Note : Wow. I'd never thought it would go as far as this. Those reviews are incredible, I even got threathened to be tracked down and shot point blank if I didn't write another chapter. Well… you're putting a little pressure on me, now! Here it is… take it, don't shoot, please. So far almost twenty persons have reviewed the story (17 to be exact. Yes, I count… this is sooooo exciting), some of you almost every single chapter I have written… You guys are great. Please continue. In exchange, I'll write more. Hope you like the cat.
These characters aren't mine, they are Marvel's. Believe me, I ain't making a single cent with this. And if I was, I wouldn't tell you.
Enjoy.
Chapter 20 (I can't believe it. 20 chapters in two weeks!)
Mine
I looked in the mirror. The silk fit me like a glove and did a nice whushing sound each time I turned around, and I felt the crinoline brush against my legs. The dress was ivory and was handworked all over. Jean, Ororo and Jubilee had insisted on doing the dress, they had worked on it day and night for the last weeks. The dress was a lign A with thin spagetti strap covered in light ivory pearls. They must have put at least three millions pearls on the thing, and it looked georgous. Enough to make Remy's jaw drop, I thought wth a smile. This kind of dress was to be worn with gloves, but I had absolutely refused to wear the satin things that layed on the bed along with the veil, next to Remy's black and white cat, curled in a ball on a pillow. I had worn gloves for too long, I would not have them on the day of my marriage. I layed my hands to smooth the soft fabric on my stomach. The corset was tight, but I had gotten used to it in half an hour and the breathless feeling had subsided. I couldn't bend over though, and I looked at my sandals with little despair. How was I to put these on? I'd need help, but help was nowhere. Oh well, it could wait. I had an ear-wide smile on my face, and my eyes had stars in them twenty four hours a day. Especially today. I had never been so happy in my whole life. I was getting married with the man of my life.
He was now mine, and I was his.
I smiled, and my teeth showed white in the mirror. He was probably bitting his nails of his hands right now, he had been a pain in the ass for everyone living in the mansion for the last few days. I walked to the bed and pet the cat. The monster had gained at least eight pounds in the first seven months of his life, and ate enough to gain another ten in the following year. The poor thing had never had another name than Thing, Tux, Minou* and Flea-Bag, the two last names being the ones Remy and Logan gave him. I smiled, happy it wasn't true. Thing slept in the bed with us each night. I liked cats. Not fleas. The door cracked open behind me and I looked at the visitor in the mirror. Scott was there, his dark red ruby glasses a startling match with his burgondy tie and the small dark rosebud pinned on his black jacket. He made a wide grin, seeing me.
"You look beautiful, Rogue" he said.
"Thank yah, Scott… While yah're here, maybe yah could give me a hand with mah sandals? Ah just can't bend to pick them up, let alone tie them on my ankles." His grin turned in a rogue smile.
"Sure." I sat in the arms chair and he knelt in front of me. He put down a small box on the floor before taking the sandals, and I put my left foot for him to put the sandal on. I nodded towards the little dark green box.
"Waz that?"
"Oh, a little something Remy has asked me to bring to you. It's bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony, but he bought it yertesday when you and the girls were out. He wanted you to have it just before the ceremony." I cast a look at the alarm on the night stand, it was two o'clock. Half an hour. Scott tied the second sandal and looked up. He smiled. "I'm really happy for you guys, Rogue." I smiled back.
"Thanks." He gave me a hand to help me up while I fought with the damn corset. He bent to take the box and gave it to me. Then he pulled me in his arms and gave me hug, and I gave him back. He looked down at me, a light smile on his lips.
"Don't be late, it'll kill him. I've never seen Gambit so nervous. Kinda think of it, I've never seen him nervous at all!"
"Well, I'm a bit nervous mahself…" I managed a smile. "But we'll be both fine in a couple'o hours."
In a couple of hours, I would be married. My heart skipped a beat again, them resumed at a high speed rhythm that had been a normal one for the last few days. Scott slightly bowed, and left, closing the door again. I tried to sigh, but the corset prevented me to do so. I looked out the window to see two shinny black cars passing the gate, white ribbons on the antennas. I smiled. The LeBeau's had finally arrived. I looked down at the green box in my hands, and slowly opened it. A small gasp escaped from my lips, and tears came to my eyes. I panicked, squeezing my eyes shut to fight them back. This was not the time to waste my makeup, Ororo would kill me. I looked back down a the small golden chain laying on the velvet case. A delicate pendant hung from it. A dark emerald, circled with small ivory pearls, along with tiny diamond pins. It was beautiful. I took off the pearl necklace I wore and clipped the chain in my neck. I settle nicely and caught the light with a nice green gleam. It matched the light in my eyes. Perfect.
***************
His fingers twitched again. He was so nervous his stomach clenched each time he draw a breath, and he cast a look around him. People were talking in the spring sun, slowly sitting down on the terrasse chairs aligned in front of him. He turned around and met Logan's eyes. He winked at him, and Remy smiled in answer. He nervously tapped his fingers against his thigh, a bit worried. The ceremony was to begin in fifteen minutes and his father wasn't there yet. "He can't miss dat" he thought. "He couldn't." He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't feel someone coming behind him. He leaped like a toad when a hand landed on his shoulders. He spinned round, and had the time to see pale gray-blue eyes before strong arms came around his chest and squeezed him thight. He laughed. "Henri! Vous êtes arrivés, enfin!**" He hugged hard his brother before letting him go, and, turning, met the same pair of eyes, though circled with light wrinkles that deepened when the man smiled.
"Je suis tellement content de te voir,*** Remy." Jean-Luc opened his arms and hugged Remy thight. Remy closed his eyes, recognizing the familiar scent of his father's cologne, the first scent that had ever meant security for him. They held each other a while, simply enjoying each other's presence. Remy hadn't seen his father for ten years, when he had fled after the desaster that had followed his marriage with Bella. They had talked many times over the phone, and his father wrote to him often, but he deeply missed the man.
He drew back from Jean-Luc and crossed Xavier's look. He smiled at the man. The researches had brought nothing, and they had been looking for months, searching into the birth records of the whole Louisianna state. If he was born in 1965, it wasn't in Louisianna. But where? he asked himself. Or would the question be… when? He didn't know. There was no way to know. He wasn't certainly going to ask Sinister. Maybe he would never know. He shook his head, and looked away. It didn't matter anymore. He smoothed the fabric of his black jacket, and looked up when the music began and everybody stood up.
To be continued…
* Kitty
** You arrived, finally!
*** I'm so happy to see you.
