Thorns: An X-Men Movie fanfiction

Takes place during the cure fiasco

Chapter 1: Valerian flavored Lip-gloss

"Remy LeBeau?"

The man in front of me leaned back in his chair and tugged on the brim of his hat. "Dis is da second taime dis week Ai've been interrup-" he turned around, "Pardon-moi, ma chere, I fo'got ma manners."

I raised one eyebrow at him. "Are you Remy LeBeau?"

"Fo' ya, sweetheart, anyone."

I pulled out a chair and sat down next to him, crossing my ankles delicately. "I thought you might be interested in a bit of a bet."

"Stakes?"

"I win, you come with me. I have a friend who wants to meet you. If you win…" I shrugged my jacket off and dropped my voice to a whisper, flicking my near-black hair over one shoulder, "You get what you see now, and what you don't."

Remy pulled a deck of worn cards from an equally worn purple bag. "Hommes, sorry ta disappoint'ya but Ai've gaut myself a bet Ai just cain't resist."

The others laughed and sat back in their chairs, putting wallets back in pockets. A few of them looked honestly relieved.

Remy shuffled the cards, making them arc up and back to his hand. Then he pulled off five cards for each of us and sat back.

I looked at my hand and hid a grin. I really didn't have anything to work with. I had no hope of beating him in the first place. I knew roughly as much about cards, as a fish does about cross country. But that was really the point.

Remy looked at me over the top of his cards, "So, ma chere, what's yo naime?"

"Caitlyn."

"Jus' Caitlyn? No last naime?"

I pushed in a few chips. "None that you need to worry about"

"Well darling, if Ai'm right, ya gaut a whole lot o' nothin' in dat hand. Ai fig'gurd Ai should know what yo naime is, case Remy wanna find ya again."

"Someone's getting overconfident."

"Non, chere, jus' de raight amoun'."

One of the other men laughed and rested his elbows on the table. "Hey LeBeau, think she's got a whole lot a nothing under that pretty dress?"

I stiffened. "That's not something you will ever find out."

Remy saluted me with his cards. "Watch out, homme, cette petite fleur has thorns." He leaned closer to me, "an' Ai'll be countin' all o' dem."

~OoOoO~

Remy kicked the door shut behind us, mouth skimming over my neck. We landed on his bed with me on top. I wrapped my fingers in his dark red-brown hair and kissed him. He pushed his tongue past my lips and flipped us. I felt him catch my lower lip in his teeth, and I stifled a laugh. Eventually, he began to slow down.

Three…

Two…

One.

Remy rolled off me, gasping. His eyelids fluttered and I saw his throat work as he swallowed a yawn.

"Sorry, chere, it's naut… aaauuww… you. Gambit's jus' real tired all o' sudden."

I smirked at him. "Actually, its my lip gloss. The stuff is full of lavender, valerian, chamomile… I think it has lemon balm, too. All of them are strong sedatives, grown by yours truly."

"Wha'?"

"Honey, I gave you the plant version of chloroform. You have about three more seconds until… Ah. There you go."

Remy was out cold, a piece of hair falling over one eye.

Stifling a yawn, I slid off the bed and pulled a small earpiece out of one jacket pocket then hit the red button.

"Thorn?"

"I got him, Summers. He's asleep. And I will be too by the time you get here. Bring something to keep him under."

Scott hesitated for a moment, "Why?"

"I put that plant stuff in my lip gloss and I must have swallowed some of it."

"Why the hell did you put it in your lip gloss?"

I rolled my eyes, forgetting that Cyclops couldn't see me. "Because there was no way I was going to get that much valerian into his drink. Now hu- huuaaww- hurry up, I'm not going to last much longer."

I set down the earpiece and leaned back against the bed. Maybe it was time for a nice nap…

When I woke up, I was on the Blackbird, buckled into a seat. Storm was in the seat across from me and I could see Scott reflected in the plane's windshield.

Scott must have seen me wake up because he put the plane on auto pilot and got up from the driver's seat. "Your lip gloss? What were you thinking? What if he had outlasted you? He's huge!"

"He's not huge Scott, you're just tiny."

Scott spluttered angrily, but I ignored him.

"Besides, I drank two gigantic cups of coffee right before I left and I was wearing a layer if beeswax under the knockout goo."

Storm gave Scott a meaningful look. "Could you go check on our friend? I do not want him to wake up before we get to the school."

Scott stood up and walked to the back of the plane, muttering something that sounded like 'I am not tiny'. I ignored him.

"I really hope he's as powerful as the Professor says. I am never going to live that down…"

Storm raised her eyebrows. "What did you do?"

"I made a bet."

I heard a choked laugh from the back of the plane and craned my neck to see Scott.

"What's so funny, Summers?"'

"That you made a bet with this guy," he nudged Remy with one foot, "From what I've heard, he doesn't forget a debt. What did you wager anyway?"

I felt myself flush. I could see Scott's eyebrows over the top of his glasses and Storm looked slightly shocked.

"Caitlyn…"

"Not going to talk about it."

Storm shrugged, apparently willing to drop the matter. "We will be at the School in five minutes. Is he still unconscious, Scott?"

Scott grunted and pushed his glasses farther up his nose.

I glanced back at the sleeping man, "How are we going to get him to the infirmary without being mobbed by students?"

Neither of them bothered to ask why I was worried about a mob of hormonal teenage girls.

"We could go through the tunnel in the garage." Scott proposed, walking back to the driver's seat.

"Trying to keep the Cajun away from Jean?"

"You've been spending too much time around Logan."

"Bite me."

~OoOoO~

I looked down at the sleeping Cajun and tightened the strap across his shoulders. I really didn't want to be jumped on when he woke up. He was starting to come around. Opening his eyes, he tried to sit up.

"Remy."

He froze. "Wher' da hell am Ai? Get dese damn thangs off'a me!"

"Can I trust you not to attack me?'

His eyes focused on me and I could have sworn that they turned red for a moment. "Ya…! Fine, jus' 'splain why Ai'm in a lab."

I unbuckled the straps and he sat up. "Explaina'ion, now."

"You're in Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Children." When he didn't react I added, "Home of X-Men? Ring any bells?"

"Ya mean da people who blew Alkali Lake up?"

I started. "How did you know about that one? No one even knew that place existed except Logan…"

"Logan? Tall, sideburns, no sense o' humor?"

"No sense of humor? Sure he's a little…" I made a face, "But he can be funny from time to time. Do you know him?"

"Long taime ago." One side of his mouth quirked up. "Threw him though a wall."

"You did what?" I shook my head. "Never mind, the Professor wants to see you. You can clean up over there." I pointed to a curtained off area in one corner.

He looked at me.

"Alright… these are yours." I handed him his long coat, his hat, and a stainless steel chain.

He took them from me and stuffed the chain in one pocket. "Merci, sweetheart."

I started to the door. "My name is Caitlyn."

"Ai knows, dah'lin'."

I led Remy through the halls to the Professor's study, ignoring his stream of chatter. When we reach the double doors, I stopped and knocked twice.

"Come in."

I pushed the doors open and walked in. Remy followed me.

"Caitlyn, good to have you back."

"At the risk of sounding cliché, good to be back."

Remy coughed. "'Scuse me, But Ai'd like ta know why Ai gaut knocked out an' dragged to da middle o' nowhere."

"Remy LeBeau, correct? I apologize for any inconvenience. We brought you here because we thought you might be interested in joining the X-Men."

"Joinin'… listen, homme, Remy don't join anythin'. Ai don't work with people, Ai-"

"You have heard about the cure?"

"Yup, why am Ai 'posed ta care 'bout it?"

"Because Magneto will be active and recruiting. Once he strikes, it's only a matter of time before they start administering the cure by force. Or before we get a repeat of Alkali Lake."

Remy glared at him, one hand going unconsciously to his pocket. "How da hell did you get int'a ma head?"

"Remy. Calm down."

This time Remy's eyes definitely turned red. "Ma name is Gambit."

I couldn't help myself. The eyes, the shouting, it was just too much. I broke down laughing.

"What?"

"Gambit? Really?"

"What's yours?"

He had me there. "Thorn. The students picked it for me and it stuck."

He laughed. "Alrigh' 'fessor, Remy will join de X-Men. Cette petite chere owes me anyway. "

I glared at him and marched out of the study. Damn that Cajun.