A/N Finals are over! Life goes on!

Thank you again reviewers, piratearrow, musician'sluck2010, Reny21, Celeste Genevieve, annemariedarkhome, angel897, Icelynne (I love your name by the way), courtneykutie, Chica De Los Ojos Café, VampyerLover, Sharky237, annacat271, Chellerbelle and Umbra8191.

Chapter 7

Remy dropped Logan off at his room, promising he'd come get him whenever they started talking attempted murder. He made his way back to Marie's room, knocking on the door lightly. When there was no response, he opened it, quietly slipping in. Marie was sitting on the end of her bed, legs against her chest and her face buried in her knees. Her shoulders were shaking violently though she was hardly making a sound.

Remy crossed the room, sitting next to her. He wrapped her up in his arms. She unfolded herself and molded against him, letting him hold her. Wet stains dropped onto his shirt, soaking through. Her body gave a great shudder against him. He ran his hands over her back, speaking softly in that soothing, low French.

After a good few minutes, the sobbing stopped and she sat up, wiping her red eyes. She pulled away, taking a deep breath. Remy left a hand on her back, running a hand in circles.

"Sorry about that," she said, voice soft. "I'm not normally a crier."

"That, I believe," Remy said. She smiled lightly.

"I've uh, just haven't really had to talk about it for a year and a half," Marie said, playing with her hands. "So when Logan brought it up, it was just a shock."

"It's understandable," Remy said. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Marie sighed. She was silent for awhile before speaking. "We were training one afternoon when this guy came. A mutant, his name was Matthew. He joined the team, he was a good fighter, he could control water.

"We started dating after a few months. He was with me even before I got control of my powers. He really cared about me, you know? And I cared too, a lot. He was great, we were great.

"But uh, one day we had to go on a mission. There was a bad guy and all that. They captured and tortured Matthew. We…we didn't get there in time, I blamed the X-Men, they moved slowly. When we got there, Matthew was already dead."

Marie didn't so much as shed a single tear. Remy just looked at her, waiting for her to go on.

"I left the next day. I stayed in contact with Logan or else he'd tear the damn country apart trying to find me," Marie said. Remy continued rubbing her back. "I'm not…I'm not still totally hung up on it, but it still hurts and Logan blindsided me."

"No need to explain chère, believe me I understand." Remy said. "What happened to the bad guy?"

Marie looked at him square in the eye. "He died."

Remy appraised her before saying, "I'm glad we're not enemies."

"I just, I want to get some sleep, can we figure it out in the morning?" Marie asked.

"Of course. Desolé about Matthew. Goodnight." With a kiss on the cheek, he was gone.

Marie stood and stared into the mirror across from her bed, putting on her most defiant face.

"That's enough," she said. "No more. What's done is done." This was her life and god damn it, she was going to fight for it.

Marie woke the next morning to Remy violently shaking her bed. "What the hell?"

"Wakey wakey," Remy said cheerily. "Come down to breakfast, then it's time to save your life."

Marie groaned and rolled out of bed, taking her time to get ready. She made it down in ten minutes to see the LeBeaus already eating.

"No Logan?" she asked, sitting down.

"Do you really think I'm dumb enough to wake up the Wolverine?" Remy asked.

Marie laughed. "Fair point. Though it would be amusing to see you try."

"Speaking of amusing," Remy said turning to Mercy. "You sent a bill for Marie's damaged jacket to the queen of the Assassins?" Marie gave a surprised laugh and Henri and even Jean-Luc smirked.

Mercy raised her chin. "That was a very expensive jacket." Remy, Henri and Marie burst into laughter.

"You just may make me proud yet," Remy joked.

When they finished eating, Remy and Marie braved the task of waking Logan to work on what Remy called her 'little assassin problem'. They sat down to hash it out when Marie started feeling the familiar overwhelming sensation.

"I don't know!" Marie said, running a hand through her hair. "I can't think of anyone. I really didn't talk to anyone or anything like that until I left but..oh…ohh…"

"What is it?" Remy asked.

"There's uh, there's one man who might be a little pissed at me…"

"Who?" Logan asked.

"His name is George Madison. He's a rich old guy that scammed a lot of elderly people out of their money," Marie explained. "I may have stolen a motorcycle from him on my way down here and may have accidentally set his house on fire."

"Angering, yes," Remy said. "But motive for murder though I have seen people kill for less."

"He uh, he may have caught on fire when he tried to run back in for his Lamborghini," Marie said.

"Ah," Remy said. "Well that might do it."

"Yep," Marie said. "It was a complete accident."

"I never doubted that," Remy said. "So the easiest way to do this is simple-"

"We gut him," Logan said.

"Okay, the simplest not disgusting way to do this is simple," Remy continued, "is to break in and find a record of him hiring Guild services or something to blackmail him with. I'll scout it out tonight and we'll go in a day or so."

"Simple," Logan said with a snort."

"I'm going with you," Marie said.

"Non, chère."

"Like hell you are, kid."

"Okay, A, do I really seem like the kind of girl that stands on the sidelines while the big tough men save me? B, I've already broken into his house so I know a basic way around and C, he's not likely to have assassins at his house waiting to kill me and he's a weak burn victim, so not exactly very dangerous," Marie said defiantly.

"Hm," Remy said thoughtfully. "It has merits. You are very good in combat. Plus in the worse case he sees you, it might shock him into making a mistake."

"What?" Logan said. "You're actually considering this?"

"It's not a bad idea. And I don't think she's going to give up on the idea," Remy said.

"Kid, you're staying here and that's final," Logan ordered.

Marie's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I am going Logan. If you try to stop me I swear I'll absorb you and knock you out for a week," she threatened. He stared at her. "I'll do it Logan, you know I will."

Remy stared gleefully between Marie and Logan. Logan gaped like a fish, Marie smirked triumphantly.

"Well that settles that," Remy said, laughter seeping into his voice.

When it was well and truly dark, Remy left to scout George Madison's house. He was pleasantly surprised to see that his security system was three years old. Remy smiled to himself. Easy peasy.

Remy spent most of the next two days going over every possible detail of the house, planning for any situation. Marie didn't always quite understand what he was doing, but deeply admired his attention to detail nonetheless. Logan had insisted on coming with once Marie was going, so Remy had him posted as a sentry at a rallying point in case he and Marie got separated. When Logan asked why he wasn't going in with them. Remy said "This is a thing of finesse. You, you're clunky."

That night, they drove on motorcycles to the small suburb two hours away where Madison lived. They had to park over a mile away and sneak their way up to the huge sprawling lawn. Remy disconnected the alarm and lock to the gates easily and they swept in. Logan disappeared into the darkness off to find his post. Remy pulled out a pair of gloves and handed them to Marie. She eyed them with distaste.

"Fingerprints," he whispered.

She slipped them on and followed him to the back of the huge house where he let him in a window that wasn't properly secured. They crept down the hallway to Madison's office, Remy actually quite impressed at Marie's level of stealth. It wasn't that of a professional thief, but he could work with her on that.

Remy dropped to his knees to work on the lock of the office door. It was actually a little tricky, taking him nearly four extra seconds. They cautiously entered the office, spotting the safe next to the desk.

Remy felt the pressure trigger underfoot the instant he stepped on it. If Marie hadn't been there, he'd have cursed violently. As it turned out, he didn't have time to anyways, a shock of light fell around him, at the same time as a wailing alarm pierced the silence. Remy tried to touch the light but it painfully zapped him away.

"Energy cage," he yelled over the alarm. "Go, now!"

"No!" Marie yelled back.

"There isn't time for this, go now!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Marie insisted.

"Hell no you aren't! Go get Logan and bust me out!" Remy said. "Marie, get out now!"

Marie ran to the window and with a few well placed kicks shattered the thick glass. She was halfway through when with a cry, Madison flew into the room. Like Remy predicted, he froze in shock when he saw her on the window sill. Marie did the only thing she could think of, she gave him a wink and swung out the window and out of sight. Madison turned to his captive intruder. With a cruel smile, he took a remote from his pocket. The first button he hit turned the deafening alarm off. The second sent a tremendous shock through the blue cage, knocking Remy out.

Marie dashed off of the grounds, meeting Logan a block away. As soon as he smelt the adrenaline laced fear, he knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" he asked as soon as she was close.

"He has Remy," she said breathlessly. "There was an energy shield thing. I couldn't get him out! He told me to come get you, he said-"

"It's okay kid," Logan interrupted. "I get it."

"I can't leave him," she said. "He's not going to die because of me." She leaned over the bag at Logan's feet and drew a sheathed dagger from it. She strapped it to her leg and pulled her hair back. She fixed Logan with a hard look. "I am not losing anyone else."

Logan stared right back. "Good. Let's go get him."

When Remy woke sometime later, he was no longer in Madison's office. He was in a small square room. The walls were concrete and there was a drain in the middle of the room. He had a sudden sickening feeling. He'd been in rooms like this, it was a torture chamber. Just what kind of person had Marie ticked off? Remy was chained to the wall, unable to move even an inch. If he tried to blow off the chains, odds were he'd be deader than disco.

Madison walked in the door facing Remy, the little remote in his hands. He glared at him. Remy had no time to prepare before Madison hit the button. Electricity surged through Remy's body, jolting him harder into the wall. Just as abruptly, it was over. Madison, in his nice, clean suit, came to stand next to him.

"Now," he said. "Who are you? Why are you here?" Madison demanded.

"George Clooney," Remy said promptly. "Here for vacation."

Madison shocked him again. Remy gritted his teeth involuntarily.

"Why are you here with that woman?"

"That's Catherine Zeta-Jones. We did a movie together, you see…"

Another zap of electricity.

"Tell me what your purpose is here!" Madison demanded again. He held the button longer this time. Remy was sure that his brain was going to become nothing more than mush.

"Okay, I'll tell you!"

"Yes?"

"You have to promise not to tell!"

"What is it?" Madison growled.

"I'm…I'm a super secret agent here to find the hidden bikini models, your tyranny had ended!"

The electric shock this time was even longer. Remy wondered if this was how he was going to die, writhing in some old man's basement. He was about ready to pass out when the pain stopped. He opened a heavy eye to see Logan standing over the broken down door. Marie ran in, landing a well placed kick to Madison's temple. He went down hard in an unconscious heap. Logan sliced through Remy's chains like they were nothing.

"Come on, we gotta go, more are coming," Marie said. She halfway hauled Remy out of the room before with a grunt, he lost consciousness. Logan threw him over his shoulder and they fled Madison's property back to where they'd parked.

Getting Remy onto a motorcycle was no easy task. Eventually Logan unceremoniously strapped the other man to his back and sped off. Remy was conscious by the time they made it back to the Guild's headquarters, but only barely. He refused point blank to go to the infirmary and only agreed to let Dr. Renard see him when Marie threatened to have Logan drag him down there. He was cleared and told to rest for a few days but Renard was confident he'd be fine.

Marie knocked on Remy's door when Renard left. She cautiously made her way to the bed, sitting on the edge. Remy raised an eyebrow at his apprehension.

"Are you okay?" she asked finally.

"Of course," he said immediately. "It'll take more than that to hurt me. Believe me chère, I've had a lot worse."

"Oh good. Well, not good, you know what I mean," she said.

"I do. It's okay, really," he assured her. "That was a nice kick by the way."

"I should have killed him," Marie said ruefully. ""I didn't even think of it, I just wanted to get you out."

"I'm glad you did," Remy said, wrapping his fingers around hers. "There's no shame in not wanting to be a killer."

She smiled. "Thanks."

It took Remy about an hour to fall asleep. Marie sat with him the whole time, feeling it was wrong to leave him the whole time, feeling it was wrong to leave him when it was her fault he was there in the first place. Exhausted, she fell asleep not long after, curled against the side of his body. They lay like that for hours until the next morning, the crash of his opening door startling them awake.

"Injured or not, I told you not to sleep with him!" Logan growled.

Marie sat up straighter, moving her head off Remy's chest. His hand grazed down her arm, resting on her hip. "True, but you meant not to have sex with him. If you'd like me to do that instead of sleep with him…"

Logan glared and stormed out, muttering something about bad Cajun influences. Remy snorted with amusement and pulled Marie back down to finish sleeping.