Disclaimer: The only compensation I am making from this fic is the warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart whenever I open my email and see that someone took the time off to review it. Obviously, none of the characters are mine. It's Marvel's. And Warner Brothers'. I think.
A/N:
I'm anticipating that I might take a long time (again) before I could update. But you can check my blog for teasers and announcements at triple w dot xanga dot com slash khayee
Since I believe that you've forgotten all about this story, here's the summary, then:
Cody and Anna (aka Rogue) is a couple whom actor Remy LeBeau wants to break up because he's fascinated by the fact that Anna's not interested. However, all his efforts are rendered ineffective as Anna deflects his 'smooth' moves one after the other. Bella's scheme of unleashing Anna's wild side (for Remy!) backfired when Remy saved Anna and her friends from making fools of themselves. A tentative friendship begun between the two. Logan, fearing for his daughter's virtue, had threatened Remy with emasculation.
The Immunity Challenge
Chapter 8
Basketcase
Remy LeBeau may be a lot of things, but he wasn't jealous.
Nope. Not Remy Le Beau.
He looked hot, and he knew it. Women turn to goo at his feet, and he knew it. He was very talented, and he knew it. He had the attitude, and he knew it. He was loaded, and he knew it.
Nope. Remy LeBeau was not jealous. After all, he was once described as the man who has everything. He was secure in himself. He was the object of envy, not the other way around.
Remy was sure that the red haze clouding his vision for the moment can rationally and logically explained as anything but jealousy.
He watched as Anna made a face when Pietro said something too softly for Remy to hear. Pietro placed a familiar hand on Anna's arm to make his point.
"So anything goin' on between the two of you?" Remy asked in studied casualness.
From across the Maximoff dining table, both Anna and Pietro froze.
"Of course not!" Anna immediately denied.
"We're just friends," Pietro claimed at the same time.
Anna nodded, blushing furiously. "There's nothing going on between the two of us," her fork twirling precariously in the air in emphasis.
"Right." Remy nodded dubiously, crossing his arms, frowning at the duo as if he caught them doing something bad. Once more, he made use of the intimidation tactics he learned in his TV show. "If you say so,"
"Anna's not my type." Pietro said. "No offense, Ahn,"
"None taken."
"I mean, she's pretty and all, but definitely not my type."
"If you say so, mon ami,"
"He's my guy best friend," Anna continued. "Purely platonic."
Remy merely smirked at her, finding her blush charming. "Mais oui," he murmured.
"We're like Will and Grace," she continued.
"Hey!" Pietro protested.
"Only, without the gayness," Anna added weakly. She frowned. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. Gayness I mean. It's a valid lifestyle choice."
"I believe you, chere," Remy mercifully interrupted her nervous babble.
A moment of fragile silence descended upon the three.
"Fine!" Anna finally blurted out. "I admit it."
"It was a one-time thing." Pietro hurriedly added. "In college. You know, the time when you experiment and stuff."
"And it was before I met Cody."
"And it was just one lousy kiss!" Pietro added.
"Hey!" Anna protested.
"I don't mean that the kiss was lousy," Pietro hurriedly amended. "In fact, the kiss was great."
Remy frowned. Not jealous, remember?
"It's the number that was lousy." Pietro continued. "I mean one! Can anything be lousier than thenumber one?"
Anna nodded. "Right."
"And what did your overprotective father say?" Remy asked.
"Nothing!" Anna exclaimed.
"He doesn't know a thing," Pietro affirmed. "Or else, I'll be dead,"
"Is he really that bad?" Remy frowned when he remembered the reason why he was in Maximoff's kitchen. "And are all these really necessary, cher?" He motioned with his arms, to emphasize the situation they were in.
"If you value your life, you stay away from Logan until his temper wears off," Pietro advised. "What he's capable of is not something I would wish to my worst enemy."
"He kinda goes over the top with his protectiveness," Anna grumbled.
Pietro nodded. "I mean, Scott Summers was never able to set foot inside Wolverine's ever again after that incident."
Remy frowned. Wolverine's? Scott Summers?
Reading the question on Remy's face, Anna sighed. "Scott and I had this huge thing in high school."
Remy raised a brow. "You disappoint me, cher. Would've thought you've got more taste than that."
"That's what I told her!" Pietro added.
The two men basked in a moment of male solidarity.
"I was young! And stupid! And I didn't know any better." Anna crossed her arms defiantly.
"If you say so, chere,"
"Do you want the story or not?"
Remy gestured for her to continue.
"Anyway, Scott and I had a falling out,"
"Wouldn't call it a falling out, Ahn," Pietro interjected. "You poked the poor man's eye out." He crossed his arms. "Not that he didn't deserve it."
Remy's eyes widened momentarily. So his petite ange has some sharp claws, after all. But why should he be surprised? Didn't he meet the sexy and alluring Rogue on the dance floor a few nights prior? Even if said Rogue was dead drunk.
"It was in self-defense." Anna huffed.
"What did the bastard do?" Remy couldn't help but growl.
"Nothing!" Anna sighed.
"Nothing!" Pietro spluttered. "He—"
"Shut up, Maximoff!" Anna snapped.
"Sorry," he muttered, leaning back on his chair, not sounding sorry at all.
Remy made a mental note to ask Maximoff what the Summers deal was all about. "Anyway, about Wolverine's?"
"Oh, yeah. Scott made the unfortunate mistake of stepping into Wolverine's," Anna continued. "This was years after we all graduated from high school."
Pietro smirked. "I can still vividly remember that day. Summers walked in, her dad walked up, flashed his knives a lot, made good use of his fist, and threw Summers out."
Anna shuddered. "Scott had to be sent to the emergency room for some stitches. Good thing he didn't press any charges,"
Remy had the mental image of a distinguished man in a suit roughing up Summers. His imagination failed him.
"Of course, if he did press charges, Logan would've done a lot worse than he did,"
Remy frowned at the mention of the owner of Wolverine's. He remembered the first time he saw Anna, talking to the much older man. "What, Logan's your pere's best friend or something?"
Pietro looked at Remy LeBeau like the Cajun just admitted that he was actually an alien from outerspace. "No, try to keep up with the discussion. Logan is her father."
"I've gone over the contract and it seemed fine," Anna stated as she extended both of her legs outwards when she felt the first twinge, signaling that her legs were beginning to fall asleep.
The only answer she got was a grunt and the sounds of metal banging against metal.
With her back to the wall, her butt to the floor, she mindlessly twirled her hair with her fingers as she listened to the sounds she was familiar with since her teens.
"So, anyway, I guess all systems are a go for the Wolverine branch in New York. All that's left to do is to meet with Mr. Worthington and sign the papers." Anna continued.
"Darlin,'" Logan grunted from under the car he was working on. He grabbed the sides of the car and slid himself out, figuring that in order for his glare to affect his daughter, she had to actually see it. "I've been ready to sign that thing weeks before until you stopped me."
If the glare had any effect on the girl, Logan didn't see it.
"It is better safe than sorry, you know," Anna replied with an airy wave of her hand.
"Sometimes, you remind me too much of your mother," Logan grumbled before standing up and wiping his hands on a rug he swiped off the floor.
Anna gave a very Raven-like smirk. "And you say that like it's such a bad thing,"
"Kid, you're starting to scare me,"
Anna laughed as she stood up from her very undignified slump on the floor. "Mom'll be horrified if she knew I spent my teens slumped in a corner of your garage watching you fix stuff."
Logan gave her a look. "Heaven help me if you turn out to be your mother,"
"You done here?" Anna asked.
"Yeah," Logan replied. "Care for a cup of coffee?"
"Sure." Anna agreed. She link her arms with that of Logan's as the duo walked into the kitchen.
"We need to talk," he said. At her daughter's pained look, he continued. "About LeBeau,"
"Dad, there's nothing to talk about." Anna said. "We're friends and since he's famous, the press just ran away with the story."
"And the pictures?"
Anna felt her face heat up. She mumbled an incoherent answer that Logan didn't even attempt to decode.
"What was that, darlin'?" Logan asked as he started to took two mugs from the cupboards and poured coffee for the two of them.
Anna glared at him. "I got a little tipsy," she mumbled. "Alright! I was drunk!" She finally admitted at her father's disbelieving glare.
"Anna," he started.
"Dad! You do remember that I'm twenty one now, right? All legal and everything?" Anna interjected.
Logan sighed. He should've known better than to try and talk with his daughter. He should've gone straight to the Cajun and simply skinned him alive now and ask questions later.
"I can drink if I want to and stuff," Anna continued.
"Drink this," Logan grunted as he dumped the mug on the kitchen table in front of Anna.
"Thanks."
An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
Anna sighed. "It's Cody." She finally admitted. "He did something and I didn't like it." Finally, in her father's kitchen, the place of her refuge as a teen, she can unload. She stopped pretending to be strong, stopped pretending to be mature and calm. She can finally be what she actually felt—a woman who was hurt by the man she loved.
Logan suppressed the red cloud of fury that threatened to overwhelm his vision. Some boy had hurt his little girl.
"And LeBeau?"
"He helped me out. He kept me from doing crazy stuff,"
Logan raised a brow and looked pointedly at the lock of white bangs that decorated his daughter's hair.
Anna sighed as she twirled the offending lock of hair around her fingers, similar to the way she twirled her father's heart. "I didn't say he was a hundred percent successful," she gave a wry grin.
"Me and Robbins are going to have a little talk," Logan muttered.
"It's fine, dad," Anna said quickly. "I'm better now. I guess I just needed to act it out before it burst out of me." Anna looked at her father sadly. "I'm sorry, daddy,"
Anna may be twenty-one years old, but Logan would always see her as his little princess. And right now, his princess was hurting. He quietly gathered her in his arms.
The instinct to kill the boy Cody was very strong. But right now, Anna needed her father.
"You and me, we're gonna have a little talk," a heavy hand settled itself at his shoulders.
Remy LeBeau stifled a wince. He should have known that Logan would corner him the moment he stepped in Wolverine's. But he was no coward. A LeBeau never ran from no fights. They faced it like a man.
From behind LeBeau, Piotr gave a start, intending to protect his boss. However, a man with grayish hair and an intimidating eye patch blocked the giant's path. Behind the guy with the eye patch were three of Wolverine's bouncers.
Remy shook his head, signaling to Piotr that he'd be fine.
Logan pushed Remy to sit down at one of the dark corners of the bar.
"What's the matter, mon ami?" Remy asked calmly, despite the slightly hysterical voice in his brain telling him that he should've heeded Anna's warnings. He shouldn't have gone into Wolverine's until the whole issue about him and Anna had died down. Remy frowned. The voice in his head sounds eerily like Maximoff's.
Logan stared at him for a long moment. "I owe you one, bub."
Remy's eyebrows raised in surprise. "What?"
"I owe you." Logan sighed, as if such admission pained him. "You took care of my daughter. I'm in your debt."
Remy wanted to laugh in relief. Fortunately, he was a consummate actor and a great poker player. He merely smiled coolly. "It was my pleasure," he said. "Anna and I, we're," Remy frowned as he searched for an appropriate term. "Friends," he finally said. And to his surprise, he found himself meaning it. And he meant what he said too. Taking care of Anna was indeed his pleasure.
"Thank you," Logan said gruffly as he extended a hand to the Cajun.
Remy took the proffered hand, hoping in hell that the older man wouldn't notice that it was shaking with delayed fright.
"Oh, you have to be kidding me!" A soft, scandalized voice groaned.
"We kid you not," was the reply before girlish giggles broke out.
Anna squirmed uncomfortably and uttered a vain hope that this was only a bad dream that she would wake up from anytime soon. "I'm going to kill that Cajun."
"But it's kinda sweet." Kitty argued as she grabbed the remote control to turn the volume up.
"Yeah, in a sick, sad, twisted way," Wanda added, her eyes glued to the screen.
Upon seeing a TV ad that Gambit was to introduce a new character on the show, Wanda and Kitty had conspired to do everything in their powers to make Anna actually sit down long enough to watch the show. And they had to admit, all the scheming and planning and scheduling they did for days paid out in the end. It was all worth it to see the expression on their friend's face.
"Look out, Roguey!" The cocky Cajun thief wearing the face of Remy LeBeau shouted onscreen.
Anna groaned again and squeezed her eyes shut as the heroic Gambit saved a woman on the show—a woman who had green eyes, pale skin, pouty red lips, and the most distinctive auburn hair with white stripes.
"Ah can take care of myself, Swamp Rat!"Ah, yes, and a very feminine southern accent to boot.
Kitty giggled. "Maybe you could get royalties or something,"
"The whole of Bayville is going to have a field day with this one," Wanda snorted. "Hey!" She protested when she was hit by a pillow on her face. "Just stating the obvious."
"Please tell me Pietro and the guys don't watch this crap," Anna pleaded. But with Wanda's smirk, she knew that as of right now, the guys were laughing their asses off on her expense in front of the TV.
"It's kinda flattering, if you think about it." Kitty tried to sooth her.
"And I think he's channeling all his sexual frustrations on Anna to the Rogue character," Wanda commented as onscreen Gambit leaned over to give Rogue a kiss.
However, the moment Gambit's lips touched Rogue's, he lost consciousness. Then, the closing credits started to roll.
"Or maybe not," Kitty giggled. "There gotta be some twist around there somewhere."
Anna's phone began to ring.
"It's Pietro," no doubt ringing to rib her about the new Gambit character who, coincidentally, is rather similar to herself. Seeing the caller-ID, the Southerner groaned before throwing her phone far and away.
tbc
Thanks for reading!
Melancholic, it's a sad day when you find out that people are actually surprised that you're updating. It means that I'm slacking off as an author. But it can't be helped. The plotbunnies are starting to die out one by one. It's taking all of my time trying to revive them. Thanks for the comments. It made me feel real good.
Enchantedlight, I'm sooo sorry I wasn't able to update soon. Real life's a pain, if you know what I mean.
Ishandahalf, this is me grinning sheepishly. I'm sorry that after heaping praise on my story, I suddenly disappeared in the pit of nothingness. My bad. BTW, I read your stories. Great job! Two thumbs up!
EmeraldKatsEye, the Remy-Logan moment is dedicated to you. Thanks for reminding me that Remy doesn't know who Anna's father is yet.
Rogue4787, it was revealed in the early chaps that Logan is Anna's father. Only, Remy doesn't know it yet. And no, Cody's dirty deed is yet to be revealed.
Star-of-Chaos, nice to know that someone's back from the abyss! Me, I'm trying to claw my way out, but it's waaay hard. Sometimes, I think it's better for me to just lie down and enjoy the view.
Xbecbebex, thanks a bunch from the bottom of my heart! I hope you're not turned off from this story because of the uber late updates.
Carla-p, as always, it's such a kick to read/hear/receive multiple reviews from you! I always, always enjoy it. Thank you. You are such a pick-me-upper.
Xpoisonedxangelx, oh, thank you! It's always nice to know that someone's appreciating my attempts to come out with longish chapters. Unfortunately, it's because of those attempts that I often update really, really late.
Leishy, sometimes it takes me tooo long to sign in also. But I always thought there was something wrong with my browser…anywho, I've heard of the movie paparazzi, but I haven't watched it yet. Is it good?
Allie, thanks for the compliments, but I'm afraid my bunnies are sort of on rehab so it'll take a while for everything can go back to normal. Expect sporadic updates at best.
SickmindedSucker, if you feel like a bad reviewer, I feel like a lousy author. My heart cringes everytime someone tells me to update soon. My last update of this fic was last year. Sigh.
Goldilox8265, thanks for taking the time off to review.
TyBass31, thank you. I'm glad that someone enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it.
AnimeSiren, updates might be sporadic, but rest assured that I intend to see this fic to the very end!
Wildcardrose, thanks. I'm flattered. It's not everyday I'm called brilliant. I revel in your review!
Friend to All, thank you. So sorry that it took soooo long before I updated. Unfortunately, I cannot promise not to do that again.
Dee Saylors, There's no Kurty-goodness on this one, but I'll try and squeeze him in next time. Squeezes Kurt. He's sooo cute!
Maximite, thanks for kicking my ass into gear. You're right. My last update was so last year.
That's it! Sorry if I missed anyone.
Love you all!
khay