MAGNETIC ATTRACTION

Part Seventeen

When Wednesday came, Remy kept his promise. Reluctantly, he took Wanda out into the field just in front of the woodlands, in order to teach her some basic fighting moves. It was his attempt at getting to know her, and spending time with her, without it turning into anything remotely sexual.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't stop thinking about sex regardless.

He'd had another one of the Romeo & Juliet dreams about Rogue; another intense and fantastic dream that had left him breathing hard when he had awakened, and left him with yet another warm and sticky mess beneath his sheets. He wished he hadn't chosen Tuesday night to sleep nude.

Helping Wanda stretch, and then teaching her how to tackle him wasn't helping take his mind off of sex. In fact, it only left him wanting it even more, and he would find himself constantly having to pull his hips back from her in a desperate attempt to hide the standard of his excitement, which had been near constant throughout the day. If she had noticed, she said nothing, but he was almost positive she must have felt the hardness against her back a few times.

Wanda was not a good student, leaving Remy kicking himself for offering to train her and teach her some of the basics of what he knew. She would was constantly questioning why she should do what he told her, and would frustratedly lament why her slight deviations from his instructions were messing her attempts to overpower him so much.

He had to keep himself in check, maintain a calm tone as he explained himself again and again, all the while wanting to yell at her to just listen, to pay attention. As she stood there soaked in sweat, trying to wrestle him to the grass, he couldn't help but notice she'd chosen to not wear a bra today (not that she ever had really made any efforts to wear one in all the time he'd known her), and how her tanktop clung to her so tightly he could practically see through it. Why had she chosen this one day to wear white?

Fuck this friendship shit, throw her against the tree, spread her and take her already, this is driving you crazy, he told himself as he locked his arm around her chest, and wrestled with her hard to the ground, waiting impatiently for her to get him away from her.

Stop thinking about it, you don't want her, you never did. You want sex with her, that's it. You need to move on...you definitely want to move on, and she needs to get that. She'll start figuring out we have nothing in common once we start spending time together and I start pissing her off.

"Wanda, come on, you can do this. You've pinned me before, you're stronger than this. Stop being a fucking wimp!" he gripped her arms hard and pinned her leg with his.

"I'm not a wimp!"

"Then stop acting like one! You can't always rely on your powers to get you out of a jam...so start usin' your head and your body!" he growled near her ear.

"I am! You're holding me too hard!" she gasped.

"You think an enemy is going to be gentle?! Stop being such a little girl and fucking beat me already."

She fought him, she was a wildcat that tried to scratch and elbow and punch; the expression in her eyes spoke of her frustration with both being unable to beat him and being abstinent. He could read her like a book, those crazed eyes told him she found this exercise as highly erotic as he did.

Couldn't have just taught her how to play poker, or took her for ice cream, could you? He winced. You had to pick the one thing that would put you in close proximity with her and give you more than ample opportunity to grind up against her.

He had to wonder if somehow subconsciously he'd tried to sabotage this attempt at keeping his distance from her.

Eventually, somehow, Wanda managed to catch him in the eye with her fist, and he felt the explosion of pain that made him step back enough that gave her enough chance to throw herself on him, pin him, and push his own bo-staff against his chest. "Happy now?"

Not really, he thought miserably, the area between his legs was throbbing hard, and he was so very aware of just how very close she was to him that he could have closed the gap and gave them both what they ultimately wanted and probably needed. "You really punched me," he sucked in a breath of pain, wondering if he was going to end up with a black eye or not.

"So? You expect me to baby you?"

Any girl who cared would have, thought Remy as he lay there in the grass.

She reached down to his groin and grabbed him, "you've been worked up this whole fight," she said, she leaned in near his ear.

Quickly, reluctant to let this go further despite his sexual frustration, he rolled her over, pinned her as well as he could, and remarked, "no."

"I know you want it."

"Doesn't matter what I want. We're not going down that road. I told you. No sex. We're going to try to be friends. See how it goes."

"Just...once?" she asked hopefully with a knowing smirk, she raised her thigh so that it brushed against him.

He withheld a moan, let go of her arms, then got up, brushing some of the damp grass away from his pants, "I'm done for the day."

"This has to be killing you. You haven't had sex for four days."

He winced at this, had it been four days already?

"You still jerk off, right?" she asked, smiling a little, she bit into her bottom lip.

"None of your business," he replied coolly. Who had time to do that with everything that needed doing around the warehouse and with the team? Finding five minutes alone was hard enough, and by the time he got to bed, he was too tired to even keep his eyes open. Other than his second dream about Rogue and the resulting nocturnal emission, he hadn't really found time to bother with personal gratification.

"God, you really aren't jerking off," Wanda laughed almost hysterically.

"Don't bother wasting time thinking about the stuff I do in private. I don't ask you what you do in the privacy of the shower or your own room," he retorted bitterly.

"Do you want me to tell you about them?" she teased.

"No, I don't," he answered truthfully, his mind racing with thoughts of it already.

"It's getting to you already, I can see it," Wanda said, her voice thick, like slow trickling honey. "You've never gone this long without it. At least not since I've known you," Wanda got onto her knees and reached for the waistband of his jogging pants. He pushed her hands away quickly.

"I said no."

"Why hold back? This is stupid..." Wanda remarked frustrated, "I know you want this. I want it too..."

"I said no," he pushed her back roughly; she fell back to the grass somewhat clumsily.

As Wanda leaned up, Remy saw her expression was slightly dejected and hurt. She didn't like being told no. "What the fuck-" she began, but he interrupted quickly.

"I'm not in the fucking mood, all right? I don't care if I have a hard on. Just because it's there doesn't mean I want nor have to use it."

Wanda chewed her lip momentarily, watching him. He could practically see the cogs of her insane mind working as she tried to come up with a reason or a catalyst that he should just give in right now. "I'll let you put it anywhere."

"What the hell is with you, Wanda?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, sounding almost innocent, she looked up the sky, her blue eyes showed every bit of her frustration, she gave a sigh.

"Don't play games with me."

Wanda gave a strange high pitched laugh suddenly, "why not? You like when I play games. I know it gets you all...hot...and bothered..." she bit her lip again and gave a low throaty laugh. "And you like playing games yourself. In the laundry room, that game...now that was special..." she closed her eyes as if she were savouring the memory of it.

Remy shuddered, feeling quite disturbed by how excited it seemed to make her, the thought of being taken that way.

"You knew what you wanted that day..." Wanda drew her breath and exhaled slowly, "And you took it. If I'd said no...if I'd tried to get away...if I'd fought you, you'd still have never stopped, because it was in you. You need it just like I do."

He stepped back a little from her, his blood running oddly cold. "No. That's not how it was."

"Wasn't it?" she raised an eyebrow. "Rough, and abusive...and commanding...and dominating..." she gave a little teasing moan, "you left marks on me, that day, Remy LeBeau."

"Are you accusing me of-?" he clenched his fists; his heart felt like it might stop from the horror of such a suggestion. Had it really been like that? He remembered her being very willing but what if she hadn't been? No. You'd never...that isn't in you.

"I'm not accusing you of anything," she smirked, "except of being just like me. You know what you wanted and you took it, and nothing was ever going to stop you. Me and you are the same, and that's why we shouldn't stop. You need me and I need you. So why not stop this bullshit holdin' back and just fuck already?"

"Why do you keep fighting me on this?" Remy demanded, "Why can't you just accept the deal we made that we would be friends first and think about sex later if it works out?"

"Because I want you now..." Wanda remarked simply. "And I know you want me now too..."

And strangely, he did.

No, no, no. Do not give in. It took you long enough to get to this point, you are not gonna take a step back now!

"Go take a cold shower," Remy shook his head in disgust at her. He could not understand why she would degrade herself so badly by throwing herself at him like this when he'd already made it clear he didn't want to be with her. Her desperation was truly starting to disturb in ways he had never expected it to, and her accusation of what he may have been capable of hurt more than he could really express.

That's why you can't be with her again, you can't let yourself become that person. She brings out something in you that just ain't healthy. Better to keep away from it altogether.

He left her alone in the field, wiping the sweat from his brow and sighing unhappily. The warehouse was still in chaos, although the building project had made much more progress. The gymnasium walls were up, and inside, Lance and Pietro were doing a far better job of plastering the walls than they had of measuring the beams to support the walls.

Remy didn't praise them for their efforts though. He wasn't in the mood for speaking at all right now, as he was too caught up in the angst of Wanda's advances and the stress of his position in the team. Instead of praising the workers who for once were doing a decent job, Remy simply passed by them to head towards the male shower room, intent on having a cold shower. He hoped it would be enough to kill the problem for now. If only the water could wash away the thoughts too.

Rogue stared ahead at Piotr Rasputin, who was sitting on a chair opposite her in Magneto's 'office' room. She drew her breath, "Ah'm not really comfortable with this," she admitted. Magneto was standing behind her, and he had put both hands on her shoulders gripping onto her as if trying to hold her there.

"When it comes to our powers, there is little room for comfort or choice."

Regardless of whether he was right or not, Rogue wasn't comfortable with the idea of using Piotr as a crash test dummy for her powers. She wasn't sure how much punishment the hulk could take. Why had he even volunteered himself for this? When had Magneto asked him? Had Magneto explained the situation to him properly? Had he explained what it was he wanted the boy to do? Was Piotr's grasp of English good enough to know what was being asked here?

"Now...I want you to clear your mind...do not stare at him. Find a space, an inner calm..."

Easier said than done, thought Rogue, feeling very unhappy. "How sure are you that he can take this kind of punishment?" Rogue glanced over her shoulder at Magneto.

"I am fine," Piotr stated coolly.

"Colossus has a strong constitution," explained Magneto, "the most likely here to be able to withstand repeated exposure to your gift."

Rogue swallowed and faced Piotr again, "You should clear your mind of anythin' you don't want to share with me."

"I have nothing to be shamed of," Piotr assured her.

"But still...Ah'll be able to access your memories, your thoughts, and feelings...not just your powers," Rogue explained. "Anythin' you don't want me to know about you...or see...then you should try to be rid of it before Ah touch you..." she tried to explain.

"I understand this. Don't worry, I trust you."

"Are you sure you want to sit here and take this?" Rogue asked, feeling dizzy with nerves, and sick with the strain that always came prior to knowing she'd have to use her abilities on someone else.

"Yes, I am sure," said Piotr.

Magneto spoke up, "Piotr knows the consequences."

"Fine," she drew her breath.

Magneto put his bare hands upon her temples, it still caught her by surprise when he touched her, and she still found it so hard to believe that he could do so without being harmed by her gifts. Piotr on the other hand, she was positive would not be so lucky.

"Clear your mind," Magneto said tenderly to her, "think not of what will happen to him, or what you will see. Think not of the power that will surge into you."

Rogue tried to clear her mind, but it was difficult to do so. So many questions, so many concerns, and so many things in her life needed attention and right at that moment, everything seemed to amplify itself as if to spite her. When she reached out to brush her fingers tentatively against the large Russian's bare hand, his memories seemed to rush into as if she'd fallen into a pit of them.

His sister, his family, of a simple uncomplicated life on the farm, of hard labour, and hardship, but a good, honest, clean life that was nothing like the life he had come to in America.

Rogue yanked her hand away with a cry, her stomach churning as the boy winced and grabbed his hand away, holding within his other fist as if she'd burned him with her touch. He looked weakened already, his blue eyes seemed to have trouble focusing. "Ah can't do this!" Rogue lamented.

"Yes, you can," Magneto assured, "again."

Piotr shakily reached out his hand again to her, and Rogue touched him. Again, the memories flooded to her, more vivid, more dangerous. The hardship had turned to nightmares; his abilities found out by a small community of people who did not understand, and he was outcast. His family falling into masses of debt after his departure, and him having to work every job he could find and every hour god sent just to afford money to send home so the family could avoid the foreclosure on their land.

Rogue pulled her hand away again, closing her eyes tightly, trying to force the images out of her head, "It won't work!"

"You will do it again and again until it will..."

Piotr put his hand out, she could see he was pretending to feel fine, to feel strong and unaffected, but the unfocused look in his eyes was becoming more and more obvious.

A second, a third, a fourth minuscule touch, and his memories became hers. Memories of how he came to work for Magneto, of times he and Remy had spent together on the recent building project, memories of the people he missed in Russia.

"I feel dizzy," said Piotr, after the fifth attempt.

"We need to stop. He can't take much more..." Rogue stood up quickly as she pulled on her gloves, "he can't take much more, look at him!"

"He knew these risks."

"Don't you care?" Rogue asked in dismay as she knelt before Piotr and took his face in her gloved hands, lifting his head so she could look at him. "He's struggling to stay conscious."

"I requested his help and he accepted."

"Out of the goodness of his heart?" Rogue asked.

"He will be generously compensated."

Rogue realised where that compensation would go. To Russia. Now that she had seen his memories, she understood why someone like Piotr had stuck with the Acolytes and not moved onto the X-Men. He needed money, not education and understanding. "you used him," Rogue commented coldly.

"He come to me to ask if there was a way for him to earn extra income, Rogue. I did not force his hand. I made an offer, which he accepted."

Piotr finally spoke up, "is fine, Rogue...he did not force me."

Rogue stood up, and pulled on his arm, "come on, you need to rest..."

Piotr got onto his feet, shaky and swaying. He put his arm around Rogue's shoulders and she held onto him as best she could as she led him out of Magneto's office without another word to the man. Rogue was positive under normal circumstances, she'd have never been able to support the large Russian with her smaller, lithe frame, but Piotr's powers included strength and she had absorbed plenty of it.

As they moved out into the main warehouse, Remy was just coming out of the male showers room, wearing nothing but a bathrobe, a towel around his neck, his hair slicked back giving him an almost mutant-like Hugh Heffner appearance that Rogue might have found comical under any other circumstances.

At once, Remy noticed the strange queasy look on Piotr's face and that Rogue was practically holding him.

"What the fuck-?" Remy asked immediately.

Rogue sighed, "help me get him to his room."

Remy took Piotr's arm around his other shoulder and they moved him through the warehouse to the small cupboard room which was Piotr's own. Piotr had passed out before he'd even hit his mattress. Rogue moved over to pull the covers over him just in case his body temperature had dropped during the draining process.

"What the hell happened to him?"

"Magneto made me drain him...repeatedly."

"What? Why?"

"An experiment to see if I could force my powers to work by clearing my mind."

Remy made a face, "that's..." he seemed to have no words for this.

"Ah knew it wasn't going to work. Ah told him that it wasn't going to."

"Why the hell did you let him talk you into it?" Remy leaned over Piotr's unconscious body, he pried one of the boy's eyes open and stared into it. Rogue wondered exactly what it was Remy might be looking for.

"It's part of our agreement before Ah go through the evolution process," Rogue explained. She sat on the edge of Piotr's bed, near his legs, which were dangling off the end of his single bed.

"And you just let him bully you into knocking Piotr out?" Remy demanded unhappily.

"Ah didn't let him bully me."

"Sure seems like you did."

"Piotr volunteered himself!" Rogue hissed.

"He probably didn't know what you were going to do. Jesus, Rogue, look at him! He's out cold!"

"What the fuck is your problem?" Rogue demanded angrily, feeling that Remy was picking on her when his issue should have been with Magneto.

"My problem? You've knocked one of my team!" Remy gestured to Piotr, "how long is this going to last?" he demanded. The voice he was using with her wasn't all that different from the tone he'd used on Pietro when he'd pinned him to the wall on Monday.

"Ah don't know, a few hours?" Rogue responded, unsure. She felt tears brimming her eyes and immediately hated herself for showing it.

"Are you this desperate to see your powers cured that you don't care who gets hurt in the process?" Remy asked of her coldly.

"Ah...Ah...Ah'm sorry..." she stammered meekly. She didn't like being yelled at, especially when she'd only done as she was told. While common sense told her she should have known better, the part of her desperate for help told her to just do whatever Magneto said, that he would help her.

"Christ, are you gonna cry now?" Remy asked, the angry expression falling from his face a little.

She looked away from him, pursing her lips together and lowering her head so her hair would hide her face. She felt one of the tears spill and trickle down her face and she quickly moved her gloved fingers up to brush the tear away before he could see it. S

Remy sighed and sat beside her on the bed, forcing Piotr's legs back a little as he did so. He took a deep, slow and deliberate breath, then said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. I'm having...a rough day..." he swept his hand through his damp hair frustratedly.

Rogue could say nothing. What could she say? She simply kept looking away from him, feeling incredibly lost, and sad and extremely beaten by his yelling at her. She'd never had him yell at her like this. She wondered if this was how Pietro or Lance felt whenever they ended up on the end of one of Remy's yelling fits.

"I didn't mean to take it out on you..." he said, softening his voice, although she could hear it was incredibly forced. "I don't like yelling at anyone..."

She still didn't respond. She was beginning to disbelieve this claim of his that he had made several times now since the day she'd joined the team.

"Rogue..." he touched her knee with his bare hand and she smacked it away, feeling quite angry with him for even trying to take that liberty given the way he'd just spoken to her.

"Don't," she warned.

"Come on, chere, you know I didn't mean it."

"Don't speak to me..." she stood up, "Never has anyone spoken to me the way you just did..." she headed for the door.

"Chere, come on, calm down, okay?" he begged of her, he followed and caught her halfway across the warehouse floor, just as she was approaching the stairs to the catwalk of her room.

"Don't call me chere," Rogue warned, she felt more tears escape. "You don't call someone that after yelling like that and makin' them feel like shit."

"Rogue..." he tried as she began her way up the stairs.

Rogue turned to glare at him through her blurred tears, "Don't! You're supposed to be my friend! But that's...that's really the way you see this...that Ah'm this...this selfish bitch who doesn't care about anythin' but gettin' what I want!"

"I never said that..."

"Oh?! What do you think desperate was meant to imply?"

"I didn't mean it that way...I was just...look, calm down and lets talk about this rationally."

"No," Rogue retorted coldly as she took off further up the stairs, "stay the hell away from me, Gambit. If Ah see your ass near my room, I'll absorb you too. Ah'm that desperate after all."

After slamming the door to her room, she crumbled to a heap on the floor and burst into tears, hating Magneto, hating Remy, and most importantly, hating herself.

Remy LeBeau didn't even wait to get dressed before he stormed into Magneto's office room following his argument with Rogue. He couldn't explain where the anger had come from, only that it had come. Seeing Piotr stumbling about the place liked a sedated giant had been disturbing, and seeing the look on Rogue's face when he'd spoken without thinking had been even more so.

Magneto glanced up from what he was doing, which was sitting at his desk working on a small piece of machinery; he didn't like being disturbed and it showed in his cool blue eyes as he glared at Remy. "I heard no knock," said Magneto.

"That's 'cause I didn't," Remy sucked up his nerves like soda through a straw.

"I don't wish to be disturbed," Magneto responded, sounding almost bored already. "I'm very busy, and I have a lot to do today and I could do without the interruptions."

"I don't care," Said Remy.

"I am not in the mood to listen to the buzzing of the bees in your bonnet, Gambit," Magneto warned irritably.

"Too bad," said Remy, full of bravado, hoping that it wasn't himself who was about to be pinned to a wall for insubordination. "What...the...fuck..." he gestured over his shoulder. "Rogue absorbing Piotr? Are you trying to kill him?!"

"Piotr has a strong constitution. He is more than capable of withstanding Rogue's powers for extended periods."

"Clearly. That's why he's out cold." Remy growled.

"He is being compensated handsomely for his participation."

"I don't care! You don't offer up your own team to be guinea pigs!"

Magneto slammed his hand against the desk furiously, "He came to me. He is looking for a way to earn money quickly and I gave him an opportunity to make some, which he gladly took."

"You took advantage," Remy spat, "You had him over a barrel! You took advantage of the fact he's desperate, of the fact that he needs money to sell to his poverty-stricken family back in Russia!"

"I did no such thing. I did not twist his arm. There are other ways he could have found money. He took the first opportunity offered, he did not ask if there was another."

"Of course he didn't, because you made him one he couldn't refuse," Remy said knowingly, understanding full well how Magneto worked.

"Are you quite finished?" Magneto asked.

"No. I want to know why the hell you forced Rogue to even go through with absorbing Pete repeatedly. You know how she feels about her powers."

"This is something she must overcome."

"To fix her powers?" Remy demanded with a snort of disgust.

"She told you?" asked Magneto casually, seeming ever more uninterested in even speaking with Remy at this moment.

"She told me what you plan to do for her. And you seriously believed that calming her mind was going to help her control her powers that easily?"

"No," Magneto replied coolly, "I did not. I understood perfectly that it wouldn't work."

"Then why-?!" Remy gaped, "why lie to her? Why put her through that? Why put Piotr through that when you knew all too well that it wouldn't?!"

"To harden her," Magneto responded.

Remy repeated the words, utterly baffled, "to...harden her...?"

"I offer absolutely no guarantees that evolving her powers will unlock her potential in controlling them. Evolving her powers may make her stronger, but it may never give her full control. Rogue needs to be prepared should this occur. She only grows ever more fragile, not stronger. She needs to be hardened, to grow cold to it, so that she feels nothing. Only then will she be prepared should her evolution be unsuccessful, and only when she no longer cares will she find a way to unlock what is preventing her from controlling her powers."

In disgrace, Remy shook his head, "you can't do that. It's like trying to freeze the petal of a rose with dry ice. You won't make her tougher...you'll just make her more fragile. You'll end up breaking her completely!"

"My intentions are not to break her."

"Then you gotta rethink your approach," Remy folded his arms.

"Why do you care, Remy? What do you have to gain?"

"She's one of the most powerful members of my team, and she's going to make a hell of a good second-in-command some day," Remy lied. In truth, the thought hadn't occurred to him at all until this moment, but he'd needed something believable that Magneto would be half invested in believing. "She's got the experience, she's got the abilities, she knows how to fight, and she knows the field in and out. She'd probably make a far better leader than I do," he added.

Magneto looked at him curiously, thinking about this.

"I need her in tact. I don't want her 'hardened'. Rogue doesn't need a thick skin, boss, and if she did, she'd find a way to grow one herself and not have it forced upon her. So you gotta find a different method of helping her..."

Magneto snorted, "you don't know what you're talking about," he scoffed.

"Don't I? You think your last example of tough love worked out well?" Remy asked, "Do you want Rogue to end up like Wanda?"

Magneto straightened up suddenly, his blue eyes met with Remy's with a strange, almost frightened realisation. Remy had expected by now to have been thrown against the wall, pinned there by some kind of projectile metal that Magneto always seemed to have plenty of around the room.

Instead, Magneto had that look that said he had completely absorbed what Remy had said, and was considering it.

"You asked me to be leader," said Remy, "And here I am, leading, trying to do what's best for the people you put me in charge of. Rogue is one of them. I'm saying lay off, help her another way, and don't try to toughen her up and make her to be someone she's not. And if I ever find out you're bullying the team into experiments..." Remy shook his head.

"Bullying," laughed Magneto, "you are going to stand there and accuse me of bullying? I heard what you did to my son a few days ago, Gambit. Do you think you're in any position to dictate to me about bullying people?"

Remy stood his ground, "discipline and bullying are two different things entirely," he retorted.

"Your team have a hard time agreeing with this view."

"If you don't want me leading, then fire me," Remy dared. "Let your son run the team, or let Wanda...see what happens...see how long it takes before someone is killed, or before the entire world things you're back out to cause chaos as terrorists."

Magneto's face fell, his expression darkened.

"I've made my requests," Remy stated, "find a nicer way to help Rogue deal with her powers, and leave my team out of your experiments. Those are my conditions."

"Is that all?"

"That's all," Remy uttered. And with that, he took off out of the room.

End of Part Seventeen

Hope everyone enjoyed this instalment. Thanks to everyone as usual for their kind reviews and comments. Makes my day. Love you all 3