Marie and Bobby (with a bit of Angelo), Sunday afternoon

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

After Terry's ambush, Marie decides to find Bobby to talk. Unfortunately, not much talking actually takes place and things are no better than before. Thankfully, Angelo comes in to interrupt things before they can get any worse.



Marie hadn't been able to stop thinking about Bobby since she had been ambushed in the hallway by his current flame. Until that point, she had been content to just ignore the fact that the two of them were living in the same house. Now, Terry had forced her to remember that ignoring a problem didn't make it go away, though the poor girl would probably have a fit if she knew that Marie had decided to seek Bobby out _because_ of the redhead's awkward and unasked for questions. She had watched and waited until she knew that Bobby was in the room alone before she approached his suite. Oh G-d. Ah need a drink. With one final adjustment to her gloves, she knocked on the door.

Bobby opened the door, the smile sliding off of his face the moment he saw who was on the other side. "We don't want any," he muttered, and closed it again in her face.

Marie let out an exasperated sigh. Banging on the door, she called out, “Bobby, come on, stop being an ass.” Pausing for a moment, she reached down to check the door handle. Finding it unlocked, she turned the knob and pushed the door open but didn’t step into the suite. “This is ridiculous.”

Bobby had moved back into the living room of the suite and flopped on the couch, staring at some random cartoon on the television without seeing it. He briefly considered just ignoring her completely, then reconsidered and turned to shoot her a glare that had an almost palpable chill in it—or maybe he was responsible for that little special effect. No one could give a quite literal cold shoulder like Bobby Drake, after all.

"What do you want, Rogue?" he asked, his tone almost petulant. Here he'd been having such a relaxing day.

Marie crossed her arms in front of her defensively, or maybe it was to ward off the sudden chill that had entered the room. “Good to know you still have that sweet disposition.” She scowled at him, wondering why she had ever thought this would go well. “Ah just wanted to talk like two civil adults, but Ah can see that’s not gonna happen.” She took a step into the room, then abruptly halted. Maybe a little distance would be a good thing.

"What do we have to talk about, Marie? I sure as hell don't have anything to say to you." Bobby rolled his eyes. It was bad enough that she'd just waltzed back in here, jumped right back on the team, now she wanted to be all buddy-buddy?

“You wouldn’t would you? How about the fact that we gotta learn to at least be somewhat cordial if we’re gonna live in the same house, be on the same team? Ah get the feeling you’d leave me to rot if we were ever in the field together,” she said in a condemning tone. Not that Ah wouldn’t be tempted to do the same…what did Ah ever see in him?

"Nice. Real nice," Bobby muttered, getting to his feet. "Wow. You don't know me a all." He shook his head, pacing a bit. "If I'm on a mission, I put personal differences aside. I follow orders and do what I have to do, no matter who I'm working with." He headed for his bedroom door, and added under his breath, "Bitch," as he pulled the door open and slammed it behind him. So there.

Bastard! Getting doors slammed on her was getting really old and Marie was pissed off. “Oh that’s real mature Bobby. When did they start letting children on the team anyways?” She threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “It’s all well and good that you’ll follow orders, but teammates are supposed to trust, not tolerate, each other,” she yelled.

Bobby leaned against the door, grimacing at Marie's words. The woman just got to him now, just by being in the same room. He wanted to throw things, call her names, kick her in the shins…

"Fine," he snapped, jerking the door open again. "How would you propose I manage to trust you then, Miss Marie D'Ancato?"

Rogue barely resisted the urge to pick a book up off the coffee table and hurl it at him. Clenching her fists, she glared at him. “Ah wouldn’t rightly know. Maybe if you stopped livin’ in the past.” Why is he still so angry? Why am Ah?

"Who's living in the past?" Bobby grumbled, knowing she was right. He HATED that she was right, damn it.

Marie locked eyes with Bobby, staring at him defiantly. “Do you even remember why y’ are so angry with me?”

"Gee, let's see. It could be because you wasted no time hooking up with Mr. Personality after we broke up. It could be a lot of things." Most of which he didn't really remember, but she didn't need to know that. He knew there had been lots of reasons, and that was the important part

“Ah seem to remember you were the one to break up with me,” she said, her voice once again rising in intensity. Pushing a lock of hair out of her face, she was tempted to tell him about his little girlfriend’s visit, just to hurt him. Damn integrity.

Details, details. "Look, Rogue. What is it you want from me?" Bobby growled, running a hand through his hair. "If you think we're gonna be all buddies and go out for a beer and chat about old times, you're barking up the wrong tree." For one, he didn't drink. Wait, that wasn't the point.

"Did you come here just to yell at me and tell me how immature I am, or did you actually want something?"

Something about what he said and how he said it caused the anger to leak out of Marie and she deflated. “Ah don’t know what Ah came here for anymore Bobby. Ah thought this would be different. Ah thought maybe we could finally move on,” she said flatly. You used to be my best friend.

God knew Bobby wasn't good at letting go of grudges once he'd settled on them, but looking at Marie, looking just a bit defeated, made him feel a faint stirring of guilt—and regret. "I guess we can try," he mumbled, leaning against the doorframe and staring at her feet.

“Yeah, sure,” she said, but there was no feeling or belief in her words. “Ah never meant to hurt you. Ah just wanted…” What did you want Rogue? Did you think it would all just go away magically?

This was probably the worst possible time for Angelo to come in from his day's work, not noticing Marie until he was halfway through the room. "Hey, Bobby, is there any... coffee?"

Marie’s mouth snapped shut, whatever she was about to say lost at the interruption. “Skin, uh, Ah was just…Ah’m going,” she stammered. And for the second time that week, she spun around and ran as fast as she could.

Bobby watched her retreating back with a mixture of pain and relief on his face. "Women," he muttered, straightening and letting the tension ebb from his body. "Thanks, man. I owe you one."

Angelo looked between them with confusion and worry, finally looking back to Bobby. "For comin' back to my suite? What was that all about?"

Bobby rolled his eyes and shrugged, snorting. "I dunno. Mending bridges or building fences or some lame shit like that." He grinned at Angelo and crossed the room. "I'm gonna go shoot some hoops, I think."

"Want company? I was in the office all day, I could use the exercise."

"You think I'd pass up a chance to get my ass handed to me by you in HORSE? Lead the way," Bobby answered with a smirk.

Angelo grinned, ducked into his room to grab his gymwear, and reappeared. “Ready when you are.”