Disclaimer: Rogue and Remy "belong" to Marvel. Vicki and I are just "borrowing" them. And if you don't like the story you could say we are "ruining" them. Of course generally when you borrow things, you ask first. Unless you're my brother. And then you just take it when I'm not looking and scratch it up so that when I go to play it, it conveniently skips on my favorite song. Baltimore belongs to Maryland and Brady Anderson belongs to me.
All descriptions of the many settings the story takes place in are based on actual locations, and in most cases are quite familiar to at least one or both of the authors'. Except when they're not.
Lastly, the email address listed for me in previous chapters was incorrect, a mistake we have just recently discovered. So if you wrote to me, and I'm not accusing anyone of having done so, and I didn't respond, it was because I never received the message. Sorry about that. However it will be listed correctly this time so if anyone has any comments, questions or complaints feel free to drop either or both of us a line @
Vicki- southern_efx@hotmail.com
Caroline- sdillion@erols.com
And that's enough outta me!

And Vicki blurbs: "She's crazy! She's done so much for this chapter! I can just kiss her!!!! Ain't she great?" :D

Free for a Second
by Vicki Lew and Caroline Dillon
February 1998

Part Six

Slow motion blurries the fuzzy forms that lurk in the recesses of her vision. Figures brush past her, barely tangible, their exact shape impossible to discern. Turning round in circles, she seeks an exit from these muted creatures, but in all directions finds only more shifting bodies.

Slowly, a sickening pain begins to rack her whole body and the restless forms begin to converge. Striking out, she connects with nothing, still vainly searching for an escape. Something catches her eye, a light. No, rather a dim haze that is seeping in all around her. Gradually everything fades into this fog that continues to increase in intensity, hurting her eyes and giving her a pounding headache.

Blinking rapidly against the light, she manages to focus. The sunlight pouring in through the window of the tattered room strikes Rogue directly in the eyes, forcing her from her dream.

Oww, damn!

She groans to herself, trying to rub away the headache that seizes both temples. Her eyes stare long and hard at the ceiling.

Where the heck am ah?

Confused by the pain she feels, the hangover and the side effects of the morphine she can't remember having taken. She winced as she turned over painstakingly to her side, and --

She wasn't alone.

Her mind snapped into a crystal clear state and her body went into auto-flight; she threw her good arm over the intruder's neck, using her leverage to her advantage and choked him tightly, preparing to break his neck. Remy's eyes snapped open as a tight arm encircled his neck. He tried to sit up but from this position, his attacker had the upper hand.

"Chere?" was all he could get out before his air supply was choked off. It was enough. Rogue halted in mid-twist, jarred by the sound of his voice. She shook her head, hurting it more, but finally coming fully aware of everything for the first time that morning. Her grip slackened and Remy flew from her deadly embrace, jumping completely free of the bed. He landed in a fighting stance facing her.

"What de fuck you doin'?!" he roared at her, eyes blazing.

She sunk back slowly onto the bed, utterly perplexed. Her face had gone ghostly pale, giving emphasis to the mottled bruises.

"Ah.....Ah...," she stammered, obviously lost and frightened by what she had almost done.

No. What have ah done?

The shaken woman went totally silent then, whispering, "Ah thought you were another of them. Come ta kill me...Ah'm sorry."

She looked dejectedly down at her hands, expression oddly stoic.

"Ah didn't know what Ah was doin'. Ah'm sorry..."

Sabine stopped talking and turned her body with difficulty, her back facing him. Then closing her eyes she took a deep breath and held it for a good second before exhaling.

"...Sorry," she drawled slowly.

He regarded her skeptically, not relaxing his stance. But he did, however, walk around the bed to look deep into her glazed eyes. He didn't understand it, but he just knew in his gut that she was telling the truth...It was so right that he could taste it.

"Well, ok den. Jus' don' do it again." He tried going for casual kidding to lighten the whole situation and to make her feel better, but she didn't smile. Cautiously he sat down on the bed. "Hey now, I said you forgiven, you tried to kill me ' member? I be de one who gets to sulk, pas toi, non?"

"This ain't funny, Cajun. Ah was gonna snap yoah neck. First thing ah wake up to do was ta kill. Heck, mah gut reaction to a confusing situation was to kill. Ah ain't never been this messed up...Ah'm never gonna be free..."

Lord, ah hate being like this. Ah hate what Ah am.

"Rogue. Look at me. J'admis, you really spooked me jus' now. And I can't say dat bein' choked to deat' is my favorite way to wake up. But I wise 'nough to know dat a person can't change demselves overnight. I'm a t'ief, I got t'ieves instincts. When I see someting dat I wan', my first reaction is to steal it. When I'm in a pinch, my first t'ought goes back to what I was taught, what's become second nature. Jus' like you did."

You don't understand, Remy. Ah ain't no simple thief. Ah'm a murderer. Ah had mah choice an Ah took the easy way out. Ah was weak, too scared to take mah chances in the real world. Ah did this to mahself.

"Girl, like it or not, you be an assassin. You got assassin instincts. Somebody pounded dem into your head 'til dey was natural as breathin'. And now your mind has just forgotten any ot'er way. I make you a deal right now. I won't hold dis against you, if you promise to try and t'ink more wit' your head, and rely less on what dey taught you. We got a deal?"

She stared at him disbelievingly in return.

"Ya make it sound so easy...Ya think ah haven't tried? They know my every move, for Christ's sake! These people want me dead! They're more than willing to kill you too, if you try and stop them. How can ah ever relax like ya want me to?" she almost screamed at him.

"Okay, okay. Calm down. You bein wound up tighter den a clock spring ain't gonna do us no good. I know its gonna be hard, but you gon need ta at least try." His eyes pleaded with her with sincerity.

"Ah want ta so bad..."

"Den stop bein' a coward and lis'sen to y'self for once," he admonished gently but then popped her another grin.

How can Ah listen to mahself when Ah don't even trust mah judgement anymore?

"You gon have to try an believe in y'self if you want a fighting chance against these people."

She looked at him, slightly shocked. It was almost as if he'd read her mind...

"You don it before." She shook her head negatively. "Non? Den how you been able ta keep alive for so long?"

Touche

"How about dat deal?" he asked, lifting her head up with a lean finger so her gaze met his.

She finally gave a small smile and said, "Deal."

Keeping true to her word, she listened to an inner voice and leaned forward, kissing him full on the mouth. OK, maybe her head was the only thing she was listening to as she found she had no real desire to pull away. He was as amazingly attractive mentally as he was physically, and with every minute she spent with him, she found it increasingly difficult to resist him.

However, within moments she was forced to break the kiss, and brought a hand up to her face.

"You ok?" he questioned.

"Yeah, jus with all that happened earlier, Ah got an adrenaline rush. Now that it's wearing off ah'm hurtin' again."

She sat back, looking very grim as her hands once more found her temples.

"You hol' on. Remy get you somet'ing."

Re-inspecting herself she joked weakly.

"Didja happen to get the number of the truck that hit me?"

'Oh, I got his number alright,' Remy thought to himself as he handed her another pill. As she swallowed, he brushed the hair out of her face.

"Ah reckon we best get on the road. It won't be much longer 'til they find us. If they aren't on the way already."

"T'ink you be right 'bout dat. Best pack up what we need and get movin' 'fore de medicine hits ya. You can rest in de car while I get us to where we goin'."

"An' just where ARE we going, sugar?"

"Don' you fret none, ma chere 'tite choue. You like it. Trust me."

Remy's arm wrapped tightly around her waist was one of very few things holding Rogue upright as they shuffled down the chilly early morning street. With one arm slung over his shoulder and the other pressed to her chest in a sling under Remy's trenchcoat that she now wore, Rogue struggled as best she could to limp alongside Remy.

She was grateful that there were precious few individuals out at this hour to witness their awkward procession. Together, they hobbled along, Remy murmuring encouragement to her, until they had entered a noticeably more affluent section of town. Her vision began to run and her eyelids were like the tide, covering more distance each time they closed. Her grip around his neck began to slip.

"Remy..." she called to him not sure how much longer she could stay in motion. Sweat beaded down her skin.

"Shhh, s'okay chere. We dere."

Carefully setting her down on an adjacent stoop, she heard him tread a short distance away. Forcing her eyes open, she saw him standing beside a gray BMW. If she hadn't known better, she would not have been able to tell that he was picking the lock, instead of fidgeting with a stubborn key. It took him mere seconds to open the door and disable to alarm. Just as easily, he removed the club from the steering wheel. In less than a minute, she found herself in his arms again as he carried her to the car.

"Why didn't we just take one of the cars back there?" she asked him as he laid her down on the accommodating leather seat, reclining it for her comfort.

"People back dere, dey need der car. Dey lose it, most likely dey never goin' be able to replace it. Now de people in dis neighborhood, dat can afford a car like dis, dey got insurance dat cover de loss. And even if dey ain't insured, dey probably won't break much of a sweat payin' for a new car."

"Mah word...A considerate thief," she chuckled, her eyes halfway shut. They shared the little joke.

Well, give him another point, Sabby...

He moved to fasten the seat belt over her.

"No... that'll just hurt..." she managed before closing her eyes for the last time.

"Ok, Remy drive real careful den."

He brushed her cheek with his fingers before hurrying around to the driver's seat. Expertly, he hot-wired the BMW. Turning on some soft classical music to mask the outside noises of the now awakening city, he headed the car out of town.

A light rain began to fall as they cruised through Baltimore on Interstate 95. He tapped the wheel in time to the song that played on the radio. He glanced over at Rogue, who was fast asleep in the next seat. Once Rogue had settled into a deep drug induced sleep, he had changed the station to keep himself awake and occupied. He didn't care much for the selection of songs the country stations played up this far North. It was more western and pop than anything else, so he opted instead for classic rock/alternative station. However he kept the volume low enough not to disturb her, and except for a few instances of her talking in her sleep, her rest had been peaceful.

He glanced out at the gray city to his left, at the row houses smashed up against one another. AT the liquid propane gas towers that hunkered down just off the highway. And at the sweetly shaped italicized Domino Sugar sign, that, unlit, gave off an air of melancholy. Right now there was seemingly very little that was endearing about "Charm City" the northern-most southern town. Remy focused back on the road in front of him. The entrance to the Fort McHenry tunnel loomed in the distance. Sighing, he fished for a dollar for the toll.

Negotiating the roller coaster like turns of Maryland's 495, Remy debated waking Rogue. Almost directly in front of them a fantastic structure rose well above the tree line, its white towers straining for heaven. The Mormon Temple was an image out of a fantasy novel, a beautiful immense stark white fortress with gold topped spires, on the highest of which perched the golden statue of Maroni. It took a first time viewer's breath away, transported them to another world for a short moment.

However, to the more jaded and seasoned onlooker, the juxtaposition of the grimy, frantic highway and the awesome castle usually instilled laughter, to be followed shortly by several expletives as they were cut off by another driver.

He decided against rousing Sabine. She needed the rest. Unknown to him, however, Rogue was quite familiar with the temple. Less than 15 minutes away from the institution she had spent the last 5 years of her "life", the Organization that now wanted her dead, she slumbered blissfully unaware that she was heading right into their laps.

Sudden inspiration seized Remy and swerving to take the nearest exit, he decided to cut through D.C. instead of going around it. Amidst cabs and buses he carefully wound his way around the marble city, searching for a new car that met his requirements. As usual, expensive enough that, most likely, its owners were covered, and, in this case, he wanted southern plates. There was truth to the stereotype of southern cops pulling over cars under false pretenses and harassing the drivers simply because they were Yanks. After half an hour, he finally resigned himself to a silver Infinity with Virginia plates in a parking garage. It was an ideal local. No surveillance cameras and the garage had 2 different entrances/exits so he could enter through one and leave out the other without arousing the suspicions of the attendants by leaving so soon in a different car. Plus they were out of sight of the public eye, and the entire level was deserted. Swiftly he transferred Rogue to the other car, not bothering to wake her.

The next part was a bit sticky. It would involve leaving Rogue alone for several minutes. Though painfully reluctant to do so, he knew the dire importance of leaving no trace. Locking her safely in the car, he jumped back into the stolen BMW and exited past the same guard station. In less than 3 minutes, he had arrived in a rather seedy part of D.C. Seeing no one around, he simply parked the car in an alley with the engine running and the doors unlocked.

Satisfied, he sprinted off, back to the garage knowing full well the car would be "stolen" within 5 minutes. With any luck it would find its way to a chop shop, never to be recovered. Remy entered the garage by the second entrance and did not slow his sprint until he reached Rogue and the car. She was still there, safe and sleeping and Remy silently thanked the powers that be.

Continued in Chapter 7

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