Further Complications:
Leather Clad Vigilante
by PrettyGothGirl
All Disclaimers Apply
Spoilers: Post X-Men, not X2, X3, Origins or First Class Compatible
Summary: Happily married Remy and Rogue hope at some point that their situation will resolve itself, until then, life keeps giving them further complications. LCV: Logan is forced to use a telephone because he really wants Remy on the team, which brings up the problem that Marie hasn't told Remy yet about her fetish for wearing black leather and saving the world.
Author's Note: Many many thank yous to Lost and Never Found my loverly beta. Many thank yous to all of you for your patience! Word of note, Further Complications is the SEQUEL collection of short stories that follows Complicated Situations and they shall be posted as completed and each can pretty much stand alone as it were. I shall TRY to post them in chronological order. If you haven't read CS... I do recommend it. Or things here won't make sense. Enjoy!
July 8th, Saturday
The telephone sat there so innocently upon a rich brown varnished table. Sunlight gleamed off the black enamel and polished brass. It was more of a nod to the past, a replica of an antique telephone with buttons rather than circular dial, more to fit in with the style of the house and still remain a functional object, than an object of art. Logan stood next to the table stared at it and felt like it stared back, taunting him. He narrowed his eyes. He'd rather bash someone's brain with it than actually use it for the designed purpose.
As a general rule, Logan hated telephones. He could not understand, nor did he want to, the mindset that a person needed to be connected to everyone else in their social circle twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Oh, he understood their usefulness when certain troublesome protégés ran away without saying good-bye. Otherwise, he didn't use them and knew where this one was solely because he had to chase gabby teenagers away from it when they were supposed to be doing other things, like chores or sleeping. If he had something important and sometimes not so important to say, he'd track the person down for whom his message was intended and tell them in person with appropriate gestures and facial expressions or wait until that person called him and he wished them all the luck in the world actually getting him to answer. This personal approach was made easier by the fact most of his social circle lived in the same building. He had better uses for his time than picking up some mechanical contraption (that never worked when you needed it) and talking into it. When he left the school he carried a cell phone under sufferance and most of the time he didn't bother to turn it on. As much as he hated Alexander Graham Bell's invention, he loathed cell phones more, stupid idiotic tiny buttons.
Logan flexed his hands and cracked his neck, lip curling in disgust.
But, he had a problem, a certain young protégé had gone and gotten married. A state Chuck had tried to explain to him was holy, but so far Logan was skeptical of such claims especially when it involved Cajun "gentlemen" with occupations of dubious repute. Thusly, she no longer lived at the mansion anymore and further more she had not moved into the house her husband (a word Logan was wondering if he could scrub from the dictionary) was in the process of closing on yet. They were staying somewhere in the city and no one knew where. He could wait until she called (not likely) or dropped by (less likely) but that would not guarantee that she would have that husband of hers with her. And for the desired outcome of what Logan was planning, the husband was necessary.
Jubilee paused and blinked outside the door. Logan continued to stare at the phone in deep contemplation, brow furrowed, hands behind his back. Jubilee leaned forward and raised an eyebrow. "Um, Mister Logan, are you gonna, like, use that?"
Logan jerked and looked over at her. "Sure kid."
Her eyes widened and nodded once. She walked away to find some place to write down that Logan was going to use a telephone without a major freak out first. Someone had to mark the occasion.
Logan picked up the fancy receiver off the brass holder and dialed Marie's cell phone number from memory. A feat he did not admit to anyone, because everyone knew that he did not use telephones.
It rang twice.
"Rogue, and this had bettah be important." Marie said on the other end, voice lazy.
Logan pulled the receiver away from his ear and frowned at the little bell that passed as the mouth piece. He put it back against his ear. This was another reason he hated phones, one never knew what the person on the other end was doing. "Kid, do I need to know?"
"Ah'm takin' a bath, a nice bubble filled one." Marie giggled. Logan closed his eyes, like that. This younger generation had no boundaries about privacy. Marie continued. "Ah wouldn't pick up if Ah was occupied." She said. Logan pinched the end of his nose. He'd be grateful for that information later, he was positive. He heard the sound of water in the background and hoped she wasn't lying to him. "Remy's off getting Démon from the train station and takin' him to the boardin' stables. Ah thought Ah'd try the tub and give him a recommendation." She splashed some water as she must have moved an arm or a leg.
"Right." He muttered. He had no desire to know what would come after said recommendation. He could make some accurate guesses and it was mind scarring enough. "Your husband's uniform came in."
There was silence on the other end for about thirty seconds. "Yah got him a uniform." Marie didn't sound like she quite believed him.
Logan shifted his weight and looked down his nose. "I was going to order pink piping to match his powers, but Kitty already has it and would throw a fit if we took it away from her to give to a male." He kept his tone snide.
Marie interrupted before he could get any further, which was too bad because he had some choice things to say about her husband's masculinity. "Yah got him a uniform."
Logan ignored her. "So, I went with the next untaken girly color and chose purple instead." Which was a subtle insult in itself since Charles had let all the other choose their own colors.
Marie sounded distracted. "He likes purple."
Damn. Logan scowled. He wanted to pick on Remy about the pretty feminine colors of his powers and what they said about his personality. His irritation faded a bit.
"Logan-" She started.
"He impressed me." Logan growled, not liking to admit it.
"So, yah ordered him a uniform?" Marie asked, voice rising.
Logan's brow furrowed in suspicion. "You haven't told him."
"No." She paused. "Ah wanted it to be a surprise."
Logan rolled his eyes. "Sure." A surprise, he had no illusions that the fact there was a tight leather jumpsuit involved held no part in this decision.
"'Cause yah know that whole 'we're in security' thing." Marie trailed off.
"I don't want to know." Logan said by rote. That statement was a large can of worms that could remind unexamined forever if he had any say about it. The less he knew the better he'd sleep.
"Good thinkin'." She said and Logan heard more water splashing. "Ah'll be over in a bit, best get of this before Ah go all pruney, which ain't the least bit attractive."
For some reason Logan doubted Remy would care. "Fine." He grunted and hung up. Newlyweds.
He stared at the phone a few seconds longer, nodded his victory over the contraption, and walked away.
Marie bit her lip and held up the top of Remy's uniform, the trousers lay over one of the locker room's benches. She tilted her head and tried to imagine Remy in it. It really didn't matter. He'd look sexy in it, like he looked sexy no matter what he was or wasn't wearing. She sat down and put it on her knees. She knew better than to try to talk Logan out of something when he'd made up his mind, but part of her wanted to know his reasons. Her brain had been chewing on it ever since he'd mentioned it in their phone call and the psyche Logan in her brain was being suspiciously silent. It was flattering that Logan wanted Remy on the team. She also knew Logan didn't approve of Remy either. She fiddled with the zipper.
"Yah sure about this?" She asked and glanced at him.
Logan leaned against the nearest bank of lockers, cigar dangling out of his mouth. He tilted his head down and raised his eyebrows. "Yep."
"He blows things up."
"Could be useful."
"Yah don' even like him." She stopped moving the zipper up and down. "And he's mah husband," She paused as Logan twitched, "couldn't that be a problem?" She raised an eyebrow.
Logan half-smiled. "Jean and Scott manage as do 'Ro and I. You and Bobby never, all right, sometimes had problems. That was more his problem, not yours and Gumbo is a completely different personality than the Icicle." Logan crossed his arms. "Plus we could use his other skills."
Marie nodded slowly. She'd already thought of that for herself and virtually told Remy as much. She ran her fingers through her hair. "Ah'm just not sure-"
"Chuck approves and Scott gave the go ahead." Logan said and paused as her eyes widened.
Marie wanted to know what had Logan told the Professor and Scott that Scott would agree to let Remy on the team without even meeting him first. Scott always had to vet the new members, always.
Logan continued as he realized that Marie wasn't going to say anything. Besides, something was bugging him and he knew the whole surprise thing couldn't be the whole reason she had stayed silent. "Why haven't you told him, kid?"
Marie sighed and she worked her fingers out of some tangles. This was part of what she'd been worrying over for the past few hours. "Ah just don' know if he'd approve." She pressed her lips together. "Of anythin' but the uniform." Not that Remy had any sort of high ground to stand on. He was a professional Thief. Damn it, they just didn't know enough about each other for her to be able to predict his reaction.
"It's an offer. He can say no." Logan wiggled his foot. He doubted the Cajun would once Remy knew that Marie was on the team.
"But what if he wants me to stop?" Marie bit her lip and crossed her arms.
"Not gettin' involved with that one." There was not a chance in hell that he was stepping between two newlyweds and what could be their first major argument. No. He was going to take bets, break open a beer and settle in for a good show.
Marie sighed. Some help Logan was. "Yah think he's good enough."
"You know the answer to that already."
"Good enough to be an X-Man, but not mah husband." She narrowed her eyes at him. Logan grinned at her. She rolled her eyes. Logan could be such an overprotective daddy. "Ah'll be upstairs, waitin' for mah husband."
He glanced at her uniform, which for some reason she'd insisted on putting on even before he'd shown her Remy's. It had to be the third or fourth one she'd gone though but it was just as tight and revealing as the first one, especially ever since she'd absorbed Carol she'd taken to wearing it with the zipper tab under her breasts. "In that?"
She smiled at him. "Ah have to tell him somehow." She walked past him, hips swaying.
Logan wondered if it would be best to flee the mansion before the hormones started, because there was little doubt in his mind that there would be hormones aplenty.
Remy twirled the key ring of the rented truck around his finger as he bounced up the stairs to the front door of Xavier's his mind a whirl of thoughts varying between his wife and his horse and back to his wife, for his wife was a more beautiful topic to linger on. He'd left his wife contemplating the large Jacuzzi tub in their penthouse suite with full plans on trying it out and he'd been happily planning on returning to the hotel and joining her in the vanilla scented bubbles. Partially to work the kinks out of his muscles from dealing with one high spirited, unhappy and stubborn stallion and partially because it was his newlywed gorgeous naked wife in a bubble bath and just the thought was enough to make him salivate over the idea of nibbling down her neck and other places.
Then she'd called and asked him to pick her up at Xavier's though she didn't say how she'd gotten there or why she was there to begin with. He sighed, only slightly disappointed about the bath. He could always play out his fantasy later, he supposed.
He opened the door, went through the atrium and opened the second set of doors into the foyer with his eyes still on the door as he let it go. He turned his attention to the room and caught sight of his wife. Posed against a random piece of furniture, waiting for him. He stopped, unable to move any further. The door shut behind him and he couldn't remember the simple involuntary motions of breathing or having his heartbeat. Skintight black leather clung to all her curves and left absolutely nothing to the imagination. A zipper tab rested at the base of her breasts, tempting him to go over and pull it the rest of the way down. His mouth dried and then he had to swallow hard to get rid of the excess saliva.
He found his heartbeat, ability to breathe and truncated thoughts all at the same time, yet somehow they now featured peeling his wife out of wet leather and licking every bit of pale skin he could find and mon Dieu. "Cherie," He licked his lips. "What is dat?"
Marie smiled at him, shifted her weight off one hip and stood straight from where she had been leaning back against, Remy thought it might have been some sort of table. She sauntered over to him, the dark green piping of the jumpsuit moving with her sway and attracting his gaze. She laid glove covered hands on his chest and he jerked his eyes upwards and away from her cleavage and noted in some odd section of his brain that was strangely still working despite the rest being scrambled by honeysuckle, oranges, vanilla and leather that her eyes an the piping matched.
Her bottom lip jutted out slightly. "It's mah uniform, do yah like it?" She asked. Uniform, his brain wheezed. Somehow he didn't think it was her school uniform, despite the little Xs on the collar. She smiled at him and he was so out of it he didn't see the trouble behind it. She leaned upwards and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. His hands came up and grabbed her hips automatically. "Yers is downstairs, would yah try it on for me?"
The world hiccupped for a far too long moments as Remy about had a heart attack. He stared at his wife in total and complete incomprehension. His, but – "Remy already has a uniform."
Her brow furrowed. "Yah do?"
"For work." He clarified, amazed he could answer her at all.
She blinked. "Yah have uniforms for that." It was more of a statement than a question. He answered anyways.
"Oui."
She bit her lip. "When do Ah get to see yah in this uniform?"
Remy didn't know. He actually hadn't thought about that before. "Sometime," he hedged to make up for the fact he was barely thinking right now and it more about how he could suck and nibble on that lip she was abusing.
She jutted said lip out in a small pout. "It still ain't an X-Men uniform, and Ah wanna see yah in one of ours." She slid her hands upwards and wrapped her arms about his neck, pressing her body against him. "Please, sugar." She stroked the back of his neck with her fingers, rubbing her body against his. It'd only been a few hours, but she missed the feel of him against her and the warmth he exuded. And she really, really wanted to see him in complete black leather.
Mon Dieu, she could tempt a saint when she did that. "Oui, bien." He said, voice husky. He leaned down and kissed her, their mouths opening and tongues tangling. He squeezed her hips under his hands and pulled away slowly as her words registered in his befuddled brain. "X-Men." He paused. "Yah are a part of de X-Men." He knew about the X-Men, all one had to do was watch the news to know about them, but he didn't know more than the news did and that source varied depending on if one talked to the civilians or to law enforcement. Who were they and how did they know of the trouble to get to it so quickly, mysterious, uncanny, vigilantes, protecting the innocent? And his wife was one of them. Marie reached down and grabbed one of his hands, spun on her heel and about dragged him after her further into the mansion. Remy's mind continued to ramble. His wife was a her- had a nice ass- ro. His eyes were glued to the way the leather molder to her butt. He didn't say anything or even seem to notice as she pulled him into and out of an elevator and down the sterile steel corridors to the X-Men locker room. He didn't particularly care to look at anything else but her, content to follow her and her fine ass wherever she lead. Part of him faintly tried to tell him that this could get him into trouble someday. A deeper part of him reminded him that it already had, not that he really cared.
They entered a room of sorts, he didn't remember a door, which Remy didn't know the purpose of, nor did he care. Marie spun about on her toes and shoved him against a flat surface, kissing him hard. He grabbed her hips and pulled her against him, kissing her back deepening the kiss. Marie whimpered against his mouth, then tore away from his kiss to press her lips down his chin and along his neck. Her fingers worked at the little buttons of his shirt out from their buttonholes. He tilted his head back, lips parted and as she exposed skin, she kissed down his chest. She wasn't really thinking, nothing more than about Remy's skin and tasting him and trying to make him make noise. She slid one gloved hand under his shirt and stroked along the creases of his muscles as she used her teeth on one his nipples. He groaned and she smiled in triumph, continuing to kiss downwards. He didn't quite reach his belly button before he reached down and tried to grab her taunting zipper tab so he could exact some sort of revenge or repay her in kind for how she was making him feel. She grabbed his wrist and forced it against the locker.
"No." She said, looking upwards.
"Sha." He whined.
She straightened and kissed him. Their lips met and parted over and over. Remy's free hand cupped her butt and squeezed.
Logan entered the room and stopped in the open space that passed for a doorway, the non-existent doorway. He closed his eyes as Remy and Marie continued their little show, that he could hear all too well. He'd known this would happen and he'd come back downstairs anyways. He counted backwards from ten as Cueball had counseled for gaining patience or something. Logan wasn't sure it worked. He hit the mental zero and cleared his throat, not at all willing to open his eyes and see, whatever it was he'd interrupted, something he didn't want to even dignify with a word for fear of mental scarring.
Marie and Remy parted slightly, the throat clearing somehow penetrating the haze. They looked over towards the source of the noise. Marie's nose wrinkled.
"Logan, why are yer eyes closed?"
Logan opened one eye. "Oh, it's safe now." He opened the other.
Marie blinked. "Ah was just helpin' him get undressed."
Logan didn't want to pursue that death trap considering what her version of help seemed to be. His mouth had other ideas. "It might go faster if you stopped."
Remy pouted. "But what if Remy wants her help?"
Marie repressed a grin and tried to pout too. "Yeah. He wants me."
Logan raised an eyebrow at her. Marie rolled her eyes and stepped away or as far as Remy's hand would let her, so no more than a few inches. Remy glanced about and finally realized that he wasn't really in a room at all, but an open space off a longer hallway, a rather large alcove. Bright white lights lined the top and bottoms of the walls and everything had a rather terrible modern sleek sameness to it. Even the lockers of what he assumed were lockers that he was leaning against, free standing metal rectangles without obvious hinges or handles made out of the same metal as the rest of the facility.
There was lighter to the other side of him so he turned his head. In glass fronted white cases, more leather jumpsuits were displayed much like the one his wife was wearing in male and female versions. In fact, one of the cases was empty. It was sterile and clean and he felt like he'd stepped into a stainless steel version of the Enterprise, without the carpeting to soften things. He turned his head back and realized both his wife and Logan were giving him long unwavering looks as if assessing him for something.
"Oui?"
"Well, are you goin' to try it on or not?" Logan growled.
"Oui, Remy is but-"
"Then let go of Rogue and hop to it, Gumbo."
"Does Remy have to hop?" Remy asked. Marie snickered. Remy leaned forward and kissed her once gently and then let her go. He pulled his shirt out of his pants.
"No." Logan said.
"Remy can hop if yah think it'd be helpful." Remy reached down and took his boots off being careful not to touch the bottoms. "Remy might hop anyways." He said and tugged at the other boot.
Logan made a face. Marie giggled and sat down on the bench next to what Remy assumed was his uniform. Remy unbuckled his belt, undid the zipper of his pants and never being one to care about modesty, shucked his jeans without a thought. He wasn't wearing anything underneath.
Logan opened his mouth to comment. And then caught Rogue looking at him with a raised eyebrow as if to remind him that he only wore boxers because Ororo insisted and that he had his own tendencies to shuck all his clothes without care for his surroundings. Logan wisely shut his mouth.
Remy picked up the top of the uniform and then the bottom and examined them for a few minutes. He figured they seemed despite their construction to be ordinary enough clothes and stuffed his legs into the pants bending as he did. Marie bit her lip and mimed slapping his butt. Logan grinned. Remy looked sideways at her and she smiled at him. He picked up the top of the suit without comment and shrugged it on. Marie stood and pulled up the zipper for him grinning as she did up the belt.
He pointed at the piping. "Look cherie, purple."
Logan smirked. "It was the only color we had left, pretty purple."
Remy ignored him. "He must have detected Remy's inborn regal personality." He posed, mimicking some portrait of a monarch with his arm stretched out. Marie pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.
Logan snorted. "Royal pain in the ass."
Remy let his hand fall and grinned. He turned about and peered over his shoulder. "Yer ass looks bettah, cherie."
Marie wrinkled her nose. "Seems more than fine to me, sugar."
"But it appears to be missin' pockets. Gonna have to wear a coat." Remy patted the suit down.
Marie wrapped her arms around him, her front pressing into his back. "Good, cause yer ass is mine."
Logan was much more to the point. "Why?"
Remy twisted at the waist to look at Logan, Marie still pressed against him. "Gotta have someplace to hide Remy's cards, throwing spikes and stars and de staff."
Logan grunted. It figured Gumbo would need an arsenal.
Remy bounced on his toes. "T'is is surprisin'ly comfortable. It just needs some armor." Even his Guild uniform had armor.
"Part of winnin' a fight is avoidin' blows." Logan scowled at him.
Marie rolled her eyes. "Don' listen to him. He gets hit more than anyone else on the team. It may look like leather, sugar, but it ain't and it absorbs impact pretty well."
"Speakin' from personal experience, cherie?" Remy picked up one of the hands that was holding him around the waist and kissed the back of it. She twisted it around so their fingers intertwined.
She grimaced. "Unfortunately."
"Meet the second most hit person on the team." Logan waved a hand at her.
"Ah dodge bettah t'an yah do. It ain't like yah even bother to try." Marie cocked her hip.
Remy could sense a fight brewing and decided it was time to change the subject. "It's a nice uniform, but what it t'is about anyways?"
Logan glared at Marie and then turned his attention to Remy. "It's an offer, bub."
Marie let him go and came around to look at his face. "What Logan is tryin' to say is that he," she paused and bit her lip, "we, want yah on our team, the X-Men."
Remy glanced down and tugged on the ends of the sleeves. "Me, sha? Remy ain't precisely de hero-" he trailed off, "yah know, de type dat does good works."
Logan sighed. "We've already got enough angels on our side, we could use a few more devils too."
Remy glanced up. "Maybe yah don' understand. Remy's a Thief and Ah don' plan on stoppin'." Partly because he couldn't. He owed his family too much to stop. And the other part was he was good at what he did and he enjoyed it. If he had more of a conscience, it might have made him squirm. The idea of him being on the X-Men and people looking up to him when he wasn't anything proper or good that anyone normal would want that their kids looking up to him, did make him squirm a bit for reasons he couldn't quite explain.
"Remy, sugar," Marie put a hand on his arm interrupting his thoughts and he looked down into her eyes. "We ain't gonna ask yah to stop. We're askin' yah to help by usin' yer skills for us too."
"It'd make some mission damn easier if he would open a door without setting the whole facility on high alert." Logan grumbled.
"But-" Remy stared down at his hands. "A hero?" Him? That was an extremely odd notion. It was one thing Marie being a hero. In fact, it was kind of cute and sexy. Him? He couldn't quite fathom being the one to set right wrongs. He was usually doing what the rest of the world considered wrong.
Marie widened her eyes. "Yah could try it on for size for a bit, see how yah like it. Yah don't- yah-" She stumbled trying to find the right word "-if it ain't workin' for yah, yah could stop, no hard feelin's."
Remy's eyes narrowed and he met her gaze. "And yah won't."
Marie felt a bit helpless and she bit her lip, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "This is kind of what to me what bein' a Thief is to yah. Ah don't know if Ah could, uniform or not." Marie shifted her weight on her feet.
He looked down at his hand again, his left hand and the wedding ring that was placed on his ring finger. He didn't know what vows they had said but he remembered the general gist of the ones that were often said at weddings. And he'd married her for her, for better or for worse and if this were a part of her, he would have to accept it. He could try it out and leave if it didn't fit right but part of him balked at that. He didn't like the idea of Marie going off to fight and right wrongs without him being by her side to be able to help her, to be beside her, to protect her if he could. Besides, it was the X-Men. And they wanted him on their team. How awesome was that? Remy slowly smiled and met her eyes under his lashes. "Have Ah reminded yah today how cool yah are?"
Marie grinned back. "Not today."
Logan felt like gagging, all their lovey doevey nonsense was enough to make him nauseous.
"Mais, yah are." Remy looked down and wiggled his toes. "Remy will need some boots."
Marie's face lit up. "Yes!" She shouted, jumping on him and wrapping her arms around his neck.
Logan struggled not to roll his eyes. "Those are custom made. Kid, let him go so we can measure him for boots and gloves."
Marie planted a kiss on Remy's cheek and let go grinning. "Thank yah, sugar." She whispered. She knew that Remy couldn't know what she was thanking him for, but she needed to say it.
Logan turned and walked down the hall. "Oh, and Gumbo, in the X-Men we wear underwear with our uniforms."
Remy made a face at Logan's back while Marie began to laugh hysterically, floating in the air and when Remy tried to question her with a glance, she shook her head repeatedly, refusing to explain.
Charles' chair propelled itself forward as he pushed the lever that made the complicated process, or depending on one's intelligence, not so complicated process that sent electricity to the motor that turned the wheels that made it go forward. His attention was more upon Scott and the upcoming plans that they had for the students who remained at the mansion during the summer, which turned the place more into a camp than a school. Charles was keen to take advantage of some of the summer activities and festivals that the city provided. And to that end, Scott had acquired a large stack of pamphlets and papers for his approval. Up ahead of them the elevator opened and Remy and Marie exited. Remy's arm wrapped around his wife as she talked to him about something. Charles though he heard the word bathtub, but wasn't sure. Charles wasn't sure he wanted to know given Remy's big grin.
He smiled. It was hard not to smile at how happy they were. "Ahh, Remy, Marie." He said loud enough to catch their attention and interrupting Scott's droning.
Remy smiled back at him. "Bonjour."
Marie turned, a slight flush on her cheeks as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Professor, back from Europe already?"
Charles stopped his chair in front of them, forcing Scott to stop as well. "I was just passing through on my way to Washington to consult with Hank." Charles nodded. "I did want to talk with the both of you at some point."
Remy's eyebrow rose. "Oui?"
Marie lowered her eyes, a smile twitching on her lips. "We were just passin' through ourselves. Remy was tryin' on his uniform."
Scott grinned. "It fits, I hope."
Marie glanced over at Remy, smiling and eyes lit up like stars. "He's quite handsome in it."
Remy flashed another grinned and leaned over, gently kissing his wife. "Bon." He rumbled. Scott's lips twitched. The two of them had to be giving Logan fits. Remy looked at Charles. "Remy shall have to get a new coat, Remy's current one won' match de rest of de outfit."
Charles nodded as if he knew what Remy was talking about. "I can give you the name of the concern who does our uniforms and they can work something up for you in the same materials."
"Merci beaucoup." Remy nodded.
Charles looked ovar at Scott. "I don't believe you two have been formally introduced. This is Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops. He's the team Captain."
Scott held out his hand.
Remy took it and shook. "Remy Lebeau, Anna Marie's husband." He smiled. "Some call Remy Gambit, ot'ers Le Diable Blanc."
Scott tilted his head. "Good to meet you." He then grinned. "Congratulations on your wedding."
Remy looked at Marie and they grinned at each other. "Merci."
Scott wanted to bounce on his toes, however that wasn't dignified for someone his age and he didn't want to betray how pleased he was over the way they were acting. Yes, Logan must be having hives. Scott didn't dare rub his hands together for fear of odd looks, but the snark he could tease the other man with. Scott wanted to cackle. Charles, who could hear it all in Scott's mind, repressed a sigh. Scott turned on his toes. "I'll go look into those activities further, Professor." He said and walked away, shoulder's straight and pace brisk.
Marie raised an eyebrow. "What's gotten into him?"
Charles started forward again, pleased when Marie and Remy fell in step with him. "The prospect of picking on Logan about your marital bliss."
Marie's brow furrowed. "It ain' like Scott an Jean are married."
"I believe it's the principle of the thing and the way romance in general seems to drive Logan crazy."
"Wakin' up on the wrong side of the bed drives Logan crazy." Marie pointed out and knew that there were some people who believed that Logan woke up on the wrong side of bed every single day.
Remy tapped a beat on Marie's hip with is fingers. "It's male bonding, cherie. T'ere's no use tryin' to explain it."
"There's nothin' to explain. Scott and Logan have been like this since day one." Marie waved a hand and Remy opened the Professor's office door for him and let the two of them enter before him.
Charles spun his around and gestured for them to find a seat, which they did. "This is quite true." He folded his hands together and observed. Marie slid as close to Remy as she could on the couch, snuggling up into his side as his arm wrapped around her. She rested her head on his shoulder. The smile on Charles' face never faded. They both seemed quite happy still. The newness of the relationship probably accounted for some of that. Charles decided it was time to change the subject from Logan and Scott's rather testy buddy relationship and to something more important to the two of them. "I've had some time to study Taisie's mutation more in depth since I last saw you." He said without preamble. It had been quite helpful to have her in front of him to work on the tangible rather than the abstract theory.
"And yah want to share what yah have learned, oui?" Remy asked, voice dry. Geniuses, they felt they must always explain the mysterious.
Charles nodded. "Partially because you may need to hear it, especially in the upcoming months when others or even your inner conflicts or arguments as a couple might try to sow doubts in your mind over each others suitability."
Marie reached for Remy's hand at the same time his reach for hers and somehow managed to connect and entwine without looking at each other. "We've both got a lot at stake here, Professor." She said it quietly. "Ah ain't used to backin' down."
"Nor do I want you to." Charles leaned back. "I also want you to understand what has happened to you and how it works."
His mind drifted back to the days when they were searching for the answer to what had happened to the newlyweds. It hadn't been until after Charles had visited them that their searches had become more defined. From Charles preliminary findings in Cerebro, Hank had stayed up all night writing mathematical formulae on a holographic type white board in the Danger Room, his numbers and symbols glowing bright blue in the air with no real board to hold them. Hank's brow had been furrowed in thought, sleeves rolled up as he kicked off his shoes and at times hung upside down by his toes claiming it helped him think better. His numbers had become more complex after Charles had returned from New Orleans.
Scott had been nearby listening and using his knowledge in trigonometry, geometry and as a pilot. He drew circles and lines on a large holographic map, narrowing the map's field as they came across better data. All to try and help determine the general source of the wave frequencies that Hank was defining in to numbers on his board, working backwards and bouncing theories. Then had come the long hours where he sat in Cerebro and tried to turn those theories into hard facts brushing against hundreds of minds in the general areas that they thought the waves originated from, ghostly images of people appearing before him and just as quickly vanishing, looking for the one with that same psychic orchestral resonation as was between Marie and Remy. It had been long hours of work that had helped him understand in part Taisie's power and then more so as he had finally gotten to examine her mind up close and see where her powers lay.
Charles brought his mind back to the present with the practiced ease of someone who often reigned in their thoughts through meditation. "Taisie is a psychic bridge. She has the power to sort out from hundreds of minds, two minds who are compatible, so to speak, with each other and then activates the portions of the brain that cause people to fall in love even if the couple is miles apart and unaware of the others existence. Her power then continues to bridge the two minds together using the bridge to draw the two people together like magnets. And she does it unconsciously without being aware of it and it can be strongly influenced by her emotional state."
Marie swallowed. "That's bad, right?"
Charles sighed. "She will eventually have control over it." He smiled tightly. "But things shall be interesting around here until then." He paused. "As with most mutant powers, she has the ability to do as much harm as good."
"Not all fairytales have happy endings." Remy murmured, his hand tightened on Marie's.
"Exactly. The consequences of 'true love' are endless and not everyone wants to be with their true love or wants to know if they have one at all for fear of who they might be." Charles could come up with all sorts of scenarios from an already married person, to someone of the same gender or even large age gaps or close relatives. That and Taisie could also break minds apart as well. It depended strongly on her feelings and her will. Both Marie and Remy had been unhappy in love and to a degree, Charles believed, life. The uncertainty of their future, the lackluster natures of those they had developed close romantic relationships with and while Charles was uncertain of Remy's past though he'd picked up some of it from the minds of his family and before his adoption it had not been particularly pleasant, he was certain that Marie's past had played a hand in her unhappiness as well. Both wanted and needed the love that a structured and supportive relationship provided and both wanted to be happy. Taisie's will had allowed that to come to pass.
"Dat don' explain de amnesia." Remy shifted on the couch.
Charles nodded. "Taisies power is a purely psychic power and it operates much on the same principles that telepathy or empathy do." He said. Remy started a little, but didn't say anything. Charles continued, noting the reaction. "Psychic powers work in the electromagnetic spectrum and thus, like colors or sound they function as waves with a signature oscillation and frequencies. A person with psychic powers can control portions of these waves and manipulate them to their bidding, such as planting or hearing thoughts in another person's minds or feeling another persons emotions." Charles said and Remy nodded as if confirming a theory he had. Charles didn't give him a chance to say anything. "When Taisie's powers manifested, a very strong psychic wave spread out over the country side with her as the center of it. You both were relatively close by and were hit exceptionally hard. It was the equivalent of someone hitting hard enough to give you a psychic concussion."
"But Ah don't remember any pain." Marie bit her lip and looked up at Remy. He shook his head.
"It wasn't that type of slap." Charles said gravely. "In turn, your brains radiated or reflected back the same frequency hitting those around you and having the interesting side effect of making them want to help you just as the power activating your brains brought all your wants and needs in a relationship and for a wedding to the fore of your minds, everyone who met you wanted to do their best to make sure it happened the way you desired."
Remy's foot jiggled. Long explanations made him want to pace. "So de amnesia was like a psychic band aid."
"That is one way of putting it. The brain is an organic computer that transmits messages electrically. Your body channels electricity, has a small magnetic field and emits light. Taisie's first wave of power was like a miniature EMP. It overloaded your brains and caused amnesia during the time the wave was the strongest and temporary amnesia with those you interacted with. Once your brain could handle the electrical output, you started remembering things again." Charles spread his hands and put them back together. He let them process this.
Remy blinked. "Two days?"
"It was a very powerful manifestation." Charles said, his face solemn. Marie and Remy glanced at each other and it seemed that they knew something about powerful mutations manifesting because they didn't say anything. Charles continued. "One last thing, because she has created a connection between your minds, that wave is between the two of you now reflecting back and forth. The longer you are together, the more stable it will become and the longer it will reach. You may find you have a hard time being physically separated for more than a few hours for some time." Normally Charles doubted it would be a problem but because of the strength of the manifestation and the way it had rushed the process, Charles thought it only fair to warn them that the bond could be fragile.
"T'en it's a good t'in' dat school don' start until September, oui?" Remy said lightly.
Marie poked Remy and asked what she felt was the important question. "It won't hurt us, will it?"
"Not physically, however it may be quite emotionally distressing. Strong relationships take time to build." Charles said.
Marie smiled at him. "And we got nothin' but time, Professor."
Remy pulled her a little closer. He wasn't sure if the Professor was speaking the truth or not, but he would take any excuse to be around his wife more often than not that he could grab and run away with.
Charles recognized the truth of that statement. They were young. They had plenty of time. "Otherwise, is everything going well?" He asked.
Remy grinned. "We should be movin' into de house next week, as soon as it closes."
"Excellent." Charles said. That was good news indeed and it should keep them busy and together. "Let me find the name of that concern for your coat and then I must be on my way." Charles flipped the switch on his chair, backed up and then turned to go around to the other side of his desk.
"Merci, Professor." Remy stood and helped Marie. "Dat would be most helpful."
Charles pulled out one of his business cards and wrote the name and number of the business that handled the uniforms on the back. "You're quite welcome, Remy. I look forward to seeing you in action on the team. Logan spoke highly of your skills."
Remy shrugged. He wasn't sure if he should be proud or not. Those skills had helped him survive for many years and he had worked hard to get them. He'd needed them. "As long as yah find dem useful."
Charles held the card out for Remy. "Your skills could help save lives, Gambit." He said with conviction. Remy took the card. Charles smiled at him. "Welcome to the X-Men."
Remy palmed the card, his head tilted and he smiled, but didn't say anything. There wasn't anything to say. He turned and escorted Marie out of the office and just before the door closed, Charles heard him say something along of the lines, "Now, yah were sayin' about t'is bathtub."
Charles sorted out his desk and his mind led him to the logical conclusion of newlyweds and a bathtub. He inwardly laughed.
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Upcoming in Further Complications... Marie and Remy move into their new house and Marie has promises to keep...