AN:

For those of you on Story or Author Alerts, just double check and make sure you've read Chapter 3. There was at least a twelve hour delay between posting the chapter (and receiving the alert), and the chapter actually appearing on the site. Also, here's hoping this chapter appears on time, heh.

Also, a friendly reminder that for the purposes of this story, I am taking into account the alterations made to Gambit's powers in X-men Origins: Wolverine. This reminder will become relevant later in the chapter ;)


Chapter 4

Marie didn't sleep the best that night, her dreams filled with eyeless men chasing after her, wanting to take her eyes. Jackie reported with much amusement the next morning that Marie had called out "not my eyes" in her sleep. Not wanting to give Jackie the satisfaction of knowing she'd gotten to her (at least, not any more than she already had), Marie treated Jackie's amusement with ignore and went about her business like nothing had happened.

It was a little harder to set everything aside when she was looking at Remy after Jackie dropped her off. Knowing that he was higher on the criminal hierarchy than just "petty thief" made her more than a little nervous.

"Bon soir, chérie," Remy said, holding the door open for her. "I forgot to tell you not to have dinner. You haven't eaten have you?"

"No," Marie replied as she stepped inside. "I had a late lunch."

"Bon," he said.

He shut the door and then wrapped his arm around Marie's waist to guide her to the kitchen. He felt her tense up and stifled a sigh. She had better be past this by the time of the picnic.

"What is that delicious smell?" Marie asked, and then they walked into the kitchen/dining and her eyes fell on two dinner plates full of food on the breakfast bar. There were two empty wine glasses, and a bottle of wine sitting in a bucket of ice.

"Baked catfish," Remy replied, sounding smug.

"I haven't had catfish before," Marie admitted as she sat down on the stool.

"How long have you been living in New Orleans, chère?" Remy asked, sitting down as well.

"Since September, when college started," Marie replied. "So only a few months."

"Clearly, I need to have a few words with Jackie," he joked. "Next thing you're going to tell me, you haven't had wine either."

"Sorry."

"Well, tonight we shall be having a Sauvignon Blanc," Remy said as he picked up the bottle.

Marie nodded and glanced around the kitchen while he took to the wine bottle with a corkscrew. There were a few dirty pots and pans, and other cooking implements, and she looked at Remy curiously.

"Did you cook all this?" she asked.

"Of course."

"Wow."

Remy chuckled softly and poured the white wine into their glasses.

"I have to say," Marie went on, "I wasn't expecting this. I thought you wanted to...erm, practice."

"We are," Remy replied.

"By eating catfish and drinking wine?" Marie asked dubiously.

"It's a picnic, there's going to be eating involved," Remy said, grinning at her.

Marie picked up her fork when she saw Remy do the same. "Is there going to be wine?"

"Beer," Remy replied, "and champagne."

"Alright then."

"Besides," Remy went on, gathering up his first mouthful of dinner, "you're supposed to be my mistress, chère, which means we should really spend some time getting to know each other. And speaking of which, what are you studying at college?"

"Engineering," Marie replied. "I haven't decided on a major yet, either mechanical or aerospace. I'm leaning towards aerospace though."

"Really?" Remy asked. "Into planes are you?"

"Yep."

"I have a plane, sort of," he said. "My baby doesn't fly any more."

"Aww sad," Marie replied, paused and then asked with a slight smile: "Isn't Jackie your baby?"

"No," Remy answered with a grin. "My plane's my baby. Jackie's my little ray of sunshine."

Marie laughed. Then there was silence for a time while they ate.

"How do you like it?" Remy asked.

"Oh, it's really good," Marie replied.

"Don't sound so surprised," he said, grinning. "Try the wine."

Marie tentatively took the glass to her lips and had a sip. She blinked a couple of times in response to the unfamiliar taste and Remy smiled at her reaction.

"So?" he asked.

Marie nodded. "Yeah, that's really nice."

"Glad you like it."

Silence fell once more and Marie figured it was probably her turn to say something, except that she had no idea what in the world to talk about with him. She certainly didn't want to ask him how work went today (assuming he did any), and had she even been interested in how his wife was, she suspected he wouldn't want to talk about that.

"So umm," she said finally, "got any hobbies?"

"What?" Remy asked with a wink. "Other than women?"

"Uhh…"

"I like poker," Remy said, rather amused at the 'deer caught in headlights' look Marie was now sporting. "That's how I got my baby, actually, I won her in a game: Jacks over Fives."

"What's 'Jacks over Fives'?" Marie asked, looking down at her plate and focusing on cutting her next mouthful.

"A full house, with trios Jacks and deux Fives," Remy replied. "I assume you've never played?"

"No."

"You really need to get out more, chère."

"Hey," Marie objected, lifting her head to glare at him, "I get out plenty."

"Oh really," Remy drawled, smirking at her. "Now why do I find that so hard to believe?"

"Hey, just because I haven't played poker, and I've never had wine before tonight does not mean I haven't done stuff," Marie insisted. "I bet you've never—"

Remy raised an eyebrow as Marie cut herself off.

"Never what, chérie?" he asked.

"Uhh," Marie replied, having remembered belatedly that half the stuff she had done in recent years involved the X-men and she probably shouldn't discuss any of it with outsiders, especially crime lords. "I'm thinking. I just remembered that you're a million years old, so you probably have done it."

Remy laughed.

"I go to clubs and stuff," Marie said finally. "Does that count?"

Remy shrugged. "It'll do for a start."

"So, uhh," Marie said slowly, "is there anything about this picnic I should know? I mean, I know the plan is to infuriate your wife, I just don't want to end up embarrassing you instead."

Remy paused in his eating and studied her for a moment.

"How much did Jackie tell you?" he asked.

"Well, she told me about the Guild, and why your marriage was arranged and why you can't divorce. And she told me this picnic was the anniversary," Marie replied, and then added darkly: "And she told me about her Uncle Julien and that his eyes have been...ugh."

Remy nodded slowly.

"Just be polite and charming," he said. "And if in doubt, follow my lead—or Jackie's. Ignore Julien. I always do."

"Okay."

"That's polite to everyone, including Belle," Remy added.

"Oh I wasn't planning on being rude to the Assassin Queen, that's for sure," Marie replied dryly.

"Heh, don't worry chère," Remy said smugly. "She won't kill you, unless you turn out to be an undercover cop or something."

"So I've been told."

"But...you don't believe it," Remy said slowly, watching Marie's face.

Marie hesitated before replying: "I guess I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I've gotten involved with a crime family. Just put it down to watching too many movies about the Mafia."

"I'd promise you we're harmless, but you'd know that was a lie," Remy said with a grin. "The Guild is...just a business, like any other family owned and operated company."

"Really," Marie drawled disbelievingly. "You're just like a 'ma and pa' grocery store."

"Exactly," Remy agreed cheerfully. "Except instead of fruit and veggies, we sell hot property and hitman services. And just like a grocery store, the owners occasionally take advantage of being able to get wholesale prices to acquire what they need for themselves; sometimes we steal for personal reasons, or kill for security reasons. We're still human, chère."

"I didn't mean to imply that you weren't."

"We just live an alternate lifestyle."

"Now you're making it sound like you're all gay or bisexual or something."

"Actually it's not really a picnic," Remy said with a wicked gleam in his eye. "We are in fact, going to have an all out orgy—"

"Hey, don't make fun of me," Marie objected, glaring at him. "I had every right to be concerned."

"Who says I'm making fun of you?" Remy asked and deliberately checked Marie out. "I'm looking forward to seeing you naked."

"You're going to be waiting a long time."

"Anticipation will make it better."

"You suck."

"How'd you know?"

"Aww man," Marie complained and rubbed her forehead. "I'm going back to eating now."

Remy chuckled wickedly, then leaned in towards her: "I do that too."

Marie dropped her fork.

"No," she said. "No, no, no, I definitely don't want to hear what you get up to in the bedroom."

"I don't know, chérie," Remy replied, rather enjoying this turn of conversation. "Everyone's going to think you're already doing this stuff with me."

"Yeah, think that," Marie said firmly. "Not going to watch us actually do it."

"Well now that you mention it—" Remy began musingly.

"I don't want to know."

"—there was that one year where Crystal and I actually did have sex in front of everyone."

"I'm not listening to this," Marie insisted and covered her ears. "La la la."

"It was actually pretty cool," Remy went on as if Marie hadn't said anything. "I even got the condom on without anyone noticing until things got a little...loud."

Remy grinned at Marie, still with her hands over her ears singing "la la la." When she saw he'd stopped talking, she slowly lowered her hands again, looking at him distrustfully.

"I have to ask, chérie," he said. "What's the point of going to all this trouble of being able to touch people, if you're squeamish about the most intimate form of touch there is?"

"I'm not squeamish," Marie replied stubbornly. "I just have certain standards about what's deemed an appropriate topic of conversation at the dinner table, and a short list of people I want to discuss that particular topic of conversation with. Besides, Mr Takes-Touch-For-Granted, you try walking around all day every day completely covered up from head to toe, restricted to touching other people through a layer of clothing. I'll have you know that there's a certain intimacy to skin-to-skin contact that you can't get otherwise. And I'm not talking about sex. I mean in the simple things: hugs, handshakes, a high five. Doing that through a layer of clothing makes it so impersonal."

Remy frowned and fell into a thoughtful silence. When he didn't reply, Marie returned to her meal. She managed to clean her plate and finish off her glass of wine before another word was said. Remy finished his about the same time.

"Why don't we take this into the lounge?" he asked. "I'll just get these in the sink—"

"Did you want a hand?" Marie asked as she got off the stool.

"No, no," Remy insisted, picking up their plates. "You go on ahead, I'll be right there."

Marie nodded and made her way back down the hall to the living room. She sat down on one end of the lounge and looked around the room while she waited for Remy to join her. She had to admit, it had been a nice surprise to come over and find a home-cooked meal waiting for her. She had rather been expecting Remy to "get right down to business", as it were. He certainly hadn't wasted any time on their first night, and Marie found herself blushing slightly at the memory.

Remy arrived not long thereafter, with the wine and their glasses in hand. He put them down on the coffee table and refilled their glasses. Marie didn't tell him she hadn't planned on having any more.

"So chère," Remy said, leaning back on the lounge with his glass, "tell me about yourself."

Marie shrugged and shifted around on the lounge to look at him, putting her leg on the cushion in the process.

"I don't know. What do you want to know?" Marie asked.

"Anything," he replied. "How was growing up in Mississippi?"

"How'd you know?" she asked, regarding him in surprise.

"I have an ear for accents," Remy said, grinning at her. "So?"

"Not a whole lot to say, really," Marie said with a shrug. "Only child, pretty much brought up by my parents and my Aunt Carrie. Lots of friends at school."

Remy looked at her expectantly and Marie considered for a moment before saying any more:

"Got kicked out of home when my powers manifested and I put the first boy I ever kissed into a coma for three weeks."

"Ahh," said Remy. "And now the story gets interesting. You were how old?"

"Sixteen, almost seventeen."

"Seriously?" Remy asked. "I was thirteen when I got mine, and I think Jackie was about thirteen, fourteen."

Marie shrugged. "Different people manifest at different ages."

"True, true," Remy conceded. "So what happened then?"

"Well, there was this trip I'd always wanted to take," Marie said. "I was planning on doing it after high school but... Well, yeah, obviously I ended up doing it a lot sooner, only with a lot less money. Fortunately, I got picked up by some other mutants who run a school for mutants, so I finished high school there, and well, here I am."

"A school for mutants, hein?" Remy asked. "Xaviers?"

"You've heard of it," Marie said with a nod.

"Oui. I was invited to join them once," he replied musingly. "Even if I had been interested, I had other commitments."

"Why weren't you interested?" Marie asked curiously. "I mean, you've gone to so much trouble to make sure that the Cure doesn't fall into the wrong hands..."

"Ahh," Remy said, tapping the side of his nose, "but they're 'honest folks' chère. Odds are, they probably would have objected to me stealing the stuff in the first place."

"Good point."

"So?" Remy asked when nothing else was said straight away.

"So...what?" Marie asked.

"Aren't you going to ask me how my day was or something?"

Marie laughed lightly.

"How was your day or something?" she asked with a slight smirk.

"Smart ass," he replied, grinning. "My day was fine. I slept in, skipped going to the office, bummed around and finally prepared for your much anticipated arrival."

"You actually go to an office, do you?"

"Reluctantly," Remy said, sliding over to her. "My something is doing good too."

"Now who's the smart ass?"

"My something would like to do something with your smart ass."

"Take it out for tea and crumpets?"

"Oui," Remy replied with a twinkle in his eye. "'Tea' and 'crumpets'."

"This conversation has taken a disturbing turn," Marie replied dryly, turning her head away from him.

Remy put his now-empty wine glass back onto the coffee table, and when he sat back up, he ran his fingers over her legs. He was a little disappointed she was wearing pants rather than a skirt and a rueful smile appeared on his face when he realised what Marie meant about skin to skin contact being more personal.

Marie watched as Remy lifted his hand and ran his fingers through her hair.

"Has anyone told you recently just how beautiful you are?" he asked softly.

"Uhh, not really," Marie replied awkwardly. "Not unless you count last night when you told me I was 'gorgeous' and 'sexy'."

Remy smiled and trailed his fingers ever so lightly over her cheek and down to her jaw.

"And you are," he said, and then caressed her lips with his own.

Much to Marie's surprise, that was it. She had expected him to kiss her again, more firmly this time, but instead he moved slightly away from her; enough to give some breathing room without being rude. Remy ignored the confused look on her face and began to regale her with a tale of mischief from his childhood.

Come the end of the evening, Marie was somewhat surprised to get home and realised that there had been very little making out at all that night. There had been the odd caress, the occasional chaste kiss, even his arm over her shoulders for awhile, but nothing like the night before when he had been all over her like a rash. Of the two nights, Marie definitely preferred this night. She liked having the opportunity to get to know him, and she was still rather uncomfortable with the idea of intimately kissing a married man.


Marie didn't see Remy again until Thursday night, when they went out for a movie. Marie took Tuesday and Wednesday nights off on account of having a paper due and a night class. This time, Marie waited in the parking lot of the dorm.

"Why am I not surprised you drive a convertible?" Marie asked dryly as Remy pulled up in his red car alongside her.

Remy chuckled as Marie got in. The night was largely uneventful; they actually watched—and enjoyed—the movie. Although Marie had been expecting otherwise, there was very little kissing done. She had a class first thing in the morning the next day, so Remy dropped her back off at the dorms when they were done.


On Friday night, Remy came by the dorms to pick Marie up again, only it was Jackie who was waiting for him.

"She's still getting ready," Jackie told her father as he got out of the car.

Remy shrugged and glanced at his watch. "I guess I am a little early."

Jackie shook her head as they began the walk to her room.

"I can't believe you got Marie involved in the family business," Jackie said tersely to him. "I was trying to keep Jackie Boudreaux separate from Le Diable Blanc."

"Then you should have thought about that before you introduced her to me as a potential client," Remy replied evenly. "Especially one who would need to pay in service, rather than in cash. And you can't tell me you didn't know it was a possibility: just because I'm open to negotiation, does not mean I give discounts. And you had better not start either, fille. Discounts undervalue your work."

"Oh really? So you think getting her to irritate Maman—to say nothing of whatever else you might be doing with her when you're practising—is worth the going rate?"

Remy shrugged. "I've paid for an expensive escort service."

"Shall I tell Maman that?" Jackie asked sweetly, stopping outside her door.

"Sunshine, you do not want to open that can of worms," Remy replied coolly.

Jackie sniffed condescendingly and opened up the door. Marie poked her head out of the bathroom door.

"I'll be just a second," she said, and closed the door again.

Remy chuckled. Jackie gave him a dire look. A moment later, Marie stepped out again and Remy was rather pleased to see that his ploy to get Marie to wear a skirt had worked (telling her he was going to take her out for a night of dinner and dancing). It was a long skirt, but it had a slit up the side, so he could work with that.

"You look beautiful, chérie," he told her, reaching for her hand so he could kiss it.

"Thank you," Marie replied, smiling.

"Ugh," Jackie said.

"Ready to go?" Remy asked.

"Sure."

"Bon."

"Have fun," Jackie said dryly as Remy lead Marie towards the door. "Don't stay up too late. And Marie? Feel free to hit him with the pepper spray if he starts mishandling you."

"I'll mishandle you in a minute," Remy retorted good-naturedly.

Marie giggled.

"I can't say I really blame her for having misgivings about this," Marie said as she walked with Remy back out of the dorms to his car. "I'd probably have a few things to say about it if any of my friends decided to date my dad. And not just because he's old, married and hates mutants. Particularly the last one, 'cause half my friends are mutants so I would be all 'wait you can date a mutant, but you can't have one for a daughter? You suck.'"

Remy chuckled.

"Although that said," Marie said thoughtfully, "I think I'd probably disown him for cheating on Mama."

Remy gave a non-committal grunt. Nothing else was said until they approached Remy's red convertible. He held the door open for Marie, and then climbed over his door to get in.

"I'm lazy," Remy said as he put the key into the ignition.

"Evidentially," Marie replied with a smirk.

The trip to the restaurant was largely spent exchanging the usual pleasantries. When they arrived at first Marie felt a little under dressed, but took refuge in the fact that Remy was wearing good casual too. They were shown to their table and ordered. Remy ordered a couple of glasses of wine and when the waiter asked to check their ID, slipped him a note and commented it was rude to ask a lady her age. Marie couldn't face the waiter after that, feeling a little embarrassed.

"What did you do that for?" Marie asked as soon as the waiter departed with their order.

"But it is rude to ask a lady her age," Remy replied with no hint of a smile.

He then chuckled as Marie buried her face in her hands.

"Aww chère," he said, "what you think you're doing? Hiding that pretty face of yours away from me?"

Marie lifted her head again. "It wasn't that big a deal. I wasn't planning on drinking tonight."

"I was," he replied with a shrug, and then went on to change the subject.

After a relaxing meal, they headed out to one of the dance clubs. Marie out right refused to grind with him, ("I didn't even do that with my ex, and I'm still friends with him. I'm sure as hell not doing that with you!") which he took with a dose of amusement. She didn't entirely escape having their bodies pressed against each other, however, as Remy made quite certain to hold her close—very close—during each of the slow dances.

Finally they headed out to the car once more.

"So chère," said Remy, "did you want me to drop you off at home, or would you like to come back to my place for awhile?"

Marie hesitated with her hand on the door handle. There was little doubt in her mind what he intended, and she appreciated him giving her an out. After Sunday night, she actually didn't mind the making out itself; she enjoyed the physical contact and as she told Jackie, he was rather good. But she still felt uncomfortable (and a little guilty about enjoying) making out with her friend's married father. Strangely enough, the distinct lack of this since Monday—knowing that Remy had every intention of kissing and touching her up at the picnic—was starting to make Marie wonder if maybe she wasn't experienced enough for his tastes or something.

"Uhh, sure," she said finally, deciding she wanted to keep her end of the bargain. "I could come around for awhile."

"Bon."

Marie fidgeted all the way to Remy's place and very little was said between them. Eventually Remy drove up the driveway and hit the button for the automatic doors on the double garage. One lifted up and Remy drove in.

While the door closed behind them and they got out of the car, Marie happened to look at what was stored on the other side of the garage.

"What do you need three motorcycles for?" she asked.

"The Harley's for long distance, the Yamaha is for city driving, and the Ducati's just for fun," Remy replied, then grinned and added: "And the convertible is for the femmes."

Marie laughed and followed him inside. Remy put his coat up on the coat rack by the door and Marie made her way to the lounge. Remy sat down right next to her, leaving no gap between them. For a moment he just looking at her, holding her gaze, and then one hand slid around her waist while the other caressed her cheek. He leaned in and kissed her. He was pleased to find that Marie was quick to wrap her arms around him in turn and she kissed back with none of the hesitance of Sunday night.

His hand slid down from her cheek, over her shoulder and arm, down to her hip and finally over her leg to her knee, which was poking out from the slit in Marie's skirt, and guided it up over his lap. Once he had her leg right where he wanted it, he caressed every bare inch of her skin from ankle to mid thigh. He was also mildly amused that, as far as the kissing went, Marie was attempting to emulate what he did with his tongue. Even though she didn't really have the hang of it (that would come with practice), he appreciated that she was trying.

Still he wasn't beneath taking advantage of her concentration to slowly guide her backwards until she was lying down on the lounge. Instead of being on his lap, the leg he'd adopted was now around his legs and he slid his hand down under her skirt along her upper, outer thigh. He almost laughed when Marie promptly removed his hand and firmly replaced it above her skirt. He pulled away from kissing her to grin.

"Worth a try," he said mischievously.

"You won't think so if you do it a second time," Marie warned him with a glare.

This time Remy did laugh, and then moved on to kissing her neck.

How long this went on for neither could say, but eventually they stopped and realised the time.

"It's a little late," said Remy. "Did you want a lift home, or would you like to stay here the night? Even Jackie would be asleep by now, and she's a night owl."

"Yeah, I've noticed that," Marie replied dryly. "On the one hand, there is some appeal to waking her up in the middle of the night. On the other hand, I'm not sure she's someone I want mad at me. Even forgetting she's an assassin, she can be quite vindictive."

"Heh, yeah," Remy said, nodding in agreement. "She gets it off her mère."

"Sure," Marie said with a smirk. "There's no way she could have gotten vengeful desires off her father."

"That's right."

"After all, it's not like he's capable of holding a grudge at all."

"Who? Me?"

Marie snickered and shook her head. "Well, look, it's Saturday tomorrow—well, now actually—so I don't have any classes. You're the one who has to drive, so I'll leave it up to you."

Remy smiled. "Oh goody, I get to keep you overnight."

"Just as long as we have separate beds," Marie added quickly.

"Aww," Remy said, giving her a pout. "But there's nothing I like more than waking up in the morning with a belle femme lying next to me."

"I don't recall 'sharing the bed' being on the list of practice requirements for this picnic," Marie replied dryly. "And even if you weren't married, Remy, I still wouldn't share the bed with a guy I'd only really known what? A week? A girl's gotta have some standards."

Remy laughed.

"Alright, chère," he said. "I'm sure Jackie won't mind if you use her bed, especially given that it's the only other one in the house."

"Ha! She'll probably actually be happy about that," Marie said with a laugh. "You know she really hates this whole arrangement."

Remy shrugged. "She should have known better; no discounts and no IOUs, so that means service when there's no cash, or no sale."

Marie wasn't sure what to say to that, so she said nothing. Remy stood up and held his hand out to Marie. Marie took it and got off the lounge.

"This way," Remy said, leading her up the stairs to the bedrooms. "Bathroom is just in there if you need it."

Marie nodded at the indicated door.

"And this is Jackie's room," he went on, opening up the door. "I'm sure she'll have something in there you can sleep in. Or you can sleep naked. I kind of like the visual, actually."

Marie pulled a face.

"I'd rather you didn't, thank you," Marie said. "And I think I'd feel weird sleeping naked in Jackie's bed. There's all sorts of connotations..."

Remy chuckled. "I guess there is. Alright, you have a good night's sleep, chérie, and I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast in the morning. Oh, there should be a clean towel in the bathroom if you decide to have a shower."

"Thanks."

"You sure you don't want to sleep in my bed with me?" Remy asked hopefully.

"Good night, Remy," Marie replied.

Remy gave a dramatic sigh, but smiled at her.

"Bon nuit chère," he said and gave her a final kiss before walking off to his own room.


They both slept in rather late the next morning. Remy woke up when he heard the shower going and at first he couldn't figure out who on earth it would be until he remembered Marie had stayed over. At that point he was out of bed in a flash, had a quick shower of his own, dressed and hurried downstairs to the kitchen to get breakfast ready.

He didn't beat Marie downstairs, however, and he found her waiting on the lounge, wearing her clothes from the night before. A part of him wished he could have found Marie in a nightgown or something, but upon reflection realised that she would have had to borrow one of Jackie's nightgowns and the idea of seeing a woman he was sexually attracted to wearing his daughter's clothing was a rather large turn-off.

"Morning, chérie," Remy said. "I hope you slept well."

"I did, thank you," Marie replied, standing up. "And yourself?"

He shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Even though I was alone... all alone."

"Oh get off it."

Remy chuckled and continued towards the kitchen with Marie close behind.

"I've got some beignets for breakfast," Remy told her. "Fruit too."

"You actually eat fruit?" Marie asked, a little surprised.

"What? You don't get to look as good as me if you don't eat healthy," he replied loftily, "especially if you miss out on my sexy genes."

Marie groaned and Remy grinned. What he wasn't telling her is that what he usually had for breakfast when he didn't have company over was coffee and a cigarette. Fruit was for later in the day.

"So, how do you like your coffee?" he asked when they reached the kitchen.

"Yeah," said Marie, sitting up on the stool and watching Remy get everything out, "I like a little coffee with my milk and sugar."

Remy laughed. Soon enough there was a couple of mugs of coffee, two plates of beignets and a bowl of fruit sitting between them.

"So chère," he said. "What did you want to do today?"

"Go home," Marie replied with a slight smile. "Change clothes."

"Because I was thinking—"

"Did it hurt?"

"—that we could do this morning what I was planning on doing with you tonight," he said, giving her a smirk. "And no, it didn't."

Marie chuckled.

"What were we going to do tonight?" she asked after a sip of her coffee.

"Poker," Remy replied. "I figured we could play a few games here."

Marie nodded. "All right."

"Normally I play strip with my mistresses..."

"Good for me I'm not really your mistress."

"Worth a try."

Marie shook her head and picked up one of her beignets. "Everything's worth a try with you, isn't it?"

"But of course, chérie," Remy replied. "If you don't try, it's automatically a 'no'."

"You didn't honestly think I'd agree to that, did you?" Marie asked.

"You could have surprised me."

The conversation drifted off as they concentrated on their breakfast. When they were done eating, Remy quickly cleaned up and Marie followed suit in washing her hands. He then went over to his little round dining table, and—much to Marie's surprise—lifted the top off to reveal a poker table.

"Cool," she said.

"Merci," he replied and gestured to one of the dining chairs. "Have a seat."

Remy put the table top down, and then pulled out the cards and sat down as well. His eyes took on a faint, red glow and the cards began to float in the air and shuffle themselves.

"You're telekinetic too?" Marie asked before Remy could get a word out.

"Well, maybe," Remy replied with a shrug. "It's pretty low-level if it is. Only works on small stuff and I have to touch it first, so it's pretty useless for anything other than card shuffling. Used to get away with making the cards fly around during games all the time until people started freaking out about mutants."

"Huh," Marie said thoughtfully, but before she could go on to pursue the subject of his powers, Remy continued:

"Now we won't worry too much about the betting right now," he said as he dealt two cards to each of them. "They can change a bit depending on where you're playing and who you're playing with. This version of poker is called Texas Hold 'em. These are your hole cards. You keep 'em face down and you just lift the corner when you want to see what they are."

Marie had a look and found she had the Ten and Two of Hearts.

"Normally you'd decide whether it was worth staying in the game or not... Which it is 'cause there's no betting going on, so hey, not losing anything," Remy said with a grin and then dealt three cards. "Now these three cards are called the Flop."

Marie listened intently as Remy talked her through a game of poker, and even managed to locate a list of the hands for her to look at while they played a few rounds. Marie couldn't see herself playing poker all that often, though. Eventually they had enough of the game and packed up.

"So chère," Remy said, moving his chair back from the table and patting his lap. "Why don't you come sit over here?"

"Are you going to make me sit on your lap at the picnic?" Marie asked.

"It was possible before," Remy replied with a grin. "It's a definite now."

"Oh, fine."

"Don't sound so put out," he said as Marie got up out of her own chair and made her way over.

"Why not? It's fun," she asked, sitting down on his lap and wrapping one arm around his neck and shoulder to steady herself.

"Anyone would think you didn't like me, and I was making you do this," he said.

There was a note of amusement in his voice, but a flicker of something in his eyes that Marie couldn't quite interpret. Marie lifted her head and flicked a lock of his hair out of his face.

"I have to admit," she said, "none of this was what I expected. You're not what I expected, and believe me after our first meeting I had pretty low standards."

He smiled and his hand traced over her legs and lower back.

"How so?" he asked, although he had a pretty good idea.

"Well for one thing, I didn't expect to spend more time getting to know you than...fooling around. Not that I'm complaining, mind you," she added quickly. "It's been nice getting to know you as a person."

"I figured if I was going to get you to play being my mistress, I should probably start by treating you the way I treat all my girlfriends," Remy replied. "It's not all about sex, you know. It's about having a relationship—a meaningful one."

"So why don't you try having one of those with your wife?" The words were out of Marie's mouth before she could stop them, and a part of her didn't really want to.

"I did!" Remy insisted. "I tried to fix things on multiple occasions but..."

Remy closed his eyes and sighed. Marie just looked at him in patient silence.

"Belle got a little paranoid when she was pregnant with Jackie," he said finally. "Now, I'll admit that prior to getting abducted I...got around a bit. So based on that part of our history I might concede that her fear wasn't entirely unwarranted. But after I escaped? I wanted to get married. I wanted that stability and I did love Belle. Maybe it wasn't fairy-tale true love, hearts flying everywhere kind of thing, but hey when you spend deux years being... The point is, spending the rest of my life with Belle seemed like the best idea."

Marie smiled.

"She was still paranoid even after Jackie was born though," Remy went on, "and in hindsight, I don't think I really handled it very well. Then one day I walked in on her and one of the other Assassins, and well, that was the beginning of the end, really. I deliberately went out and cheated on her the same day."

"Wow, you work fast," Marie said.

"Wasn't that hard," Remy replied with a shrug. "I got piss-drunk and hired a couple of whores."

"Oh."

"You know, the whores in a good brothel are actually safer and better to sleep with than picking up random strangers in a bar," he said conversationally. "They have to be clean in order to work, and they have a lot of experience."

"I'm not sure I really want to know the cons and pros of hiring prostitutes," Marie said, looking away uncomfortably.

Remy chuckled.

"Anyway," he said, "after that point it was pretty much over. I did make a couple of attempts to fix things, and I think Belle might have had a stab at it once or twice too, but we'd hurt each other way too much by then, and now that's all our marriage is: hurting each other. So, I look for women elsewhere, to get from them what I can't get from my wife."

There was silence for a moment and then:

"Pretty pathetic, huh?" Remy said dryly.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel sorry for you," Marie replied. "But you still contributed so, I don't feel that sorry for you."

"All right, so how about this one?" Remy asked. "If I wasn't married, would you go out with me?"

Remy had been expecting some hesitation out of her, and was a little hurt and disappointed when Marie answered straight away with a flat out "no."

"Aww," he said playfully. "Why not?"

"Because you're Jackie's father," Marie replied. "Dating my friend's dad? That's just wrong."

Remy laughed.


Jackie eyed Marie warily when she finally saw her again hours later.

"When did you get back?" Jackie asked.

"About an hour ago," Marie replied, looking up from her bed where she'd been reading.

Still eyeing her warily: "Do I want to know?"

"We lost track of time last night," Marie said with a grin and a twinkle of mischief in her eye.

Jackie muttered something in French that Marie didn't quite catch.

"So I slept in your room overnight," Marie went on. "I hope you don't mind."

Jackie stared at her.

"Mind? Mind?" Jackie repeated. "You could have slept naked in my bed for all I care, as long as you didn't sleep with Papa!"

Marie burst out laughing.