Chapter 36: Aftermath
"What on earth happened?" said one of the Thieves.
"Are they all dead?" asked an Assassin.
"Remy! Your legs!" Henri exclaimed.
"Maman, what's that thing?" Aimee asked with a frown as she pointed to a dildo on the floor.
"What thing? Oh that..." Mercy said as she looked where Aimee was pointing. "I'll tell you when you're thirty."
"Who killed Marcus?" demanded another Assassin.
"Enough!" Bella Donna decided, turning on her heel to face the crowd. "It doesn't matter which one killed Marcus—"
"Says you," snapped the man who had asked the question.
"Oui, says I," she replied authoritatively. "Neither Remy nor the fille are members of any Guild, and as for Sarah, as far as I'm concerned, Marcus had no right to claim the deal that was made with Julien. That arrangement died with him. There is a long standing tradition on how the Whores Guild deals with customers that abuse their members and as far as I'm concerned Marcus—and his friends—were abusive customers. There is no retribution to be served. Is that clear?"
There was a bit of a staring contest between Bella Donna and her fellow Assassin, but in the end her turned away from her penetrating gaze.
"Good. Now, get the bodies out of here," Bella Donna ordered with a wave of her hand as she turned back to the scene.
"Would you like a hand?" offered Henri.
Bella Donna was about to say no, they'd take care of their own, but changed her mind at the last minute and inclined her head.
"And you two," she said, looking straight at Gambit and Sarah while Henri gestured for his Thieves to help the Assassins. "Get some clothes on already."
Gambit cracked a smiled and started to get up when Henri signalled for him to stay where he was while he picked up his clothes for him. He did the same for Sarah (who'd burst into tears), while the Guild members tended to the bodies.
"Pepin's still alive," one Assassin reported.
"I don't know," Bella Donna said coldly. "Those burns look pretty serious to me. I doubt he'll last long."
"Oui, madam."
"Huh," Mignonette said, her eyes on Gambit as he tried to discreetly dress himself amongst all these people. "Hey, Aimee, your cousin is hot."
"Eww," Aimee said, turning up her nose and elbowing Mignonette in disgust.
Gambit might have laughed if he hadn't been so curious about Mignonette's father. Rogue cracked a smile though.
"Okay you three," Mercy said, having caught Sebastien watching Sarah as well. "I think we should give these two some dignity. Out now."
"You're not ma mere," Mignonette replied, her eyes still on Gambit.
"Mignonette, what have I told you about the LeBeau men?" Bella Donna said sternly. "Especially ones named Remy?"
"Oui Maman," Mignonette sighed and dutifully followed Aimee, Sebastien and Mercy out.
Gambit pulled on his underwear and shirt, then realised he should probably pull the bone splinters out of his legs before putting his pants on. Henri sat down beside him and helped him pull the pieces out. Sarah was too busy crying to dress herself, and as none of her underlings were there to see her demonstrate compassion, Bella Donna knelt down beside Sarah, comforted her unusual friend and helped her to dress.
"Okay, just how many of these things did you collect, Remy?" Henri demanded.
"Lost count already," Gambit shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I should skip putting my pants back on. They're just going to get blood on them. I hate washing out blood stains."
Bella Donna glanced up at him curiously, but was distracted from her thoughts by Sarah.
"Thank you Belle," she said, sniffling still. "Thanks you so much. You don't know how much it meant to me, all your support over all these years."
"Hmph," Bella Donna dismissed, helping her to her feet. "Least I could do after all the crap you dealt with from mon frère... and mon nephew. Did you need a lift home?"
"If it's not too much trouble," Sarah replied.
"Not for you," Bella Donna said firmly.
"And Remy," Sarah went on, directing her gaze to the teenager on the floor. "I'm so sorry I didn't let you go when you first asked me."
"Don't worry about it," Gambit replied. "You were scared. I get it."
"I shouldn't have let that stop me. You've done so much for me, and... and I thought I'd killed you. That funeral should have been mine and... and..." Sarah dissolved into tears again and Bella Donna wrapped her up in her arms, somewhat confused.
She wasn't the only one. Henri threw his brother a curious look, the glance missed by Bella Donna as his back was to her.
"You're free now, Sarah," Gambit said firmly. "Finally and properly free. That's the important thing."
"Is it safe to come back yet?" called Mercy.
"Oui," Henri replied.
"Here, Mignonette," Bella Donna said as the four came back in. "Why don't you take Sarah out to the car? I'll be with you shortly."
Mignonette sighed.
"Why do I keep missing out on all the fun?" she grumbled, but escorted Sarah gently from the scene.
"What am I missing?" demanded Bella Donna as soon as Mignonette was out of view, looking around at the LeBeaus with a suspicious gaze.
Gambit and Henri looked at each other. Henri shrugged. Gambit let out a long breath, then caught Bella Donna's gaze.
"Two years ago, Sarah bought the Cure on the black market," Gambit began, ignoring the startled look his brother shot him. "She was planning on using it on herself in order to commit suicide. Julien caught her before she could use it though, and once he found out what it was, decided to use it on me instead as a 'birthday present'."
"On you?" Bella Donna questioned, her eyes wide.
"Oui, Belle," Gambit said softly. "On me. I was amongst the one percent of mutants that suffered side effects. The Cure made me age rapidly and then when it wore off, it reversed the aging process until I hit approximately thirteen. Sebastien bought his life from Marcus by telling him this, which is why he came after me—and Rogue—tonight. He didn't believe him at first—with that story, who would?—but he only needed the excuse."
For a long moment, Bella Donna said nothing, merely walked towards him. She circled him while he and Henri pulled out the last of the bone splinters. It explained everything. The sudden and convenient appearance of a son no one had known about before, the uncanny likeness, the fact that he could sit there and pull splinters out of his leg—some of them huge—without even wincing.
"You've been posing as your own son all this time," she stated.
"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Gambit shrugged. "By the way, I have a question, and I'd really appreciate a straight answer for once: Is Mignonette mine?"
There was a dead silence for exactly two seconds before a voice came from the hallway: "Eww! I checked him out!"
"Mignonette!" Bella Donna scolded over the top of a rare laugh from Sarah.
"Uhh," Mignonette said, avoiding looking at Gambit as she and Sarah re-emerged, Sarah smiling through her tear-stained cheeks. "Hi?"
"I thought I told you to go to the car," Bella Donna frowned at her.
"Did you really expect me to?" Mignonette asked.
Bella Donna gave her a dower look, and turned back to Gambit's expectant gaze.
"I don't know," she admitted finally. "I don't see that it makes any difference, Remy. Even if... Even if you were your...old self, you can't be a father to her now, any more than you could have been a father to her before."
"I would have liked to try. I would have liked the option," Gambit retorted hotly. "Seventeen years, Belle. You never gave me a straight answer, not once, and I want to know."
"Remy—" Bella Donna began.
"I get that I can't be a part of her life," Gambit snapped. "But I still need to know."
Bella Donna pursed her lips.
"If you get me the DNA samples, I know a guy who can run the test," Gambit went on, more softly this time. "Neither Guild need ever know one way or the other, but I have to, okay Belle? I have to."
Bella Donna sighed.
"Fine," she said. "Fine. But Remy, after this... Regardless of what the result is, you can't get involved. And what's more, you're just... The Guild can never know you're still alive."
"I know. You were never even meant to find out."
"And we can't be on any kind of familiar terms."
"I'm well aware of that."
"Oui, I suppose you are at that," Bella Donna conceded with a nod. "Very well, you may consider this the last favour I will ever grant you. And I want to know the results as well. Mignonette and Aimee are known friends, they can organise the passage of information."
"D'accord. If I can get the samples before I leave N'Awlins?"
"Of course."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Mignonette demanded.
Bella Donna turned to her daughter with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course, chère," she drawled regally. "Tell me, do you want to know if the boy you just checked out and admired so is really your father? Or isn't not knowing going to bother you?"
"I swear," Mignonette said disgustedly, her hands on her hips. "If the test comes out positive, I'm going to be sick."
Rogue tried not to wince as she got into the car. She'd been injured before—you didn't do combat training in or out of the danger room without getting a few injuries every now and then—but not like this. But then, she supposed once someone got injured the training session ended, unless it was minor.
She reminded herself as she closed her eyes and tried not to lean into the seat, that she'd been up against four guys who'd been training a lot longer than she had, regardless of the skills of her instructors. She had thought she'd been doing pretty well in training, she knew she was certainly amongst the best of the hand to hand combat fighters in the school, but evidently not nearly as good as she thought she was. Well, good, she decided. Now she had some incentive to improve—and come to think of it, Gambit must have been going easy on her in their few sparring sessions. She'd have to tell him off for that. It was one thing for Logan to go easy—if he didn't restrain himself, that metal skeleton of his could sure pack a wallop—but Gambit didn't have that advantage.
"Chère?" Gambit asked, frowning at her slightly, having noticed her wincing very now and then as the car drove along. "You right there?"
"Back's just a bit sore," she dismissed.
"Ahh. Well, Tante Mattie'll have a look at you when we get back," Gambit assured her. "She'll have you feeling better in no time."
"That'll be nice," she murmured, attempting to fall into her meditation for the way home.
Gambit fell silent watching her. He hoped this wouldn't turn out to be a setback in her therapy. Sure, she was used to combat training, but no one was ever deliberately malicious in combat training, nor did anyone get touched inappropriately. Already half her face was red and swollen.
Tante Mattie was appropriately sympathetic, but to the point when they finally arrived. Rogue was ushered into a side room, while Tante Mattie had Mercy recruited to wash the blood from Gambit's legs. One his legs were leg, Mercy spotted a number of small splinters that had been missed, probably hidden under the blood and ended up having to take out of most of them with a pair of tweezers.
Gambit sat there and took it. It wasn't that it didn't hurt—far from it—but when you can't even take pain killers to alleviate a headache, you learn to endure pain. Yes his legs were throbbing, and feeling the tweezers pull and push at his tender flesh was by no means a pleasant sensation, but he'd felt worse. He was more worried about Rogue.
"How is she?" Gambit asked anxiously when Tante Mattie finally emerged from the side room.
"She'll be fine," Tante Mattie replied, taking a piece of paper and writing something down on it. "She'll need some time to recover though. Henri?"
"Oui, Tante Mattie?" Henri asked.
"Be a good boy and get some of these for Rogue, will you?" she said, handing the paper over.
Henri frowned slightly as he looked at the paper: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't these prescription strength pain killers?"
"Oui. Now get going," Tante Mattie instructed him. She's going to need some."
"Just how bad is it?" Gambit asked as Henri made his way out the door.
"Bruises, Remy. Some of them in highly indecent places, but I don't believe there's any internal injuries aside from bruised ribs," she replied briskly. "She's going to need rest, pain killers and to be made as comfortable as possible for the next few days. I have a couple of my girls icing her down to prevent any further internal bleeding. No, you may not go in there, Remy. Allow the child some dignity. How are you doing Mercy?"
"Well, I think I've finally gotten all the splinters out," Mercy said, stepping back to take a look. "Of course, now I have to wash more blood off."
Tante Mattie chuckled wryly, and this time both women got to work on tending Gambit's legs, finishing the cleaning and then finally bandaging them up.
The following morning, Rogue sat down at the table for breakfast and it took her a good minute or two before her brain registered that breakfast was sitting in front of her.
"Chère? Chère?" Gambit asked. "Rogue?"
"Huh?" Rogue asked, her head shooting up.
"You okay?"
"Absolutely," Rogue replied. "Fine. Just, just fine."
Next to Jean-Luc at the head of the table, Henri snickered.
"How those pain killers working for you, Rogue?" he asked, highly amused.
"Oh," Rogue said, lifting a finger. "They're working. I'm a little sleepy though."
"Henri..." Gambit said slowly, eying his brother suspiciously. "Just what pain killers is she on?"
"Well, I don't recall the name of them," Henri smirked.
"Henri," Gambit glared at him.
"But I do seem to remember the warning label on them," he went on grinning. "Something about causing drowsiness and increasing the effects of alcohol."
"Yeah, I remember reading that," Rogue giggled. "It may explain why my head feels so blurry. Or maybe that's just that the swelling hasn't died down yet. Who knows!"
Aimee giggled softly.
"It's not funny," Gambit insisted.
"I like it when your eyes glow like that," Rogue told him.
Henri sniggered. Sebastien became intent on his breakfast and avoided looking at Rogue and Gambit altogether.
After a few days, Tante Mattie gave Rogue some less potent painkillers to replace the ones that kept her zoned out for so long. Rogue was rather relieved not to be so fogged up any more.
Gambit sat with Rogue in her bedroom and finally asked the question he'd been apprehensive about asking: "Can I see?"
Rogue looked at him for a long moment. Gambit looked down at their legs—his still in bandages, hers bare but injury free other than a nick from the lamp when it broke.
"It's okay," he said when she didn't reply. "You don't have to."
Rogue licked her lips tentatively, then slid off the edge of the bed and with her back to him, lifted up her nightgown. She was wearing underwear underneath, so there was nothing to be concerned about in that respect. Gambit caught his breath at the sight of the massive bruising across her back, mainly below her shoulder blades where Marcus had beaten her. Before he could say anything, Rogue started to turn around, dropping the gown to her ribcage. There was further bruising across her stomach.
"Rogue," he said softly, standing up to take her hands as she let her nightgown fall back into place. "I'm so sorry."
Rogue smiled faintly.
"I hope that's sorry as in, you feel sympathy for my plight, and not that you're blaming what happened on yourself, Swamp Rat," she drawled. "Because if it's the latter, I'm gonna kick you in the shins."
Gambit chuckled.
"What if it's both?" he asked jokingly.
"Then only one shin will get it," she smirked at him.
He lifted his hand to touch her face, relieved that the swelling had finally gone down. "I'm glad you're doing better."
"I'm glad I'm finally off that stuff," Rogue replied. "You know, if that's what it's like to be drunk, then I don't understand the attraction."
Gambit chuckled.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you," he said. "I guess you'll just have to get yourself drunk sometime and see how it compares."
"Maybe," Rogue said, then smirked at him. "You know, this was supposed to be my 'bar-hopping with Logan' year."
"We have a bar here you can raid any time," Gambit teased her.
"One, it's not with Logan. Two, there's a reason why you're supposed to wait until twenty-one, you know."
"I don't know, chère. I think it's just a number they picked out of a hat."
Rogue giggled.
"Oh, speaking of which," Gambit went on, more seriously this time. "I called Stormy, told her what happened."
"Yeah... I kinda got that idea after I heard the message Logan left me on my voice mail," Rogue nodded.
"Oh yeah? What he say?"
"Let's see. Squeaky told him what happened, he hopes I'm doing all right, do I want him to come down and make sure the kids responsible are actually dead?" Rogue paused while Gambit snickered. "Oh and to call him back as soon as I get the message."
AN: Just so you know, I'm not a doctor. Everything I know about severe bruising and bruised ribs I looked up on the net. I have had first-hand experience with prescription-strength painkillers though, (or one variety of them anyway). That was a crazy 3 or 4 days!
And just so you guys don't think there's a whopping great plot hole: Yes, Sarah was afraid for her Guild and how Bella Donna might react to her killing Marcus, and yes, Sarah and Bella Donna are friends of sorts. However, their friendship is outside of the political circle. Sarah was stuck with Julien for over ten years and if she ever killed him, Bella Donna would have been honour bound to declare war on the Whores Guild for the murder of their Patriarch, regardless of her personal feelings on the matter. As the Whores are "lovers, not fighters", this would have been a slaughter. Yes, the situation with Marcus was different, but it still would have taken a lot for Sarah to get around a well-ingrained mindset that "whatever she does, she can't kill Boudreaux."
Remy's hypnotic charm, perhaps.