It had been a busy day. Lesson plans to be reviewed and papers to correct were piling up in her office. She had dealt with them all day long and was now in desperate need of some 'me' time. After soaking in a luscious bubble bath, she picked up one of her favorite books to read whilst relaxing in bed. She loved having a teenage son that didn't require 24/7 attention any longer.
Their neutrally decorated bedroom was her sanctuary for peace, quiet and oh yes, some damn hot grown up entertainment as well. But as Scott was out on a mission, the latter option was not on the table.
The room featured sleek details and simple, uncluttered style that looks anything but boring. The whites and beiges calmed her and she felt nice and cosy. She sighed feeling content. How nice it was to finally have a well-deserved night off! Her feeling of peaceful happiness was going to be short-lived though, as someone knocked on her door.
"Damn!" she said. "Alex, it can only be you as I hadn't seen you coming. Come in, dear." The fifteen-year old boy came inside, closed the door carefully behind him and quietly made his way to his mother's bed looking sad like a puppy who's been left behind when the family moved. He landed on his mother's bed with a jump, causing her to bounce in bed as well. They shared a giggle at that.
His mother looked at him adoringly and thought of how in the world he'd gotten so big so fast. He was tall and muscular like his dad and the very blond hair he had as a child had turned into a dirty blond shade now. 'I've made some hell of a good looking young man', she thought proudly. He definitely looked like one full grown man but he was still only fifteen, with a heart of gold filled with dreams and aspirations just as any other boy his age.
"Mom, I… I need some advice." He declared.
"Mmm, really? Why don't you just open up your mind up to me? Maybe I could help you in a better way if you let me wonder through your psyche." She said.
"No, mom, you know I don't like it. I want to be able to talk to you like any regular person. Imagine if Juliette instead of talking to her mother for hours, as she always does, had her mother touch her so as to absorb her memories and stuff. She wouldn't need to talk then, and she'd miss the sharing experience. That's how I feel, I want us to interact like all other mothers and sons do."
Emma sighed deeply and stared into his green eyes. "Ok, son. I get the impression you don't like being a telepath that much. Something as impressive and explosive as your dad's powers were more what you wanted, right? Would you like to have powers like Juliette's?" She asked, referring to the way the young one's recently discovered powers worked. Rogue and Gambit's daughter was able to manipulate the bio-kinectic energy her body produces similar to her father, but she didn't need an object to transfer it to. She blasted it all out of her body through the palm of her hands. That way she could hit a distant target, pretty much like Cyclops.
"No, mom. I'm not here to talk about being a mutant, mutant powers and the sort. Daddy would be my number one candidate to talk about that stuff." He confessed.
She asked him what the matter was and she realized the teenage boy blushed all shades of pink. She smirked at that. My, oh my, that could only mean one thing: the boy was in love. And he came for mama for advice! She smirked at the thought. She felt her heart filled with joy. 'Who could the proud winner of his golden heart be?' she wondered. With a smile on her lips, she encouraged him to talk.
"Mama, I… I'm feeling a certain way about someone… and I don't know what to make of it." He said shyly. She was dying to ask him who the certain someone was at once, but he hadn't said what exactly it was that he felt, so she made an effort to keep listening without interfering. She simply reassured him it was okay and she was all ears to listen up and help him out.
"I feel… oh, mom, I feel nervous around her, and before, it was all so easy." Emma wondered which of the new recruits caught her son's heart and could barely hide her excitement at his news.
"Oh mom, she can make me the happiest of people, but then, when we're apart, when I think of how I feel about her, she puts me to the worst misery. Besides, I feel ashamed of feeling that way towards her. Yesterday, I caught myself staring at her in a less than innocent way. I came here to talk to you because I just can't take it. The way she makes me feel, butterflies in my stomach, the longing… desperately needing her… dreaming of kissing her, it's so strong, and I don't know what to do about this. How do I make it stop, mommy?"
"Make it stop?" She frowned at his words. "Why would you want to make it stop? It seems that you're experiencing your first love, dear. And there's hardly anything better and more exciting than that! Does she love you back? Oh, of course she loves you back. Who wouldn't fall for you when you're this good-looking?"
"She doesn't know, mom. How could I tell her? She probably thinks of me as her brother!" She was shocked at that. Could he possibly be saying that he was in love with… with Juliette? She wondered how Rogue would react at those news. She'd probably find it cute, perhaps Wolverine would be the one who'd go mad.
"Oh, dear! Are you talking about Juliette, Alex?" She asked him incredulously. A flashback of memories played in her mind right then. So many nights of her breastfeeding the two of them at the same time, how he, being the oldest one, used to kick her out of the way, trying to claim his mom only for himself. What about all those playdates, the two of them, herself and Rogue? They'd sing them all the nursery rhymes they knew, and quickly learned all the others they didn't, in order to keep their toddlers happy, bouncing about and clapping away. All the family trips they had, Rogue and Juliette were always included. The picnics, the Sunday kids' movie sessions. She could see where all his confusion came from. They were brought up like siblings, always together, so it probably felt like a sin to be in love with her.
"Yes, mom." He shed a single tear breaking his mom's heart into a million pieces. "Isn't that wrong? She's always been my friend, we were raised together, like brother and sister and now I turn into a perve who can't miss the chance of staring at her…" he sighed "staring at her breasts whenever she's close to me." He whispered and started shedding silent tears. "Mommy, please, can't you make this go away?" He pleaded and was hugged tenderly by his mom. She kissed his forehead repeatedly, but he was fifteen now and the love he felt for Juliette was no boo-boo, she couldn't kiss it better.
"Even if I could, I wouldn't, son. This is one of the things in life that you have to go through. And it can be a beautiful story one day. You know how your father… well, he met his first love under this very same roof. He told you about Jean, didn't he?"
"Yes, mom, he did." He confessed.
"Juliette, well, she can be your Jean. Your dad has never forgotten her. I'm sure he stills loves her now and will continue to do so forever more."
"Does it bother you, mommy?" He asked.
"It used to. Now, I've learned how to share him with the ghost of her. He does like me, I know. We've been together all this time, but I know he loves me a little less than he loved her, you know?"
"Oh, mom! But he does love you and I do too. I love you to the moon and back. You are my number one, okay?" She hugged her son tenderly. "But daddy and Jean, well, they came here as teenagers, right? That does not compare to me and Jules. We were both born here, and we… oh mom. This is so screwed up." Alex said with a low saddened voice.
"Alex, you and Juliette share no blood line whatsoever. You come from two very distinct family trees. There's nothing wrong with you loving her." The teenage boy couldn't elaborate any longer. He was all feelings and no words could express how he felt. A whirl of confusing emotions got the best of him. He curled up in a ball on his mother's bed resting his head on her lap, same way he used to as a child. Emma simply caressed his hair lovingly, she felt his pain and it hurt her to no end.
"The first time you fall in love can be a wonderful, angst-ridden, terrifying and exciting experience. I just want you to know I'll be here for you, okay? Every step of the way."
X
Bourbon Street, the liveliest street in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Mardi Gras celebrations or not, it is usually shows the happy side of this city that went through so much during the centuries. It doesn't matter what time of day you go there, it's always full of people, and the bars are sure to be loud throughout the day. There's a funky smell to the place, a bit like stale beer, regret and morning after realisation. Could there be another place in the whole wide world that could make Remy feel a part of any more than that? Definitely not.
He knew the Patriarch of Thieves Guild could be easily tracked down there. He tried his home first, to no avail, then headed to the famous street and after asking after him to the first person he saw, he learned he was in a restaurant they'd both been to before. Sure enough he found him sitting at a table accompanied by two beautiful giggling ladies. When he towered over his little brother, he threw him a hard disapproving look.
"Remy, you may be our Patriarch alright, but you're still my little brother so I'm entitled to say one or two things to you about… bon, about everything. Girls, would you please excuse us? My brother and I… we need to speak in private for a second." The girls obediently left the two of them alone. Henri sat down heavily on the chair Remy offered him, seemed almost to fall into it.
"Bonjour, monsieur. Shoot. What is it that troubles you so much?" Remy asked him.
"Bon, where do I begin? Ever since I spied on your ex girl for you, brought you the pictures you asked, you have been a mess, Remy. To this day I don't know how you got me to do that! Such a useless waste of resources. Man, you gotta move on. It's been over fifteen years. Fifteen years, Remy!"
"But I did move on. I just… I just wanted to know if… if life was treating her well. Sheer curiosity. That's all." He lied.
"Oh, really? Do you take me for a complete idiot? It seems you do." Remy tried to interrupt him but Henri had thought it all through over and over again. He was determined to let his little brother have of piece of his mind. He always got away with everything and anything. How in the world he managed that would always remain a mystery to him. "Another thing, you came here, and with your witty ways and charm made it all the way upwards. I'm proud of you and respect your achievements, but…" he trailed off.
"There's always a 'but' with you, isn't there, big bro?" Remy remarked with disdain and shifted in the chair, pushing his shoulders backwards and the small of his back upwards and in, sitting taller, more erect, his eyes set hard and serious.
"You are still acting like the super hero you always longed to be. You've changed the Guild into a bunch of softies. We'll get Nobel peace prize one of these days…"
"What exactly do you mean? I picked up better clients, good, profitable jobs. I've made you all fucking rich. No more small businesses and petty crimes. I aimed for the big bucks, and you think that's a problem?"
"I know you pick jobs that don't challenge your morals, Remy. You don't want to feel bad for doing what you do. We're this close to doing charity! Any day now, we'll be stealing from the rich to give to the poor. You still act like you're one of those X-Men, those self-righteous bastards that deserted you. You never really embraced the Guild and shockingly everyone else just doesn't seem to notice."
"Enough, Henri! You're pushing your luck a bit too far now." He spoke firmly.
"Remy, je t'aime, mom frére, and I wish you well. Really, I do! You got us, our father, cousins and I, alright, you do. But you got no family of your own, you got that huge nice house but no one to go back to at the end of the day. You're wasting your life, Remy, not embracing who you are, not loving yourself." He wanted to say much more but his brother cut him short and asked him to leave which he did. Remy was left alone to resume his day off immersed in luxury and denial.
X
It had been a rough week for Anna Marie. Not only had Bobby for the first time ever broken up with her, but also her daughter had started asking questions about her father yet again.
Bobby and she had an on-again off-again romantic relationship that dragged on over the years. She was always the one to call it all off but this time Bobby decided enough was enough. She had finally managed to push him over the edge. There's only so much you can take before you break. He was now broken and tired.
It had taken them forever to finally get intimate with each other.
At their very first night together, she understood what Kitty had meant all those years ago when she asked her if Remy had been nice and kind. Remy hadn't been nice and kind, he was rough, dirty and passionate. Bobby was nice and kind, took things slow. He was gentle, took his time to worship her body as he thought she deserved and expected. She did climax with him, but it was not the crazy frenzy it had been with Remy every time they made love.
Two weeks before, they had spent the evening in his bedroom and he got her aroused beyond belief, and for the first time they had wild raw sex. Bobby was fast paced and had her whimpering, her body quivering under his touch, but then, well, then she called out her daughter's father's name when she came. It was loud and clear and there was simply no denying.
"Oh Remy!", she moaned as the waves of pleasure that had been building up inside of her erupted.
That was the final nail in the coffin. He had been more than patient with her over the years, when he finally believed she had her past and her feelings for Gambit dead and buried like they believed he himself was, she cries out his name in bed and shatters Bobby's heart in the process. He just up and left, never to speak to her again ever since. After those painful couple of weeks, he was still giving her the cold treatment. It came as such a shock as they'd always been so close, she'd never spent that long without talking to him, let alone see him.
To make matters worse, Juliette was growing obsessed with the idea of her father. She knew she had asked Logan and Emma about him, but they didn't say anything, as instructed by the girl's mother. She even put Alex to the task of finding information about him, Scott had caught the boy red handed. He had hacked into the X-Men archives, trying to find anything that would lead to his best friend's father. They had both been lectured on that and told to stop digging as they both knew Juliette's father was dead and Rogue didn't feel comfortable revisiting the part of her life. But it had been to no use as the girl grew restless by the second.
Whenever something troubled her, Juliette would silently crawl into bed with her mother in the middle of the night, hug her tight and go back to sleep. Those initial stormy first years of her life, the deprivation of their skin to skin contact, made them so much closer when Rogue finally gained reign over her powers. They would often hug and kiss, always displaying their affection publicly and sleeping together with her mother, having her hold her while they both slept was the best comforter she could get. As long as she had her mom and her love, nothing could trouble her. Nothing but the absence of her idealized father.
"Mommy!" she called out.
"Yes, dear. What is it?" She replied, stirring in bed and not bothering to open her eyes. She could well imagine what that was going to be about, but braced herself and hoped against it.
"Mom, would you tell me about my father?", She delivered the blow. Rogue stretched out her arm over her head, flicked the light switch on and sat in bed, rubbing her eyes, trying to shake off the sleepiness. She finally opened her eyes wide, only to find her beautiful daughter and his eyes that brimmed in tears. Apart from those eyes, she was pretty much a reflection of herself. Her pretty long hair and its subtle curls at the ends, her pouting plump lips that would get her anything she wanted… She loved her so much it hurt. Oh how she wanted to shield her from pain, yet she was the one inflicting it. She chose not to share with her anything about her father as she just couldn't bring herself to talk about him, let alone tell her about how he died.
"Juliette, are you sure you don't want talk about sex instead?" She joked. Her daughter's facial expression was unchanged, so she continued. "Jules, my love, my reason for living, why? Why do you keep asking me that? I love you to no ends, you have Logan who's the father figure you've chosen from a very early age, why would you want to know about something that could only bring you heartbreak?"
"Because I need to know, mommy. I have the right to know, can't you see? Everybody wants to know where they came from."
"He's dead, Jules. What is there to know?" she whispered as she shed silent tears.
"You're not telling me something. You're ALL not telling me anything at all! And it makes me mad!" She shouted and stormed angrily out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She stomped away down the corridor, everything was dark and quiet. She was so angry, kept staring at her feet marching angrily away from her mother, salty tears ran down her face, she tasted her own tears and felt her soul tearing apart, that was when her body almost crashed hard against another. She stopped short, and looked up at him with a frowned expression.
"Alex, what in the world are you doing here at this early hour?" She asked him.
"You're crying!" he commented sadly as he took in her saddened face. His heart ached at the sight.
"Well, yes, I'm crying. You didn't answer my question!" She spoke angrily.
"I was going through some old DVDs I found and… I found something for you!" he said with a smile.
"For me?" She asked, her tears stopped falling and she stared at him, curiosity shining through her eyes.
"I guess I found footage of your father. Come and I'll show you." He offered her his hand which she grabbed enthusiastically and they both ran through the corridors towards his room.
X
"Julls, you won't believe this!" Alex said as he entered the girl's room in the middle of the night.