The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Chapter Five (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… Nope, not counting the days at all… *bounces * InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are extra loverly for archiving/hosting! ProPhile is a sparkley smutmuse and Morgan gets glomped, lol. Readers/Reviewers: Ah, it’ll all come together in a chapter or two. Trust me… there’s a theme here. ;)



“You sure you’re not hungry?” Kitty asked, waving the last piece of pizza before Rogue’s face enticingly.
“Kitty, get that the fuck out of my face or I swear to God you’re gonna have to get it surgically removed.” She shoved Kitty’s arm roughly away and tried to stand up.
“No,” Amara intoned sternly. “I have plans for tonight and I’m not about to let you out of here before you tell us what’s wrong. I refuse to spend an entire Friday evening listening to you bitch.” She folded her arms across her chest and glared. “Talk.”
Rogue rolled her eyes. It was nearly seven and she was due at Tabby and Wanda’s at eight, Amara in tow. “You ain’t goin’ anywhere but to babysit tonight,” she informed the Nova Roman. “And no way in Hell are you gonna leave me alone with a kid!” It was not that she disliked children, but she was scared to death of accidentally touching them. In her darker moments, usually somewhere horribly public like the mall or at the grocery store. She would invariably see a young mother, only a few years older than she was, with a kid or maybe two in tow. The mother would look harried, maybe even outright angry, but under it all, there would be this odd sort of contentment, a satisfaction almost when she looked at her offspring. And all Rogue could think was, _That will never be me. _ Part of the reason she had offered to babysit when Tabby had mentioned needing someone to watch Lucas was because she felt a compulsion almost, something forcing her to do it. She highly suspected that there was some sort of psychological term for what she was putting herself through, making herself nervous to the point of being physically ill and purposefully plunging herself into the throes of depression, but she honestly did not care to look it up. She just knew that she was sick of Kitty and Amara trying to help her and was glad that Jubilee had decided to hole up in her room for the evening. Tabby had at first leapt on the offer then drawn back conversationally and physically, looking horrified with herself until Rogue said she would bring Amara. Then, the young mother had relaxed. She hated her for one brief, brilliant moment because her horror had meant that she, too, saw the nightmare Rogue had at least once a month, of her bare skin touching an innocent child, sucking the life from the weaker form… “And I ain’t gonna cover for you,” she added aloud to Amara, ignoring Kitty’s concerned stare.
Kitty sighed. “I can still do it instead, Rogue. Kurt and I aren’t going to go see the movie until the late show at eleven and they’re supposed to be back in plenty of time…”
“No,” Rogue snapped, shoving herself to her feet and weaving around Kitty and Amara to pace the short breadth of her room. “It’s none of your business what happened with Todd an’ I ain’t gonna blow off Tabby and Wanda. I’ll be ready to go in ten minutes now get out of my room!”
Amara and Kitty exchanged glances and vented a mutual sigh. “Look,” Kitty said tiredly, “we’re not pestering. We just want to help. Did he say something? Did you? Did he do something? Not do something?” She shook her head at Rogue’s glare. “It can’t have been that bad.” She winced as the words left her mouth. She could see the outburst rise in Rogue’s throat, coloring her face a deep pink as she strove to not throw a tantrum. “I meant…”
“You don’t know what you mean,” Rogue snarled. “He said he ain’t goin’ to college. He said he’s not gonna do anything. That got us fighin’ and then he… he…” She turned away sharply and took a deep breath.
“He can’t have done something too bad,” Kitty opined, shrugging. She wondered if they should go get Jubilee for this. She would want to hear it first person…
Amara snorted. “So he doesn’t want to go to school. Big deal. Move on.” She kicked a boot, abandon in the heat of annoyance earlier when Rogue had been looking for something to throw. “You dithered about for an hour earlier without telling us anything and now you’re doing it again. Either tell us or bottle it up and get ulcers.”
Kitty made a face at Amara’s lack of sympathy. “Look, Rogue, we’re friends. I think of you like a sister almost… I want to help you and want you to think that you can talk to me if you need to.”
“I don’t need to,” Rogue snapped. “Get out. Please.”
Kitty looked at her friend and felt a pang of sadness. Rogue was facing away from them, slightly hunched, her hands fisted at her side and her head bowed. The note of pleading in her voice was clear. “Okay. Come on, Amara.”
“But…”
“Come on,” Kitty gritted, grabbing Amara by the wrist and dragging her to and through the door. Rogue was silent inside the room even as they stood out in the hallway. “You’re gonna be spending a few hours with her…”
“Are you asking me to pick?” Amara raised a cool brow. “Or just be patient?”
Kitty looked the very picture of innocence. “Just keep your ears open. Honestly, I can’t think of anything Todd could’ve done that would’ve made her this mad, unless he cheated on her or something and who the Hell would he have done that with?”
Amara sighed. “Eh. I’ll tell you what I find out. If I find anything out.”
Kitty nodded and the two parted, Amara heading to her room and Kitty heading for the stairs. She met Logan as he was coming up, looking distinctly tired. “Hey,” she chirped overbrightly. She wondered dimly if he could still smell her arousal and blushed, hoping the scent of her perfume covered it sufficiently.
“I was just looking for you, Half Pint,” he smiled thinly. He rested his hands on the banisters and stood two steps below her, making her almost taller than he was.
“Figured. You never come up here unless you’re looking for me or someone’s in trouble.” She paused and added thoughtfully, “Or both.”
He smiled fully then. “You’re not in trouble this time, Half Pint. The Professor needs to see you.” He nodded curtly, indicating subtly that this was a matter of business rather than pleasure.
“Why didn’t he just call me then?” she asked, following Logan as he turned and headed back down stairs.
“He’s sort of tied up,” Logan sighed. In truth, Professor Xavier had locked himself in Cerebro hours ago and had still not emerged, leaving directions for Logan to bring Kitty to his study at half past seven for a brief meeting concerning school and potential issues with her studies. “He’s gonna be just a few minutes.”
“Okay,” she shrugged nonchalantly. They were nearing the downstairs study and she stopped short by several feet, causing Logan to look up at her quizzically. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about me going away for school during the week…”
“What about it?” he asked blandly. He would not, he told himself, even suggest that he would miss her or that he wished she would stay. _It’s too important to her, for her… I’m not going to be the dick that ruins it for her. _
“Just… do you think it’s a good idea?”
He could not decipher the expression on her face. He simply smiled and nodded. “Course I do. About time you got out there into the real world.”
She sighed and followed him into the study. “Real world… right…”