Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men...I don't own Desdemona she belongs to psychobunny410 and Rick belongs to animeluvr1. I own Marc and the great ideas in this story...humor me, people!

A.p.R. - Much thanks goes out to all my reviewers, psychobunny410 and animeluvr1. Also, on another not, if psychobunny410 and animeluvr1 persist on driving me crazy by bugging me to review I will...do something.

----------------------------------------------------I get no respect-----------------------------------------------------

"Okay, never ever get a caramel apple stuck in your hair." Marc said, picking a few shards of the dried caramel from his hair.

"Aww, but by the way you're grimacing it really looks fun?" said Kitty, giggling to herself.

"You know the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall?"

"Oddly enough…"

"It's worse."

"Ouch."

"And it's on your conscience, Kate."

"I'll manage…"

Marc smiled at Kitty, wrapping an arm around her bringing her in closer to him. "That's cold, Kit-Kat."

"Well," She turned to face him. "Maybe I could warm things up." she said with a smirk leaned foreword for a kiss just as a little kid, with a plethora of colorful balloons, ran between them.

Kitty fell back. Luckily, Marc's preternatural reflexes allowed him to get behind her just in time to catch her. "Wow. Thanks…that would have hurt."

"It was nothing…I just wanted a kiss." he said, showing his cute smile.

She gave him a smooch. "Then go to the kissing booth."

"Hey, guys!" Tabitha called, running up to them. "After you two finish gettin' all groiny with each other; head over to the convention tent on the far side of the giant inflatable clown, near the freak show-- wow, that does sound weird."

Marc and Kitty pulled away from each other, blushing. "We were not getting 'groiny.' There were no groins involved..." Marc replied.

Kitty just ignored Marc and raised a brow. "Why do you want us to head over there?"

Marc was just absentmindedly continuing. "…I mean, maybe someday…we'd think about doing…that but now…it's too soon…"

"There's this awesome band over playing tonight." Tabs explained.

"…we are really close and I'm sure it'll happen eventually…" Marc continued, not caring if anybody was listening, as the two girls conversed.

"Sounds good to me, Tabby. We'll head over there…when is it?"

"Show starts in at nine…thirty minutes...be there or…just be there." she said, walking away.

Kitty smacked Marc on the arm. "Stop rambling."

"Sorry."

The band was just sitting around on stage after the sound check. Rick rested his chin on the top of his guitar, zoning.

Parker walked up to him, tambourine in hand, and hit him upside the head. "Wake up!" she said.

"Huh? What…is it show time?" he asked, indolently.

Doug chuckle, looking up from his drums at his love struck pal. "Hey, leave him alone. He's just daydreaming about this girl he met."

"Rick met a girl?" John said, overdramatically. "We all have to approve of her first, young man."

Rick scoffed and threw a nickel at him. "You guys always embarrass me." he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

Doug chuckled a bit rustled. "You'll understand when you have a little singer/guitarist of your own someday."

"So, these guys are good then?" Amanda questioned.

Tabitha nodded. "Totally, it's gonna be one hell of a show!"

"Vhat band?" Mr. Fuzzy a.k.a. Kurt asked.

Tabby scratched the back of her head nervously. "Gee…it's…um…"

Kurt raised a dark blue brow. "You don't know, do you?"

"Nope."

Rolling her eyes, Amanda sighed. "Then how do you know their good…?" she asked.

"Well…uhhh. Oo, I know: the lead singers hot." Tabs explained, content with her answer.

Kurt looked at her curiously. "Vhat doez zat have to do vith any-"

"No-no…she's got a point." Amanda replied immediately.

Kurt's eyes widened. "AMANDA!"

"Pick a card any card!" A man shouted. "Play it! Win if you can."

Remy smiled. "Dat sound like a challenge to me…"

Rogue shook her head. "He's obviously a scam artist…what's the point?"

Remy just smiled at her and winked as they walked over to the man.

"Ah, come to show off for the little lady…well be a man and step right up and prove it." The gruff looking man said. The table he was sitting at, under a small tent, had a deck of cards resting, perfectly stacked up.

Remy tossed ten dollars on the table. "Okay, homme. Remy'll try." he said, sitting down in an old wooden chair next to Rogue.

The man smirked, another sucker steps up to the plate. He held out the cards to the Cajun, so neither of them could see. "Pick a card; any card…don't show me either."

Remy was hasty and grabbed one before he even finished talking. "What next?"

"I'm going to tell you your card."

"Now how ya going at do dat?" Remy asked, poorly acting.

"It's magic."

"Remy don't believe in magic."

"Okay, just let me tell you your card."

"But Remy already knows his card?" interrupted Remy.

"I know…just shut up." The scammer replied.

Remy smirked, inwardly. "Proceed den."

"Your card is a-" he started, Remy coughed, coving his mouth with his card hand.

"Excuse me…go on."

"Your card is…a 2 of spades-"

"Nope-"

"Wha?!"

Remy twirled the card around in his fingers, revealing a queen of hearts. "Oh, sorry, monsieur." he said with a kind look. "Looks like ya lost."

"But how - all the cards - it makes no sense." he ranted, looked at the deck. Every card was a two of spades. "Get outta here!"

Remy smiled as he grabbed the twenty bucks and stood up stood up along with Rogue and exited the tent. She was as surprised as the swindler was. "Remy, how did ya do that?"

"A good t'ief is always prepared." he said, flicking his wrist causing a card to slide out of his sleeve.

"So when ya coughed ya really - Remy, ya just scammed the scam artist! That goes against the laws of nature or something." she drawled, smiling.

"Shh. It'll be our lil' secret, chere." He winked.

Kitty laughed, smiling as she entered the convention tent with Marc. "You think their going to be good?"

"I wouldn't know." he said, wrapping an arm around her waist as they walked over to Kurt and Amanda and sat next to them. "Tabby got to you too, huh?"

"Ja."

Roberto and Amara came and sat down next to Marc and Kitty. "S'up?" Roberto said.

Amanda stated. "Nothing, just waiting."

"Cool…cool." Amara stated.

After a few moments, Kitty sighed. "That was a meaningless conversation."

Ms. Aquilla nodded. "Yeah, it really was."

"I wonder why we even said anything there." Marc wondered.

"Probably to fill the silence until the show starts." Amanda offered.

"Ah."

Over on stage, Rick stood up to the mic, letting his guitar hang around his neck by the strap. "Hey, uh, we're The Unladen Swallows and it looks like we're your entertainment for tonight. Please bear with us." he said, drawing a few laughs from the crowd.

"Thanks for humoring us tonight!" Doug said with a smile.

"Now before we, start we'd like to ask you guys to be sure to support AIDS research. Please leave your donations in the donation jar by the entrance." Rick added.

"Let's get started - my guitar finger's getting twitchy." Brian said, wiggling his fingers about, still managing to hold onto the pick.

Rick nodded, scanning the crowd for Tabitha; she wasn't there. "Our first song is Monster-…" he trailed off as he noticed Tabby entering the tent. He smiled then turned to the band. Putting his hand over the mic so the audience would not hear. "Guys, quick song change…let's switch song 3 with 1. Just trust me."

John let out a loud gasp. "Swapping songs 3 and 4, I understand. But switching songs 3 and 1...now I'm afraid you lost me."

Parker threw her hands up in the air. "I can't work like this…"

"Yeah, you threw off my groove."

Brian nodded. "Now look what you did…you threw off Doug's groove."

Rick chuckled. "Less talk more rock." he said and turned to the crowd, removing his hand from the mic. "Okay, aside from throwing off our drummer's groove, we'll now be performing our cover of Somebody's Baby."

Brian strummed his guitar simultaneously with Parkers tambourine; Doug began tapping his drumsticks on the symbol. Rick leaned forward into the mic while still playing his guitar. He locked eyes with Tabby in the front row, sitting with her friends he presumed.

Rick smirked at her; she winked back.

"Well, just look at that girl with the lights comin' up in her eyes

She's got to be somebody's baby

She must be somebody's baby

Cause all the guys on the corner stand back and let her walk on by

She said she's got to be somebody's baby

She must be somebody's baby

She's got to be somebody's baby

She's so fine…" Rick ended with a big stroke of the strings.

The others started to sing along with him. "She's probably somebody's only light

Gonna shine tonight

Oh yeah, she's probably somebody's baby, all right…"

Rick smiled and again began singing solo. "I heard her talkin' with her friend when she thought nobody else was around

She said she's got to be somebody's baby

She must be somebody's baby

'Cause when the cars and the signs and the street lights light up the town

She's got to be somebody's baby

She must be somebody's baby

She's got to be somebody's baby

She's so fine…"

Tabby smiled and blushed, yes BLUSHED, a little. She received the message of this song.

"She's gonna be somebody's only light

Gonna shine tonight

Oh yeah, she's gonna be somebody's baby tonight."

Rick got an intense look in his eyes as the other hummed to the beat of the music, letting him take over. "I try to shut my eyes, but I can't get her out of my sight"

I know I'm gonna know her, but I can't get over my fright

Well, I'm just gonna walk up to her

I'm gonna talk to her tonight!"

Everybody in the band began singing.

"Oh, yeah!

Yeah, she's gonna be somebody's only light

Gonna shine tonight

Yeah, she's gonna be somebody's baby tonight…"

As the song ended the crowd of people under the tent where cheering. Tabitha was really flattered by all of this. No person has ever looked at her the way Rick has before. Not even Ray.

Amanda, Amara, and Kitty were looking at Rick with twinkles in their eyes. Their guys noticed this. Kurt swatted Amanda's leg with his tail, Roberto nudged Amara with his shoulder, and Marc poked Kitty in the ribs.

Amanda tapped Tabitha on the shoulder. "If I didn't love this lovable fuzz ball I'd be trying to get at him."

"Hell, you'd have to go through me first…if I wasn't with what's his name…" she said, quietly.

"Little problem. We just gotta replace a guitar string and we'll be right back on." Rick said, setting his guitar down as he hopped off the stage. The others chatted while Brian went to get his back up guitar from the van.

"Hey, Tabby…what did you think?" Rick said with a hopeful smile, walking up to her.

"I need to think about that one…" She tapped her finger on her lip then stroked her chin, deep in thought. "You guys kick ass."

Ricky slid his hands into his pockets. "Great. I'm glad you came."

"Me too, it was worth it. I usually don't follow guys…they follow me." she said with a joking smirk.

They had a quick laugh and Rick threw his head back to get the hair out of his face. "Hey, I was wondering, we finish at ten, would you like to…you know… hang out?"

She internally winced. "Um, well…I'm kind of seeing…" she started, unsure of what to say.

"Seeing someone else?"

"…no! I was planning to see a movie later. You can come if you'd like?"

"Sure! Yeah, cool." he said, trying not to show his excitement through a happy dance.

The sound of several things crashing to the ground and the man watching the AIDS jar falling to the ground silenced threw the tent into confusion. "Hey, she's stealing the money." The man said from the floor pointing at the culprit as she swiftly exited the tent.

Marc stood up. "I'll get it." he said, hopping over the row of chairs and heading out of the tent.

Rick raised his pierced brow. "My hero." he said, deadpan.

"That's Marc: he's got good intentions." sighed Tabby.

"But there's only like ten dollars in that thing?"

"Hey, I said he had good intentions…I didn't say that they were smart."

The woman was wearing a black trench coat with the hood up, mostly covering her face. "Stop trying to be the hero!" she shouted back at him, running.

"I'm not doing this for my own health! You know?" snapped Marc, chasing after her and dodging kids and other obstacles.

"Oh come on…this is just getting annoying." Frustrated, she said. She then swatted over a few boxes to block his path as she took a short cut around the large metal concession booth.

Marc sighed, hating this. He jumped onto one of the boxes she toppled over, jumped to the top of the concession booth. He then jumped off, gaining serious ground on her.

She looked back at him with an intrigued as she continued running from him. "Never seen anyone do that before…though no one's ever been so damn persistent and chase- whoa!" She tripped, dropping the plastic jar and on a crash course for the ground. She closed her eyes and waited for impact. No pain came.

She opened her eyes and realized what happened; she then proceeded to roll them. "You…have got to be kidding me." she said, struggling against Marc. He had caught her.

"A thank you would be nice…but if you'd rather me turn you over to the police. That's another option." he said with an undecided look on his face.

Her hood had flipped back, revealing her face. She had sea green eyes; they were what first caught Marc's attention. Her hair raven black hair was touching the grass on the ground.

She pushed away from him and fell out of his arms to the ground. "Ouch." she said, quickly getting to her feet. She bent down and picked up the jar. "See, if you would have just let me fall-"

"You would have had a nasty bruise?" Marc offered with a smug grin. He approached her, nonchalantly. "Just hand over the money." he said, as if she were defeated.

"Yeah, right, hero…that's really going to happen."

"My name in Marc." he said, annoyed by her constantly calling him hero.

"My names Desdemona and I'll be your thief today." she scoffed.

Marc took a few steps forward. "Come on…if you hand it over I'll let you go. I'll tell them you got away."

"No, no…I need this, okay!" she said, slowly backing away from him. "Look, a distraction!" she shouted, pointing behind Marc.

"Huh?" He quickly looked back; she kicked him in the face. He held his jaw and glared at her, realizing he'd been duped.

"You are really horrible at this hero routine, aren't?" she said with a smirk, immensely proud of her actions. She took a few steps back into the street before he regained his composure.

Marc's eyes widened. "Look out!" he cried.

She chuckled and held her hands out to the side as she backed away slowly. "On a scale of one to ten: how stupid do you think I am?"

Marc grabbed her by the arms and pulled her out of the street just before a bus hit her. They both hit the ground hard; she was on top of him as their eyes met.

"Really want to know?" he asked, feeling a pain in his back from landing awkwardly.

"Not anymore, no." she said, getting off him and picking up the jar.

Marc swiftly got to his feet, but held his back. "You okay?"

She nodded. "I'm good."

He sighed in relief. "Good. Now hand over the jar before I save you from injury again."

"Matt, or whatever your name is, I really need this. So either you back off or I'm going to have to hurt you." she said.

"Desdemona, man that's a mouthful…here." he said, taking out his wallet and pulling out twenty dollars. "Take that but give me the jar back."

Des raised an eyebrow at this. "What the hell are you doing?" she wondered. "This thing only has, like, ten bucks in it…you're offering me twenty. You must have hit your head hard."

"What do you say? Are you going to hand it over?"

"You're crazy, I'm the one who stole ten dollar and now you wanna give me more. I don't see much of a difference here, bud." she stated, arrogantly. She set the jar by his foot and took the money from his hand. "Your loss, pal."

He grabbed her hand before she could pull it away. "It's a lot different. I'm giving you a gift…you were stealing someone else's. There is thin line we all walk. Take it. Go…use it well."

"I never would've expected this…"

"…people can surprise you." he said with as smile.

She nodded at him, showing a hint of a smile. "See you around." she said, stepping into the street as a diesel passed in front of her. When it had passed, she was gone.

Marc sighed, picked up the jar, and started back to the tent. It was less tiring there.

"…so thanks for coming out tonight…and remember to come back tomorrow night and hear the riveting music of 'C.J. and the Bushwhackers'..." Rick announced as the note card in his hand stated. "I feel like a tool…goodnight folks!" he added as the people were leaving.

Marc slowly came back into the tent and set the jar down where it belonged. The man smiled at him and patted him on the back. "You did a good thing tonight, son."

What Marc said: "It was nothing really."

What Marc thought: "Yeah, just twenty bucks!"

Kitty walked over to him and kissed his chin. "Wow. Us X-Men must be really rubbing off on you." she joked. "Though, I think that you may need some more training with me." she said, kissing her on his lips.

"If you are implying that we make out I will not argue..." he said with a smile and kissed her back and winced. "But maybe another time." he said, holding his bruised jaw. It was healing…but it still really, really, hurt.

"Hey, Scott…we're gonna go see a movie…I'll be back at the mansion soon." Tabby said and before Scott could say a word, she dragged Rick out of the tent.

Scott sighed; you just cannot stop that girl.

"It's getting late." Ororo stated as she entered with Logan behind her. None of the mutants responded to her or even acknowledged her.

Logan grunted as he entered. "Okay, runts, in the X-Van before I start doubling DR times."

Jubes eyes opened widen and she whistled. "Alright, you heard the Canucklehead, back to the mansion!"

They all exited the tent except Logan, who was shaking his head. "I knew I never shoulda told that girl I was Canadian."

With that, he went out to the X-Van and they all headed home after this long and interesting day.

Please Review my peeps. And psychobunny410 and animeluvr1, tell me what you think of this.