I'm you, when you get right down to it. I know what you know, no more, no less." Some of the psyches had made it to shore. "But it looks like you can't join me for tea. You have to get back into the captain's chair, girl." Risty turned Rogue around and started pushing her away from the ocean. Then a large hole opened up in the sky and someone in a white jumpsuit with EMT written across the back landed on the beach next to the pair. When he landed a large bright wave emerged from his body and swept across the sands. It picked Rogue up and shot her above the ocean, above the clouds, above the sky…
Searing pain ripped through Rogue's body as she gasped for air and sat up sharply. Her chest burned with each breath, she felt like she had the worse hangover ever, and her left arm screamed bloody murder even though it hung limply at her side.
"James, James," a woman was calling on her left. Rogue managed to crane her head over far enough to make to a woman with black hair in an EMT jumpsuit shaking a man, also in a jumpsuit, who was lying unconscious on the floor. The conscious EMT got up and grabbed smelling salts from a box in the ambulance. Yes, Ah'm in an ambulance. Men, five men, attacked meh. They were completely covered an' one had a bat. An' now all ah can smell is old Chinese food from that damn crate. Rogue looked down at herself. Her left arm was bare. Mah sweater's gone. Where's mah sweater?! She panicked. But ah still have mah sweater coverin' mah right arm. Rogue then saw the rest of her purple sweater lying on the floor. The EMT musta accidentally touched mah skin tryin' ta pop mah arm back inta socket. She looked back over to the two EMT's. Sure enough, the unconscious one looked like the man who fell on the beach just before that wave of energy woke her up.
"That won' work," Rogue informed the female EMT.
The EMT looked up at her patient for the first time since Rogue became conscious. "What do you mean it won't work? Do you have any idea what I'm doin'?"
"Yeah," Rogue told her. "Ya are tryin' ta revive your partner usin' smellin' salts or ammonium carbonate which is a white crystalline solid. The ammonium carbonate is mixed with a perfume in smellin' salts ta create a stimulant. The ammonia fumes from the salts irritate the membranes o' the nose and lungs, which trigger a reflex causin' the muscles that control breathin' ta work faster. You're usin' it 'cause ya think he fainted an' the smellin' salts should wake him up. But he didn' faint so it won' work," Rogue cheated and used some of James medical knowledge to make sure that the EMT would actually listen to her and not just dismiss her as some stupid kid.
The EMT blinked hard at her. "Okay hot shot, what happened to him then?"
"He touched meh," the patient replied calmly, although the pain in her limbs and chest was growing by the minute as her body woke up.
"He touched you? Yeah, he was trying to shove your arm back in its socket, of course he touched you!" The EMT started to go back to the smelling salts.
"No, ya don' understand," the untouchable started. "He touched mah skin. When somebody touches meh, ah take their energy from them, knockin' them out." The EMT glared angrily at her patient which caused Rogue to add quickly, "Ah can' help it, it doesn' shut off. But he didn' touch meh long so he should wake up in a few minutes."
"You're a fricking mutant!" the EMT shouted and moved away from her.
The pain was getting to be too much for her and Rogue had had enough of this anti-mutant bullshit tonight, "Yeah, with a dislocated shoulder that hurts like hell. So if ya would be so kind as ta do your job."
The EMT's face grimaced and grew cold. Two latex gloved hands grabbed the X-man, one on her shoulder, one on her arm. Rogue bit her tongue and held in her screams as her arm rolled back into joint.
An ambulance siren roared by, but the three customers in a nearby diner didn't notice.
"No! If they don't let me drink in this god forsaken country, then I'm gonna close their juice bars!" St. John Allerdyce pounded his fist on the table for emphasis. Remy LeBeau just let his head drop into his hand as he shook his head.
The vibration of John's fist hitting the table traveled down the table and jolted Wanda Maximoff out of her nap. Her hand shot over to cover John's passionately clenched fist. "No, no poundy," she said lazily then brought her hand back under her head for a pillow. John sheepishly apologized.
After Wanda settled back, Remy lifted his head and spoke, "Dere are two things wrong wit' dat statement. One, dis is a Steak & Shake, not a juice bar, hence all de food. Two, Steak & Shake is open twenty-four hours, you can't close it."
"Stop raining on his parade, eh." The Canadian waitress came over to the booth with a fresh pot of coffee. "More coffee, cutie pie?" she asked John. John pushed his empty cup toward her; then Remy pushed it away.
At the "cutie pie" remark Wanda's head shot up. She narrowed her eyes at the waitress, "What did you call him?"
"Cutie pie," the waitress repeated confidently. "I didn't mean anything by it. Sometimes it gets you a little more tips. Got to pay for that out-of-country college tuition, now don't I? Boy, you girlfriend isn't possessive at all." She directed that last sarcastic comment at the fireboy.
"I am not possessive," Wanda retorted. "I wondered how you can call him cute when he's dressed in fishnets and lingerie, not to mention that 80's electric blue eye shadow."
"What can I say? I'm attracted to the peculiar ones," shrugged the waitress.
"Peculiar? Bizarre beyond comparison is more like it," Remy interjected.
"Yes, and your ensemble is totally normal," the waitress said, eyeing his own erotic getup, spike-heeled boots and all. "Oh, that reminds me, if Ms. Ho-bag the manager comes out, you have to put your shoes back on," she directed at John. "You don't want to be kicked out or anything."
"Thank you." John squinted to read her nametag. "Ania."
"No problem." Ania winked at the group then went to clean off some empty tables.
"Hey, that's like the demon mortal Shelia on Buffy," John, member of the BTVS fan club, exclaimed.
Ania chuckled. "Yeah, but mine's spelt cooler."
The name also struck a cord with Remy. "Ania," he mused. "Dat's de name of dat girl dat's dating, damn, what's his name? Wanda?" Remy hesitantly poked the snoozing witch.
She looked up half-consciously. "What Santa?"
"What's de name o' de guy dat works wit' Rogue sometimes?"
"Lucas," the witch guessed.
Remy shook his head.
"Jamal? BJ?"
More head shaking.
"Sly?"
"Yeah, dat's it. Are you de Ania's who's dating Sly?"
"Yeah." Ania smiled and blushed a little. She then looked at her watch and her smile faded. "Actually, he was going to meet me here after he closed, but he should have been here by now."
"I'm sure it just took him a little longer bein' he had to show Rogue de ropes," Remy reassured the waitress. If Sly isn't here yet, Rogue should still be at Vinyl Vintage too. Remy looked across the table at John, who was taking a sip of his fresh coffee Ania slipped him when Remy wasn't looking. Remy shook his head, wishing he didn't have to live in the same house as the now caffeine-high pyromaniac. "Mon dieu John, how long you plan on nursing de free coffee?"
John looked up and thought for a bit. "My guess is until the manager kicks me out for putting my broken pump on the table or I burn something beyond recognition, whichever comes first."
"I d'ought you had a concert to go to tomorrow night," Remy inquired.
"Oh yeah." John started giving Wanda the poke of doom (3).
"What?!" She opened her eyes and glared at John. "Can't a girl get some sleep?"
John ignored the second question. "Are you going to the concert or seeking revenge tomorrow night?"
"Still thinking about it," she answered and closed her eyes again.
"No, done thinking, need answer now." John restarted the poke of doom.
"Whatever answer gets you to stop poking me and lets me finish my nap," she grumbled.
"Great!" John exclaimed.
"Wait!" Wanda sat upright. "What did I just agree to?"
"You're going to the Kittie concert with me tomorrow," John told her.
Wanda relaxed. "Okay, I can live with that. The in-flight movie sucked anyway." Then she laid her head back on the table. It's weird, but am not as angry with my father when I'm with John. I just want to have a good time. Revenge on him seems too serious a thing to waste spending time on. Don't get me wrong, he will pay for abandoning me, but the need is not that urgent anymore. I'm sure once I see him again, my thirst will be rekindled, but right now I'm really enjoying my life. My life that he will have nothing to do with and no control over.
You guys want a look into John's head? Well you're gonna get a peak anyway: Yes! She likes me more than she hates Magneto, nah, nah-nah, nah, nah-nah. Bwahahahahahah. The firebug could not stop grinning.
Remy stood up and swung his trench coat on. "I'm goin' to walk over to Vinyl Vintage and see if Rogue's still there. You goin' to be here when I come back?"
"Yes," John replied, but something about the look in his eyes and the devilish smile on his face told Remy otherwise.
"Keys." Remy held out his hand to John.
"No! You've left me hanging twice now; I'm not giving you the bloody keys!"
"And dat's exactly why I don't trust you here wit' dem." Remy continued to hold his hand out.
"Will you two grow up!" Wanda interrupted. "Here, give me the keys."
"Wait, how do I know you won't just ditch me because he asked you to?" Remy asked.
Wanda rolled her eyes. "If anything, I'll ditch you both and steal your car."
"You'd ditch me?" John asked, hurt.
"Think of it as revenge for poking me," she told him.
John looked to Remy. "I'm not happy with this arrangement either."
"Fine," Wanda growled. "Hey, Ania, catch."
The waitress expertly turned and caught the flying keys. "What's this?"
"The boys don't trust each other not to ditch the other so if you could just hold onto those 'til Remy comes back that would be great," Wanda explained.
"Now I have the power!" she exclaimed and laughed evilly. "I better get a good tip for this."
"A verbal one probably won't suffice, eh?" John asked.
"If it is directions to find a buried treasure, then yes," the waitress answered.
"If it's not?" John wanted clarification.
"Uh, no."
"Figured," John said as he looked in his thinning wallet.
"Well, I'm out of here," Remy said and walked out the door.
After he left Wanda turned to John. "You do realize that Remy can just hot wire the car, right?"
"Damn."
The Acolyte vehicle pulled up in front of Vinyl Vintage just as two people finished giving their report to the police. Remy waited until the cops were gone before confronting the couple that was jumping into their red and white striped convertible. Remy didn't recognize the couple at first so he got out of the car and walked toward them.
"Hey, do you two know if Rogue is still here?" Remy asked.
The girl's red hair flew around rapidly as she snapped her head toward the Cajun. Her green eyes shot daggers at him. "You! This is your fault!"
"What?! What are you talking 'bout, petite?" Remy held up his hands defensively and backed away a safe physical distance.
Scott joined in. "If you hadn't gotten us hung up at the Rocky Horror Picture Show (4), we may have gotten here in time!"
A dark, all-consuming pit formed in the bottom of his stomach. "Hey now, dat was all John's doing, well, mostly John's doing. What do you mean, 'here in time'? Where's Rogue?"
"By now she's at Bayville General Hospital," Jean told him.
"What?! What happened?" Remy demanded to know.
Jean could tell that he was truly concerned, but she was still angry at him for the RHPS and his involvement with Rogue. "She was attacked after work while waiting for us to be let out of our cages and find our clothes."
Remy decided to drop the argument. Like dey were ordered to follow us three city blocks an' den follow us into de theater. Remy ran back to the driver's side of the Acolyte's vehicle. From the driver's seat he saw Scott pull off his glasses and aim it at the car. POP, FIZZLE, and the driver's side of the car sunk downward. Now Remy was beyond angry.
"What de hell was dat for!?" Remy jumped out of the car and got into Scott's face.
"You stay away from Rogue," Scott warned and opened his car door.
"Or what, one-eye?" Remy grabbed a hold of the door and charged it.
"Listen, I don't know what your intentions with Rogue are," Jean started after cooling down a little, "but she's had nothing but trouble since she started seeing you, and I think for her sake you should knock it off."
Remy uncharged the door and took a step back. He stood in the street as he watched the convertible speed away. Maybe dey are right. Its not like she would let our relationship go much farther anyway. Like she would like me after finding out about my past. I don't even like me for it. I know it won't work out in the long run, figured that out a couple days ago, but why do I keep coming back?
She has gotten attacked, grounded, kicked out o' a few placed, not to mention whatever flack she's getting from home fo' openly seeing me. But did that have anything to do with seeing me? Is it really my fault? Maybe it would be better to stay away, not get anymore attached. Remy solemnly walked to the back of the vehicle to pull out the spare.
After his struggle to recover the keys to the vehicle that was no longer in the parking lot, John went to the bathroom to empty his four cups of coffee. Wanda was on coffee number one plus a nice little brownie dessert when Sly burst into Steak & Shake after running from Vinyl Vintage.
"Hey you." Ania smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. "What's wrong?" she asked after seeing the fear and concern in his brown eyes.
Sly went and sat down at a table near John and Wanda, Ania followed him. "You know that mutant girl I was telling you about, the one I work with?"
"Yeah," Ania said.
"Well, I was closing with her tonight and some guys beat her up pretty bad in the alley behind the store. She's on her way to the hospital right now," Sly said quietly.
The Scarlet Witch gritted her teeth. "Stupid flatscan humans." The lights in the diner flickered on and off and Wanda's coffee cup rose into the air. "They don't know what they've started."
"Hey!" the offended Sly interjected. "We aren't all bad! We're on your side!" The Vinyl Vintage employee referred to himself and Ania. "Then there's Jamal: He hired Rogue despite her being a mutant, and he let's you shop there."
Wanda raised her eyebrows. "Oh, he let's me shop there. Like he could stop me!" Salt and pepper shakers elevated around the diner. Napkin holders spewed out cucumbers…no just kidding, they spewed out napkins.
Ania ducked underneath a table when a bundle of silverware buzzed her ear, almost catching on one of her many piercings. A similar bundle wizzed by Sly's head, but his eyes remained transfixed on Wanda. "Knock it off, Wanda."
"You can't tell me what to do! I won't bow down and be treated like a second-class citizen! I won't stand by while my people and my friends are being beaten for something in their DNA!" The objects in the room started spinning.
Sly stood up, never losing eye contact with the witch. "I'm not discriminating against you! As your friend I am asking you to stop trying to frighten me and deal with this more productively! Stop trying to turn the few humans out there that are routing for mutant equality so you can hate a whole race and not differentiate between them!"
Wanda dropped her arms to her sides and every object previously floating or spinning in the air fell to the ground. Several glass salt and pepper shakers shattered, spraying glass, sodium chloride, and pepper all over the floor. One saltshaker was intercepted on its way down, by Sly's head.
"Sorry," Wanda said reflexively. She wasn't sure if she was apologizing only for the bonk on the head or if it was because what Sly said had some truth in it. The witch remained silent, thinking about what had transpired, absently staring off in to space. Ania emerged from underneath the table and put her arms around Sly's waist and laid her head on his shoulder. He put one arm around her and rested his hand on the small of her back.
The awkward silence was thankfully interrupted by the banging of the bathroom door on the outer wall.
"What did I miss?" John asked. Then he took a look at the diner whose floor was covered in broken glass, napkins and condiments.
"Oh, nothing really," Ania told him "We just reenacted a scene from Bedknobs and Broomsticks (5)."
John jumped up and down. "Hey can we do the soccer scene next? Or the one under the sea?"
Two black shoes, one with a heel, one without sailed across the room at the Acolyte's head. Again thanks to his sharpened reactions due to the big bad cat that has been stalking him, he ducked and dodged his shoes.
"A simple 'No' would have sufficed," John mumbled as he picked up his shoes.
Ania looked around the diner and sighed. She reluctantly left Sly's arms and pulled out a broom from the janitor's closet.
Wanda absently watched the waitress then noticed more brooms in the closet. Some had broken handles but that didn't matter. The red witch summoned one intact broom to herself and sent the others to other parts of the diner to sweep.
Ania smiled at her. "The brooms aren't going to pull a Mickey Mouse Sorcerer's Apprentice (6) trick on me are they?"
Before they could relax and laugh, a thirty-something woman with thin poorly dyed red hair feathered out in eighties circle bangs emerged from the back offices. "What the hell happened here?!" Her face and neck grew redder than her hair. Then she turned and saw Dr. Frank-N-Furter (7) John with his shoes still in his hands. "Why don't you have shoes on?! No shoes, no shirt, no service!!" Next she noticed the unmanned brooms. "Mutants," she spat. "I should have known."
"No, it's not their fault, Ms. Ho-bag, I mean, Ms. Hollenbag," Ania sputtered their defense. "One of their friends were attacked -"
"I don't care to hear it, Ania," Ms. Hollenbag interrupted. "You mutie-lover. I couldn't believe it when you convinced the owner to take down the 'No Mutants' sign, but guess what? He'll hear about this, and I'll insist he put it back up for everyone's safety!"
The manager stomped over to the nearest broom and grabbed it. Wanda crossed her arms, dropped the other brooms and concentrated solely on the one Ms. Hollenbag was holding. Wanda smiled wickedly and John outright laughed as the manager wrestled with the broom. Even Sly and Ania had to bite their tongues when the broom flew upward out of her hands and came back down to thwack her in the buttocks. After a few minutes the broom stopped struggling and Ms. Hollenbag fell backward.
"Let's go, John. I'm bored," Wanda said and held her left hand out. John slipped on his broken shoes and hobbled over the glass to his girl.
Ms. Hollenbag obviously didn't want them to leave just yet, which she illustrated to them by swatting Wanda with the broom. Wanda didn't expect her to be so stupid, so the surprise attack caught her off balance and sent her to the floor. The witch turned and glared at Ms. Ho-bag. A twitch of an icy blue eye shattered every single window in the 5th Avenue Steak & Shake.
Just before she was about to work more of her mojo, John held up his hand in front of her. "I got it, luv." John's lighter moved at light speed and soon the broom was flaming. While the manager tried to put the fire out and not ignite her hair-sprayed hair, John helped Wanda up and they left.
The manager succeeded in her previous goal, but unbeknownst to her, John had also sent a small flame to warm up a nearby ketchup bottle. Ms. Hollenbag happened to be standing right next to it when the added heat increased the pressure within the bottle past the plastic's ability to contain it.
Wanda and John heard the small explosion as they walked toward Vinyl Vintage to find Remy.
The couple found him parked in front of the closed store, sitting on the hood of the Acolyte-mobile. Remy was obviously not in this world as John easily snuck around to the driver's side, hopped in and started it up. The vibration of the engine jolted Remy out of his daze.
Remy slowly slid off the hood and sat down in the seat behind John.
"So, where to, mate?" John asked. "What hospital did they take her to?"
"Bayville General," Remy said quietly.
"Okedokie, to Bayville General then." John put the car into gear.
"Non, just go back to da base," Remy told cab driver John.
"What are you talking about? Didn't you hear about Rogue?"
"Yeah, her friends are d'ere. I don' want to start anythin'," Remy sounded beaten.
"Come on, you can sneak in and out of there before they even notice you're there. And even if they do, I've got your back. I've got four cups of coffee racing through me: I'm raring for a fight, plus Wanda's conscious now." John encouraged his friend.
"I said I don' feel like it! Now just drive back to base or wherever as long as it is not a hospital." Remy slumped in the back seat. "Better yet, let's go back to Steak & Shake, so I can grab a burger."
"Now," John paused dramatically. "We can't exactly do that."
Remy groaned and started massaging his head. "Do I want to know?"
"You know how you told John he couldn't close Steak & Shake because it was open 24-7?" Wanda told him.
"Well, we decided to close it anyway," John finished.
"Mon dieu, well there's another blacklisted joint to add to de list," Remy remarked.
"It might be simpler for you guys just to have a list of every business in Bayville and cross out the ones you get kicked out of as you go along," Wanda commented.
"You sure you don't want to make a pit stop at the hospital?" John asked one final time. Remy didn't say anything and slumped down even farther in his seat. I'm goin' to quit. Cold-turkey. Great, now it sounds like I'm addicted to a girl. Remy, you are losing your touch. Getting all bent out of shape over a girl you could never have. Nope, no more calls, no more midnight visits, no more going to her work. Unless you need some new music. Or a poster. Or anything at all that they could possibly sell in that store. You're pathetic, LeBeau.
The bright fluorescent lights were killing her eyes. Jean and Scott had been in hospital for a half hour, trying to find Rogue. They asked for her at here at Bayville General: No one matched her description. They asked a couple people before they could find one willing to check other hospitals in the area: Again, no one fit the Goth's description.
"Something's going on," Jean told Scott her suspicions. "It's not like there are a million ways to describe a girl with auburn hair with white bangs, pale skin and gobs of dark purple makeup."
Jean saw another desk worker come out of the employee's lounge and attacked. "Excuse me, could you help me locate my friend?" Jean flashed her award-winning smile at the male desk attendee. Scott preferred not to watch this flirting match and looked at the patients coming in the door instead.
"Sure, name please?" the man with the Caleb nametag asked.
"Rogue. That's her full name. Like Cher. She was unconscious at the time she left so I don't know if the paramedics knew it or not," Jean told him.
Caleb punched in some keys on his keyboard. A new screen popped up, "We have record of receiving a call and the EMTs were instructed to bring her here. That's weird. The call was made almost an hour ago and I have no record of her coming into the emergency room."
Jean sighed. "I knew I should have ridden with her in the ambulance, but the police wanted a statement. She was all beat up from those lousy mutant-hating scumbags. I hope nothing happened to the ambulance on the way here."
Caleb looked at her questionably. "Did you say your friend was a mutant?"
"Yes, is there a problem?" Jean felt an angry fire on the verge of exploding inside.
"Not for me, but there were some guys in the break room talking about a mutant being brought in who knocked out a paramedic on the way over. You might want to check the ambulance bay." Caleb wouldn't look Jean in the eyes.
Jean spun around and grabbed Scott by the arm. She dragged him out into the ambulance bay. There wasn't anyone out there. Jean expected another mob and an even more beaten body of the Rogue.
"Hey, can someone come an' give meh a check-up all ready?!" came a voice from a parked ambulance.
Scott beat Jean to the doors of the vehicle. "Rogue! You're okay!"
"Hell, no, ah'm not okay! All that EMT did was put mah arm back inta its socket. It still hurts like hell not ta mention it hurts ta think an' breathe, an' ah don't think yellin' for the past hour or so has helped any!" an enraged Rogue ranted.
"Why didn't they take you into the ER?" Jean asked.
"'Cause Ah'm a mutant," Rogue started. "An' Ah might have knocked an EMT out." Scott gave her a disapproving look. "It wasn't like ah beat the shit outta him, so stop it with that look, Scott. Ah wasn't even conscious when it happened."
"Jean, why don't you run inside and make some more flirty eyes with that nurse so we can get someone here to check out Rogue," Scott suggested.
"You have to stop ordering me around, Scott." A bit of the Bayville Siren acted out.
"Okay, I'll got flirt with the nurse, but I don't think that I will have the same effect on him." Scott turned to walk back into the hospital.
"Nevermind, I'll do it, you stay here with Rogue," Jean said.
"Now who's ordering whom around?" Scott teased.
Rogue could have sworn she saw Jean give Scott the finger, but decided it was just her eye swelling.
Rogue twisted around in the backseat of Scott's convertible to watch the sunrise. The three had spent all night at the hospital. The gates to Xavier's Institute opened and welcomed their return. Also welcoming them were all of the adults on the front porch, as well as some eyes from the front bedroom windows.
Rogue groaned inwardly. The last thing ah need today is the Spanish Inquisition from each an' every adult. 'How did it happen?' 'Are ya okay?' 'Does it hurt?' 'What did they use ta treat ya?' 'Are ya really okay?' 'Would ya like some Jello?' 'Cause if your not okay, we can…' Ah don't know. Mah brain hurts now. Ah'm done thinkin', time ta recover from one of the longest days of mah life. PLEASE, just let meh get up ta mah room ta sleep!
Rogue, Jean addressed the Goth. I didn't mean to hear but you kinda projected that last thought pretty loud. And if you don't mind, I think I can grant that to you.
That's okay, Jean. An' ah would love it if ya could grant mah wish. Rogue was much more forgiving since they injected her with happy juice for the pain.
Scott opened the car door for Rogue to get out. She quickly bolted past the adults. "Sorry, no autographs today folks." Logan was about to stop her when Jean sent everyone a mental summary of what had transpired that night. It took less than ten seconds, everyone knew what was going on, and Jean followed Rogue's lead and retired to her room:
After some finagling and a few hair flips, Jean got Rogue into a hospital bed and a doctor to take a look at her. The Goth had a few bruised ribs and a sprained wrist now in a sling, but no concussions, broken limbs, or internal bleeding. Still the doctor recommended that Rogue be admitted, at least for the day for observation. Rogue didn't like that idea. Neither did the nursing staff. Despite being briefed about her powers, four nurses fell victim to it. Jean suspected that the fourth nurse wasn't quite as unintentional as Rogue said, but let it go. She had had a hell of a day: two early morning practices with Logan, school, work, being attacked by five brutes, being left out in the ambulance for an hour, hostile paramedics and nurses, then those annoying hang up calls coming to her hospital room every half-hour to hour. Well, after the fourth nurse fell, the hospital staff kindly asked Rogue through gritted teeth to leave. Rogue happily obliged and was released into Jean and Scott's care.
Rogue barely paused to struggle and pull off her boots one-handed before falling onto her bed. She was exhausted in every way, shape and form. But she couldn't sleep. Every time she would shut her eyes she'd remember Risty, the "ocean," and all the psyches. What if they still want ta control meh? If ah fall asleep, will they get that chance? She knew she should go talk to the professor, but her bed was so comfortable and she never liked it when someone invaded her mind. She wasn't in control. So she laid awake in bed. She heard Kitty get up and get ready for school; Kurt squeal with joy when Scott threw the keys to his convertible in the elf's face then buried his head back into his pillow; Hank somehow manage to corral the Newbies to take them to the middle school.
At nine-thirty she almost drifted off, but there was a sharp ringing in her ear. Rogue grabbed it and heard a dial tone. Big surprise. At least now she knew who kept calling her. It wasn't the mutant haters; they would have said some stupid remark. It wasn't anyone at the mansion; they were at school or at the mansion and could talk to her in person if they wanted to. No one from work would call, thinking that she was at school if they hadn't heard or recovering if they had. It wasn't anyone from the Brotherhood; they don't get out of bed until after noon. Risty was god knows where. So that left the Acolyte boys. Specifically Remy.
The phone rang again. This time Rogue picked it up on the first ring and yelled into the phone, "Goddammit, Remy! If you're gonna keep callin' meh at least talk ta meh!"
There was silence on the other end for a bit. Then a familiar voice answered. "How'd you know it was me?"
"Elementary, mah dear Watson. What else have ah got ta think about than who the hell keeps callin' meh an' hangin' up?" Rogue told him. "Really, Remy, ya need ta abandon these grade school tactics of callin' a girl and hangin' up once someone answers."
"You can't sleep either, can you?" Remy deduced.
Rogue paused. "No, Ah can't. How'd ya figure that out?"
"I figured if you were asleep you would have either not hear de phone or heard it and ignored it if you were sleepin'," Remy told her.
"Well, ah guess we both know each other a little better than we thought," Rogue commented.
"Why aren't you sleepin'?" Remy asked the Goth.
"You first," she ordered.
"Non, that's not how it works." Remy smiled on his end of the phone.
"Ah'm hurt, amuse meh," Rogue reminded him. Then she added, "Please."
"John had four cups of coffee last night after Rocky Horror, and he kept me up," Remy lied.
"Bull," she called his bluff.
"No, John really had four cups of coffee. He downed them like shots."
"Rogue read his voice. John is not why you haven't slept, at least not the whole reason."
Remy sighed. "Been thinkin'."
"'bout what?" she asked when he didn't continue.
"'bout you." More silence. "Rogue, do you want me to keep comin' by your work to see you?"
"Yeah," she answered without hesitation, surprising both herself and Remy. "Why wouldn't ah?"
"I know you've been getting a lot of slack from your friends lately, an' den it was kind of partly my fault Jean and Scott were late picking you up, an' if they hadn't been late…" Remy trailed off. Despite his previous resolution to quit Rogue cold turkey, he had decided she deserved more than that.
Rogue couldn't believe he was blaming himself for what happened. "If you hadn't made them late, Ah'm sure they would have just lost track of time makin' out somewhere. Remy how can ya blame yourself for what happened tonight? Ya had nothin' ta do with it."
"Something your friend Jean said got me thinking that maybe it would be simpler if I didn't come around," Remy confessed.
"Who wants simplicity? Scott maybe, but ah certainly don't," Rogue argued. "Ah like it when ya come around ta keep meh company. An' ah did have a really good time playin' pool with ya the other night." Rogue fingered the blue chalk Remy swiped for her between her fingers. "An' don't worry 'bout what goes on at the institute 'tween meh and people like Jean and Scott. Most of its crap an' ah don't give it a second thought. They only do it 'cause they don't understand an' they worry 'bout meh. So, ya think ya can sleep now?"
"Huh, what?" Remy feigned a yawn. "Sorry, chere, dat speech o' yours was a doosie."
"Shut up, swamp rat." She laughed a little.
"So, why aren't you sleepin'?" Remy asked.
Rogue sighed. "Scared ta."
"Scared? What are you scared of? D'ose men?" Remy required a little more info.
"Oh, no. Not those dirtbags." Rogue didn't want to continue but felt compelled to. "Ah had a bad dream while Ah was under." She paused. "No, it wasn't really a dream. Ah don't know what it was."
"What happened in your dream dat wasn't a dream?"
"Well, the people in mah head, pieces of everyone ah ever absorbed," she struggled to explain, "they were all tryin' ta take control over mah body. Ah was zapped back to consciousness just in time, but Ah, Ah'm afraid if Ah go ta sleep that they'll try it again."
Remy was in awe. He wouldn't know how to live with stuff like that every day of his life. He blew a couple people up and that was hard enough to live with. But to touch someone and have them inside your head forever? And they probably don't understand what is going on. Remy realized that it was not the time to contemplate, but to say something to comfort her. "Have dey ever taken over your body before? While you were asleep or awake?"
"No."
"Den what makes you d'ink dat dey'll do it now?"
"They were unhappy an' they felt stronger than before."
"Have you ever seen dem in your dreams before?"
"No, only when those guys knocked meh out," she answered.
"I'm no expert o' anything," he started. "but I think dat when you dream an' when you're knocked out, you use different parts o' your brain o' maybe your consciousness is in another place (A/N: Yo guys, I'm making this up. But in this world it is to be true, because I deemed it true. So it shall be.) I don't know." He couldn't help her. "Maybe you should ask your professor."
"Ya know, swamp rat," Rogue said. "Ah think you're right. One of those nurses ah touched was a psychology major an' she remembers something like that from a lecture."
There was silence on the line for a bit. Then Rogue told Remy, "Thank you."
"For what?" he was a little confused.
"You were the first person ta actually make meh feel better since this whole mess happened," Rogue smiled.
"You think you can sleep now?" Remy asked.
"Yeah, Ah think Ah will," Rogue agreed.
"I'll let you go den."
"Wait Remy," Rogue called. "What did ya do exactly ta make Jean an' Scott late? Ah want a laugh 'fore ah go ta sleep."
(1) Line from the infamous Princess Bride.
(2) Reference to Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
(3) Poke of doom is from Invader Zim, at least I think that's where my friends came up with it from. Don't sue me it if it's not.
(4) See Chapter 13 – Something Like Rex Manning Day
(5) Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a movie from the seventies starring Angela Lansbury as an English witch who fights Nazi's. The bed flies too. Very strange. Not a required viewing.
(6) From Disney's Fantasia. Also not a required viewing.
(7) Tim Curry's character from Rocky Horror Picture Show. Definitely a required viewing. If you can see it in a theater with a bunch a weirdoes, all the better.
A/N: Okay, folks that's it for this time. Mosey along. Me, I'm heading back to school for one final semester *wipes tear from eye* So I will be busy with school stuff for another four months. Updating will be sporadic if at all. I have no intentions of abandoning this story even though I didn't think it would take over a year to get it in writing. Peace, Love and Happy mints until next time ;)