And Along Came Delirium

A/N

Thanky to my reviewers! You rock my socks! You like my non-Mary Sue....yay!!! Please keep on letting me know what you think--it helpd keep the gears in my head turning ^_^

and now on with the show....

~*~*~


"Oh, I believe in miracles. I believe in a better world for me and--”

“Cate,l yol you please be quiet? I’m on the phone!”

Walking back into the mansion, Cate had a hard time not breaking out into a little happy dance, so she had undertaken her journey to the kitchen with a song on her lips. When she’d entered,n wan was parked at the kitchen table, swooning over whatever the person on the other end was saying. Three guesses who that was. But in an effort to be a better housemate, she did halt her singing.

“Hey there Angelsexy!!” she shouted from the door.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t say hello to Warren.

The redhead glared daggers at her but continued to listen to her boyfriend ramble on. Apparently, she wasn’t too happy with what he said. Narrowing her eyes, the telepath pulled the phone away from her ear with a sigh.

“Warren says hello, Cate, and wants you to know that ‘I Believe in Miracles’ is his favorite Ramones song.“

Cate just smirked and went to the refrigerator for a beer.

“A man after my own heart. Tell your boy he has good taste,” she returned with her entire upper body in the refrigerator. Logan tended to hide the beer and she’d had to practically climb in to find it.

Jean just ignored her and went back to her conversation. That was perfectly fine with the punk. She had better things to do than listen to Jean whisper sweet nothings to Warren over the phone--like do anything but that.

Taking a long pull off of the brew now in hand, Cate made her way out of the kitchen and thought about tracking Remy down to tell him not to give Scott too hard a thrashing in the Danger Room since he‘d apologized so nicely, and after all, he’d been punished enough with the hard-on her smoldering stare and sexual innuendo had given him. She decided against it, figuring the Cajun was so eagerly taking Scott on more for his own entertainment than in defense of her honor anyway. And God forbid she emasculate their fearless leader by asking one of his minions to take it easy on him. No, she wouldn’t ask Remy to take it easy. Instead, she decided tod Rod Rogue and see if she wanted to watch.

~*~*~

While the team leader and team delinquent were having their heart-to-heart, Rogue was slaving over her trigonometry homework in the library. Under normal circumstances she’d be in the comfort of her bedroom, but Kitty was on the phone with Lance. Any other time, she would’ve just told her roommate to take it somewhere else, but since it was her former teammate Kitty was talking to, she vacated the room.

Even though the Brotherhood had helped out during the Apocalypse fiasco, the two groups weren’t exactly fond of one another and some of the X-Men weren’t totally supportive of Kitty and Lance’s relationship. And since some of the X-Men weren’t too thrilled with Rogue’s close relationship with Cate, she could relate and graciously gave the younger girl her privacy. And so there the rogue was, sitting in the library, trying to resist the urge to hit herself over the head with her Trig book so she wouldn’t be conscious to finish the homework.

Cursing over a particularly irksome problem, the sassy Southerner slammed the accursed book shut only to look up and see Logan standing in the doorway with an amused grin on his face.

“Whatcha lookin’ at, *bub?* she spat, using the epithet he was so fond of.

“Oh, nothin,’ Stripes,” he chuckled. “Nothin’ at all. Mind if me ime in?”

“Not if you know anythin’ ‘bout Trigonometry.”

To hear Rogue complain about her homework was a harsh reminder of how young she really was. This girl, no, technically a woman, was young enough to be his granddaughter--a few times removed at that, depending on how old he really was (not that he or anyone else really knew). But one look into those big grey-green eyes, a glance at her full, plum colored lips and he was lost, age be damned.

While Logan wouldn’t deny the attraction that he had for Cate, hell, the ‘friendly fuck’ they’d had earlier in the day was proof of that, but his feelings for the two women were not interchangeable. Logan felt a camaraderie with Catie (and a small sense of satisfaction that he was the only person allowed to call her that). Even if his position in the Institute sometimes forced him to treat her like one, she was his friend, not his student. Unlike the other X-Men (with the exceptions of Gambit and Colossus), she’d come them all grown up, with a broader perspective of the world. Having experienced the harsh reality of life beyond the mansion walls, they could relate to one another.

His feelings for Rogue were a little more complicated. Over the lasw yew years, he’d managed to break through Rogue’s stone facade, get past the piss and vinegar to get to know the kind and loving young woman behind it. It definitely was not just lust that he felt for her. As much as he wanted to know her body intimately, he also wanted to know her mind and her heart.

No, those were definitely not the feelings one had for a student or a drinking buddy, not that Catie was a mere drinking buddy. She’d quickly become his best friend--the only one he could really remember having. Those two women were perhaps the best things in his life at that moment.

‘Wicked little Catie and untouched Rogue. Raunchy fantasies don’t get any better than that. And if anyone could sell Stripes on the idea of a threesome, it would definitely be Catie.’ For some reason, he didn’t think it would be all that hard.

“Uh, Logan? Ya in there?”

The voice of that student turned temptress pulled him away from his wicked contemplation to see her looking at him quite strangely.

“Sorry ‘bout that--I was just rememberin’ that I was gonna supervise Gambit and Cyke’s Danger Room session.“

‘Good save. A lot better than saying, ‘Hey, darlin,’ why dontcha meet me and Catie in my bedroom later on tonight for some extra-curricular activities?’

“It might be a good idea,” Rogue concurred, accepting his excuse. “Remy was pretty pissed this afternoon. What exactly happened, anyway?”

“One-Eye thought I was fucking Remy. But that‘s all cleared up now.” Cate had breezed in the door, beer in hand, answering for Logan. Her two friends looked at her in amusement seeing an expression of self-satisfaction on her face.

“What did ya do to the poor boy, Catie?” Logan wanted to know.

“Oh, nothing,” Cate coyly answered. Looking over at Rogue, she nodded toward the door. “I’m heading over the Danger Room to watch the festivities. Wanna come with?”

The younger woman looked pointedly at her neglected homework and shook her head.

“Nah. This has to get done. But if Ah finish soon, Ah’ll be there. But don’t hold your breath.”

Cate mock pouted and wrapped her arm around Rogue’s shoulders.

“Please, Roguey? You can take your homework with you.”

“Sugar, do Ah ever get mah work done when you’re around?”

“Eh, you’re no fun. But I respect your wishes. Either join us in the Danger Room or come to my room when you‘re done, all right? We haven’t been able to chat today and there‘s a lot to chat about.”

“Damn straight there is. Now go and take Logan with ya--mah Trig teacher will have mah head if this isn’t done for first period tomorrow.”

“C’mon Catie. We know where we’re not wanted,” Logan said in jest. Cate just smiled and gave Rogue a juicy kiss on the cheek, green eyes planted on his dark ones, her lips protected by a lock of hair. She figured that the sight of his best friend’s lips on the woman he lusted after would be enough to fuel his fantasies for a little while. The oh-so-slight darkening of his gaze proved her right. With a sigh she stood and took Logan’s arm, but offered Rogue some final words of encouragement

“Good luck, sweetie. May the homework gods be with you.”

Logan didn’t say a word until they were safely ensconced in the DR observation area.

“Did ya have to kiss her, Catie,” he practically whined. “’Cause now I’m gonna keep seein’ that and wishin’ for more.”

“That was the point.”

~*~*~

Alone in the library, Rogue contemplated Cate and Logan. There was something between the punk and the Canadian, she could see. Not romance but definite intimacy. Not that she wouldn’t mind some intimacy with Logan. Hell, she’d had a crush on him as long she did Scott, only the crush on Logan never left.

Everyone knew that the Wolverine was a creature of raw power and emotion, but Rogue was one of the few too see the entire spectrum of that emotion. Like she’d let him behind the icy facade she hid behind, he’d let her see the man that coexisted with the animal. Before Cate came to them, no one had cared for her the way Logan did. Ever since the incident with the psyches squatting in her head, he’d been there for her, as friend, confidant, and instructor.

‘Don’t hurt none that he’s hot as all hell, too,’ she thought, her mind taking a little field trip into naked Logan fantasy land. There was a small part of her that thought that he might see her the same way. Okay, a big part. She’d seen the darkening of his eyes when Cate kissed her on the cheek. She definitely all hot and bothered for Logan, but it was safe to say that she was a little gay for the punk vixen. Cate was definitely a striking girl--Rogue wouldn’t deny that and if given the chance to become intimate with her, the younger woman didn’t think she’d object.

It was a little hard not to be attracted to someone who didn’t fear her mutation in the least and instead devoted time devising ways to get around it. In fact, every time Cate thought of a new way for Rogue to get it on without putting her partner in a coma, the punk sought her out right away. So far, Cate’s favorite idea was painting Rogue in liquid latex. Cate’s eyes had totally lit up when she came up with the idea, causing Rogue to heat with desire whenever she thought of her friend running a paintbrush over her heated skin.

With a smile on her face, Rogue turned back to her homework. The sooner she got that done, the sooner she could find Cate and have their ‘chat.’ It was bound to be a good one that night.

~*~*~


To Cyclops’ surprise, Gambit didn’t say a word as they sparred. He’d been expecting another tongue-lashing from the Cajun, but instead is opponent chose to communicate with his fists--not a shock. In the dojo setting the DR computer had provided, the two X-Men fought completely devoid of weapons, devoid of powers using only with their bodies.

The older man was a formidable opponent, throwing several blows that he hadn’t been able to deflect or avoid. For almost an hour and a half they fought, exchanging kicks and punches with lightning speed until Cyclops was distracted by a flash of blue in the observation area.

It was Cate sitting next to Logan. He hadn’t even noticed that she’d been watching them the entire time. And by the flush in her cheeks, she’d apparently been enjoying the show. He could only wonder what was going on in that head of hers, wonder if she was thinking about him, about her prior offer to him, wondering if he would have the balls to take her up on it. That pause had given Gambit the opportunity to do what he‘d wanted to do since he‘d known the younger man.

The Cajun clocked Cyclops in the jaw with a powerful right hook, effectively knocking the younger man on his ass. Towering over his felled team leader, his red on black gaze was focused on the eyes behind the visor.

“Dat was for hurtin’ ma cherie.” ‘An‘ for bein‘ an obnoxious prick,’ he added mentally. “Don’ let it happen again.”

“Didn’t plan on it,” Cyclops muttered, rubbing his soon-to-be-bruised jaw. “Anyway, I apologized and we came to an understanding.”

“Really. An’ what would dat be, homme?” the thief asked, extending a hand to help his teammate up. However, the younger man was to busy blushing and avoiding his gaze to see it. “Never you mind,” Gambit chuckled. “Dat be between you and Cate, oui? Now let de Gambit help you up so we can get out of here.”

A slight blush still on his cheeks Cyclops just grunted in reply and let Gambit help him up silently they made their way to the showers. Knowing that Cate had watched their fight brought back the sexual charge that the blue-haired vixen evoked in him. And the flush on her cheeks indicated that she’d felt the same. The straight-laced teen had a hard time figuring out what a woman like Cate would see in him, but he wasn’t about to question it. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to hand himself over to her, ask her to teach him how to let go.

Gambit could see the gears turning in his teammate’s head. He knew how seductive the little punk could be and she’d most probably turned her charms on the fearless leader--especially since she was nursing a little crush on the man. Yes, he knew about her lust for Cyke and like Logan, he’d known that he returned it long before she did. Just because he wasn’t an empath or a telepath didn’t mean he wasn’t an expert at sensing sexual tension. And that the two had in spades. ‘Oui, de two of dem will be fucking like bunnies before the week is out,’ was his last thought before entering the shower.

~*~*~

Chapter six is well on its way...I promise not to wait as long to post again : ) Thanks for reading!

~twisted