Part Seven

Remy curled up tighter under his warm blankets. His body ached, his muscles burned, but his flesh felt as if he were freezing. He had woke several minutes ago, but he had not managed to summon enough strength to move from the fetal position on his bed. He didn't even know what time it was, or even what day. He cringed as another shot of pain racked his body causing small tremors to flutter through his limbs. He rolled over to try and find a more comfortable position only to find Victor walking towards him from the adjacent room.

"Hey, kid. Glad to see you awake. I was about to fall asleep on ya." Creed took a careful seat on the edge of the bed next to Remy. The older man had been watching the boy sleep for days now and was beginning to worry. He could smell that Remy was in pain, but couldn't do anything about it until the he was awake enough to swallow the pills supplied by the doctor. "Can you sit up enough to take these?" He held out his hand that contained two small yellow pills. "They will help with the pain."

Remy nodded weakly and made a noble attempt to sit up, but found it impossible to do without help. His muscles just refused to do what he commanded. He reached out a shaky hand as a silent plea for assistance from the older man next to him.

Victor sat the pills and the glass of water he had come in with on the night stand next to the bed before changing his position to sit against the headboard, pulling the younger man up to lean next to him. He wrapped one large arm around the boys thin shoulders to keep him upright. "You okay?"

"I'll be better when I get those pills into me." Remy groaned.

Victor picked up the pills and placed them in the younger man's hand and waited for Remy to throw them into his mouth before offering him the glass of water, which was gratefully excepted. "That should kick in pretty quick, I hope anyway."

"Can I lay back down. I'm gettin' dizzy. Not that I mind stayin' here." Remy tried to put on a charming smile, but it failed, and he knew it.

Creed chuckled at Remy's attempt of flirting. He would be flattered if the younger man wasn't sick as a dog. "Sure, kid." Creed helped Remy back down into the blankets and tucked them in around him.

Remy moaned as he attempted to find a position that caused the least amount of pain, settling on his stomach. He slowly pulled his arms up under his head, startling slightly when his forehead came in contact with something cold. "I guess it didn't work since I have this bracelet on still."

"Nope. Did you really expect it to?"

"Not really. Mal didn't either, but it was worth a try since Essex thought so, I guess. Now I'm thinkin' I shouldn't have done it. I feel like I got hit by a truck."

Vic rubbed Remy's back gently, hoping to relax some of the boy's pain away. At least enough to allow the teenager to get back to sleep. "Maybe I should call Mal. She may need to bring you some more relaxers. Your muscles are still pretty locked up."

"Non, it'll be ok in a minute. The pain killers are kickin' in, and dat feels real good." Remy closed his eyes in pleasure. Between the pain killers and the massage he was getting from Vic, he was in heaven compared to before. After a few moments he felt Victor's hand slowly fall away. "Non. Don't stop." he whispered, still in the glow the massage was causing.

"Sorry, thought you were asleep. I'll keep going for a bit. At least til you get to sleep." Creed picked back up were he had left off on the boy's back.

"Stay?"

"Uh, kid..." Creed stumbled on his words, surprised by the request and not sure what to say.

Remy was quick to cover for his question. He didn't really mean it to come out, but it did. Now he was regretting it. Maybe Victor didn't like him as much as he thought. "Dat's ok. I'm not thinkin' straight, ignore me."

"It's not like that, kid. I just can't fit in this bed with ya. Your scrawny ass barely fits in it alone. Why don't ya come sleep in my room? I have a bigger bed, there'll be more room for the both of us to sleep. Just sleep." Victor made a point to add the last. He didn't want the kid to think he had to do something he didn't just to stay with him.

Remy nodded weakly, a little disappointed and happy all the same. He would have been more then willing to do more then just sleep, but he also knew his body was not up to that challenge right now. He slowly began moving to sit upright again, struggling to even roll over.

Victor saw Remy's battle and slid his arms under the young Cajun's thin frame. "Here let me carry you. You don't need to be standing just yet."

"Merci." Remy managed before drifting off in the older man's arms for a moment. The drugs were getting to him, but he fought them. He wanted to enjoy Victor's company and bed as much as he could before drifting off into sleep. He groaned when a mild pain hit his body as it was laid on the bed slowly.

"You okay?"

"Oui. Just remind me to think about it before lettin' the docs do anythin' else to me."

"You won't have to worry about that. They're not doing anything else like this! I'm tired of carrying you around!" Victor smiled widely, showing the younger man he was only joking. He would happily carry Remy anywhere. "Now lets get to sleep, I'm tired myself. I've been waiting for you to wake up for two days."

"Two days! It's been dat long!"

"Sorry to tell ya, but yea. Two days." Vic made his way around the room, making sure lights were out and things were in place.

Remy watched quietly as Victor stripped down to his boxer, throwing clothes and boots onto the nearby chair. The older man took his place on the other side of the bed, tucking the covers in around them both before settling down to sleep. Remy turned onto his side toward Vic and laid one thin hand on the other man's shoulder. His powers were not strong enough to feel Victor's mind, but it was enough to sense his presence, and that is all he needed to feel safe. He was about to drift off when he felt a hand cover his own, getting his attention.

"You know kid, maybe this isn't the place for you."

Remy worriedly looked through the darkness at Victor who was staring at the ceiling as if he were talking to no one. His gut twisted in fear, afraid that he was being kicked out of the room by the older man. The last thing he wanted was to be further away from Vic especially since he had managed to get this close. "Ya want me to go to the other room?"

"No, kid. I think you should leave this place all together." Creed could see the hurt on the younger man's face, even through the darkness. He knew it wasn't from pain, but emotion. "It's not like that, I want you here, personally. I just think you are gonna end up getting hurt if you stay. Essex isn't one to think about a patient's well being as much as using them as a guinea pig. I think it's time to call your pops and tell him to come get you."

"I can't call my Pere." Remy muttered sadly, rolling over to face away from Victor. A tear came to his eye at the thought of his father and he didn't want it to be detected.

"I'm sure if you told him the doc was shockin' the hell out of you he would understand why you'd want to leave early."

"I doubt it. I haven't talked to him since I came here anyway. Every time I called he wasn't home and he wouldn't return my phone calls. Last time I tried the phone had been disconnected."

"What? There's gotta be a reason."

"Yeah, you're talkin' to it. Would you want a son that's not only a freak, but can't control his powers? I'm not his real son anyway. He adopted me. This was just a way to get rid of me."

"There's gotta be more to it then that! If he went through all the trouble to find you help in the first place, why dump you off here? Essex ain't easy to track down. It's not like he's in the yellow pages or something. Your dad had to do some major work to get you here."

"I don't know what he did to get me here, all I know is I can't leave. Dr. Essex's my only chance to prove to my Poppa that I'm worth somethin'. If Dr. Essex can find a way to fix me then maybe Poppa will take me back, if he ends up killin' me in the process then no big loss."

Victor shot up in the bed angry with the direction the conversation was going. Not caring about any pain, he pulled Remy over by his shoulder to look him in the eye. "Don't talk like that, kid. You don't know what Essex is capable of. You can't just give him free range like that!"

"I don't have no choice!"

Victor flopped back down with a huff. He didn't have any better suggestion either. He could easily send the boy to the X-men. He knew they would take him in, but then there was no way he could see the boy again if they had him. "I don't know kid, we'll figure something out. Just don't let the doctor do anything weird. No deals with him either. He has a way of trapping people or getting them into stuff they don't need to be in."

"What about this mission? Is it somethin' I want to be in?" It was a question that had been nagging at Remy lately. This so called mission just didn't sit right with him.

Creed hated to lie to the boy, it hurt more now then before, a lot more. He had no choice in the matter, because he was in the situation he was trying to keep Remy out of. "There isn't anything wrong with this mission, at this point. I'll let ya know if something changes. We'll talk about it tomorrow. I am too wasted to even think about all this right now." Victor's gut ached with guilt. Never had he cared if one of his teammates lived or died until now. This situation was worse, the boy didn't even know what he was walking into. He startled slightly when a cold hand came to rest on his broad shoulder. "Night, Remy." he whispered through the darkness. He placed his large paw over the thin hand before willing himself to sleep. He would think about a way out of this mess in the morning.