Worlds Collide

Logan pulled the roamer up to the house and powered down. He looked over at Remy, who was contently dozing deep enough to be completely unaware of where he was when Logan shook him. "Rem? Remy? Wake up, hey, we're home."

Soft ruffling of his left shoulder and a sudden stir as the lack of the engine running and movement was enough to wake Remy from his nap. "Okay," he breathed. Turning to face Logan, and snuggle down into the seat, Remy closed his eyes and fell back asleep. He didn't even flinch as Logan's door opened and then shut with small noise.

"Fine, I can take a hint. Gettin back at me for ruinin' our anniversary, right? Not that I mind carryin you into the house but, I think we could both use a rest from the heavy liftin." A grunt here, a groan there but, Logan obliged and effortlessly carried Remy into the house and made his way to the bedroom.

With his arms around Logan's neck and his head on Logan's shoulder, Remy inhaled deep the scent of a few hours of hard work, oil, and aftershave Andrew had given him as an age gift. Remy curled around him and purred even more as Logan held him slightly tighter. He mumbled something that sounded like terms of affection into Logan's ear but were jumbled as he was being laid down on the bed.

"Yea yea, horseshoes and belt buckles to you too." Logan pulled the comforter over Remy and straightened to look down at his husband a moment before turning to leave.

Remy caught a hand as it swung when Logan turned away from him. Slitting his eyes open, Remy waited for Logan to look at him before clearing up what he initially said, "I love you."

Smiling, Logan turned and knelt down beside Remy. "I love you too. But, it sounded better when it came out beforehand."

Scrunching his nose at Logan, they exchanged playful teases before Remy brought Logan's hand up to his lips for a kiss.

"Ya know, Rem, I've been thinkin'. After all this, maybe we should ask the Kings' permissions if we might have a baby?" In his seriousness, Logan had looked away from Remy, and didn't see the surprise in the younger man's eyes.

Remy sat up. "T'ought you say dis house is too small for t'ree of us?"

Logan turned to look at his love, and smiled, "so we'll move?" He could see the confusion setting in Remy's eyes and leaned in to kiss him. "Think of it as a belated anniversary gift? But, right now, you get some sleep and then think of your answer." Kissing Remy's forehead and standing up, Logan made his way to the door before he was stopped again by Remy.

"If you want dem, den oui. I want one, aussi."

Logan smiled and then whispered for Remy to get some sleep, and that he'd be back in a few hours.

Remy listened to Logan leave and go back to work, as he rolled onto his right side and smiled contently to himself. He had always wanted a family but time, money, or individual feelings just didn't seem to add up the way he had hoped. However, first thing was first, sleep, then back to work, then a cheerful/tearful goodbye to the visitors, then talk about children. Closing his eyes, it took him two minutes before he was dreaming about he and Logan chasing two little boys around the backyard.

~~~~~~~~

Logan had been back to work for about 2 hours when Rogue walked up to him in the middle of tightening a few bolts on another roamer, across the hangar from the shuttle. "Somethin' I can do for ya,- uh- she?" He looked up from what he was doing and paused long enough to grab his cloth from his backpocket and wipe his hands. Straightening, Logan blinked and waited for her answer.

Laughing softly, Rogue corrected him once again, "it would be ma'am, in this form." She smiled politely and looked for a way to easily put what she wanted to tell him. "Ah- Ah'm sorry about how Bobby acted this afternoon. Ah guess, it was partially mah fault. An' if Bobby hurt him in any way, Ah hope he knows Bobby didn't mean to?"

Logan leaned in to hear her better, and tilted his head so that his left ear was closer to her words.

"Ya see, Bobby an Ah are a couple, and-- well, he gets kinda jealous when there's other guys around." Rogue began a nervous habit of playing with the zipper on her bomber jacket.

Clearing his throat, Logan stepped back and took a breath. "So, where does your hand in this come in?"

Rogue became frustrated with her nervous twitch, that she shoved away her zipper and stiffened. "Ah guess Ah got too close to Remy, and some things happened, and Bobby got mad. Ah didn't mean ta scare him, but Ah think Bobby did a better job at that. Bobby said he'd apologise to Remy, later, but Ah just wanted to explain to you what happened. Hope he ain't too upset....?"

Nodding, Logan smiled, "He's mainly tired. But, I'm sure he'll understand. I'll pass it along to him."

"Uh, thanks," she smiled, relieved, and let him get back to his work. She watched him for some time after that, until he went to retrieve Remy, and wondered just what Logan thought of her apologising to him. She felt awful that Bobby chose to assault Remy, rather than talking it out to him. "Why are men always such jerks?" Rogue began whispering to herself as she kept herself occupied until Logan and Remy returned. She didn't realise Grant had come up behind her to drop off a workbench they needed to finish the job.

"Did you mean the men on your planet, or this one?" Grant had set down the workbench and toolbelt as she turned around to see who was talking to her.

Rogue's wide eyes and open mouth made Grant force back a smile as he stood up. "Ah'm sorry, you are?"

Grant held out a friendly hand for her to shake, "I'm Grant. I work with Logan, on the other side of the hangar. I heard what happened earlier, and don't worry about it. Although, that comment about jerks.....?" Quirking a confused look at her as her gloved right hand shook his bare right.

"Uh- Ah meant the men on Earth, shugah." Smiling as she felt she had made a friend, Rogue leaned in to ask him a more personal question, "are they really married?"

Grant laughed outright at the question. "I'm afraid so. Remy is quite the lucky one to catch Logan." His hazel on black seemed to gleam and hold back a secret that only he knew. "If you ask me, both of them like to flirt but, they both know who sleeps on the other side of the bed. LeBeau's a sweet kid, he'll understand about your mishap." With a wink, Grant went back to his work, leaving Rogue to mull over what he said.

Somehow, Rogue felt a little bit better about the events that morning. Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, she reopened her eyes to see Logan and a rested Remy walk back into the hangar. She bit her lower lip and waited for Remy to notice her as he walked by, talking to Logan. Mainly feeling like a fool, Rogue opened her mouth to call to him but heard Jean's call to her, instead of her own words that never surfaced from her lips.

Jean telepathically called to Rogue, once more, from underneath the thrusters of the shuttle, and waved her over. She had watched as Rogue talked to Logan, and then Grant but decided to stop her from talking to Remy right away. Waiting until Rogue landed gently beside her, Jean sighed and glanced back at the auburn-haired young man climbing the steps into the shuttle. "I think it best for you to wait to talk to him. Give him time to get back into things, here. It is Bobby's turn to make amends with Remy, now."

"Ah know, Jean. Ah just hate walkin on eggshells 'cause of somethin' that frozen puddle said. We're supposed ta keep good relations with these people, an' Bobby'll destroy what we built, if we leave it up to him. Grr! Damn him and his jealous streak!" Slamming the heel of her boot into the pavement as she cursed Bobby, she looked away from Jean in a moment of shame.

Jean spoke softly but sternly, as she placed a hand on Rogue's shoulder. "We both know what happened this morning, Rogue. It wasn't entirely Robert's fault."

"It was harmless, Jean. Ah wasn't gonna do anything to him. Besides, he's married."

"I know. Just let him come to you, Rogue."

Nodding, Rogue averted her eyes and agreed to Jean's suggestion. "Ah think Ah'll go catch a nap, and let him work without lookin over his shoulder for me."

Jean smiled. "Sleep well, then."

Rogue decided to walk back to guard that had transported the visitors to the hangar, and told him to escort her back to the palace.

~~~~~~~

Not two minutes after Rogue's pod had left the hangar, Remy came back out of the shuttle and headed for the water container. He wore one of his old orange jumpers, with the long sleeves rolled halfway up his arm, and the legs still came down to cover the tops of his boots. He was clean and smelled of lilac soap. His long hair was once again pulled back into a ponytail but, this time tucked under his jumper.

Taking a cup and holding it under a giant glass bubble, Remy turned the knob on the front to the left and filled his cup. Turning the knob off and raising the cup to his lips, he had time for one cool sip before he heard his name come from behind him. Remy froze in place. This voice was different, calming and gentle.

"How are you feeling, Remy?" Jean waited patiently for him to turn around.

Smiling, Remy turned around to answer her. "Oui, feeling much better. Merci."

Jean smiled back in return. "Good. I was wondering how far you've gotten with the engine."

"Still repairin de wires. Alot of dem were melted into a clump. It might take a few days to separate dem an' switch dem out. I have some spares at my shop, was gonna go get dem and see if dey might work." Remy took a few more sips of the cool water before replacing the cup on the table beside the container.

Nodding and thinking about the time limit, Jean measured it with her part of the work. "I've been repairing the controls, just above you. Some of the switches are damaged pretty badly, would you happen to have something similar, at your shop?"

Remy thought about the shuttle's controlboard, and the spare knobs and switches at his work. "I might have somethin'." Hesitating before finishing his thought, he had to remind himself that Jean and Rogue were two different people. "If you would like to come wit' me," he paused, "I t'ink we might find somet'in dat works?"

Jean blinked and thought. "That sounds like a nice idea. I'd like to get a little more personal perception of the life outside the palace, if you don't mind?"

Remy smiled. "Jus' gimme about 10 minutes. Logan has de keys."

"I believe he's in the office." Jean pointed to the far right side of the hangar, she gave a small smile as Remy stared at her in wonder.

"Merci." Remy was left bewildered at how she knew where Logan was, let alone what he was going for. As he walked briskly over to the office to find Logan, he kept the thought of it in the back of his mind.

Jean had turned around to go tell Scott where she was going, and then fetch a guard to accompany her and Remy to the shop. By the time she met back up with Remy, he was waiting by the hangar door, with cardkeys in hand. "Shall we go?"

"After you," Remy smiled and followed her out of the hangar, before leading her over to a borrowed company pod. The pod sat low on the ground and had small wheels, 3 on each side. A topless, green mobile that looked like an old fashioned camaro, only handles for a wheel, and no gearshift. Remy waited for the guard to sit in the back, and Jean to sit in the passengar seat, beside him, before he slid the card into the ignition slot and started the pod. "Dis pos has a tendancy to jerk so, you might want to hang on to somet'in." Pressing a button, Remy backed out of the space, and pointed the pod in the direction of his shop.

Next......