A/N: There will be real ones at the end. =)

Disclaimer: …because owning things is overrated

Hang Overs Suck

The morning sun broke through the blinds and curtains of Remy's room like bombshell entering a foxhole. At least, that's how he saw it. The red tint behind his eyes told him it was time to get up, but the ache in his head and the slight feeling of nausea told him otherwise. He groaned and turned over. Bad move.

He quickly put a hand over his mouth to try to block the vomit that was threatening to escape. He made it to the bathroom he and Piotr shared just before he could no longer hold it in. He was still leaning over the toilet when Piotr walked in.

"You might want to flush, comrade," he said.

Remy turned to see that there was a smug smile on Piotr's face. The Cajun stuck his tongue out immaturely at the bigger man before grudgingly flushing the toilet. Deciding he should rinse out his mouth and brush his teeth before talking, Remy did so. He then turned to Piotr with a minty hint he could taste in his mouth and said, "Ya know, Pete, ya never answered my question."

Piotr looked at him in surprise, "What question was that, Remy?"

Remy made his way past the big man and back into the room the two shared. He began rummaging through his dresser's drawers for some decent clothes before answering, "I asked why I was such a fuck up. You never told me why."

Piotr shook his head, "You were drunk, Remy. I did answer you, you just don't remember. I said you weren't one."

Remy rolled his demonic eyes as he took out a pair of jeans from a drawer, "I'm hung-over, Pete, not stupid." Remy turned around to see Piotr sitting on his bed. The guy looked downcast, and Remy wondered if it had anything to do with his question. "Just answer me, Pete," he said finally, "I know I am one. I just wanna know why."

Remy watched Piotr sigh. He had no idea what was going through the Russian's mind, but it didn't take long for Piotr to say, "You're not a fuck up, Remy."

Remy rolled his eyes again, "Then why did Rogue leave me? Why can't I ever hold on to anything good that comes my way? Why, Pete?"

Piotr got up from his position on Remy's bed, "Look, Remy, you're not a bad guy; you have bad luck. You didn't tell Rogue about your past to protect her. You never meant any harm. If she can't see that, then maybe you should move on."

Remy's face held no emotion. He stated flatly, "I'm not moving on, Pete."

Piotr sighed again, "I know."

XXXXX

"So," Kitty said as she sat up in her bed, "date didn't go well, did it?"

Kitty knew that the girl who was lying in the bed across from hers had had a bad time on her date with John. However, she also felt the need to ask out of habit. Kitty never took anything at face value, at least not lately. And "not lately" really means she only started not taking things at face value fairly recently. Kitty knew it had something to do with the break-up of what was, in her opinion, one of the strongest bonds she'd ever seen.

Rogue sat up also and looked across the room, "No. Ah don't know who those people were."

Kitty could tell Rogue was still shaken up about last night. She couldn't help but agree. Those men were rather scary, and they didn't hesitate to attack, not even Jubilee who was easily the youngest person on the makeshift battlefield. Kitty quietly repressed a shudder and said, "Forget about it, Rogue."

Rogue nodded her head, but Kitty was unable to see if she really was in the process of "forgetting." Deciding to end this conversation Kitty asked, "So, are you done with the whole dating thing, or what?"

To Kitty's surprise, Rogue looked up and said in a voice lined with false eagerness, "Are ya kiddin'? Who's next?"

XXXXX

Professor Xavier watched as the sun slowly rose from his office. The days were getting longer, and it was painfully obvious that things were changing. The attack by the Friends of Humanity on the school was a sign of that. It worried him. Charles had been prepared for anti-mutant groups. He had been expecting something like this to happen, especially after the Apocalypse incident. However, he had hoped that his X-Men would be there to stop whatever came their way.

While that was still half true, it was also half a disappointment, although not for the right reasons. Scott and Jean had gone off to college, and while they were due back in two weeks, it saddened the professor that he had been unable to convince the two to stay and study at the mansion. Bobby had gone home with his family for two weeks also, and it made Charles sick for wishing the boy was back at the institute. Evan was still with the Morlocks, and while Charles knew that the mutants in the sewers needed him more than the X-Men, it still made him wish that things had worked out differently.

He was being greedy. There had been only one attack so far, and his X-Men were still X-Men no matter where in world they were. He knew he could count on any one of his students when things got hard. And things were about to get hard. Charles didn't need to be psychic to see that.

But something else was bothering him. The X-Men that were not in his charge were not the only ones who were "unavailable." Remy LeBeau had started to slip away in a way that both worried and slightly angered the professor. Of course Charles could sympathize with the man. He had left his family and home to live in New York and redeem himself, although to be fair Charles highly doubted Remy saw anything wrong with being a thief. The fact still remained however; Remy's drinking was beginning to be a problem.

Then there was Rogue. She had, at first been more reliable than Remy after the break-up, but after the many failed attempts at regaining control, Rogue had essentially given up. She was also different in personality. The once spitfire Southern belle was now a quiet girl who lashed out on occasion to the people who only wished to see her succeed in life. The only exception being Logan, and Charles was unsure as to how long that would last.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," he said already knowing who it was.

Logan stepped in and took a seat in front of Charles. "What's up, Chuck? You find out anything about this Creed?"

Charles nodded his head. After the events of last night, he went about searching for information by both traditional and nontraditional means. "The man is Victor's son. Graydon denies this, and I believe it is just another reason he uses to fuel his hatred for mutants."

Logan nodded, "So, basically this guy is running around with a mutant gene, and yet he hates mutants? What a dumb ass."

Charles, though his didn't agree with Logan's choice of words, nodded. "He has a lot of support. He is also working in the senate and house to get a bill passed. It would call for the registration of all mutants within the country," he paused and sighed, obviously distressed, "and it would legalize the use of sentinels."

Logan's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, "What?! They can't do that, Chuck!"

Charles sighed again, "They can, and I fear they will. It is only a matter of time."

XXXXX

The clock that Kitty had insisted on buying chimed six o' clock. A little song played and Rogue knew that it was time for that final make-up check before she left the mansion with yet another date. The pattern was becoming clear. She had a date almost every other day and they hardly went well. Yet, she continued.

Rogue looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes had dulled with the sadness that welled up in her heart every time she had to put those accursed gloves on her hands. But she had a date tonight…That should make her feel better right? But why wouldn't the tears stop forming in her eyes?

Kurt walked in through the open door, "Going out again, sister?"

Rogue turned to look at her brother and said quietly as she looked back into the mirror at the girl she hardly knew, "Yeah."

He stepped farther into the room, "Is this what makes you happy?"

She didn't turn around so he wouldn't see the tear that escaped her blinking eyes, "What do ya think?"

"I think that you do this to fide something. You are hurting, and you don't want people to see," Kurt replied as walked into the room fully.

A teardrop fell from Rogue's eyes, "Yah're wrong." She looked at Kurt and could tell that he felt nothing but sympathy for the girl. She could see that he was not there to offer pity; he was there to simply be there if she needed him. But she was too proud to admit that she needed him. "Ah'm not hurtin'."

Kurt nodded his head and quietly walked out of the room leaving Rogue to continue to look at herself in the mirror and stop the tears from falling on her own.

XXXXX

"You are not drinking tonight, Remy," Piotr said sternly as he stopped the man from entering the kitchen. Rogue had only been out for about an hour, and already Remy wanted to bust out the bourbon. Apparently, the hang-over did not teach him his lesson.

"Move, Pete," Remy said back softly.

"No," Piotr said back. He had no idea how he was going to stop Remy from getting what he wanted. Then an idea hit him; he could use the thing that was driving his to do this in the first place. He could use Rogue. "What if something happens like last night? You were unable to assist Rogue when she needed help."

Remy stopped trying to find his way around his Russian friend. Piotr could tell he hit some sort of nerve, and was unsure as to whether Remy wanted to hug him or slap him. Remy did neither and was content with drifting back to the rec room.

Piotr gave a sigh of relief. There was no way he was going to relive the events of last night. Fact was, Remy could not be getting drunk every time Rogue decided to go out. And thanks to Kitty, she would be going out a lot.

Piotr went into the rec room to keep Remy company when Professor Xavier came out of his office.

"Piotr," the professor said, "is everyone here?"

Piotr shook his head, "No, professor. I believe Rogue is out. Kurt and Tabitha are out as well."

Piotr watched as the professor let out a sigh. "Very well," he said more to himself than to Piotr, "I will inform them of the situation later then. Come, Piotr, there is dire news I must break to the mansion."

Piotr followed the professor as he wheeled himself into the rec room, rightfully assuming that the X-Men and students would have assembled there. He caught their attention almost instantly, and Piotr took particular notice in Remy's posture upon the arrival of the man. Although Remy had broken his promise, Piotr was glad to see that his respect for Xavier was still intact.

"X-Men. Students," the professor said, "I have bad news." The minimal chatter that had continued stopped and all eyes were now on the professor, "As you may or may not know, the Friends of Humanity have been pushing for a mutant registration in the house. This would not only force mutants to register their names, addresses, and abilities with the government, but it would utilize the sentinels. This is of course, unacceptable. However, the bill will be voted on this week, and I am hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. I suggest you do the same. If any of you would like to contact your families and let them know the situation, you are more than welcome to do so. Any questions can be referred to me. Do not hesitate to knock on my door."

With that he left the room leaving a lot of dropped jaws and wide eyes in his wake. Piotr was not among those. He had known about the bill. He had also hoped that it wouldn't get past the discussion phase. It had.

He went over to sit next to Remy who was also calm compared to the rapidly speaking Rahne. "How're you feeling, comrade," Piotr asked.

"Sentinels, Pete? Are they serious?" Remy asked back.

"'Fraid so," Piotr answered.

Remy replied with one word and one word only, "Shit." It was obvious to Piotr that Rogue was no longer the only thing on his mind.

XXXXX

A/N: So here you go. I should make a note about last chapter. I meant to clarify the comment Piotr made about the hang over and the water. For those readers who know nothing about alcohol consumption, hang overs are caused by dehydration. Alcohol dehydrates you. Therefore, if you drink water while drinking alcohol, you're hang over is likely to be less severe.

As for this chapter…The Friends of Humanity are really pushing that bill, eh? I didn't say who Rogue was going out with this time because you can basically pick anyone you want. The actual funny—ish scene will come out next chapter, and you can find out just who Rogue's been out with in the course of about a month.

One more thing. I am going to ask for your, my readers' opinions. Should I incorporate the Purifiers? I was thinking about as I wrote this chapter, and it would make for some drama! Also the FOH and the Purifiers could team up against the "Mutant Menace." For anyone unfamiliar with the Purifiers, they are a religious group started by William Stryker. They believe that mutants are the spawn of the devil and need to be slain. They are the main villainous group in the X-Force comics at the moment (Can you say EPIC?!?!) OPIONIONS?????

Anyway…please REVIEW, I'll give you a cookie! =)