Authors Note: where you see followed by a number at the end of a comment means it's a translation into French, if you scroll to the bottom of the page you'll find the translations into English. Translations were generously provided by Christelle Johnson.

Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 26

Chapter 2: Oh, it's a Surprise

That next morning, Remy woke up with a headache that he was sure might split his head open. He supposed perhaps he might have gotten a little carried away the night previous supping on expensive champagne, and then loading up on beer afterwards. But it had been a celebration, and no one had seemed to mind he had let himself become blindingly drunk.

He was not surprised to wake up in the couch of the student recreational room either (there were now two separate recreational rooms, one for students and one for instructors and adults inhabiting the mansion). The recreation room for the kids was one of the nearest rooms to the foyer – at least it was the nearest room with a couch in it.

He could only very vaguely remember staggering through the front door, yet he could vividly remember how good the cold leather of the couch had felt against his cheek as he collapsed down into it. Now, his face felt as if it were perhaps glued to the leather. He mumbled something incoherently – even he did not understand what it was – and he cracked an eye open. The light assailed his eyes like a laser beam, and he groaned as the area behind his eyes felt as if it tightened in response, he closed his eyes tightly to shut out the light, and he rolled over. He heard the loud 'thhhhhhhk' sound as his cheek and bare arm peeled free of the hot sticky leather.

"Perhaps, Mr LeBeau, it would be wise to curb your intake of alcohol at parties. You do know that so much alcohol in your blood can poison you, do you not?"

Remy sat up, rubbing his head, "morning to you too, Monet." He recognised her voice at once, not to mention that snobby over-intelligent tone she would use in situations such as this. He opened his eyes, the light still blinding him, and restricting his vision to an almost smoky light. "What time is it?" he yawned.

"Eleven thirty," Monet responded, once Remy had been able to focus his eyes he saw her sitting rather primly on the arm of the sofa, her long silken black hair fallen over her shoulder like a shawl of black satin. "Just what ARE you doing in the student recreational room?" she asked, she raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow, and pursed her lips together tightly.

"It seemed like the best place to crash," Remy sighed, "aren't you meant to be somewhere proving you're better than everyone else…"

"Mr LeBeau, if I didn't know better, I'd swear you were trying to insult me," Monet smiled a little.

"But of course you know better than everyone, don't you," Remy stood and headed towards the door, "is Rogue up?" he asked.

"Why are you asking me?" Monet blinked, as if in surprise, but Remy knew this was a completely mock response.

"Don't play dumb with me, M. I know you can use those little powers of yours to sense if she's in the building."

"I haven't perfected them yet – I AM however confident within time with enough patience I can master them soon enough," Monet responded.

"Whatever. Can you just check for me. Like, right now?"

"Oh, I suppose," Monet rolled her eyes, then she closed them, putting her hand to her head, "Yes, she's awake – and I'm sensing some anger."

"No change there," Remy said sadly, and without even bidding her goodbye, or thank you, he left the room, and he'd barely entered the foyer, when he ran smack into Rogue, who was clutching several sheets of paper in her hand, her eyes were full of anger, and Remy suddenly felt that he'd done something wrong, and he wasn't sure what yet.

"What the fuck is this?!" she demanded, she held up one of the letters in front of his face.

"Hmmm?" Remy asked, he took the letter from her and examined it, "oh," he then added a second later. It was a debt letter, and it was addressed to her specifically. "It's a debt letter?" he shrugged, he knew what was coming. He'd been hoping this wouldn't be an issue, but apparently, it was going to be.

"I found it in YOUR room, you opened MY mail!"

Remy grimaced, "Well…Carol took your credit cards, and all your money…and eventually with her spending it had run up quite a lot of debt, and I knew you were under a lot of stress so I thought…I don't know, I'd try and prevent more stress by helping you with the financial dilemma – it was only eleven thousand dollars, it didn't seem worth bothering you with..."

"HELPING?!?!" Rogue threw the pieces of paper at him angrily, "You dropped money into my account!" she screamed, "two-hundred and fifty thousand DOLLARS!?!" she demanded, "two-hundred and fifty grand of tainted crime related MONEY!" she shoved him so hard that he fell backwards into a chair near the wall.

"I thought you'd be pleased, I didn't think money mattered to you…" he trailed off.

"It matters to me when you're nosing into my personal business – my debt or whatever it is happens to be MY affair. You had no business opening my mail!"

"I know but---hey, what were you doing in my room, ANYWAY?" he demanded suddenly. He'd hidden the letters under his mattress so that she wouldn't find them. It made him wonder now just exactly what she'd been doing looking there.

"My name is on the laundry rota," Rogue frowned, "which means taking your sheets for washing, because you never put them in the laundry chute!"
Remy felt his head rattle every time she raised her voice, "So I took your debt letters and paid your debt…I don't see what the big deal is…" he sighed, rubbing his head.

"The big deal is that it was nothing to do with you, you had no right!" Rogue cried at him, "what did you think you were doing dropping that much money in my account?! Did you think you were buying my love?!"

"Of course I didn't," Remy replied trying to remain very calm.

"Faut-il vraiment que vous vous disputiez comme un vieux couple a chaque fois que vous en avez l'occasion?" came Monet St Croix's familiar voice, and both Remy and Rogue turned to see her approaching towards the foyer staircase. 1

"Monet…keep your nose out of this!" Rogue yelled.

"How can I, you're arguing in the foyer, it's not exactly a private discussion," Monet sauntered past Rogue and began her way up the stairs. "Rogue et vous beneficierez certainement de voir un conseiller de relations intimes, Mr LeBeau. Peut etre que vous devriez vous inscrire sur le programme televise du Dr Phil?" she gave a sickly sweet smile as she looked over her shoulder at them both, then she stopped in the middle of the stairs. 2

"Si ce n'etait pas pour la raison que Rogue ne comprenne pas le francais , je metterais en consideration l'idee de vous faire exploser la tete du fait que vous etes un becheur. Merci pour votre suggestion, mais est-ce que vous pouvez nous laissez
seul maintenant?" Remy asked. 3

"Une derniere chose. Meme si vous avez raison, meme si ce que vous avez fait pour la rendre folle est justifie, admettez que vous avez eu tort..Avaler votre orgueil et prenez la responsabilite de vos actions," Monet said with a sigh. 4

"I don't know WHAT you two are saying but I'm getting really pissed off…" Rogue clenched her fists. "Do you know how ignorant it is to speak in French when there's someone else in the room who doesn't? Is there something I'm not meant to know about between you two."

"Nothing at all, Rogue," Monet said quietly, "I'll leave you to your discussion."

Monet left, and moments later they heard the sound of her bedroom door closing.

Rogue looked as if she were about to open her mouth, but before she could, Remy made sure he was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry," he said very quickly, he'd had a few seconds to contemplate what Monet had said to him and it seemed to make sense in some strange way. "You're completely right, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it, and I was wrong to do that, and it was your business and I know you're quite capable of handling it and even though I only did it because I love you, I know I was completely in the wrong…I'm sorry."

Rogue paused, "I…oh…" she seemed to calm down almost immediately, "okay…" she said a little softer.

"I'm an asshole…" he said, "but I want to make it up to you…" he moved a little closer, "and I will…" he added. He couldn't believe how quickly Rogue had calmed down. All this time could their arguing have simply been avoided if he'd just admitted to his mistakes and taken responsibility instead of making excuses for everything? He suddenly felt rather foolish, and could not believe it had been the advice of a sixteen year old girl that had been able to quickly defuse the situation.

It was then, he thought of something else she'd said, the first thing she'd said when she'd made her presence known. Nothing had been implied in her comment of course, it had just been a general comment. Now, it felt as if that comment couldn't have come at a better time. It was as if right at that moment, as he heard those words she'd spoken replay inside his head, something struck him. It was almost as if the answer had been right in front of him the whole time and it had taken someone else to see it.

Rogue looked at Remy confusedly, he had not spoken for a few moments now, "Is…something wrong?"

"No…everything is really alright…" he assured, "Listen…I really want to make this whole thing up to you, and I have an idea…let's take off for a few days, just the two of us…it'll give us a chance to get together without any interferences of anyone else…"

"I can't," Rogue sighed, "I have obligations. Classes to teach in the Danger room…" she reminded. "And I have training myself to go through."

"Then we'll leave on Friday afternoon after your last teaching session of the week…and I'm sure the professor isn't going to mind if you skip a training session during the weekend," Remy said eagerly.

"It's not the professor I'm worried about, it's Scott," Rogue put her hands on her hips, "he's my team leader…and he's already concerned that I've missed a lot of training because of Carol taking over my body," Rogue reminded sounding a little bitter.

"Look, he's also human, and he knows a human need is to get away and get some rest and relaxation. Just tell him you need to…I don't know…escape so you can repair your relationship with me…he'll buy it, he's in for all that sentimental bullshit. He'll understand."

Rogue paused, "Okay…I'll talk with him."

Remy smiled, "great. I'll go make some calls…"

"Where did you plan on going?" Rogue raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, it's a surprise."

Translations

1 Monet Says: "Must you both constantly fight like a married couple at every available opportunity?"

2 Monet Says: "You and Rogue would certainly benefit from some relationship counselling, Mr LeBeau. Perhaps you
could write in to the Dr Phil show?"

3 Remy Says: "If it weren't for the fact that Rogue doesn't understand French, I might consider blowing your
pretty little head off for being such a smart ass. Thank you for the suggestion, but for now can you leave us alone."

4 Monet Says: "One last thing. Even if you're right, even if what you did to make her mad at you was justifiable, just admit you're wrong. Swallow your pride and just take responsibility."