9. THIS KISS
In the early hours of the morning before Fence was due to arrive, Remy was awake. He may have made up his mind about what he wanted to do that evening in Jean-Luc's office, but now that the time was upon him, he was having trouble making his body carry out his plan.
Remy sat on the edge of his bed in his childhood bedroom, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared at the various trinkets in his room. The picture of a teenage Henri and Merci along with a prepubescent, pie faced version on himself, the various box sets of television series regarding intergalactic space travel cluttering the floor and dresser tops.
He stood and grabbed some keys off the nightstand. He took a long look at the room and inhaled one long breath. On his way out he flipped the picture so that it was face down.
In the hallway, Remy moved slowly. With his hands fisted in his pockets, he made his way toward the room that Rogue had taken up occupancy in since the X-men raided the Guild.
Remy stood outside the door for more than a few beats as he weighed his options for the final time. There would be no looking back after this. Rolling his neck, Remy opened the door to see Rogue balled up in the middle of the bed, her soft snores filling the room.
"Rogue." he whispered.
"No, Ah don't wanna." Rogue replied groggily.
"Rogue!" Remy snapped.
Rogue sat up in a panic, "Ah ain't eating no brussel sprouts." she gasped, looking around wildly. "Remy?" she rubbed her eyes and glanced at the alarm clock on the far dresser. It blinked in green blocks: 3:15. "If this is ya seduction game then it's ah wonder ya've ever had consensual sex at all." she muttered.
Remy scoffed, "Um, no dis ain' m' style, an' I've had plenty o' consensual sex, t'ank you very much. Now get up."
"Why?" she demanded incredulously. "It's tha middle o' tha night. Are tha X-men here again?"
"Because thieves don' operate on a civilian operated clock." He huffed, "An' no. No X-men on the premises. Now, we got work dat needs t'be done."
Rogue glared at him, still wrapped up in the sheets. "Ya're so full o' shit, Ah bet'ca if ya weren't ah mutant ya eyes would be shit brown." she hissed in annoyance, kicking the duvet off and making her way to her feet.
Rogue was wearing her pajamas, which consisted of a baggy LSU shirt Theo had donated to her and a pair of Merci's shorts that were barely long enough to peak out from under the hem of the shirt.
"Yo' might wanna get dressed."
"Ya might wanna try knockin' fo' ya scare the holy hell outta someone." Rogue muttered in rebuttal, turning her back to him and slipped off the shorts in favor of a pair of jeans. She grabbed her bra off the floor and managed to put it on without removing the shirt. As she slipped her shoes on Remy spoke again, his gaze fixed on the floor.
"Got anyt'ing o' value in here?" he asked casually.
Rogue made a face at him, "What?" she said in exasperation.
Remy shrugged, "Best not t'leave t'ings unattended in a house full o-"
"Full of thieves, Ah get it." she murmured as she pulled her hair into a ponytail.
Remy watched her curiously, "How come you never take dat bandana off? Better yet, how does it always stay on."
"Ah got ah bald spot." Rogue remarked dryly. "An' crazy glue."
"Is de bald spot from de crazy glue?"
The scalding glare he received from Rogue warned him she was not in the mood for cheekiness. "Yo' ready?" he asked.
Rogue nodded and Remy licked his lips and ducked out of the room without another word. He lead her down the hallway toward the stairs in the foyer. Rogue was uncharacteristically close lipped throughout their journey to the point Remy would frequently look over his shoulder to ensure himself she was still there.
He lead her into the kitchen and made a beeline for the pantry.
"Are ya kiddin' me?" Rogue griped, "Ya woke me up in tha middle o' tha night for ah god damn midnight snack?" she was outraged.
Remy smirked as he reached past the food and searched the wall with his hand for the latch. When he found it he forced it open and swung the false wall back to reveal a tunnel. He could hear Rogue's jaw drop from behind him.
He started to descend down into the dimly lit corridor, as they climbed down the stairs, he began to explain, "De LeBeau Plantation used t'be apart o' de underground railroad. De Guild would recruit slaces int' de business in exchange fo' deir freedom. De tunnels run all t'rough dis city... Some o' dem tend t'flood though."
Rogue stayed close on Remy's heels, not wanting to accidentally take the wrong step. "Ah don' understand. Why are ya tellin' me this? Are we goin' ta tha vault? Why are we doin' this fo' the fence shows up?"
"Ain' a fence, Cherie." Remy corrected her, "Fence. A man called Fence, is comin' t' procure de item later t'day."
"Exactly, later." Rogue said in annoyance. "Seriously, LeBeau, why are we alone? Have ya finally lost all ya marbles?"
Remy laughed heartedly, "Dat would require I had any marble t'begin wit', no?"
"Got me there." She said out of the side of her mouth as she inspected the stone walls encasing them with interest.
Rogue continued to follow Remy wordlessly through the catacombs. She remained a silent passenger as Remy maneuvered around the various security measures that included a finger print scanner, a retinal scanner, a keypad with a fifteen digit pass code.
With that door open, the duo continued on their trek down the dark and deserted tunnels. After five more minutes, they came across another shiny metal door. Remy punched in another code into the keypad by the door, took a step back and waited.
The familiar sound of gears grinding told Remy that the suspended safe was climbing back up to their level. With one final clenching sound, the door opened with a decompressing hiss. Remy stepped out of the way and motioned for Rogue to enter the vault first.
A brightly lit metal room lay on the other side of the door. Rogue entered the room wearily, eyeing the shelves lining the walls. Shelves that held many a priceless or "lost" object. Rogue did her best not to gawk at the Faberge Egg, or the golden sarcophagus in the corner or the portrait of Starry Nights.
Rogue's gaze shifted toward a golden chalice that was decorated with fine jewels. "Is that what Ah think it is?" she asked breathlessly.
"Depends on what'ca t'ink it is." Remy replied smugly.
"Uhuh." Rogue replied distractedly.
As Rogue spoke, Remy wandered away from her and found the item he was looking for. With his back to her, he held it gingerly and stared at it. The collar looked very much like the prototype he assumed it was. The metal was dull, some spots were missing panels that revealed numerous entwined wires and circuit board looking items.
He turned around and Rogue looked at him, then to his hands.
"The hell is that?" she asked.
Remy blinked, "You don' know?"
Rogue shook her head, "Sugah, apparently it would literally be anything." her gaze drifted back to the chalice pointedly.
"Yo' tellin' me yo' found out dat I stole somet'ing from de X-men but don' know what it is?" he couldn't believe it.
Rogue shrugged, "They ain't completely incompetent, otherwise none o' them would still be alive."
Remy lost himself in his thoughts. He was starting to re-calculate everything he thought he knew about Rogue. If she had not known what the item was then she couldn't possibly be there for her own sake because she didn't know the opportunity that awaited her in his hands.
Finally, Remy started to piece together the puzzle. The X-men's Forge had created the collar and Rogue had been an X-man. Rogue couldn't control her powers; the collar could inhibit them completely. Remy started to wonder if the collar had been created for her sake.
"Dis is an inhibitor collar." he explained as he pulled himself back into the real world, fighting the lump in his throat. "It negates de X-gene, renderin' mutations moot."
A strange look that Remy couldn't read crossed Rogue's face. It was a mix between utter horror and salvation. Rogue just stared at the collar as if it were the Holy Grail itself, the chalice behind her now long forgotten.
Remy offered her the collar, "Try it." his voice was quiet..
Rogue flinched back from him, a furious look in her eyes, "Why?" she demanded.
Remy held up his hands, "Gotta test it anyway, thought you'd mebbe wanna take a whirl."
With her face scrunched up with indecisiveness, Rogue slowly nodded. She took the collar from him.
Gently, Rogue slipped the collar over her head. She did so as if the wrong move would break it, or possibly her. Inspecting the collar around her neck with her hand, Rogue pressed the only button on it.
The collar hummed and shrunk to the size of her neck so that it looked like a choker. Rogue stiffened in anticipation of pain that never came. Instead, she was met with the buzzing of the collar as the machine attempted to do its job. Tugging at the collar with a finger, Rogue looked up at Remy.
"Ya gonna be my guinea pig?" she said with a nervous laugh.
Remy smiled, "Chere, we both know yo' been itchin' t'touch me since we met."
Rogue raised an eyebrow and scoffed, "Been itchin' t'tough my fist against ya face. Hard." she quipped.
"Still counts." Remy replied cheekily.
Rogue rolled her eyes and discarded her gloves. She held out her bare hand for him to take with his own.
Remy took her hand without hesitation. He did so out of confidence in the collar's authenticity and because he had a rather alarming disregard for his personal safety. So they stood there, in the middle of the vault holding hands. It was weirdly intimate for such a casual and awkward moment.
Rogue inspected their hands as if she were unable to believe what was happening before her very eyes. Remy watched her eyes.
"When was de last time yo' touched someone, Rogue? Wit'out hurtin' dem?" he whispered.
"Since before my powers kicked in? When Ah was fourteen." she was still staring at their hands.
"How old are you now?"
Rogue gave him a small, sad smile, "Twenty four."
Remy's stomach dropped. Rogue's words weren't resentful or full of self-pity; they were just plain old words. As if they'd been discussing the weather.
"Dat's a long time."
"That's tha way it goes." Rogue replied wistfully, letting her hand linger in his.
When Rogue started to pull her hand away from his, Remy encased her hand with his. He stepped closer to her and rested his free hand on her waist. It was now or never. Looking down into her eyes, he mumbled, "Imma kiss yo' now. Yo' can say no, an' I won't."
Remy waited a few beats for Rogue to make up her mind. He could tell by looking into her eyes that she wanted to say no, but just couldn't bring herself to utter the word. So without her dissent, Remy slowly leant his head down to meet hers.
The first time he met her lips, he did so chastely, still giving her the opportunity to pull back, to say no. But it never came. Remy paused briefly before lifting his hand from hers to cup her face.
He went in for another kiss. This one was a real kiss.
It was a desperate kiss. Remy wasn't sure who was more desperate, himself and his hunger for what he couldn't have or her appetite for human contact. Instead of dwelling on the thought he held her tighter and she responded by knotting her free hand in his hair.
Remy moaned softly as her hot breath reached his lips. He responded by gently grazing her lips with his teeth. Her breath hitched as their lips continued to engulf each other.
Rogue wasn't sure what came over her. She'd gotten lost in the moment and let this progress too far too fast. Her time there was just a means to an end. It all meant nothing, but yet she couldn't pull herself away from him. In that moment, she didn't care that he was engaged, or that he wasn't a good man or even that she was engaging a passionate Judas kiss.
It didn't matter. At the end of the day they were both lying; lying to themselves, to each other, to the world around them. Each was a liar and a thief, they were the same, yet they couldn't be more different.
When they finally broke apart, both of them were breathing heavily. "Come wit' me." Remy whispered, his forehead resting against hers.
Rogue tore away from him, "What? Where?"
Remy shrugged, a goofy smile on his face, "Anywhere, everywhere. Where ever yo' wanna go."
"Ya're running." she realized. Her eyes narrowed, "That's why we're down here in tha middle o' tha night?! No one else knows..."
Remy smiled guiltily, "Busted." He reached up to stroke Rogue's face but she slapped his hand away.
"Why bring me here? Was ya plan ta proposition me with tha collar?" she asked, her words laced with anger and accusation.
"Non." Remy said quickly as things started to spiral out of his control. "Dat wasn't m'play. 'Tis jus' an offer, Chere. Yo' don't gotta come wit' me.
Rogue shook her head vigorously as she pressed the button on the collar and it released its hold on her neck, "Ya're ah-lotta things... but Ah gotta admit Ah didn't see this comin'." she said as she removed her collar from her neck.
Remy's eyes sparkled, "I'm cuttin' m'losses. I won't spend de rest o' m'life tethered t'de monster dat Belle has become." he shrugged. "Take de collar. If yo' smart, you'll run too."
Rogue took another step back. Remy did his best not to waver under the look of disgust she was giving him. "You'll neveh be able ta come back. Ya'll be ah fugitive from ya own family."
Remy scoffed, folding his arms. He was beginning to get really tired of high horse Rogue was riding. "Gotta lotta room t'talk, eh Chere?"
Wincing Rogue replied, "Exactly, Ah know what Ah'm talkin' 'bout." she held the collar in her fist and sighed. "Ya need ta sort out ya issues here, Swamprat. Otherwise they won't ever go away."
Without another word, Rogue snapped the collar in half over her knee. Remy was petrified with shock, his mouth frozen with a question on his lips. With the two pieces of the collar in her hands, Rogue looked at him.
"Ah'm sorry." she said flatly before grabbing his face roughly with her bare hand.
It barely registered that Rogue had betrayed him before everything went black.
A/N: For those interested, in my original outline for this story, this chapter had Rogue and Remy... ahem, y'know. However, given Rogue's disdain for Remy I just couldn't justify her allowing that to happen. I could, however, chalk her up to losing herself in the moment long enough to kiss him. But then I ripped that possibility of them running away together into the sunset away.
NEXT WEEK: Rogue gets the hell outta Dodge. (This is not the Rogue POV chapter that explains everything.)