Disclaimer: I did own Marvel comics as part of a mock stock market game in Finance class, so I guess I do sort of own the X-men :-P. Seriously though, I do not own any Marvel characters, I am not making any money off of this and I am just writing it for the benefit of my own entertainment as well as the entertainment of the other fans out there. Also, this is a story from my own imagination, any resemblance to real life events, or even those in fiction is completely coincidental. As an additional note, there are so many fan fiction stories out there on this site as well as others, so any similarity is coincidental or great minds just happen to think alike
Summary- One-shot: The thoughts of a Cajun thief as he commits a kidnapping that will alter the course of history.
A Thief in the Night
by demiducky25
It's well passed midnight and in this part of New Orleans, there is no one around. It doesn't hurt that I'm hidden in a dark alley. I throw down the cigarette that I was smoking and step on it until it is nothing more than a faintly glowing cinder. I look up at the designated building, my goal is inside. I know it's on the fifth floor of this hospital. That's as much as my informant could find out for me. That and I have a son. A son, the child of me and a cheap prostitute more than likely; a one-night stand that I didn't think would amount to anything. Well, whoever the mother is, she never tried to contact me. I found out that she wanted to put him up for adoption; well I can't let that happen. This is a LeBeau, my own flesh and blood. I already have one son, one that I care for very much; though things were different with him. I was there when he was born, I got to hold him during his first hours of existence, and I was there for many of the important events of his life. It was easy, probably because I loved his mother very much: my wife, my one true love, who died many years ago. But what about this new baby boy? It's easy for me to love my oldest; he was born out of love, but this new baby? He was conceived out of a night of pure lust. So how do I know it's even mine? After all, I'm with a different woman nearly every night? I heard from a reliable informant, that there is no doubt he is mine, but that is all he would tell me. This informant, a large, menacing, blue mutant, claimed that I had to take the child in order to maintain the course of history. Maybe it is foolhardy to believe him, but I guess I'll just have to look to find out for myself.
I scale the building using the climbing equipment that I brought with me for the job and locate the nursery of the hospital with ease. Breaking in is what I do; I'm a thief, but creeping around a room full of sleeping infants requires the utmost care. If I wake one, the others will follow suit and before you know it someone is bound to come running. I scan the rows of sleeping babies, but how will I know which one is "mine"? I pull out the scrap of paper the informant gave me, a name followed by "Baby Boy." Whether this is the baby's name or the mother's last name I have no idea. I scan the rows of cradles, reading the nametags on each. Then I locate the matching name. This is the baby I am looking for; a little thing with hardly any hair. I pick up the sleeping child carefully as to not wake him. He stirs only for a moment and quietly opens his eyes.
His eyes! That's when I realized who this child was, or rather who he would grow up to be. He was le diable blanc, the one prophesized to save the Guilds. How do I know this? Because he saved me as a young man, going back in time to do so when he was an adult. He told me that I was to take him under my care one day and raise him. Whether he is mine biologically or not, is irrelevant now. From this point on, this is my son. Perhaps that it what my mysterious informant meant by this child being my son?
"Merde," I breathe when the realization hits me. The baby is very still, and I notice he went back to sleep. I can't take care of a baby; it's been too long since Henri was little. Then a plan formed in my mind: I'll hand him over to the Antiquary, yes he's wanted me to steal him a baby for quite some time. But I can't let my son grow up a slave of the Antiquary, but I certainly can't raise him either. Well, I can figure that out later, first I have to get him out of here. I make my way out of the nursery, back down the hall, and prepare to scale down the wall again.
I wrap the blanket around the baby a little tighter. As a scale back down the wall I murmur to him, using the name that was on the card from my informant, "It's gonna be all right Remy, mon fils."
Author's note- Yes I took some liberties with the background story of Henri and Jean-Luc, mainly since I couldn't find any information out there. The little information I had I got from Gambit's bio page at uncannyxmen dot net. (it won't let me put in the actual link for whatever reason).
Was there really a mother? That's for you to decide. I tried my best to tie together all of the various snippets and theories about Gambit's origin that I could with my own little flavoring. I hope you enjoyed it:-)