(no subject)
4/4/2007
The visiting room is the same as it ever is. Plastic, faded green plants, secured artwork to scientifically proven-to-sooth taupe walls, and a bland couch with two padded wooden chairs with elegant sloped arms inviting visitors into the faux-homey feel. The large white door to the ward's side of the room opens, Rogue dressed in her visiting clothes which consists of a stiff restraint jacket and baby blue scrub bottoms with soft slippers hugged around her feet. Bags hand under her eyes, her hair messily pulled back into a pony tail as two guards usher her in.
Jubilee is on her feet the instant the doors open, and only warning glares from the guards prevent her from rushing the restrained girl as she enters. "/Ro/," she breathes, almost crying at the sight. The circles under her own eyes are more recent and less dramatic than her friend's.
Bobby is also to his feet, if his reaction is less verbal. Immediately, anyway. He looks carefully over the guards before looking at Rogue, who gets a stubborn, if wan smile from him. "Hi, Rogue."
Rogue leans forward and croaks out a whimper, wanting to break from the guards hold before it's really time. The one leading her tightens his grip and waits patiently for the other to close and secure the door behind them. She led to the couch, directed to sit, and finally each guard takes as position by one of the two doors in the room. Her arms, wrapped around herself and unable to move more than an inch or two, squirm and squeeze at herself tightly, eyes locked in on Jubilee, then Bobby, then Jubilee. "They can get on the couch too?" Rogue asks in a drained southern drawl, looking up at the guard. "You can get on the couch," she interrupts herself, knowing the answer anyways.
Jubilee starts forward, then catches herself with a look at Bobby. He's the boyfriend here. He gets first dibs. Her hands clench at her side and she looks down on her best friend. "Oh, Ro." Fuck first dibs. She drops down next to Rogue and wraps her arms around her.
Bobby settles himself on the other side and, having lost first dibs, refuses to sit patiently while Jubilee gets her hug. He does likewise, wrapping his arms around Jubilee's arms and around Rogue.
"M'all right," Rogue lies to Jubilee, pressing up against her and bumping her nose into Jubilee's hair carefully. Suddenly she's sandwiched, and while staying cuddled up against her best friend she picks her head up and away to push a phantom-light kiss on the temple of her boyfriend. "Gawd Ah've missed you two. You both okay? The mansion burn down without me?"
Despite all vows to be strong, Jubilee sniffles. She does, at least, manage to restrain the waterworks, though. "It's horribly lonely, but yeah. Still standing," she answers.
"We'll be fine when you come back," Bobby says and inclines his face almost pressing against Rogue's. But only almost. Phantom for phantom.
Where absence of arms stunts Rogue at the sniffle, she substitutes twining a leg under Jubilee's and sliding her foot up against the other's. "When," she mumbles, eyes hesitant in his eyes. "Bobby. Ah don't think--" Either interrupted or not, Rogue fails for words to finish.
"Don't think! You're gonna get outta here," Jubilee interrupts stubbornly, lifting her head to give Rogue her best mulish expression.
Bobby sets his jaw and his eyes remain sharp on Rogue's. "You'll be coming back." He lowers his voice a good fraction. "One way or another."
Rogue leans back, blinking a little helplessly at the two. "Bobby. Jubilee," the girl murmurs seriously. "Please, don't. Just-- /don't/. It's pointless."
"It is /not/. The professor, and Jean, they've got hope. You got hope." Jubilee's finger tighten on the jacket, bunching the material up under her hands.
"It's not pointless. You are leaving this place," Bobby's back arches slightly and he turns very low-voiced. "I promise you that."
Rogue allows her head to lull to the side, resting it against Jubilee as she turns to eye to Bobby. "It's kinda hard to not have hope when you two are around," she admits lovingly. "Lord. Don't let him get into any trouble. Okay, JubJub?" Brown eyes are narrowed a bit, though she can't help but look a little thankful at the boy.
Jubilee looks across at Bobby, then lowers her eyes. "Have I ever managed ta keep anyone outta trouble?" she teases quietly.
"Trouble'd be worth it," Bobby says, and his eyes all but flash. "Believe me."
"You don't too badly in my case," Rogue murmurs with a thoughtful pause. "Well, you know. Most of the time." She nudges herself at Jubilee, cuddling with desperation for a quick moment before she pulls away. Slowly she pushes back into Bobby, turning to him and dropping her voice. "Ah know this is hard for you, Bobby. Ah know. If you need to-- to..." Her voice is a whisper, a lame attempt to make the conversation private with some many people in the same room. She falls back away from him and settles back into the middle. "Ah dunno. Ah just--. It's gettin' pretty bad."
Jubilee pulls back just a little and drops her hand to Rogue's knee. "I wish there was somethin' we could do /now/," she says helplessly.
Bobby glances over Rogue's head to the guards. It may be that the area between him and Rogue, scant as it is, takes on a quick chill, there and gone. And his looking back to Rogue, his expression set very serious. "How long can you hold out?" Quiet, quiet.
Rogue's head swings, eyes taking both of them in. She falls silent, gaze finally dropping to her lap. "Doesn't matter, Bobby. Ah'll kick the can in here 'fore Ah let either of you get in trouble like that."
"An' you'd be able ta stop us how?" Jubilee snorts.
"What's trouble?" Bobby is almost airy in his whisper. Dismiss! "This is you. We'll find a way."
Rogue is about to retort to Jubilee, eyes squeezing up as she urges the other girl closer with a tug of her hooked ankle. "This is me /now/, Bobby. But what if John comes back? Magneto? What then?"
"We deal with it /then/. We can handle anythin', Ro. The professor can fix you. He's gotta be able to." Jubileetwines back, pressing leg against leg.
"We cope," Bobby's jaw sets positively stubborn-stiff. "And you'll get better." His hand clamps on her shoulder for emphasis.
Walls of tears start to build, brown swimming in the reflection of harsh fluorescent lighting. She twists, nuzzling back into Jubilee's hairline with a peck of a kiss before shifting and delivering something similar to Bobby on the lips. "Ah love you both."
"We love you too, Ro. No matter what." Jubilee goes still and straightens, trying to impart more in her words than literal meaning. "We believe in you."
"We'll be here more often. Every day, if they'll let us," is Bobby's rather unkeepable promise, but he says it in full earnest. "We're here for /you/."
Rogue huffs out a tiny, forced laugh. "Don't worry 'bout me. Ah got both o'you with me any time Ah want. Now, granted, you both take over without so much as a 'how d'you do' like the rest of 'em," she pauses for a sad smile. "But better me being a Jubilee or a Bobby than a John, right?"
Jubilee rolls her eyes and says fondly, "Well, duh."
"Yes." Bobby is earnest still. And then he pauses. "Uh, sorry for taking you over." This is a bit more rueful.
"Don't worry about it," Rogue dismisses with a more amused light in her eyes. "You're not so bad. It's when this one takes over Ah gotta be careful," the girl tips her head back at Jubilee. "She's a handful."
Jubilee sticks her tongue out, then turns kind of thoughtful. "Does that mean we should bring candy with us next visit?"
Bobby looks at Jubilee carefully, and then at Rogue. "Yeaaah. I think I've met her. Maybe we should."
"You'd appreciate it," Rogue jokes to her best friend. "But they don't let outside stuff in. Assisted suicide is one of their big concerns. How about you guys buy some candy an' eat it for me?"
Jubilee waves her hand and pulls back. "Pfft. For you? Anything!"
Bobby muffles a snort, but largely sets serious. And quiet. /Thinking/.
"You're too good to me," Rogue chats at Jubilee. She shifts back, leaning against the couch and giving a nervous glance over to the guards before settling back. Eyes roam to Bobby, noting the quiet and taking a suspiciously curious interest in it.
Jubilee crinkles her nose. "Cassy's back. Did the Professor tell ya that?"
Bobby shakes his head and pulls a smile in response to Rogue's regard. "Right. Cassy's back."
The news is enough to distract her. "She is?" Rogue asks, jerking her head back to Jubilee with wide eyes. "Is she okay? Back for good? Does she... does she know about me?"
"Ro. /Everyone/ knows about you." Hi, tact.
"But everyone-- no one's angry," Bobby puts in. "They can't wait for you to come home."
Rogue's face slacks off into concern, hurt burning deep despite Bobby's reassuring words. "Yeah. Ah know Ah fucked up," she admits with a grimace. "Don't let Cassy come visit, okay? She can't see me like this."
"Won't let her anyway. Have to be eighteen."
"See? You're safe." And Bobby is back to wearing a light face.
Rogue snorts a tiny laugh that doesn't exactly reach her eyes. "Really? Well, y'know. Ah guess visitng a dangerous mutant terrorist is kinda like buying permanent markers and spray paint at Wal Mart."
"It is when it's Cassy," Jubilee deadpans.
"Cassy has no conception of--" Bobby pauses. "Anything."
"Well, tell her Ah'm okay, at least. An' that she's gotta listen to you, Jubes, when Ah'm not around. And she had /better/ be doing well in her classes or Ah swear I'll bust outta here an' wring her neck." Rogue babbles quickly, growing nervous as the visiting time slot starts to slip away.
"Ok." Anyone who knows Jubilee knows that affirmation actually means: "She's going to start failing every single class she's in, and some that she's not."
Bobby, though not directly addressed, nods once. He also moves up one hand to lightly touch Rogue's hair and draw one finger down, pulling away before he brushes skin. Shhh.
Rogue lets a breath out as Bobby's touch stills her. She flutters her eyes in Jubilee's direction with a Rogueish expression that responds with 'You know what I mean, you brat'. Fondly, of course! The guard by the ward door edges forward, halfway saying something about it being time for medications before settling for a 'I hate my job' stare. "Uh. Right. Yeah, Jubes? Could I get... y'know. A moment alone with Bobby?"
*Blink* "Oh. Uh, yeah... sure. Sorry." Jubilee leans forward to wrap Rogue up in a hug before detangling herself and aiming her trudge toward the door. She looks back and flashes a smile before heading out of the room.
Bobby lifts his eyes after Jubilee and slides them back down to the top of Rogue's head. He repeats the touch. "It's going to be all right."
Rogue leans into the hug, making a small noise of distress that she can't return it. "Thanks for coming," she murmurs to Jubilee as she watches her best friend out. The smile serves as a punch to the stomach, a sob getting gulped down. Rogue stares at for a few moments before she turns, ignoring the touch. "Take care of her Bobby. You gotta promise to take care of her."
Bobby slides his hand down into a shoulder-hug instead and his face tightens again. "I promise, Rogue. I will."
"Ah'm dead serious, Bobby," Rogue insists, words pouring quickly from her mouth. She leans forward towards him, eyes not leaving his for an instant. "Ah dunno what in the world is going on with... with /everything/, but if Ah'm not there for her than /someone/ needs to be."
"Rogue." Bobby takes a deep inhale and speaks almost as quickly as she does. Some of his calm wavers and he ends up stuttering a little on the consonants. Oh, nerves. "You are going to be there. We're not leaving you here. That isn't an option. I'll keep a good eye on her in the meantime."
"Ah'd rather you keep your eyes on /Wesley/. Might nip more stuff in the bud that way." Rogue hisses, anger not directed at Bobby, but there anyways. "But-- err... yeah. Keep her company, okay? Visit her a lot. She likes Nerds. Ah'll pay you back... when, um, when Ah'm out."
"Oh. Don't worry. Wesley and me are going to have a . . . chat." And mixed in with nerves is a little reflected anger and a little wholly personal anger, here. Bobby pulls Rogue in, a little, with a glance at the guards. "I'll visit."
Rogue blinks uncertainly into Bobby's eyes, getting pulled enough to find her own reflection. "He-- he. Don't... be /careful/." Her bottom lip is bitten down on hard as her head slides into a stiff nod at the close quarters between them. "Visit," she agrees.
"Careful?" Bobby barks a quick laugh and-- relaxes his hold. "I'll be okay. Believe me. /I'll/ be okay."
Rogue starts into the tiniest of trembles at this. "Ah don't trust him."
"He's water, I'm ice," hisses out in a fierce whisper. Oh, Bobby despises guards. "I don't trust him either, but he can't hurt /me/, I am not /helpless/."
"You're a /boy/, Bobby. You aren't invincible." Rogue is quick to remind him. "An' you believed him before."
"I didn't know your-- I don't believe him now." Now Bobby is fierce, but also somewhat nonplussed. "He didn't use to /lie/ like that before."
Rogue hunches a bit, repelling from him just long enough to study him. "Ah just want you to take care of Jubilee. Whatever that means you need to do."
"When I talk to Wesley, I'll also be taking care of you. I'm sorry I believed him," Bobby drops right on the heels of that, his voice the more emphatic as he hunches. "I'm really sorry. And I'll make it right."
Rogue presses up against him, hesitant to make contact and her lips pulls back in reaction to the sudden doubt. "Don't be sorry. Ah know you can take care of it."
"Yes. Yes, I will." Doubt is gone swiftly, replaced by Bobby's immediate flashes of conviction and he pulls her into a double armed hug, a little incautiously. "I'll take care of all of it. You won't have to wait long."
Rogue cranes her neck away, digging an eye to his shoulder to give bare skin some room apart. "Okay, Bobby," she mumbles into the embrace. "Thanks for comin'. It means a lot."
"You're welcome." Bobby pulls back a good fraction and looks down at her face. "I couldn't stay away."
Rogue looks away from him, off to the side with a small sigh. "You're pretty good to me."
"I try to be." Bobby lets out his breath and pulls a smile. "I really try to be."
"Go home," Rogue wills him, looking back up to him and shying back away from him. "An' kick some ass for me."
And Bobby's smile glitters into a grin. "I will." He pulls himself standing and grin and smile drop away altogether, serious. "I'll be back." And with a long, openly resentful look at the guards, he starts away.
"Bye, Bobby. Remember, Nerds!" Rogue calls after him, the guards helping her up from the couch and escorting her out of the room the opposite way back to the sterile and suffocating halls of her new home.
Not home! /Not/ /home/!
4.4.07 - Jubilee and Bobby visit Rogue in the crazy house. And they let them leave again!