Fractals

Fractals Chapter Twelve (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… *shimmies * InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are loverly and squishy for archiving/hosting! :) ProPhile: SMUT! But in the next chapter… It just wouldn’t work in this one. :( Morgan; *poke* Readers/Reviewers: *GLOMP * Thanks!!!!!


Rogue tried to go back to sleep for a few hours but she just could not. Her head did not quite ache but it did not feel right. She was tempted to blame it on lack of sleep, but she knew better. It was the knowledge that someone, somewhere, knew. Not just her parents, though to be fair, they had a strong denial thing working for them, but _people _ would know. Did know, she corrected internally. She sipped a cup of Logan’s too-strong coffee and slid down the exterior wall of the house to sit on the cold concrete of the back patio. The sun was almost fully risen but it was a milky, lemon-colored light which made everything seem as if it were a wan shadow of it’s usual self. The coffee was bitter and made her tongue feel numb but she drank it anyway in tiny, bird-like sips, wondering if it was some bottomless cup because the more she sipped, the more there seemed to be.
“It ain’t so bad with about a half cup of sugar,” Todd opined, shutting the sliding door behind him and sitting about four feet from her, out of arm’s reach but close enough to scoot without looking like an idiot.
Rogue smirked faintly. “Then I’d be wired for days instead of just hours.” She took another tiny sip and frowned. “I swear it’s getting thicker.”
“Wait’ll it gets really cold. Then it’s like tar,” he shuddered theatrically. He slid a sideways glance at her and stretched his legs out in front of him, wondering how to bring up what was on his mind.
“You keep worrying, your face is gonna stick like that,” she said dryly, giving up and pouring the coffee out into the grass just off the patio,
“Like what?”
“Those wrinkles between your eyes when you frown,” she pointed to his forehead. “And the lines by your mouth. You’ll be old before your time.”
He raised a brow at that. “All that’s going on and you’re giving me beauty tips?”
“Gotta keep my mind off it,” she said honestly, rotating and counter rotating her ankles, knocking the steel toes of her boots together purposefully. “It’s giving me a headache.”
“It’s givin’ Sam the runs,” Todd snickered. “ Farm boy can’t handle nerves.”
“Okay, remind me to have the ‘Appropriate and Inappropriate Topics to Discuss with Girlfriends’ talk with you sometime…” She scooted a little closer, setting the now empty cup on the opposite side of her legs from Todd. “So what’re you so worried about?”
Todd’s good humor fell flat. Staring at the low wall of creeping ivy which was already railing against the cold weather threatening, he reached out and laced his fingers with her gloved ones. “This is different than just people who can be trusted knowing…”
“Trusted?” she said with a hint of derision. She pressed her lips together in an attempt to hold back the venom, her eyes narrowing. “Trusted is sort of a big word for it,” she finally said, sounding a hint choked.
Todd let his head fall back gently against the bricks. “You know what I mean. You know your parents aren’t gonna tell cause, well… they gave you up, ya know? You lived with what’s her face, that blind lady… You know Kurt’s mom ain’t gonna tell and none of the parents of the new kids are gonna tell…” Even as he said it, he had a flicker of doubt. He knew from bitter personal experience that some people did not care how they hurt you, even if you were their flesh and blood, so long as they came out smelling like a rose.
Rogue nodded, her expression relaxing a bit. “Sorry. Blame the coffee.”
He shrugged and tightened his grasp on her hand, wondering how to really begin. “Marie… I was thinking last night, after all that bullshit, and this morning… If it ever comes down to it, pretend you don’t know me.”
“Have you got a Messianic complex1 now?”
He snorted. “If I could turn water into wine2, I think junior high woulda gone a lot better.” He smiled at her laugh and pressed onward. “I mean… you know, if this thing gets really out of hand and someone asks about me cause it’s kinda hard to hide this whole toad-lookin’ thing… just say you don’t know me. I don’t want you to get hurt cause someone’s lookin’ to mutant bash.” Todd was looking at his knees and did not know what was coming until a second before her hand made contact with his face. “ What the fuck? What was that for?” he cried, glaring up at her as she now towered over him. He rubbed his sore cheek with one hand and shoved himself to his feet with the other.
“You sit here an’ tell me you honestly think I’m enough of a coward to do that to you? I thought you loved me, Todd. If you did,” she cut off his protestations, “you’d know I would NEVER do that to you! If someone wants to get at me through you, I’ll tear their heart out through their throat, got it?”
He stared after her as she yanked the sliding door open and stormed into the house, nearly plowing Jamie down in the process. The younger teenager gasped and hit the wall, trying to get out of her way, ending up with two multiples trailing after him as he went to stand next to Todd, staring as well. “What was that?” he asked.
“Ah, declaration of love,” Todd grinned foolishly, still rubbing his cheek. “Where you been? You missed the Danger Room session an’ Logan’s pissed as Hell.”
“I was talking to the Professor,” Jamie sighed, wrinkling his nose. The talk had not gone as well as he had hoped, especially since the Professor had a policy of no mind reading unless it was a dire situation. Girlfriend troubles seemed to be classified as something else. “Todd… you know much about women?”
He snorted. “More than you. Whatcha need to know?”
Jamie paused, uncertain for a moment under Todd’s amused gaze. “Um… everything?”


1 Reference to the incident in the new testament where Peter is told that he will deny Jesus three times before the cock crows.
2 Another new testament reference from the Pagan… the story goes that Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in Canaan.