X-men Evolution Fan Fiction ❯ Starting Today ❯ Chapter 11

AN: Okay, I've decided to slip in a little more French here and there. Blame Babelfish for any mistakes. I certainly don't own any of this, except for the design of Rogue's necklace.

O-o-o-o-O

Rogue spent the next day at school in a tiny daze, a slightly confused smile on her mouth. Her fingers played with the silver chain around her neck, mixed with a couple of other random chains to prevent notice from the others. The last thing she wanted was anyone from the mansion noticing the gift and asking questions she wasn't ready to answer. Every so often she'd take the note from the back pocket of her jeans and re-read it. She wanted to scoff at his words and throw the paper away, but a tiny part of her wondered if the swamp rat was right. Was she hiding too much? Could she have what she wanted, be close to others without hurting them?

Another part of her said she shouldn't be listening to him, that anyone crazy or stupid enough to take orders from Buckethead shouldn't be listened to, but right now he was the only one talking and making any kind of sense. As much as she loved her friends at the Institute and knew they wanted her to be happy, she couldn't help but see the instinctive fear when she came close and hated to see them flinch; something he never did. He seemed to be genuinely unafraid of her, and apparently had no qualms about getting close to her. She had to admit, it was rather refreshing, but even if he wasn't nervous, SHE was. Remy was temptation in a trench coat, and it would be so easy for her to forget what she was when around him, and give in to her baser instincts.

But what did she really know about him? Other than the fact that he was a New Orleans swamp rat, a powerful mutant and supposedly excellent thief who worked for Mags, looked great in leather pants (and anything else he chose to wear), and had good taste in jewelry, she realized she knew nothing about him. Did she want to know him though? She wasn't really sure of the answer to that. The warring parts of her fought almost as much as her psyches on a bad day and she couldn't really be sure of anything. All she knew was that her social situation at the Institute was boring her to the point of insanity and she was being offered the opportunity to possibly explore something new and interesting. Besides, it wasn't like he was asking her to meet him in a dark alley or anything; if he tried anything at the park she could just kick his ass.

And with that reassurance to herself she was able to continue the rest of her day.

It was a sunny day when school ended; giving validity to Rogue's excuse to the others that she wanted to visit the park for some alone time rather than ride home with them. As she made her way to the park, she tried to tell herself that the butterfly orgy in her stomach was due to nervousness over meeting an enemy, not excitement over meeting with a walking piece of hot Cajun spice.

Speaking of hot Cajuns...

He was leaning against her tree, over the spot where she usually sat. A cool breeze played with his hair as he gazed in her direction, waiting for her. She wondered if that hair was as soft as it looked, and wished she could run her fingers through it. Thoughts like that were bound to get her in trouble though, so she tried her best to banish them from her mind as she approached him.

When she reached the tree she found herself at a loss for something to say; her first instinct was to say something nasty and derogatory, but where have her instincts left her until now, except lonely? She gave him a tiny, nervous smile.

"The necklace, it's beautiful. Thank you."

Remy smiled softly back at her. "You're welcome, chere. Will you sit awhile?" He motioned to the ground underneath the tree.

"Um..sure."

O-o-o-o-O

Remy was surprised; he had almost expected her not to show, and now that she was here he wasn't quite sure what to say to her. This was new to him; normally he had no problem talking to a femme. He didn't know if it was the coffee house or getting a near-concussion from Piotr during training but the little voice in the back of his head that had just laughed at him before was now cursing at him and saying a whole bunch of other rather unpleasant things. It was really quite eloquent too; if he wasn't the target he'd be amused. It wasn't any fun getting cussed at by the voice in your head though, and for the first time he questioned where his desire was taking him. It had never been this difficult to get what he wanted before, but instead of turning him off it was drawing him deeper.

He felt like he'd driven her off from the coffee house, and he was sorry for that. It pleased him to see her finger the necklace around her throat; it was another chink in her armor. And was she actually smiling at him? Small as it was, it still lit up her face. Could he coax another out of her?

"I'm glad you came." Remy took her hand as he sat down beside her and instead of kissing it, just stroked her gloved knuckles softly before releasing it.

"I..I thought I should apologize for walking out on you the other night. It was kinda rude."

He had to grin a little at her. "This, from the girl who offered to give me a sex-change operation sans anesthesia?"

Rogue smirked back at him. "Well that time you deserved it." And Remy supposed he had; asking her if she spat or swallowed wasn't very smart, but it was so much fun getting a rise out of her and when she blushed she was just absolutely adorable.

"Maybe, but you are tres belle when you blush; the color in your face becomes you."

"Swamp Rat, if I wanted color in my face I wouldn't wear the makeup."

Remy pouted. "Chere, what happened to Remy? Are you breaking our agreement already?"

"Sorry but I call a spade a spade. Or in this case, a rat a rat. So what are we doing here, anyway?"

He could see he was doing okay so far; she had a slight scowl on her face but wasn't glaring at him yet. "Like I said before, I want to know you better. I see something I like past all that makeup. I think maybe we're not so different, Rogue."

She narrowed her eyes at this. "I don't see what we have in common. At least I don't work for Magneto."

"Ah, but didn't you start on the wrong side of the tracks as well? I know you didn't start off with the X-Men."

She seemed surprised at this at first, but then seemed to concede his point. "I'll give you that, but the difference is you're still on the other side."

"True, but Mags and I have a contract. What kind of thief, or person for that matter would I be if I went around breaking agreements?"

"So you're saying you're not with him because you agree with his cause?"

Remy had to shrug. "This is business. I figure there's going to be a war regardless of which side I'm on. A good thief doesn't let morals get in the way of his livelihood. Can you honestly say you completely believe in Xavier's dream though?"

Rogue looked pensive for a moment. "I'm not sure Remy. I want to believe; the Professor's given me a home and the closest thing I've had to a family since I left Mississippi, but I've seen the hatred and fear in too many people's eyes and the destruction that can cause to think anything other than that there will be a conflict, no matter what the Professor hopes for. I don't want to be one of the ones starting the war though; I don't want to hurt others. I would rather stay with the X-Men and work for the Professor's dream, if I have to choose a side. Everyone needs something to hope for." Remy could see her mask slip a little, and the fire behind it was beautiful. It must be nice to have things to hope for, to have hope. He'd given up hoping for anything beyond just making it through another day a long time ago. Could she have enough for both of them?

"Remy, why are you staring at me?"

"Vous etes beau quand vous vous laissez montrer. Vous devriez le faire plus souvent." (You are lovely when you let yourself show. You should do it more often)

Rogue blushed. "Thanks, I think."

Remy smiled at this. "You speak French, Chere?"

"Irene insisted. I always wanted to visit New Orleans when I was growing up, and she said I would have to learn French before I could go. I understand better than I speak though."

"Irene?"

"My guardian. I haven't seen her since I left Caldecott."

Remy nodded. He wasn't sure what Rogue knew about her guardian, otherwise known as Destiny, so he decided not to say anything regarding her being a mutant. "Did you ever get to visit New Orleans?"

She looked a little sad. "No, my mutation manifested before we could go, and then I ended up here in Bayville."

"I'm sorry to hear that. It's a beautiful city."

The corner of her mouth turned up almost into a smile. "Of course you'd say that, Cajun. Don't you think you're a little biased?"

"Maybe, but it's still true." He laughed. "Do you think you'll ever go?"

"I hope to some day."

"Bien, I hope you plan to have a good guide with you. New Orleans can be a dangerous place if you don't know your way around."

Rogue smirked. "Are you offering yourself for the position?"

"If I was, would you accept?"

"I don't know, I don't think I know you well enough for that."

"Then that's all the more reason for us to get to know each other better. You couldn't possibly find a better guide than moi."

"We'll see Cajun, we'll see. You already know a bit about me, but what about you?"

"Well Chere, like you I was adopted. The man who would become mon pere caught me trying to pick his pocket when I was a boy. I had been living on the streets until that time. Instead of giving me to the police, he took me into his home. Turns out he was a thief too, kind of a family business. Was good to me too; raised me along with his own son."

"Sounds like you were lucky. So why did you leave?"

Remy sighed. He should have figured she'd come around to that question. "That's a long story, petite. Let's just say that I made some mistakes and had to leave home." Right now was not the time to bring up Belladonna, or the Assassins.

Rogue surprised him by giving him a sympathetic look. "Don't that sound familiar. I guess we do have some things in common."

"See? You should listen to Remy more often."

"Hey, what happened to not talking in third person?"

"What happened to not calling me Swamp Rat?"

"Well if you don't want to be called a rat, don't act like one." She then proceeded to surprise Remy by sticking out her tongue at him. He couldn't help but start laughing.

O-o-o-o-O

The next hour was spent in trading jokes and good-natured insults. They also discussed their favorite books, music and movies. Rogue was amazed to find herself relaxing around him, enough to share some amusing stories of some of the antics that went on around the mansion. Remy told her stories about some of the more outrageous things that the other Acolytes had done, including Pyro's shrine to her teammate Amara. Rogue wasn't sure whether the girl would be flattered by the pyromaniac's crush or not, but there certainly wasn't any way that she could tell her about it anyway; not without giving away her new friendship with the Cajun.

Wait a minute, when did she start thinking about him as a friend? This wasn't good at all. Not Remy personally; he was intelligent, funny and had a way of being completely at ease with himself that for some reason seemed to rub off on her. It was the situation that wasn't good. No matter how much she might like him, the others at the mansion would never accept her having a friendship with the Acolyte. She could just hear the lectures about security risks and being careful already; not to mention Logan's death threats. He would never accept anyone who worked willingly with Sabertooth.

Was it worth it to possibly get in trouble and alienate her other friends in order to get to know this man better? She wasn't sure, but she thought she might like the opportunity to find out. Looking at her watch, she realized the amount of time that had passed.

"Remy I'm sorry, but I really need to get back home. It's getting late in the afternoon, and people are going to wonder where I am."

"I understand, petite. I don't want you in trouble with anyone over there." He looked a little disappointed. Could he possibly have been enjoying her company as much as she had enjoyed his?

"Do you want to try the coffee house again this weekend? I promise not to walk out on you this time."

Remy looked surprised and pleased at the same time. "I'd love to, Chere. Same time?"

"Okay. Thanks for this afternoon." She bit her lip, trying not to blush. "I really enjoyed myself."

"I did too. Until I see you Friday?"

"Friday it is. See ya around, Remy." He took her hand again and kissed it this time. Rogue smiled; a real one this time, and headed out of the park.

O-o-o-o-O