BENEATH THE SURFACE

Part Fourteen

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Remy glanced up from the book he was skimming over in the mansion's library. Knowing he would be going to Bayville high, he'd started looking over a few history books just to try and brush up on what he knew so that he didn't seem quite as uneducated when the time came. He'd been thinking perhaps that he might like to bow out before even attending the school. He didn't feel this experience was going to do him any good.

"Pardon?" he asked, he glanced up at Tabitha who was standing near the bookcase he was sitting on the floor by, she was leaning against it casually, her hip against the wood, arm raised. Her hair fell in soft curls to frame her tan face.

"That you're married," Tabitha blurted.

Remy blinked, "ssh!" he reacted, more on knee jerk of Rogue's reaction to someone knowing more than his own actual concern about it. Even if he was still a little angry with Rogue, he didn't want to cause any more arguments. "Keep it down."

"Sorry," Tabitha smiled apologetically, "It's just...I mean why didn't you say so?"

He tried to gauge how exactly she knew this. She hadn't just assumed it, he could tell from the tone of her voice that this was a fact she knew for sure; she sounded far too confident about it to have guessed.

"How y' get t' hearin' about this?" he asked. It struck him that perhaps the Professor and Logan had been discussing it and the girl might have overheard. She certainly couldn't have come to the conclusion alone.

"Rogue told me," Tabitha sat down on the floor folded legged, she picked up one of the history books he'd been looking at and began flicking through it casually.

Remy was astounded by this revelation. So finally she'd given in and told someone? Admitted that they were married? Little trickles of relief started dancing through his veins, one less person to worry about spilling the beans to now. "She did?"

"Yeah, last night after you guys got home," Tabitha said, "I have to say, I was a little shocked."

"Most probably woul' be," he decided, thinking that it would be more the idea of Rogue being married than him.

"So...how come you never said?" Tabitha asked a little curious frown knitting on her forehead, "you've been here weeks now, and not ever even mentioned any of it."

"It...was complicated I guess."

"Yeah, that's how Rogue put it," Tabitha gazed at some illustrations of the American civil war, "I don't get what's so complicated about it though."

"It jus' is," Remy replied quietly.

"How?"

"Rogue not tell y' why?"

"No," Tabitha shrugged, "so tell me about her."

"Hmm?"

"About your wife."

"What do y' mean tell y' about her...?" Remy asked vaguely, he closed the book he was holding.

"What's she like?" Tabitha asked. "Where is she?"

Remy stared at the girl, his mind went dull and the colour seemed to drain out of the room. For one moment he'd felt relieved and vaguely happy that perhaps the secret was out, that he and Rogue could stop pretending. But no, everything was still a damn lie. Rogue had told Tabitha for some reason that he was married. She hadn't specified to whom.

I guess she did it t' make sure Tabitha knows I ain' available, Remy reasoned.

Remy sighed, "she's...she's not here..." he supposed, he looked around the room absently. He supposed literally she wasn't there. Not in that room, anyway. "I don' know where she is right now, exactly," he added honestly, feeling a little angry with Rogue and it coming out in his tone.

"It...didn't end on good terms then, I guess?" Tabitha asked.

"It...didn' end," Remy responded.

"But you came here alone to start your life over and she's not even here."

"I'm not alone," Remy responded meekly.

"I guess that's true," Tabitha agreed, "You have all of us."

"Yeah...the Professor...the instructors...Rogue," he said, wondering if he said it pointedly enough the blonde might catch on. She didn't.

"And me," Tabitha added, she smiled sweetly.

"Yeah...I guess," Remy agreed reluctantly.

"So...what's she like?"

Remy chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully, he'd never had to describe Rogue to anyone before. No one had ever bothered to ask he supposed, but then, the only people who really knew about the marriage other than some poker acquaintances were the Professor and Logan, and they already knew Rogue better than he himself did.

"I'm picturing blonde, leggy, tan, blue eyes, perfect smile..."

Remy wondered if the girl was imagining her own face when she described whom she thought he may be married to. "She has brown hair...green eyes...and no tan," Remy admitted, "she's tall, I guess...tall enough. Slim..." he rubbed his head, trying to think, "she has this...dimple thing on her chin...soft voice...real soft and sweet...like...thick molasses runnin' down a stack of pancakes..." he said, almost feeling wistful for a moment.

"Does she get you?" Tabitha asked quietly, she ran her fingers along the illustration in the book absently. The question was an odd one, he stared at the blonde, trying to determine how to answer. In some ways, he supposed Rogue did get him, and other times he was certain she definitely didn't.

"Sometimes," he answered.

"Does she know?"

"Know?"

"About your dad?"

"Ssh," Remy hushed her quickly, suddenly realising what the blonde was referring to. He looked around the room, wondering if anyone might have walked into overhear; the library was very rarely ever in use as far as he could tell; most of the kids probably found their reading material online these days. "I don' need people knowin' my fuckin' business!" he hissed.

"No one's here," Tabitha said, "they're all outside at the pool."

"I don' care, jus' keep it down."

"Fine...whatever..." Tabitha lowered her voice. "So does she?"

"She knows."

Tabitha tilted her head, "About everything?"

"She knows enough."

"So you've never told her about it?"

"There's things y' jus' don' tell the person y' wan' spend the rest o' y' life with," Remy tossed his book aside with the pile of others on the floor.

"Why not?"

"Jus' 'cause," he quietly remarked, trying to be calm.

"'Cause...?"

"'Cause," he repeated, he glanced at the pile of books, he wasn't sure he was even absorbing anything from this, and the interruption wasn't helping with his concentration.

"'Cause?" Tabitha asked once again.

"'Cause it be in the background o' everythin' y' ever say or do, that's why," he retorted. "It'd always jus' be there. Trus' me, once y' tell y' love somethin' like this, nothin' is ever the same."

No, things had never been quite the same since the revelation about Jean-Luc had been made. Rogue had always looked at him with an expression of concern, but since the moment she'd found out something had happened, she'd never looked at him in quite the same way.

He'd considered these things over and over for weeks, he'd tried to tell her but it just wasn't coming out. Too many doubts and concerns over how the relationship would change if she found out the rest. How would I begin t' be comfortable around her if she knew about that stuff? How would she feel about me?

"Oh," the blonde responded, her eyes dropped to the floor. "I...wouldn't know...I mean, I didn't tell anyone before..."

Remy wasn't surprised, he knew from experience why she wouldn't. "Y' mean I'm the first y' ever tol'?"

"Yeah," Tabitha remarked quietly, "and...I guess that's only because you figured it out...because you knew."

"I see," Remy responded, not altogether surprised.

"I looked at some online support groups and stuff once...you know, for people like us..." she began, her expression thoughtful.

Remy looked away, he hated that thought. People like us. Who were the people like us? Damaged hurt children who grew up to be damaged hurt adults? For all the time he'd gone through this he'd never thought of looking at support groups online. "Yeah?" he muttered.

"I never posted or anything, I just...I read a lot of stuff, and people's thoughts about things but...I just couldn't find it in me to actually talk to anyone about it."

He snorted, "why bother? Jus' a lot of virtual hand holdin' and people tellin' y' that it weren' y' fault."

Tabitha blinked, her mouth fell open a little, "what do you mean by that?"

"Nothin'," he began picking the books up to put back where he'd found them.

"What do you mean about it being your fault...?"

"I didn' mean anythin' by it," he snapped, "Look, I got a headache; I coul' do without the interview."

"Okay then," Tabitha said quietly, she slowly got up from the floor, "but like..." she paused for a moment and shrugged, "You know if you want to talk about it..."

"I won't," he replied, feeling at that moment he never would.

"Okay...but if you do, you know where to find me."

"Don' hold y' breath waitin'," he said in a whisper as she left the library; as the door shut behind her, he saw that behind the door, Jean-Luc had been there, standing by the bookshelves with the biology books. He looked away and quietly muttered, "y' ain' there."

That night at dinner, Rogue felt things at the table between her and Remy were slightly uncomfortable. She was still angry with him because of his getting drunk, and he seemed to be feeling slightly awkward judging by how silent he was. He was nursing a headache, she could tell just by the look on his face; it resembled the same look he'd worn during his hangovers. She wondered if it was a hangover since he'd admitted to drinking the night before.

It was strange, she thought, how he didn't seem quite as rough around the edges as he normally was when he was hungover. Other than his bruises, and slightly swollen black eye, he wasn't pale, his voice wasn't raspy and he didn't have slight tremors. She hadn't even noticed the smell of beer on him at the hospital or in the car, she wondered if he'd managed to hide it somehow.

He might have fooled me, but he'd have never fooled Logan, though, she realised.

The table was buzzing with talk of school, it was four days from starting, everyone was in a mix of excited and not excited to be going back and she was definitely in the latter camp. Something told her Remy was also there.

Every now and then, she'd notice Tabitha gazing over the table at Remy; the look in her eyes said it all. The girl was falling for him, Rogue knew the look well enough, she'd seen it in Jean's eyes with Scott, she'd seen it in Kitty's eyes with Lance Alvers, and she'd more recently seen it in her own eyes in the mirror. Rogue wasn't certain that telling Tabitha the secret about Remy being taken had made any difference to her feelings on the subject at all.

Ah'm gonna lose him to her, Rogue thought in distress. There's more she can give him, and she has the personality and the beauty and the charm. She'll entice him with one little thing and Ah'll be in the dust. If he can fall for someone like me, then fallin' for someone like her is gonna be cake.

Thankfully at that moment, Remy seemed too preoccupied to even give the girl a second glance. If he wasn't looking at his plate of pasta and pushing it around idly rather than eating, he was looking to one particular area of the room. At one point, Rogue thought he'd been staring into space but his eyes didn't have that glazed distant look about them as far as she could tell (although sometimes it was difficult to be certain with unique eyes such as his). He seemed almost focused on something at times but what it was exactly, Rogue couldn't pinpoint; she'd glanced to her left a few times to look at the area in the kitchen by the counter where he was looking but there was nothing there other than a large decorative jar with tri-colour pasta twists arranged in rows by colours.

Probably thinkin' whoever did that must have the most borin' job alive, Rogue thought as she chewed her pasta thoughtfully.

"Aren't you hungry?"

Remy glanced to Jean, who had been the one to ask the question. She'd been the one to cook the meal and Rogue gathered she felt a little defensive when someone wasn't particularly eating or enjoying the dish. "Hmm?"

"I said aren't you hungry? You haven't eaten since breakfast, and you only had one pancake then."

"I'm eatin', I'm jus' a slow eater," he put a forkful into his mouth, he chewed, his eyes moving back to the area he'd been looking again. He frowned a little.

"I was told you didn't have a problem with spicy food...did I make it too spicy?" Jean looked at her own plate. "I mean, it's burning the mouth off of me, but I have a weak tolerance for it...I thought it'd be fine..."

"Hmm?" Remy blinked and looked back to her.

"Is it too hot?"

"No, it's fine. It's real nice."

"I'm cooking tomorrow," Tabitha chimed in, Rogue rolled her eyes inwardly, annoyed that the girl always had to try and get Remy's attention somehow.

"What you making?" asked Ray casually.

"I don't know yet, something...exotic, maybe," Tabitha supposed, she glanced towards Remy and gave a little smile, "what's something exotic that you like, Gambit?"

Remy didn't seem to hear her, he was so focused on whatever it was behind him. Rogue glanced over again, still nothing there. It was starting to unnerve her a little.

"Gambit?" Tabitha asked.

Feeling a little push of her jealousy slipping through, Rogue answered for him, "Remy likes gourmet food."

"Gourmet?" Tabitha chuckled, "for real?"

"And he likes weird gross foods...once he ate escargot in front of me, it was vile," Rogue made a face.

"Stop it," Remy said quietly, it was so quiet, under his breath so much she just barely caught it.

Rogue turned to stare at him curiously, wondering why he would want her to stop talking about the times they'd dined together. Normally wouldn't it have hinted at their relationship? Wasn't it the kind of thing he always wanted of her. What was it about that damn side of the room?

"What's escargot?" asked Rahne, wrinkling her nose.

"Snails," said Amara, matter-of-factly, "still in the shell. I've had it once when I went to Paris with an aunt. Escargot is to die for."

"Ew," said Bobby, making a face, "you'd pay to eat something someone scraped off of their shoe and stuck on a plate? What kind of crazy snob are you?"

"I am not a snob," Amara retorted.

"Stop it," Remy said again, this time his voice a little louder; it went almost unnoticed (other than by Rogue) because Amara and Bobby had started arguing at the table, and Logan was trying to get them to quieten down.

Suddenly, without warning, the pasta jar - the one that Rogue was sure Remy had been staring at - flew from the counter right over the table; Remy ducked and it hit the wall behind him, shattering on impact, a spray of glass and pasta flying everywhere, rattling on the ceramic tiles.

"Whoah!" cried Kitty, getting showered with glass and pasta, she jumped from her seat and shook the stuff out of her hair, "what the heck-"

Logan threw a look to Jean, "what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Jean blinked, her mouth fell open, "I didn't do that."

"You must have lost concentration or something," Scott stood up to the closet where the brooms were kept to retrieve a brush to sweep the mess up.

"There's glass everywhere..." Amara whined. "It's in my pasta!"

"No one take another bite!" warned Logan.

Jean looked at the mess on the floor, her pretty green eyes were squinted, she shook her head, "I didn't do this," she said again.

"One of you prank this?" Logan asked, looking at the younger students suspiciously.

"No!" a few of them spoke up, seeming quite offended.

"Okay...whatever, it was an accident, it doesn't matter who did it," Logan sighed frustratedly, "Just clean it up, I'll go pick up some pizza."

Rogue got up and went to help Jean and Scott who were already sweeping up the mess. Rogue went about picking up the larger pieces of glass, her gloves making it an ideal task for her to do without getting cut.

She listened to Scott and Jean whispering between themselves, struggled to hear it over everyone else telling Logan what kind of Pizza to get.

"Look, it's okay to admit a mistake every once in a while," Scott said softly to his girlfriend.

Rogue shifted her gaze to the two slyly, dropping chunks of glass into her open gloved palm.

"Scott, I swear..." Jean whispered, her voice so quiet.

The others were made to leave the room immediately so the glass could be cleared up, Rogue, Jean and Scott being left to clean up the mess. Once the others were gone, Scott whispered less.

"There's nothing wrong with it if it was you, you know..." he said to Jean again. Rogue thought it almost amusing he was so quick to accuse her, but on reflection, Rogue wasn't sure who else could have accidentally done it, and Jean had certainly done things like this before.

"I swear to you," Jean frowned, "it wasn't me...I stopped making mistakes like that a year ago. "Anyway...I...I think..."

"You think...?" Scott urged.

"I think it was Gambit..."

"Gambit?" Scott asked, seeming almost amused.

"He kept staring over that way...didn't you see? I thought I saw him looking at the jar...then it came flying off of the shelf..." she whispered.

Rogue spoke up, "Remy isn't telekinetic."

Jean turned to look at Rogue, she seemed quite embarrassed that they'd been listened in on. "You don't know that for certain."

"Ah've known him for a while now...Ah've absorbed his powers...he's never been telekinetic. Ah would know."

"Maybe it's a new power manifesting," Jean spilled the contents of her dustpan into the nearby trash. Jean shook her head, "all I'm saying is that this definitely was not my fault. If it was, I'd say so."

Rogue snorted, "and all Ah'm sayin' is, it wasn't Remy. Don't accuse people of shit when you don't know for sure they did it."

Jean sighed, "I suppose you're right about that," she threw a pointed look to Scott, "right?"

"Uhm..." Scott coughed a little, "right."

Remy pushed his bedroom door shut quietly and stood there against it; his chest was pounding hard and his nerves were alight with anxiety. His head was pounding with worry and strain. He'd never thought it were possible. He'd always heard ghost stories, about things moving, about seeing ghosts physically throw things around. He'd never believed it before.

He'd never seen it happen.

Not until dinner.

It had seemed so unbelievable, seeing a dead man sweeping his arm across the counter and throwing that jar at such a velocity that it had caused the damn thing to shatter and cause uncooked pasta and glass to practically rain across the room.

Everyone had seen it, everyone had reacted. It had been real. They might have not seen Jean-Luc do it, but they had seen the thing hit the wall. It was real, everything he'd been seeing was real.

And if it was real it was dangerous.

He stood there for several moments trying to understand it all. The thing had flown right for his head, had they noticed that? If he hadn't ducked it'd have knocked him out entirely, perhaps even killed him.

He's tryin' to kill me. Yesterday in the car...today...bastard wants me dead, Remy thought shakily, he rubbed his throbbing head, the swelling was still so very tender. His phone went off in his pocket, he checked it, trying to stop his hand from shaking. It was a text message from his wife.

It read: Where are you?

He took a moment to try and focus on relaxing, and responded: My room.

He moved away from the door and sat on the mattress, sweeping his hand through his hair, fighting to calm himself, fighting to breathe steadily. He was so good at this normally, but then he'd never been haunted by a ghost capable of physical feats before.

It was a few moments later when, without even knocking, Rogue entered his room, her expression slightly cautious as she stepped in, glanced out into the hall to make sure she hadn't been seen and then shut the door behind herself.

"Hey," she said, her voice low. She looked around for a moment, located the doorstop (he'd bought it at the mall) and she wedged it under, effectively wedging the door shut so that no one could barge in from the other side.

"Hey," he said, trying to sound as normal as he could capably sound. If Jean-Luc had been present in the room at that moment, there'd have no way been able to do so right then.

"Why'd you run off?"

"Wasn't hungry...that pasta the redhead made was vile," he responded. In truth, the pasta had been half-decent although he didn't want to admit it; Rogue always took it to heart when he found anything another woman made as delicious and he'd learned that quickly. "And the salad...Christ, I mean, what the fuck, I seen wet paper towels less limp than that lettuce. And fuck...Y' supposed t' dress a salad, not drown it."

Rogue lowered herself to sit on the mattress slowly, "you okay? You seem a little...weird..."

"I'm fine..."

"'Cause you kept staring into that area of the kitchen..." Rogue admitted, "and then the thing flew off the counter..."

"Y' sayin' it was me?"

"No."

"'Cause clearly it were Jean," he accused coldly.

"Yeah, clearly," Rogue nodded; the way she stared at him left him wondering if she actually believed it or not.

"She's telekinetic...had t' be her."

"Yeah," Rogue seemed to agree.

"Or...like Logan said, one of them damn kids did it, I mean they all got tricks...Bobby likes t' prank a lot. He could have done it."

"Totally," Rogue said.

"Why y' here anyway? What about the rules," he reminded. It wasn't the mansion rules he was referring to but the rules she had set them about being alone together.

"Ah just thought...we could spend a little while together before the pizza arrives," she shrugged. "If you like, Ah mean...Ah can leave if you want..."

Remy tried to gauge the situation but his head was swimming too much with what had happened downstairs. "I don' wan' y' t' leave," he assured. No...he definitely did not want to be alone right now, not with the thought that Jean-Luc was around and capable of physical feats now too.

"Logan is gonna be gone for a while, you know..." Rogue said quietly, her cheeks pink, she bit down on her lip.

"Yeah?" he asked. "How long for?"

"A while..." she placed her hand tentatively upon his thigh, an uncertain tremble in her touch. "Drive to the nearest pizza place is twenty minutes alone...then he has to wait for it all to be made...then the drive back..."

"Why didn' he jus' call it in?"

"Pizza places in town know about the mutants livin' here, they get freaked out deliverin'...so they don't come out any more."

"I see."

"So...we...maybe have an hour."

"An hour, huh?" he watched her fingers, "what y' think I'm gon' accomplish in an hour?"

"Nothin'..." she raised her other hand and pushed it against his chest firmly. He was almost momentarily amused by her poor seduction technique. She'd been much more convincing in St. Tropez.

He leaned back a little, watching her unbuckling his belt, almost curious to see how this was going to play out. He wasn't certain he could get in the mood thanks to his anxiety and the thought of being watched by a ghost, but he was interested to see just what Rogue's motives were tonight, "okay...so...what y' think you gon' accomplish?"

"Well..." she breathed, she raised her eyes to his.

"Y' gon' seduce me?" he dared, still thinking the thought of Rogue trying to seduce him might be slightly amusing. "Y' gon' make me putty in y' hands...?"

Her eyes softened a little, her hands were working at the button of his jeans. "Maybe..."

"Yeah...and maybe if y' were good enough at it, then who knows... maybe it distract me from askin' 'bout why y' tol' Tabitha I was married," he spoke up.

Rogue stopped what she was doing immediately, her eyes guiltily met his, her cheeks paled. "Hmm?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Y' tol' Tabitha I was married," Remy repeated. "Funny though that y' didn' tell her t' whom exactly."

"Remy..."

"Jesus, Rogue," he snorted, "I mean...y' go on at me, warnin' me t' keep secrets, and then y' drop that one t' Tabitha of all people. And y' don' even keep me in the loop?"

"What was Ah meant to do?" she groaned.

"About what?" he raised an eyebrow.

"About her, Remy. She was standin' there talkin' like...you and her are gonna get together. Ah had to say somethin'..."

"So y' thought it would be helpful t' tell her I was taken?"

"Well..."

"Y' could have jus' said me and you was an item...why the fuck are y' complicatin' things?"

"'Cause Ah knew what she'd say...Ah knew she'd wonder why someone like you would be with someone like me," Rogue swallowed hard.

Remy sat there looking at his wife, trying to determine if this was true or not. He was certain there would be judgement of some kind or another but he didn't particularly care and didn't understand why she did. "T' be honest, I'm not sure that y' tellin' her I'm married gon' make much of a difference. All she sees is that I'm married t' someone who ain' around. Y' think that's gon' stop her?"

"It better stop you," Rogue warned.

"Marie...I would never-"

"Yes you would," Rogue frowned at him, "you have before..."

"Since when?!"

"Since when?! What about with Belladonna?"

"She kissed me-"

"Ah don't want to hear it," Rogue retorted, "Just...stay away from Tabitha..."

"Pardon?" he blinked.

"She's bad news, and Ah know she likes you..."

"Y' dictatin' t' me who I'm allowed t' be friends with now?"

"Why would you want to be friends with her? What the hell do you even talk about?"

"We talk about stuff," Remy replied simply. Stuff I can't talk about wit' you, Remy thought. He wished he could voice it but he knew the looks he'd get from Rogue if he did so. He knew the argument that would ensue.

"What stuff, Remy?" Rogue frowned.

"What stuff?"

"Define stuff!"

"Oh, I dunno," he snorted, "probably the same stuff y' talk about with Logan."

Her mouth dropped, "you are not gonna start accusin' me of-"

"Y' standin' there accusin' me, chere, I can give as good as I get," he said quickly. "Don't accuse me of cheatin' or sneakin' around on y' if y' can't take it y' self. "Y' the one complicatin' things here, chere, not me. I'm tired o' keepin secrets. I came here t' get away from keepin' secrets. I'm frustrated, Marie..."

Her eyes averted from him stubbornly, her mouth curled into a slight pout.

"I coul' live wit' not gettin' laid...wit' never bein' able t' be alone wit' you...it's the not bein' wit' y' at all."

"Remy..." she groaned.

"Lets tell everyone," he suggested, he tried to simmer his anger down as much as he could.

Rogue shook her head.

"Rogue, I've played it y' way for long enough, I can't do this much longer."

"Please..." she begged softly.

"What y' think they gon' do? What y' think they gon' say?"

She had no answer for him, he saw the hurt and worry in her eyes; part of him hated putting the look on her face while the other part of him felt it all too necessary.

"Y' know I would do anythin' f' y', chere, but this..." he sighed. "Y' know...since we came here, y' been...distant. Even when we been t' gether. It ain' like it was..."

She seemed to chew the inside of her cheek, eyes to the floor.

"In Louisiana...you were different...y' were so-"

A sudden knock at the door startled them both and they turned to stare at it.

"Remy? You in there?"

Rogue stood up quickly at the sound of Tabitha's voice, her expression was livid, her face flushed red with anger. Remy stood slowly, watching as Rogue panicked in looking for a hiding place. She spotted his open window and she hastily moved to climb outside of it, he hoped that the ledge would be wide enough for her to stand on.

"Get rid of her!" Rogue hissed under her breath to him.

Remy picked up his iPhone from where he'd left it and he dialled Rogue's number – the only way to ensure his call looked genuine as he'd even listed her as Marie in his contacts – as he unwedged the door and opened it to Tabitha who was standing at the other side. "I'm on the phone," he mouthed to her silently, he waited for Rogue's answering service to pick up.

Tabitha raised an eyebrow, not offering to leave or let him have privacy for the call.

"Y' were like another person when we were back in Louisiana t' gether," he decided to continue with what he'd been saying to Rogue. "Strong and kind...and y' didn' care 'bout what people thought..." he admitted. "But now...y' playin' games and keepin' secrets. Sometimes I think the reason y' won' even tell anyone 'bout us is that y' so embarrassed about me," he stated to the answering service, "Y' put too much stock int' what others think and I think it's time they knew about us..." he paused, looking towards the window and wondering if Rogue had moved along the ledge to find a way inside another window or if she was hanging outside there listening. He softened his voice to the voice mail, "All I want is t' be wit' y'..."

"Remy...are you okay?" Tabitha asked quietly, her expression worried.

Remy shook his head, then spoke into the phone, "I won't wait around forever for you to figure out if you really love me or not," he said, he wondered what Rogue's reaction might be at the call.

Tabitha leaned on his dresser, her expression so very interested now.

"Think about what I said," he made a point of hanging up the call and throwing the phone angrily to the mattress.

"Are you all right?"

Remy frowned, "it look like I am?"

"Was that...?" Tabitha asked delicately.

"My wife," he replied, "yes."

"What happened?"

"She...she hasn't told her family and friends about us yet," he muttered truthfully, "it...it's...gettin' real hard t' deal wit'. It's like she's embarrassed about me or somethin'..."

"That's...really shitty."

"Yeah," Remy agreed.

"What's shitty?" came Rogue's voice from the hallway. Remy thought it rather impressive how she'd managed to get through another window and into the hall so quickly.

She must have rushed t' make sure me and Tabitha didn't get t' be alone.

Remy looked away from Rogue, feigning heartbreak, "I'm not sure my wife really loves me..."

"Remy..." Tabitha said softly, she touched his arm. Remy spied Rogue's displeased expression in the reflection on his mirror. Tabitha turned to Rogue, "he just talked to her on the phone..." she explained.

Rogue tilted her head and folded her arms; she seemed to be struggling to come to grips with what was going on. "Ah'm sure she does, Remy. She wouldn't still be married to you if she didn't," she pointed out. Remy wondered if that was a threat almost.

He swept his hand through his hair, sighing, "I'm not so sure...she was so quiet on the phone...wouldn' budge," he explained. Probably 'cause she wasn't there to answer, 'course.

"Why didn't she tell anyone about being married to you?" Tabitha asked in confusion, "because you're a mutant?"

"Because of my reputation," he supposed, he feigned a look of devastation, "maybe 'cause I've done so many stupid things...or maybe...she jus' fell in love wit' someone else. Maybe she jus' marry me 'cause there was no one else, f' the sake of it, t' know what it felt like."

"Don't be stupid," Rogue muttered. "You're just being paranoid is all."

Tabitha didn't offer anything in the way of consolation that his suspicions may be wrong, Remy was certain that was only going to frustrate Rogue further.

"Look...I...I really need some time alone t' deal wit' this..." Remy gestured to the door.

"Maybe you shouldn't be on your own right now," Tabitha admitted.

"No, he needs a lot of time alone," Rogue decided flatly, "He has a lot of thinking to do."

"Please," Remy gestured to the door again, "tell them I'm gon' skip dinner, that I'm a lil' tired. Gon' jus' go to sleep."

"Okay," Tabitha nodded, "I'll let them know."

Remy stood at the door beside Rogue as Tabitha headed off to give the news that Remy wouldn't be joining them for dinner. When she was out of earshot, Rogue pushed him roughly.

"What the fuck?!" she demanded in a quiet hiss.

"Y' wan' play games wit' people, Rogue? Y' know what, I can play games, too," he said with a restrained smile, "night, chere," he said quietly and he pushed his door shut with her on the other side of it and kicked the wedge beneath it securely so she couldn't get back in. He almost expected her to yell at him through the door but not a word was uttered.

He'd won this round.

End of Part Fourteen

Thanks to everyone for their awesome reviews. I hope you all enjoy this short update. A few more small developments here. Is Remy right? HAS Rogue changed since Louisiana? Is Jean-Luc getting stronger? Will Logan remember the Pepperoni meat feast? So many questions!

Don't worry that the Prof hasn't demanded to see Remy yet about the car accident, it hasn't been glossed over or forgotten about, ;)

Anyway, off to do a bit of chapter 29 before bed :) Love you all and hope you have a fantastic weekend :)