"What the hell happened down there, Gambit?"
"It wasn' her fault, Wolverine..."
Rogue heard her teammates arguing. Opening her eyes, she
realized she was still in Gambit's bed covered from head to toe in a soft
quilt. Remy and Wolverine were standing behind her arguing.
"The way I heard it, the two o' you stormed into that
diner and started beatin' up on the good patrons of that fine establishment. I
know that ain't how it went down. I also know that Rogue don't go lookin' fer
trouble. Those men who were hurt...it was her power that was used on 'em. I've
seen her use it enough times, I know what the after-effects are. Now I wanna
know what happened."
"It wasn't Remy's fault," Rogue sat up in bed.
"Then who's was it?"
"Mine."
"I know better than that darlin'. Like I said, you don't
go lookin' fer trouble."
"So now you sayin' dat I put Rogue in dat situation on
purpose?"
"No. But you attract trouble like nobody's business. It
doesn't matter either way. You two pack up. The three of us are goin'
home."
"Wolverine, it was an accident---"
"I'm goin to call the Professor. He needs to know about
this so he can do some damage control."
"Logaaaan..."
"I'm doin' this fer your own good darlin'. You need to be
checked out. The Professor needs to make sure you're okay. No offense, Rogue,
but you look like hell."
"Thanks," she brushed her hair back from her face.
Sure she did feel a little funny, but it would pass. She figured her body was
just trying to regain it's equilibrium after absorbing two people at once. A
little downtime in these mountains was all she needed to get her back to
normal. Now if she could just convince Logan of that...
She opened her mouth to begin her begging anew, but was cut
off.
"No, Rogue. End of discussion. The three of us are leaving
first thing in the morning. I'm gonna go call Charley now and let him know
what's happened. If it makes you feel better, I won't tell anyone else until we
get ready to leave in the morning. That way, you can at least enjoy the
cookout."
"Thanks," she responded dryly.
"Welcome," he said gruffly as he left the room,
closing the door behind him.
"Damn midget," Rogue sniffed.
Gambit laughed, "Ah, come on, Chere. Ev'ryt'ing'll turn
out okay."
"Ya know what really pisses me off?"
"What?" he asked, still smiling.
"The fact that he's right."
"That so?"
"Yea," she sighed loudly, "Part o' me wants to
go home and let the Prof and Jean evaluate me. Ah still ain't feelin' too hot
and Ah'd like to know what's goin on in mah head."
Gambit looked at her for a moment, "Lay down."
"Hmm?"
"On your stomach."
Why?"
"'Cause I said so. Jus' do it an' stop bein' so
difficult."
She finally complied and Remy reached to the foot of the bed to
pull the sheet over her.
"Remy---?"
"Shhh."
After securing the sheet over her shoulders and arms, he asked,
"Comfortable?"
"Ah guess."
"Bon," he relied as his skillful hands began working
the tension out of her upper back and shoulders.
"Mmmm."
"You like dat, Rogue?"
"Oui," she replied, her faces buried into a pillow.
He smiled and worked his way down her back, massaging her
through the sheet. After a few moments had passed, Remy spoke.
"Chere?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry 'bout what happened in town. I shouldn' have
pushed you like dat. Dis is all my fault and I'm gonna make dat known to de
Prof and everyone else."
Slowly, Rogue sat up to face him, "You don't have to do
that, Remy. Ah know how mah powers work. Ah also know the consequences of mah
actions and Ah'm gonna take responsibility for 'em. What happened to those boys
wasn't your fault."
Studying her face for a moment, Remy asked, "You sure
you're okay?"
"No," she smiled, "Ah feel terrible. But Ah'll
live. Always do."
Remy nodded. He was glad Logan was making them go home. The
sooner the Prof checked her out, the better. Remy knew he wouldn't sleep well
tonight. He'd be up worrying about her. It nearly drove him crazy when he was
looking for her in town. She can usually take care of herself, but he felt much
better when he was there to protect her.
"Yea, Remy, you did a good job of protecting her
today." He'd never forgive himself if she had lasting effects from this
encounter.
"Remy? You okay?"
He smiled, "Course I am."
Rogue started at him intently.
"His smiled faultered, "What?"
"Nothin'. Just thinkin' 'bout how damn cute you are."
"Not nearly as cute as you, Chere," he stared into
her deep eyes.
"Remy---"
"Hush."
With two fingers, he stroked the tendrils of white that fell
around her face. Rogue resisted the urge to push his hand away. She knew he was
too close, but at that moment, when his breath was mingling with hers and the
scent of his cologne invading her nostrils, Rogue couldn't bring herself to
move away from him.
"I wanna kiss you, Rogue."
She didn't respond; didn't move a muscle.
Slowly, Remy lifted her gloved hand to his lips and kissed it
gently.
Rogue let out a breath that she didn't realize she had been
holding.
Remy smiled sadly, "But dis li'l kiss here is all we can
do for now, oui?"
Rogue lowered her eyes, "Yea. Ah guess."
"Come on, Cherie," Remy took both her hands and
helped her off the bed, "If we only got one night in dis little piece of
paradise, why not make
de most of it?"
"And how are we gonna do that?"
"Simple. You an' me, we gonna get dressed up real nice. I
brought a suit wit' me. You got anyt'ing to wear?"
"All Ah bought is regular clothes."
"Well, we ask de other girls den. I'm sure one o' dem has
somet'in you can borrow."
"And just what is us gettin' dressed up gonna
accomplish?"
"Dis is our vacation. It's s'pposed to be fun. Me an' you'll
get all dressed up an' we'll have us a li'l picnic by candlelight, maybe a walk
down by de lake? Just live it up, Rogue. We got one night to relax. Let's do it
right."
Rogue smiled weakly at herself in the mirror as she stood
before it wrapped in a towel with her hair hanging loosely around her face. She
felt a bit better, and she definitely looked better. In the back of her mind,
she could still feel the presence of one of the men, but not as strongly as
before. The other had completely disappeared as far as she could tell, and that
puzzled her. All the unpleasant thoughts left her when she heard a knock at her
door.
"Who is it?" she
forced herself to sound more cheerful than she felt.
" 's me."
Smiling, Rogue opened the
door.
"Chere, " he whistled
appreciatively at her appearance, "you know better dan to temp me like
dis."
Rogue blushed, "Ah was
just gettin' outta the shower."
"So I see," he
looked her up and down again, "Anyway, I jus' stopped by to give you dese
before supper."
From behind his back, Remy
produced a bouquet of flowers.
"Oh, Remy..." she
breathed taking the flowers from him. It was a beautiful arrangement of
star-gazers, small pink roses, pink and white carnations, white mums, and baby'
breath. "They're gorgeous! How in the world did you get these?"
"Tsk, tsk,
Rogue," he scolded, "You know a gentleman never tells. And if Remy
LeBeau is not'ing else, he is a gentleman."
Rogue smiled up at him,
"Thank you."
"Anyt'ing to see you
smile, Rogue. Go on and finish gettin' ready. We don' wanna keep ev'rybody
waitin' on us."
"Ah'll see you at
6:30," Grinning like a Cheshire cat, she closed the door. After a few
moments of searching, she found a cup and filled it with water from her
bathroom. She placed the flowers in it and put it on the bureau where she could
look at them while she got ready.
After asking Betsy and
Trish if they had brought anything ideal for tonight's events and coming up
empty-handed, Rogue resorted to asking Opal. Amazingly, Bobby's girlfriend had
brought a dancing dress with her to a cabin in the middle of nowhere...with
shoes to match.
Shedding her towel, Rogue
pulled on her underwear and walked over to her closet door where the dress was
hanging. She stood before it and fingered the soft silver satin. Almost giddy
with anticipation, Rogue slid the dress off the hanger and over her head. The
dress was an almost iridescent silver with spaghetti straps and an empire
waist. It came down to about the middle of Rogue's thigh. The dress was snug on
her curves, but the skirt was loose and flowing, ideal for dancing. Without
giving herself a second glance in the mirror, Rogue went to the bathroom to do
her hair.
Remy slipped the bright red
shirt on and began buttoning it. He was excited about tonight. He knew with a
little luck, he and Rogue could have the time of their lives. But he also
worried. Everything needed to be perfect. Rogue had been through such a shock
today, he didn't want to upset her anymore. He smiled remembering the look of
excitement slowly, and almost reluctantly, growing on her face as he told her
about the plans for tonight.
"I'm gonna make sure
dis is a night you never forget, Roguey." He slipped on the black jacket
of his tux, picked up a single red rose from his dresser along with a small
velvet box and left the room.
Bending over, Rogue
fastened the straps on the matching silver shoes. She turned around once in the
mirror, making sure everything looked alright.
"Not half-bad River
Rat," she smiled in satisfaction and began with her make-up. Luckily,
Trish had the perfect silver eye make-up that she was more than happy to let
Rogue borrow, along with a pair of large silver hoop earrings.
At exactly 6:30, there was
a knock on her door. Checking her reflection one last time, she answered the
door.
Remy stood before her in
the hallway looking like he stepped strait out of the pages of a fashion
magazine. He wore a classic black tux with a red shirt that was only buttoned
about halfway, giving Rogue a nice view of his chest. He wore no tie and his hair
was pulled back at the nape of his neck in a ponytail. In his hand was a single
red rose.
"Hi, Sugah," she
smirked, "You clean up pretty good."
"I could say the same
t'ing about you." In fact that was all Remy could say. The vision before
him took his breath away.
Feeling slightly
uncomfortable under his stare, Rogue asked, "That another to add to mah
collection?"
"What? Oh, the rose.
Oui, for you."
Rogue laughed as she added
the rose to her bouquet, "Ah never thought Ah'd live to see it."
"See what?"
"Remy LeBeau,
speechless."
"Wit' somt'in as
lovely as you standin' here wit' me, how can I not be?"
"Knock it off, Cajun.
You've seen me dressed up before."
"Oui, but it's been a
while, Chere...You know you're de most beautiful t'ing I've ever seen?"
"Thank ya, Remy,"
she pulled on a pair of black satin gloves that came up above her elbows,
"Ready to go?"
"I'd rather keep you
up here all to myself."
"Well, that ain't
gonna happen."
"Oh, why not?" he
teased.
" 'Cause Ah'm
starved." And with that, she pulled her date into the hallway.