MAGNETIC ATTRACTION

Part Twenty-Four

When Rogue awakened that Sunday morning, she felt the sharp internal pain of her injuries the moment she tried to even shift from her uncomfortable position. Groggy memories of the events that led to her fall swayed in and out like a weak tide. She could only vaguely remember the argument between Remy and Wanda that had disturbed her from an otherwise peaceful slumber. The details of their argument, she couldn't remember clearly, only that Remy had been tangled up in the rails of the staircase, and that Wanda had been screaming at him.

She tried to turn in the bed but it was impossible. There was still too much pain for that.

She rolled her head to the side to see that Remy was sitting upon the floor, his back against the wall, his neck bent forward; he seemed to be asleep. She wondered how long he had been there? All night?

As she tried to sit up, she found that her pyjama top was different. Ah was bleeding, she remembered. If she closed her eyes for a moment she could almost picture the pipe sticking out of her rib cage, and she could remember being almost naked on the bed as Magneto tried to treat her wounds. She pulled her top up weakly to examine the dressings taped in place, and she saw a small spot of blood on the white gauze. A grim reminder of how close to death she had been.

Ah really could have died. Ah felt myself dying...

Again, she tried to sit up, the pain was still excruciating, and she didn't mean to cry out quite as loudly as she did. The sound disturbed Remy, who immediately looked up, his eyes puffy, his face pale. He shot up, nearly tripping up on his own feet as he scrambled to get to her bed.

"What is it? Are you all right?" he asked hastily, still groggy from his sleep.

"Ah'm fine..." she said weakly, "Ah'm uncomfortable though...it hurts to move."

"Try to keep still...the stitches might burst," Remy said gently. "Wolverine came and touched you so you'd absorb some his healing powers. You were unconscious most of the time and too weak to absorb a whole lot but you took enough to get you off the critical list. Most of the internal damage is healed, but you still have the wounds. Magneto still had to stitch the wounds up..." he sat carefully on the edge of her bed.

"Is Wolverine still here?" Rogue asked as she let her head rest back against the pillows. She could only partly remember arguing with him that she didn't want to go back to the mansion, that she couldn't go, not yet.

"No...but he'll be back later so you can absorb some more of his powers."

Rogue placed her hand against the wound, although it caused pain to do so. "What happened..."

"Don't you know?"

"Ah don't remember a whole lot," she groaned in pain.

"Wanda was having another one of her famous pissy fits, and you walked in the middle of it..." he said, sounding somewhat vague.

"She had you trapped..." she stated, remembering that part clearly.

"I pissed her off."

Rogue wondered when it was he was going to admit to her exactly what had happened. She could only remember the vaguest parts of the argument, but from what she had seemed, the argument had seemed to be a lot more personal than he was letting on. Suddenly two and two seemed to add up to four, and four and four made eight. Things started making sense.

"It's Wanda...isn't it?" she asked weakly, feeling quite hurt.

Remy stared at her, he seemed quite bothered about the question, but hastily recomposed himself, straightened his back a little and said, "Huh?"

"Don't play stupid."

"Sorry, I don't know what you mean," he responded, his lie was blatant and obvious, even for as good a liar as he was.

"That you've been sleeping with."

His eyes fell to the floor, and he gave a deep sigh. Remy LeBeau had a whole lot in his life to feel guilty about but he had never looked more guilty of anything than he did this.

"Ah'm not an idiot, you know," she muttered. Even speaking hurt, each breath did too.

"How much did you hear?"

"Ah barely heard any of it," Rogue sighed, "but...it doesn't take a genius to figure out that it had to be Wanda. She's one of the only other two other girls here, and you said you wouldn't sleep with Tabitha. Lance says you rarely ever leave the warehouse..." she tilted her head to look at him. "So the choices are limited...and Ah'm pretty certain it's not me you've been banging, Remy."

Remy kept his eyes averted from hers, he still seemed quite ashamed.

"Are you going to say anything?" she demanded.

"I..."

"Talk for gods sake," she hissed in pain.

"It's been going on for about a month."

Rogue listened, keeping her eyes away from his.

"She's...just...she's impulsive, and we were bored, and it just sort of...happened."

"It just happened?" she raised an eyebrow. She could barely focus on the conversation her pain was so intense.

"I-" he tried.

"Sex doesn't just sort of happen, Remy. It isn't an accident like you just accidentally fell into her pants and whoops, you accidentally kept slamming in and out of her!" she growled.

After a moment of contemplation, he tried to explain himself, and did so rather poorly. "I thought it was just a casual thing. She gave every indication that it was. But suddenly me and you start spending time together and she started getting jealous."

Rogue snorted, "why would she be jealous of me? We're just friends."

"I've told her that but...girl ain't in her right mind. You know that," Remy rubbed the back of his neck, "Anyway...a week ago she comes out and tells me out of the blue that she wants more."

Rogue found this quite surprising, as she thought the idea of Remy and Wanda as a couple didn't quite work. She could definitely see it working sexually, with Wanda being as provocative and obviously promiscuous as she was. With Remy being as open to experience and receptive to the idea of sex, there was no doubt in her mind that it'd been impossible for the guy to say no. But she couldn't see it working romantically between the two. In fact, she couldn't see it working romantically with any girl and Remy LeBeau.

"So...are you two exclusive now?" Rogue asked. She wasn't sure why she felt so incredibly unhappy with the idea.

"No. I told her I didn't think it'd work out, but she started getting all emotional and told me she didn't think she wanted to live if she couldn't have me. I couldn't just...dump her then after hearing that so...I tried to reason with her that maybe we should try to be friends first, not have sex and work from there. I was hoping she'd get bored of not having sex – 'cause this girl is a fucking nymphomaniac...she wants it...all the time."

Rogue made a face, somehow she wasn't surprised about this.

"She's still been on my back all the time for sex...any time we're alone together, she's tryin' it on with me."

"Ah guess that's why you've been spendin' time up here," Rogue realised at once. "So you can avoid her."

"I came up here to spend time with you," Remy said rather quickly, his expression still guilty.

"Don't bullshit me, Remy," Rogue sighed, "Ah'm in too much pain to deal with your lies today. Ah'd rather you just be straight with me and cut out all the bullshit."

"All right," he sighed, "fine...I was avoiding her. It's why I wanted to sleep up here...so I could get some sleep."

Rogue frowned at him. "So you used me. You fucking used me. Again."

"It wasn't using you, chere..." he tried, sounding quite feeble in his attempt to convince her of this.

"Don't," Rogue warned him, "Ah told you not to bullshit me."

"I like spending time with you," He stated, "you know that. Why else would I go to a horror convention when I don't even like horror movies if I didn't like being with you, Rogue? Why would I sit and watch that godawful tacky Sleepaway Camp movie if I didn't like you?"

Rogue raised an eyebrow, "You watched the whole thing huh?" she asked weakly, disbelieving this.

"Yes, I did," he nodded, looking terribly defeated.

"And how does it end?" she demanded, not sure why it felt so important that he did. Perhaps it was the idea that he'd make that effort. She'd never known anyone who would go to the lengths of watching such a film just to appease her. At least if he'd watched it through to the end, it meant he at least cared enough to try...

"It ends..." he swallowed, "with a really fucked up shot showin' that the girl-"

"Angela," Rogue corrected.

"That Angela...wasn't all she seemed to be..." he finished, his voice thick.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Rogue looked away from him, it was hard to look at him right now, with that boyish expression that he knew he'd done wrong. He almost resembled a child being reprimanded. Remy might have suddenly been five years old, being told off for having his hand in the cookie jar. "Why the hell didn't you just tell me you were sleeping with Wanda in the first place?" she asked irritably. "Why all the fucking lies?!"

"I didn't lie...I just...didn't tell you..." he tried to explain, seeming most unhappy about this.

"Why? You said you were my friend, if you thought that then you could have told me..."

"I didn't want anyone knowing. I...hate feeling ashamed of anythin' but...I was. I am. It was supposed to just burn itself out. But it never did. And...I thought if I told you, you'd just...be disgusted with me."

"Ah am..." Rogue coughed, still feeling a little sore internally as she did so. She made a face.

"Yeah, I know," he sighed, "I'm a pervert, right? A sex fiend, an asshole, a jerk..."

"Your obsession with sex isn't what bothers me," Rogue said quickly, throwing him a dangerous look. "Ah knew you were a fucking pervert, Ah've been in your head more than once, I know you have sex on the fucking brain," she reminded. "What pisses me off...what bothers me...is that you slept with a girl you know isn't in her right mind. More than once."

"Well...I..." he gritted his teeth.

Rogue winced at her pain, "you took advantage..."

"No, wait a minute," he held up his hand in his defence, "I took advantage of her? Are you serious? She came in one day and practically just mounted me even after I told her I wasn't in the mood. I let her take advantage of me."

"And you never took advantage in all those weeks?" Rogue asked pointedly.

He seemed to need a moment to think about this properly, and then he responded unhappily with "Once. And only once. I never took advantage any other time. I did, however, just let her take advantage on a repeated basis...it seemed...like the best solution at the time."

"Remy, you repeatedly let a woman who isn't in her right mind have sex with you and you didn't expect this to happen eventually? You thought it would just all go away magically? That there were no repercussions?!" every time she tried to yell the pain shot through her and made her gasp.

"When your dick makes the decisions for you, it's hard to think of consequences..." Remy sighed, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For?"

"Letting you down..." he got down onto his knees by the side of her bed, ready to plead. "For dragging you into it, getting you involved, endin' up getting you hurt. You're the last person I wanted to see hurt..." he placed his hand up on her arm.

If he hadn't admitted to all he'd just admitted to, she might not have recoiled so very quickly in the way she did. But in this case, she had to, still feeling quite dismayed with the whole thing. Before she took her eyes off of him, she caught the expression of hurt in his eyes that she pulled away from his touch. She couldn't feel sorry for him right now, not after what he'd done.

She'd thought he was slightly more sensible than this. She'd been admiring how clever he'd been, how much of a quick thinker he was, and how he always seemed to know what he was doing. This whole thing with Wanda just spoke of pure and utter stupidity and selfishness.

"You know the sad part," Rogue asked, grimacing at her pain, "Ah feel bad for Wanda."

"Are you serious?" he blinked, "why would you feel sorry for her?! She nearly killed you!"

"Ah know what it's like bein' in love with someone you can't have, Remy. It's heartbreakin'. That girl can't control her powers or her emotions. And she has to deal with wonderin' what it was about her that wasn't good enough for you. She'll probably be askin' herself for some time what she did wrong."

"I can't believe you're siding with her..." Remy stared at her in dismay.

"I can't believe you'd let a mentally unstable get involved with you and then act like you didn't expect there to be consequences. You're smarter than that, Remy. Or at least, Ah thought you were."

His face fell, and he seemed quite dejected.

"All this time I've been here thinking how smart you are, how you had it all figured out, all together. Ah admired you...Ah believed in you...and this whole time you've been unravellin' right before my eyes. Ah don't think Ah even know you!" Rogue hissed, then shut her eyes tightly as the pain reminded her not to even raise her voice. "And you know what...Ah don't blame Wanda one bit for gettin' mad, Remy."

"I suppose you're not going to blame her for hurting you either," Remy remarked, suddenly sounding quite bitter.

"Ah don't think she meant that to happen," Rogue responded, she placed her hand over her wound and winced in pain.

"Chere..." he reached for her once again, quickly, with her other hand, she swatted him away.

"Don't..." she felt tears brimming her eyes of pain. "Just get out of my room...Ah can't even look at you right now."

"But..." he tried to console her, but she wasn't having any of it.

"No!" Rogue yelled, and as she did so she went to lean up. A pain shot through the wound in her back and she gave a sharp gasp.

"Chere..."

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to focus on the pain leaving her but it was not. "Pain..." she gasped again. She felt him lean down to her and put his arm around her shoulders to lift her slightly, the other hand she felt beneath her back just where the wound was. Even his touch was pure agony.

She opened her eyes as he released her and stared at his hand, which was bright red with her blood.

"Oh fuck..." he whispered.

"It hurts," she whimpered.

"I'm gonna get help, okay, just...just stay put..."

"Does it look like Ah'm gonna go somewhere?" she gasped in pain. It was the last thing she remembered before the pain caused her to finally black out.

Remy had never felt so scared in his life as he had in the past twelve hours. Remy LeBeau ever rarely cried, but the stress was getting to be so much that he could feel it coming on and he didn't want to be in anyone's presence when it occurred. The knowledge he was crumbling was bad enough, but the thought of letting others see it was too soul destroying to allow.

He climbed to the roof of the warehouse, hoping no one would think to look for him up there. He stared out at the woodlands, the trees were swaying around in the bitter October wind that had begun to howl furiously. The rain had stopped for now, but he could feel the occasional pinpoint sized drop of it hit his cheek; the grey clouds above promised much more of it to come.

This is all your fault, he told himself angrily as he swiped at the tears that kept threatening to spill down his cheeks. He wasn't about to let himself cry completely, but he couldn't fight these occasional leaks that kept springing all the same.

Rogue nearly died because of you, her stitches burst because of you...

Even though Rogue was going to survive her injuries thanks to Wolverine, Remy couldn't make himself feel any less guilty. You ruined it. You had this...incredible friendship...she was right there in front of you, and it felt good to not be a fucking outcast for once, to have someone. And you ruined it. She couldn't even stand you to touch her, couldn't bear you near her...

Thoughts of what Wolverine had said last night were still fresh in his mind as much as the sight of Rogue's blood was.

Is he right? Remy wondered. Do I want her? Is that why I keep dreaming about having sex with her? Is that why I haven't worked harder at trying to talk her out of evolution?

It didn't seem right to him. It didn't feel completely sexual to him. There was a sexual element, yes. He was attracted to her somewhat, yes. But there was something else to it.

You've fallen for her, Remy thought. That was what Wolverine said. He thinks I've fallen for Rogue. How could he know that if I don't even really know if that's what it is? How do you know when you've fallen in love with someone?

No one had ever explained it to him. If they had, he wondered if he'd have even listened properly. He'd been too interested in falling in lust to bother with falling in love. Falling in love was for normal humans. For people who wanted to settle down, have some kids, a joint bank account and maybe some pets, maybe even a mortgage.

Falling in love for mutants felt pointless to Remy. Constant element of danger, why bother building a life with someone when that life could be snatched away at any given time by any number of incidents? .

Spend every moment havin' one experience after the other, never settle, that'd always been Remy LeBeau's philosophy. Only now...he had settled. He'd settled into being the leader of a team of mutants, and it felt...permanent. It wasn't temporary like everything in his life had ever been. He was almost starting to see a future somewhere in what he was doing even if he hated it all the same.

Why put in all this hard work if there's not a future to work for? Remy wondered.

He supposed it didn't matter in the end. Even if it was love he felt for the girl, all chances of it were ruined now. Wanda had made sure of that. Rogue wasn't likely to trust him now that she felt used by him again. And he wasn't even sure how he was going to deal with Wanda. He had the feeling he was going to pay for his betrayal, and he supposed in a way it would be no less than he deserved.

Brought this all on yourself. Serves you right.

"I have been looking all over for you."

Remy turned to see Magneto there, floating by the edge of the roof, his hair stirring in the wind. "Came up here to be alone," he responded, hoping it would be enough to make his employer go.

"We should talk," said Magneto. "I expected you to come by my office as I requested last night, but you did not. I see I shall have to bring the discussion to you."

Remy let his arms rest on his knees and stared out at the woods again, "fine."

Magneto came over to him, and sat beside him on the dirty roof.

"How's Rogue?"

"Resting. Wolverine returned and has provided her with more of his power. For now, her wounds are healing. I do not doubt she will be healed by tomorrow morning. Her body should be well enough for her to return to school with no complications."

"Good," Remy nodded. "Wanda wake up yet?" he asked casually. The last he'd known, she'd still been heavily sedated.

"She has."

"I see," Remy glanced down at his hand absently, and picked at a loose piece of dry skin hanging by his fingernail.

"She told me about your...arrangement with her."

The fear of God rushed through Remy. Great, I'm sittin' on a roof five floors up and this bastard is gonna push me off for screwin' his only daughter.

Magneto was silent for a moment, "I'm disappointed-" he began.

"I'm sorry," Remy said quickly interrupting, just as Magneto finished his sentence.

"-In Wanda."

Remy turned to stare at the man, "huh?"

"She told me everything of course...and I honestly thought she'd have the sense to know better."

That sure ain't a discussion I'd want to have with my Daddy if I were a girl, Remy thought in disgust. How much detail had Wanda gone into with Magneto? How much had she told him about? About the Laundry room? Remy felt strangely sick as he looked back to the woods.

"I'm...sorry," Remy responded, looking away sheepishly. It was all that he supposed he could say in this situation. It wasn't going to ever be good enough, but at least it was something.

"I suppose I'm the one who should be sorry. It is I who should have been working on her powers with her...not you. If I had been paying more attention perhaps she would not have turned to you for help with them in the first place, leading to all that went wrong last night."

In astonishment, Remy turned back to Magneto to question if he had just heard right. The man was looking at the view of the woodlands just as he had been. Working with her on her powers? Is that what she told him?

"I understand you have a...responsibility to the team," said Magneto, "but I assumed even you would know when to not push things. You are trying to run before you can walk and Rogue nearly paid for it last night. Wanda's powers are not for experimentation...and you should have not tried to help her work on them without supervision. Especially not indoors in an area that could be so immediately affected by her powers."

"I'm...sorry..." Remy said again, perplexed.

"I suppose this was your form of payback for how I handled the situation with Rogue," said Magneto with a frown. "Almost as if you believed that what goes around comes around."

"I..." Remy faltered.

"Except that in this case your foolishness cost extensive damage and nearly killed your team mate. The gymnasium project is nearly ruined. Not much can be salvaged, and if not for Rogue's unique gift, she would have been lost too."

Remy's heart sank. All the hard work he and the others had put into it and there was hardly any of it left. He'd been hardly able to look at the carnage of it as he'd passed by it to get to Rogue's room earlier. Hours and hours of sweat and frustration for nothing. For his own deceit and Wanda's jealousy to tear it down in seconds.

Suppose that stuff doesn't matter much in comparison to how much Rogue's life is, he realised unhappily.

"I'm sorry," Remy said again, feeling very inarticulate right now. He wanted to tell his employer the truth...except the truth was probably going to gain him an even more severe punishment. Perhaps even exile.

"Your apology is useless to me," said Magneto.

"How can I redeem myself?" Remy plucked up the courage to ask. Why do you even care? Why not just pack what little shit you have and go, get the fuck out of this place. Anythin' has to be better than this stress.

"You'll be expected to compensate that damage yourself," Magneto remarked coldly, "and you'll be doing most of the work yourself too. I don't see why the others should be made to rebuild what your own mistakes destroyed."

Ain't like I wasn't doin' most of the work anyway, thought Remy unhappily, he rubbed his forehead as a headache began to thump right behind his eyes.

"In future, I'd prefer it if you'd leave Wanda alone," Magneto said, he stood up and floated away from the roof, "I see you were trying to help her, and in some way I am grateful...but only I can help her."

Remy stared up at the man curiously. If Magneto thought he could help his daughter, why hadn't he up until now? Why did he now sound so sure of it? An odd pang of uneasiness gripped at his gut as he tried to process this comment.

As Magneto left, Remy contemplated. Whatever he had meant by the statement. It seemed almost ominous, and he knew the man well enough to pay attention when he said ominous things in such a way. His gut told him something was going to come of it.

I really need to sleep, try to clear my head, he thought as he headed for the drainpipe he'd climbed up to get to the roof. As he climbed down, he saw Wolverine on his motorcycle riding off from the yard, and felt thankful at least for now he'd managed to avoid the guy. Wonder if he spilled the beans about our deal to Rogue? Remy pondered unhappily.

When he got into the warehouse, the place was quiet. Lance and Piotr were outside working on the transit van (with the plans of working on Rogue's car later) and Pietro was apparently still in bed, Tabitha was not home as far as Remy could tell as her annoying pop music couldn't be heard from outside as it usually could be.

Remy was thankful for the lack of noise. Right now, he didn't need any additional aggravation to the headache that was building. He had almost gotten to his bedroom door when Wanda appeared almost as if out of nowhere.

He could see from her eyes she was sleepy, her pupils seemed incredibly dilated as if she were on something but what that might be, he wasn't sure. Her hair was wet from a shower, and she was clad in an oversized t-shirt and socks. Apparently this was one Sunday she wasn't going to bother getting dressed for. "Wanda..." he said quietly.

Wanda leaned against the wall, her sleepy eyes meeting with his. She seemed far too exhausted to be angry. She said nothing, but after a moment, she pushed herself away from the wall to head towards her bedroom, and she nodded in the direction to indicate he should follow.

Remy glanced around quickly to make sure her father weren't around and then followed reluctantly to Wanda's bedroom. Now wasn't the time to argue, not while Rogue was still incapacitated. As he stepped in, Wanda locked her door regardless of whether her father would have been able to get in or not. They stood, staring uneasily at each other for some moments, until Remy was the first to break the ice, unable to stand the tension any more.

"You covered for me."

"He'd have sent you away," Wanda responded, her voice strangely monotone as she sat upon the edge of her bed, she lay back a little, elbows propping her up. The fatigue was evident on her face.

"Are you...on something?"

"Meds," she responded, she parted her legs a little and beckoned for him to come to her.

He snorted, "that's what this is...you expect me to be thankful for not putting me in hot water with your dad."

She smirked, but it wasn't her usual crazed and knowing smirk, it was much more lazy, a drug-induced smirk. She was just barely there. He wondered how long it would possibly take her to just fall asleep if he stood and argued long enough.

"Nothin' has changed. Our deal still stands, friendship, then-" he began.

"No," she shook her head, "you see...you don't get to call the shots any more," she pushed herself up a little, "I found out you've been keeping secrets..."

"Oh really?" he asked, folding his arms and waiting expectantly.

"You've been working with Wolverine."

He kept his poker face, while internally trying to process exactly how she knew this.

"There's only one reason you'd have his number in your phone."

"What number?" he played stupid. How could she know? I didn't even name that contact in my phone! When did she rifle through my contacts?! Is that why my phone keeps missing calls and contacts keep going missing?

"Oh..." she reached forward for the belt to his jeans and began to unbuckle. "Well, you see, I took the number down and checked it with numbers in my father's phone, and well...it showed up as Wolverine. So you're hiding something. You really want my father knowing you're double-crossing him and working for the X-Men?" she pulled the belt free and tossed it to the floor.

Remy caught her wrists, he felt his stomach churn at the thought of this. "I'm not working with Wolverine." Not any more, he thought.

"Then you have nothing to fear if I tell my father," she stood up slowly, slightly unsteady, and he had to catch her.

She can't tell him, Remy thought. Rogue would find out, she'd never forgive me. "That's blackmail," he hissed, not taking kindly to it.

"Call it what you like," she moved to the door lazily and reached for the handle.

"Can't we just...talk about this?" he asked, twisting her around and pinning her to the door, removing her hand from the handle.

"What's to talk about? You chose that little southern-trash whore over me, so-"

"I didn't choose anyone," Remy retorted, slightly insulted by the name calling directed at Rogue. "I never did anything with Rogue."

"Bull."

"Your father asked me to spend time with her so I did. It was an order."

"I don't believe you," Wanda uttered.

Remy let go of her hand and gestured to the door handle, "ask him," he suggested. He knew she wasn't about to.

Her eyes raised to his.

"I wasn't lying when I told you that I've been faithful since the moment we started fucking," he looked her straight in the eye, "not with Rogue, not with any girl. I haven't kissed or even fucked anyone but you since we started."

Wanda snorted as if she didn't believe this. Strangely, it was the one thing he was being honest about. When he thought about it, this was the longest relationship he'd ever technically been in, even if it wasn't technically a relationship.

"I swear."

Boldly, she reached to touch him, and her hand slid inside his jeans; he breathed deeply at the touch. It'd been far too long already and there wasn't enough fight in him emotionally or physically to abstain much longer.

You promised you wouldn't let it go this far again, why are you letting her back in? You had a perfectly good plan all mapped out.

Wanda's lips found his and he kissed her back reluctantly, his hands finding her hips.

But that was before she found out about my spending time with Rogue. Before she nearly killed Rogue with her powers. Long as she's happy, for now, she'll lay off. That's what she's getting at here. All I gotta do is take one for the team, and Rogue will be safe, Magneto won't find out about the real cause of the accident, and I might still be able to talk Rogue into leaving here so she doesn't end up hurt again.

His thoughts screamed that he was doing the wrong thing even as he turned her to the bed and pushed her down there gently. After a moment of kissing on the mattress, Wanda rolled him over, and pinned him down, biting his bottom lip in the process.

"No," he refused, "Not rough. Not today."

Her slightly doped expression was vague as she stared down at him, not quite understanding what had changed or why he was suddenly being so picky.

"I don't want it like that no more..." he wrestled her back over and held her arms down gently. "You want me to have sex, fine..." he gave in, "But...it's gonna be my way, not yours. You don't like it, then forget it."

She lay there looking up at him, perplexed by his demands.

This is pretty all you can do to keep the situation under control. Make a bad situation into a tolerable one. It's what you've always done.

He could only hope Magneto had been serious when he'd said only he could help her. He just hoped that was going to be sooner rather than later.

End of Part Twenty-Four

Aaaagh! He's done it again! I'm sure there'll be some general unhappiness amongst readers that Remy falls back into the trap yet again, but sacrifice is sacrifice after all, lol.

Thanks to everyone for their awesome reviews. I'm always excited to hear from people! You guys rock, seriously. :) 3