Epilogue:
Remy leaned his head into his hands and sighed heavily, as the large pile of Swedish fish bet on the last hand of poker was drawn away from him by his new opponent.
It had only been about two weeks since the first poker night in the mansion, but Remy felt the current situation was almost as tragic as Kurt's violent introduction to Faith the Vampire Slayer. Truth be told, the great Gambit actually considered his enemy now much worse than a life-sucking demon.
He watched pitifully as the small gummy fish were removed from the center of the table (where he had so confidently wagered them), and positioned neatly in front of the woman sitting across from him.
"Well, Mr. LeBeau?" Storm said, unable to entirely hide the glee twinkling in her eyes, "Are you up for another round?"
The other X-Men looked back and forth, regarding each player with cautious amusement. Kurt sat next to Storm quietly, watching her break down the Cajun's card shark reputation with undisguised pride.
Remy lifted his head and examined the two remaining red fishes in his possession, sitting among his five losing playing cards.
"A gentleman, chere," he said with a depressed sigh, "never gives up when he is challenged. Fortunately, pour moi, I am no gentleman. So, now...I will take my two surviving companions...find a nice quiet corner...and weep as I eat them..."
Storm chuckled, and looked satisfied in her victory. She began to gather the playing cards back into a complete pile and glanced around at the others curiously.
"Anyone else?" she asked.
The others mumbled comical refusals to her challenge, and everyone began to rise, signaling the end to their first successful poker night.
"I think they're all afraid of you now," Kurt said to her in a soft voice, as the others began to filter out of the room.
Storm smiled at him as she stood up, "But not you...right?"
He took her hand shyly as the last of their friends wandered into the hallway. Storm held his hand in both of hers and met his eyes with warm adoration.
Kurt grinned and shook his head, "No...not me."
Storm barely noticed as Kurt's tail wrapped around her waist, and gasped as they disappeared out of the room.
When she opened her eyes again, they were both standing on the mansion's roof, which was glowing under the soft moonlight. She looked at him with surprise. He had teleported somewhere without being able to see it. She knew he had been practicing jumping from place to place by memory, and there was no anxiety in his face as he smiled at her.
"You know something?" he continued, "I am not very afraid of me either..."
Storm opened her mouth to speak, as he stared bashfully up at the stars. Her gentle Kurt, her loyal friend, her most trusted confidante in her time of mourning...and now, she was not afraid to make him something more.
So, she turned his face back toward her own, and kissed him for the first time.
THE END
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Author's note: END OF BOOK 5!!!! Finally! Such a moving, deep and mushy end...I need to write something else to balance out all these warm fuzzies....Hmm? I know! Let's go see what the Brotherhood is doing... :-) Thanks again to everyone who is reading and sending feedback about the books!