Remy's Diabolical Plan

Chapter Eleven: One Diabolically Boring Mission

~X~

After swimming (and attacking each other) in the water all day, Rogue and Remy didn't have a lot of time to spare from the time that they finally got out to when they were supposed to be down at the docks for their nightly shift. They had just enough time to go home, shower, put on fresh clothes and then get back in the car and drive down to the docks, stopping to get fast food on the way.

It was just reaching the point of full darkness as they drove along towards the docks, stuffing their faces with hamburgers and fries the whole way. They arrived just as the fisherman was climbing in his truck to leave and Scott was standing next to the rental car with Jean and looking at them disapprovingly.

"Don't look so glum, now," Remy told him as he climbed out of the car. "We're here, everythin's good. Go home and sleep innocently in the same room together…"

Scott opened his mouth to probably insist that they weren't doing anything but stopped when Jean placed a hand on his arm.

"Let's go," she said calmly. "I'm hungry. Feed me."

Scott nodded and opened the door for her just as Remy spoke up.

"Oh yeah," he grinned and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "feed her Scott, she's hungry."

Scott had no retort other than a glare but he did close the passenger door a bit harder than was necessary.

Rogue had already walked down the small hill to the beach next to the docks and was calling to him. "Cajun, where the hell are you? Get your ass over here!"

"She's so lovely," Remy smiled and then turned to follow after her voice. "Coming!" He called and then laughed. "Heh heh, I said a dirty word."

Behind him, Scott, rolling his eyes, climbed into the car and 'accidently' turned the bright lights on and hit the car horn at the same time. Remy jumped at the loud noise and was suddenly blinded but continued to grin stupidly (with his eyes closed) and wave them off anyway.

As soon as Scott had driven off, Remy was thrown back into darkness and blinked at the white spots in front of his eyes. It took him a moment, but eventually he was able to see again. The full moon hanging overhead cast some light along the beach and the distant lights from buildings down the road twinkled. There was a bench when you walked down the stairs, down the hill, and onto the sand, sitting and facing the ocean. This was where he found Rogue sitting and waiting for him.

"What took you so long?" She asked and scooted over to allow him room to sit.

He sighed in contentment and sat down, stretching his legs out in front of him and placing both arms along the back of the bench. "I had to mess with Scott."

"Dirty."

"I know."

Rogue shook her head and looked away from him. Her gaze swept over the beach and to the dock. There was a dock lantern at the end of it, casting out an orange glow across the water. From where they sat they could a few of the buoys floating out (wide apart) in the water. They couldn't see all of them but that wasn't the point. The point was to see if anyone rode up to sabotage them.

"You think we'll have to do this all summer?" She asked dully.

Remy shrugged. "Hopefully. I thought you wanted to stay at the beach?"

"Oh I do," she reassured him, "But this right here…this whole mission is boring. All we're doing is starin at an orange buoy all night long."

"It's better than listenin to your brother snorin all night long," he shuddered. "He snores loud. And he drools, too."

Rogue laughed softly at that image and then gazed up at the moon. If you thought about it, there wasn't really anything spectacular about it...except that it affected the oceans tides, the earth's solar orbit and rotational speeds, and we would be doomed without it. But other than all that important stuff it was just big, white rock with a lot of damage. Yet there was something eerily romantic about it. Not that anything about this night was romantic. No, no, not at all. Sitting on the beach while listening to the sounds of the ocean and looking up at the full moon with Remy was not romantic in the least. Why the word romantic had even popped into her head was questionable. It was probably because she was tired from swimming all day and hadn't had much to eat.

Yes, that was it.

It made no sense, but as those thoughts went through her mind, so did a certain event that had happened earlier that day. No matter how hard she tried, Rogue couldn't banish the thought of the feel of Remy's hands on her back as he rubbed sun block on her skin. Did he mean for that to feel so good? Did it really feel good, or was it something in the lotion like she had initially thought? Probably the latter. Remy didn't think of her that way…of that she was sure.

Remy didn't take his eyes off of the white orb above them as he spoke. "Did ya know that there used to be volcanoes on the moon?"

"What?" Rogue turned to look at him skeptically. "Why do you say that?"

"That's just what they say."

"Who is they?"

"Scientists I guess." He shrugged again. "I watched a special about the moon on TV."

"Uh-huh." She nodded and turned back to look at the sky, only half listening.

"Do ya know how it affects the tides?"

"Hm?"

"It has gravity, and when it makes its orbit around the earth, that gravity is tryin to pull the earth, but all it's able to pull towards it is the ocean's water. That's called high tide." He said proudly.

"Cool."

"I know. I thought so."

"How did you manage to sit still for an hour and watch that?"

"I can sit still," he motioned to his lap. "Look at me now."

She glanced at him with a slight smirk before turning away again. "Yes, there you are."

"I tried to watch the next special," Remy continued, "but it was about Uranus and that was just too gross for me."

Rogue turned back with a quirked eyebrow. "Are you being serious or was that a lame joke?"

Remy grinned.

"Oh good grief," she muttered and scanned the water to check on the buoys. They were are still floating there safe and sound so she turned back to stare at the light in the sky. "I'm bored, Remy. Think of somethin to do."

If she didn't trust him to be so buddy buddy with her he would have made a great suggestion of what they should do. That was always fun. But Rogue was his friend and he had to be more respectful to her. Respectful meaning that he should just come up with more lies to make her his.

"You haven't helped Remy much with his problem," he said. "Jessica…" He tried to put as much feeling into saying that name as he could. Rogue turned to regard him with a strange look. Maybe he had overdone it. Or maybe she was already growing wild with desire and lust for him.

"What did you want me to do, exactly?" She asked unsurely.

"We already been over this." He said, causing Rogue to clench her jaw. "Help this Cajun to become a better man." He paused before he turned fully towards her on the bench. "OK, so here's my main problem…we've become friends, good friends—"

"Wait," she interrupted, "I thought you said you met her before we left Bayville."

"I did," he nodded, cursing himself for forgetting that little detail. "I met her two weeks before we went on the mission. That's the same, right?"

Rogue's palm found her face. "Sure, whatever," she said in muffled voice. "Go on."

"Yeah, so we're friends. I know she likes me. But only in a friendly way. She doesn't know that I feel about her the way that I do. And so I don't know how to let her know that I love her and to make her see me as more than a friend." He sighed. "And even if she don't love me back," he said drearily, "I don't wanna lose her."

"Remy," she started slowly, "I'm not tryin to undermine your feelings or anything, but ain't that kind of fast? You've known her for two weeks and you're in love with her and she's your best friend?"

"Don't you worry chère," he patted the top of her head. "I love her but you're my best friend, no one can take your place."

"You didn't address the other things," she said, trying to sound disapproving but couldn't help but smile.

His hand fell back to the back of the bench and he tried to look oblivious. "What other things?"

"How you're goin too fast."

"Love is strange thing," he said quietly and stared past her to the ocean water. "It sneaks up on you. You don't get to decide who you fall for, it just happens. And when it does…it can build you up and tear your down at the same time. It makes you happy and it makes you sad. It gives you a reason to live and it gives you a reason to hurt. I didn't believe that until…her."

"Since when did you become so poetic?" She asked sarcastically, for some reason uncomfortable when Remy talked about his secret love.

"Oh, that wasn't poetic, chére." he grinned. "If Remy wanted to be poetic it would be somethin like-"

"Don't do it." She warned but Remy had already grabbed her hand and adorned a wistful and serious (which turned out just being goofy) look on his face.

"Rogue, oh Rogue," he recited and she glared and tugged on her hand in his grip. "How your locks shine white like the moon," he flicked some of her white bangs and she swatted at the offending hand. "How your glare makes me think of a wild cannibal swingin an ax at my head." She glared harder at him and tried not to laugh. "How your grip on my hand at this current moment reminds me of the way a garbage truck smashes the trash together. Ouch."

"Remy, stop goofin around!"

"And your eyes!" The goofy look on his face increased as he leaned forward and her chest was starting to hurt with the effort she was making not to laugh. "Your eyes are like two green toads floatin on two green lily pads on some green, murky water."

"You're terrible at this."

"Remy ain't ever written poetry before."

"I wouldn't start," She told him seriously and finally managed to twist her hand out of his. "You're invadin my personal bubble; go over there."

Grinning, Remy slid back away from her and put his arms on the back of the bench again. "But let's be serious again…"

"When were we serious?" She asked incredulously.

"This thing with Jessica really is a problem." He ignored her and continued talking. "You know me, and you're a girl—woman!" He said quickly when she shot him a look. "And you should know how another woman might react to this."

"How would I know that?"

"Because all women think the same," he said dubiously.

"No they don't." she told him. "Every person thinks differently. Everyone processes and reasons things differently. Some people can be similar in their way of thinkin, and if they are then they're usually the ones that end up being married for fifty years. But NO, women don't all think the same way on the same things."

Remy gaped at her. "Then I'm doomed!"

"No you're not," she reassured him.

"Then what do I do?"

"Before you're friends for too long, give her a clear cut sign that you want to date her."

"Wait," he held up a hand. "What do you mean by friends for too long? How long is too long?"

Rogue thought for a moment. "Well I guess too long would be…Over three months. That's too long. If you wait that long, then you'll fall into the friend zone and it will be harder for her to see you as anything else."

Somewhere, someone was laughing at his misfortune. If this was the way that Rogue thought about him in love with some made up woman, then this would most certainly be the way she thought about him being in love with her. She would think that he had waited too long and now she only saw him as a friend and nothing more. He had joined the X-men seven months ago and he and Rogue had been friends ever since. If three months was too long in her opinion, then seven months was probably even worse.

But could he change her mind? Possibly. He wasn't going to give up on that idea because she was partly wrong in her assessment. He had been friends with her for five months before he had fallen in love. Before that he saw her as Rogue, his friend and fellow team mate with pretty hair, nice rear end, and someone who could make him laugh until he cried. And then, after that light from the sky shone down on her that day on the lawn, she wasn't just Rogue anymore. She was Rogue.

And that was all the description that needed.

"Ok," he said weakly. "So what kind of sign do I need to send her?"

"Send her roses or better yet, ask her on a date."

"I can't do that." He said quickly, imagining the look on Rogue's face if he sent her flowers. She would think he was insane and then his whole plan would be caput. He couldn't tell her how he felt until he was sure that she felt the same way towards him.

Rogue sighed in exasperation. "Then I don't know what else to tell you!"

"I don't really know how to talk to her."

"But you just said she was your friend!"

"I did," Remy thought quickly, "but I don't know how to…date her."

"Just be yourself."

"Really?" He grinned.

She sat for a moment, thinking over her words. "Well maybe not too much. Like for instance, don't steal anything when you take her out. Don't tell her you were a thief and don't pull out your cards and start shuffling them. I know you do that when you're nervous."

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's not normal. She's human, right?"

"I think. But shuffling my cards is just part of my charm," he showed off his dimple as he pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket. "See?" He took one card out and flipped it over the backs of fingers and back in the deck. "If I can do something impressive with these cards with these fingers, imagine what my fingers could with…other things."

Rogue flushed. She awkwardly cleared her throat and determinedly kept her gaze from his hands. He had already made her think about that damn sun block massage with them and now he was causing her imagination to work in over drive. Thinking about all the wonderful things her friend's hands could do was NOT a subject she wanted to be spending too much time thinking about. She already couldn't forget the way her skin had tingled earlier and this was just making it worse. But this was probably all due to…to…something…dammit she couldn't think of anything!

"Well, that's uh—uh—um," she stuttered and then cleared her throat again. "That's great. Do whatever you want. If it's worked before then it might in this case."

"Yeah, maybe so…" He smirked at her flushed face and just for kicks continued to shuffle the cards in his hands.

But she stubbornly looked away from him, once again sweeping her eyes over to check on the buoys and then back out across the beach. They fell silent for a good fifteen minutes after that, just listening to the ocean and thinking their own thoughts.

'Stupid hands!' Rogue was mentally cursing at herself. 'Those damn hands! Stop thinkin about them! Think about somethin else. Think about Kurt. Think about Kurt eating pancakes. Think about Kurt eating pancakes with Remy across from him shuffling cards—no! AH! Kurt, Kurt! Think about Kurt! He's your brother and you don't find him sexy at all. Not that you find Remy's hands sexy, you pervert. Kurt eating pancakes…What is it with him eating pancakes all of the sudden? Where did this obsession come from? What kind of syrup does he like best? Why pancakes and not waffles? Is there really a difference?'

Remy clicked his tongue as he continued to shuffle the cards in his lap. He glanced sideways over at Rogue and wondered why she had such a strained look on her face. His thought process was something more like…'Sex, sex, sex, Rogue, sex, sex, sex, Rogue, sex, sex, sex, cards, Rogue, sex, sex EXPLOSIONS!'

Or something like that.

"Rogue?" he broke the silence and reached over to tap her on the nose with the two of hearts. "You wanna take Remy clothes shoppin' tomorrow?"

"Why would I do that and are you gonna pay?" She asked as she leaned away from the card at her nose.

"Of course," he pulled back and slipped the card back into the deck. "And I want you to pick out some clothes for me that women would like."

"There's nothin wrong with your clothes, you just wear that same shirt all the time."

"I like this shirt." He said defensively.

"Yes, you've said that. But look!" She leaned over and pointed to a little bleach spot on the blue material on his shoulder. "You've got a bleach stain, and I know there's a hole in this armpit-" she poked his arm, "and you've pulled this string here," there was a loose string on the side over his ribs, "and the seam is coming undone!"

"I've had this shirt for six years," he started to argue. "It's perfectly fine."

Rogue stared at him. "Ok, did you hear the first part of that statement? You've had it for six years. You got it when you were fifteen. That's absurd. You need a new shirt. Actually, you need more than one new shirt because that's the only one you ever wear."

"Fine," he grumbled. "But I'm ain't throwin it out!"

"And why the hell not?!"

"It holds sentimental value." He said stubbornly.

"Does it really? Or are you just a hoarder?"

"I ain't!" After stuffing the cards back in his pocket, Remy crossed his arms over his chest. "If anyone's a hoarder it's you."

Rogue narrowed her eyes at him when she saw he was trying not to laugh.

"Is this another Uranus like joke?"

Remy bit his lip to keep from grinning.

"That joke sucks. Pick a new one."

"Alright," Remy grinned and looked over at her. "Your momma's so fat, she walked past the TV and I missed the whole first season of Lost."

"Still not good enough."

"Hm," he thought for a moment. "Ok—roses are red, violets are blue, God made me pretty, what the hell happened to you?"

"You're sayin things fifth graders say at recess. I've heard that one a million times."

"But you're so pretty!"

"Hush."

"Nice blush."

"They weren't sayin it to me when I heard it," Rogue explained. "And even if they had said to me, their faces would have been smashed into the ground and then they wouldn't be pretty at all. Anyway, go on."

"Ok, but just remember you made me do this." He told her seriously. "I'm goin to have to pull out my personal favorites now."

"Ok."

"Prepare yourself."

"Ok."

"It's coming."

"Ok."

"Stop saying ok."

"Ok."

"Here we go." He waited for a second to give the appropriate amount of time for a 'dramatic pause' before continuing. "You're so dumb, you got hit by a parked car. Your village called, they're missing an idiot. Yo momma's so fat, she got arrested at the airport for ten carrying ten pounds of crack. Your wheel is turning, but the hamster is definitely dead. And the best one—" He stopped and listened to her giggling. "Can I borrow your face for a few days while my ass is on vacation?"

"That was better!" She laughed. "Where did you learn all that?"

He shrugged. "Middle school."

She stopped laughing. "Are you serious?"

"Of course," he answered truthfully.

"Oh wow."

"What?"

"Nothin."

As the quiet washed over them again, they both turned and grinned at one another and then away again. They sat in amicable silence, occasionally looking over to check on the buoys, only to find them perfectly safe each time. The quiet was constantly punctuated by the sound of the ocean's waves hitting the beach and as the night wore on, the moon above them shifted in the sky.

After nearly falling asleep for the third time, Remy, shaking his head to wake himself up, pulled out his cell phone to check on the time. It was just now nearing midnight. They still had six hours to go. Rogue seemed perfectly fine and not at all sleepy as she read a book that she had seemingly pulled out of no where, aided by the light of her own cell phone. Remy glared at her profile. How was she so awake? Well, probably because she had woken up at noon that day whereas he had gotten up at eight. He had known that he shouldn't get up so early when he had a shift that night. But Remy didn't like sleeping late. He liked the morning time and he enjoyed getting up early. He also liked staying up late. Remy could go to bed at three in the morning and then get up at six and be fine. Rogue, however, needed at least nine hours of sleep at night or she was a grouch all day.

He glanced over at her again. What was she reading? And why hadn't he thought to bring Diabolical Seduction with him? Alejandro and Rosita never got boring. They were the perfect lust match. Remy idly wondered what happened after the book was over. It had said—And they lived sexily ever after—but what did that mean, really? No one could be sexy their whole life. Did Alejandro love Rosita just as much when she was old and had white hair? Did he still love her after she had four kids and had put on a few pounds? Did Rosita still love Alejandro even when he had he started having smoking problems and couldn't hold down a good job and never wanted to help out around the house?

Then he thought about it in terms of himself and the woman next to him. Rogue had some white hair now so that wouldn't be a problem with him when it was all white. If she had kids and put on weight, then there was just be more to love. And if it came down to it, just so she wouldn't feel left out, maybe he would give in and do the thing he had been restricting himself from for a long time. Eating as many milkshakes as he could. That future seemed bright. Rogue with white hair, slightly overweight and with four little boys (miniature Remys) dressed in mini brown leather coats and hanging all over her. And Remy with a big gut and stuffing his face with ice cream.

The image in his head was almost real. He could actually hear the kids in his head, screaming, "Daddy, Daddy! Give me some chocolate!" And Rogue looking very exasperated and saying, "Why did you put these coats on them? And why are you so fat? And why did I have all boys? I want girls too!" And then he could feel himself patting his stomach and then feel something moving in there…

"What the hell?" He asked Rogue, who just looked annoyed.

"That better be a girl!" She pointed to his stomach. "Stop giving me boys, Remy! I love them—kind of anyway—but I need a girl!"

Remy was more horrified than he ever had been before. He was pregnant? How did this happen? One moment he had been sitting on a bench and listening to the ocean and now his life was down the drain and he apparently had the reproductive organs of a woman!

"Remy?"

What did everyone say when they found out that he could have babies? This was embarrassing. And wait a minute…HOW WAS HE GOING TO GET IT OUT?

"Remy!"

The world was shaking, something was touching his shoulder—oh, that was just the giant, man eating armadillo coming at him.

"Remy, you're freakin me out!"

This was freaking him out too. He didn't want to be pregnant and he didn't want to get eaten by an armadillo. But he couldn't move. His legs seemed to be glued to the ground and were suddenly VERY tired.

"Remy, for the love of-" something slapped him in the face and when he blinked in surprise, he was laying on the bench on the beach, his head in Rogue's lap as he looked up at her startled face.

"Are you OK?" She sounded very worried.

Remy sat up quickly and ran his hands frantically over his stomach. To make doubly sure he wasn't impregnated he pulled it up by the hem and looked it over. Nothing. He wasn't pregnant. And glancing back at Rogue he saw that she was still her normal size and didn't have a full head of white hair, just the normal amount, and there wasn't one kid in sight.

"I fell asleep." He said dully, turning back around to check his stomach again.

"Yeah," Rogue still sounded scared. "You were asleep for an hour and then you started screamin somethin about pregnant milkshakes and chocolate trench coats. And you attacked me when I tried to wake you up!"

Remy turned to stare are her. "I attacked you?"

"Yes," she reached up a hand to rub her jaw. "You hit me."

"What? Rogue—you know I never would have-"

"I know you wouldn't hit me on purpose." She interrupted him. "But when you did you screamed somethin about an armadillo…"

"Oh."

"What the hell were you dreamin about?"

Remy rubbed the back of his neck. This was awkward. He would tell her what he had dreamed if he wasn't so embarrassed by it and he wasn't still shaken up quite a bit. And to top it all off, he was pretty sure that in the dream Rogue had been the one to impregnate him, meaning that she must have had male reproductive organs just like he had female. And he was one hundred percent positive that he did NOT have female organs.

"It was…nothin really." He had to concentrate on keeping his eyebrow from twitching. "Just a giant, pregnant armadillo was comin after me."

She stared. "And how is that all my fault?"

"Hm?"

"You kept saying—"It's your fault Rogue"—" She tried to copy his voice but strangely it came out as a British accent instead. "Actually, you were screamin it and then you reached out and knocked my book over there-" She jerked her thumb over to the left to where the book was lying on the sand. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she stood and walked over to get it.

As she was coming back, Remy shook his head. "I'm sorry. That was the scariest dream."

Sighing and rubbing her jaw, she glanced out over to the buoys again and then brought her gaze back to him.

"Is your jaw ok?"

"It's fine." She said simply. "You hit like an old lady."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

After plopping back down on the bench, Rogue rubbed her sleepy eyes and tried once again to concentrate on her book. It really was a good read, full of excitement and adventure and a touch of romance. But no matter how good it was, staring at the page for very long was making her sleepy. She snapped it shut and glanced over at Remy to see him sitting with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He was probably just as bored and sleepy as she was.

How anyone else had managed to sit here all night long and not die of boredom was beyond her. The first two nights they had been here they had all come out together, expecting a fight on the first night. That hadn't been so bad. Except that Kurt had complained the whole time that he was hungry, Amara and Kitty had argued over capes: Fashionable or 'so yesterday' as they put it, and Scott had kept hissing at them to be quiet and all night long he had diligently kept his eyes on the buoys. Remy and Rogue had played several rounds of poker until Rogue found out that he was cheating and had promptly threw sand into his eyes. Then Remy fell screaming onto the beach, Rogue was standing over him and apologizing profusely, and Jean was giggling so loudly at them that she had to cover her mouth with her hands. Scott was about to tell them to be quiet again when he noticed that Tabitha had fallen asleep, Kurt had found a bag of gummy worms in the van and was crinkling the bag loudly as he tried to open it with his teeth, and Amara and Kitty's argument had escalated into a full blown fight.

So they had thought it best to split into teams after that.

Quiet and stealthy they were not—at least not when they were all together in a group—but at least they were entertaining.

Tonight wasn't anything like that night. That night had been loud and fun. Save for the fact that she thought she had blinded her best friend. But both of these nights had one thing in common. The lobster thieves (or the people who let the lobsters out) were nowhere to be seen. No one was on the dock and no one but Remy and Rogue were on the beach. The only other souls here were those darkly dressed people walking down the stairs towards the docks and carrying a small rowboat over their heads. And there was nothing out of the ordinary about that.

Or maybe there was.

Rogue sat straight up and strained to see better. She nudged Remy to get his attention. He turned to look at her and when she pointed he followed her finger to the people. Shh, he mouthed with a finger over his lips.

And that's when the book in her lap clattered onto the bench.

Rogue didn't get the chance to see if any of these people noticed (though she was sure that they probably did) before Remy whipped around and drew as close to her as he could.

"Don't be afraid," he whispered. "Remy's gonna have to do something very, very scary now."

His breath tickled her cheek as he leaned in and she stiffened, wondering what he was up to. It just seemed that he was goofing off at the moment. How was this going to help them? How was turning his back on their enemies and invading her personal space going to solve their problem of being seen? And what had Remy meant when he said he was going to do something scary?

She had a pretty good idea. She gulped when she thought of that course of action. And yet she still couldn't see how that would help them at all.

"Remy," She whispered as he drew closer. "What are you-"

"They can't know we were watchin em'." His left hand fished his cards from one pocket while his right slipped past her ponytail to settle on the back of her neck. His eyes never left her own wide pair, staring up at him like he was madman. "We have to let them think we're doing something else…" He murmured before dipping his head down.

Whatever he had said went in one ear and out the other. Rogue was too shocked at his actions, afraid of what he was doing, and of the enemy spotting them, and whatever the hell that funny feeling in the pit of her stomach was. It must have been an affect of the greasy French fries she had eaten for dinner. That had to be it.

Remy leaned down and slowly, hesitantly, brushed his lips over hers. It was barely a contact. You couldn't really classify it as a kiss. But it was enough to have her suddenly very aware of every move he made. Moments before her thoughts had been racing. Why was he doing this? How was this going to help? Where were those people? Were they coming after them? Were they watching them? Why were her toes tingling? But now all thoughts seemed to drop dead in her mind and all she could think was—

Is that what a kiss is supposed to feel like?

Remy wasn't dating her. And she was sure that he wasn't really thinking about her pleasure at the moment—was probably thinking about the people at his back—but she couldn't help but realize that that tiny little bit of contact was the best lip action she had ever received. And he had barely even tried.

And she thought that was all until she felt his top lip nudge against hers before he leant down and pressed both of his lips to her lower lip.

And then that was the best kiss she had ever gotten.

It wasn't too dry, he didn't say anything about football, it wasn't too aggressive, he didn't grope her inappropriately, and he didn't slobber all over her. It was just a simple kiss and he made it seem so easy. And if it were this easy, why hadn't any of those other guys been able to make her feel like…

Her mind couldn't go there. Remy was just doing his duty to the team. He was doing what was necessary in their mission. He probably wasn't enjoying this at all. He was concentrating on the people behind them…whatever they were doing now. And she should also be thinking of them, but try as she might, nothing else came to mind other than the feel of Remy's lips and the thumb at the nape of her neck, lightly stroking the skin there and causing her to shiver.

He tilted his head slightly and moved his mouth slowly against hers, gently trying to coax her into moving with him.

She almost contemplated it. If contemplate meant not being able to understand her own muddled thoughts and just giving in to her body's desire, then she really was about to contemplate it. Nothing said to her—This is your friend. This should be awkward. This will probably ruin your friendship. All she heard was the sound of her own heart beating loudly, the crunch of sand as someone approached them, and the dull crackle of one of Remy's charged cards.

Remy pulled back slowly, nonchalantly, and keeping eye contact with her, licked his lips as though he had just eaten his favorite meal.

This whole night was becoming stranger and stranger.

Remy turned his head to regard whoever had come over to them but still kept both arms around her as though this were normal behavior. "You need somethin'?" He asked.

Rogue blinked back against the haze of whatever had come over her. Now was the time to get back to normal. Standing a few yards away from them was a woman dressed all in black with about ten other women and three men behind her, all staring at them on the bench.

A flush crept up her neck to cover her face as she took them all in. Had they been watching them the whole time? A sinking feeling in her stomach told her yes, they had just witnessed their kissing session and just stood there to watch. Had Remy known they were there? Probably. How else had he known when one of them had finally approached?

"We know you're here to watch us," the woman that had come over told them in a fearless voice. "Your whole group has been here all week. And we got a funny feeling that you aren't cops."

"Why is that?" Remy asked politely as he uncharged the card in his hands and pulled his arms from around Rogue to turn to face her.

"You're all too young; you're just a bunch of kids." She said snidely. "Why are you here, anyway? What business is it of yours what we do?"

"What you're doing is a felony," Remy responded matter-of-factly. As if he had any room to talk. His lips quirked slightly at that thought. "The fisherman you're stealin from is a good, honest man and he's just tryin to do his job." The hypocrisy was too much. He coughed loudly to cover up a snicker.

Rogue nudged him in the ribs with an elbow before standing. The woman didn't even flinch, but stood her ground.

"Look lady," Rogue said firmly, "you're gonna stop what you're doin, or I'm gonna make you stop. What'll it be?"

"Oh yeah?" The woman scoffed. "And how exactly do you plan to 'make me stop'?"

Before she could respond, and by respond she meant run over and kick the woman in the mouth, Remy stood at her side with a charged card glowing brightly.

He didn't say anything. He didn't even make a move in their direction. But when all of the men and women saw Remy's card, they lost it. They all started running back up the stairs and screaming, not even caring about the rowboat they had been carrying, instead flinging it down onto the beach.

"They're MUTANTS!" One man screamed as though this were the most terrible thing he could think of.

The woman that had approached them had seemed the bravest up until this point. Now she was screaming like a little girl and fighting to break through the crowd to get in front of everyone. Several of them fell over each other as they struggled to get away, shooting terrified glances over their shoulders at Remy as Rogue who still stood in the same spot side by side, staring curiously at them as they ran off.

Finally they were gone and the distant sound of their screaming had almost faded.

"Wow." Rogue said. "I'm...kind of insulted."

Remy looked down at his card and titled his head. "What did I do?" He didn't get an answer so with a shrug, he uncharged it once more and tucked it back into his pocket.

"Should we…go after them?" Rogue asked unsurely.

"I doubt they'll be comin' back with us mutants here," Remy responded confidently. "Apparently we scare them."

"Apparently…" Rogue turned to him suddenly. "You chased them off on purpose, didn't you?"

"Whatever do you mean?" He asked innocently.

"We could have called the others and caught them all. But you didn't want to do that because you want to stay at the beach longer so you're tryin to drag this mission out!" She accused.

"You already knew that. We've discussed this. What's so wrong with that?"

Slowly, she grinned. "Nothin. I think it's a great idea."

Remy grinned in response and silently, they sat back down on the bench together, listening to the soft sounds of the ocean and gazing up at the bright moon.

To Be Continued...