a.n.:I'm here! I'm here!Oh dear lord. I feel awful! I have no words to tell you how much I appreciate and love the reviews you left. My life is a messy thing these days. It's been like this for months and it's still going the same way. No free time, headaches. I only had one short holiday and decided to take a break from everything because I was going mad. Sorry for not working on this. I simply needed fresh air. Even now I have so much work on my shoulders but you reviews kept coming. So I decided that I don't want to be ungrateful. I did all I could to focus on day only on the fanfic and I managed to write down the next chapter. Receiving the surprises from last days with several reviews from you really really motivated. If people really love this idea of mine I can't stop here. This is what I keep telling myself. So thank you guys. If it wasn't for you I think I might have taken longer to write this. Especially that the chapters that will follow are still a bit chaotic for me. I need to find a way to structure their content because there will be enough new characters and interactions and I still haven't figured out the best way to do it.

Now, a bit off topic because I couldn't answer in private - for lovely smile - The Comic Con here was in May and I went as Lady Loki together with a group of ..various versions of Loki (Frost Giant, Avengers version and kid Loki). yeah, cosplay got me hooked for some reason.

Right... no more chatting... moving on with the chapter.


The elephant in the room


Remy stared dumbly at the grotesque thing in the middle of their parlor. It was the eighth delivery that had arrived that morning, and it was momentarily placed in the middle of the space, between different bags and boxes.

"What on earth is that thing?" His voice sounded threateningly low. Emil and Étienne were right next to him, one trying very hard not to combust in laughs, the other a perfect image of confusion.

"I don't know, but didn't it come with a card for you?" Emil puffed and averted his eyes from the floral monstrosity.

An enormous golden vase was holding one of the most peculiar plants they have ever seen. A tree-tall tropical plant, horribly resembling a kitsch, as coloured plastic, was decorating the parlor - almost 2 meters tall with an extremely large green and purple petal from which a tubular erection was emerging to complete the height. On the tag attached to the vase it was written Amorphophallus titanium.

Remy looked down at the folded message in his hand. He knew that opening it would probably end up making him angrier that he already was.

Étienne tilted his head and innocently he voiced hat was going through their heads.

"It looks like a huge dong*."

Emil clapped his hands on his knees and bent in order to suppress his outburst of laughter. His shoulders shook and he had tears in his eyes.

Shooting both of them one of his most expressive glares Remy ripped the card open.

'I saw this and it reminded me of you. And before you flatter yourself, I am referring to your personality. Signed: your devoted fiancée.'

He crushed the message in his hand and after the glow it turned to ashes.

"That woman…." Remy grabbed one of the smallest boxes and ripped it open. Emil glanced at him doubtfully.

"I don't think that's a good idea…"

"What are all these stuff anyway?"

He tore the crepe paper and dipped his hands, bringing up the thin piece of material hidden inside. They ended up looking at a delicate, silky green and black lace piece of undergarment. A hot wave went down Remy's body and for an instant he forgot about his anger. He hid the underwear in his fist, away from his cousins' intrigued looks. But his previous feelings returned when the sound made by the front door reached his ears.

Rogue stepped in first, carrying her small bags with her. Merci closed the door.

"Sorry Ah left you like that."

"It's ok… understandable…" They avoided talking after the incident. The woman looked up at her. "Are you alright? …. You know, after…"

"Oh yes! I'm just peachy." Her words were showing otherwise but her voice was actually surprisingly unaffected.

Then she turned.

"Ah! I almost forgot!" She took one of the bags and extended it towards Merci. "This is for you."

The woman looked suspicious as she took it.

"For me?" She glanced down at the yellow, small paper bag. "Thank you."

Rogue took a moment before answering. "It doesn't exactly count as a gift but… I hope it will come in handy to you in a way."

Without waiting for a reaction she turned around only to recognize Remy's silhouette at the end of the corridor. He didn't look happy. Good, she thought.

"Where the heck have you been?"

Pretending not to read his mood she went right past him.

"Out. When Ah came here I only brought with me a small suitcase. Ah needed to go shopping because I was running out of clothes and everything."

She walked into the parlor and gasped.

"Oh, it's actually here! They made the delivery already. So glad! Do you like it?"

She turned grinning from ear to ear. "To show you that Ah didn't think just about myself I brought this amazing and rare tropical flower for you. Ah think it will look great in your room. It matches the drapes."

"Is this a game to you?" He grabbed her by her shoulder and pulled her forcefully so that she could face him. But the extra force was not necessary because she was not expecting such a reaction and found herself almost losing balance.

"There is no need to get aggressive. If you don't like it you can just say so." she continued her little play.

"We had an agreement! You weren't supposed to leave the house without me."

At that she furrowed her eyebrows. She would be lying to say that she wasn't waiting for him to give her a reason to throw her own frustration at him.

"Calm down, would yah? Ah don't need your approval for everything. You don't own me and you have no right to tell me what Ah can or can't do."

"Yes I do." He finally hissed dangerously, no longer concerned that they were not alone.

"You are in my house, under the Thieves' rules and wearing that ring! That gives me the right to tell you exactly what to do! Do you understand or should I find other ways to make myself clear?"

She felt petrified. Rooted to the ground under his menacing stare and his barked words. But she was not the only one taken aback and feeling uncomfortable at his reaction.

"Remy, don't you think you're exaggerating?"

He darted his glare at the other woman and it was enough to silence her.

"Stay out of this! I can't believe you of all people agreed with her stupid ideas. Do you even know how incredibly dangerous having her seen around town with you was? Damn it, Merci! If the Assassins find out about her the entire guild will be at risk."

"Is this really what it's about?"

Now that his eyes weren't pinning her down Rogue found some courage to spare. That or something in his words had triggered the shock of recent incidents.

"Are you sure you just don't want me to find out about your… other fiancée?"

Her words made his eyes widen in alarm. She felt satisfied with the small result and gripped her chances. "Well, too bad; because we already met." She enjoyed every second of her confession. "Had quite an interesting chat."

"You met Bella Dona?!" the man barely breathed the last word out.

At that she really blew a fuse.

"That's just gorgeous! Throwing her name casually at me. Gorgeous, cajun, just gorgeous."

Livid, he turned to Merci. She almost felt guilty.

"Nothing happened. She doesn't suspect a thing. Anna was –"

"You let this happen?! Is everyone in this family out of their minds lately?"

Rogue struggled out of his grip and rushed to the stairs.

"Where do you think you're going?" he darted after her.

"Away from a two-faced, possessive liar like you!" she yelled without granting him another look.

"Two-faced liar?" Her attitude only managed to piss him off even more. "Have you looked into the mirror before saying that?"

"We'll talk again when you're done insulting me in front of everyone."

With that she almost ran to her room, slamming the door after her.

Merci was left there, with the little bags she had in her hands and at the end of Remy's glares.

"I know what you are about to say, but she held her ground so well… Bella Donna doesn't suspect a thing."

"Are you completely insane! Do you even understand that we're talking about Bella Dona here? She won't have a rest until she'll know everything about her. This was the last thing on earth that I needed."

Merci was about to smile already knowing where Bella's possible inquiring will bring her but maybe Remy wouldn't find it as amusing as she was.

"Has everyone in this family really been brainwashed by her? Playing after her tunes?"

Merci frowned.

"How do you know it wasn't my idea to go out shopping?"

He sneered.

"Only that it wasn't."

She couldn't lie to him. Merci knew not a single person who could lie to him.

He grabbed the balustrade and pulled himself up the stairs.

"Remy-"

"Save it for when I'll have the nerves to listen to it. I need to solve this."

The three people in the parlor were left in silence until no sound was heard from upstairs.

Only then the woman sighed and looked at the metaphorical elephant in the room.

"What is this thing?"

Étienne , grinned like a buffoon.

"I was hoping you'd tell us."


When Remy stormed inside her room Rogue jumped from the dressing table, up on her feet, a diskette of face cream in her hand.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?! Get the hell out of my room, cajun!" she was still burning with anger.

"Your room? This ain't how it works, Rogue! We had an agreement and you broke it! With it you broke your only chance at being trusted."

"Trust!" She slammed her hand on the table. "You had a fiancée and you said nothing about it. Now yah come talking to me about trust after the embarrassment you made me go through today?!"

"I put you in an embarrassing situation?" he almost yelled incredulously. "You did this to yourself!"

Slap!

And by whores and sailors, it burnt the side of his face.

He bit his lip. Bit his inner lip to blood in order to control himself from hitting her.

And she knew it. With an explosion all her anger vanished and she stepped backward, nervous and red with frustration.

She sidestepped and hurried to the bathroom, closing the door after her.

Remy stood like that for quite some time. Stoned to the floor, cheek still turned. Slowly, after the numbness disappeared completely he gripped his jaw and cracked it to wash away the burning sensation. He turned his head and looked around the room, not really convinced to leave. For a moment he simply eyed the door to the bathroom. But then something got his attention. He walked to the bed and lifted the broken lamp. He stepped back and only then he felt glass crack under his right foot.

He frowned. How has she managed to break that?

He took a seat on her bed and waited. Remy knew that she was on the other side of the door, listening to what he might be doing; and probably wishing that he would eventually leave.

He didn't. Instead he stood there, calming himself.

Rogue moved away from the door and leaned on the edge of the bathtub. Her hand trembled as she brought it to her mouth. She herself couldn't believe what she had done. What the hell took over her? She had been so caught up in her fury and frustration that her body reacted on instinct. Deep down she knew that he had every reason to be angry at her for leaving the house like that. And now she had gone and done it big time. Where did that slap come from? She only knew that at that point she saw red in front of her and – why was she so worked up by it? It's not like she cared about his relationships but… that morning she had felt like a complete fool at the table… in front of that woman, and especially in front of Merci. Everyone in the family must have thought that she was such a foolish woman, knowing that Remy was already engaged to another woman.

Oh, Rogue, how you've really done it this time. Hit so low and got yourself all covered in mud and laughed at. She stopped her lips from trembling. Why was she suddenly so emotional? Damn those voices in her head, driving her mad. She had been so stupid. It was not her place to be mad at the man. If anything… oh lord…what has she done?

She jumped on her feet and tugged her dress in place. She checked her face in the mirror and took the scarf from around her neck.

After a long inhale she opened the door and stepped outside, just barely out of the frame.

She didn't dare to look at him. Instead she fixed her eyes on the ground.

"Ah'm sorry."

Remy looked at her from under his eyebrows not really knowing what to make out of her. Her mood swings were a violent hurricane impossible to follow. Minutes ago she was up there, at the core of the tempest and in a blink of an eye she was like the weakest breeze.

He said nothing, which made things harder for her.

He was skeptic… if that was her way of getting out clean-handed from the outburst of attitude a simple sorry was not her winning ticket.

"Ah'm sorry for messing your life so much. I really had no idea. I didn't want any of this to happen." She stopped and took another step ahead, clumsily hanging her hand around her other arm.

Probably that was the moment when all the alarms should have been triggered for Remy. He felt it deep down that for his own sake he should just grab her and throw this woman out of his life before she'd mess him up beyond repair. And yet he ignored all his instincts. As she stood there he couldn't comprehend the power she had over him. He was not a merciful man. If anything, everything he achieved though time was by stepping on what others held dear or holy. She was an uncontrollable force; he couldn't trust her, he couldn't predict her. The things that she had done so far, culminating with her previous slap would have been enough reasons for him to simply take her down and get rid of her. And yet, there she was, erasing all his anger with some simple words and replace it with surprise. He wasn't expecting that outcome. Sure, for as much as he trusted her, she was bluffing; playing her cards wisely to get away with murder. Yet, at that moment he couldn't bring himself to care.

"I know I screwed it up. I came here and made things worse for everyone in this house. I didn't mean for any of this to happen! I was only looking for a way to survive, you have to understand. I am not some horrible person but I needed to do something because I am not planning on dying drowned at the bottom of a river at such a young age." She only stopped when she was left without air.

Remy stared at her almost red face and was left without a reaction. What could he say to her outburst? That it was ok? Hell… it was far from ok. That she was to blame … she was, indeed but he had his part of blame as well for getting involved with her in London when he could have just left her to deal with her own problems. Was she really sorry? He couldn't really know. He had seen her act and it wouldn't surprise him if this was one of her well thought plans. But what could he do? He was a fool for looking into those green eyes, he knew that. He probably liked to lie to himself that the woman in front of him had a conscience as well.

He sighed and looked down at the object forgotten in his hands. He waited in silence thinking that she was probably catching her breath after the storm of words she had let out.

"How did you manage to break the clock lamp anyway?"

She frowned. Confusion was not covering it right. Of all the things she was expecting him to say that wasn't even close.

"Accident?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Accident is when you drop a glass and break it, not when you smash a lamp against the floor."

"Are we ok?" she chose to deny him an answer.

"We're far from ok. Rogue." He eventually sighed.

"You know what I mean…"

"No, I actually don't. We can't be ok when we have a price on our heads and when we are about to start a guild war that my family has been trying to avoid for ages."

She mustered enough courage now to get closer to him. Still cautious, she ended up sitting down on the bed next to him.

"How did you meet Bella Dona?"

She kept quiet for some moments. "We were at a bistro… she came and took a seat. Nothing happened. I didn't say anything." She quickened the words out before he could ask her anything. "I left the table shortly after and let Merci talk to her. "Listen... this thing, about the engagement… if you already had a fiancée why didn't your family say anything and let me go with it?"

" 'Cause you had the ring around you finger. The engagement with Bella Donna is an arranged business between the guilds. A ring in each family. The council decided that the best way to avoid war between the factions was to unite them under one. Sounds like a solid solution, if not for the fact that Belle's psychotic brother will probably shoot me right after the marriage." Remy sensed the woman's grimace. "He's obsessed with becoming the head of the Assassin's guild. Probably his only regret is not finishing the job of killing his father when he had the chance. Now their father is more like a vegetable than a human. Julien is a mad dog and the council knows it. That's why he's not allowed to get anywhere near his father's bed."

"This is really bad, isn't it?" Rogue almost whispered her realization.

Against his mood Remy huffed a short laughter. "Well... on a bright side you might have prolonged my life. If they find out about you they will surely have second thoughts about their well-planned marriage."

She didn't laugh. Probably she was too concerned with figuring out the real horrible position which she was at the moment in the middle of the conflict. "Bottom line, you having the ring gives you priority by the old rules. Me and Belle were engaged but not bound yet - which, since I confirmed your story, the two of us are. That's going to give the council a lot of trouble to work around." He finally put the lamp down so that he could press both his hands against his eyes, a visible sign of tiredness.

She kept quiet. Actually, in the silence she was eyeing her gloved hand and the delicate form of the ring. Something was bothering her and she had no idea if she should ask or not. But curiosity was too strong. And guilt…. She rarely felt guilty for her actions. Golden rule in her life – guilt gets you killed; never feel guilty after a deed or you're as good as dead. Yet…

"Bella Donna… do you love her?"

At that he opened his eyes and, lost in his thoughts, stared absentmindedly at his feet. Rogue almost regretted asking, when the man straightened up. But he remained unfocused.

"There was a time in which I thought I did. She used to be different. But growing up in that horrible family changed her into a sociopathic b- ." he stopped himself.

"Good." She let out a relieved sigh.

Remy frowned and looked at her with a sort of curious amusement in his eyes. Rogue instantly realized how awful she must have sounded and tried to stop herself from turning all red again.

"What I meant was that I have already screwed your life as it is. It eases my conscience to know that Ah didn't stomp on your relationship as well." there was hesitation in her voice. "Ah don't want to be that kind of woman." She knew a thing or two about having someone stealing your chance at happiness. She truly didn't want to be anything like her.

If Remy sensed it he didn't ask. Comfortably enough he pulled her away from it with his renewed smug grin.

"What, suddenly you have a conscience?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Contrary to popular belief."

And like that they shared the silence. None of the two knew what to say to the other. After the storm was gone they were left with little ideas.

One more time, he decided to give it a go.

"Can you please stay put for a while?"

"If by that you mean keeping me hidden here, you know that is absurd. Ah'll never agree on that."

"Do you even realize how delicate this situation is?" his previous temper was starting to return.

"I can however promise not to do anything stupid or reckless. Is that good enough?"

He let out an exasperated sigh and got on his feet.

"I guess we have no other option than to find out." He looked down at her. "No more tricks. At least give me a warning before pulling another move like the one from this morning. And don't blame me for the stupid situation in which you put yourself. If you had agreed on communicating you would have known about Bella Donna. But you said it yourself that you already knew everything that you needed to know about me so it's really entirely your fault."

"Ah know."

Well… when he started his determined speech he was expecting another row of acid comments from her. The lack of protest took him by surprise. Unpredictable. Uncontrollable. He needed to be miles away from her.

"Right. Can I at least count on you not causing any more problems?"

"I will try to make myself as invisible as possible."

Somehow that bothered him.

He stepped back. "Now I need to go and have a chat with Merci."

She only looked at him from under her eyelashes.

When he was by the door he turned around, intrigue written on his face.

"Should I even ask how did you pay for all the stuff that you got?"

The muscles of her face tenses, yet she tried a small smile.

"With… my fiancé's money."

He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes to calm his temper.

"Of course. Never mind." He'd better let it go. Once he opened the door he turned once more, an intense glare thrown her way.

"And that thing, about the plant…. That was not funny at all."

"Really? Because I found it hilarious." Yet Rogue didn't laugh.

She let him close the door after him, glad to finally see him out. She didn't have the heart to tell him about the mark on his cheek seen as he left in a considerably better mood than he should have, given everything that she had done in only one morning. She was planning on spending most of the day inside this room. No need to be there when someone was going to ask him about it.


She didn't dare to tell him. It would have hit his ego and that would have only turned him more abrasive towards her. So Merci tried her best to keep her eyes away from the red mark on the left side of his face. Hard to do. She was as such thankful that Remy was too caught in scolding her. She never thought she'd catch the day in which this boy would actually be the more mature of the two. Sure, she understood the gravity of the situation but she could only think of the numbers of times Remy had gotten slapped by women. She had lost count really. Yet she kept a straight face and when he announced that he's going to meet with Henri for some business she considered telling him of his condition. But if no one else was ready to get a hell of an attitude from Remy why would she sacrifice her good mood? So she kept her silence until he left her room.

Alone, Merci shook her head and smiled. It was good to have him back. Not a day of boredom around the house. She took her bracelet down and went to put it in the jewelry box. She felt like taking a nap. As she closed the box her eyes fell on the bag that Anna had given her. She had completely forgotten it.

Curious she grabbed it and went to the bed. She pulled a square box out of it and started to take off the ribbon. She almost felt sorry for opening it since it was nicely wrapped. She took the lid off and stopped. She breathed out slowly and felt the need to sit down. What had that woman done?


Of course Étienne was more than glad to point Remy towards the nearest mirror once he met his cousin downstairs.

"Merde!" he traced the red mask with his hand. Furious he turned around only to be greeted by the disgusting kitsch in the middle of the room. He really felt like going up after her and take back his well-behaved attitude from earlier. He would have done that if he wasn't in a hurry. At least that's what he was telling himself. It had nothing to do with the numb effect that her rich green eyes had on him. Damn, this was going to be embarrassing in front of his brother and who knows who else was going to be there. His eyes fell on the plant again.

"I want that thing out of the house by the time I get back, Etienne. Get someone to throw it away."


Without a word he pulled the collar of his shirt and left the house.

It was past midnight when Henri opened the front door and let Remy pass, not without throwing him a meaningful glare.

"I still think you should have been less vulgar."

"Henri, ça suffit! You made your point clear. If you think you can handle these jobs better than me why d'you insist on taking me with you?"

"You know well why! This is your responsibility as well. We need new contracts in the east coast and threatening the messenger is not the way to do it. Unless you want to jump over to the Assassins 'cause they wouldn't complain of your tactics."

He was truly exhausted. Only when he started to assault the man verbally Remy realized he was actually venturing his frustration on him. His brother was right, he went out of his ways but all that he wanted was for the day to end.

"It was a bad day, ok. You win; Remy knows he might have put unnecessary pressure on de guy."

"Unnecessary pressure… sure." He said as he approached the stairs.

"Listen… I know I only brought bad news dese days but… do you feel like drinking a glass of something and catch up?"

The man considered his words for a while but in the end he continued his way up.

"Another time. I'm tired as well. Go get some sleep, Remy. Whatever is messing with your head, y' have to let it go." With that he left him at the base of the stairs.

"Yeah… let it go. Jerk." The man let out once he heard the sound of a door closing from upstairs.

Henry tried to get inside without making a sound thinking that his wife must have been sleeping by now. Yet, the light in their bathroom was on and the door opened. The sheets were pulled from the bed but Merci was nowhere to see.

"Why are you not sleeping?"

"Oh, you're back!" her serene voice came from the bathroom. "I went to take a nap earlier and I woke up in the evening. I can't believe I slept that much."

"Hmm…" he started to take his tie off and unbutton his shirt. "I heard from Remy that you did something completely irresponsible today."

"Oh come on." Her voice rand in annoyance. "Yeah, I went shopping. Spent some more money. But you wouldn't mind, would you?"

"That's not what I meant, Merci!"

He pulled his shirt out from the trousers and put it on the back of a chair.

"I caught Anna sneaking out this morning and decided to keep an eye on her. That's such an irresponsible thing indeed."

"Compared to stopping her, yes, it is." He was mad at her for that and he wanted her to know. As he was making his way to the bathroom, an opened box discarded on the bed caught his attention. The man tilted his head and got closer to have a better look.

"You don't really know anything about a woman's determination, do you?" she laughed it away. But no answer came.

"Merci. What is this?!" His sudden dry and inquiring voice got the woman tense. She stepped away from the mirror with the hairbrush still in her hand and came out.

The man was staring right at her small form, dressed in her white chemise, a piercing expression on his face and the small box she received in his left hand. Merci felt the blood leaving her head.

She tried to hold his gaze but found it unbearable and looked away.

"I…. there is something we should talk about."

She wished so much for him to say something and at least end her misery but he waited for her to continue.

"I've meant to tell you for some time now but I didn't exactly know how. And then, this bomb with Remy fell out of the sky and … look, I've been thinking so much about it. I know, I truly know this is the most inappropriate time for all of us but I want to keep-"

Her words and air were cut out as the man launched himself and shut her up with a hungry kiss. Her hairbrush fell. He threw his arms around the woman and after the kiss ended he continued to cover her with small, rapid pecks.

He only stopped to cup her face in his hands and make her look directly at him.

"You're not pulling my leg, are you?"

Her eyes widened.

"Of course not!"

He kissed her again.

"And you're not mad?"

"Mad?" He froze.

"A child now will give everyone a hard time. The council will be on your back again, force Remy's hand, put pressure on him, on you... on both of us."

"Merci… look at me!" He waited for her to relax in his arms. He was shaking. "You made me a happy man. Every day you make me feel like the luckiest man on earth. You were reason enough for me to fight the council. Now I have two reasons to do that. It only makes me stronger."

She let out a shiver of her own and buried her face in his chest. He thought his words would make her happy but instead the woman in his arms started to cry as she gripped his undershirt.

"Oh mon mec! I was so lost! I am such a horrible person!"

"Shhhh! There, there!" He didn't understand what she meant by that or at least he preferred not to. He was not going to ask, just hold her until everything would be better again.

They remained like that for long minutes until Merci pulled herself out of his embrace and gently wiped her tears.

"We're going to face a storm, don't we?"

"We sure will." Henri smiled lovingly.

Merci bent down to grab her brush and went into the bathroom to make sure she didn't have puffy eyes.

When she got back she caught her husband still standing, looking down at the box in his hands. She approached him and from behind and circled her arms around his waist.

"They are so small." She smiled and pressed her lips on his muscular shoulder.

"You know this will complicate things for Remy."

The man was pulled back from his state of dream.

"Things are always complicated with Remy. I am sure he'll get out of it just fine." Henri turned around. "What is it?" He read the concern in her eyes.

"I was just thinking… Do you think he did all this to get out of the arrangement with the Assassins?"

"He's a stubborn man, but he's not an idiot. Whatever he is keeping from the family I am convinced that it's bigger and uglier than the situation he created between the guilds. That is what concerns me."

Merci let go and went to the bed. She thought about telling Henri what she had learnt about Anna; it was what they asked of her anyway. Because of Remy's future in the guild the fact that Anna couldn't have children was a big deal. If Henri would tell Jean-Luc, and he most definitely would, with all the meaning behind that ring and the rules, the woman wouldn't last in front of the council. She'd probably be gone the next day.

He put the box on the nightstand and but stopped to stare at the tiny, delicate bootees.

Merci laughed. "Come to bed! They won't be gone by morning."

He grinned and went on to finish undressing. Soon he joined her under the covers and searched for her lips.

"So this morning, nothing that could cause a problem happened, right?" Of course he would read right through her. But she had set her mind. No matter what was going on between her and Remy, she owed the woman at least her silence.

"No, not really. Sure, it was exciting to see Anna and Bella Donna at the same table – "

"Merci!"

She started to laugh. Henri was too serious all the time.

"I promise, nothing happened. We avoided that bullet." Then a wide grin appeared on her face. "At most we only created a new topic for gossip to spread around New Orleans."

"What sort of gossip?" He seemed really concerned now.

"Like Jean-Luc's new, outrageously young mistress."

Horror installed on her man's face in a split of a second.

"You can't be serious."

"Well, when words will start flowing out of Madame Christine's chatty mouth it will be serious." She laughed.

"How can you find this funny, Merci?"

"How can you not?" She went on between laughers. "Remy does one thing right and Jean-Luc gets credited for it. How is that not completely hilarious?" Henry looked pensively at his amused wife. Her words didn't escape him.

"You're not starting to entertain the thought of the woman staying, are you?"

She paused realizing the implications as well. But instead of denying anything she went on with a charming smile.

"Well, she's definitely better company than Bella Dona."

"Merci, - "

But she pulled him closer.

"Could we please stop talking about Remy and his affairs at least for one evening? It's always about him. This evening is all about you and me, Henri!"

The man declared her victorious and showed his perfect teeth.

"Couldn't agree more."

He closed the space between their lips.


Remy pushed the door to his room opened and didn't care when it slapped a bit too hard while closing it. He let out a long yawn and started to drag his body to his bed.

He froze when, in the darkness, his trained eyes caught sight of an object that did not belong there. He couldn't believe it. He had been very specific about that damn thing to be thrown away! What was the plant doing in his room? He was going to kick Étienne so hard.

But that was going to wait until the next day because he only had one thought in mind – to crash his body on the bed and not wake up until the sun was up again.

Barely kicking his shoes he fell face down in the comfort of the cold duvet cover. After a moment of not moving he decided to at least take the coat down. As he struggled with the arm his hand brushed along one of the pockets. Not remembering ever putting something inside he pulled the coat and while throwing it to the ground he turned in bed and emptied the pocket. When he was left staring at a soft laced peace of dark cloth memory hit him. He instantly remembered his desperate gesture of hiding from his cousins the undergarment he had pulled out of the shopping box that morning.

He went on and gripped it with his other hand, keeping the piece above his head for a better examination. Hell, the woman wasn't going cheap with her tastes.

Remy let out a grunt, crumpled the underwear and threw it away, not caring where they landed.

This was ridiculous. He had a fiancée who slept in another room. On top of that, his money were spent on expensive lingerie and he couldn't even enjoy it. When had he become that sort of idiot?


a.n.:* dong in the '30s was another word for penis