| Prologue to The Watcher, or Oops! I Forgot the Epilogue! by stormfreak Patience. If Rogue had leaned nothing from her mother, she had learned that patience was a virtue. The best things come to those who wait. Rogue sat high on a cliff, watching. Just watching. And coming to a realization. She would never have Remy LeBeau back. At least not now. Possibly not ever. Three years to the day that Gambit had walked out of her life and taken Storm with him, Rogue had gathered the courage to fly to Harare. She heard the reports from Jean, but she just had to see for herself that Remy was happy�happy without her. When she laid eyes on him for the first time, her heart nearly broke. Remy had gotten more handsome since the day he left. His hair was thick and auburn, wavy, but rather short. He was no longer thin, but stocky, with large arms perfect for the task at hand. In one arm, he carried a small boy, his head resting on his father�s shoulder. In the other, a chattering baby girl babbled happily. Rogue watched as he set the children on the grass, and they took off running. Laughing, they ran side-by-side, hand in hand. Obviously close, and obviously happy, Rogue felt rage wash over her body. Those were supposed to be her two-year-old children, her handsome husband, her life away from the X-Men. And then Storm came into view. She was still stunning, Rogue admitted, as she watched Ororo walk rather clumsily toward Remy. Why was she moving so slowly? That�s when it hit her: Storm was pregnant�again. And Rogue concluded bitterly that Ororo might bear five, six, ten more of Remy�s children before her life was through. The children ran further and further from their parents, and Remy turned to Storm. Rogue couldn�t hear what they were saying, of course, but from the way Remy gestured his hands and Ororo threw her head back and laughed, she guess that Remy was telling her a joke. The same way he would sit and make her laugh for hours on end. He tugged at the ribbon in Storm�s hair playfully, and her long, white mane cascaded past her shoulders and tumbled halfway down her waist. Rogue felt tears slip down her face Remy placed his hands on her swelling stomach and kissed Ororo deeply. Her attention turned to the children. They had taken off in different directions. The boy was standing still, staring at the waterfall that overlooked the city and their house. Like his mother, he seemed to be entranced by Mother Nature. The girl was chasing a butterfly, oblivious to all her surroundings; just chasing the prize. Just like Gambit, Rogue thought. It would be so easy. Just swoop down and grab a child and fly off. Storm could fly, but with her belly, she would never catch Rogue. She could grab the boy, and just fly away. Put the fear and anger in Storm�s heart that Storm had put in hers. "James! Ajita! C�mere!" The children stopped their activities and ran to their father. Ajita hurled herself into her kneeling father�s arms and smothered him with kisses. James, on the other hand, waited patiently for his mother to pick him up and place him on her hip. He ran his chubby hands through her hair, and Storm nuzzled her son�s nose with her own before planting a peck on his lips.. I can�t do it, Rogue thought as she watched the picture perfect family walk away. To hurt Storm would be to hurt Gambit. They were a pair now, an indestructible unit. Rogue had to win his love back. Then she could extract her revenge. It might take weeks, or months. Possibly even years. But what small pain she could inflict now would be nothing compare to what she could do later on in life. Patience. Rogue. So she watched. And she waited. |