Thinking

TITLE: Thinking

AUTHOR: Jos Mous

DISCLAIMER: Not mine, not making money, etc.

UNIVERSE: X-Men Evolution

RATING: PG-13

PAIRING: Rogue/Kitty… somewhere out there over the horizon.

People need space to think. Thoughts need room to frolic around and grow up into proper Ideas. You can’t think in a crowded elevator except, maybe, “I wish I wasn’t in this crowded elevator”.

Rogue was slowly starting to understand this. She had been moved from the Intensive Care to some room someplace else in the hospital. She still couldn’t get out of bed and she wasn’t even on solids yet. So, basically, all Rogue could do on her little room was think. Thoughts slowly but surely filled up every available space and then out the window, into the sky where they found even more thoughts to play with.

Sometimes, Rogue found herself becoming dangerously philosophic. She normally didn’t think much of philosophy. Sure, it was probably nice for those who had more than enough thinking space inside their own heads, but it was hardly practical, now was it? Who cares what the nature of existence is? Who cares about the Single Truth at the Core of it all?

Still…

When you looked out the window and saw all those trees and buildings below you and the endless sky above you, your sort of didn’t have a choice about the directions your thoughts were going.

“Hello dear.”

Rogue looked away from the window and towards the door. Nurse Brackton had just entered, smiling faintly as always. Rogue was pretty sure that she knew Xavier and half suspected the woman of being a mutant as well. She was nice, but always very… careful… around Rogue, which clearly showed she knew more than enough about her.

“Hey,” said Rogue.

“Just coming to check on your IV,” she said.

“Still dripping away nicely.”

Nurse Brackton gave her a smile, then looked carefully at the bag. “I’ll give it another hour or two and then come to change it if that’s all right with you.”

“Sure.”

Nurse Brackton nodded and went her merry way again, probably to check up on some other patients. Rogue watched her go, then found her gaze drawing itself back towards the window and the endless world out there. Instead, she forced herself to look at the wall opposite of her bed. It was lined with various “Get Well Soon” cards. There were more cards hanging there than there were people Rogue was friends with. Even people who she had once passed in the hallway in her old High School had sent a card and God knew how they found out about her being in hospital. Two of the cards had been placed a little away from the others. One was light blue with a picture of a cartoon duck with its wing in a sling. The other was, basically, a photograph of three cute sleeping little kittens. They were normal enough cards, if it wasn’t for the fact that the first was from Logan and the second was from Mystique. Rogue had spent quite some time now thinking about which of the two she found more disturbing.

Rogue looked away from the cards and at the nightstand standing next to the bed. There was a fruitbowl there, and a vase of flowers that were starting to wilt. Sitting prominently in the middle, however, was a pile of books. At the very bottom of the pile was a Harry Potter book that Evan had given her out of guilt for spiking her. The rest of the pile was comprised of various school books that Jean had given her so that she wouldn’t fall behind on her homework.

Rogue realised that next to space, people also needed boredom to do some serious Thinking.

So there she sat, more or less upright, in a hospital bed with nutrients slowly dripping into her bloodstream and with too much time on her hands.

Kitty didn’t know, did she?

Rogue frowned. Odd thought, that. For a moment, she didn’t know what she meant by it.

Kitty doesn’t know that I know, she thought.

Rogue groaned.

Wait… that wasn’t a bad thing, was it? After all, it’d been, what, a week or two since she more or less found out that Kitty liked her that way. And in that time, neither she nor Kitty had really done anything. Why change that now?

Because.

Because what?

Well… because. It’s not right.

Why not?

Rogue fell silent and stared at the wall. She never had internal dialogue with herself before. It was… disturbing.

Maybe if she sort of let Kitty know she wasn’t interested and then sort of hint that there were other girls out there?

No, that wouldn’t work. Or it would, but she and Kitty probably wouldn’t be friends any more.

Date her then.

Rogue blinked once. Then twice. Had she really just thought that?

She had, hadn’t she?

But she couldn’t do that, she was straight. And, yeah, sure, High School was a time to experiment and all that, but… Hell she wasn’t Jessica Stein.

… which, come to think of it, was a movie Kitty introduced her to months ago. Of course, she had thought nothing of it at the time. She still didn’t, as a matter of fact.

But still… in light of recent events…

Rogue leaned back into her pillow. It was soft and fluffy. It was a nice pillow. It was also a very safe pillow. She wasn’t going to get all kinds of disturbing thoughts from this pillow. It was, in fact, a very nice pillow.

And now, Rogue thought, would also be very nice time to catch up on some History or something.

“Hmm?”

“I said, shall I ask her to go away?”

Rogue opened her eyes. She couldn’t remember ever closing them. Nurse Brackton was standing next to the bag, a nearly empty IV bag in her hand.

“Sorry, I guess I was asleep or something,” Rogue said. “What was that?”

“Oh dear, you’ve been drooling something terrible. Here, let me wi… I mean… here’s a handkerchief.”

Nurse Brackton very carefully handed Rogue a clean handkerchief. Rogue dabbed at her mouth with it, then rubbed it over her cheek for some time.

“Thanks,” Rogue said, carefully handing the handkerchief back. “So there was someone here to see me?”

“Hmm? Oh yes, pretty young girl. Brown hair. Ponytail. Could do with a haircut, in my opinion. Didn’t catch her name, though, but she’s been here before. Well?”

“Yeah, you can tell her to come in or whatever.”

Nurse Brackton nodded and left quickly.

Well, that was a dumb move, Rogue thought, though she wished she hadn’t. Seeing Kitty right now, not the best of ideas, is it?

“Oh shut up,” Rogue muttered. She knew it was pointless. It was clearly herself doing the thinking.

The door opened and Kitty came in. She stayed close to the wall, unsure of what to do or where to go.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hi,” Rogue said.

“Nice,” Kitty said, looking around.

“It’s OK.”

“Better than Intensive Care.”

“Way.”

“Painkillers?” Kitty asked, nodding towards the IV.

“I wish. It’s food.”

“Oh.”

There was an awkward silence that really wanted to be filled.

“So…” said Kitty.

“So…” said Rogue.

“Nice view.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

And that exhausted that topic of conversation.

“So how’re things back at the mansion?” Rogue asked.

“Oh… you know. The usual,” Kitty said.

“Right.”

“Spyke’s still feeling sorry.”

“I can imagine.”

Kitty looked around for a bit. Rogue looked at the string of cards across from her.

“Hey Kitty…”

“Yeah?”

“When I get out of hospital… wanna go do something?”

“Like what?”

“I dunno. Movie or something.”

“What, like, with the whole group.”

“No. Just you.”

“Oh. OK. Why?”

Good question.

“I… don’t know,” Rogue said. It wasn’t a complete lie. She had a suspicion somewhere in the recesses of her mind, but she wasn’t entirely sure. “So?”

“Oh, hey, I’d love to,” Kitty said.

Rogue smiled a little. Kitty beamed back.

I just did it, didn’t I? I asked her out on a date.

Hell, it’s not a date. Just watching a movie with a friend.

Yeah, right.

“So when do you get out?” Kitty asked.

“Don’t know. Soon, I hope.”

“Well, I can’t wait.”

Rogue chuckled. “Yeah, me neither.”

Oh yeah. Freud’s laughing his ass off somewhere. I just know it.