A/N: The first section before the break is John/Wanda so you can skip it if you aren't reading their story. Thanks to those who answered my question about Kurt/Kitty. I'll probably do with them what I intended to in the first place. Which to say isn't much.

Thanks for reviewing! :)

Remy's Diabolical Plan

Chapter Twenty Four: Diabolical Secrets Revealed

~X~

Pregnancy hormones were not fun. As it stood, Wanda Maximoff was already infamous for her short temper and lack of control. Add in almost eight month's worth of emotional torture (not to mention the physical changes her body had undergone) and Wanda was about ready to explode. That is, she was ready to explode one minute, and then was ridiculously happy the next.

This went on and on in a never-ending cycle. She had woken up that morning, not sure if she could trust John, not sure if she could trust herself to give him her whole heart. Then after her talk with Rogue and a few sips of that divine chocolate chip cookie dough malt, she was utterly happy with the world and more than ready to take John back and to finally be happy with who she was. She sent a text the Pyromaniac's way, asking him to meet her. She even left Fat Bob's Malt Shoppe to meet him, her disguise and a smile firmly in place, when she passed by a book store. Underneath the green sign of Barry's Book Shelf, just inside the glass window there was a book displayed, showing off a happy little girl with pigtails and a man, supposedly her father. They were holding hands and laughing.

Of course she burst into tears on the spot. Why wouldn't she? Her father sucked! She'd had a terrible childhood and still couldn't have a normal relationship with anyone because of the way her father had abandoned her. But this stupid little girl—Wanda didn't know her but she was positive that the little girl was probably stupid—she got to have a dad! Now here she was and almost eight months pregnant and would her baby even have a dad?

Sniffling, Wanda wiped her face and smiled. Her baby would have a father! It would if she had anything to say about it. And if John decided to turn into a man like Magneto, she could always chop his head off!

So happy once again, Wanda climbed into her car, gave Ralphie a scratch behind the ears, cried because the dog made her hand stink, then laughed when the dog licked her face in an attempt to cheer her up, she started the car. Sobbing loudly the whole way there, (she wasn't sure why) Wanda was careful to drive normally today. No doubt the police were still looking for her; she'd caused quite a bit of destruction the day before.

The closer to the designated meeting spot she got, the quieter her sobs became. If there was one thing she wanted to avoid, it was letting John see her cry. If he were to spot even one weakness, he would latch onto it and like a wild animal, drain her until she couldn't resist any more. Kind of like how she had devoured that mountain of mashed potatoes, gravy and pickles for dinner last night.

Pregnancy also gave Wanda really weird thoughts.

At least she wasn't nervous at all. That weird, orange-haired freak had been stalking and harassing her for months. If he said no now it would only serve to make him look weirder. And he certainly didn't need help in that area.

The only thing she was unsettled about was something about this job she had just quit. She'd only taken the job because she thought that a trip out of Bayville might make for a nice change. All she'd been asked her to do was to guard some old, abandoned warehouse, which she'd barely even done. Every night she would tell theboss that she'd guarded it, when in reality she'd been no where near it that day. Her back ached and feet hurt and she got sick from sitting in the hot sun all day. Fortunately for her, he never questioned her word on it. Not actually doing the job, however, hadn't kept her from collecting the paycheck that had been passed to her this morning.

She'd never been able to pinpoint exactly why her red haired former boss gave her the creeps. Maybe it was because he was stealing a bunch of a random fisherman's equipment and catches for no reason at all. Or maybe it was because he called himself Big Daddy Red.

It was probably the latter.

But even more than all that, something he had said to her over the phone last night when explaining why he wouldn't need her services any more bothered her. It was something along the lines of, 'Blah, blah blah, you're free from your obligations, blah, blah blah, I'll pay you tomorrow, blah, blah blah, I've acquired an even better defense'.

What could be a better defense than her? Perhaps a burglar alarm. Preferably one that didn't leave the job to go get ice cream every two hours.

It was probably the pregnancy hormones again that caused her to worry for the X-men. Why should she suddenly start caring for those people? They had teamed up briefly in the past but it wasn't like they had become 'besties' or any nonsense like that. When she had been talking to Rogue earlier she had gotten that really weird feeling in her brain that Wanda was starting to recognize as enjoyment. But that was as far as it went. It seemed silly to want to warn them.

Maybe the pregnancy hormones were trying to make her be a better person in preparation for becoming a mother or something.

Upon driving to the place she had asked John to meet her, that old cloak of insecurity slowly started to drape itself over her being. What was she thinking, giving her heart away to random men? John wouldn't be able to handle her; he wouldn't want her as soon as he saw how dark her thoughts could get, or how torn up she was inside. There was no way she could picture them, together and happy with a baby at Christmas dinner with her father and brother. That picture didn't fit into any realm she had ever stepped into. And what if...what if John saw the same thing in her that her father had seen in her that made him want to leave her?

No.

Wanda slowly took a breath in through her nose, held it and then calmly exhaled, just like her therapist had taught her. Then, remembering Dr Langston's advice the last time she had visited her a month ago, Wanda forced her mouth to speak one thing that she actually liked about herself.

"Let's see." She turned into the grocery store parking lot, peaking around for John's car. "I like...that I can protect myself." The car rolled to a stop and creaked as she set it in park. "I like...that I've been able to provide for myself." After a quick look around, she removed her sunglasses and hat. "I like that I decided to take you in." At this she hugged Ralphie around the neck. Inhale, exhale. She sat up, and smiling softly, gazed down at her tummy and rubbed it with affection. "I like that I made you."

At the sound of a rumbling engine, Wanda lifted her eyes to the parking space in front of her, currently being filled by a bright orange Range Rover. When he had first bought that car and showed it to her she had rolled her eyes. Leave it to John to buy something that big and noticeable.

It wasn't like she knew how to go about this, or even what she was going to say. All Wanda was really sure of was what she needed, despite how bad it scared her down to every cell of her being.

Steeling her will, Wanda opened the car door and slipped out...and was immediately assaulted.

"Sheilaaaa!" John grabbed her into a bear hug, lifting her off her feet. There was blur of color as she was spun around. "I've missed ya, I love you, I missed ya, I love ya, I miss-"

"Gah!" she screamed in irritation. "You're worse than the dog!"

John only laughed in response, but did set her back on her feet, taking time to tuck her hair behind her ears. "So what did'ya wanna meet me for?"

Wanda swatted his hands away half-heartedly. Arms crossed over her chest and her eyes refused to look at him. The insecurity was attempting to eat away at her but determinedly she ignored it. This wasn't just about her future anymore. Now the little one growing inside of her had a future too. That thought comforted her more than she thought it would.

"I wanted to...to talk about us." she grumbled.

Since that morning a million different responses that he might have said had gone through her mind. He could have kept up the whole, 'I'm dating Rogue' charade and refused her. He could have refused her just like she had refused him. He could have decided that she 'needed more time for herself' (to be honest, Wanda hadn't believed that scenario was likely). He quite possibly might have wanted to talk about them. He could have just walked away. He could have kissed her. He could have hugged her and screamed his love for her and lit a million candles and proposed and said every romantic thing in the book. But that had never been their thing in the first place.

Rather than the usual insane or teasing grin, Wanda found herself on the receiving end of the first genuinely happy smile she had ever gotten from him. Then his head was bending until his forehead came to rest gently against her own.

"I love you, Wanda."

Her heart beat so loudly it was painful to her ears. Then her eyes did the only thing she had hoped that they wouldn't do in front of him. Through her tears she blinked up at him and said the words she had never said to anyone.

"I love you, too."

For a split second a note of surprise could be found in his eyes. Though that wasn't because of her proclamation. Oh no, if there were two things in this world that John Allerdyce was sure of, it was that he loved Wanda and Wanda loved him back. What was so surprising in this moment was that she was currently howling into his favorite shirt.

But John only smiled and held her close. After all, he had been informed by a very reliable source that pregnancy hormones weren't fun at all.

~X~

"Why, Rogue, how could you do something like this to me? Why? Whyyy? I loved you; I still love you!"

The first thing that Rogue registered as she slowly returned to consciousness was that someone was speaking to her in a high, annoyingly whiny voice. The owner of the voice kept petting her hair and arms and legs, as though she were a dog. There was only one person, one voice that could annoy her this badly. But why her stalker Jack was here and touching her (ew), was not what she was most concerned about.

Mainly the thing to worry about would be the ropes currently holding her to a chair. Her hands behind her back were prickling from lack of blood flow and her head hung down from her unconscious state, causing the back of her neck to ache. Strangely, her legs hadn't been tied at all.

Where was Remy? The thought struck her with alarm. If they had done anything to hurt him she wouldn't hesitate in killing them all. With a little chill even in her own heart, she knew herself to be very capable of doing just that without hesitation.

As hard as it was, now wasn't the time to dwell on thoughts that only served to scare her. With a great amount of difficulty, Rogue forced it to the back of her mind and attempted to focus on the job at hand. There was one of two ways she could go about this. She could choose to play the helpless victim or the unaffected hero. It might help a bit more to play the former, especially if her captures were all men; something like that could blow their egos up with a false sense of power and then serve to be their biggest handicap against her. Though that might be the better choice, Rogue felt that she had to go with the latter. Because there was simply no way she was going to be able to stomach this creep touching her for much longer.

When her eyes opened and focused on her lap it was to see two hands squeezing her thighs. The sight angered her beyond measure.

"You're awake!" Jack happily exclaimed, moving to push her hair back. If he would just move his finger half an inch toward the skin of her ear...

Rogue glared in silence as he was able to avoid doing just that.

"What's wrong? Why are you glaring? Are you hot? Are the ropes too tight? Did you get my messages? Do you-"

There was no one behind him, and as far as Rogue could tell, no one behind her either, only tons and tons of boxes. Surely he wasn't the only one in on this. The fact that someone got the jump on both she and Remy was enough to tell her that. The main goal here was to find Remy. To do that she had to defeat the enemy. To do that, she had to first find out who the enemy was and where they were. And to do all of that, unfortunately for lover boy, and very fortunately for Rogue, she would have to get him out of the way.

Rogue took a moment to concentrate on letting the barriers of her powers down, just like Professor X had taught her. If this kid was going to be touching her so much, he was soon going to regret it.

But before she could properly get a handle on her own thoughts, the young man was moving in closer, closer. Still there were no words from her mouth because she thought that there was no way he was really going to do what she thought he was going to do.

But then he was actually doing it.

It was the seventh kiss she'd ever gotten. And it was by far the worst of all. She'd gladly take football boy, pervy, Pyro, or even slobbery over this. Before she had been able to say exactly what was wrong with the kiss in one word. This time, it was definitely not enjoyable, but what it was like was hard to explain without using at least five paragraphs. It was like...he was a monkey that was searching for his peanut. He didn't know what he was doing. His big mouth just planted itself and then sat there. His sweaty hands were cupping her face and the tips of his fingers were plugging her ears.

Even as a wave of revulsion washed over her and she hated him more than ever, Rogue forced herself to not drain the life out of him. She wasn't about to have this freak's thoughts in her head.

Rather than draining, she opted for the classic knee to the balls. The amount of joy she felt just from the pained expression on his face would probably sustain her for years to come.

Before she could take the time to really revel in her small victory, the sound of footsteps resounded in her ears and a tall redhead stepped out from among the cardboard boxes that surrounded her. A chill ran down her spine at how freaking creepy he was. Then a bubble of hilarity found it's way to her throat at her own thoughts. Forcefully she pushed it back down. "That was mean." he smirked at her and then down at the male curled up into a ball at her feet. "He snuck in here to rescue you."

Confusion replaced the unwanted laughter. He came to rescue her? Oh well. She couldn't feel bad about assaulting him after he had molested her. The biggest problem she faced now was working her hands out of the tight knots holding them together. She set to work on them while engaging Adam in conversation to keep his attention. There had to be other accomplices he had here with him. Rogue found it hard to believe with her wounded pride that he would be able to take out both she and Remy at the same time just by himself. As far as they knew he wasn't a mutant, though that possibility wasn't impossible, mutants were hardly a rare thing anymore.

"Who've you got workin' for you?" she tried for a conversation topic and mentally cheered as she managed to wriggle a thumb out of her bonds.

"I know who you and your friends are." he replied.

She answered with a roll of her eyes. "We're the X-men but that ain't what I asked."

The flare of anger in his expression surprised her. "Don't talk to me in that manner or I'll-"

Green eyes flashed in his direction. "You'll what?" she countered darkly.

He smirked, brought his arm up in a weird sort of flourish and then brought it back down with a snap of his fingers.

If something miraculous or impressive were to happen in that moment, Rogue would have completely expected it. What she didn't expect was for nothing, meaning absolutely nothing at all to happen. They waited in the still silence for a while, the southerner counting the seconds in her head and working on the ropes while remaining on guard.

After half of minute of this, the man in front of her snapped his fingers again, while the boy on the ground started to crawl away.

Again, nothing happened. Adam's face screwed up and he snapped his fingers again and again. By this time she was almost completely free and debating whether or not she needed to call the mental hospital or the police.

"You IDIOTS!" He finally exploded. "I TOLD YOU to come out when I snapped by fingers!"

A loud screeching noise ripped through the air. All three present turned, each of them surprised to see Lance, aka Avalanche, of all people running towards them without a stitch of clothing on before he ran into a mountain of boxes and he along with all of the cardboard, came crashing the ground in a tremendous mess of noise and flailing limbs.

Without giving herself time to get over the shock of seeing one of the Brotherhood in his birthday suit (she was going to regret that decision later), Rogue leapt from her chair and dashed for the still shocked Adam. Their bodies collided, knocking the air out of both of them and sent them towards yet another mountain of boxes. Before she knew it there was another body on her back, one that grasped onto her tightly and shouted, 'I love you!'. Amongst the still falling boxes, the struggle with Adam and the weight on her back, Rogue deducted that if Avalanche was present then it was plausible that the other members of the Brotherhood would be too. And also that she hated all of these people with a passion.

Before she could start to kill them both, they all stopped in their struggles when a loud explosion rocked the warehouse. And despite all of the anger and hatred she felt in that moment, Rogue grinned, relief washing over her heart. Remy was okay after all. This time when she concentrated on activating her power, she had no trouble at all.

Across the room, not under a pile of empty boxes, Remy watched in satisfaction as The Blob's gigantic form blew an enormous hole in the side of the warehouse and his body flew out of sight.

When he had awoken tied to a chair and in a storage room full of cleaning products and the Brotherhood (minus the silver haired speedster), the first thing he had thought to do was to find Rogue and continue where they had left off. Of all times to kidnap them, it just had to be right when they were finally getting somewhere? She had pulled away. He had been planning on giving her a second and then pouncing again. But noooo these jerks had to come and take his Roguey away. He felt like pouting. He didn't even get the chance to try any of his moves. She was gonna like his moves.

Despite his predicament, he smirked at where this train of thought had led him. Toad had noticed first and come to stand in front of him.

"What're you laughing at, yo?"

Him. He had taken Rogue away. The rope knots tying his hands together were undone in a matter of seconds. "Shut-up."

He grasped the back of the chair and pushed off with his legs, flipping over backwards and landing easily on his feet. The three mutants blinked at him in surprise. None of them could explain how, but the Cajun somehow made picking up the chair that he had been previously tied to and sending it crashing into Toad's head look like an elegant, practiced manner of fighting.

Doing all of this without budging from his spot, Remy fixed the two remaining members with a hard glare.

"Where's the girl?"

Lance scoffed at him. "You really think-"

"Freddy," Remy addressed the Blob as though they were old friends, "quick now, tell Remy what seven plus seven equals."

As the immovable mutant gave him a blank look and then set to working out this difficult math problem, Remy picked up the chair again and flung it in Avalanche's direction before he could stomp his foot down. He was forced to jump out of the way and hit a shelf of cleaning products. His arm thrown out to brace his fall was what hit the open bottle of bleach and sent it pouring over his whole body.

"GAGH! That burns!" he hissed, his face turning red. "You planned that, didn't you?" he threw at Remy.

Of course he hadn't planned it. But Gambit certainly wasn't above saying that he had. He shrugged. Lance writhed and tore his shirt off without a second thought, his skin now covered in angry red splotches. Remy drew a card from the pocket of his t-shirt and flipped it over the backs of his fingers.

"Where's Rogue?"

"Thirteen!" Fred said triumphantly. "It's thirteen!"

Lance suddenly let out a loud scream and promptly tore his pants off. Only when he had busted through the door and ran from the room did his partner notice what had happened.

"Hey!" Blob pointed an accusing finger in Remy's direction. "What did you do?"

There was only one way to defeat someone as big and threatening as the Blob and that was to blow him away with as much force and strength he could push into one of his little cards. For that he needed an open area. With that thought, Remy easily dodged the punch that was thrown at him and sprinted from the room (which turned out to be an overly large janitor's closet) and into the open space of the main room.

The other mutant had easily fallen into his trap and was currently flying away into the horizon. He'd have to tell his partners later not to worry; he doubted something as small as this could kill the Blob, only knock him out for a few hours.

Turning from the gaping hole in the wall, Remy scanned the room to see...cardboard. A few feet from him was the shape of a naked and knocked out Lance under a pile of said cardboard. A few more yards from that, a box was being thrown onto the floor as Rogue fought her way out of her own pile of boxes.

Any stress he had suffered from her absence was forgotten. Every single part of him needed to get to her, to make sure she was ok, to hug her, to kiss her, to tell her he loved her. He sprinted for her, hardly aware that she also ran for him. They crashed into each other's arms and both asked the question they most wanted the answer to.

"Are you ok?" They asked in unison.

"No," she rubbed at his shoulder frantically. "You answer first."

"Why do I have to answer first?" he argued. "I asked you first."

The grip on his shoulder grew stronger and one of her eyes twitched. "You did not. We asked at the same time."

"No, I asked first." After what had just happened, he couldn't back down now. His adrenaline was still rushing. He at least had to win this argument! It seemed really important.

"Oh my god, what is wrong with you?" she raged. "Why can't you just answer the damn question?"

"Why can't you?"

The hand at his shoulder slapped his arm covered by the t-shirt. "Remy, I swear-"

"Rogue," he spoke in a placating tone and moved his face closer to hers, smiling sweetly. "I missed you."

For once in the middle of an argument, Rogue had nothing to say. "I..." then her eyes widened when she realized what Remy was about to do. "Remy don't kis—mmm." Remy's lips were pushing into hers. And unbeknownst to him, she had somehow forgotten to turn her powers back off.

In more panic now than she had been when his whereabouts had been unknown, Rogue placed both hands on his chest and pushed him as hard as she could. The separation was easy enough to accomplish. Remy, with a silly grin on his face that she was so going to tease him about later, stumbled back and fell to the ground.

And Rogue found herself falling too. Her hands gripped her head and knotted into her hair at the series of memories flashing through her now. Remy had been thinking of her when he kissed her. So now the young X-man was forced to sit through a trip of memories of herself. Memories that made no sense to her. Memories that couldn't be true because according to these memories, her best friend, the one that had promised to never lie to her, had been lying to her for months.

There was an Alejandro...and a Rosita...and a very raunchy and unrealistic book. There was a diabolical plan that had been hatched. There was manipulating of a naive and trusting young man that was now obsessed with her. There was spying on her in a restaurant. There was even a fight and a lot of threats that concerned a certain Australian.

However, there was no Jessica.

To Be Continued...