Queen's High
Chapter Fourteen: Familial Love: Southern Style
by PrettyGothGirl
All Standard Disclaimers Apply
Spoilers: Post X-3: The Last Stand, non cure ending, not Origins compatible.
Summary: Remy and Rogue head north and decide to hit D.C. for a few days. Remy's family calls to cause trouble and to pass along a message and Rogue ends up meeting more of Remy's wacky "family."
Author's Note: A big Thank You to my beta reader, Lost and Never Found! For a full cast list with pictures, check out my fiction livejournal prettygoth_ink. Eep! Another short chapter. In the first chapter I stated that this story is finished. I want to reiterate this. Queen's High is finished. I'm not writing as I'm going. It's done. I'm posting twice a week due to that fact. Any tinkering that I am doing is grammatical, spelling or accent related. I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
For once, it was Remy's phone that rang and interrupted their explorations. His ring tone was thankfully, not as obnoxious as Rogue's. She looked at it as he pulled it out of his pocket.
"Yah mean, that thin' actually works?" She said and smirked up at him.
His eyes narrowed at her. "Remy used it yesterday."
"Well, that just means it projects, Ah wasn't aware it received." She raised an eyebrow.
Remy wasn't sure why Rogue was comparing his cell phone to mutant powers and decided he just didn't want to know. He glanced at the caller ID. "Merde, home." He muttered and opened it anyways. "Allo."
"So, what are yah and Marie doin' in D.C., hmm?" Henri asked on the other end.
"Allo Henri." Remy sighed.
Rogue bit her lip. "Henri?"
"Mon frere." Remy said absently.
"Which one is he?" Rogue tucked her arm around his back.
"Which one?" Remy's brow furrowed until he remembered that Rogue had seen most of his family at least once. "Oh, right. Henri is de bald one."
"Hey!" Henri said on the other end.
"The one with the girlfriend with straight blonde hair." Rogue nodded. "Who is?"
"Ma soeur, Mercy." Remy answered.
"The red head?"
"A cousin, Emil."
"The male blonde?"
"Etienne, anot'er cousin."
"And the dark haired one."
"Theoren, Etienne's brother."
Henri interrupted. "Now dat she knows de names of most de famille, maybe Ah can talk to her and actually get some answers as to what yah are doin' in D.C."
"Desole Henri, was t'is call important?" Remy grinned.
"Oui! And Ah'm feelin' ignored." Henri sounded like he was pouting.
"Desole, desole." Remy tugged Rogue a little closer to avoid some of the crowd.
"So, are yah gonna answer mah question, mon frere?"
"Remy was hopin' to avoid it." Remy rolled his eyes.
"Yah took Marie to La Belle Fleur for dinner on de balcony." Henri said. "A flower, chocolates, de Guild car, goin' out for jazz?"
Remy sighed. "If yah already know what Remy is doin', why are yah callin'?"
"Remy, Remy, Remy." Henri tsked his tongue. "Are yah actually romancin' de sweet Marie?"
"Remy ain't usin' Remy's credit card again if yah keep t'is up." Remy glowered.
"So, yah really are payin' for a room. And where is she stayin'?"
"Yah didn't read de register. Remy is shocked!"
"Mon dieu." Henri choked. "Mercy, Remy and Marie are sharin' de same room!"
Emil and Theoren started laughing in the background. Etienne whooped. "Go Remy!"
Remy flushed. "Henri, it ain't like dat and yah tell t'ose three jokers Remy hears in de background dat."
"Oh. No way in de depths of hell, mon frere." Henri sniggered.
It finally caught up with Rogue what they were talking about. "Remy." Her voice was a low warning. "What about de register at de hotel?"
Remy wanted to take a step to the side. He didn't dare. "Oh, ah-" He swallowed. "Remy's famille saw it."
Rogue's eyes widened. "How?"
"Uh-" Remy couldn't answer that without outing his family were Thieves and he was pretty sure Rogue didn't know that. Though why she didn't know when she knew both Logan and Ororo was beyond him.
Henri started to laugh.
"Never mind, ain't important. Ah told yah Ah didn't like what yah did and now-" Rogue wiggled out of his arms to glare at him. "Yer family has seen it and what are they thinkin'?"
Remy dodged to the side to avoid an oncoming family that was trying to avoid the backwards walking Rogue. "Mais-"
"And yah were sayin' somethin' about protectin' mah reputation." Rogue crossed her arms.
"Mais, de clerk has been especially nice." Remy muttered.
Henri covered the phone on his end and told the others what was happening.
"Ah don' care if the clerk is nice!" Rogue threw up her arms.
Remy glared at the phone. "Now see what yah've done. She's mad at me again."
"Mais, yah should listen to yer wife." Henri sniggered.
Remy's eyes closed. "Merde, merde, merde." He opened them so he wouldn't run into anyone or anything. "Yah didn't tell Papa?"
"Who do yah t'ink found t'is all out?" Henri tsked his tongue again.
Remy whimpered.
Rogue took a step closer to him. "Are yah listenin' to me, swamp rat?"
Remy looked at her. "Remy's tryin' to figure out how to strangle mon frere and listen to yah at de same time, ma cherie river rat."
Henri choked.
"Sugar." Rogue crossed her arms. "Forget yah brother. Ah'm right here and Ah want to know what's goin' on."
"Mon pere knows about de register too." Remy's eyes widened. "Remy didn't t'ink t'ey would get dat nosey, Remy swears."
"My work here is done. Yah two have fun." Henri finally gave into his laughter and hung up.
Remy took his phone away from his ear and stared at it. "He hung up." He whispered. "De brat." He looked at Rogue. "He just called to cause trouble, cherie."
Rogue made an inarticulate noise in the back of her throat and dropped back to walk beside him. "Sugar, they saw the register and yer little lie."
"T'ey know dat Remy wouldn't get married wit'out all of dem dare." Remy said. "T'ey know how D.C. is."
She rolled her eyes. "They also think somethin' else." She gave him a significant glance.
"So?"
"So!" Rogue's eyes widened. "If Logan thought that, yah would be lunch. Yah family thinks that and it's 'So?'"
He took her hand. "T'ey don' know about yer mutation, cherie. So of course t'ey are gonna t'ink dat." He squeezed her hand. "And really, de more Remy protests about it, de less t'ey are gonna believe Remy." He made a face. "Dat's de way it works."
"And if Ah said somethin'?"
"Depends on who yah got. None of de cousins would believe yah. Mercy would. Henri is iffy. Papa would. Tante Mattie too."
"Ah knew that was gonna bite me in the ass." Rogue muttered. "Ah should've spoke up faster."
The phone rang again. Remy opened it back up. It was Henri again. He was positive. "What?"
"Oh, and Tante Dorot'ee says dat if yah don' bring Marie for a visit, she's gonna whoop dat ass of yers. She has t'eatre tickets for yah." Henri said and hung back up.
Remy sighed and looked at Rogue, putting his phone away. "How do yah feel about Cajun cuisine?"
Rogue furrowed her brow. "Do Ah get a choice?"
"Non. Not really."
"Do Ah have to dress up?"
"Oui." He smiled. "T'ough not so much as last night."
Rogue nodded. "Good. We can still go see the National Arboretum."
Remy laughed and let her lead the way.
Tante Dorothee wrapped Remy in a big hug, pressing to her over ample bosum before leaning back and kissing him on both cheeks. "Remy, honey child, yah didn' t'ink dat yah could visit de Capital wit'out visitin' me."
"Non, Tante."
Rogue hung back and clasped her clutch. She hoped that Dorothee wouldn't be as demonstrative with her as she was with Remy. Dorothee's attention turned to her and she let Remy go and held her hands out towards Rogue.
"And yah must be Marie." Dorothee smiled at her.
Rogue glanced at Remy before coming forward and taking her hands. "A pleasure to meet yah."
Dorothee squeezed her hands. "And yah, honey child." She turned her head and narrowed her eyes at Remy. "A Sout'ern belle wit' manners, yah best keep t'is one."
Remy flushed a little. "Oui, Tante."
"Hmph." Dorothee turned back to Rogue. "He's an utter rascal, complete scoundrel. Ah would t'ink dat Mattie would have taught him bettah." She let one of Rogue's hands go and patted the other one. "He just needs a lady wit' a firm hand to keep him in line."
Remy's eyes widened. "Tante!"
"Yah know it's true." Dorothee drew Rogue further into the dimly lit restaurant. Rogue widened her eyes and looked over at Remy. 'Rascal,' She mouthed. He looked upwards and shook his head. When she caught his gaze again she mouthed 'Scoundrel?' He shrugged. Rogue rolled her eyes and smirked at him. Dorothee wasn't done. "Ah found de best seat in de house by sittin' in dem all and set it aside for yah as soon as Ah heard." She let Rogue go and glanced sharply at Remy. "Honey child, seat de lady."
Remy grinned and bowed at Dorothee. "Bien sur." He said and pulled Rogue's chair out for her.
Dorothee nodded. "Ah see all dem lessons weren't wasted." She clapped her hands. "Dinner is served." She said and walked off so that the servers could bring in their trays.
Remy sat next to Rogue and watched them set down plates in front of them.
Rogue leaned over and murmured. "But we didn' order."
"Tante Dorot'ee knows what yah want." He said back. "Best not to argue wit' her."
Rogue's lips parted a little and she nodded. "How did she know mah name?"
"De rumor mill has been workin' overtime." Remy grimaced. A server held out a bottle of wine towards him and he nodded. The server started pouring. Remy continued talking to Rogue. "Remy t'inks we are de biggest topic right now."
"And yah just provided them a big juicy bit this afternoon." She glared at him.
"Non. Dat was de day before yesterday." He grinned at her. "We just found out about it t'is afternoon." He settled a hand on her thigh. "My famille don' gossip about t'in's like dat outside of de immediate famille, cherie. Don' worry."
She sighed. "Yah best be right, cause as soon as Ah get a hold of one of dem, dat rumor is gonna be dead, sugar."
"But- but, Remy's reputation." He pouted.
"Remy, mah mutation makes it not possible. End of story." She rolled her eyes. "Ah'm sure yah famille will understand that."
Remy bit his tongue about how he didn't think it was that clear cut regarding her mutation. He faked a large sigh. "T'en maybe Remy can milk it for some sympat'y."
"When do Ah get sympathy?" Rogue scowled.
Remy winced a little. He'd walked straight into that. "Desole, cherie. Remy wasn't t'inkin' wit' his brain." He put his arm about her and drew her close.
"Yah sure weren't." She muttered and poked his chest.
He wanted to offer her hope. He wanted to say that he thought that she wasn't going to be cut off for the rest of her life, maybe not even for the rest of the year if she put her mind to it. He just wasn't sure now was the time. He had a theory but he wasn't absolutely sure yet. "Remy knows it's hard."
"Damn straight."
"But we've got good food. And Remy knows where yah hid yer chocolates and de hotel has a bathtub."
Rogue sighed. "But Ah got no bubbles. It ain't the same."
"Dat can be fixed." He stroked her hair. "After de t'eatre."
"We're goin' to the theatre?"
"Oui."
Rogue eyed the food. "So Ah suppose we should eat."
"Oui."
She sighed and sat up. "Okay, Cajun, what's good?"
He sniffed. "It's all good. Ot'erwise, dat would be insultin' Tante Dorot'ee's cookin'."
Rogue grinned. "And that would be bad."
"Terrifyin'." Remy filled a fork and held it to her lips. She raised an eyebrow, laughed a little and went with it.
After the theatre, they got into the car. Esme looked up and smiled at them. She pulled out into traffic and asked, knowing they hoped she had forgotten.
"So, who won?"
Rogue and Remy both blushed and refused to say.
reviews are love, love me? (And I understand that it's pure cupboard love.)
Next time in Queen's High... Rogue makes a decision, her and Remy argue and things change as things do.