Author's Note: An update in less than 36 hours is not exactly an everyday occurrence here at Shostakovich, Inc.
Again, please go easy on me. It's still my first X-Men: Evolution fic, so please don't judge too hard. :-P
Also, there has been a question as to whether Marie Thibeau, Mercy's sister, is Rogue. The answer is no, for a few reasons, the major one (for now) being that Rogue is from Mississippi, Mercy and her family are from Louisiana, and I am not writing an AU story. I apologize for the confusion— it seemed obvious to me that Marie Thibeau couldn't be Rogue, and I failed to recognize that not everyone knows as much about my story as me. Again, sorry about the confusion. Next chapter, I promise, will certainly confirm this for any nonbelievers! Thanks for your patience.
As always, read, review, and enjoy! — Alex
.
.
Surprisingly, Mercy was almost excited to introduce her sister to her boyfriend. Marie's rationality and finesse with money would impress Henri— if nothing else. And maybe Remy would be less... fascinating if he was dumbstruck by Marie's poker ability.
Saturday morning, Mercy drove the thirty minutes over to her parent's house in Destrehan to pick Marie up.
Marie and Mercy's parents lived on one side of a two-family house, about a ten-minute drive from where Mercy had grown up. Once she and Mike had gone off to an apartment and school, respectively, Paul and Caroline relocated with an 11-year old Marie to a smaller, cheaper place.
Now, four years later, Mercy was used to and almost enjoyed the half-hour ride. She still sometimes went there on Sundays, once a month perhaps, and spent a few days a month visiting with her sister.
Today was the last time Mercy would see her sister before Marie's summer break, and her parents had asked Mercy to please not take too long since Marie should study for finals.
Mercy hadn't made any promises, since she knew Marie too well to assume anything about how long things could take. Marie could make a quick trip to Starbucks take three hours and dinner at a sit-down restaurant take twenty minutes.
So no promises.
.
.
Mercy parked her car on the street and stepped out, straightening her jean skirt. She slammed shut the door and glanced up at her sister's window.
"I'm here, Merce."
Mercy flinched and darted her eyes down to the front stoop. Marie was sitting on the bottom step, her long legs crossed in front of her. Mercy grinned.
"Hi, Marie."
Marie stood and stretched her arms over her head. "Hey." She strode over to Mercy and gave her sister a quick hug. "What's the plan? Quick bite and coffee?" She smirked. "I'll be quick this time, I promise."
Laughing, Mercy shook her head. "Actually, we're going to go into the city."
Marie stepped back. "You know I hate the city."
"I know, I know." Mercy kept herself from rolling her eyes with some difficulty. Marie hated crowds, something Mercy never understood. The city was so full of life— but then again, Marie was hardly the liveliest of people. "Henri just wanted to meet you, that's all. I can call him if you like, and—"
"Whoa, wait a sec. Your boyfriend wants to meet me?" Mercy nodded, and Marie started to laugh as she headed towards the car. "Wow. Oh boy."
Mercy threw Marie a dirty look. "It's not funny."
"What're you talking about? It's hilarious. You've had this boyfriend for what, three months? And he wants to meet me? You went out with Andrew for more than a year, and he never wanted to meet us." Marie glanced at Mercy as they drove back towards the highway to New Orleans. "Hopefully this one's smarter than Andy."
Mercy tightened her hands around the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. "Yeah, he is." She tried to relax when she felt her sister's eyes on her. "Henri's smart. And we're gonna play cards." She took a deep breath. "His brother's supposed to be good."
"Is that so." Marie cracked her knuckles.
"Ugh, I wish you wouldn't do that. It's disgusting."
Marie rolled her eyes. "At least I'm not selling my soul to the devil or anything."
"You're on the computer so much you might as well be."
"I happen to be making more money than you, so don't judge me for being a computer geek. At least I'm not an airhead."
Mercy bit back a response as Marie pulled her mp3 player from her purse. She stuck a pair of headphones in her ears, leaned back in her seat, and closed her eyes.
"Wake me when we get there."
.
.
Twenty-two minutes later, Mercy pulled up to Henri's family's place. The driveway was long, and Mercy tried not to look smug when Marie saw the house.
House wasn't really the right word for the work of art that the LeBeau mansion was.
"Jee-sus Christ."
The place leaked opulence, and Marie was already loving it.
"You didn't tell me he was loaded."
"Well, sweetie, you never thought to ask."
.
.
Remy LeBeau watched from a window in the living room upstairs as Mercy and her sister walked from their car to the house.
Mercy's golden hair shone in the sun, and so did her smile. She was pretty; hell, Henri had repeatedly called her gorgeous. Remy had no problem sympathizing with his brother for falling so hard for her. She was as sweet as his aunt Ameline, who never had a mean word for anyone, and just smart enough to complement Henri without catching on.
Remy frowned when he focused on Mercy's sister.
Mercy might have been too caught up with Henri to notice anything unusual about the LeBeau family, but her sister looked like someone who'd pick up on everything. She turned her head this way and that, taking it all in.
She even ran her eyes over all the windows in the house, startling Remy when she didn't hold his gaze.
Maybe they'd be lucky enough to stay under the radar after all.
.
.
Marie did notice the figure standing in the window, but she was too busy checking that all the windowsills were parallel to the ground to care. Doubtlessly she'd meet them later.
Mercy had already rung the doorbell, and she was literally bouncing on the balls of her feet. Marie shook her head, half amused, half horrified. Mercy was either really into this guy, or she was getting some really good compensation.
From the way that her sister's face lit up when the door opened and the smile on the man who stood in the doorway, she had a feeling it was more than just sex.
.
.
Mercy could tell that Marie thought she was being childish, but Henri was worth the ridiculing glances. She took his hand and led him towards Marie.
"Marie, this is Henri. Henri, this is Marie."
She watched Marie size Henri up as Henri did the same to her.
"Enchantée, p'ti' Marie." He shook her hand carefully. "Min' if I call you T. Marie? 'S got a nice ring." Marie shrugged, the sides of her mouth curling up.
"Sure. Mind if I call you Big Henri?"
Henri burst out into a belly laugh that made Mercy smile.
Finally she could appreciate Marie's dry humor, and it made Henri laugh in a way that made her glad she'd met him. He didn't laugh like that very often, but every time he did, Mercy felt blessed to have found him.
He caught her around the waist and beckoned Marie to follow them.
"Let's play cards."