BENEATH THE SURFACE

Part Twenty-Three

Rogue was tired after her danger room session with the X-Men. It had been a particularly tedious session, never a moment to stop and take a breath. Sweat was still dripping down face and down her collar as she exited the upstairs elevator and went down the hall to the bedroom.

When she eventually got to her door, she found it hanging open a little, which concerned her as she was certain she had shut the door after leaving it only an hour or so ago. She stopped for a moment, staring at it.

At her back, Kitty Pryde, whose room was not far from hers and had been heading the same direction, stopped too, "something wrong?"

"No, Ah just...thought Ah'd shut this earlier is all," Rogue explained softly, she pushed the door open but hovered in the hall, not bothering to gaze in.

"Maybe Tabitha has been in again," Kitty said, "I heard you arguing with her earlier by the way."

"Oh," Rogue chewed the inside of her cheek, turning to look at the petite brunette, "you heard that?"

"Yeah."

A little bit of panic surged through Rogue. What else had Kitty heard? Had she heard the argument with Remy? Had she heard when he'd practically yelled the word blowjob? Rogue winced inwardly. Walls had ears in this place, hopefully it was more selective hearing than anything else and some things had hopefully been selectively ignored.

"I didn't mean to overhear or anything," Kitty admitted, "it's just...I was walking by and the door was open so..."

Okay, calm down, she was just passing by, she probably didn't hear Remy like ten minutes later. At least Ah hope she didn't, Rogue tried to soothe herself.

"Look, Ah was just at the end of the tether," Rogue confessed, "she keeps stealin' my stuff...takin' what's mine," she complained. She didn't really want to think of it all over again, and yet, nonetheless it somehow felt good to just complain about it. These days the only person she ever could vent her frustrations with was Remy, and she couldn't exactly vent them with him over this.

"Sometimes when Tabitha is around, you have to share, like it or not," Kitty grumbled.

"Some things Ah just can't," Rogue responded; she refused to share Remy. There were just some sacrifices she couldn't make when it came to that. "And you know what, why should Ah? Tabitha gets everythin' she wants. She just takes it and everyone just gives her it, gives in and lets her. Am Ah supposed to just stand by and let her have what she wants? She already has it all, already, Kitty. She's gorgeous...nice skin, great hair, body to die for..."

"You mean other than the extra weight she's really self-conscious about now?" Kitty asked pointedly.

"Self-conscious?" Rogue snorted, "she doesn't come off as self-conscious to me, she wears her clothes tight so that she can show off her shape."

"No," Kitty corrected, "she wears her clothes tight 'cause she's picking the wrong size," she said, "'cause she, like, hasn't accepted that she's not a size zero any more."

"Oh come on," Rogue rolled her eyes.

Kitty hovered in the hall, "she's uncomfortable, Rogue, and you can tell she is. Those jeans are leaving marks on her, you see it when she stands up and pulls at them, big red marks, right in her hips, and her shirts ride up, and her bras are digging into her back...come on, you think that's deliberate? When has she ever dressed like that before?"

Rogue looked away.

"She doesn't dress slutty, you know that...she dresses just like us...average...comfortable. I mean...seriously, your clothes are sluttier than Tabitha's...you're wearing see through blouses and skimpy little skirts..."

It had never occurred to Rogue that this might be the case. She felt her cheeks burn a little.

"And it never like...occurred to you that she's like...kind of eating a lot for some reason...?" Kitty asked.

"Yeah, it occurred to me that she wants everythin' she sees," Rogue muttered. "Including food."

"Okay, I get...uhm...frustrated with Tabitha at the best of times," Kitty commented, "You're right, she takes things without asking, she acts a little rude but...she doesn't mean to be like that. The way you're acting just now though...that's just mean and it's deliberate. I know you have a mean streak, Rogue, but you've never been cruel before."

"Ah'm not bein' cruel."

"Yes you are," Kitty said, "I've seen you getting mean with her before...I don't know why you're so suddenly antagonistic towards her. You used to be her friend, you like a lot of the same stuff and bands, suddenly she's like the enemy."

"That's not true," Rogue responded.

"It so is," Kitty headed towards her own room, "Maybe give it a rest, give her a break. I know she's not perfect...but neither are you."

Rogue ignored the comment, feeling slightly attacked at the accusations as she moved into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Her eyes fell immediately to her bed. What was all of that on it?

She moved closer to examine the many brand new items that had been put there; makeup palettes, eyeliners, mascaras, blushes, brush sets, mirrors, perfume bottles, body moisturisers and face creams, all laid out on the bed. The brands were expensive, designer brands, designer fragrances. The set of brushes was not cheap, she'd bought a single brush from the brand once and it had cost her nearly thirty dollars. The set must have run into the hundreds.

"Remy," she sighed under her quietly Rogue sat on the edge of the bed, pushing aside some of the items. She couldn't even look at them right now. She wasn't sure what to make of this gesture, he'd accused her of some rather horrible things this morning, she felt definitely like it had been a little unjustified. He still expected apologies and yet had bought all of this? She didn't understand it, it was a mixed signal.

She slipped a glove off, drew her breath and took her phone from where it was sitting on the bedside table, still plugged in. She yanked the wire from it, swiped her finger across it and opened the text messaging application, intent on giving him a piece of her mind.

And she went blank.

She wasn't sure what to begin to say to him. She wasn't even sure if she should limit contact with him to a text message or speak to him directly. She was certain that if she tried to go speak to him in in person at the moment it was going to be strangely awkward; especially since she didn't want to provoke another argument that someone may overhear.

She tossed the phone aside, she couldn't think of anything to say to text. This had to be done directly, she had to ask him what all this meant. Did it mean things were fine or not? Her stomach churned at the thought of his being mad at her, her stomach had been churning since he'd stormed out that morning. It had occurred to her to go and speak to him earlier before her danger room session, but she'd decided that a few more hours to calm down wouldn't exactly hurt him. Apparently, it wouldn't have mattered, he hadn't even been home by the looks of it.

Trying to rehearse what she wanted to say to him, she left her room and went down the hall towards the stairs, Tabitha's room was the first door she came across, it wasn't usually open but today it was and Rogue couldn't prevent herself from stopping to stare in. The room was a mess, as it often was, clothes thrown carelessly to the floor, underwear hanging from a lampshade, bra's dangling from a radiator. And there was Tabitha, sitting on the floor facing the floor length mirror, a blusher brush in her hand, it poised but her eyes distant, she seemed to be lost in thought. Rogue doubted she even knew she was there at the door.

And Rogue spied the marks that Kitty had been talking about on the girl's hips, the thin red lines her panties had left, the way her jeans had slipped down and the flesh was spilling over it a little. And Kitty had been right...the girl's bra was too tight, it digging into the soft flesh on her back far more than it should have, making folds look obvious even behind her loose fitting t-shirt.

Rogue swallowed hard, she hadn't seen it before like that. Didn't that hurt? Wasn't it uncomfortable? Rogue didn't feel comfortable in her own clothes at the best of times when they fit, she didn't feel comfortable as a person in the clothes she had that she liked, she wondered how much confidence it might take to feel good wearing clothes as tight as Tabitha's?

Unless, like Kitty had said, the girl had no idea.

Kitty's right, she's in serious denial, Rogue thought dully. She drew her breath, licked her dry lips and uneasily rapped her knuckles against the door.

Tabitha raised her eyes in the mirror, looking behind her and sighing, "what?" she asked, sounding slightly miserable.

"Can, uhm...Ah come in?"

Tabitha dropped her eyes to her makeup brushes, "yeah, sure, whatever. I come into your room all the time without being invited, so..."

"Yeah..." Rogue agreed, "You...do..." she stepped in. She wasn't sure she'd ever been in Tabitha's room before. Tabitha had had a number of rooms during her coming and going, nothing had ever been permanent enough. She'd never stayed long enough to paint walls or put up posters or get her own blankets. Other than the mess, Tabitha's room was plain, just like Remy's was (except she had a bed and not a single mattress on the floor). This room had once belonged to Amara too, but Amara had apparently gone and moved into the room with Rahne and Jubilee, finding Tabitha too impossible to live with. Rogue wasn't sure she could blame Amara for moving out.

"Ah, uhm..." Rogue tried to think of what to say.

"Yeah?" Tabitha asked, picking up a blusher palette and sweeping the brush onto it. Rogue's eyes dropped to what was sitting on the floor by Tabitha. She too had new makeup, some of the plastic wrapping and cardboard packaging had been torn off and thrown to the floor (a foot shy of the waste paper basket nearby). Two eyeshadow palettes, a blush palette, two lipsticks, two eyeliners, a mascara and a couple of bottles of brightly coloured nail polish. In comparison to what was lying on her own bed in her bedroom, it was barely anything. Rogue's eyes spotted the new set of luxury makeup brushes which Tabitha had splayed out on the carpet. It didn't take a genius to understand who had bought them.

And it didn't take a mathematician to know that in comparison to what Tabitha had, what was sitting on her own bed was probably worth a good couple of thousand...Tabitha's haul couldn't have been worth more than a hundred dollars of middle-range makeup items. The brushes were the only thing of value.

"Ah...guess Remy bought you those..." Rogue tried to keep herself calm, the thought of him buying Tabitha anything still didn't sit right. Did that mean the makeup he'd bought her was just a peace offering to keep her from getting angry?

"Yeah," Tabitha said quietly.

"You...didn't get a lot," Rogue said, she felt slightly shaky.

"No, not really," Tabitha swept the blush across her cheek, one sweep was all it took, she had it perfect, Rogue could never understand how it was girls like that always got it so right. She herself would sweep it on, find herself rubbing it off and trying to powder it down with her finishing dust after thinking it looked too dramatic. "You know, I don't get it..." she shook her head.

Rogue tilted her head, staring at the blonde curiously, "huh?"

"You..." Tabitha swept blush across the other cheek, it perfectly matched, no blending, no work to get it to look right. Rogue was in awe. "You have everything, you know that?"

"Huh?" Rogue asked again.

"The Professor gives you the most attention, helps you with your powers more than anyone else here. And Logan...all the extra sessions, all the martial arts training, one on one training, advanced techniques...he lets you help him on missions. You think we didn't notice all the special treatment he gives you? He's bananas about everything you do, he can't praise you enough..."

Rogue thought this was rather wrong, Logan probably didn't praise her for much other than stupidity as of late.

"You're Logan's pretend kid," Tabitha sighed, "he yells at the rest of us like we're living headaches, but you...he's...nice to you. Practically worships the ground you walk on and I'd put the only dollar I have to my name right now on a million to one bet that if came down to it, he'd probably adopt you outright if you asked him to!"

It felt horribly awkward not being able to deny that, Logan had admitted it himself and Rogue couldn't even tell anyone, she knew the animosity it would cause if she should happen to.

"And then there's Kurt...he's crazy about you, he calls you his sister, even though there's not so much as even a spec of DNA to make anything mean shit, as far as he's concerned, you're it when it comes to family. He loves you – why, I don't know, because you're mean to him or ignore him for the most part!"

"Not true," Rogue shook her head.

"And...like...you're like, Scott's first choice for second in command, you know that right?" Tabitha's eyes were slightly glimmering with the threat of tears.

"What?" Rogue moved in closer, "what are you talking about?"

"I heard him say it to Jean...how he needed to pick a second in command for the field...and how you were the first choice, how you were fantastic in the field, and you were strong and capable...and-"

"When? When did he say that?" Rogue interrupted.

"Does it matter?" demanded Tabitha, "You're first for second and I can't even even make the cut to get onto the fucking team! You know what I was until you got back?! I was a fucking back up, a last resort that got thrown back to square one the minute you came right on back through the door. Just like that, discarded."

"Tabitha..."

"And now..." Tabitha sighed, "Remy...there's him. Just like everyone else, he's crazy about you, although god knows why because you're a bitch to him!"

Rogue gaped at the girl.

"He fucking adores you, worships the ground you practically walk on just like the others do...you pick on him at breakfast, you make comments about his being a redneck, you call him Gumbo and Jerk. You're never nice to him," Tabitha replied. "And he just takes it. I have never had a friend that would put up with what you say and do to him. The way you ignore him when he asks you to hang out or...I would kill for him to just even like me as much as he likes you."

Rogue wished she had it in her to to just admit to Tabitha that Remy did like her, far more than she probably would know. But the words just would not surface.

"You're like, the heart of everything here, Rogue," Tabitha closed the blusher palette and put it aside, she stared at her face in the mirror. "God...Sometimes I like..." a tear fell from the girls eye and she swiftly swept it away, "I used to look at you as inspiration, did you know that?"

"Huh?" Rogue asked, feeling blank, nausea was rising in her throat a little.

"You...you were a runaway, just like me...went from being with the Brotherhood and being alone to being friends with the X-Men, being one of them...being cared about by the instructors. Now you have all the moves, and all the respect, you go on missions, you make a huge difference to peoples lives. I wanted to be like you!" Tabitha's tears spilled again, she quickly got up and moved to the dressing table, grabbing a packet of makeup wipes and tearing one out to try and stop her makeup from running.

This was a startling confession, Rogue felt guilt beginning to swallow her up feet first, every word the girl said, she felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into it.

"When you leave here, everyone tries to find you, Rogue...when I leave...no one looks for me. No one cares enough to."

Rogue folded her arms uncomfortably, she felt so sick from hearing this, guilt was up to her stomach now and rising steadily. "That's not true."

"It is," Tabitha wiped her tears, "You know it, and I know it. When it comes down to it, I'm expendable, I don't matter enough, I don't matter enough to anyone here."

"You matter," Rogue looked away uneasily. To Remy, it seemed Tabitha certainly did, and Rogue suddenly found herself wondering if she even had the right to feel angry about that. "You matter to everyone here, Tabitha, it's just...everyone gets so wrapped up in their own lives sometimes it's hard to see it is all..."

"Sure," Tabitha looked away disbelievingly.

"Look..." Rogue drew a breath, she wanted to get this over with, "I'm...sorry...about what Ah said. Ah didn't mean it, Ah'm just...havin' a hard time lately. Ah didn't mean to take it out on you...you just...caught me on a really bad day. I've...got a lot going on in my head and...I just...I didn't think when I opened my mouth."

"Why don't you talk about it," Tabitha suggested, dabbing at her teary eyes, trying to prevent the makeup from getting worse.

"Some things are private," Rogue supposed.

"You sound like Remy," Tabitha sighed, she moved to the mirror, gazing at herself, her makeup seemed beyond redemption regardless of how much she'd tried to prevent the tears from ruining it.

"Huh?"

"He won't open up much either...he gets so far and then just...clams up..." Tabitha wiped under her eyes, "his dad did a number on him I guess..."

Rogue's mouth dropped, "his...dad..." she repeated shakily.

Tabitha turned to look at her suddenly, "you knew...I mean, you must have, he's your best friend, isn't he..."

Rogue swallowed, the thought of Remy talking to the blonde about those things made her feel quite sick, "Ah...Ah...yes...he told me..."

But why would he tell you, Rogue wondered in disbelief.

"Rogue...are you all right?" Tabitha said, "You look a little pasty...and sweaty."

"Ah'm fine...just...this flu going around, Ah've been feelin' a little hot all day," Rogue wiped her head.

"Yeah, Remy has it too. He was coughing the entire time we were out. I wish he'd just go and buy some damn cough syrup instead of just enduring it like a moron," Tabitha rolled her eyes; just like that, the tears were over, she was back to herself. It reminded Rogue so much of the way Remy could switch on and off, true emotions filtering through and then quickly suppressed before anyone could have chance to notice."

Rogue hovered, watching the girl remove her makeup. "Are...are we okay?"

Tabitha paused, "I...guess," she sighed, "got to be, I guess."

"We don't have to be," Rogue supposed. "If you don't want to be."

"I want to be okay with it, Rogue," Tabitha admitted quietly, "but...it's going to take a while."

"Okay," Rogue nodded, "I'll...see you at dinner."

Tabitha stood examining herself in the mirror, Rogue threw once glance over at her as she stood at the door about to leave.

"Tab?" Rogue sighed.

"Yeah?" sighed the blonde.

"Ah'd kill to look like you," Rogue said quietly, and that was all she'd give.

"Hear her footsteps, here she comes, them loud boots slam, slam, slammin' outside the door," Jean-Luc hissed against Remy's ear. Remy was lying on his side on his mattress trying to get a few hours of nap time before dinner. It wasn't exactly helpful that every time he lay down the cough seemed to get persistently worse. If it weren't the cough, it was the nagging of the ghost right at his ear. Remy could practically feel the spittle.

"Go away," Remy muttered under his breath, shutting his eyes tightly.

"Why don' y' take her back t' that cave, lay int' her a lil'...she deserve it f' all she put y' through."

"Shut up!" Remy hissed back to the ghost.

"No one woul' hear her screamin'...y' coul' do some real damage t' her down there..."

"Shut up!" Remy turned to the ghost and snapped, a little too loudly; the door had just opened, unknown to him, and Rogue was standing there looking blankly at him.

"Remy?" she asked shakily.

"Sorry..." he coughed, "I got a headache...the boots...the noise kinda makin' it worse..." he lied, he made a point of rubbing his head.

"Tabitha said you were doin' worse," Rogue walked in uninvited.

Remy rolled over away from her, sighing, "so what, y' interrogatin' her now about my every move?" he asked bitterly.

"We spoke...Ah apologised," Rogue said quietly.

"About time," Remy grumbled.

"Why did you go so crazy with the makeup?" Rogue asked quietly.

"Keep the peace, I guess. That's what y' gon' accuse me o', anyway, right?" he mumbled.

"Ah...went to the sickbay and got some cough syrup from Hank for you," she came over and lowered herself down to the mattress.

"I don' need it."

"Yes you do, now come on," she twisted the cap off and spilled some into the small measuring cup.

Remy grunted and grabbed the bottle from her, swigging back a good half of the contents, making a face. He lowered the bottle from his lips, groaning, "tastes like jizz mixed wit' bourbon and licorice," he muttered.

Rogue blinked, "How would you..." she stopped herself, and winced. She hadn't wanted to particularly hear that he was certain she was perceptive enough to understand what he meant. "Remy, fuck...you're only supposed to take a cap full..."

Grumpy enough as it was, he grabbed the cap with the correct dosage still within it from her and tipped it back down his throat, "happy?" he made a face at the taste of the foul stuff.

"Not...uhm, really..." she said a little helplessly, she twisted the cap onto the bottle.

"Too bad," he muttered, laying his head back down upon the pillow.

"You look pale," Rogue commented, "you'll probably need to take the day off school tomorrow."

"What a pity," he said sarcastically. He didn't want to go to that place anyway, he was already sick of it and the people there, sick of classrooms and trying to think straight, sick of trying to hide his poor education from the students, sick of forcing himself to tone down his accent just so they could understand him.

"You gon' lay there and take her patronisin' bullshit? She makin' fun of you!" Jean-Luc growled from the corner, Remy shut his eyes tightly to block the sight of him out. Perhaps staying home from school tomorrow would be a bad idea if his ghost was going to be constantly griping at him in this way.

"You're in a bad mood..." Rogue admitted uneasily.

"Y' know, right now ain' a good time t' be around me," Remy managed. Lately, he was beginning to wonder if any time was a good time to be around him. Things being as they were today, Jean-Luc was likely to make him snap and he wasn't sure he had the energy to prevent it either.

Although he'd certainly suggested that she leave as far as he was concerned, she did nothing of the sort. Suddenly, he felt her gloved fingers gently brushing against his clammy forehead. It didn't matter how angry he was over the morning argument, nor that she'd apologised to Tabitha about the insult but still hadn't really apologised or explained to him about what last night had meant. Nothing mattered when her touch always soothed him more than anything else could. He felt the tension in his body begin to slightly lift as the backs of her suede gloves gently grazed across his right eyebrow. Inwardly, he sighed as the inexplicable forgiveness begun to sweep over him, the way it used to when he was slightly younger and Belladonna would use sex to work her way back into his good books after she'd do something to piss him off.

Only Rogue don' got t' take her clothes off t' make me wan' forgive her, he supposed. If that had been all it took, that morning seeing his wife standing naked in her room would have been enough to prevent the argument about Tabitha and last night from occurring at all.

"Stop bein' so damn weak! Throw her away! Smack her upside the head!" Jean-Luc demanded of him.

The silence was strangely comfortable, and his coughing let up a little as he lay there, her fingers stroking his hair and cheek, his head swimming with exhaustion, the strain of their argument beginning to slightly lift, the loudness of Jean-Luc's voice beginning to ebb away.

The moment reminded him of the first moment Rogue had ever touched him like this; the hotel room in Las Vegas, him nursing one of the worst hangovers he'd ever had and her standing over him, touching him so delicately. It was strange how little details stood out from that moment that he never thought of otherwise; the way the clock on the mantle of the suite had ticked steadily, the room had been so silent that he hadn't heard any of Las Vegas outside. He could still remember the way the towel had felt as he'd sat down upon it at the edge of the bed, the slight dampness, the thick pile of it against the back of his left thigh. The way her gloved fingers had felt stood so vividly out to him against all of it, the way those fingers had lightly traced the pain in his head, almost as if she'd known exactly where he'd felt it at that moment, sweeping so lightly against him, stilling his internal tremors and nausea all at once.

It was the first time he'd really known a touch like it and he'd never expected it of her, never thought she'd be there for him in that way when he'd needed her, almost as if she'd sensed right at that moment he had.

It was the first time since he'd known Rogue, first time since the whirlwind of his attraction to her and his quickly falling in love with her over the course of the few days between proposing and marrying her had he ever felt a spark of hope that perhaps it could be possible there might be something between them, that it might not just be a one-sided fantasy.

Things felt so clear to him right then, they always did whenever she was with him like that; his feelings that he always became so confused and lost over when it came to Rogue were like crystal. She loved him, she did love him...her touch and her acts in the cave were nothing but acts but when it came to this and here and now, she loved him.

Maybe it's time t' tell her everythin', he thought as he opened his eyes and raised them up to look at her, her face so soft and concerned, just as it had been before. He thought of how he might say he was haunted by more than just memories but the words would not come; he no longer felt the heaviness of Jean-Luc's presence weighing around him, as if the heavy iron chains of the haunting were slipping from him.

Talking of him was only likely to give him strength.

"Lie wit' me a bit," he shifted over.

"What if-"

"I don't care who sees," he interrupted her with a sigh.

"But-" she tried.

"I need y'," he croaked as he pulled her down to the mattress with him, curling up against her back, pressing his cheek against her blouse, arms tight around her waist. She lay there, he felt her body slightly tense, could sense her confusion with the moment. She probably wanted to talk about the argument; he didn't. He didn't want anything more to do with it, and he certainly didn't want to think any more of the notion that her sexual advances on him yesterday had only been about Tabitha. He wanted to forget it all ever happening, even if it meant forgetting a rather fantastic moment in his marriage because it was linked to a rather horrible one. He didn't even want an apology any more.

"Y' weak!" yelled Jean-Luc at him, voice weak and crackling, "Y' a weak piece of shit, y' always were!"

Remy squeezed his eyes shut trying to block out the sound of him by humming in his head.

Rogue ran her glove fingers absently along his arm, "what about this mornin'..."

"I don' wan' talk 'bout it," he said. "I ain' gon' apologise."

She gave a quiet sigh, he could tell she was thinking about this, biting her tongue.

"I don' care who was wrong or right..." he commented, "Maybe we was all wrong. I don' fuckin' care. I jus' don' wan' spend the next few weeks fightin' about it."

"You weak piece o' shit!" Jean-Luc hissed.

"Did you hear somethin'?" Rogue sat up awkwardly.

For one moment, Remy's body went cold, he leaned up uncomfortably, "what?" he asked. Had she heard Jean-Luc too? Was the ghost finally becoming so strong that it wasn't he alone who could hear him?

"Ah thought Ah heard..." she looked over her shoulder, "shit!" she pulled herself up from the bed just as the door opened.

Logan stood, looking down at them, his expression dark and unhappy.

Rogue's face flushed, "Ah was just checking-"

"We need you for a mission," Logan interrupted, "suit up."

Rogue gave an apologetic glance towards Remy, and then headed outside, leaving the door slightly open inadvertently. Remy listened to their voices as they were descending down the hall.

"You look a little pale, Rogue."

"Ah'm always pale," Rogue pointed out to Logan.

"You catchin' that flu?"

"Maybe," Rogue replied.

"If you're not up to this mission, you better say so."

"Ah feel fine," Rogue assured.

"Y' makin' her sick too," Jean-Luc laughed, his voice sounded strangely muted, "maybe y' make her sick enough t' get herself killed out there, hmm? Maybe she fall off a buildin' or be too ill t' fight back and get herself skewered by some mutie...get shot by a cop if we get lucky."

"SHUT UP!" Remy hissed in a whisper, he grabbed his pillow and pulled it over his head. Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up...

He kept repeating the words in his head until he finally felt groggy enough through the cough syrup and his exhaustion to drop off to sleep.

END OF PART TWENTY-THREE

Okay, so they copped out a bit, but they're teenagers, not everything can be talked out in massive long level-headed discussions. Some fights get glossed over (who hasn't had one like that? Lol).

Thanks to all for the amazing reviews that poured in tonight. As for the request for me to "email" the rest of the chapters, I can't do that as there's a hell of a lot of editing to do with it (huge storyline stuff coming up, a lot of work still needs done on it to refine it a little). It'll sound like I'm making up that I've written this far ahead to impress people/keep them hooked but trust me, HeartbreakLane could vouch for me as she's seen a lot of specific and knows most of what's going to happen, lol (and as much as I discuss the story with her even SHE hasn't seen those chapters yet, lol).

Anyway, I'm off to do a bit of work on chapter 41 before bed. I hope you all have a great weekend :)