A/N: This is going to become very AU from now on. In this story, Henri didn't die, but he has also made it clear that he will not, under any circumstances take over the guild if the unification occurs.
Gambit had been back in New Orleans for about ten months when the two guilds were unified. Jean-Luc had been told that he could not lead the two guilds as the patriarch, but that one of his children must. Henri had flat-out refused the position, and Remy unhappily accepted. He had never wanted to take over as patriarch, but when his father asked him – and spent a great deal of time explaining and begging – he had reluctantly agreed to take over. He had slowly won the respect of most of the two guilds. It helped that Bella Donna, the assassins' former matriarch, trusted him and looked up to him.
A few months after he had arrived back at the guilds, Mercy had given birth to triplets. She and Henri had known since Logan had brought Remy, but they hadn't told anyone until it was absolutely necessary – and it was impossible to hide any longer. The first two were boys, named Damon and Chandler. The youngest, their sister, was named Sabrine, and was almost immediately nicknamed Rinny. Both boys had black hair and brown eyes, but Rinny had her mother's light blond hair, and startling violet eyes. They all had very sweet dispositions, which was not hurt by their uncle's empathic powers in the slightest.
Said uncle absolutely adored the children, the guild's first since he and Emil, and their cousin Etienne, were small. "Dey so tiny," he whispered softly, upon his first introduction to the triplets. "An' dis petite gon' be de new belle of de guilds pretty soon." He said of his infant niece.
"'Course she is," Henri responded, fatherly pride coming to the surface after only twenty minutes of fatherhood. "An' her brot'ers gon' make sure dat no one hurts her, too."
"You sure 'bout dat? Dey might resent de fact dat she so pretty," Mercy commented quietly, thinking about a friend from her childhood. "Mais, I hope dey're able to love her, too. Would be a shame if de first petits didn' like each other, no?"
"Dey gon' love her, Merc. Don' worry 'bout dat," Remy assured his sister-in-law.
"Of course dey are. Mais you two better give dem an' deir mot'er time to rest," Mattie said as she entered the room. The two men had quickly vacated the room, but they hovered near the door for the rest of the day. The triplets were roughly six months old and were crawling all over the mansion when the guild received some of the most unlikely visitors they could imagine.
The knock on the door sent everyone into alert mode. Now that there were children in the house, their security had doubled, but they were still worried that something would happen. Theoren went to the door after Mercy and the triplets were safely in the underground area made for that purpose.
"Can I help- What are you doin' here?" Remy heard Theo growl from the doorway. He began to walk towards the door himself when a hand reached out and grabbed his arm.
"You can' go over dere, Remy," Emil said softly, indicating the door. "You de patriarch. If anyt'ing happens to you de entire guild would fall apart."
"He's right." Remy and Emil turned, shocked, at the voice. Gris-Gris was standing slightly behind them. " Much as I hate to admit it, de fool's right. De guilds are unified, an' you de one dat made dat a reality. If somet'ing happens to you, bot' guilds would crumble. An' you an' I bot' know dat Henri an' Jean-Luc won' do anyt'ing."
"What about Belle?" Remy asked.
"She ain' powerful enough to lead bot' guilds. We were barely hangin' on when we were unified, an' you know dat. Don' go dere until Theo gives you a sign dat it's safe."
"Fine." Just then, Remy saw a flash of white, brown, and green. His eyes widened, and he fled down the corridors towards his room, and away from the front door. After exchanging a look, Emil followed, and Gris-Gris went to help Theo guard the front door.
When Gris-Gris got to the door, he saw a small, brown-haired woman with white bangs. She was wearing a green bodysuit and a brown flight jacket. Her green eyes gazed at Theoren and Gris-Gris pleadingly.
"Please! Ah know Ah haven't been tha best person in tha world foh him, but you gotta let me see Remy! Even if it's just to apologize!" Her voiced trembled at the end of her plea, but the two guild members ignored it. The assassin was the first to speak to her.
"We know dat you ain' been de best for him. You de one who left him for dead in de snow. Why do you t'ink we should let you in to hurt him 'gain?"
"Ah won't hurt him! Ah swear!"
"Why should we believe de word o' someone who already betrayed us once?" Theoren asked.
"When have Ah betrayed you?" Rogue asked, completely confused.
"When you left Remy to die." Rogue lowered her head in shame. She had finally accepted that she had hurt Remy badly when she left him in Antarctica, but after learning where he was, she felt that she had to see if there was anything she could do to make it up to him.
"Let de chile in," an old, matronly voice called from inside the tunnels.
"Mais, she de one dat hurt Remy, Tante!" both men argued.
"Oui, an' he needs to get dis over with. I agree wit' you dat she shouldn't harm him, mais we need to do dis for Remy's piece o' mind. Come on, Rogue." That said, Mattie turned and headed back towards the bedroom area of the tunnels, Rogue following on her heels.
"NON! I won' allow it! She won' hurt mon fils again!"
"Jean-Luc, do it for him!"
While the argument between Mattie and Jean-Luc raged on, Rogue felt a tug at her sleeve. She turned to see a Japanese woman standing next to her.
"They are all very protective of Remy. After you left him in Antarctica, he almost died. It took three weeks for him to even be able to get out of bed, and that was after he had finally woken up. No one here is very happy to see you."
"Ah realize that."
"Then why did you come?"
"Ah just… have to apologize… for what Ah did to him."
"Then for your sake, I hope Mattie manages to convince everyone that you should be allowed inside, if only for this once. Might I ask, though, how you learned where he is? I thought only Logan and Ororo knew this location."
"Ah overheard them talkin' about it. Ah know Ah shouldn't have, but Ah had o come and say Ah was sorry."
The Japanese woman nodded and left, leaving Rogue to watch the fight, which seemed to be ending in Mattie's favor. A few moments later, Rogue found herself in a small room inside the tunnels. In the middle of the room, pressed against one wall, was a bed. In the center of the bed, two figures were wrapped around one another. It was obvious that one was comforting and the other was upset.
"Remy?" Rogue called softly. The taller of the two figures – the one taking the comfort – trembled slightly at the sound of her voice. "Remy, Ah know Ah've been cruel to you these past months, and Ah just wanted to say Ah'm sorry. Ah'm not askin' for forgiveness, or even for understandin'. Ah just want you to know that Ah'm sorry, and Ah wish Ah could turn back time and do things differently."
The taller figure raised his head, revealing burning red on black eyes. "Rogue, Remy don' know if he can understand why you did dat. I forgive you, mais… I hope you understand when I ask you to never come back here. Dese guilds not for you. You ain' gon' be accepted here again. Merci for tellin' me you sorry. I hope dat you never have to deal wit' someone bloamin' you for sometin'. It's not fun. Au revoir, Rogue."
"Goodbye, Remy." Rogue nodded and left the mansion, happy that he had accepted her apology, but hating herself for the pain she had caused him.
"Be careful, Sabrine," Remy called to his eleven-year-old niece. She turned and smiled at him, then went back to 'charming' her cousins. Remy smiled and settled back against the bench he was sitting on. After ten years, Remy had finally settled in to living as the patriarch of the Unified Guild of Thieves and Assassins, he went to visit his friends at the Xavier Institute every once in awhile, and his niece and nephews were growing up happily. He and Rogue had gotten to the point where they could exchange short sentences with each other, so long as someone else was in the room, and everyone was happy. His life was finally being kind to him.
Belle French for 'Beauty'