Chapter 21 (Remy)

Even though I know it's for good reason, I still grimace when the alarm goes off at 7am. Nori looks at me, sleepy but cheerful, and says, "It's Sunday, isn't it?"

"Oui," I say. "But we need to get up. I have a surprise for you."

"Oh?" she asks, tilting her head inquisitively.

"Yup," I say. She glances at me, then at Logan, intrigued but wary. Given that yesterday we'd presented her with a collar, I'm not surprised she's feeling a little conflicted.

"Get dressed," I say.

"Dressed in what?"

"Whatever you want, cher. Sensible shoes."

"All of my shoes are sensible," she says, and then considers. "Well, almost all of them." She looks at us again.

I tap my temple and give a mock-glare. "No snooping! You'll ruin your surprise."

"I wouldn't dream of it," she says. "Do I have time to shower?"

"Yes, but quickly."

She quirks her mouth. Left to her own devices, Nori is in and out of the shower in five minutes tops. "So, I don't have time to shower with you, is what you're saying?"

"Well, yes," I admit reluctantly. "Go!"

She smiles and takes a quick shower. She pulls on black leggings, a purple sweater dress, and sensible black flats; applies eye makeup, and is ready to go in under ten minutes. She's blow-drying her hair when I step out of the shower and start getting dressed. Logan's disappeared.

Yesterday, I'd tried my hardest to persuade Logan to come with us, but he'd refused.

"Bub, you know I don't go in for that kind of thing," he'd said, shaking his head.

"But it would mean so much to Nori."

"She'll understand."

It's true; she would understand. And I wasn't going to complain about having some alone time with her.

Clean and dressed, I say, "Hey, sweet girl, let's get some breakfast."

She smiles and takes my hand. She drinks her tea and eats her oatmeal and keeps up a ridiculous running commentary of guesses about what her surprise is.

"Is it a pony?"

"Cher, there are ponies out in the school stable right now and you have never even ridden one."

"That is because those are horses, not ponies. Ponies are smaller and cuter. Horses are big and scary."

I snort. There are six horses in Xavier's stables, all rescued from other stables or farms where they were being mistreated. They're all old, tired, slow, and not at all scary.

"Fine," she says. "Not a pony. Is it... a kitten?"

"Stop guessing animals, cherie."

"Hmm," she says. "But maybe that just means I'm getting close. Is it a penguin?"

I roll my eyes in response. She studies my face, but I'm an excellent liar.

"Let's go, cher."

"All right," she says agreeably. "Let me grab my purse."

"It's already in the car. Everything you need is in the car."

"Even-"

"Everything."

"All right," she says. I bend down and kiss her.

"Trust me, ma mie."

"I do trust you." And she does, even though I was raised to be a con artist, and she knows it. (I'm not conning her, of course, but if I wanted to, I'm pretty sure I could.) So we put on our coats and head out to the garage. Once she's ensconced in the passenger seat, I reach in my pocket and pull out a black silk scarf.

"Put this on," I say.

She looks at it. "On where?"

"Over your eyes, cher. Don't want you to ruin the surprise."

She raises an eyebrow at me dubiously, but obligingly ties it over her eyes. I wave a hand in front of her face. She doesn't react.

I rub her knee reassuringly. "You're fine, cher."

"I know."

I start the car and put in one of the CDs I'd brought. She smiles when Bruce Springsteen starts to play. We've been listening to a lot of Springsteen the past week, and why not? He's a man who knows something about redemption.

After about ten minutes, she asks, "How long will this take?"

"Somewhere between an hour and a day." She shakes her foot, a little anxiously. I sigh and rub her knee. "Not a day, I promise."

Maybe I'd miscalculated. I just wanted to give her a little surprise, not a panic attack. After another twenty minutes, I pull off into a rest stop.

"We're here?" she asks, head tilted curiously.

"Nope. Just wanted to stop and give you a little present."

I get out and open the trunk. I come back with a wrapped box. "Here," I say, carefully handing it to her.

She runs her fingers over it. "Can I take off the blindfold?"

"No, you won't need to see it."

She purses her lips and slides a fingernail under the wrapping paper. She neatly peels it off all in one piece and folds the paper into quarters. Then she feels the box for an opening and pulls it open. She reaches in cautiously and smiles when she touches something soft and fuzzy. She studies it with her fingers and laughs aloud. "You did get me a penguin!"

I lean forward and kiss her cheek. "And we won't have to worry about feeding it."

She beams. She holds it on her lap and runs her hands over it. I can feel her anxiety dissipate. "I've never had a stuffed animal before," she says.

"What? Never?"

"No. My parents didn't really believe in toys."

"You are telling me that even when you were a little baby, you never had a stuffed animal?"

She bites her lip. "Maybe as a baby? I suppose even my parents wouldn't have objected to that. But I never remember having one."

"And then you never had some boyfriend give you a teddy bear?"

"No."

That surprises me. I'd known her parents were, well, crazy, but I'd've imagined a girl as sweet as Nori would have been showered in stuffed animals.

"Well," I say, after a long silence, "I hope you like it."

"I love it," she says. "I'll probably like it even more when I can see it."

I laugh. "Soon enough, cher." It's another hour before we pull into the parking lot for the New York the car is stopped, she tilts her head toward me inquisitively. I reach over and untie her blindfold. She blinks, readjusting to the light. I kiss her and she closes her eyes again.

She looks down at her black and white plush penguin, and then out the window. She smiles. "The aquarium? Remy, you're the cutest." There's something hesitant in her empathy, but I push it aside.

"The penguin feeding is at 10:30," I say.

We go inside. I can see why Logan didn't want to come-even my nose has no trouble picking out a weird, fishy-chemical smell. I don't think I've ever been to an aquarium before, but looking around, I don't think this is a very good one. It's not very big, and it doesn't seem... clean. But Nori smiles at me brightly and leads me to the penguin exhibit. We're there in plenty of time, and she stands up close to the display and coos at the penguins. I stand behind her and put my arms around her.

"Oh, my God, they're so cute!"

Then an aquarium employee comes out and tells us a little bit about the penguins. These, we learn, are black-footed penguins. We watch them scramble for fish. I frown when I realize Nori's blocked off her empathy. She'd seemed so happy before, watching them.

"Cher? You all right?"

She turns against my chest. "I'm sorry, Remy. It was really, really sweet of you to take me here. But I just-" she breaks off.

I'm an idiot. Of course Nori wouldn't want to see penguins here, behind glass. She's empathizing with the penguins. She'd wanted to see free penguins, in the wild, and this was no substitute. That was why Logan hadn't wanted to come either, I suppose.

"I'm sorry, cher. Let's get out of here."

"I'm sorry," she says. "Could we?"

"Of course," I say. I put my arm around her shoulders and steer her through a crowd of parents with small children and strollers.

Outside, she sighs and takes in a breath of fresh, clean air. "I'm so sorry, Remy," she says. "I know you just wanted to do something nice, but I'm just... too crazy for that."

"No, cher, no," I say. "I should have known better. And I didn't... didn't think it would be like that. I never been to an aquarium before."

She sighs. "The New York one is kind of notoriously shitty. The one in Boston is okay. Not so depressing."

We go back and sit on the hood of the car. I pull out a pack of cigarettes and offer her one. She's mostly quit, but she'll take one on a bad day. I figure today might qualify, and she accepts with a crooked grin. We sit out and smoke.

I say, "Well, is there anything else you'd wanna do in the city? Since we're here?"

She smiles. "I'm sure I could think of a few things."

We're almost finished with our cigarettes when a familiar figure approaches us. "Hey, Logan!" Nori says, delighted.

I raise my eyebrows. Logan nods to us in greeting. "Thought you might like some company," he offers. "Everything okay?" he asks, noticing Nori's cigarette.

She shrugs. "The New York Aquarium blows, Logan. It's like the worst thing in the city."

I say, "On their website it looks very nice," and they both laugh.

"Let's go to Central Park," Nori suggests.

"Anything you want is fine with me, cherie."

"I know," she says. She glances at Logan, who nods.

"I'd rather go pretty much anywhere than a building full of fish."

"Then it's settled," she says, hopping off the car. "Remy, where's my purse?"

I open the trunk and get it out for her. She turns to leave and I say, "The car's here, cher."

She shrugs. "You already paid to park for the whole day. Let's take the subway."

I roll my eyes. "Cherie, with what Xavier's paying us, we don't have to worry about paying for parking."

"Well, also, I kind of miss taking the subway. Is that weird?"

"Yes," I say, "It is. But we can take the subway if you want." Logan shrugs and nods.

"Good," she says. "There should be an F-train stop a few blocks from here, I think." She pulls out her phone and checks, then leads us onward. We have to change trains once, and it takes us the better part of an hour to get there, but Nori truly does seem to enjoy the trip. Finally, we emerge, and Nori holds hands with both of us as we walk around the park. It's still chilly out, but there's no snow, and the grass is green and vibrant. She leads us to a big, fancy garden that looks rather like the grounds at Xavier's. We sit on a bench overlooking a pretty pond.

"In the summer, there are always people out with little model boats. But not yet. And it's too late for ice skating. Right now the water's just for the ducks," she says happily. People are out and about, walking and jogging past us. No one gives us a second glance. After a while, Nori says, "Ready to move on?"

We nod, and she guides us down a gently winding path. It's a real pretty park, but it doesn't make me nearly as happy as it seems to make Nori. But that's fine; all I'd wanted to do today was make Nori smile, and I'd (eventually) succeeded.

For lunch, we get pizza. At the first greasy bite, Nori closes her eyes and says, "Being alive rules."

I smile at her. Nori'd had that attitude even before she died. You hear about people having near-death experiences and coming back with renewed vigor for life. Well, Nori already approached life with more openness and vigor than just about anyone else I'd ever known. The lesson was wasted on her.

"I completely agree," I say.

Logan watches us, his expression guarded. Nori looks at him with dancing eyes. "Logan, would you rather to go a zoo or an aquarium?"

He considers for a moment. "Aquarium, I guess."

She nods. "Yeah, me too." I'm relieved that I didn't try to take her to see penguins at the zoo, then. "Remy, would you rather eat pizza every day or never eat pizza again?"

"Hmm. Never again, I guess."

"What!"

"I'd hate it if I had to eat any one thing every day," I say. "No matter what it was."

She purses her lips. "I suppose it might be one of those things that sounds awesome in theory, but is less so in practice."

"Just maybe," I say.

"But it sounds really awesome," she says, pensively. She keeps asking us increasingly-ridiculous hypothetical questions until we leave the restaurant. I'm still trying to decide if I'd rather have a single horn coming out of my forehead or webbed feet when we return to the park. We don't spend much longer there before getting back on the subway. On the train, a young woman with a guitar starts playing and passing around a hat. Nori smiles and gives her a few dollars.

After the woman leaves, I ask, "Did you ever do that, cher?"

"What, busk? Nah," she says. "If I were ever that hard up for money I could always find somebody looking for a violinist for a wedding or fancy party or some shit. Until you reach a certain level of popularity, anyway, classical violin is much more profitable than guitar. And I wasn't... I know some people do it for fun, not necessarily for money. But it didn't sound that fun for me. Like I'd rather play someplace stationary. You know."

"Some place like a private boarding school in Westchester?"

She laughs. "Yes, exactly."

Back at the aquarium parking lot, we find our car (and Logan's motorcycle) exactly as we'd left them.

"See you back at the mansion, mon ami," I say to Logan.

Nori quirks her lips. "Let's go to Harry's," she says.

"I like the way you think," Logan says, and I nod.

"All right, then, see you at Harry's."

Nori stands on tiptoe to kiss Logan. "Love you, Logan. Thanks for coming into the city with us."

"'Course, darlin'," he says. Then he turns and heads for his bike. Nori gets in our car and squeezes her plush penguin.

"You're so sweet, Remy," she says. "Thank you so much for this day."

I look at her sadly. "Sorry if I spooked you, cher. I thought..."

She cuts me off. "Remy, honestly, this was incredibly thoughtful of you. You remembered I like penguins. You wanted to take me to see some. And honestly, they were fucking adorable. It really, really was sweet of you to come here. And to give me this guy," she says, waving the stuffed penguin at me. "I love you. Okay? I love you. It's not your fault this aquarium is shitty."

I smile back at her. "Love you too, cher."

Eyes open, she ruffles through the other CDs I'd brought, all swiped from her desk. She grins and puts in Van Morrison. She sings along:

And all the night's magic seems to whisper and hush

And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush

Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love?

Can I just make some more romance with you, my love?

She's ridiculously sexy, and I tell her so.

She shakes her head. "Van Morrison is ridiculously sexy. I'm just snagging a little bit of his mojo for myself."

"Well. Whatever you're doing, it's working."

She smiles and keeps singing along. Harry's is mostly empty when we get there, though Logan's already at the bar with a half-empty beer (or half-full, as Nori would undoubtedly say). We join him and Harry brings us two more without being asked. Nori beams and thanks him. She chats with him for a moment, and then we take our beers and play some pool.

After a few rounds, Nori loses interest. "You guys play, and I'll watch," she says. "It's less complicated with two, anyway."

I shrug. "I like it just fine with three."

She smirks and goes to get us more drinks. She ends up talking to Harry for quite some time.

"Glad you came today," I say softly to Logan.

He shrugs, knocking the seven-ball cleanly into the pocket. "What else was I gonna do today?"

"Nothing so entertaining as watching ducks in a pond, I am certain," I reply. He laughs.

"Well, the company was decent, anyway," he says.

Nori comes back over with our drinks. After her first beer, she's already flushed and giggly. She says, "You guys should probably cut me off after this one."

I give her a mock-pout. "But cher, we wanted to get you drunk and take advantage of you."

"Lord," she says, laughing. "What is it you have in mind that I won't do sober?"

Logan and I glance at each other. "Well, we'll have to think on that one, cher."

She rolls her eyes at us and takes a long drink. She watches us play, occasionally using her telekinesis to play little jokes on us-holding a ball just on the edge of a pocket for far too long before eventually letting it in.

"Cher, that is very unsportsmanlike conduct," I say.

"First of all," she says, jabbing her finger in the air to make a point, "This isn't a sport. Second of all, I'm not a sportsman. Third of all, I'm only doing it to ones that would have gone in anyway."

I laugh and kiss her. She tastes like vanilla lip balm and cheap beer, and I adore it. Pleased, she kisses me back. Then she goes back up to the bar and comes back with a red plastic basket full of fried cheese. We eat them and lick grease and salt off each other's fingers.

"Maybe we'd better get back to the mansion," she says. "If I don't eat a vegetable soon I might die."

"They have vegetables here, don't they?" I ask.

"They have fried jalapeno peppers here," she says, shaking her head.

"All right," I say. "After this game."

She smiles and perches on a bar stool, benevolently watching over us. Back at the mansion, we slip into the staff kitchen and supplement our late dinner of fried cheese with baby carrots and leftover spaghetti. After we eat, Nori says, "Oh! I forgot my penguin in the car. I'll go get it."

"Bring the blindfold in too, cher," I say. "You never know when it might come in handy."

She gives me an indignant look, but when she resurfaces in our bedroom she's holding her penguin, which has the strip of black silk tied around its little face. I laugh when I see it. Gravely, she says, "I didn't want him to see anything that might traumatize him." She carefully places the penguin on the bedside table and comes to sit on my lap.

"I don't know, cher, the penguin might want to watch."

"No, Remy. He's my penguin and I say he's not a voyeur."

"You two are strange," Logan says, from his perch on the couch.

"Logan, you've fought in two World Wars and you call yourself Wolverine. Don't you tell me about strange," Nori says, but her voice is gentle.

He shrugs. "Fair enough."

Nori smiles and climbs down off my lap. I laugh when she changes into her blue penguin pajamas.

"Ready for bed, cherie?" I ask.

"Soon," she says. I kiss her, and Logan comes over to join us on the bed. Before long, she's out of the penguin pajamas. We gently make love, still a little sore from yesterday. We all put our pajamas on (or back on, in Nori's case), and curl up together.

"What a good day," Nori says sleepily, and I can't disagree.

"Tomorrow will be a good day too, cher," I say.

THE END

END NOTES:

Yes, this last chapter was totally just fluff. I thought they were entitled to it after so much ~*drama.*~

Thank you for reading my weird AU about my super twee original character! Double thank you if you left a review, and a gold start to Galatic Cannibalism for being such an awesome & consistent reviewer :)

I think perhaps I am done writing about these three for now. You know, ~200,000 words later (between the three stories... seriously, WTF). But who knows? See you around the internet, space cowboys.