Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters; please don't sue me I am a poor college student. I am not making any money off of this and I am just writing it for the benefit of my own entertainment as well as the entertainment of the other fans out there. Also, this is a story from my own imagination, any resemblance to real life events, or even those in fiction is completely coincidental. As an additional note, there are so many fan fiction stories out there on this site as well as others, so any similarity is coincidental or great minds just happen to think alike. I do own the characters that don't belong to Marvel, as fans of X-men you all know which ones are which.
Note: I apologize for the spacing and random indents and anything of the sort. When the pages are loaded onto this site everything seems to get a bit messed up. I noticed that single lines get double spaced randomly. Sorry about that.
Through the Years
Chapter Thirteen: Tragedy!
Rogue walked into her backyard and approached the fence. She zipped the light jacket and adjusted her arm-length gloves. She glanced around and noted how it was unseasonably warm for early April, not that she minded, it made the adjustment from California a little easier. The little girl saw her first and ran up to the fence.
"Hi! My name is Carlie, I lost a tooth, see," she said while opening her mouth as wide as she could. The small blonde grinned and her brown eyes held that carefree innocence that only a child could manage.
"Hiya Shugah. Wow, that's really somethin', Ah'll be the ol' tooth fairly left you somethin' nice foah that."
"I don't know, I just lost it this morning."
At this point her mother had made her way over to the fence. Rogue noted the mother had the same blonde hair as the little girl.
"Carlie," said the mother with a twinkle in her blue eyes," aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
"Can't Mom, don't know who she is," she looked at Rogue and said, "Who are you?"
Rogue extended a gloved hand over the fence to the little girl, "Ro..Anna LeBeau," she looked at the mother and said "Mah husband and Ah just moved in," she said while motioning to the house.
"Monica Williams, pleased to meet you. I see that you already met my daughter Carlie. And this little fellow," she said while looking at the bundle in her arms and adjusting the blanket which had fallen mostly over the sleeping newborn's face, "is David."
Rogue's hands immediately went to her stomach and she couldn't help but wish that her own child was as real and tangible as this one. "He's adorable," she gushed to the glowing mother.
"I was just about to bring the children inside, would you like to join me for a cup of coffee and some cookies," Monica said.
"Ah'll have to pass on the coffee but Ah'd love to join ya."
Monica smiled in recognition that she and her new neighbor already had something in common.
"Well, just come on around the other side of the yard and we'll meet you in the house. By the way, when are you due?"
"How did you know Ah…"
"Honey, I just finished a pregnancy, the way your hands went to your abdomen when you saw my son, the refusal of coffee, I know all the signs!"
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Rogue discovered that she and Monica got along fairly well considering they just met. Rogue told Monica that this was her second pregnancy after having a miscarriage a year before and that she and Remy had just moved here from California to be closer to their family and friends. She didn't want to test the mutant sympathy waters just yet, so she managed to leave out any information that would pertain to her mutant legacy. Rogue learned that Monica was a professor at a local college until her maternity leave. She expected to go back to work next semester. She also learned that Mr. Williams was away on business and since Monica loved her work so much they developed a way to split time between New York and Washington DC where he worked. In fact, he had been home on holiday until a matter of importance called him away a few days before. Both children were napping while the ladies were getting to know each other. While Monica was sharing the story of how Carlie lost her tooth the phone rang.
"Hold on Anna, I'll be right back."
Rogue looked around the living room while Monica went to answer the phone. She took note of the picture frames all over the room. On the mantel her eyes were drawn to a wedding photo, probably taken about a decade ago with both Monica and her husband beaming. Rogue noted that Mr. Williams had brown hair and the same brown eyes that Carlie has, only his were framed by glasses. She noted a family photo taken before the baby was born, judging from the way Carlie looked, maybe a year or two ago. Finally she noted a frame that held two photos, one with Carlie being swung around in the air by her father, and a very recent one with Mr. Williams in a hospital gown holding the baby David.
Monica picked up the phone and Rogue was not ready for the conversation that she was about to witness, "Yes this is Monica Williams…What do you mean a matter of grave importance…What's wrong with my husband…WHAT!..NO!!! This CAN'T be!!!!...OH MY GOD, NO!!!!!!!" She dropped the phone and slumped onto the floor. Rogue ran over and knelt down beside her neighbor.
"Monica what's wrong? What happened?"
Monica looked up at Rogue in a fit of tears, "M…m…m…my…hus…husband is dead!" With that she collapsed into Rogue's arms and cried. Rogue silently held her not knowing what to do next. In the background Rogue heard the little girl walking towards then and the baby crying in the other room.
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Rogue offered to allow Monica and the children to spend the night at their place. Not wanting to be alone and not having any family in the area, she graciously accepted. Rogue headed home to tell Remy what happened while Monica packed some bags for herself and the children.
Remy had just gotten back from the Mansion when Rogue came running into the house. Remy stood up from the couch and saw that Rogue was on the verge of tears. She barely made it into his arms before she started crying. She told Remy everything that she knew, about how Monica's husband was shot today and pronounced dead on the scene. When she finished the story, she looked into his red-on-black eyes as he wiped the tears away from her own emerald eyes. "Ah feel for her Remy, Ah don't know what Ah would do if Ah lost ya. Ah at least had a chance to bring ya back from the dead, Monica never had that chance. She keeps repeating about how hard life is going to be without Jeffrey. Ah just can't believe…"
"Wait," Remy had to interrupt her mid-sentence after he had a realization of his own, "You said dat his name is Jeffrey an' dat her name is Monica Williams?"
"That's right Shugah," it then hit Rogue who her new friend's husband was, Jeffrey Williams, the young Congressman who had been campaigning to help mutants for the past few years in DC. Xavier met him a few times in DC and from what she knew the young Congressman was a kind spirit who desperately wanted peace between mutants and humans. "You mean he was shot today?! That young Congressman who…Ah…Ah can't believe it! Why do the people like Jeffrey Williams have to die while people like the members of the FOH live," Rogue asked with a new sense of anger that replaced the sadness she felt moments earlier.
Remy held her in his arms. He held her closer than he ever felt possible; the young Congressman wasn't much older than he was, helping to underline the fact that they already knew, the world is a dangerous place and life is short. Those cold hard facts of life went double for anyone willing to call themselves an X-man. Plus what Rogue said about not being able to live without him made him hope that he never had to live without her.
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Monica and the children stayed in the LeBeau's house for a few days, not only because it was comforting to have friends around her, but it was easier to make funeral preparations with someone around to watch the children. Six-year-old Carlie seemed to understand that her Daddy wasn't coming back but it would be a long time before she understood the gravity of the situation. Since he was only a month old, David wasn't affected by the news just yet, but Monica confided in Rogue how she mourned the fact that her son would never know his father, except in a few videos and photos. The Professor came over a few times to talk with Monica. Rogue and Remy later learned that Monica and the Professor knew each other fairly well from her husband's work. He often met with the Professor for dinner to discuss mutant-human relations. As a result Monica knew all about the X-men and knew how important it was for her children to be raised in a world that was accepting of mutants, especially if there was a chance one or both of her children could be mutants since her husband's sister had been a mutant.
Even though the Congressman was a fairly popular man in DC Monica insisted that the funeral service be small. Neither of them had any family in the area, in fact both of their parents had died a few years back. Monica was an only child and everyone knew that Jeffrey's only sister was a mutant who died at the hands of mutant haters when they were teenagers. There was a small church in the woods behind the Mansion and the Congressman was buried in the same cemetery that Illyana had been buried in so many years before. In fact, many X-men had been buried there and it seemed fitting that their neighbor Congressman Jeffrey Williams should be buried there as well. After all, just like the X-men, he fought for mutant equality in his own way. All of the X-men attended the service, except Rogue who stayed home to take care of David, who was too young to be at the service. Even young Carlie attended the service at her own insistence. As Rogue held the baby in her gloved arms she prayed that her own child would never have to suffer the fate of losing either her or Gambit, but she knew all too well that in this world, especially with their lives with the X-men, it was a fate that was far too possible.
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Author's Note- I know, I know, this chapter was a bit of a downer. I hope that the title didn't scare any of you into thinking that the tragedy was about Gambit, Rogue, and their baby. I wanted to write this chapter to show how there were compassionate humans. It's weird, after I wrote this chapter and everything I acquired a whole bunch of X-men comics, and in one Xavier goes to DC to get some info from a human ally who wants to help mutants because his dead wife was a mutant (I don't remember which issue). I thought that was a weird coincidence. Finally, the church at the end of the chapter really does exist in the comics, it can be seen in Uncanny X-men #304 I believe.
Kitsu Lebeau- If you do get to read the book I hope you like it! As for the neighbors, you are right, they certainly are different than the friends in California, I mean, I don't recall any California neighbors being involved in DC or anything like that :-)
Ishandahalf- I hope I surprised you by making the neighbors mutant friendly. I figured there have to be more good people than bad out there, so why not showcase some of the good ones. It's just a shame that bad things often happen to good people, as in the case of the new neighbors. But at least the X-men have some non-mutant allies, and that could be an important resource later :-)
Star-of-Chaos- At least she is close to Hank and his medical equipment now! :-)
Tammy- Yeah, I threw the dresser in on a whim, it seemed appropriate :-)
T- I think that the X-men are all happy to be together again too :-)
RealityDreamer- If only all guys could be the way we all imagine Remy to be :-)