That baby was a blessing, born to seek love, and love he got, from his mother and all her friends and fellow mutants. Shogo was so fortunate to be a part of that beautiful protective web of emotions that give, nurture, and guard one another. The infant invited his mom and her friends to be the best versions of themselves, to rewind, to cast away the cynicism that poisons and instead make the loving warmth that their intuition search for. However, at that moment, he was just a wriggly worm that Jubilee just could not catch or hold for the life of her.

The small child had pooped and was screaming, trying his best to avoid being changed by kicking his little legs with all his might. It was early in the morning and she desperately wanted to get back to bed as she seemed to still be tired from the all-nighter she had pulled two days ago. So, when her son rolled over, grabbed his poopy diaper, and started flinging the contents around mid-change, she felt defeated. Well, no, not defeated, she decided, she was annoyed. And, no, little Shogo was not the one that caused that feeling.

"Your uncle Remy should be the one doing this, you know, Shogo? That rascal! I should never have trusted him," she commented more to herself than to the child who, in turn, royally ignored her and continued wriggling and trying hard to once again get a hold of the dirty diaper.

'Damn you, Remy LeBeau!' Jubilee thought. 'You should be the one doing this for me, instead, you are probably getting laid right now, for like the hundredth time. I should have asked for something that he could send my way, like that shipment of discontinued bubblegum,' she lamented.

The day before she wanted really bad to start claiming her baby-changing coupons, but Remy LeBeau was nowhere in sight. No one had seen him, he hadn't returned to the mansion that night or the night after. She called Logan who had been to the Avengers' that day and he confirmed that Rogue wasn't there as was expected either. But she did send them a message saying she would need to take a leave of absence for a few days. It was a matter of minutes until the mansion received a text about the latest juicy gossip and it was a hall conversation topic about how everyone's favorite couple of ex-lovers were seemingly getting lucky.

"Of course, bastard LeBeau didn't even care to say anything to Kitty or anyone else in the mansion from what I heard," Jubilee commented when spreading the hopeful news of a Rogue-and-Remy rekindling to Storm later that day.

"Where Rogue is concerned, that boy Remy loses his senses. It's just her. She is the sun in his sky and nothing else matters," Ororo offered with a smile on her lips.

"They are probably on a sex spree, the two of them. It's been two days! The girl won't be walking straight when they finally leave the bed."

"Don't be so crude, child."

"You'd be too if he had agreed to do something for you and left you hanging to have sex with his ex."

The truth was that Jubilee's assumptions couldn't be any further away from the truth. Rogue and Remy had spent the last two days working as hard as they could, trying to beat the clock as they put together a plan as quickly as they possibly could. The eternal lovebirds were carefully forging out their plan of action to the smallest details, trying to create a failproof strategy, thinking of all possible variables. As hard as it could be, they tried to anticipate and consider all the steps they would need to take should anything stray away from their expertly outlined course of action.

Unknown to Remy, Rogue's anxiety steadily grew as so did the mess in the room they were staying in. The cardboard pizza boxes pile only got bigger, the cigarette butts abounded in the ashtray too. Remy was not even in the habit of smoking these days, but that situation pushed him over the edge so he resorted to smoking. Even though Rogue didn't appreciate it at all, she made a point of not complaining about it. He was uncharacteristically tense and visibly agitated, so she let that slide. It was impressive how he was so wired and invested in the mission ahead of them. It made Rogue wonder why that particular issue was so close to his heart. It was not like he was a woman who had been abused before. Little did she know his reasons and how domestic violence affects more than just the abused partner.

Without much sleep, feeding mainly on delivered pizzas, cola, and the occasional beers for the best of those two days, her focus was starting to be so scattered that it was a challenge to keep the focus on Remy's words. The past two nights she had drifted into sleep mid-plan-crafting. She was sleeping on a skimpy combo of shorts and a shirt that Maria had in a hand-me-down box of clothes that she kept for the girls who came asking for refuge with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Her disco night clothes were all but forgotten on the top of a drawer ever since she made herself at home and spent all her waking hours drafting the plan with Remy.

The previous night had been no different, she slept on the single bed in the bedroom while Remy resorted to a couch in a corner of the room. Waking up came slow and relaxed to Remy as if the day was kind enough to come softly into focus. His heart picked up a faster pace, his lungs expanded and he took a deep breath. After blinking a few times, his crimson eyes focused on her beautiful sleeping form. Oh, the feelings that vision brought to his chest. He savored them for a moment. From the carousel of random ideas roaming his head came some order. Subtle awareness of where he was, and what he was about to do slowly followed. And soon after, guilt made an appearance. It downed on him that he was about to put one of the people he loved the most in his life through an ordeal. Once that realization came, it hit him hard. After a few moments more he began to analyze that notion lazily, perhaps those roaming ideas were meant to be kept. Yes, there had to be another way. He couldn't just drag her through the mud like that, even if it was for saving someone who needed, not only needed but deserved, saving.

Just then, as if on cue, her eyelids flickered open and pretty untamed curls framed her face. Instantaneously, her eyes met his and he quickly realized he had been staring at her for a long while. Of course, she noticed it too. She sat in bed, pulling the covers up as she brought her knees to her chest.

"Good morning, sugar," she offered in a sleepy hoarse voice. A little smile adorned her lips for a fleeting moment. She couldn't help it, waking up to his beloved familiar face had that effect on her. He smiled adoringly back at her. Suddenly feeling self-conscious and not knowing what to do with herself, she tucked her hair behind her ears and looked around the room in a ridiculous attempt to avoid his eyes. He knew what she was doing, and decided she looked adorable when she acted shy.

"Morning, mon amour," he replied in his lovely deep south accent. She knew him all too well not to notice the tenderness with which he watched her, that softened facial expression, calling her 'his love'. In French, to make matters worse. She had to look away from him for yet a second time.

'Remy LeBeau, are you falling in love with me? Like, again?' She asked him inside her head, thanking heavens telepathy was not one of his powers. Little did she know that despite having his flings, and all those years that had gone by, he had never felt like he had fallen out of love with her. Shaking her head, she scoffed at him.

"What? What is it?" He asked her, a little too offended.

"Nothing," she dismissed the matter lightly. "So, when do we get the delivery for tonight? We cannot go there in the clothes we wore to the club, right? We gotta a role to play and my attire won't cut it. You said someone was bringing us more adequate clothes."

"About that," he enunciated the words too carefully, "I've been thinking, chére... Perhaps, it would be best if I got someone else to go undercover with me," noticing her immediate signs of discontent, he went on, trying to make things sound better, "Thing is, chére, you don't need to do this. I'd rather you did not get involved, not in that way. You've helped enough already."

"What?" She asked him, bewildered.

"I don't know, I was thinking, I could get someone to come along, a professional, you see," he said, hoping for the best, prepared for the worst. Oh, boy! He knew he was in trouble, she wouldn't simply step aside gracefully.

"I've been locked up in this room with you for two days now, planning and preparing for this mission and now you want me to stay out of it? It doesn't make any sense! I thought we were perfect for this job. That's what Maria said."

"OK, chére. Wanna hear the truth? I'm afraid for you, can't you see? I don't want you to be reminded of that terrible situation in Genosha. I don't want you to hurt all over again," he stated simply what made perfect sense inside his head.

Although it sounded irritatingly patronizing, Rogue understood where he was coming from. All those years ago, she had trusted him. He was the one person who knew about it, all of it, to the smallest sordid details. He listened, he cared for her, and he had been patient enough to stand by her side and help her heal from that pain.

Thinking about it made Remy realize that she had trusted him enough to share with him her darkest pain and shame, while he hadn't done the same, and still kept his secrets, his dark past, and upbringing to himself. Maybe that was why she wasn't his. He didn't deserve her when he couldn't bare his soul to her like she had done for him so many times before. Bringing him to the present moment, Rogue continued pleading her case, her temper flaring up as she did so.

"Hacking into someone's account and stealing it for ourselves was my idea. It is the perfect cover. All you did was find a shy guy who had been working on his prey, but unlike most of them, never posted pictures of himself or his lady. Well, not any pictures people could really identify them anyway."

Rogue had been referring to how she was the one who suggest they find their way around the internet to gain access to the wicked society. Remy had thought of just showing up to the place Carla had been taken days ago and gaining access using his swagger and sweet talk. The roles were reversed. It was very uncharacteristic of LeBeau to operate that way. He was usually the one to insist on careful planning, but Carla's plight hit too close to home for him. Still, in the end, he came to his senses and agreed that Rogue's more elaborate plan could prove more fruitful. The two of them could probably gather more irrefutable evidence that way, posing as someone who was already acquainted enough with members of the abusers' club inner circle.

It took him a while and some help from one of his tech guys, but he was able to get access to the group's deep web page. Once entry to their virtual lair was secured, Rogue proceeded to spend the best part of her first day in the house reading posts, looking for a profile that they could safely assume and get away with it.

The man she mentioned did post pictures of him and his new wife, images captured by a hidden camera in their bedroom. However, the photos he posted did not hold anything that would allow for the two of them to be identified. They were night vision mode images of him penetrating the unsuspecting woman who was always facing the other way, so no one could recognize either of them. The man had a fetish for being seen in the act and seemed to be looking forward to participating in one of the infamous parties. But he hadn't been to any yet, that would give them an advantage. No one could confirm or deny his identity as he hadn't met any member in real life.

So, as soon as Remy got him out of the way by locking the guy out of his own account, he impersonated him and accepted an invitation on the other man's behalf. The invite was for the same type of party they knew, from Carla's account of her experiences, her husband would always attend.

Rogue kept on pressing her matter, listing all the reasons why she should be the one going with him on that mission. Her temper was rising by the second, she was not used to being discarded from any mission just like that. And the fact that it was Remy doing it only aggravated the situation.

"Besides, I can absorb Maria just a little so I can get to speak proper Spanish like a Latin girl, instead of sounding like a Mississippi born-and-bred who did not pay attention to Spanish classes. Who can you get to play my role that can do it just like that?"

"An actual Latin lady?" He replied, firing her anger even more. That got some insults flying his way, surely. She explained for the thousandth time that now that he got her invested, he had no right to decide she was not going to be helping Carla and other victims of grooming and abuse anymore.

Remy rubbed his temples and took a deep breath while she raged on. When she finally finished speaking her mind, he focused his eyes on her again and spoke sweetly and calmly like an angel, not helping her calm down. His placidity had quite the opposite effect. She was so mad at him that she clenched her fists so hard that her fingernails were digging into her skin.

"Do you really not know why I had a change of heart?"

Rogue shook her head in response, now crossing her arms over her chest, chin high up in a sign of defiance.

"I don't believe you're actually going to make me say it," he commented, a hint of sadness perceptible in his voice.

"Why do you want to get rid of me, Remy? Just say it."

"I don't want to get rid of you, I want to protect you!"

She scoffed as she heard his words.

"Yeah, right," she added.

"Wanna hear the real reason, then?"

"Of course!"

"Because I love you! There! Happy now?"

"Don't give me that, Remy. I've been hearing all about you and your flings lately. People talk, you know?"

"Can't you see? It doesn't matter if we are together or not. I love you, and I always will. I know about your trauma, sexual abuse trauma. I don't want you to be reminded of it, I don't want to see you in pain again. And that's because I love you. After all, I care, okay? Whether you like it or not."

His honesty and earnestness got her to drop her attitude completely. Instinctively, she stood from the bed and sat by his side on the sofa. Emotion took the best of her, her eyes filled up with tears and she closed them, finding that moment unbearably intense, and he was aware of it too. He welcomed her closeness with his arms and she eagerly slid into his embrace and welcomed his warm lips that sought hers. Their kiss was soft and gentle, while at the same time, deep and meaningful. His lips caressed hers ever so gently, she breathed him in and felt so in love with his essence, his smell. It was so intoxicatingly sexy, in a matter of seconds their breathing matched, when she inhaled, he inhaled. When they both exhaled in unison, it was paradise. The way they had always been able to connect, Anna Marie knew for sure she had never reached that level of connection with anyone else.

Just as she was going to start overthinking the whole episode, they heard a soft knock on the door. It was Maria, she claimed to have a delivery for them. When Remy opened the door, Maria could tell both of them looked a bit flustered and kicked herself mentally for obviously interrupting something. She was holding a somewhat large box under one arm and the other hand held what looked like two pieces of clothing in hangers covered by thin plastic, probably just collected from the dry cleaners.

"I just received this delivery in your name, Remy," she declared simply, "Is it going to be tonight?"

Remy LeBeau's eyes found Rogue's and they silently asked for confirmation. Rogue nodded her head approvingly, only then he said 'yes' to Maria.

"I see. The two of you need to eat right, you can use a break, you know? No amount of make-up will cover those dark circles under your eyes."

"Ok, Maria. I promise we'll go down for lunch today, I'll make him come with me too," Rogue spoke politely.

"It will be a pleasure. I'll try and cook something healthy. Looking at all those pizza boxes, God knows you two need it," Maria replied with a smile and quickly excused herself and left the two alone.

Once alone again, Remy turned to Anna and his demeanor meant business again.

"OK, we can do this together, if you promise me that if, by any chance, I have to... you know...do things to you so they will buy our cover, do you promise me that you will be okay, chére?"

"Are you asking me for consent, Remy? Do you want me to give you consent to fuck me if it comes to that?"

"Oui, I guess that's what it is, chére."

"Aren't you a prince, Remy LeBeau?" She replied with a smile, touching his arm lightly and caressing him.

"So?"

"Yes, Remy. You've got my consent. When the time comes, do what you feel you need to do."

"I promise I won't let those bastards lay a finger on you," he replied, feeling hopeful that everything would work out according to plan.

They stepped awkwardly towards one another and hugged tenderly, not like lovers this time, but like friends, like the true soulmates they were. Being inside his arms always brought her so much comfort. He had always been her human teddy bear in times of need, that childhood dreams of night and day are made. He smiled at her, his smile was like an offered cup to hold-safe childish emotions, fears, trauma whatever they may be. His eyes transmitted warmth, a gentleness that soothed her soul. As such he was the most perfect partner in crime, the perfect hand to hold.

She savored that intimate moment because she was sure that once they were out of the safety of Maria's place, things would be tough and could easily get ugly.

And she would learn sooner rather than later that she was right in assuming that.

As if he could read her mind, he hugged her even tighter to reassure her, she allowed herself to melt into his form and gave him a little kiss on his cheek. They remained like that for a while, hearts beating fast, thinking of all the possibilities that night held. Shattering the silence, Rogue resumed their conversation from before.

"I won't let them touch me, either. I'd blow our cover if it came to that. But I'm trusting your ability to sweet-talk people to tell you all. Once we get confessions on camera, we are out of there."

"Exactly. Hopefully, none of it will be necessary," he replied forcing himself to feel hopeful it would all work accordingly to plan.

However, if he had learned one thing in all the years he had been a thief and an X-Man was that things rarely went according to plan.