Author's Note: So, I've been MIA for three years and during that time, I graduated with a Bachelors with Honours in History! Whoopie. Anyway, thanks for all the love everyone has shown me even while I was off studying. I don't know if this is a return to the fanfic world but I really do want to finish this story. Enjoy! Shouldn't Be So Hard

Chapter 17

"Holy crap! That was a pretty sad movie!" Cody exclaimed as he popped another piece of skittles into his mouth.

"Ah know… ah always get so choked up. Ah just can't see why Rhett has t'leave." Rogue said through her sniffles.

Cody laughed as he handed her the tissue box. She grabbed a tissue and huffed, "Don't laugh. I saw some tears in your eyes as well."

Mocking her, he took a tissue, dabbed his eyes and said through fake sniffles, "I know… Scarlett is so wonderful and sure she's made a few mistakes like coveted her best friend's husband and did not really showed Rhett the respect he deserved…Wait a minute. That wasn't a sad movie at all! She deserved to be ditched. I mean, Rhett treated her so great and she kept fawning over that weakling Ashlee…hey!" Cody exclaimed as Rogue struck him with a pillow.

"Oh shut up! You're only mad because she didn't wanna do Rhett for awhile." Rogue said and rolled her eyes.

"Well, what kind of wife does that to her husband?" Cody argued as he threw a pillow at her but it missed her as she ducked just in time.

"Argh… Ah'm not gonna have this argument with another man again." Rogue exasperated as she stood up and headed to the kitchen.

"It's a fair argument though." He called after her.

"Yeah yeah, according to you and every man on Earth that ain't gay. Do ya want anything while ah'm here?" She yelled back.

"Nah, I'm good. Let's start the next movie though. We gotta get this marathon rolling."

"Hold ya horses, cowboy! Ah'm coming!" She cried back.

Knock Knock

"Hold on! Ah gotta get the door!" She said and ran to it.

"Hurry up!" He rushed her.

"Ah'll be there in a second!" She cried back and yanked opened the door. As soon as she saw who it was, a surprised gasp escaped her lips.

"What are you doing here?"

"Hi Rogue. How's my favourite cousin?" asked a tall blonde man with a huge smile on his face.

"Sam!" Rogue cried with delight as she swung her arms around her cousin.

Sam laughed at her enthusiastic welcome and hugged her back. After several moments, she let go and ushered him into her apartment. "What are ya doing here all the way from New York? Ah thought ya were staying with Raven and Irene." Rogue inquired.

"Yeah, I was but I thought I pay my cousin a little visit. Plus, Tabby's band is doing a few gigs here so…"

"So, you're a groupie!" Rogue said and laughed at the thought.

A deep crimson appeared on Sam's cheeks as he said, "I'm not a groupie… more like a roadie."

"Hmm… a roadie and Tabby's personal groupie." Rogue replied cheekily.

Sam rolled his eyes but his blush still gave him away. "So… like I asked earlier, how are you doing?"

She lowered her eyes with a slight suspicion but answered, "Ah'm fine. Why?"

Playing it as casually as he could, Sam responded, "What? Can't I ask how my cousin is doing?"

Not the least bit convinced, Rogue crossed her arms and demanded, "Alright. Who called ya? Kurt? Jean? Wanda?"

Sam's eyes widened at her accusatory tone, and after a few seconds of debating in his head whether or not he should lie, he finally told the truth. "It was Kurt. It was an accident though. I had called the other day and he picked up and well, you know how Kurt doesn't know when to stop talking. But seriously, I didn't come to just check up on you. Plus, would you rather Auntie Raven and Irene come down here? With their latest lobbying strategies for gay and lesbian rights, people might confuse them for terrorists almost and seriously, Tabby's band does really have a few gigs down here and I am really her groupie. Oh just please don't be mad or hit me because I…"

Rogue interrupted his nervous ramble with a sudden laugh. In fact, she couldn't stop laughing and quickly it became infectious as Sam started laughing as well.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" Cody asked as he joined the pair.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Rogue managed to spit out a rudimentary introduction. "Cody, meet the professional groupie to the band, Tabby and the Boom Booms, Sam Guthrie. Sam, meet my jogging and movie marathon buddy, Cody Robbins."

With a warm smile, Sam extended his hand to Cody. "A friend of Rogue's is a friend of mine."

"Hmm… this isn't a trick, is it?" Cody asked with a hint of scepticism in his tone.

"Why would you say that?" Sam asked confusedly.

"It's because when Ah introduced Cody to Lucas and Logan, they just growled at him and almost broke his hand when Ah finally got them to shake it." Rogue stated bitterly as she recalled the awkward meeting of her friends and Cody a couple weeks back. They all thought that she was rushing into another relationship and refused to give Cody a chance no matter how much she insisted that they were just friends. Yet, with her track record, she couldn't entirely blame them for being overprotective.

Sam chuckled and said, "Yeah, those guys can be quite formidable. But trust me, I'm being sincere."

"Well, alright then! Nice to meet you, Sam." Cody greeted warmly while shaking his hand.

"Okay. Okay. Now that we're all friends, let's go into the living room. Ah'm sick of standing in the entrance." Rogue said as she literally pushed the two men into the living room.

As they all took a seat on the couch, Sam grabbed the popcorn bowl and asked, "So, what are we watching?"

"Well, we just finished Gone with the Wind and we're going to start Kill Bill." Rogue said as she got up to put the DVD in the player.

"So, Rogue's choice of movies." Sam stated.

"Actually, it's always her choice of movies." Cody said with mock indignation.

"Like Ah always say, 'My house. My flat screen. My choice." Rogue said matter-of-factly as she returned to her seat next to Cody.

"At least I know your bossiness hasn't changed. Hey, Tabby was wondering if you wanna come out for her show tomorrow night. They're playing at the Starlight Lounge and Cody, you're totally welcome to come." Sam threw in.

"Yah, that sounds fun. Ya down for it, Cody?" Rogue asked.

With a big fat grin on his face, Cody replied, "Cannot think of a better way to spend my evening."

Sam raised an eyebrow at that comment and more specifically, Cody's smile that gave away his feelings for his cousin. Sam couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for Rogue's secret admirer as he could tell that Rogue simply did not feel the same way.

"Okay, cool. Let's start the movie." He said and pressed 'play' on the remote.

xoxo

His eyes were bloodshot. His head was pounding and he could not remember the details of the previous night. He faintly recalled the endless pouring of liquor into his glass and that was about it. He let out a sigh as he dragged himself to the front door. He searched for his keys in his pocket but could not find them. The door suddenly was pulled open and an angry blonde stood before him.

"Remy! Where have you been?" Belle screamed.

"I was out wit' some… I don' know, chere. I don' know where I was." He told her truthfully as he walked past her.

"Don' walk away from me, Remy LeBeau! I've been calling everyone asking where you were." She said angrily as she followed after him.

He didn't stop however as he headed for the stairs. All he wanted at the moment was to get into bed and not have to wake up ever again.

"Remy! Stop!" Belle demanded as she grabbed his arm. He yanked his arm away from her, turned back and snarled, "Leave me alone. Dis is not de time!"

Confused and hurt by his reaction, the tears poured out of her blue eyes and she ran off.

Remy looked in her direction once more before climbing the stairs towards their bedroom. He was not up for talking to his fiancé at the moment and he thought she at least deserved a sober Remy LeBeau for when they finally do talk.

xoxo

Roaring applause filled the small club as a spunky girl with a spiky blonde hair screamed into the microphone, "Thank you and rock on!" She ran off the stage as the crowd kept on howling for an encore. Considering they already performed two encores, the crowd eventually quiet down.

"That was awesome." Rogue exclaimed as she turned back to her friends.

"Hell yeah! She was rocking." Cody piped in.

"Yeah, Tabby's come a long way from practicing in your mother's garage, Sam." Wanda noted as she took a sip of her wine.

"Thanks, guys. I'm glad you could all make it out." Sam responded humbly.

"And here comes the lady of the hour… Tabby, that was great!" Rogue exclaimed as she hugged her friend.

"Thanks, Rogue! It was a pretty bitchin' set, wasn't it?" Tabby said.

"Definitely." Rogue agreed and let go of the young rocker who proceeded to hug everyone else at the table.

"Your music was amazing and I loved that guitar solo in the last song." Cody commented.

"Thanks. And you must be Cody." Tabby said and extended her hand.

"Yups. That's me." Cody replied and shook her hand.

"Glad you could make it out. Sam mentioned that you were pretty cute…" Tabby said flirtatiously.

"So, you're checking out guys now." Kurt said with some amusement as he looked in Sam's direction.

"What? No! I don't. Tabby forced me to rate Cody last night. She claimed how I should be comfortable in my masculinity to know whether or not another man was attractive." Sam protested.

"Well, then thanks, dude. I do believe it's probably my stunning blue eyes that attracted you to me in the first place." Cody said cheekily and the group burst out laughing.

"What? Argh… fine. Whatever." Sam said in defeat. Tabby threw her arms around her boyfriend's neck and kissed him lightly on the lips. "You're so cute when you're flustered." She commented before focusing her attention back on her friends.

"So what's next for Tabby and the Boom Booms?" Kurt asked.

"Hmm… a major record deal and a worldwide headlining tour!" Tabby said enthusiastically.

"Are ya kidding?" Rogue queried.

"Yups! We got the new yesterday from our manager. It'll probably take a couple of years to get all that done but we're on our way to the top! And to think, you could have been a Boom Boom, Rogue." Tabby said.

Rogue laughed as she recalled trying to teach a 15-year-old Tabby to play the guitar nearly ten years ago. "Nah. Plus, y'all were just babies compared to me. It woulda been weird."

"Oh phooey, Rogue. You make it sound like you're a senior citizen." Tabby replied.

"Well, Ah feel like it most of the time these days. Ah feel like Ah've already lived a century." Rogue said. An awkward silence draped the group as they looked at one another, unsure of how to respond to Rogue's allusions to what she's been through in the past couple of years. Cody, being the only one who did not know about Rogue's history, broke the silence and said, "Well, you certainly don't look like an old broad, that's for sure. And I know you have the moves to prove that."

He grabbed her hands and led her to the dance floor. Rogue threw her head back and laughed but followed Cody nonetheless. "Come on guys! Let's dance!" She yelled back at her friends. And for the first time in a long time, amongst the company of her good friends, Rogue remembered what it felt like to be herself before Erik and Remy came into her life.

xoxo

The room was completely dark except for the moonlight that shone though the window. He was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. It's been two days since he returned home with the worst hangover. It's also been two days since he's talked to Belle. It wasn't as if he didn't want to talk to her, but he didn't have the chance to. She had not returned home for the past two days but unlike her, he hadn't bothered calling around asking for her. After the first day, she had left a message on the answering machine letting him know that she was staying with her brother Julien.

As he sat there, Remy LeBeau thought about what a mess his life had become. He kept going through the events of the past six months, making note of all the things he did wrong. Yet, no matter how much he reviewed the events of the past, he knew that only he had control of the present.

Knock Knock

"Remy?" Belle's voice queried from the other side of the door.

"Come in." Remy said. She entered the room slowly. Even through the darkness, he could tell that she was fearful of him. "It's okay, Belle. Remy ain't gonna be mean dis time."

"Okay." She said with slight hesitation.

She walked towards him and sat in the chair across from his desk. "Ya feeling better?" She asked.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I snapped at y'." He said and made eye contact to show that he was indeed being sincere.

"Dat's okay." Belle replied. The two lovers sat in silence for awhile – both unsure of what to say or do. Finally, Belle spoke up, "So, about de wedding…"

"Dere's not going to be a wedding, chere." Remy interrupted her.

"What are y' talking about, Remy?" She asked, her voice quivering for what she feared for the past couple of days was actualizing into reality.

"Belle, I can't marry you." Remy said.

"But Remy, we love each ot'er. It's about de bebe, isn't it? I'm sorry…" She said in a panic.

"Non, Belle. That wasn't your fault." He said, stood up and walked to her. She got up out of her seat hastily and wrapped her arms around him. "Den what is it? I'll do whatever y' want. Please we can fix dis. We can have anot'er bebe." She pleaded desperately.

"Belle, I just can't do dis anymore." Remy said simply. She looked up at him and slowly asked, "Do y' not love me?"

He looked away from her.

"Remy, answer me."

"Belle, I really care about y' and I don' wanna hurt you."

She let go of him and took several steps back. "Dis isn't happening. We've been through too much for dis too happen." She said in disbelief.

"Belle, please listen to me."

"Non! Dis is about dat girl in Mississippi, isn't it?" She said bitterly.

"Belle, dis is about us. Don't you think you deserve someone better den me? Don't you think you deserve someone who loves you?" Remy asked soundly.

"Non! I'm not gonna listen to dis, Remy. I lost my bebe and I'm not gonna lose y' too. Please, we can give dis anot'er chance. I'll work harder at being a good girlfriend. Please don't leave me." She said as tears streamed down her face.

Remy took Belle back in her arms and stroke her back as he said calmly, "Belle, love shouldn't have to be dis hard."

"But Remy, I love you so much, please don't leave me." She pleaded as she cried into his chest.

"Belle, it's gonna be okay. Y're gonna have a life that's better t'an anything I can give y'. You deserve better than me." He said sincerely.

"Remy, please…" She said between sobs, but by this point, she knew that there was no changing his mind.

"It's gonna be okay, Belle." He said soothingly as he held her for undoubtedly the last time.