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Chapters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
 
 
 

The Companion Picture - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Dandelion
Last updated: 12/03/2009 06:26:08 PM

Chapter 2

"Green eyes looked into green eyes. Rogue heaved a sigh and blew her breath up tossing her bangs out of her eyes. She peered at herself in the mirror. "You are the biggest wimp Ah have evah seen!!" She viciously jabbed an accusing finger at herself. "Jus' cause some handsome devil of a man starts makin' goo-goo eyes at ya is no reason to lose every ounce of self-respect!"

She paused and blew her breath out again. "Handsome isn't the word. Gorgeous is more like it. As in drop-dead!" She fell back onto the bed with a flop. "Remy, Remy, Remy. Why'd you have to be such a damned scoundrel?" She threw one arm over her eyes and considered some of her past 'relationships'.

"Longshot was such a naive, pure thing. He wouldn't have been able to hurt me if he tried. Dazzler liked that. She was so all fired unsure of herself anyway. 'The team, I just hurt the team!' Silly Lightengale. And Magnus... well, nothing ever came of that." She shivered slightly. "And nothin' good could have if it ever went further than a look. That man has more baggage than Dulles Airport." She removed her arm from her eyes and sat up. "Ah guess Ah jus' like my men with more of an edge." She rolled over and flipped on the TV. "Course, Remy's got so much of an edge he'll cut anyone who gets near him."

The screen flickered for a moment as the picture cleared. "Hey gang, I smell a mystery!" A cartoony voice exclaimed excitedly.

Rogue brightened. "Oh good, Scooby Doo reruns. If anything can cheer me up it's this. Reminders of my harmless youth." She regarded the screen critically for a moment, the gave a small relieved sigh. "At least they don't have that rotten little runt Scrappy. Was *he* ever a mistake." Rogue made a face at the television, then started giggling. "Ah don't care what anyone says, that Freddy is a hunk." She laughed out loud in spite of herself, then frowned as a screen depicting glowing footprints faded into an ad for some of the ugliest dolls Rogue had ever seen. "Aw crumbs! A commercial." She flipped the channels with the remote. "Boring. Boring. BO-RING! Dumb. Dumb. Stupid. Bo-- what?! Is that Mystique? What the-" She quickly turned the sound up.

"--With members of the Canadian team known as Alpha Flight. Members of X-Factor, the government sponsored mutant team, were briefly involved in a skirmish. Government liaison, known as Forge, was unavailable for comment."

"WHAT? Mystique is back with the government?"

Rogue's brow furrowed in confusion. "How strange it that? Hell, Mystique is alive! Cripes, am Ah the last to know everything?" She turned the channel back to Scooby Doo. And watched in silence for a while. The cartoon seemed to underscore her own thoughts.

"Jinkies!" <Ah can't believe it. Momma's alive and she's gone and let me believe she was dead...AGAIN!>

She folded her arms across her chest in a stubborn grump. <Well, there ain't no way Ah'm goin' to see her. Not if she doesn't even have the courtesy to give me a call.>

"Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?" Rogue scowled at the television.

"No, Ah wouldn't!!" She told Velma forcefully.

"Would you do it for *two* Scooby Snacks?"

Rogue rolled her eyes to the ceiling. <Ah can see the writing on the wall. Though if anyone knew Ah's goin' to see Momma on a cartoons say-so, nobody'd let me live it down.>

Rogue rolled onto her stomach and continued watching the cartoon in silence. <If Ah don't go, Ah'll just be thinkin' 'bout her all the time tryin' to figure out the whys and wherefores. I wonder if Ah'm gonna have to swallow my pride with Forge. Turns out he was right 'bout Momma the whole time. Ah was so sure she had died. Which is probably just how she wanted it. Too bad she was found out.>

"And I would've gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for your meddling kids!!"

Rogue's mouth dropped for a second at the perfect irony of the villain's statement then burst out in rich laughter.

"Guess Ah've got to go now."

Her words sounded braver than she felt, though, and she knew it. It was easy to bluff when others were around, but she knew herself too well. Rogue flipped off the television and picked up the phone.

After a few moments of struggling with the intricacies of an international call on her phone card Rogue's connection was sent through.

"Muir Isle blah blah blah, what d'yer want?" An entirely unfamiliar English male voice answered the phone.

"Who is this?" Rogue demanded.

"What's it to yer?" The voice replied not very kindly.

"Ah'd like to know who I am speakin' to, suh."

"Right back at you, luv."

Rogue scowled at the TV. <Insufferable lout,> she thought. "My name is Rogue."

"Sure it is, what the bloody hell kind of name is Rogue?!"

Rogue was about to chuck the phone through the wall, when a very familiar voice in the background started talking.

"Pete, you louse! That's Rogue. Give me the phone --" A slight scuffle was heard and then a ear-splitting squeal. "ROGUE!!"

Rogue switched ears. "You best be careful, Kit," she said. "You're gonna bust my eardrum."

"Rogue, it's so great to hear from you!! The Professor said you had left, I wasn't expecting you'd call us. Are you going to come visit? Oh, please come, I've missed you all like crazy and I'd love for you to meet Pete!" Kitty chattered like crazy and Rogue found herself laughing in spite of herself.

"Is he the lout that answered the phone? Who is he?"

"He's the newest member of our team. We're sort of

involved."

"Oh, Kitty, that's great. And really, nothin' would make me happier than to come and see you. Actually, Ah was thinkin' about it. But Ah got somethin' to take care of first."

Kitty's disappointment was obvious. "Crap. Well, what did you need from us?"

"Kurt."

"Mm. Okay, let me buzz him, and you get your southern butt over here as soon as you can, you got me?"

"Ah got you Kitty. Ah think a little time on a Scottish rock would do me a lot of good."

"Good, I'll put you through to Kurt."

The line stopped and Rogue listened to some local music while she was on hold.

"Heir ist Kurt. Rogue? What are you calling for, liebchen?"

"Momma."

There was an awkward silence. "I do not think of Mystique in such fond terms, I fear. Finding out that you were chucked over a cliff by her tends to do that. What about her?"

"She's alive."

"Was?"

"Alive and workin' for X-Factor."

"Is that so? Well, Forge is there, I know he can keep her under control."

Rogue sighed. "Um, actually, Kurt, Ah was goin' to go to D.C. Ah figured she owed me an explanation, and Ah thought maybe you'd like to come and get one of your own."

Kurt was silent for a moment. "Actually, I would like that. This history between Mystique and myself has actually been far longer than the recent revelations in Mississippi. It has been a cat and mouse game between us for years and I would like the chance to try to get an explanation out of her. The problem is that our modes of transport here are, shall we say, limited. And I would not feel right in crippling the group because of some personal problems."

Rogue sighed, she really wanted Kurt to be there, she really needed his moral support. "Ah could come and get you, Ah can fly remember?" She teased him affectionately.

Kurt laughed softly. "I'm not *that* old, danke. How could I forget? Actually, that -- wait one moment, please?" Rogue heard him speaking in German, in muffled tones and another voice answered him. He quickly asked, "Rogue, where are you?"

"Ah'm in New York."

"Where exactly?"

She gave him the name of the hotel and the room number and he related it to whoever he was speaking to.

"Amanda says she can teleport me long-distance to where you are."

"Is Amanda there? Tell her Ah said 'Hi.', will ya?"

"Rogue says Hello."

Amanda's silvery voice came through. "Hello Rogue, darlin'!"

"Okay, I will be there shortly." Kurt hung-up.

Rogue leaned back on the bed and waited. In a few moments, there was a buzz in her ear and a golden twinkling near the table. Then a soft Vrammmmm-ZAK! And there stood Kurt Wagner.

"Ahhh! The only way to travel!" He grinned, showing his fangs.

Rogue giggled again. "That Amanda is a real gem."

"Ja."

"Ah didn't know you were back together."

Kurt sat down and put his feet up on the table. He looked contemplative. "We're trying."

Rogue nodded. "Aren't we all."

"Ah yes, last I heard you were involved with that Cajun that Storm brought with her, what was his name?"

"Remy." Rogue said quietly. "But Ah don't want to talk about it if you don't mind."

Kurt looked at Rogue for a moment.

<Please, fuzzy elf. Don't press. Ah couldn't bear it. Ah can't even consider a relationship with Remy until Ah get myself back. Please don't press.> Rogue pleaded silently.

Kurt nodded sympathetically. "Yes, I understand. In a way. We have all had to work around our mutations."

He gestured to his fur.

"Kurt, anybody would be lucky to have you."

Rogue smiled at him sincerely. She had always liked Kurt. Granted, his appearance was startling at first, but he had such a way about him. He certainly was charming, in that respect Kurt reminded her very much of Remy. Painfully so. She squelched the heartache before it could get out and offered Kurt a soda.

He accepted gratefully. "Perhaps, but they haven't been lucky long, considering that all of my relationships have been far too short. And anyone would be lucky to have you. I am sure that your Remy knows that. And I am lucky because you are my sister, ja? It appears we have good-looking genes."

Rogue smiled and laughed. "And that brings us to the purpose of your bein' here. Shall we go?"

"In a minute," Kurt sat down and put his feet up on a table. "I want to talk about Mystique, first."

Rogue resumed her own seat on her bed. "What about her?"

"Have you considered why she hasn't contacted you about her being alive?" His voice expressed his concern.

Rogue nodded solemnly. "A number of reasons. But Ah'd rather not speculate on why she didn't tell me. Ah'd rather get the reasons from her." She looked at her old team mate.

"Kurt, how are you about the whole thing?"

Kurt took a drink. "In all honesty, I wish I knew. I admit I have gone through denial concerning the whole affair. I've simply put the woman out of my mind and concentrated on other things. And it's been pretty easy, I must say, what with all the goings on at Muir Isle."

Rogue perked up. <Gossip,> she thought eagerly.

"Like what? Ah'm so out of touch with what goes on with y'all."

Kurt stretched his arms over his head. "Well, Kitty has a new.." He groped for the right word.

"Man?" Rogue offered dryly, cocking an eyebrow at him.

He tossed her a flat look. "Well..."

She laughed lightly. "Ah sort of met him. He answered the phone. Abrasive, isn't he?"

Kurt nodded. "Pete Wisdom? Abrasive? Yes. He is. But Kitty rather likes him. And he's isn't all *that* bad. He's been admitted onto the team anyway. Then Peter showed up..." Kurt's voice trailed off.

"Peter?" Rogue's heart ached for her friend. She still missed him, he was so sweet in that shy, farmboy kind of way. Then realization dawned on her. "Oh no..Kitty. What happened?"

Kurt looked at the ground. "Peter came this close to killing Wisdom." He held his hand up with two fingers barely apart. "I had never been so mad at someone as I was at Peter. And disappointed. And saddened." He shook hishead. "It's like he needed something so desperately, and he thought Kitty may have been that something, but she had found someone else."

If Rogue had ached for her friend before she simply wept inside for him this time. "He's so fragile." She whispered. "Ah mean, that's no excuse, but still..." She brushed her hair out of her eyes. "It's so easy to forget that, what with his armored form and all. But he's so fragile. How is he doin' now?" Kurt looked embarrassed. "Actually, we've got him in a containment cell with an inhibitor collar on. Wisdom is recovering, slowly."

"You mean you've got him in jail?" Rogue was shocked.

"In a manner of speaking." Kurt looked at Rogue's outraged face. "Don't look at me like that, leibchen. There is nothing pretty about the situation. Peter almost killed a man, an innocent man, for no good reason. Whether or not he is under a great deal of strain, or if he's fragile has nothing to do with it. In his current state he is dangerous. And we cannot allow him to pummel whoever he feels has wronged him or deprived him of something. We are supposed to be here to stop that kind of behavior. Isn't that why Sabretooth was allowed into the mansion?"

The mention of Sabretooth hit Rogue like a bucket of ice water.

"Ah never approved of Sabretooth. Ah never wanted him there. But there he was an' Ah figured Ah might as well try helpin' than fightin' every step of the way like Remy did. The difference being is that Sabretooth has always killed for the pleasure of it, and Peter was never that way. Ah don't care what you say Kurt, Ah know Peter, and any damage he did to Wisdom didn't give him any kind of satisfaction or pleasure. Maybe he lashed out. But Ah am sure not gonna condemn him. Not after the things Ah've done. Rogue looked down at the floor. <But Ah sure was willing to condemn Remy.> She shook her head angrily.

"Be that as it may, Rogue." Kurt continued. "Peter has gone over the line and must be handled very carefully."

"Why are you bein' so cold about this?" Rogue demanded.

"Kurt's shoulders seemed to sag. "Because, liebchen, if I'm not the tragedy of the whole situation will consume me. I love Peter as dearly as I would a brother, and because of this I cannot waver. If I do, I will be of no help to him. If he had gone bad, if he did take pleasure out of the fight I cannot help but think this would be so much easier. It's easier to rationalize things when you can say the person is just wrong. But Peter is a different story. He did the wrong thing, yes, but he hurts so much from all the tragedy that has fallen on him in the last months, I can almost sympathize. And that is what makes

the situation dangerous."

"Dangerous? For who? You or Petey?"

"For us both."

A long, heavy silence fell between the old teammates. Rogue caught herself looking at Kurt with a respect she had not felt in some time. Kurt had always been so light-hearted, thejoker of the team. Now, he was very different. He was a leader, and he acted with great compassion and fortitude. The gentleness she had always loved in him was now tempered with authority. She knew she would be able to face anything in Washington D.C. with Kurt's strength lent to her own.

Rogue got up and opened the window. "Let's go."

She held her gloved hand out.

 

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