Remy rolled over and panicked, finding open air instead of mattress and slamming to the floor. Where did the rest of his bed go? His fuzzy brain took a minute to process his surroundings before it caught up with the present situation. Oh yeah. Back in New Orleans, “on vacation” as a cover, staying at friend’s house until he could find a short-term rental and doing some digging for intel on scary rumors that had made it back to New York.
Yuck. He scraped his tongue on his teeth. What had crawled into his mouth and died? No more letting people talk him into drinking whiskey before bed, even if he hadn’t seen those people in over two years. He scrubbed a hand over his face and looked at the clock, squinting to bring the red lights into focus.
2PM?! Holy shit. How late were they out last night? The professor was not going to be happy that he hadn’t checked in yet today. His girlfriend probably wouldn’t be much happier. He winced and grabbed his phone, texting Jubes a quick “Just woke up. Call later. Talking to the bossman. xx”
He used the bed to drag himself to his feet and shuffled to the bathroom, wincing at his reflection. Yeah, those dark circles were super attractive next to the sallow cheeks. He dealt with the mold growing on his tongue and took a shower, finally returning to plop in his bed, feeling slightly more human.
He grabbed his phone, found the number to the professor’s office and listened to the ringing reverberate with the ringing in his head. Wow, next step, aspirin.
“Hello, Gambit.” Xavier’s smooth tones met his ears, stopping the horrid ringing. “How is New Orleans?”
“Pretty good. Remy’s been settling in and seeing all the people he’s missed over the years. The mutants down here don’t have much to say about how they’ve been treated lately, but Remy thinks he’s going to have to be around for a while before they want to actually open up, even the people that know him from before. For now, just trying to get to know the area again and get a feel for things. Haven’t noticed anything obvious that we should be worried about right now.”
Remy could almost hear the professor thinking in the silence. “So, either the rumors have no basis in reality and originated from people’s paranoia or the disappearances have been covered up with plausible stories and the people who are orchestrating the anti-mutant movement are capable of being secretive and flying under public radar.”
Sometimes, talking to the professor made him feel like a two-year-old. How could someone put so many big words together with so little effort? “That’s what Remy thinks too. So, continue with the plan?”
“Yes. That’s the soundest plan. Reinsert yourself in society down there and just keep your ears and eyes open. Either we will uncover information about the rumored disappearances or you will get a nice vacation. Keep in contact and stay safe.”
“Yes sir. Keep Jubilee out of trouble for Remy, please.”
Xavier laughed. “I shall try my best, Remy, though she is sure to fight me on that. Have a good day.”
“Bye, Professor.” Remy dropped the phone on his bed and grabbed his laptop, initiating a Skype session with Jubilee. After a minute, her picture popped up on his screen.
“Please hold for the Jubster.” He snorted, watching her hold up a finger without pulling her nose out of a textbook.
“Ok, who is…Baby!” she ended on a shriek, face lighting up with a huge smile once she figured out who was trying to talk to her. “How it shaking in the south?”
He grinned back. “Not too shabby. Went out with some old friends last night.”
“I’ll say. Good thing I’m not dating you for your looks cause you’re looking really rough today. Did they put you through the wringer?”
He rubbed a hand over his face, mussing his hair, attractively he hoped. “No, just too much drinking and not enough sleep. My friend Jim took us to this old…” He stopped and squinted at the screen, catching sight of a stranger dashing behind Jubilee and into an adjacent door. “Who’s that?”
Jubilee looked over her shoulder. “Oh, crap. That’s Rogue. Logan, Kits and I picked her up on our way back. She’s had a bit of a hard time. Hold on a second, I better go see what happened.” She’d just pushed to her feet when Logan stepped into the room, following the girl to knock on the door. “Never mind. It’s being dealt with.” She plopped back down and looked at him again.
“Um… Jubey, what’s the blue fuzzy thing Logan’s carrying? Is that…” He leaned closer to the screen, as if that would zoom in the picture, and caught a glimpse as Logan was let through the door. “Is that a stuffed rabbit?!” He started laughing. “Does Remy even want to know what’s going on there while he’s stuck so far away?”
Jubilee rolled her eyes and pointed at the screen. “Of course you want to know. Here’s the breakdown...”
And she proceeded to tell him about their new living arrangements, Rogue’s interesting mutation and the eight million things that somehow had happened in the time they had been apart. Holy crap. If this much could happen in three days, the whole world would be changed over his six-week mission.
Logan stood in the doorway and watched as Marie paced back and forth across the bedroom, muttering to herself and fidgeting with one of he ear buds. She didn’t even look up when he walked across the room and sat on her bed.
He sat there silently for a few minutes and decided she wasn’t going to acknowledge him “What happened, darlin’?” She jumped and whirled, white-faced, to look at him, bringing a hand up to her chest.
“Jeeze. Calm down. It’s just me. You let me in, remember?” Obviously, no, she didn’t. She must have been so absorbed in her thinking that the outside world had disappeared.
“Yeah, I remember. You just started talking outta nowhere. It clashed with Bach for a minute.” He cocked an eyebrow at her, letting her know she wasn’t fooling anyone.
“You’re listening to The Rolling Stones. Not Bach.” He flicked his ear, reminding her about his mutation.
She flushed a little, caught. “Whatever.” With a flip of her hand at him, she settled her butt on the edge of the desk. “I’m just thinking about things…” She trailed off into silence.
He decided to stop the awkardness, hoping she would talk when she was ready to and held out his fluffy bundle.
“Norbert.” She ran toward him, arms outstretched like a two-year-old reaching for a blankie and pulled the rabbit out of his hands. “I can’t believe you left me!”
She squished him to her chest. “A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigg’d nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats instinctively had quit it.” Logan grabbed her gloved hand and pulled her onto the bed, holding her shoulders so she would look at him.
“He didn’t abandon you and you’re not broken.” He shook her a little. “He can’t move on his own so you have to help him stay with you. And nobody who was broken could have made it though the things you did. Cut yourself some slack and give it time before you make damning decisions about yourself.”
She pulled out of his hold and started petting the rabbit, face downturned in disgust. “Thanks for bringing him back to me.” He just stared at her. “I’ll try to follow your advice.” Staring seemed to make her want to talk so he kept doing it. “Really. But I can’t just flip a switch in my brain that says ‘time to think happy thoughts’. I’m not Peter Pan. I spent years with my mom saying all this bad shit about me on a daily basis so it’s gonna be awhile.”
He nodded at Norbert when she seemed to have rambled herself out. “Welcome.”
They sat in silence for a minute until he nudged her arm with his own, pulling her eyes up. “Wanna tell me what Bobby said to piss you off? Do I need to have another talk” add a cracking of knuckles to attach meaning to the statement “to him?”
“No! No. It’s not a big deal.” She shook her head and started studying Norbert, picking at invisible lint in his fur.
Logan squinted at her, wondering if she would blow up at him like she did Bobby and decided, what the hell? He liked to live on the wild side. “I can see he’s not in your good books.”
Her head snapped up and a smile tugged at her lips. “No, and if he were I would burn my library.” She finished the quote and laughed softly. “Honestly, it’s fine. I don’t know why I reacted that strongly. I don’t know him well enough for his opinion or actions to have that big of an affect on me. Strangers have never mattered like that. I think I just had this big pile of mad built up and he said the perfect thing to get it all dumped on him.”
She looked around and dropped her voice to a whisper “Plus, his grasp of Shakespeare is awful. Why would he think to try to use the Bard to form a connection to me if he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about? Yeah, that’s impressive. Let me just trash your favorite thing ever.”
He felt the edges of his mouth pull up in a smile. “Well that is a horrible offense. I’m glad you verbally bitch-slapped him. Someone needed to.” He grunted when she punched him in the arm and took that as a cue to get up. “You good now?”
She grinned at him and it was good to see the light in her face. “Yeah. Peachy. I think I’ll go find Kitty and see if I can understand any of her homework. Maybe she’ll teach it to me!”
Her enthusiasm was catching. He almost wanted to tag along and see if Kitty could teach it to him too. He shook his head at his foolishness and handed her some more batteries off of the dresser. “I think your battery signal just beeped at you.”
She smiled her thanks and ran out the door, dashing back in a second later to grab Norbert and look sheepish, before leaving again. He chuckled to himself and walked out the door, glancing at Jubilee sitting at her computer, animatedly talking to the swamp rat. What did she see in him?
He shook his head again and started towards the gym. He would never understand these women. Maybe he should give up on trying?
A few hours later, after forcing Kitty to give her a brief rundown on her art history course (why would any normal person need that in real life?) and an uneventful dinner eaten at the same table as before, Marie was going stir crazy being stuck inside. Evidently, being exposed to fresh air and the outdoors after so many years being deprived addicted someone fairly quickly. She looked out her window at the grounds, seeing people everywhere enjoying the beautiful early evening and shuddered. Nope, not going there, the grounds were too crowded.
Really, it was awesome to see new people after so long alone, but it was also overwhelming. Everyone wanted to say hi and get to meet the new girl. Well, the new girl couldn’t deal with that many people all at once. It felt like faces were coming out of the woodwork as she walked by, constantly stalking her every move and making her hyperaware of how deadly she was. Maybe she should make a sign and wear it around her neck: Touch at your own risk. She snorted. Yeah, then she could be a bigger outcast than she was probably already making herself.
So, where to go to be outside, but away from everything? She looked at Norbert, who was staring pointedly out the window.
“Yes, outside. Where to be outside without people?” He ignored her and kept looking outside. “Ugh, you’re no help.”
She threw the window open and leaned halfway out of it, drawing in great gulps of air and swiveling her head around, looking for ideas. Yes, Norbert was a genius. He hadn’t been looking outside; he’d wanted her to look at the roof. The area directly outside her room wasn’t the best bet because it was a little steep here but two windows down it looked doable. Score! That was Logan’s room. He wouldn’t care if she used his window to gain access.
Marie grabbed a blanket, tucked her CD player into her belt and snatched up Norbert, before running out of her room and into the hallway. She knocked on Logan’s door and stood outside shifting from foot-to-foot, waiting for him to answer. A minute later, she turned the knob and stuck her head in, calling out into the semi-darkness. “Logan? You there?”
Nothing. Well, she had to get outside. If he was pissed about her walking through his room, he would for sure let her know. She crept through, seeing how neat the room was. Well except for the bed, which looked like he had just climbed out of it and left it. She smiled at the little bit of sloppiness and opened the window, setting the blanket and Norbert on the other side, before climbing out after them. She grabbed everything and tracked up the side of the roof heading to a little peaked area that should give a good view of the sunset and some back support at the same time.
She started to smell cigar smoke and heard a gruff “Hey, kid.” before she rounded the corner to see Logan sitting in the exact spot she had scoped out.
“Oh, I didn’t know this was your spot. I’ll just go over…” She turned to go but he was on his feet and grabbing the blanket out of her hands before she could escape.
“It’s fine. I like to sit up here at night and watch the sun set. It’s away from everyone but still part of them, you know?” He spread the blanket out and plopped down on one corner, then patted the other one. She sank down next to him and leaned back against the roof.
“That’s why I headed out here.” She nodded to the sun. “I didn’t want to miss this but there are so many people milling about that I’m pretty sure I would’ve exploded from tension if I had been out with them.”
He looked out over the grounds. “Well, you’re not interrupting. The girls sometimes join me because, unless it’s snowing, they know I’m always out here at this time. I suppose that invite is extended to you now, since you’re now stuck grouped in with them.”
“You suppose?” She teased him, feeling completely at ease now that the walls weren’t closing in on her.
“Yeah, I suppose. Unless you’re gonna talk my ear off. Then, you need to go. This is quiet time.” She caught his eye and saw the twinkle, taking the sting out of his statement and making it a joke. She grabbed the ‘zipper’ on the right side of her mouth and pulled it across, before smiling at him and turning her attention to the sunset.
Yeah, she could get used to this life.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hello all. I love you for still reading this. You have no idea how good you make me feel.
Chapter End Notes:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for reading this. Show me some love in the form of a review please? Kiss Kiss!
Quotes:
"I can see he's not in your good books...~" Much ado about nothing
"A rotten carcass of a butt...~" The Tempest
Quotes:
"I can see he's not in your good books...~" Much ado about nothing
"A rotten carcass of a butt...~" The Tempest