Years since Rogue's powers returned: 38-39
Chapter 55: Vanessa and Candra
Vanessa opened up the front door to find an unfamiliar woman standing there. She had long blonde hair that came down to her waist and wore red designer clothing that showed off her shapely figure.
"Is Remy in?" Candra asked. "Or is he off gallivanting somewhere?"
Vanessa regarded her for a moment and decided she was probably one of Gambit's ex-girlfriends. She had a definite European accent, possibly French, although that wasn't overly surprising with a number of refugees coming in. Vanessa understood most of them were moving onto Australia, which Apocalypse hadn't seen fit to bother with just yet.
"Perhaps," Vanessa replied. "Who wants to know?"
Candra smirked and looked over her. She didn't think very highly of the woman Gambit was apparently shacking up with at the moment.
"Why, the love of his life, of course," Candra replied blithely.
She didn't actually believe that. She adored Gambit, of course, who wouldn't? But love? No. Love was a fairy tale she had grown out of a long time ago. Nevertheless, the words themselves were a good way to provoke a reaction and the glare on Vanessa's face was rather satisfying.
"No, the love of his life wants to know who the hell you are," Vanessa said coolly.
"You? The love of his life?" Candra repeated with a laugh in her voice. "Don't fool yourself, girl. Remy loves no one but himself."
And with a flick of her fingers, the screen door unlocked. Vanessa blinked in surprise and was forced back by the door opening. Candra blew past before Vanessa could do much to react.
"Oh Remy," Candra called, glancing around the foyer, first up the stairs and then into the nearest doorway. "Where are... Oh there you are."
Gambit looked up from reading a story to William with horror written all over his face as Candra stepped into the living room. Vanessa followed swiftly and was about to voice her objection when Candra spoke:
"You have a child?" she exclaimed, staring in shock at the toddler with black eyes sitting on Gambit's lap.
"Ah, yes," Gambit replied, one hand tugging William protectively to him. "What are—"
"You have to be kidding me! You have a child?" Candra said, then pointed accusingly at Vanessa. "With her? What happened? Did the condom break or something?"
"That's none of your business," Gambit replied tersely, his heart racing as the worst nightmare he never knew he had came to life before his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh that tiresome X.S.E. or whatever it is decided that everyone who could should evacuate, something about Apocalypse closing in," Candra replied with a wave of her hand. "It has been awhile since I last left France, so I thought I may as well do a bit of a world tour. Maybe drop in on a former lover."
"France?" Vanessa repeated, having a feeling she knew exactly who this woman was. Sure, Gambit could have dated a number of women with French accents, but he didn't need to be in France to do that. "Remy, is this Candra?"
"Oooh," Candra said before Gambit could say anything. "My oh my, Remy, have you been telling tales on me?"
Gambit started to get up, but before he could get a word out or even move William, Vanessa was in Candra's face, pointing her finger right at her.
"You get the hell out of my house and away from my husband, you scum-sucking little ball of pus!" Vanessa snarled.
"Husband?" Candra repeated.
"Vanessa," Gambit said, stepping in with William in his arms. "Can you please take Will and-"
Candra burst out into peals of laughter.
"—go," Gambit said with a perturbed look at Candra as she put her hand on his shoulder to support herself while she laughed.
"What the hell is so funny?" Vanessa demanded. "You know what? I don't care. Forget it. Just get out. You're not welcome here."
"Oh Remy, cher, wherever did you..." Candra began, and then realised she was face to face with William. "Oh, child." she said with disgust in her voice and flicked her fingers at Vanessa. "You, girl, take this little creature."
"That creature is my son," Gambit said irritably while Vanessa glared and retorted with: "You do not give me orders in my house, bitch. Get out. Now."
Candra laughed again. This was definitely worth the trip. Well, except for the child. She didn't care for children, especially not children this young. She was quite proud of the fact that she had such control over her own body (and everyone elses with sufficient access) that she was capable of preventing herself from not only getting pregnant, but could even spare herself from having to endure periods.
"Oui, mon cher, I can tell he's your son. There's no mistaking that with those eyes," Candra said. "But I have no use for him, or her for that matter."
She gave Vanessa a derogatory look while plucking William telekinetically out of Gambit's arms.
"Papa!" William called, reaching out for Gambit to no avail.
"No—" Gambit objected the same time Vanessa cried out "William!"
They both reached for William and only earned a snicker from Candra for their trouble.
"He's just going to get in the way," Candra said, cupping Gambit's face in her hands while depositing William on the lounge. Vanessa rushed to William's side to check on him. "It's been so long since I last felt your embrace."
"Would you just leave already?" Vanessa snapped.
Candra didn't reply, she was far too busy kissing Gambit. Or attempting to. She frowned when she realised that he wasn't kissing back, and pulled away. He looked at her stonily.
"Candra," he said, his voice measured. "We're over. We ended years ago."
Candra rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you're not still sulking about that little ménage à trois we had? Honestly, Remy, you'd think a man like yourself would be more adventurous."
"No, I am not still sulking," Gambit replied coolly. "I've moved on. I'm not interested in you any more."
"Uh huh," Candra said with a smirk, running her finger over his shirt where his left nipple would be. "Did you or did you not participate in the ceremony this year?"
Gambit scowled. "Yeah."
"Then I find 'I'm not interested in you any more' very, very hard to believe," Candra said. "Now, kiss me properly already."
"Don't," said Vanessa before Gambit could move. "Remy, don't."
Gambit glanced at Vanessa, then at Candra.
"You're not seriously going to do as she says, are you?" Candra asked with a sneer.
"Vanessa, can you please take Will and go?" Gambit said.
He needed Vanessa to listen to him. He needed for her to leave with William so that this didn't become the incident with Haley all over again. He did not want Candra to be able to hold his family over his head in order to force him. If they weren't here, he may possibly be able to get out of this.
"I'm not leaving you," Vanessa replied firmly. There was absolutely no way whatsoever she was going to leave him alone with the woman who had used and abused him for so long.
"You heard her," Candra said, smirking. "She wants to watch."
Once again her lips met Gambit's. He gave her only a token response and held his hands tight around his back lest he put them around her out of habit. Hopefully if he was minimally responsive she would get bored and leave. Vanessa moved forward to pull Candra off him but instead found her body frozen and floating in the air for her trouble.
"Remy," Candra said irritably, "stop playing hard to get. It's been years since I last had a decent lover and I've really been looking forward to this."
Gambit tried not to look at Vanessa, though he could see her perfectly well in his peripheral vision. Why didn't she just take William and leave like he asked?
"He's not playing hard to get," Vanessa snarled. "He's not available, you spoiled little brat."
Gambit wished that Vanessa would just shut up.
"Candra—" he began, determined to get the conversation away from anything that might inspire her to do something to hurt his family, both Vanessa and William, and the Guild.
"Silence," Candra said, pressing her fingers to his lips. "No more talk. I am done with the talking and the-"
William began to wail. He didn't understand what was going on, all he knew was that his Mama sounded angry, there was some strange woman in the house, and his story had been interrupted.
Candra growled and released Gambit.
"Deal with that little brat," she told him, and she continued ranting as Gambit quickly attended to William, hoping to get him to settle down before Candra decided to do something personally. "I can't believe this. I really can't. I come here to have a little fun, and what happens? I get a crying poop machine and a wife. A wife!"
Candra stared at Vanessa with displeasure, not entirely convinced she was seeing what she was seeing.
"Like I said, ma chère," Gambit said, standing up with sniffling William in his arms and hoping to get control over this situation. He turned on the charm full ball and hoped that Vanessa wouldn't say anything, lest he be forced to sleep with Candra before they could get rid of her. "I've moved on. I have a family now. You and I, we had a great run, but all things must come to an end eventually."
"Maybe not all things," Candra replied.
She had hoped that she and Gambit would be lovers until the end of time. He was definitely the best lover she'd ever had—once he was past his initial inexperience.
"Désolé," Gambit said gently. "I know it's hard letting go, but—"
"She's not Guild is she?" Candra asked, throwing a suspicious glare at Vanessa.
"Non," Gambit said, irritated at being interrupted.
"Oh good. Then she's not important—"
"Hey, I'm right here," Vanessa cut in, seriously wishing that Candra woman would let her go. It was rather unnerving floating around in the air with no control over her body.
"She is to me," Gambit said, his eyes locked on Candra. "And I want to be a faithful husband. So, I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing."
Candra looked at Gambit in disbelieving scorn. "You're not serious?"
"I am."
Vanessa opened her mouth to say something, but Candra telekinetically caught her jaw before she could get a word out. While Vanessa struggled to speak and could only mumble, Candra stared at Gambit and tried to figure it out. She couldn't believe he was actually turning her down, after all the great times they had together. He never failed to drive away the tedium from her life. She found it incredible that Gambit of all people would lock himself into the tedium of getting married and having a family. What a horrid idea, whatever would possess him to do that?
"Oh, I see," she said abruptly, a smile appearing on her face that immediately unnerved Gambit. "You're after a change of pace."
"Uh, yeah, a change of pace," Gambit replied, deciding it was best to agree. "You know how it is, doing the same thing over and over again."
"Oui, oui, it gets incredibly dull," Candra said, giving William a long look. "I suppose I can't really blame you for wanting to shake things up a bit, although I really wish you informed me in advance that you wanted to start playing house. Had I known, we could have met up more discreetly elsewhere."
"No, we could not have," Gambit said, determined to get this idea out of her head. "I'm not going to cheat on my wife."
He just hoped he hadn't signed Vanessa's death sentence with those words.
"Really cher?" Candra said, lifting Vanessa up a little higher and bringing her in closer. "I hardly think it counts as cheating if it's just a toy."
"She's not a toy!" Gambit insisted. "I love her."
"It's okay, I know you're only saying that because she's listening," Candra replied, looking Vanessa over as she considered the best thing to do with her.
"No, I'm not just saying that," Gambit said, all the while certain that Candra would decide he was just saying that too.
Candra put her hand on Vanessa's stomach. It was very tempting to kill her, but then there was the matter of the child to consider; she'd have to kill both of them if she wanted to sleep with Gambit right now (which she very much did) and undoubtedly Gambit would be most uncooperative about the whole thing if she did that. She wasn't in the mood for such tiresome behaviour.
"What are you doing?" Gambit demanded.
On the other hand he was already being quite tiresome and if his behaviour with the kissing was any indication then merely threatening to kill his family to get him to comply wouldn't be enough to ensure his enthusiasm. Either way she was going home disappointed. She did not like that, not at all. Well, she would not be leaving without some sort of satisfaction, that was certain!
Vanessa felt her jaw being released and only a second later cried out in anguish as Candra brushed the pain receptors in her body. What Candra wanted to do could be done without hurting Vanessa, but where would be the fun in that?
"Vanessa!" Gambit exclaimed.
He tried to move forward, even with William in his arms, only his feet seemed to be stuck to the floor.
"Please stop!" he said, wanting so much to be able to reach out and pull Candra away from his wife.
Candra mostly ignored him: there was something rather pleasing about hearing Gambit so upset, but she was busy concentrating. It was the perfect plan, really. A few little changes to Vanessa's insides, then all she had to do was wait. Gambit would choose to come to her. She decided she would keep him for at least a month when he did, no a year. She was in dire need of a good lover.
She finished her work and released them, resulting in Vanessa falling hard on the floor.
"Don't worry," Candra sang out as she walked towards the door. "I'll see myself out. Oh, and Remy? Call me when you're bored playing house."
Jean-Luc's frown deepened as Gambit finished his tale over their video-call. Although normally pretty good at disguising his emotions, Jean-Luc couldn't miss the look of despair on his son's face.
"Is Vanessa okay?" Jean-Luc asked.
There was a flash of surprise on Gambit's face as he shook his head. He wouldn't have expected that to be Jean-Luc's first question.
"I don't know," he said. "Got her down to the hospital straight away but there was nothing in the initial tests. They're keeping her overnight and doing some additional tests, but umm, yeah. At this point, no idea what Candra did, other than cause Nessie a lot of pain."
Jean-Luc nodded thoughtfully. "I presume that Vanessa knows who Candra is?"
Gambit scowled. He should have known.
"Yes," he practically hissed. "The Elixir didn't come up though."
Jean-Luc gave Gambit a Look.
"I would hardly order Vanessa's death based on something Candra did," Jean-Luc said. "Have you filed a police report?"
Gambit took a moment to swallow his irritation and suspicion. "Yeah. Between the hospital and Nessie's family, I didn't think I could get away with not filing one. As far as they know, one of my ex-girlfriends attacked her."
"Alright, I'll see to it that the matter is taken care of," Jean-Luc said, and sighed. "I had hoped that this issue was over. We have apparently underestimated Candra's patience."
"Please don't tell me I'm going to have to endure another visit from her when I don't get 'bored of playing house' soon enough for her," Gambit said angrily. "Because I really don't think I can go through this a second time."
"I will do everything within my power to keep her off your back, but I can't promise anything more than that," Jean-Luc replied and Gambit knew it was the truth. "Personally, if I were you, I'd look into moving elsewhere. Madripoor maybe. Somewhere Candra wouldn't be caught dead going."
Gambit shook his head. "Like where? I think Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Australia, and New Zealand all count as 'civilised' in her eyes. She just left Europe which is going under. Mexico's being invaded, and so is every country in South America that hasn't already handed over the keys to Apocalypse's Horsemen already. The rest of the world is already under Apocalypse's control."
"You are a mutant," Jean-Luc pointed out. "You could prosper in his territory. And frankly, I wouldn't mind reinforcing our hold there. It's become a little too dangerous for our human—our baseline human—members to travel through enemy territory, and on top of that the other Guild branches in those areas have been disappearing."
"Yeah, I know," Gambit said, aware that Jean-Luc had taken in a handful of refugee Guild members from war torn areas.
Four of the six remaining branches of the Thieves Guild has either been wiped out or had gone deep into hiding since the rise of Apocalypse. The branches of the Guild had always acted independantly of each other, up to and including the details of their pacts with Candra, and rarely communicated with each other.
"I'd like to do more than I am," Gambit went on, "but Nessie isn't a mutant and the New Eygptian Empire doesn't recognise mutant/baseline human marriages. As far as they would be concerned, Vanessa would just be a 'favoured concubine'. There's no guarantee that she would be safe. I don't want to step out of the pot into the fire."
Jean-Luc nodded slowly. "I presume it would be a few years before Candra would attempt to make contact with you again, in any form. That should give you time to consider your options. And who knows what state the world will be in say, five years from now? It seems to change rapidly these days."
"It does at that."
"I'll let you go. Let me know as soon as you have an update on Vanessa," Jean-Luc said. "Well, after you tell her own family, of course."
Vanessa was very happy to go back home. She was anxious about the fact that they hadn't found anything wrong but there were still a couple more tests that they'd yet to get the results of. She'd been assured if they found anything they'd tell her. Upon her return home, she spent her time playing with William while Gambit did some cleaning up around the house he hadn't been able to get to the day before.
After much time spend reading, playing games, and doing some crafts, Vanessa put William down for his afternoon nap, and then headed into the kitchen where Gambit was already busy working on dinner. Whatever it was he was planning on cooking would likely need a couple of hours to cook, she supposed, perhaps a casserole. There were a number of ingredients sitting out on the bench, ready and waiting to be used.
"Hey," she said softly. "Just put Will down for his nap."
Gambit gave her a nod. "Okay."
Vanessa watched while he busied himself chopping up chicken.
"Remy," she said as he set the knife aside. "We haven't really had a good chance to talk about what happened yesterday, and I just wanted to tell you I'm really proud of you."
Gambit frowned as he dropped the pieces of chicken into a bowl of flour, salt and pepper.
"For what?" he asked.
"For standing up to Candra and telling her no," Vanessa replied. "I realise that couldn't have been easy for you."
Gambit stopped in the middle of coating the chicken and looked at her.
"You're right, it wasn't," he said with a note of irritation in his voice. "Especially when I told you—twice—to take William and leave, and you ignored me."
"Are you crazy?" Vanessa asked in astonishment. "There's no way I would ever leave a victim alone with their abuser."
"I am not broken, Vanessa," Gambit retorted. "I didn't need you there so I could have the courage to say no. I needed you to leave so I could stop being scared that she might use you and Will as hostages against me!"
"I couldn't abandon you in your hour of need!" she exclaimed, horrified at the very idea.
"It wouldn't have been abandonment!" he snapped. "It would have been a strategic retreat. I didn't want to end up having to cheat on you because she threatened to hurt you or Will if I didn't! Or alternatively, decided you should join she and I in a little ménage à trois on pain of Will's death."
"Well, that didn't happen."
"But it could have! She's pulled stunts like that before," Gambit insisted. "If I have to be a victim to that woman again, I would rather it was just me. I am not going to let her drag you or Will down with me. Oh but hey, look what happened: She did make a victim out of you and we don't even know what the damn consequences are!"
Gambit turned from her and continued coating the chicken in the flour mixture with angry movements, almost throwing the chicken pieces here and there and slamming them into the mix. Vanessa stared at him for a long moment.
"Fine," she said tersely. "Fine. Next time we're in a situation like that—if there is a next time—I'll take Will and run. On one condition."
"What's that?"
"You promise me you'll do the same thing."
Gambit paused and lifted his head to meet her eyes. Vanessa stared back at him steadily.
"Well?" she prompted. "If we've ever in a situation that I am better equipped to take care of alone, will you take Will and leave? Because I'm not making that promise if you won't."
He bit his bottom lip. He got what she was getting at, but the idea of just leaving his wife to face a dangerous situation alone was repulsive to him
"You can't, can you?" Vanessa said when he was silent for too long. "We're a team, you and I. For better or worse. You can no more walk away from me in that situation than I could from you."
"It was 'til death do us part' that I was worried about," Gambit replied.
He looked down at the chicken, all pieces now coated and sitting on a tray. He wandered over to the stove to heat up his pre-prepared frying pan.
"Fine," he said. "I promise."
Vanessa stared. "Wait, what?"
"I promise that if the situation is such that we have a better chance of success if you face it alone, I will take Will and leave," he said. "As much as the idea of leaving you to face danger alone pains me... You're a very capable woman and at the very least Will needs to be taken to safety."
Vanessa pressed her lips together. She really hadn't thought that Gambit would agree to leave.
"I don't promise I won't sneak back though," Gambit went on. "The element of surprise is a powerful tool."
She felt marginally better, hearing that. Gambit cocked his head at her as he put the chicken into the frying pan.
"Well?" he challenged her. "Are you going to promise too? Or did I just call your bluff?"
She gave him a hard look, but finally nodded.
"Fine. I promise. But I am not happy about this," she said, her annoyance quite clear.
"Well, hopefully the situation won't come up again. Or maybe William will be old enough to know to make himself scarce by then and it won't be an issue," Gambit said.
He sighed as he put the lid on the frying pan and then headed over to the sink to wash his hands.
"Anyway, it's not like we haven't both been in dangerous situations both alone and together before," he pointed out.
"I guess. But on those occasions we knew what we were getting into," Vanessa replied. "Well, most of the time. We didn't have someone just randomly show up on our doorstep."
"Karma?"
Vanessa laughed as Gambit wiped his hands dry and wrapped her arms around him.
"I love you, Remy," she said softly.
He rested his forehead on hers, tossed the towel to the side and put his hands around her waist. "I love you too, Nessie." He moved one of his hands to her stomach where Candra had touched her. "And whatever this is, we're going to get through it. Together."
The good news was that when all of Vanessa's tests came back, they all revealed that she was perfectly healthy. The bad news was that they were still no closer to figuring out what in the world Candra did to her. Gambit felt like he was feeling his mortality—and the mortality of those around him—far more than he liked these days. The matter was causing them both a great deal of anxiety, something which they generally opted to work out of their system by carnal means.
"Here's a thought," Rogue said during one of her weekly phone calls with Gambit, after about a month had passed. "Maybe she didn't do anything to Vanessa."
"What do you mean, maybe she didn't do anything?" Gambit asked with a frown. "Of course she did something. I stood there while she hurt Vanessa so badly she was reduced to tears. Even now, she's still nervous about stepping foot into the living room."
"But all the tests came out negative. Or positive. Whatever the good one is," Rogue said. "Hear me out: there's an enormous variety of mutant powers out there, and I can tell you right now that it's entirely possible for me to make someone feel pain without actually causing them an injury. Now, wouldn't you say that not knowing what Candra has done is worse than if say...you got some test results back that said she had a tumour?"
Gambit was silent as he considered that. He'd been worried about tumours, but at least if one had made an appearance, they'd have something to focus their attention on and fight.
"You could have a point there," Gambit said slowly. "But I don't know if that's really Candra's style. She's the kind who likes to gloat."
Rogue shrugged. "So maybe she's expecting you to go to her and beg her to tell you what she did."
Gambit went cold. "You could be right there. That would be right up her alley. She'd enjoy the begging and stringing me along."
He wasn't entirely reassured, but after sharing Rogue's theory with Vanessa, both of them felt their anxiety lift, just a little bit. Gambit was still a little nervous about Candra deciding to drop by again if the payoff to whatever scheme she had going didn't happen as soon as she'd like. However, in that Jean-Luc was right; Candra was patient and it was unlikely she'd bring the matter up again for a few years.
Gambit and Vanessa were just starting to relax when she started having symptoms. At first the tiredness and the throwing up was dismissed as a bug, but when it failed to pass on its own, Vanessa arranged to see the doctor.
"How'd it go?" was Rogue's first question to Gambit during their weekly phone call, which fell the day after.
"It was the last thing either of us expected," Gambit replied with a relieved grin. "We're expecting."
"Vanessa's pregnant?" Rogue exclaimed.
"Yep! Turns out it was nothing to do with Candra," Gambit said happily, then added slyly: "Well, maybe not nothing to do with Candra."
"Oh yeah? Lots of 'I love you so much, I don't know what I'd ever do without you' sex?" Rogue suggested.
"And the rest," Gambit confirmed with a grin. "Heh, we were both so wound up, a pregnancy never even occurred to us. But hey, not complaining."
"That's good, 'cause if you were, I'd have to kick your ass," Rogue teased him. "Well, congratulations then."
"Merci," Gambit replied, beaming. "We're going in for the ultrasound next week. It's a little early but since Candra did happen and it was around that area that she did hurt Vanessa, we figure it's a good idea to keep a close eye on things."
"Probably wise."
When Rogue inquired the following week how the scan went, Gambit replied that everything was fine so far and it looked like they might be having twins.
"There's a chance that one of them might fail, so we can't call it a definite just yet," Gambit told her. "But just in case, I'm looking at putting an extension on the house. It won't hurt to have an extra bedroom and bathroom."
He left out his intention of investigating the possibility of adding an additional bedroom and bathroom that was airtight. He wasn't sure if that was feasible, but he really liked the idea of Rogue having a place she could stay on Earth. Since the idea first occurred to him a few years ago, he had done some checking and found out that Rogue's old home on the Xavier estate was being used for other things. Rogue didn't mind—she'd been living on the moon for the past twenty-three years, and had expected that.
Vanessa's pregnancy proceeded as normal, even if she insisted it was a far worse pregnancy than her first one. The twins were confirmed and then a few weeks later they realised there were more than two heartbeats inside.
"Triplets?" Rogue exclaimed, wide-eyed.
"Yeah," Gambit replied, sounding somewhat overwhelmed. "I was just getting used to twins."
"I'll bet."
"Really glad I decided to go ahead with the extension too," he said. "Nessie's parents are planning on helping us, but I'm giving some serious thought to hiring a nanny, if for no other reason than making sure we have an extra set of hands in the middle of the night."
His plans to build a room for Rogue had to be scrapped, and for that he was disappointed. He was relieved that he had so many good investments going, though. He was going to be especially busy for the next seven years and suspected he wouldn't have as much time to raise money for his dose of the Elixir the usual way.
The sapphire mine in Sri Lanka he'd bought a share in had turned out to be surprisingly profitable. As he was the only partner who was a mutant, when the "baseline humans can't own property/companies" laws came in, the full ownership of the mine defaulted to him. The only thing he'd been uncomfortable about was the fact that he'd bought it in the first place because they didn't use slave labour (or anything resembling it), and under Apocalypse's rule, that had changed. Ultimately, Gambit kept everyone on and took steps to make sure that everyone was treated like human beings and not commodities. In doing such, he also became part of an underground of like-minded mutants. Gambit found it ironic that there was an underground in "treating people fairly" and not exploiting them. It wasn't the kind of scene he was used to.
"A nanny might not be a bad idea," Rogue replied agreeably. "Wow, triplets, that's crazy. How's Vanessa doing?"
"I think she has more mixed feelings about all this than I do," Gambit said, shaking his head. "Plus generally feeling like crap on top of that. This one's harder than the last one."
"That's not really surprising. What about Will?"
Gambit grinned. "I think he's handling all of this a lot better than the rest of us. I just hope he doesn't start getting jealous after the babies are born 'cause they'll be getting more attention."
"I'm sure you guys will find a way to make him feel included," Rogue assured him.
"I hope so."
Shortly after Rogue hung up with Gambit, she got a call in from Bobby.
"I hear you're retreating to the British Isles," Rogue commented after they were past the pleasantries. "Are you sure you don't need me?"
"No, we're good," Bobby replied.
"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you," Rogue said dryly. "You know, what with Apocalypse closing in on you both in Europe and in Mexico."
"It's all good, we have a plan," Bobby said smugly.
"Oooh you're using plans now?" Rogue asked teasingly, sensing that despite how things might look, Bobby was in a good mood. "How high tech."
Bobby chuckled and rubbed his hands together gleefully. It was a difficult war to fight because he still felt like there was so much they didn't know about the powers of Apocalypse, his Horsemen, and the rest of his warriors. Nevertheless, they'd finally made a breakthrough. Sure, it would take a few more months before everything and everyone was in position, but when that happened, Apocalypse wasn't going to know what hit him.
"Yes, yes we are," Bobby replied, grinning. "Can't tell you much; I know this is a secure line and I can trust you and all, but we still can't be too careful. We've got this, I know it."
Rogue was very happy to hear him say that. It had been so long since she'd last saw him not looking completely stressed out. Still, as the months passed, she had to wonder, despite his assurances, if things really were going to plan. Especially once it was confirmed that all of South America was under Apocalypse's control.
"I can't help but feel like I should insist on getting involved, you know?" Rogue said to Gambit during one of their weekly phone calls. "How can I just sit back and do nothing?"
"Because this is the nature of the world, ma chère," Gambit replied. "Empires rise and empires fall. The world as we knew it was always going to collapse one day. And one day Apocalypse's empire will fall. Even if the X.S.E. wins this war, the world will not be as it was."
"That's for sure. But that doesn't answer my question."
"Of course it does," Gambit said assuredly. "You can't get involved every single time war breaks out. That would be an ongoing job. You'd never see the end of it. Even if you tried to force all war to end, you'd just become the new empire, and one day you'll fall too. It's all a circle."
"So, better to sit outside the circle and watch the whole world burn, huh?" Rogue asked wryly.
"Yes. With some looting thrown in," Gambit said, only half joking.
"But what about your family? And your friends? Don't you want to save them? Spare them from being enslaved?" Rogue asked earnestly. "Stop the whole world from being enslaved?"
"Yeah, I do. But I can't," Gambit said. "That's beyond my ability. I'll do what I can for myself and my family; everyone else is a luxury."
"But, it's not beyond mine," Rogue pointed out.
Gambit cocked his head at her. "You sure about that?"
Rogue blinked, but before she had a chance to query what he meant by that, Gambit changed the subject.
"Finally found a nanny we both liked," he said. "Her name's Hermione. Yes, as in the Harry Potter character."
Rogue giggled. "Oooh, you should name your kids after fictional characters. Let's see... Gildarts Natsu Randall. I like it."
"We're not naming our kids after Fairy Tail characters."
"Aw. What about One Piece? Naruto?" Rogue suggested with a grin.
"You've been watching anime again, haven't you?"
"It makes me happy," Rogue said. "How can nakama not make you happy? How can it not thrill you to pieces seeing people fighting not for power or personal glory, but to save the lives of their friends? How can I sit in this damn prison all day every freaking day and not go down there and kick some Apocalypse butt? This sucks."
"Because you don't want to become the one that starts out fighting for your friends and ends up turning on them."
"I wouldn't do that!"
"That's what they all say."
"I... you..." Rogue glared at him. "I hate you."
"Sure you do," Gambit replied, grinning at her. "Leave it to Bobby. If he needs you, I'm sure he'll call. In the meantime, just let the people with their short life spans work out their own problems."
"Logan's fighting," Rogue pointed out.
"Logan's always fighting. Logan's fought in so many wars, he probably doesn't even know how to deal living in peacetime," Gambit dismissed. "When he has no war to fight he goes looking for one. Or he takes up cage fighting. Logan's probably having the time of his life right now, and if you intervene you're going to spoil all his fun."
Rogue blinked at him. "That's twisted, Remy."
Gambit shrugged. "Yet, I don't hear you denying the possibility. Now—"
He was cut off from whatever he was going to say by the ringing of his phone. He glanced at the screen and noticed Vanessa's name appear.
"I have to get this," he said.
Rogue nodded as he took the call. She watched as his frown deepened.
"Alright, be right there," he said, hung up, and looked up at Rogue. "Sorry, I have to cut this short. Nessie's not doing too well at the moment and thinks she should get to hospital."
"I see. How far along is she now?" Rogue asked. "29 weeks?"
"Close, 30," Gambit replied as he got up. "And as big as a bus, but don't tell her I said that. I think I can understand why triplets are always born premature. I can't imagine her getting any bigger over the next six weeks or so before the c-section."
Rogue shook her head. "Well, I hope she's feeling better."
"Same."
They hung up and Gambit headed upstairs to attend to his wife and grab William. In due course they arrived at the hospital, which was thankfully quiet for once, and Vanessa was attended to almost immediately. It wasn't long thereafter that Gambit was giving Vanessa's parents a call and letting them know that Vanessa had gone into labour.
Mr and Mrs Randall arrived soon thereafter, for which Gambit was most relieved as he was rather busy being anxious about Vanessa and the triplets, and looking after William at the same time. It was nice to be able to share the load.
Finally, the triplets were born. They were small, but the doctor was confident that they'd be just fine. Still, Gambit couldn't help but feel a little bit anxious seeing his kids hooked up to machines so they could breathe. Vanessa was also recovering, but like the triplets, everyone was certain she'd be okay as well.
"There you go, Will," Gambit said, lifting up his four-year-old son so he could see his new younger siblings. "These are your little sister and brothers; Carrie, Charles, and Clay."
AN: Just a piece of useless trivia:
I did seriously consider having Gambit and Vanessa move into Apocalypse's domain and try to raise their family there, with Vanessa being labelled by outsiders as the "favoured concubine". I even considered a scene where the authorities found out that Gambit was in regular contact with Rogue and they had to do some fast talking: "Rogue's actually my wife but since we can't touch Vanessa's her body substitute." The very idea of that fabricated arrangement gave me the giggles.
Alas, I concluded that Gambit wouldn't put himself into a position where he may have to cut off contact with Rogue. Since he would only move into enemy territory to spy, steal, and generally cause trouble, he wouldn't want to arouse suspicion by being seen to be in regular contact with Apocalypse's enemies. So, sadly, that potential plotline got dumped. On the bright side, I still got to make a "favoured concubine" comment ;)
