Ha ha! Oh, please, never, never write more than one story at a time, it's wears off the muse and takes away the ideas… Wow, two chapters of Sixteen Years in two days? Hey, I'm back! Sorry for the mistakes, I have a partyyyyyyyyy tonight (we celebrate the beginning of the semester, the half-way-to-the-half-semester, half-semester, three-quarters-done-semester, and the end-of-the-semester, not to mention Halloween, Xmas, and all the others… I love University), and if I took time to correct this, you would get until tomorrow night… *grin*

Enjoy!

Bonding

Sherbrooke, Québec

She got out of the house and shivered, rubbing her upper arms to produce some warmth and get rid of the gooseflesh. She sighed. Only the beginning of august, and the temperatures were already dropping, yoyoing between high, humid temperatures in the day down to autumn-like degrees in the night. She looked up at the stars, and repressed a sigh.

A car was parked in front of the house, and the driver flashed the headlights. She smiled and opened the passenger door.

"Tu es en retard!*" Daniel smiled sheepishly at her.

"Get in… Sorry, Lili, my grand-mother called, I just couldn't get her to hang up." She giggled and climbed in the car. Buckling up, she looked at him, pools of bright blue intent on him. They had been together since april, and he had to be the guy she felt most comfortable with, above all the guys she had been out with. And she had been out with a lot. A wave of sadness washed over her again, and she looked down at her hands. Daniel leaned in closer. "Sorry we couldn't see each other in the last days, I was…"

"The police are closing the case." Daniel froze.

"What?" Lilianne looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

"They're closing the case. A runaway, they say, he'll come back when he's ready, if he's ready, they say…" Her voice broke on the last words and Daniel pulled her in his embrace. She burried her head in his neck, sobbing as tears ran down her face. She heard him sigh deeply as she clutched his shirt between her fingers. A whole month since Antoine had left the house after a fight with their father François. A whole month, since they hadn't had any news from him, and since she tried convincing herself that she would see her brother alive again one day. She sniffed and looked up at her boyfriend.

"He'll come back, you'll see" he said, staring at her. She nodded and reached out to her purse to get something to blow her nose.

"I need air. I can't stand it inside the house." Daniel started the engine, and began driving.

"Let's go play some pool."

**

She sipped on her drink, nervously looking around. "Daniel, I'm only sixteen, you know. I'm not supposed to be here." He didn't answer, his eyes on the cue, and made his hit. The ball ricocheted and bounced an inch from the pocket, and he chuckled.

"I sooo suck at that game." She giggled nervously and got up, taking hold of her cue.

"That makes two of us… Why did you bring me here? You're 17 and almost legal **, but I'm waaaay under age, Dan." He shrugged.

"This is more a pool and cigar place, not really a bar. As long as you don't buy any alcohol they won't bother you, and the police won't come here. I was getting tired of the bowling place, and I like the general atmosphere…" She smiled, so did she. A light relaxing music came from the speakers, and the smell of vanilla cigar coming from a nearby salon tickled her nose. The lights were dimmed, with the exception of the green lamps over the nice green coated Dufferin billiard tables. There were black comfy couches near every table, and the air conditionning made the room very comfortable. She hit the ball, and it knocked one of Daniel's, making it drop in the middle pocket.

"Aaah, merde." He chuckled.

"Thanks, Lili." She smiled and took a step back to let him make his move. She knew why he had brought her here. It was one of Antoine's favorite places, and she knew he came here often with Daniel. She missed her brother dearly, but she remembered Daniel and Antoine had become good friends since she started dating him, and that he must miss Antoine as well.

She was deep in her thoughts and started when she fell a light buzzing on her hip. She hung up her cue and picked up her cell.

"Allo?" Daniel stopped playing and watched her as her features changed, horror dawning in her eyes. Her knees wabled, and he barely managed to get around the pool table to grab her arm and help her sit on a black couch before her knees gave way. She hung up the phone, and stared intently at it.

"What's going on? Lili? What's wrong?" She looked up at him, tears filling her beautiful baby blue eyes.

"We… we found…him" was all she managed to say before she collapsed in Daniel's arms, sobbing and shaking as her heart broke.

*You're late!

** In Québec, the legal age for entering bars and buying alcohol and cigarettes is 18, not 21.

~~

Westchester, New York

She sat on her bed, her knees drawned up under her chin, and hugged her legs. The people in the pictures on her drawer stared back at her, smiling for various reasons. She didn't.

Her heart ached each time she met the red-on-black eyes, and she shook her head. He had been lying to her since she was born. She felt betrayed.

She sobbed and hugged her knees even closer, leaning her chin on it. Who was she fooling? She felt alone. For years she had the most incredible father-daughter relationship ever seen. For years she could have said her father understood her more than her mother.

Rogue was a great mother. Always there, always loving. The base, the solid pilors to their family. Remy was softer. She had often had fights with Louis, who was saying the exact contrary. She chuckled, and reached out to take the picture. It had been taken at the zoo, some year before. She was sitting on her father's shoulders, a huge smile on her face. He was grinning as well. The picture was kind of blurry, and there was the shadow of a thumb in the corner. Louis had taken that picture, she could still remember it. Good times, where she and Louis didn't have any powers, and she knew nothing of her father's past.

There was a tap at the door, but she didn't open her mouth to let him in. It had to be him; she had locked herself up in her room for the last two days, living on water from her bathroom and chocolate bars and snacks hiden in her room. Rogue had tried to talk to her, but it had proven useless and she had left her alone. Remy had come several times knocking on her door, but never opened it, thought she knew he was very much capable of opening any lock. Louis never came, and he was probably the only one she'd let in.

"Jo?" The voice was muffled through the door, but she lifted her head, unsure. Louis and Remy's voice were almost identical. "Jo, open up, sis, I wanna talk with you." No French accent. She got up, and unlocked the door before heading back to the bed. The door opened, and Louis came in. Without a word, he turned to close and lock the door, then headed for the bed as well. He layed down on it as it was his, and closed his eyes with a sigh. "Geesh, Jo, and I thought the tension was unbearable downstairs… It ain't any better here!" She threw him a pillow, but he caught it before it reached his face.

"You came here to bother me?"

"No."

"You came to talk me into talking to Dad." His green gaze flickered to her, but he shook his head.

"No. I came because I knew you felt alone." She sat mouth agape for a few seconds, and her bottom lip started to quiver. She bit it and looked at the floor.

"How do you know?" Louis sat up and looked at her.

"I always know, sis. Like you know me."

"You don't look mad." He frowned.

"I should?" She blinked three times.

"You… you don't know about… about dad?" she stammered. He sighed, and layed back in the pillows, crossing his arms on his chest.

"You're talking about when he worked with Sinister?"

"What else" she said through clenched teeth. Louis glared at her.

"Ah, come one, Jo! That happened like… what, twenty years ago? Twenty-five? He couldn't have been much older than Aeros, for what I know!"

"Leave Antoine out of this! And Dad killed these mutants!"

"How do you know if you weren't there to see it, Josée? Who are you to be the judge of something you didn't even witness?!" He was getting angry by the second, she could see it, but she was slowly flushing as well. She got off the bed and on her feet.

"I saw it, Lou. You didn't, but I saw it! All the images in his head!" Louis took in a deep breath, and shook his head.

"You didn't see it all, Jo. You only saw what Prue wanted you to see." She stopped breathing.

"What do you mean?"

"Dad decided it was better if it was him who told me about it, rather than you." He shot her a sideway glance, and a small grin. "Guess he was right." She sighed impatiently and tapped her foot.

"Get to the point, Lou."

"He didn't tell me, he showed me. The professor transferred the images into my head. Like Prue did to you, but without the pain she voluntarily caused you both. So don't you come and tell me you saw everything, because I saw it too. The difference is I saw everything. Not you."

"How much more did you see?" Her tone was a bit less aggressive, turning into curiosity.

"Did Prue show you he didn't know the Marauders were hired to kill the Morlocks? Did she show you Dad trying to stop them, saving a little girl from the massacre?" Josée stared at him for a few moments, and slowly sat down on the bed again. She swallowed, hard.

"No." It came out like a whisper.

"Did she show you the trial?" She glanced at him, then back to her hands in her lap. A lump was forming in her throath, and she felt like trying to swallow a rock.

"No, I didn't know there had been a trial."

Louis sighed and got off the bed, walking to the door. "I have to go to the mansion for my training with Scott." He snorted. "Oh, and Hank said he wanted to meet us when we had a moment." She looked up.

"At the mansion? In the med lab?" Louis shrugged.

"I don't know, ask Dad." He put his hand on the doorknob, but turned to her a last time. "Oh, Jo… Mom called Antoine's family, they're coming. They should arrive tonight." She sighed.

"How are we going to explain all of this?" Louis shrugged again, and made a sad smile.

"What do you say we let him do the explaining part."

To be continued…

Okay, this really sucks as an ending, but this is already four pages long and I wanted to fix some things up before I wrote chapter 16… I'm really having a hard time finishing this!

Foofighta : Like I said, just between you and me, dear friend, *whispers* You know how much I love Antoine… *wink* They might have looked emotionless about Antoine's death *chuckle*, but all will be explained in the next chapter… And my boyfriend (I really have some hard time getting used to the fiancé thing) works overtime this Saturday (now, how much does THAT suck to you?), so I'm having lots of time to write more and more… I don't want Josée to turn bitter. She does have something Aimée doesn't: a sweet brother… thank God one of them has a little sense. And now, once your mother's marriage is over, you run to your computer and write that famous part four I'm suppose to love so much. *taps her foot impatiently* Do you know for how long I've been waiting?

KrazyKat : Welcome to the world of endless Gambit angst and emotional wreck. Glad you like it though…

Me : your obsession? Wow! Now I feel all important! Makes me feel like the writer in Misery. *large grin* yay! Oh, and about Josée finding Remy bending over her boyfriend's dead body… *chuckled* I didn't think about it like that, but I must admit it looks kinda freaky.

Tammy : Poor Antoine, yeah… I'm a little sad though, nobody reacted like crazy at his death, like it was normal… Hey, he DID save Rogue's butt, no?

Ishandahalf : It's a good thing you're looking for angst right now, cause I have plenty in store. See, Sixteen Years is almost finished, but then I want to go on with But it ain't home. And you know me, I'm not going to make it easy for the characters. Do you like crying? *evil laugh* Oh, I love making characters suffer. Am I crazy for it? Maybe, heck, I'll never know unless someone tells me. And yup, I will try to put in some sweetness in the next chapters, maybe not only Remy/Rogueness… Ooops! Must not tell you more! *zips her mouth* mmmmphhmmhpphmmm! Mmmmphmm!

Nessie : you have no idea how much I laughed when I saw the 'yay!' right after 'cruelness all the way!'… You are soooo part of my club, friend. And I agree with you with the eyes. Besides, red is cool, but I wanted the kids to have a 'normal' childhood (which is kinda difficult with red eyes) and arrive in their teenage years angst-free, which makes the ordeals even crueler. *evil laugh* I love myself for being so bad… And it IS sad that Aeros died in the last chapter… Hmmm, what could I do now to bring in some angst? *narrows her eyes at her muse* What? Oh, great, what a good idea!!! *taps madly on her laptop* Oh, chapter 16 is going to be soooo good…