Note : Snif! There's the final chapter to that story, hope you liked it. Hope you like the end, too. Thanks to all of those who reviewed and who will review (hint, hint) this story. And special thanks to those who would pay for this *smile*. As to those who imagined a love story between Jean-Luc and Louise… Well, not in that story, but I'll put the idea on ice!

Enjoy.

The hard scent of vinegar rose to her nostrils, and she grimaced. The next thing she was aware of was the sound of voices around her, then a hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her. "Hey, chere, are'y alright?". She opened her eyes but promptly shut them and put a hand to her forehead, trying to ease the vertigo in her head. A hand fastened on her arm to steady her as she sat up on the sofa, and she finaly felt it safe to open her eyes. The images were a blur of color, but slowly her mind made up the links and Jean-Luc's head was looming over her, a worried look on his face. He smiled when she met his glaze, though.

"Remy always had the kick with gals, dat I knew. Never saw one react dis way, though."

"Me neither, believe me. Dis de first time it happens" said another voice next to her. She turned her head, and gasped.

Remy was kneeling on the floor next to the sofa, a small bottle of vinegar on his hand. He had taken off his sunglasses, and she was seeing his eyes for the first time. Instead of white, the eyeball seemed entirely black, and the iris was a striking red with bits of golden, with a slight glow in them, as if a candle was lit inside the eye. The pupils were wide with questionning, and she could see the eyes themselves could hold a lot of expression, in this case bewilderment and interrogation. She snapped out of her reverie, noticing she was staring, and shook her head. Mutant eyes, the woman had said. Indeed. She moaned and put her face in her hands, not noticing the worried look Remy and Jean-Luc exchanged.

"Am I so bad lookin'y have to cry?" Remy asked. He had meant it a joke, but the question held a trace of worry. These eyes must have cost him painful experiences, she knew, and she snapped her head up, staring in the red depths.

"No! Non, not at all. Oh Remy, y'are as perfect as in my memories…" She stopped dead, and Remy frowned.

"Y'know me?"

"I… no, well…" She sighed, not knowing what to say. That wasn't at all the happy reunion she had imagined! Jean-Luc saved the day, though, sensing something coming.

"Look, let's all just go in de kitchen for coffee, and we'll talk dis over de table. Okay?" She nodded and got up, heading for the kitchen, feeling the red stare in her back.

***************

She put both her hands on the hot cup. The heat burned her fingers, but at least the hands weren't shaking anymore that way. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. It didn't work, though, and her stomach was so clenched it hurt, and she felt her heart in her throath. She stared at the cup, but she knew Remy and Jean-Luc were looking at her, Jean-Luc on her side, Remy the other side of the table, facing her. They were waiting for an explanation. Remy barely knew her and she had acted strange since his arrival. But to Jean-Luc, her attitude was different, and it seemed to be connected with Remy. Why? He didn't know. She sighed deeply, her breath shaking. "I should begin with the beginning" she thought. "Well, here goes nothing."

"I was fifteen when I met him. A dark man, handsome… He took my teenage heart away. He was married, though, and came from far away, in Québec. He was older than me, a business man, an important man… Everything in him should have pulled me away, but instead, I fell in love." She paused, gulping. The two men were silent, wondering where she was heading with this. "He was here only for business trips, but he came often enough, and I kept having hope. And I kept loving him, and hurting. Today, I wonder why I didn't run away from that doomed relationship. It would have saved me a lot of trouble, but… The last time he came, he said goodbye to me and turned away. A few weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant." Jean-Luc's brows raised to his hairline, and Remy hissed in some air through his teeth. Even today, being a teenage mother is never well seen, especially when no father is visible. "I kept it, of course, I couldn't even think of getting rid of it. So I kept it, and my father disowned me, leaving me just enough money for me to live in a small appartment. I gave birth alone, at sixteen years old, in a cold white room full of strangers that looked at me as if I was a whore…" Tears were running freely on her cheeks now, as the images slowly came to her mind. "It was terrible, it hurt… When the cramps began, I knew I wouldn't be able to give this baby a life. I barely had enough money to live a few weeks, and I would have to work, and I didn't have any education, and…" Jean-Luc reached and put his hand on hers, gently smiling. Get to the point, it said. She looked into his eyes, and saw he was beginning to understand. Then she looked at Remy. He was frowning and looked at her a strange way, and she knew he was beginning to understand as well. "They made me sign an adoption form. I gave the baby to the hospital, trusting them to find him a good family, able to take care of him as I could not. I… I was never supposed to see him. They took him away from me the second he was born, I barely heard him cry before he was out of my room. But I saw him. One night, I went to the nursery, and one of the nurses was kind enough to show him to me. He was sleeping in her arms, but it was my son… my baby…" She sobbed again.

"What are'y trying t'say, chere?" said Jean-Luc.

"I never was married, and never had other children… I became a nurse, maybe to be close to the other's babies, and hold dem like I could never hold m'son. But a few weeks ago, I was hired at the Children Hospital. I was rumagin' through the files to find something a doctor had asked me… And I found him."

"Him? Your son?" Remy's voice held a cold note. She could see he was dreading what was coming.

"Yes, and I found out he was never adopted, and put in the New Orleans Orphanage, and den ran away. I lost track of him since then, but…" she took a deep breath. This was harder than she had imagined. And Remy didn't look happy about what he was hearing. "But the old woman of the orphanage told me his name was Remy."

The two men were silent for a long time. She looked up to look at Remy, but he wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the window, and she could see his adam's apple bob up and down as he digested what she had just said. It could be a coincidence, but…

"That's why I felt bad when I saw you, when you came in. You look just like him, like François…"

It seems that was too much. His glaze shifted to her for a few seconds, a blank stare that felt like a ton of steel falling on her heart. He raised from his chair and walked to the window. "What you're tellin'me, is dat you're my mother." It wasn't a question, but she nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry I left'y at the hospital… now dat I know what happened to you…"

"I've never had a childhood" he interrupted. "I would have been adopted if it wouldn't have been for dese eyes…"

"I left you because I didn't have any money to raise'y… If I had known what you would go through in your youth, I wouldn't have."

"You wouldn't?" He turned back to her, his eyes glowing. "Would'y have kept me, after seeing dese eyes?"

Jean-Luc's eyes were travelling from one side to another, curious and worried at the same time. He knew Remy. At least he did know him, ten years ago. That man was far from the boy that had left when he was 18.

"You really think I care?" She was beginning to be upset. This man didn't know her, and pretented to know better than her what she would do? "You think I'm freaked out? Remy, never I would have left you if I had had the choice. I wanted you to have a good home, dat's why I left. I'll always regret it didn't happen de way I wanted. And I'll always regret dat you were unhappy, because of me." She was up by now, her arms crossed on her chest. Flush was rising to her face, and her eyes were wet with tears. She wanted him to understand, but she could understand herself why he wouldn't believe her. His face changed. He turned his face towards the window again, his brows drawn together and his eyes full of hurt. He snorted at her lasts words. "Unhappy? Well, if you put it dat way."

Her face lost all trace of color, and Jean-Luc could almost tell when her heart broke. He rose and reached to touch her shoulder, but she just dropped down her head, her hair hiding her face, and ran out the kitchen. He could hear the sound of her footsteps in the stairs. He turned to Remy, who was now leaning on the window frame, his forehead pressed against the glass and his eyes closed. He drew a deep breath before speaking. "I am a fool, ain't I."

"No kidding" Jean-Luc said. "Whyever did'y had to be so cruel, Remy? Y'broke de woman's heart in pieces." Remy sighed, deeply, and turned back.

"I don't know… Or I do, but I don't think y'de one I should tell."

Jean-Luc made a wry smile and nodded, and Remy slowly made his way to the stairs.

***************

He slowly opened the door. He didn't knock, he knew women well enough she would have said something like 'go to hell', 'fuck off' or 'leave me alone you bastard'. No, she wouldn't say the last one, he thought. No matter what he could have said before, the woman wasn't cruel. She was laying on her stomach, her head turned towards the window, her back turned to him. She silently sobbed, and his heart clenched seeing her shoulders shake with every hiccup.

"I've got used to it, y'know." She started and turned, sitting on the bed. Her eyes were red with tears, and her mouth slightly opened in a small 'o'.

"What? Whar are'y doing up here? And got used to what?" she asked, her voice returning.

"Used to hating you. Not you personnaly" he added hastily, seeing her eyes grow huge "but… but my mother, de one I've never known." He sighed. That was all wrong. "See, I've always thought I had been abandonned by m'mother, 'cause o'de eyes. Thought she freaked out, and left me alone in de hospital. Den, as de years went by, I learned to hate dat woman I had never known, because I thought her responsible for that wreck m'life was. But now I know you, and all the things you've said are going against all I ever believed in m'life. Y're not the bad, evil mutant-hater woman I dreamed of as a child. I just get a little bad tempered when I understand I was wrong all along…" Her eyes were on him, full of tears, and she slowly moved to the end of the bed, raising to her feet, and walked to him. In front of him, she raised her head to look at him in the eyes. He made a little smile, but hers was startlingly beautiful.

"You've got dat from y'mom, believe me."

Fin!