20

Rogue had her first, full on ear shredding off Tante. Even though the fight with the Rippers hadn't been her fault, Tante had chewed off her ears for getting involved.

"But Tante," Rogue had tried saying. "They were in trouble an' Remy was about ta-"

The back hand to the back of her head came unexceptedly. It wasn't too hard. Just enough to shock her.

"Don't y' go answerin' back t' me now, y' hear!" Tante had warned her. "Don't y' realise that y' coulda been vraiment blessé? Y' tryna send moi t' an early grave?"

Rogue stayed quiet after that. Tante had made her strip in front of her and bathe. She was checking to see if she had any cuts or bruises anywhere and was being extrememly thorough. After seeing there was nothing wrong with her, Tante still stuck around to see Rogue into a clean set of pjs and to bed. She had been sat on her bed, watching Tane paste in front of her and go on a rampage.

Tante wasn't a monster, just upset. Soon after she got all of her anxious frustrations out of her system, she took Rogue by either side of the head, turning her head to look up into her eyes.

Tante was so close to crying on her, it scared her. But, what maybe scared Rogue more a the motherly, caring look within them. They looked at her as if she was the most precious thing in the world and that her precious thing had been wounded beyond compare. There was that calmness sweeping into Rogue from Tante's touch again. The one that made her feel safe. The one that made her feel loved. Rogue, honestly, became extremely concerned for the woman before her. The woman who she had scared half to death tonight.

"I'm so glad y' safe honey chile," she had said ever so gently. "Mais s'il vous plait, y' can't do dat t' moi again! I'm an old lady, y' hear. Mon heart can't take it."

Seeing Tante this way, Rogue reached up and wrapped her arms around Tante's neck, giving her the hug she really needed. Rogue realised, after all Tante's scounding, this wasn't about her being in the wrong. It was about Tante fearing she'd never come back again. It was heartbreaking to witness. Especially when they had only just met.

After forceably placing Rogue's feet in her bed as if she was four and tucking her in, Tante left Rogue's room, switching off the lights.

Rogue sighed a relieved breathe after Tante had gone and ran her hands through her hair. For those first few moments she remained in bed, she though of all the little things Tante had done for her. Welcoming her in the first night she arrived. Cooking for her and protecting her from Jean-Luc's many many questions that would have been painful to answer. Then, in the morning, the woman had been up before the sun just to make sure Merci and she had food in their bellies before taking off. She'd been so happy for Rogue. So insistant that she forget all her troubles and just enjoy herself here. She'd also brought food to her room while she and Merci were changing to go out tonight, wanting to make sure that they definetly had something to line their stomach even when she knew they would be eating. That woman had done nothing but cook, clean and near worship the ground she walked on. It felt so increable to be cared for like that with such passion when the woman only meet her just over a day ago.

Rogue listened to the mansion. She couldn't hear any yelling and she had a feeling that wasn't to do with where she was located.

Her mind went back to Remy, Theo and the other thieves who had been injuried after Tante had dominated her thoughts for some time. There was still an unanswered question there. Rogue throw back her bedding and moved towards her bedroom door. She switched her light on, but was slow to open her door as she peered outside. She was a little worried Tante might be out there, guarding her door, but she wasn't.

Rogue opened her door a little further, looking up and down the corridors. It seemed clear, but when she stepped outside her room and turned her head in the other direction she'd checked was clear not two seconds ago, she jumped.

"Désolé précieuse. Didn't mean t' shake y'," said Jean-Luc.

Rogue placed a hand over her beating chest and took in a deep breath. She forced a smile, not expecting to see him.

"Ain't t'inkin' a runnin' from us, are y'?" Jean-Luc asked.

"What?" Rogue questioned, caught off guard. "Oh, no! Ah was just wonderin', well, how the others were," she said.

Jean-Luc's hand reached out and he placed it on Rogue's shoulder. Rogue's mouth opened, as if to say something, but she found herself unable to. Jean-Luc's smile looked soft and kind and so did his eyes. Those intense eyes that she felt herself becoming trapped in again. It was unsettling.

"Gentille fille, don't y' go worryin' none 'bout them. Main t'ing dat matters is dat y' be safe. Tante said y' ain't got any injuries. That so?" he asked.

"No, ah don't have any," Rogue replied softly.

"Bien," he said. "There be anyt'ing I can do t' help y' settle for de night?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Errr, no, ah'm good if everyone else is," she said.

Jean-Luc nodded his head and his gaze fell on the hand that was stroking her covered shoulder. Having him look away from her was a relief. Although, she felt lost as she too glanced down at his bare hand stroking her.

She was so busy looking at that hand that she didn't notice the other come up to take her free shoulder.

"Besides de fiasco t'night, y' have a good time?" he asked.

"Ah," Rogue said, still staring down at his hand.

Mentally, she had to slap herself upside the head. She lifted her head up so she could look him in the eye as it was only polite. But, just as her sight gazed over his eyes, she realised she couldn't do it. Didn't want to. Instead she let her focus rise a little higher to his eyebrows, hoping it looked as if she was looking him in the eye.

"Yeah, ah had a great time. Few bumps along the way, but all of them worked out nicely in the end," Rogue said, trying to be as honest about her night as she could without going into too much detail.

"Bumps huh? What kinda bumps?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Oh, nuthin' ta go in ta detail about really," Rogue said, forcing a smile. "So, the guys are really alright? Emil an' all? It looked like they took a beatin'."

"Few cuts an' bruises, but nuthin' that won't heal," Jean-Luc replied. "Anyt'ing t'night spark a memory?"

Rogue dropped her eyes at that, feeling rather disappointed at her known answer.

"No," she said.

She could feel the words "but Remy told meh a lot" on the edge of her tongue. She bit down on her tongue. For some reason, she just had a funny feeling about Jean-Luc. She wasn't sure what, but something just didn't sit right with her about him.

"Je suis désolé, précieuse," he said, reaching up and tucking a few of her white hairs behind her ear. "But here's hopin' they come back t' y' soon, non?"

Rogue made the mistake of looking up into Jean-Luc's eyes again. She didn't trust herself with words so just smiled and nodded her head.

"Alright then," Jean-Luc said. "Y' be callin' it a night then?"

"Yeah, ah am actually pretty tired," Rogue said, not completely lieing.

Jean-Luc nodded his own head.

"Compris," he said, dropping his hands from her. "If y' do struggle t' sleep or just need someone t' talk t', mon chambre be just down de hall. Last room at de very end. Y' come find moi, oui?"

Just when Rogue could feel her chest becoming loose again, he reached up his hand and held the side of her head.

Once more, Rogue forced a smile and nodded.

"Bonne nuit mon trésor," he said, before laying a butterfly kiss on the crown of her head where her hair fell and walking past her.

Rogue's hand reached out and search for her door knob with a deseperate need. As soon as she found it, she near throw herself in her own bedroom and closed her door behind her. Rogue leaned against her door and sighed quietly, barely hearing Jean-Luc's footsteps as he walked away. But she listened to what she could make out. As she leaned against the door, listening, and feeling unable to move until those footsteps stopped, she reached to touch the top of her head where he'd kissed her. She might have been refusing to look into his eyes, but it certainly seemed like the care was there from him too.

It made her feel even more terrible about what she been debating when she had been thinking of Tante. The deal she had struck up with Remy about leaving. How could she just up and leave whenever he asked her to when there were people like Tante and Jean-Luc who loved the bones off her after only just meeting her?

She was brought out of her thoughts as she spotted a shadowy figure jump down onto her balcony through her window. Rogue's heart near stopped in her chest at the shadowed figure. That was until the figure straighten up and Remy turned his crimson eyes on her.

Rogue let go of a pent up sigh she didn't realise she had been holding and moved towards the balcony windows, opening them.

"Ya alright swamp rat?" she asked.

"Y' really taken wit' dat nickname pour moi, ain't y'?" he responded.

Rogue shrugged her shoulders, glancing away. She felt guilty about what she had just been thinking about. About going back on the deal she had made with him. It felt like she was inbetween a rock and a really rough place.

"Suits ya," she said, forcing a smile that soon came naturally as she realised the name did suit him. "What happened after ah left?"

Remy shrugged his shoulders, moving to lean against Rogue's balcony window.

"Jean-Luc asked for our story. Told em what he needed t' know," he said, simply while trying to examine what that momentary glace of discomfort had been.

"An' Theo?" she asked.

Remy's resting smirk slowly fell.

"Got his ear chewed off all night," he said.

Rogue grimaced and looked down.

"He get a punishment or somethin'?" she asked.

"Oui," he said.

Rogue glanced up into Remy's eyes, waiting for him to add more. These eyes, she wasn't terrified of losing all control in like his fathers.

"Which is?" she asked.

Remy shuck his head from side to side. Rogue frowned deeply.

"Maybe if ah go talk ta Jean-Luc, ah could help get him-"

Remy held up his hand.

"Non," he said. "No offence chérie, but y' do dat an' it just make t'ings worse."

Rogue frowned, wondering if that was true. She kind of doubted it since Jean-Luc seemed to be doing everything to ensure she felt safe and comfortable here. That and Henri confirming that his old man would pretty much do anything to keep her and make her a thief made her think that if she asked for him not to punish Theo, he wouldn't be.

But, there was something about Remy's firm warning that made her pause. That and the fact that she really didn't want to speak to Jean-Luc again. Something about his intense gaze just made her feel like she would spill everything to that man including things she'd rather not say. She'd just had a tough time avoiding most of his questions as it was and now that he was getting a lot more touchy feely with her, she really didn't want to go there.

Deciding just to bite the bullet and do what Remy asked, she looked to change the topic.

"Ya use that word for meh a lot," Rogue said.

A smirk grew on Remy's face. The gentler one where his facial features became softer when it was just the two of them.

"Suit's y'," he responded which had a smirk growing on Rogue's face.

"Ya bettah not be callin' meh ugly or somethin'," Rogue joked, turning her back on Remy and walking further into her room.

"Y' say dat while comparin' moi t' un rat," Remy said.

Rogue shrugged as she took a seat on her bed.

"Well, ah can still smell the swamp muck all over ya. You sure y' took a bath?" Rogue asked.

"Oui, wit' soap an' everyt'ing. How'd y' take handlin' Tante," Remy asked.

Rogue huffed out a breath dramatically and rolled her eyes.

"That woman. Now, don't get meh wrong, ah near love the bones off her, but she didn't half give meh earache tonight," Rogue said, taking hold on her ear. "Ah think it's still ringin'."

Remy chuckled at her. Once his chuckle stopped, the pair were coated in silence. It was an odd silence. Not completely an uncomfortable one but not a comfortable one either. Their eyes had just ended up locking and it felt… nice.

"Erm," Rogue said, being the first to drop her gaze. "Ya know ya can come in right?"

"Oui, but I best be gettin' back. Tante catches moi hear, we both be recievin' another ear twister," he said.

"Yeah, that's somethin' ah definetly wanna avoid in the future," Rogue said.

At the word future, she saw Remy's smile wavier. It made hers fade as she was reminded how Remy didn't want her here. Didn't want to have a future with her. It upset her. She glanced away once again, feeling like whatever nice moment they were having had been ruined.

"Well, ah best call it a night," Rogue said, standing from her bed.

"Oui. Good night chérie," Remy said, before jumping and returning back from where he came.

xxxxx

French Translations

Vraiment blessé - ReallyHurt
Moi - Me
Mais s'il vous plait - But please
Mon - My
Désolé précieuse - Sorry Precious
Gentille fille - Gentle girl
Bien - Good
Compris - Understood
Mon chambre - My Room
Bonne nuit mon trésor - Good night my treasure
Je suis - I am
Non - No
Oui - Yes
Pour moi - For Me
Chérie - Darling
Un rat - A Rat