*sobs* Okay, since when does my penname end with a 2? It was a good penname, but now it sucks! Hell, it looks like a hotmail email adress now, and I can't change my settings… I'm angry now! I'm on strike! No updates until my penname returns to normal, or at least to something that looks nice! I'm so angry they've changed it! Without telling me!!!! *sighs* Priority to older members? And what if that member hasn't published for months? *sobs again* I've archived 81,945 words in three months… *wipes a tear* And now I have to find another name?

Yumiko : Glad you love it. Not a lot of fluff in this one, I'm afraid, I have a plot I have to take care of…

ishandahalf : Of course Ginette had to interrupt. Or I would have had to change the rating…*giggle* Okay, that is too far, too soon, but hell, you never know with love at first sight! And will Jade leave when Raven is better? *thinks*. Mmmm. I've never written a sad ending before, except for Pointblank, and it isn't my intention, but… The power of plot is too strong… Aaaaaaaah! Must… fight… power… in my brain… Must… write… fluff… *bangs her head on the wall* Help!

x0MzJeNNa0x : Yay, a patient reader! Now, that's rare! I've got death threats before, but a reader that patiently awaites? That's new!

Carla : That's what I like about my Rogue here… No powers. Freedom to kiss, no angst, pure fluff. Yay.

KatLeBeau : Yeah, well, a plot entered my appartment and slid in my story… A fight between the Guilds? *pulls out a notepad* Not a bad idea… I'll have to add a few chapters but… adding chapters is my hobby. *grin*

Panther Nesmith : I'm glad you liked the chapter… Sorry about Henri dying, the reviews are actually beginning to make me feel guilty about it… The title means "Let the good times roll", and no, I haven't explained it yet. I forgot…

Enjoy!

Chapitre six

She slowly opened the door, and popped her head in.

"Jade!"

"Raven! Ah'm so glad that yah're okay, gal…" She carefuly put her arms around her friends waist, and hugged her gently. "Ah was afraid yah were badly hurt."

"Bah!" She dismissed the matter with one hand. "I just need some rest, I guess. My shoulder hurts like hell, but the woman gave me a drink or something to ease the pain. Should I drink it?" Jade stole a look at the mug sitting on the night table, but a voice spoke before she could make any conclusion about the hot brown beverage.

"Willow back infusion. It does ease de pain, girl. Y'should drink it." Raven's jaw dropped and stayed that way as she looked up at the man who had just talked, and Jade, annoyed, repressed the urge to push it back closed.

"Raven, this is Remy LeBeau." She blushed slightly, hearing the way she pronounced it. She was far from the neat French Remy pronounced* and she knew she probably even got the "Remy" wrong. Raven unglued her eyes from Remy to look at her, but the jaw stayed down, and an expression of fear flickered in her eyes. So she did remember the conversation the people were having at the bed and breakfast that morning.

"I'll leave you two to talk." Remy bowed slightly and headed for the door. Jade's eyes followed him out, and she turned to Raven stunned face when the door closed.

"LeBeau?" Raven said, and she sounded much better to Jade's eyes. She blushed again. "As in the Thieves?"

"Yeah, but…"

"We escape from a certain death by the Assassins, to fall in the hands of Thieves?" Her voice was getting high pitched by the moment, and Jade sighed loudly.

"Raven, tha Thieves are helping us."

"Yeah, sure, by making sure the Assassins will wanna kill us!"

"They already do, Raven. That tha Thieves wanna help us don't change a thing… Relax. Yah haven't seen tha house, and if they get in here by sheer miracle, there's a lot of persons here they'll kill before us." Raven inhaled strongly, and looked like she was asking herself if she should cry or laugh. She laughed.

"Now that was straight! Now I'm reassured!" She winced when her shoulder moved, and sat straighter in the bed. The laugh faded to a devilish grin, and caramel eyes looked directly into green. "And that's Remy LeBeau? Brand new leader of the Thieves Guild of New Orleans?" Jade chuckled.

"It does sound highly important tha way yah say it…"

"It is here, girl. But we were talking about the guy… What a man! I mean… wow!" Jade's eyes flickered to the door, and she wondered for a moment if Remy was still behind the door, listening? 'But he probably would laugh' she thought, and turned back to Raven.

"Yah remember tha guy Ah kissed last night?" Raven's hawk eyes turned round as pennies, and her mouth dropped open again.

"You kissed him? Wow!"

"Shh, not so loud, Rav."

"I mean, wow. Did you kiss him again here?"

"Yes. Now don't talk so loud, Rav, he could hear us…" But Raven squealed with delight.

"Told you these Cajuns were irresistable! Jade, you got yourself a man! Finaly!"

~~

It wasn't until a few hours later that Jade left an exhausted Raven's room, but the sky was already dark, and the remains of dinner downstairs sent spicy smells all the way up the stairs and into Jade's nose. She was hungry like a wolf, and relied on her sense of smell to find the staircase.

"C'est la poulette grise, qui a pondu dans l'église…"

Jade stopped in her tracks, and turned on her heels. It was a man singing softly, and Jade wouldn't have heard it if there had been any other sound in the corridor. But there wasn't, and she was drawn towards a closed door, from which the lullaby came muffled through the thick wood.

"…un tout petit coco, pour Marguerite qui va faire dodo…"

The door wasn't closed after all; it was cracked open. The soft, low voice came in surprisingly neat notes, and she couldn't help a smile. She wished she knew what it meant, but it sounded cute. A light child's giggle came from the room inside, and the male voice chuckled before resuming its song.

"C'est la poulette noire, qui a pondu dans l'armoire, un tout petit coco, pour Marguerite qui va faire dodo."

She couldn't help it, and she looked into the crack. The children bedroom was decorated in shades of soft yellow, there were plushed animals sitting everywhere in the room and the only light came from the lamp on the night table. Remy had changed, switching his trench coat to light blue jeans and t-shirt, and was sitting on the little bed, kissing a small girl on the forehead as her eyes fought not to close.

"Mais je ne veux pas dormir…"

"Tu dors debout, Margot… Bonne nuit, chère."**

Jade walked away from the door, and finaly found the stairs. But she wasn't hungry anymore, and she walked straight towards the back door and at the far end of the outside terrasse. She sat on the hamock, and stared at the stars. A kid? Surely he wasn't married, or he wouldn't have brought her here, nor would he have been getting so comfortable with her in her room. She blushed, thinking about the way he had kissed her. No, no wife here.

But the girl couldn't have been more than three years old, so where was her mother? An wicked voice in her head reminded her that she was here in the Thieves Guild, and that anyone could die. Could the child's mother have been killed by the Assassins? And now Remy's brother, and father?

The sound of the door closing stopped her in her thoughts, and she turned without a sound to meet the visitor. Remy silently walked to the other end of the terrasse and sat at one of the patio chairs, not acknowledging her presence. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket and lit one, the tip glowing as he pulled in some smoke in his lungs, and fading out as he puffed it out. Then he dropped his head into his hands, and she felt she wasn't at the right place anymore.

To be continued!

* Beau is kinda pronounced like Poe, but with a B (duh). But you all probably already knew that… though they really got it wrong in the original cartoons (oh, Remy's French is sooooo bad in the series).

** "But I don't wanna sleep…"

"You're already sleeping, Margot… Good night, dear."