"So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos and memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life." Good Riddance, Green Day.

After spending the afternoon with their friends, they strolled back to their rented apartment hand in hand. Each of them sporting two effortless smiles on their faces, sighing as they went, exuding happiness through their pores, they looked very much their part of newlyweds.

"So what were you girls were talking so excitedly about when I went outside for a cigarette?" he asked curiously with a smirk on his face.

"Well, nothing much, just X-gossip." She giggled. He raised an eyebrow humorously and a lopsided grin split his face in half. "So… Can I hear it too?" She laughed at that.

"I guess you can, Mister LeBeau. But only if you promise to compensate me for that as soon as we get home."

"For that, you don't need to ask or bargain, chére." And kissed her check and pressed her shoulder as they walked. "Now, come on! Spill it out."

"OK, they talked about it nonchalantly but I think this one is huge." She spoke enthusiastically. "Emma and Scott have totally been fooling around for months now and we didn't know!"

"Speak for yourself, petite. That ship has set sail ever since she joined us."

"Really? Well, I don't like her much. What's with that fashion of hers? Dressing like that or should I say forgetting to get dressed?" She rolled her eyes as she mentioned the very unusual way Emma had of walking around in her lingerie as if they were regular clothes.

"She probably knows you don't like her. These psychopaths, I mean, telepaths are weirdoes. Xavier is the only one whom I am fond of."

"On top of that, she was a foe of ours!" she exclaimed.

"Well, you were one too, petite. That's why we should not judge. We have all been in darker places before." His words of wisdom blew her mind. He was right, who were they to say anything about Emma. She didn't remember him being exactly a foe of the X-Men. Perhaps he was referring to the time he ended up as Death, one of the apocalypse horsemen, or maybe he was talking about his dark secret he would never share, not with her, the one he'd always claimed to have feelings for, not even with his closest friend Storm.

She felt silent for a while as those dark thoughts roamed her mind. He seemed to be absorbed in his own considerations as well, that was until Rogue broke the silence with a shriek, going back to what they were discussing before.

"And, you won't believe the last part!" Remy blinked at her excited words, she had obviously broken his stream of thoughts, taking away his momentarily concerned expression away. She smiled at her, full of interest on her again. The urge to kiss her washed over him, she was so sweet and looked so innocent at times, even though he knew just how tough that beautiful lady who owned his heart could get. "Well, she's been keeping it much to herself lately and has been sick during breakfast twice or three times. The talk is that she might be pregnant."

"Really?" Then a mix of fear and excitement filled his whole being. He always wore protection whenever he had sex, but had completely forgotten all about it with his chére. And, as she was certainly not expecting to initiate her sexual life when she left the mansion, he was sure she wasn't on pills or any other contraceptives. 'Should he talk about it now? If anything was to happen, it could probably have happened already anyway.' He pondered. Funny thing is that she probably didn't notice his panic stricken face when she shrieked in excitement at the sight of one photo booth.

"Awww, a photobooth, Remy! Let's take a picture of us! I want to remember these days forever."

'We might have a reason not to ever forget it already.' He thought but didn't share his feelings about it.

"Why are you suddenly so silent? Come on! Let's go inside." She insisted. He gave in to her insistence and held the little curtain open for her to follow him in. His mop of a chocolate hair fell over his face as he turned his head, directing his attention to her once again. Noticing that, she raised her hand and gently swept his hair away from his eyes and tucked a lock of his hair behind his ear. He smiled at her.

Upon entering the booth, he closed the curtain for privacy. He sat down on the little stool, his fingers dug in her tiny waist and he pulled his woman to his lap. The instructions displayed on the screen prior to the start of the session offering tips for positioning in the center of the frame, reminders to smile in to the lens versus staring at the LCD screen, as well as instructions to press the illuminated start button whenever they were ready. Being so close to him after a whole afternoon without feeling his warm body against her made her heart skip a beat. She turned around and cupped his face into her soft hands and kissed him passionately. Without looking at it, he stretched his long arm, pushed Rogue forward a little as he pressed the illuminated start button that activates the photo booth session. It gave them some last-second reminders and began a fast count down from 4 and then quickly displayed a smiley face along with arrows pointing towards the lens while the flash fires. They didn't see any of that happening though because they were concentrating on their mind blowing kiss, his hands caressing her back tenderly as they went, his beautiful belle moaning softly against his lips. It took him all his self-control to ignore his yearning for her body, he was dying to having her undressed and push it into her fast and deep the way she liked it right there and then.

His expectations were short lived though. After the final shot wass taken and the screen in the booth quickly displayed the final message of approval, it then thanked them for using the photo booth and asked them to exit the booth to retrieve their prints.

As Anna Marie picked up the photos, she stared with an amused expression. "Wow! Don't we look hot, Mister?" She asked her with a teasing smile.

"We surely do, Mrs. LeBeau." He replied with his lips stretched into a smile. She remembered that there was indeed a Mrs. LeBeau and it was not her. Her face crumpled at the word and he noticed his mistake of having called her that. If he could, he would make her it official right there and then, he would get the annulment of his past and make her the one and only Mrs. LeBeau, he thought to himself. Yes, he hoped that would happen one day. He sighed at the thought and looked tenderly at her. She, on the other hand, had her heart consumed with a pang of jealousy. She had been in love before, had walked down the altar. He had probably fucked more women than he could keep count.

Trying to shake off that feeling that invaded her, she suggested they went inside again for more photos.

"I want some cute ones!" She said, blushing a little. "No making out, just us together and smiling. Do you think you can do that? Not drive me thirsty for sex for one minute?"

They went in again and this time the set of pictures were taken while they were both smiling cutely at the camera. Rogue was sitting on his lap, she had his arms enveloping her and his face touching hers, cheek to cheek. They even made funny faces for the last shot.

"Oowww I love these pictures." She cooed at the sight of them both looking adorable on a piece of paper.

"Here, chére. Let me keep them in my coat pocket for you." She handed him the prints and he carefully placed them in the inside pocket of his good old trench coat. "You see, you know what else is in here?" And he patted his pocket, reached inside and retrieved a card: Queen of Hearts.

"You still have it." She gasped in surprise.

"Of course I do. That was a very special day for this Cajun." He was referring to a night they'd spent on the mansion rooftop, pouring their hearts out to one another. She played with his cards, got the queen of hearts and handed it to him, saying he should keep it with him so he would remember her wherever he went, for the times when they were not together. "Though I hope those are few." He remembered her say. He did exactly as she told him to, kept that card with him at all times, but apparently she thought he wouldn't. She smiled broadly at the realization he had obeyed her.

"I love you, Remy." She said the words unexpectedly, before she herself could stop them.

"I love you too, chére. More than my own life." In fact, much more than his own life, he thought. After what he did to those poor Morlocks, unknowingly, but either way, he thought he didn't deserve to be alive, not to mention being in such a state of happiness.

He sighed sadly, then proceeded to brush her cheek softly with his hand, staring adorably at her all the while and planted a sweet peck on her lips. They continued their walk home, looking like the perfect lovebirds they were. He had one arm around her while she rested her head on his shoulder. She would sigh softly every now and then. She felt loved and thought to herself how her life couldn't get any better than that. It couldn't and it wouldn't.

X X X

His sleep was suddenly interrupted by his phone vibrating on his bedside table. What time was it? He couldn't remember taking the conscious decision of going to sleep. He drifted into sleep after having made love to her for the third time that night. His arm was numb for she had been sleeping on it. Opening and closing the palm of his hand quickly, he tried to resume blood flow into it. That terrible tingling sensation, he hated it. Trying hard not to wake her up, he reached for the phone. It was Storm. He felt instantaneously nervous and he distinctly remembered Kitty saying: "We'll contact you guys if we need you." With the flick of a finger, he answered it. "If we need you." The words echoed inside his mind, he feared the worst.

Storm was speaking hurriedly."Remy, we've been held. We'd contacted the other X-Men, but it's all a trap. If you can get in touch with the others.I don't know exactly where we are, I don't know how much longer this phone will work, but I guess they're coming for..." - and the connection couldn't be established any longer.

He hated that it was going to end this way, but somehow he knew something was in store for them, something would come up, as it always does. He wanted to wake her up with kisses, he'd planned to bring her breakfast in bed the following morning, but that was not to be.

In the midst of all chaos, he allowed himself a second to watch her sleeping before placing his hand on her hip that rested tilted upwards as she slept on her side and shook it lightly.

"Anna…" He called out her name softly. "Mon amour, it's time to go."

Her sleepy eyes popped up. "What… What is it, Remy?" She sat up in bed, placed both her hands over her closed eyelids massaging it lightly, trying to shake off the urge to go back to sleep.

"Chére, we need to hurry." He said as he started packing a small backpack.

Realization finally hit her. "What? What happened?"

"Storm and Kitty were captured. Something tells me we're next on the hit list. Time to make a move, chére."

She stopped him from what he was doing, holding both his arms in place. Their locked for a second, her eyes sparkled, swimming in tears.

"Remy, these were the best days of my life." She spoke almost apologetically and then kissed him fervently.

X X X

They were being held in a seemingly impenetrable vault. They didn't know what exactly that place was, Kitty watched Storm speaking to Remy over the phone and wondered how in the world the device was still working. Then suddenly lights went out and that was when a large man came into the room.

"Let me have that, mutant." And he snatched her phone and threw it against the wall, they could hear the sound it made as it instantly broke into pieces. "Thanks for collaborating with me. You have just attracted the most important participant of our event. He'll be easy prey now." Storm looked at the man with gritted teeth, anger possessing her whole body. 'Yes, it was all a trap'. She thought.

"I mean no harm to you or your friend here, I can assure you." He continued. "But those who commit crimes against our superior kind must pay for it, don't you think?"