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He had left in the middle of the night. Not without a goodbye, this time, but as always, without an explanation. She'd given up asking when she realized the answer would always be the same: there was something important he had to take care of.
That was Monday, 3:52am. The green lighted numbers on the digital clock had mocked her for his absence for 2 hours after that before she'd been able to doze off for a bit. Then life had carried on as usual. Or, as usual as it could when her mind kept whispering "What if he doesn't come back this time?"
Now Friday night was waxing into the early hours of Saturday and the rough, nearly sleepless, nights of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday had finally caught up to her. Still, though, she slept restlessly. The blanket was kicked off at some point, lying useless and half hanging off what she had deemed as Remy's side of her bed. The white sheet was tangled around her, as if trying to restrain her. Trying to keep her pulled down into sleep. No escape, at least not for tonight.
She didn't hear Remy come in. Not the soft click of the doorknob turning. Nor the near silent padding of his feet against the floor. He was a thief, after all, and a damn good one at that. If he didn't want to be heard, he wouldn't be.
What finally woke her, though, was the shift of the mattress as he climbed into bed, the springs groaning quietly beneath the added weight.
She startled only slightly. She had grown so accustomed to the quiet sounds and radiating warmth of him there at her side that each, small, piece of this moment felt familiar in a way.
"Remy?" It was dark, only a bit of spilled moon light coming in through the crack of space between the curtains. Even so, she'd recognize him anywhere. His silhouette. Even the scent of him. Her heart thrummed a quick rhythm in her chest- excitement, not fear, though she'd recently realized that the two felt so similar they were sometimes near impossible to separate.
He settled above the sheets (easy enough considering she was still wrapped up in them) and grabbed the blanket to toss over the both of them. Rogue might have scolded him for his long absence if he'd caught her wide awake and running on such little sleep. But now? Right now, she just felt relief.
He had come back. He always came back.
She had to shift awkwardly to untangle herself, but once she did, she could grab her gloves off the nightstand. She wanted nothing more than to touch him, to know he wasn't a dream brought on by sleep deprivation.
The gloves were still, unfortunately, a necessity.
"Look at that…" She muttered more to herself than to Remy, slipping the gloves on as she did. "Made it home just shy'a 5 days." Saturday, 3:37am.
119 hours and 45 minutes without seeing or hearing from him… but who was counting?
She rearranged the sheet around herself beneath the blanket, assuring her bare legs were well covered. She could stick her arms underneath later. For now, though, she wanted to touch him. To be close to him. She turned on her side to better face him, ran her gloved fingers over the stubble on his jaw, then swiped her thumb over his bottom lip. She touched him softly, carefully, like it was the first time she'd ever done so and she was afraid he might break. Her movements were slow, weighted with that warm, sleepiness that was beginning to try to steal her away already. After all, Remy was here now. She could sleep easy again.
"I missed you," The words were quiet, heavy as her actions in her tired state. And she followed them with a kiss first to his forehead, then to his cheek. If she was careful, she knew she wouldn't hurt him. Not with such brief touches. It was this knowledge that pushed her to finally actually kiss him as he repeated her words back to her. And it was this confidence in her control that lead her to do so nice and slow. Parting lips. That brief slip of his tongue against hers. She kept it up until she thought she couldn't restrain her powers anymore, and even then she tempted fate with an extra second of contact.
When she pulled back, her head was swimming. Not with his thoughts. No. Not this time. Just with her own. With the realization that she shouldn't have wasted so much time worrying when he always came back to her.
Rogue wrapped her arms around him, gathered herself enough to touch one more kiss to his jaw, then tucked herself up against him. "I love you."
She heard the sleepy little purr in his voice as he said it back, but by now she was nodding off and his words were fading into a dream.