"We just talked."
"Just talked? You two were hanging all over each other like you were married." Jean leaned against the mahogany paneling of the elevator and grinned at Ororo.
"It's good to be back in New York." Ororo said, ignoring Jean's comment.
"Oh no you don't. Yeah, we're back home, but what's going on with you and Remy?" She sighed and turned to her best friend.
"He wants to mlskt me."
"What?"
"He wants to mlskt me." Jean laughed.
"Since when do we keep secrets? What, did you two do the happy dance or something?" Ororo glared at her as the elevator doors opened, releasing them at their apartment.
"You know me better than that." She said as Jean produced her key first and unlocked the door. Once inside a rich baritone voice reached their ears, and Jean started to grin like an idiot. "Oh goodness." Ororo muttered, shaking her head and descending the stairs into the living room. "Scott! Why are you singing show tunes?"
" 'Ro, I've told you, I can't have passionate sex with you under an island sun. I mean, what would Jean do as we went at it like rabbits?" Scott came out of the kitchen wearing a ridiculously large chefs hat.
"Kick both your asses. How are you sweetie, didn't expect you to be off today." Jean said as she took the tongs out of his hand and kissed him lovingly. "And why do you keep trying to cook? You know you are culinarly challenged."
"There is no love in this room. What will our marriage be built on ?" Scott asked dryly.
"Sex and money."
"Sounds good to me." Ororo looked over her shoulder and smiled at her two best friends.
"So Scott, why aren't you sleeping? I mean a whole shift from the hospital? That's got to be a rarity." She said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Ororo squealed as he threw her over his shoulder casually.
"It is, but I thought I would spend time with my two favorite ladies."
"I see…can I get down?"
"Can you?"
"Scott, come on. Let me down."
"I don't think so."
"Seinfeld's on." He perked up.
"Really?"
"Yes!" Ororo laughed. "Put me down!" She yelped as she was dropped on the couch. Laughing, Scott shoved her over and sat down beside her as they turned on their favorite show.
"You know, isn't it stereotypical for New Yorkers to love Seinfeld?" Jean asked, watching the banter between her fiancé and her best friend with amusement.
"Do you hear something?" Ororo asked, crossing her legs and settling in.
"Not at all." Scott shrugged, throwing his arm over the back of the couch. Jean just nodded and smiled grimly.
"I guess someone doesn't want me to salvage the food they tried to cook…or at least that's what I hope you tried to do with it." Jean shot back. Scott blanched and turned around, smiling innocently.
"You're the light of my world." He said helpfully.
"I know honey. Just watch your show while I do containment." Ororo raised an eyebrow as Scott turned back around.
"You know she loves you." He expelled his breath nosily, a half laugh.
"Yes I do. I tried, I really did…but you have more than one pan, and that threw me off." Ororo nodded.
"It's amazing you don't starve."
"Hey, I know how to dial a phone. Hello, Chin's Deli, yes, It's me Scott. The usual." She laughed.
~*~
"So how did it go?"
"Better than I expected. You were right, they are amazing." Logan nodded and spun his chair around slowly to gaze at the New York skyline. Remy placed the statue on the long conference table and took a seat as well, waiting for more information.
"I know. I've been tracking their very young careers." He turned back to his second-in-command and steepled his thick, strong fingers, one curled around an unlit cigar.
"Why this statue? It's not worth much." Remy slid it over to Logan, arms crossed. "I know you wouldn't have sent me on a wild goose chase."
"You're right, I wouldn't. You see, I had to make sure nothing happened to the statue itself. As you can see it is very ugly, and people are subconsciously more careless with ugly things."
"Will this be a lecture on the subconscious, or are you going to tell me what's so special about this thing." Remy knew he was treading on thin ice with Logan's temper. He has killed for less said, but he wasn't just an underling. Remy was almost like a son to him, and that granted him slack in places others would not be allowed.
"It's not really the statue, but what information is inside." Logan picked up the porcelain and diamond crusted orb and threw it to the marble floor, shattering it into a thousand pieces. He smiled as what he wanted was revealed. A minidisc laid gleaming on the floor, and Remy picked it up as he brushed pieces of vase from his slacks.
"What's on it?" He asked, spinning it around in his hands. Logan's face hardened and he stood, swiftly coming to stand in front of Remy, snatching his disc from his hands.
"Nothing to concern yourself with."
"Fine." Remy stood fluidly, his duster stirring the air near his feet. "Do you need anything else?"
"We have a board meeting scheduled for tomorrow. I want room B used." Remy's brow wrinkled in confusion.
"Why B?"
"Just cleaning some house." Remy nodded and left, an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
*
"Good afternoon Delores." Ororo greeted one of the domestic staff as she walked through her parents foyer. The blond haired maid looked up from her work and smiled. Delores had been with the Munroe family for as long as Ororo had been alive, standing at five two and grandmotherly overweight, she was like a friend of the family.
"Afternoon to you too dearie. Just dropped by?" Delores asked, giving the taller woman a fierce hug that belied her age. Ororo nodded as she slipped out of her jacket and hung it on the rack.
"Wanted to talk to mom and dad before they left. Are they still leaving tomorrow?" She asked, smoothing her lavender blouse.
"Yes, Percy is packing them up now. A whole season in Africa…what are we going to do without their company?"
" I'll probably rearrange Dad's dark room."
"And you know he'll have a fit." Delores admonished.
"Very true. Where are they?" She asked.
"In the Solarium, with Mr. Xavier."
"Uncle Charles is here? I'll talk to you later Delores!" Ororo threw over her shoulder as she started up the first of four flights of stairs.
"See you later too dearie!" A few minutes later Ororo reached the top floor of the Munroe mansion, a large glass dome called the Solarium. On one side was her and her mother's sprawling indoor garden, where they spliced and cultivated hard to grow plants in perfectly specified environments; and on the other was one of the swimming pools and an area where guests could relax and have fun.
Walking through the oak paneled arc, Ororo stepped down into the soothing room, the glow of the setting sun feeling warm on her skin. "Ororo baby. There you are."
"Hi Daddy." She smiled as she was enveloped in a large and loving hug. David Munroe was a physically imposing man, tall, trim and handsome still in his later years. The only clue to his age was the swirls of gray at each temple, rendering him distinguished. "Ready to go on your trip?" Ororo asked as she pulled back.
"Sure am. Your mom's been bugging me about when will we be able to get back. I thought this would buy me some time." Her father added, whispering conspiratorially.
"I heard that David, and that will cost you." N'Dare Munroe smiled regally, walking to her daughter and giving her a hug. "It's been two weeks since you've come to visit. Are you alright?" She asked Ororo. Her mother carried herself like a queen, for since birth she was groomed to take the throne of the Ashake tribe in Kenya.
With her long hair that hung down her back, you could see that its color ran in the family. Not a wrinkle on her flawless face, or an ounce of makeup, she was a woman who put you at ease with her smile, or could stop you in your tracks with a glare.
"I'm fine Mom, just very busy. Freelancing is taking a lot of time." Her mother nodded.
"I understand, but I wish you would come with us. The last time we visited your grandparents was over two years ago. Ever since they imported their computer, they're emailing us and wanting a picture of you. So we sent some old ones." N'Dare's slightly accented voice held a hint of laughter in it.
Ororo frowned. "Not the potty picture."
"You weren't here to pick baby girl, so we had to do it for you." David laughed and put his arms around his two women. "Come on, your uncle heard you were here. We were just having lunch."
*
A Few Hours Later…
Ororo and her mother placed the lunch dishes on the dumbwaiter, preparing to send them to the kitchen. N'Dare watched her daughter fidget for a few minutes, and decided to question her. "Ororo?"
"Hmm?" The beautiful woman looked up, a distant look in her eye. She almost dropped a dish, catching it a split second before it hit the ground. Frowning she placed it in its spot carefully, and turned to her mother. "Sorry, I'm just a bit…"
"Distracted." The older woman finished for her daughter. Ororo nodded and leaned against the wall. "Would you like to talk about it?"
"Yes. In the garden?"
"Sure." They walked in silence, N'Dare watching her daughter gather her thoughts together. Ororo looked up as the greenroom's door closed with a quiet click, enclosing the two women in a cool and moist environment. "What is it my child?"
She sat down in a swinging hammock and stared into the sky, dotting with emerging stars. "Someone wants to marry me." N'Dare blinked.
"And who is he?"
"His name is Remy LeBeau." Ororo didn't look at her mother as she said that.
"And…"
"And I love him too." Ororo's mother closed her eyes briefly.
"That's not what I wanted to know. Who is he?" N'Dare laughed slightly. "I mean, you must understand my point of view. This is a bit sudden."
'You think this is sudden?' Ororo thought. "I know mother, that's why I'm talking to you instead of Daddy. He'd stand up and yell 'Not my daughter. I haven't even met the man, or heard about him until marriage is the subject of conversation?' I don't need to hear that right now."
"But he does need to meet this Remy person. As do I."
"I know. He works for Roche Megacorp."
"Okay…" The older woman prompted as her daughter faltered.
"Well…he loves me." Ororo finished helplessly. N'Dare nodded and stood, turning to look out of the bay window that afforded a view of the lake.
"This argument will not hold up with your father. He hasn't heard of this man until now. And it doesn't seem that you know much about him either." She said, somewhat amused.
"No, I guess not." Ororo sat back, crossing her legs and looking at the toe of her boot. "But you didn't know much about Daddy when you ran away to America to marry him." She reminded.
"Things were different, and I was stupid and impulsive. I just managed to make a great mistake with a man who I never regretted marrying. Who is to say you will be so lucky?" Ororo started to say something until her mother raised her cloud colored eyebrow sternly. "Let's just take this a bit slower, shall we? Find out more about him. Do it while we're away, and when we come back, gently break it to your father he doesn't have a little girl anymore. But he will ask questions, as will I. For which we hope you'll have the answers to."
"Yes mom." Ro sighed and ran her finger absently through her long locks. She realized she was being a bit hasty. She didn't know much about him, and what she was told had to be verified. Man, she was acting like a silly little school girl.
"But congratulations. I know how exhilarating it is when love hits so deeply for the first time." N'Dare smiled and looked over her shoulder to her only child. "Just be careful, I can't stand to see you hurt."
"Of course not." She rose and kissed her mother on the cheek. "I've got to go, some business I have to take care of. I'll see you when you get back since you're heading out so early tomorrow."
"You too sweetie. Be safe."
"Always."