"Ain't there anythin' else on T.V. besides these darn infomercials?" After making another round through the channels, Rogue just decided that maybe raiding their video library would be a better idea then to find out about another dumb piece of plastic promising to give her rock hard abs (something she definitely didn't need). She turned off the television, slipped on her tweety bird bed slippers, and headed downstairs.
"Wow, sure is awfully quiet 'round here. Everyone else must be asleep already." She glanced at the grandfather clock in the den and saw that it was already two o'clock in the morning. "Boy, am Ah glad that Ah don't have a workout session in the mornin'." She made her way over to the video cabinet and pulled out a small binder that listed all of their movies by categories. "Hmmm…what am Ah in the mood for." She ran her fingers down the table of contents. "Romance, Action, Disney, Drama, Musicals, Comedy…yeah, Ah think a laugh would do me some good. Let's see now, I've seen Billy Madison way too many times." She kept reading the titles until she found the one she wanted. "Yeah, baby, yeah." She giggled. "Austin Powers…. label C-69. Now Ah wonder why Bobby decided to match it with that number." She found the movie and decided to grab a snack before she headed back up to her bedroom. When she made her way into the kitchen she was surprised to see someone in front of an open refrigerator. "Sam, what are ya doin' up at this hour?"
"Well, I tried counting sheep, but that didn't work. So, I thought I might come down and grab a midnight snack. What about you?"
"The same. Hey, you wanna have a few 'shagadelic' laughs with me?"
He laughed. "Austin Powers, huh? Love to." He turned back to the refrigerator trying to decide whether he wanted some leftover chicken or a piece of cheesecake. "You want anything?" he asked Rogue.
"Well, if Ah remember correctly, there maht be somethin' worthwhile in the freezer."
Sam shut the refrigerator door and opened the freezer. "Ah, I see what you're after." He grabbed the half-gallon of cookies 'n cream ice cream. "Is this what you wanted?"
She grinned and nodded. She walked over to the silverware drawer and pulled out two giant spoons. "Now that we've got dessert, onto the den," she ordered, pointing the spoons in the direction of the den. After turning the television on, Rogue slipped the movie into the VCR, pressed the play button, and jumped onto the couch right next to Sam.
"Tweety bird?" Sam gestured to the fuzzy things on her feet.
"Hey, now, what's wrong with mah slippers, mister superman pajamas?"
"Wait a second, these pjs-"
She grabbed a pillow from behind her and threw it at him. "Shush. The movie's startin'." She dug into the ice cream and spooned out a big chunk of oreo cookie.
"Oh my goodness! My stomach hurts so much from all of that laughin'!"
"No joke! Are you sure it wasn't from all of that ice cream we ate?"
"Yeah, we certainly made a pretty big dent in that carton. But it sure was good," she commented patting her stomach. She checked the time on the clock again. "Well, it's now four in the mornin', and Ah think it's way past a little fireball's bedtime." She rustled up Sam's blond hair with her gloved hand.
"Not the hair! Not the hair!" he laughed. "You know what, Rogue, you're a lot of fun to hang out with. I can't quite picture Storm or Jean pigging out on ice cream and watching Austin Powers. It's nice to kind of have a big sister type around here."
She leaned over and gave him a big squeeze. "Awh, shucks, Sam. Ah'm glad that we can appreciate such exquisite film-makin' together."
"Do I make you horny, baby?" Sam asked with a devilish grin on his face. Then they both just busted out laughing again. Suddenly startled, they stopped and turned around to the sound of the den door opening and a certain furry, blue head peeking into the room.
"Um, good mornin' Hank," greeted Rogue. "We didn't wake you up, did we?"
"Negative. I require a premature arousal in order to conduct some research this morning. However, I wasn't expecting to find two chuckling insomniacs down here. You two better get some sleep. Sam, I'll make sure to reschedule you're Danger Room session for the afternoon, since you probably won't be able to attend your nine o'clock scheduling."
"Oops, I totally forgot about that. Thanks a bunch, Hankster." He grabbed his blanket and trotted upstairs to his bedroom. "'Night, Rogue," he called over his shoulder.
"'Night, Sammy."
"Actually, it's long since been morning. You'd better get up to bed, too," Henry scolded.
"Hold your horses, Ah gotta get my slippers." She picked up her shoes and went up to bed.
Rogue awoke to a soft knock at her door. "Yeah, come on in," she said groggily.
"Good morning, Rogue. I heard that you had a late night."
"Mornin', Ororo. Yeah, Sam and Ah just couldn't quite hit the sack last night, so we got busted by Hank watchin' a movie into the wee hours of the mornin'. It was so much fun, like bein' a kid again."
"Well, now that it's noon, I though that you might want to come join the rest of us for lunch."
"Thanks for wakin' me up. Let me catch a quick shower first. Ah'll be raht down in oh, say twenty minutes."
"All right, see you then."
Rogue opened up her closet and picked out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, which she threw on her bed. After a quick shower, she threw on her clothes, and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. "Hey, everybody." She got responses with mouthfuls of noodles and marinara sauce from her fellow teammates. "Couldn't wait for me to start, huh? Hank, we just had spaghetti three days ago," she moaned.
"I apologize, but you can't complain because you haven't been contributing much to the culinary responsibilities lately."
"Tell ya what, Ah'll make dinner tomorrow night. Some down home southern cookin'. All raht?"
"Oh darn, I think I've got plans for tomorrow night," Sam commented.
"Oh stop it," Rogue responded. "Mah cookin' ain't all that bad. As long as Ah have a recipe to follow, it normally comes out all raht."
"I seem to recall, the last meal you prepared," reminisced Bobby. "Some kind of pasta…yes…and you wanted to serve bread with it. "Hot and crusty" in five minutes. Well, four hours later, the bread was still in the oven, as hard and as black as coal, and the kitchen was filled with smoke."
"Don't forget how bad the whole mansion smelled for days," added Betsy. Everybody started laughing at Rogue's previous cooking mishap.
"Hey, y'all, that was just one little thing I sorta forgot about. Please stop teasin' me about it!" She couldn't help herself, either; the laughing was contagious. "Well, Ah don't feel in the mood for spaghetti really, so Ah'm just gonna make a sandwich." She walked over to the refrigerator and found some turkey breast and swiss cheese. After preparing her sandwich, she poured herself a glass of apple juice and joined everyone at the table.
"So what's everyone got planned for this evening?" asked Xavier. He always liked to keep tabs on where his X-men would be.
"Scott and I are going into town to catch a musical," Jean replied.
"I'm taking Elizabeth out for dinner," answered Warren.
"Sam and Bobby are coming with me to see a Knicks game," Logan added.
"Henry is accompanying me to an African art exhibit at the museum," Ororo responded.
"Rogue, do you have any engagements?" asked the professor.
"Well, Ah guess Ah don't. Ah be able to keep myself entertained doing somethin' or another."
"Just try to get to bed at a decent hour tonight, please," Charles said.
"No problem, Professor."
"Now then, I'll be in my study if anyone needs me. Have a good time tonight everyone." Xavier floated back upstairs in his "hover" wheelchair, while the others finished their lunch.
After her strength-training workout, Rogue retreated to her bedroom and pulled out her box of stationary odds and ends from under her bed. She decided it was about time to send Remy a letter. He was on leave to spend some time back in Louisiana for a while. It was nice, she thought, to have some time away from him for once because any time she would show some interest in another male, he would get incredibly jealous. She tried several times to explain to him that it was all right for her to check out the other fish in the sea since they had been apart for quite some time now. They were still very close friends, though, so she always made it a point to let him know that she was thinking about him while he was away. She picked out a postcard that pictured the Empire State Building on the front and found a pen she had left in the box. "Dear, Remy," she started. "Things here are goin' pretty darn slow, so you're not missin' anythin', promise. How's New Orleans? Ah bet you're glad to get some authentic Cajun food again. Well, Ah hope that you're havin' fun down there. Come back soon, ya here? So long, sugah. Love, Rogue." She placed a stamp on the postcard and laid it on her desk to send out the next day. She glanced over at her alarm clock and saw that it was almost time to eat again. "So, that's why you're bein' so noisy," she complained to her stomach.
When she checked the refrigerator, she cringed at the sight of a tupperware container filled with leftover spaghetti. "No way," she said aloud. She opened the freezer after deciding that a t.v. dinner was the safest bet. She found one that looked appetizing right next to the half-eaten carton of ice cream from the night before. She stuck it in the microwave and poured herself a glass of ice water while she was waiting. She figured that since no one was there to eat with, that she'd just have dinner in her room.
She picked up the remote control and turned her television on. "Today's Thursday night, so Friends it is." She finished her dinner and decided that she wanted to go out for a run after a short nap. She set her alarm and then dozed off.
When she woke up, she put her tennis shoes back on and pulled her long auburn hair into a ponytail. She used the intercom to let Xavier know that she was going to be out for an hour or so, grabbed her walkman, and left the mansion grounds for the nearby park.
This sure is a beautiful night, Rogue thought. The full moon was high in the sky and no clouds were to be seen. She loved jogging in the park not only because it was well lit for night runs, but also because it was very scenic, covered with towering oaks and even had a small pond. She turned on her walkman, pleased to find out that she had left her Barenaked Ladies cassette inside. She started singing along with the tape and closed her eyes momentarily. Unbeknownst to her, another jogger was coming around the corner and didn't see her either. Unfortunately, she opened her eyes just in time to collide with the man, sending them both to the ground.
"Oh my, Ah'm so sorry," she said to the stranger while picking up her walkman. "Ah guess Ah was-," she lifted her head to see whom she had run into, and was stopped mid-sentence when she found an extremely handsome man of about her age extending his arm to help her back onto her feet.
"Please, don't apologize, it was my fault. I didn't even have any music to distract me at all." He smiled. Well, if I had to knock someone down, at least it was an incredibly gorgeous woman, he thought. "You're not hurt are you?"
"Nah, just a little dirty," she replied, dusting herself off.
"By the way, my name's Joshua. But my friend's call me Josh for short."
"Nice to meet ya, Josh," she said, shaking his hand. "Ah'm-"
"I know, the most beautiful creature to ever walk the earth," he said flirtatiously.
She blushed. "Well, my friend's call me Rogue for short."
"I don't know about you, but I have this mad craving for cookies 'n cream ice cream right now."
"No kiddin'? That's my favorite kind!"
"Well, then, Rogue, how would you like to accompany me to that ice cream parlor down the road and maybe we can get to know each other a little better."
"Sure thing, sugah."
End of PART I
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions about Josh's character traits or origin, please feel free to send them to me. Any criticism is welcome!