Disclaimer- Don't own 'em.
The room Rogue had been given was nice. Slightly larger than her own back home, with a TV, and a queen sized bed. It's décor similar to that of the rest of the house, antique, but not overly masculine or feminine.
Right now she was lying around waiting for Remy to show her to the dining room. She had gotten in late the night before, then hadn't slept very much because of worrying. Rogue napped for a good portion of the afternoon, and lazily watched cartoons 'til four. After taking a shower and getting dressed, it was almost six. She wanted to go see Kitty and Jubilee but they were on the other side of the manor and she didn't know where their rooms were.
Rogue sat up as she heard a knock on the door. "Come in."
"Chere? You ready for dinner?" The door opened and Remy's head peeked through the entrance.
"Yeah."
Rogue got off the bed and walked over to him. She couldn't understand why he had to be the one to escort her around; there were plenty of other people in the house who were available. Remy obviously noticed her mood because he smirked at her and slung his arm around her shoulders.
"Aww, put a smile on that face of yours, oui?"
"Quiet Swamp Rat."
Remy led her through the house while she followed dazedly behind. "How many rooms do you have here?"
"'Bout 20-ish bedrooms, a living room, rec rooms, basement, and kitchen. Family comes over every day, so we can use the space. It's nice, non?"
"Just nice?" Rogue snorted.
"That mansion of yours is pretty big too."
"Well yeah, but I share it with more than a hundred other mutants, it gets crowded."
Remy laughed, "I'd bet. How do you keep the place from getting destroyed?"
"Not a clue, the Professor was always good with the students."
Rogue heard the sound of laughter and voices as Remy led her towards the large doorway leading into the dining room. There were many more people here than she had expected and she told Remy so.
"Family dinners are big around here, chere."
Rogue saw an empty seat beside Jubilee and Kitty and sat down without further acknowledgment of Remy. She did however, grimace when he took the seat opposite of her.
No one had been served yet, though there were trays of food sitting in the center of the table. Tante Mattie wasn't there, and neither was Remy's father. Emil spoke up a few times from his seat to introduce the girls to the other members of Remy's 'family'.
Rogue had begun to believe that they really were in an illegitimate business. None of the men at the table appeared anything less than dangerous, a few of the women as well.
Tante Mattie and Jean-Luc came in just then to take their respective seats. Jean Luc stopped first to introduce himself to Jubilee and Kitty and to greet Rogue. Everyone started serving themselves after he sat and the conversations grew.
"So girls," Remy's father spoke, "How long have you been at Xavier's?" The talking nearest them hushed a bit, to let the head of the table speak.
"Well, like, my parent's sent me there about four years ago." Kitty responded, then motioned to Jubilee. "Jube's showed up a few months later, and then Rogue and Logan came a little later."
"Logan?"
Jubilee started talking before Rogue could open her mouth to answer. "He's this big scary Canadian guy, in charge of our self-defense classes 'n stuff. They just showed up all bloody and unconscious."
Remy choked on his drink as Tante Mattie looked her over seriously.
"Jubilee!" Rogue hissed. Weren't they capable of answering a simple question without making everything sound suspicious?
"Well they asked!" Jubilee faced Jean Luc again, "But he's really a big softie and Rogue isn't nearly as depressing as she first appears."
Rogue turned her head away to roll her eyes. Remy caught her gaze and winked like he knew exactly how she felt about all of this.
****
Remy watched Rogue's expression as her friends conversed with his father. So far she hadn't been able to get a word in; she seemed to have given up trying.
He decided this would be the perfect opportunity to chat. "Chere."
She wasn't listening to him; her eyes were downcast towards her plate and unfocused. "Rogue."
Still nothing. "Mon River Rat?"
That got her attention, "Don't call me that Cajun, I'm not your anything." She snapped, glaring at him.
Remy smiled, her indignant expression was adorable. Storm had taken him aside the night they were caught together and given him a piece of her mind. According to his friend he was under no circumstances to continue any sort of relationship with Rogue.
Like he'd actually listen to her. It wasn't the first time that Remy had been given such a speech. Though usually given by angry fathers or in a few cases his own father, he'd never heeded those orders.
Remy decided it would be for the better to start off casual, since she had somehow reverted back to hating him. "Sure thing, mon chere. Other than the… incidents that have happened between us, how do you like New Orleans?"
She loved it here, he could tell. And it wasn't just his empathy that cued him in, her face lit up for a second before she forced it into a frown and growled at him.
"Other than the incidents?! You messed up my entire vacation!"
"Remy messed it up? It takes two, dis one didn't do anything you haven't done." He retorted. She'd been pretty eager the other night.
"You started it! You stole my wallet, that started everything!"She huffed. "I would have had a perfect time if not for you!"
Remy agreed with that to a point, he had started it. His and Rogue's lives would have intertwined at some time during her trip however.
"Stormy still would have asked that you stay with us!" Members of his family were starting to notice and he lowered his voice.
"I never would have tried to sleep with a family friend of my teacher!"
"Children." Tante Mattie raised her voice and glared at them.
Remy and Rogue both lowered their heads, neither wanting to be referred to as `child'.
****
Dinners with the Lebeau family were long and arduous. Almost two hours later they were just barely starting on dessert. Rogue had become accustomed to dinners at the mansion where, with the exception of holidays, they could shove down their food and leave when they wanted. Here, everyone stayed until they were finished eating, then conversed for another hour afterword.
"So girls, we haven't discussed your abilities at all yet." Jean Luc called attention back to Rogue and her friends.
Rogue realized that for as much as they talked, the Lebeau's focused the questions toward the girls and not towards their family.
All three stayed quiet for a moment, thinking about what to say. Rogue's power always sounded awful when described out loud. Most mutants powers did, even the fun ones. Remy's father may have been okay with his own son, but who knew how he was with other mutants?
"Well," Jubilee went first, "I can make fireworks, sort of." She held up her hands and produced a few sparks for demonstration. "It's what the shades are for; they can get a bit bright."
Jean Luc stared intently at Jubilee in a way that Rogue wasn't sure she liked. He was a nice enough man, but he had the air of someone powerful, and she didn't trust that. He looked at Rogue, raising an eyebrow as a signal for her to speak.
"I'm poisonous." Rogue blurted, trying to get the explanation over with. "In a way, I mean. I absorb people's life, energy, memories, powers. It happens with skin to skin contact."
She felt Remy's gaze on her, when she told him about her power she never went into much detail. He probably didn't think much on the fact that she could've killed him that night.
"Kitty." Rogue tried to call the attention away from herself.
"Oh! Right!" Kitty grinned, out of all the mutants Rogue had known, Kitty was the proudest when it came to her powers. "Well I can like, phase through pretty much anything. It's super useful actually, unless I'm going through something electrical or whatnot."
"You can `phase'" Jean Luc repeated. "I'm not sure I understand the term."
"It means I can walk through, like, walls and doors and stuff."
Rogue could have sworn you could hear a pin drop in that moment. She watched as Jean Luc's face went from completely startled to absolutely delighted. The last sentence brought the other diners to attention. Her stomach dropped and she glanced over at Remy, who gave her a wary expression.
Jean Luc was still smiling when he asked, "Could you, hypothetically speaking, walk straight through a vault door?"
"Yeah, sure. Vaults aren't that hard, the only thing I've ever had trouble with is adamantium and that's super rare anywa—"
"Kit!" Rogue pinched the valley girl under the table. "Shut. Up." She whispered.
"Ouch!" Kitty whined. "Why?"
"Mr. Lebeau." Rogue addressed the man. "I'm sorry, but I don't feel it's fair for us to divulge this information without first knowing more about you."
Rogue knew she was walking on eggshells by asking this of him. If the family hadn't already disclosed what they did for a living, they probably wouldn't want to now.
Jean Luc clasped his fingers together and rested his chin on top. "Very well, I suppose Ororo would not want to worry you. However it seems as though it would be for the best for us to inform you. You are familiar with the concepts of mafias, organized crime and such?"
Rogue nodded and ignored the wild looks Kitty was sending her way.
"Well New Orleans is run by what we call `Guilds'. The Lebeau family has, for generations, run a guild known as the Theives Guild."
A/N- Whoa. My eyes hurt. Staring at a computer screen in the dark is soo not recommended. Still short, I know. But I don't know how soon I'll be able to get up another chapter. And you know, I always thought that Remy and Kitty would make the coolest couple, I mean c'mon, she can walk through walls!