We Can Explain...

We Can Explain...Chapter Thirty Four (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta...How was the fair? InterNutter (good joke...), TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are extra sparkley for archiving/hosting! ProPhile: *glomp * Morgan: *glomp * Readers/Reviewers: Beware the Killer Kitties(tm)--I think they ate ReiMars!


"Hey, where you headin' so fast?"
Jubilee let Remy stop her and just sighed, leaning into him instead of pulling away as he stepped out in front of hn thn the short hall leading from the downstairs study to the old library. "Bed. The Professor wants to talk to Kurt and Kitty for a bit and I'm dog ass tired1." She stifled a yawn against his chest and sighed again. "Where you going?"
Remy smiled faintly as he pulled her into the small alcove that used to house the phone in the days when the technology was new and was no too small for anything more than one person standing very still. "Back to th'study. Jono's down in de Rec Room, buggin' Paige an' Bobby's playin' some damned loud music..." He shuddered purposefully. "I'm tinkin' it country."
"Poor you," she chuc, ti, tipping her chin up to look at him. "Remy, I've been meaning to ask you...when we were all there... You didn't... I mean, I don't really think you did but I want to hearfromfrom you." At his startled expression, she rushed on. "I mean, it all got so confusing once we got there, all together... I want to know what really happened."
He closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled slowly. He knew she was not doubting him, per se, but rather scared herself. "Chere, you know I ain't gonna do somethin' that'll hurt you, not if I can help it..."
"I know," she said quietly, aware that the illusion they had privacy was just that, an illusion. "Look, can we go somewhere else? I don't like the idea of someone coming by and hearing this."
Remy shrugged, knowing full and well that anything that came out about the previous week would be all over the mansion like a plague within days, if not hours. "D'accord...allons-y."2

Todd was reasonably sure he would be left alone in the gazebo. For one, it was starting to rain. Hard. And for two, he had made a point of not showering even when he noticed he was more than a little...aromatic. He had left the med lab as soon as Beast proclaimed the swelling around his eye to be down, right on the heels of Kurt and Kitty, but instead of even pausing to see what Lance was up to and why he was stalking through the house shirtless, Todd headed straight outside to the gazebo. It was damp, smelled like dirt and lawn fertilizer and entirely empty. He could see the entire grounds from his perch on the wooden bench inside and knew he was alone.
"I thought I'd find you out here."
"GAH!" He leapt and hit his head on the ceiling of the wooden structure, landing with a resounding thud on the floor. "Damn it, Marie!"
Rogue slid around one of the posts, soaking wet and in her uniform, gloves and all. She sat down on the very edge of the bench, closest to the entryway, and perched as if ready to flee. "Look, I don't know why you're so pissed at me but what happened in the hall..."
"Don't play dumb," he snapped, rubbing his head and vaguely glad it was on the same side as his black eye so he would only have one sore side. "If you didn't want me to touch you all you had to do was say somethin'." Years of insecurity, so tenuously retrained since his arrival at the Institute, helped in exceedingly large part by Rogue, had come flooding back in a second. "I mean...fuck all, Marie. I just wanted to...to...hug you, ya know?"
"No," she said slowly, wondering if he was having a very early onset stroke, "I don't know. I came downstairs to seere ere Beast was with Kitty and Kurt's examination, Kurt acts all weird with me, I see you in the hall and you damn near bite my head off. I hadn't seen you since we left the study, how the Hell was I supposed to make you mad?"
"Rogue..." His use of that name instead of Marie left her cold and he knew it. "Please, don't play games here..."
"Oh...desole..." Remy filled the doorway, looking impervious to the heavy rain. As the thunder rumbled over the river, he shrugged. "Thought y'all were inside."
"Move, Gumbo," Jubilee grumbled, pushing past him to stand under the wooden overhang. "I'm gonna drown out there!"
Rogue made a moue of annoyance. "We're tryin' to have a talk in here!" She glanced quickly at Todd, who seemed to be having a staring contest with Remy. "Todd? We are havin' a talk, right?"
He snorted softly. "I dunno. You gonna hit me again?" He turned his face slightly, letting her see the weal rising around his eye.
"Whoa, dude, Whatcha hit him for?" Jubilee made a face at Rogue, something between amusement and confusion. "Slime, right? It's the slime..."
Rogue growled and shoved herself to her feet. "I didn't hit him! Remy, tell him I was with you when he thinks he saw me!" She was beseeching, her voice verging on begging tones as she moved to stand toe to toe with the Cajun. "Tell him he's mistaken!"
Remy looked over her sodden head at Todd's set expression. "Homme?" Todd rolled his eyes and repeated his story to Remy. "Um, homme? Dat ain't poss'ble."
Todd jerked his chin mutinously. "Then how the fuck do you explain this?" he demanded, gesturing towards his eye.
Remy sighed. "Homme, she were wid us upstair when you say she popped you one." His eyes shifted to Rogue. "Chere, you don' look so well."
"I'm fine," she muttered, turning away to sit heavily on the bench. "You don't think...maybe..." She rubbed her gloved fingers absently across her lips. "How many shape shifters do we know?"
There was a moment of crushing silence before Jubilee burst out, "No fucking way. Logan would've caught on to her before she got far into the mansion." She shook her head defiantly, confident in Logan's skills as she turned to plop down next to Rogue. "You know..." her face became less animated and more thoughtful, slowly sliding to horror. "What if this is still that?"
Remy snorted softly but did not say anything, even as Todd made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. "Can't be," Todd insisted finally. "We're here. It's real. End of story."
Remy opened his mouth, then closed it again, thinking better of whatever he was going to say. Rogue broke the silence again. "We left there. We left and came home. They don't have us."
Jubileee a e a soft mewling sound before looking up sharply. "Remy, tell me everything. Now."
"Quoi? Chere..."
"No, we're gonna figure this out. We came out here to talk, so let's talk. They were there too. Talk."
Remy sighed and nodded. "D'accord."

Next: Remy Talks! *gasp * And Scott and Jean and Lance and Amara make an appearance...


1 An expression I hear a lot down here. I think it's a mainly Southern phrase so let's pretend she got it from Remy, lol.
2 Okay, let's go.