Runaway Rogue
Chapter 2
Bitch

"Gone?" Scott repeated his eye brows raised above his ruby glasses.

"Yeah, like, as in not here." Kitty said. "I woke up to go to the bathroom and her bed was empty."

Scott closed his eyes and sighed. Just fan-fucking-tastic. "Where do you think she could have gone?"

Kitty shrugged while stepping further into Jean's room. "Maybe she's just out for a walk or something. " She couldn't help it, she had been sticking up for Rogue for so long that it was now habit to come up with something to cover Rogue's behind.

Scott turned to Jean, who in turn closed her eyes and seemed to meditate for a few seconds.

"She's not anywhere on the grounds." Jean said upon opening her eyes. ". . . Maybe she's at the hospital."

"Probably getting her stomach pumped." Scott muttered under his breath.

Jean, who heard him, gave him a light shove. "She said earlier that she wanted to go see some one there."

"Remy." Kitty answered, the name surfacing to her mind in unusual clarity.

"Who's that?" Scott asked.

"This guy Rogue's been hanging around. I think she might have a thing for him or something."

"I'll go get the Professor." Scott said, getting up.

Rogue sat and watched Remy. She had no idea how long she had been doing it, and she didn't much care. The Professor and Storm were probably looking for her already, nothing stayed secret in that house for long. She didn't care, let them find her, let them drag her back to that damned house. She would just sneak out again. She had a restless spirit, unable to abide by rules and stay in one place for too long. Kinda like Remy. He was always telling her stories about how he traveled all over the place and saw all kinds of crazy shit. But he loved his hometown of New Orleans the best. He loved it with a passion that was rare nowadays. Maybe that was why she made sort of a friendship with him, his passion. They hadn't known each other all that long, but Rogue could tell that there was something different about Remy.

Rogue sighed and let her head loll back. He should be awake by now. There was something funny going on with Remy and Dr. Hinton had returned and taken blood from Remy about twenty minutes ago. If he didn't wake up . . . no, she wasn't going to think about that. Because nothing else could go wrong with life. If there was a God, he would grant her this one thing.

There was a knock at the door and it swung open and Ororo was in the doorway, looking more livid that Rogue had ever seen her. Maybe she had taken it a bit too far this time. . .

"By the Bright Lady, you better have a good explanation for this Rogue."

Rogue gazed blankly at Ororo for a few seconds. Why even try to argue, the woman had obliviously already made up her mind about her.

"Ah've got nothin'." Rogue replied flatly.

This statement seemed to provoke Ororo's ire even more. The white glow started in the older woman's eyes and a far off rumble of thunder could be heard. "You are coming home now and if you even show one iota of resistance, Charles has given me permission to carry you out of here with the forces of the great winds. Is that understood?"

Rogue, deciding not to pick a fight at nearly five in the morning, nodded. It was probably Kitty that had tipped everyone off. Rogue couldn't blame her though; the valley girl had a small bladder.

Rogue was quiet the whole ride home, mostly tuning out Ororo's chastising speech that sounded more like a rant. Once in a while she would nod and look contrite but if the older woman were to ask her what she just said Rogue would be in for it. Thankfully, that didn't happen and Rogue was sent to her room while the Professor and Ororo figured out a different plan of attack. Rogue entered her room and was thankful to see that it was empty. She unceremoniously fell back onto her bed, staring up at the Slipknot poster hung above her bed. Maybe if she started dressing like them people would finally stay out of her business. Who were they to care if she stayed out all night, getting high? It wasn't like they were her family or anything. Sometimes she wished she was back at the Brotherhood. At least there people would leave her to her own business. Hell, Lance or Toad or someone would probably join in on her fun. Just as Rogue was about to drift off to some much needed sleep, the door to the room banged open. Rogue huffed an irritated sigh and rolled over away from the door.

"Oh no you don't." Kitty said, slamming the door behind her. "Don't pretend like you're tryin' to sleep because I, like, know you aren't."

Rogue rolled back over. "What in the hell has got your panties all in a bunch?"

"You!" Kitty shouted.

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Ah'm flattered, but Ah don't roll that way unless Ah'm really stoned."

Kitty blushed for a few moments and sputtered at the innuendo. "That wasn't what I meant and you know it." She glared at the Goth girl before continuing on. "What the hell is your problem Rogue? Have you finally smoked so much weed that when you hear one thing you think it means to do the exact opposite?"

"Wow." Rogue blinked, looking impressed.

"Wow what?"

"Ah think that's the longest ya've ever gone without sayin' 'like'."

Kitty fumed. "You are, like, so impossible sometimes!" Kitty turned away from her and started picking clothes for the day out of the closet. "I mean, if you're like, not even going to try. . . .Why you ever left the Brotherhood is beyond me."

Rogue shot up to sit on her bed. "Ya wanna know why Ah left the Brotherhood?" She shouted. "Ah left because Ah was tired of havin' the ceilin' drip on me whenever it rained. Ah was tired of havin' ta walk ten blocks ta the Laundromat ta do mah laundry. Ah was tired of havin' Lance or Toad or Blob walk in on me when Ah was in the shower. So when y'all came along offerin' ya big fancy house with a bathroom Ah'd only have'ta share with one other person, who was a girl ta boot. . . fuck, Ah'd be stupid not ta take it." Rogue smirked at the look on Kitty's face. "Yes, Kitty, Ah'm usin' y'all as a place ta crash. Ah couldn't give two shits about mutant-human co-existence. And ya know why Ah don't? Because it's never gonna happen and your Professor is just a crazy old cook with senile pipe dreams."

Kitty looked hurt. In one way Rogue wished she hadn't said those things, but in another, she didn't much care. In fact, she almost took a perverse kind of pleasure in bursting the Chicago girl's proverbial bubble.

"And what about me?" The brunette asked. "And what about Kurt?"

In Rogue's mind flashed images of when she first came to the Institute. She had gone with the flow of things for a while, and if she admitted it to herself, had some fun. There were trips down the beach and that crazy survival camp thing. It had actually felt good to do something productive for once. It also felt good to have some friends too that actually liked her for her and didn't think her hair was weird. But through it all, she had been lying to them. She snuck cigarettes in the bathroom, disappeared during school events to smoke weed under the bleachers, broke curfew and snuck out. And friends didn't constantly lie to each other, so Rogue wasn't any of these people's friends. She was just . . . hanging out, waiting for the next better thing to come along.

Rogue looked Kitty in the eyes and half shrugged. "You're just a roommate who doesn't know better not ta look out for me. Ah've told ya time and again not ta. . . . And Kurt's not even my brother, we don't share blood."

Kitty sniffed and nodded. "Funny, I thought we were friends. Guess I was wrong." Before Rogue could say anything more, the Valley Girl had phased out of the room, sinking back through the wall.

"Fuck." Rogue sighed and threw herself back onto her bed. Feeling strangely hollow, Rogue drifted off to sleep.

Kitty waited just outside of the room she and Rogue shared. She was hoping that Rogue hadn't meant what she said and was going to come after her to apologize. All Kitty received was a muted curse and then the sounds of Rogue going to sleep. I will not cry over this damn it! She thought, sniffing and wiping at her nose as she made her way to one of the communal bathrooms to change. Once there, she commanded herself to calm down, breathing through the want to cry and moments later the prickling behind her eyes stopped. It was replaced by a steely feeling of betrayal, of finding out that she had been lied to for all this time as she pulled her shirt over her head. Either Kitty was really dense or Rogue was an incredibly good actress because Kitty had genuinely thought that they had some kind of friendship going on. Ugh, she needed chocolate. It was still early, so Kitty headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. Once there, she forwent her usual breakfast of fruit or maybe one of the healthier cereals and grabbed for the box of Cookie Crisp. Surprisingly that was gone. And so were the Cocoa Puffs.

"Looking for zomezhing, Katzchen?"

Kitty turned to see Kurt sitting at the table, both boxes of junk cereal in front of him. She turned away from the cabinets and gestured towards the two boxes. "What? No Gut Bomb burgers for breakfast?"

Kurt shook his head almost sadly. "Nein. Scott vouldn't drive me or let me take his car." He brightened a bit though, as she pulled up a seat next to him and sat down. "But I zhink I might have found ze next best zhing."

"What is that?" Kitty eyed his bowl wearily, worried about the odd mixtures of browns and mush.

"I give you Kurt's Cocoa Cookie Puff delight!" He proudly proclaimed. "Four times ze sugar and twice ze carbs in one convenient bowl!"

"Oh my God Kurt, that'll rot your teeth right out of your head!" Kitty exclaimed, looking mortified at the bowl of "cereal".

"Und probably zend me into diabetic zhock." He smiled and pushed a spoonful towards her. "Try zome. Cure vhatever ails you."

"Uh, I'd rather not. . ." Kitty looked unsure at the spoon just in front of her face.

"C'mon!" Kurt goaded her.

Well, she had come down here for something chocolate and sweet. One possibly couldn't get any more with Kurt's concoction that was threatening to dribble on her jeans. "Fine." Kitty sighed and opened her mouth. It was mushy from sitting in milk too long but Kurt's claims about its nutritional value was true. She could almost feel the sugar dumping into her system already.

"Vhat do you zhink?" Kurt asked after a moment.

"Pour me a bowl."

Kurt felt his eyebrows creep up on his head. "Really?" At Kitty's nod, he teleported the short distance over to the cabinets and gathered a bowl and a spoon. He returned with a puff of smoke and a flash, laying out the bowl and spoon for Kitty. If possible, Kurt's eyebrows would have disappeared into his hairline at the enthusiasm at which Kitty dug into the newly discovered cereal.

"Who are you und vhat have you done vith Kitty?"

"Nuffin'." She replied around a mouthful of food. Swallowing, she continued. "I just need some comfort food."

"Warum?"

"If that means why, it's because Rogue is a total bitch."

Kurt blinked in surprise. Kitty rarely, if ever, cursed. It was even rarer for it to be directed at someone in the Institute. "Oh-kay." Kurt said, sounding unsure of him self. "Is zhere anyzhing you vant to talk about?"

Kitty swallowed another mouthful for cereal. "I was just upstairs talking--well, more like trying to talk to--Rogue. I wanted to know why she keeps digging herself a bigger and bigger hole, but she just came back at me with some, like, totally uncalled for and snarky comments." Kitty sighed and scooped up another spoonful of cereal. "Sometimes, I really think she hates everything and everyone here. Especially me."

Kurt put his arm around Kitty. "Now zhat can't be true. It's impossible to hate you, Kitty. You're too sveet. Be annoyed vith, ja. Scared of your cooking, ja. But hate? Nie."

Kitty turned her head towards Kurt and after noticing how close their faces were, figured that Kurt wasn't exactly grasping the nature of Rogue's words. "She said you weren't her brother."

Shock overtook Kurt's face, which was replaced by a flash of hurt before he covered it all up with a wry half-smile. "Vell, technically she's right."

Despite his admission that Rogue was right, Kitty could tell that he was hurting pretty bad on the inside. Kitty's heart broke for him.

"Oh Fuzzy!" Kitty cried and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

Kurt, awkwardly at first, returned Kitty's sudden hug. He wasn't sure if she was comforting him or if he was supposed to be comforting her. Whatever the reason was, he was hoping that she wouldn't stop anytime soon. "Um, zhere zhere?"

Kitty pulled away, but only slightly so. "You are so sweet."

"Danke" Kurt replied.

"Oh!" Kitty's face lit up with the remembrance of something. "I, uh, never got to thank you for saving me from Lance last night."

Kurt waved a tridactyl hand at her. "It vas nozhing."

"No, really. Thank you." Kitty said earnestly, grasping her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I wasn't sure what was going to happen for a few moments. I mean, I like couldn't get it together enough to phase and I couldn't fight him off and who knows what--"

Kurt silenced her by brushing a finger against her lips. "Katzchen, shh. You're rambling. It's in ze past now"

In a split second decision, she closed the distance between them and laid her lips on his in a brief kiss. When Kitty pulled away she saw that Kurt's cheeks were flushed with a dull purple color.

"Ja . . . no problem." Kurt said with a goofy smile stuck on his face.

Jean opened the door to the Professor's office, slipped in and closed it behind her. "You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Yes, please, sit down." The man said from behind his desk, gesturing to one of the leather chairs on the other side.

Jean strode forward and took a seat in the one on her right. She honestly didn't feel like being here because she knew the Professor just wanted to talk to her about Duncan. But, even if she didn't feel like being here, she probably should be here.

He smiled kindly at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Jean responded, tucking a lock of red hair behind her ear.

"Honesty?" he inquired, raising a brow.

Jean sighed before answering, "No."

"You blame yourself, don't you?"

Jean looked up from her feet, mouth open in protest, but the Professor held up a hand to stop her. "I don't need to be a telepath to figure it out. You're projecting much more than you usually do and I just want to make sure that you have a handle on your grief."

"I-I do. At least, I think I do." Jean said. "It's just. . . I thought I loved him, you know?"

The Professor nodded, noticing her use of the past tense of the word 'love'. "And you very well may have."

Jean sighed audibly, the action tinged with annoyance. "If it's okay with you Professor, I really don't feel like talking right now and would like to just go up to my room to sleep."

The Professor nodded again. "Of course."

Jean stood and turned to leave. Just before she grasped the handle to the door, the Professor spoke again. "When you do feel like talking, Jean, the door to my office is always open."

"Thank you." Jean said, and left.

Rogue had been awakened around 4 p.m. and ordered to wash and wax the entire X-Jet. Ororo watched her the entire time and even had Kurt teleport them dinner to them. Rogue guessed that Kitty had told Kurt what she had said earlier by the dirty and hurt look he threw her before teleporting away. Whatever, if wanted to get attached because of some miniscule legal fact, then he could. She, however, wasn't. Rogue dropped the rag she had been using to wax the X-Jet and sighed, blowing fringe out of her hair.

"Am Ah done yet? Ah've been at it for five hours now, that's gotta be against some child labor law."

Ororo looked over the edge of her magazine and scrutinized the plane for a few seconds. "No, it's not. Especially since you're over eighteen now, young lady. However, I do think you are done, for now. Clean up and then you may go to your room."

"Whoop-dee-do." Rogue mumbled under her breath as Ororo left, twirling a finger in the air. Oh boy, a night in her room with basic cable and an irate Kitty. She cleaned up the mess she had made cleaning the X-Jet (ironic wasn't it?) and went upstairs. As she walked past the front door on her way up to the girl's dormitories, the doorbell rang. Rogue ignored it and started up the stairs, figuring someone else would get it. Halfway up the stairs, whoever was at the door knocked heavily, and when she reached the top, still no one had answered the door. Dropping her shoulders and sighing with great irritability, Rogue turned on her heel and went back down the stairs and answered the door.

"Whatever it is, ya got the wrong girl." Rogue said upon opening the door and seeing two detectives standing there.

The detective however, ignored her statement for the most part. "I'm Detective Mason and this is Detective Katz. We're with the Bayville Police Department. Is Professor Xavier in?"

"Yeah, sure. Ah'll get him." Rogue said, closing the door. 'Hey Prof?' She mentally projected to the Professor.

'Yes, Rogue?'

'There's two detectives at the door. They wanna talk ta ya.'

She heard the Professor sigh. 'Tell them I'll be down in a minute.'

Rogue opened the door again and smiled falsely. "Thank God for the intercom system." She said. "He'll be down in a minute."

Of course, by this time, those who had been in various parts of the mansion and decided that they would get the door only to arrive too late, began arriving in the foyer. Among them were Scott, Jubilee and Kurt. Moments later to Professor arrived.

"What can I do for you officers?"

"We need to speak with Scott Summers. His name has come up frequently in our investigation and we would like to ask him a few questions."

Nie-never
Warum- why

A/N: Yay, got another chapter out. Yay, done school. Yay, Scott's going in for questioning. Oh, wait, that's not a 'yay' thing, is it? Please review, it'll make me feel all warm and tingly inside.

SG