Authors Note: thank you very much for all the FAB reviews you all wrote me for that last chapter. No really, you all cheered me up tons; it's just been one of those weeks…
Ms.Rogue LeBeau, Miss Ginny, GothikStrawberry: a thousand apologies for shirking on my review responses this week. Tiredness plus migraine plus computer screen does not make for a happy me! Next chapter when I'm well again promise. Thank you all very much though, I really loved all your comments and you're all awesome!
Ishandahalf: haha, you're still there, working on your report (good luck with that), I'm still here feeling ill, so really nothings changed at all! I'm sorry I killed Emil, it had to be someone, and so in the end I had to draw straws, he was just unlucky. There might be an appearance from a certain swamp witch, would it be much of a trip without her? Who knows…But the main thing is, try not to lose sleep over her, she's just not worth it!
Bant: thank you very much, you're making me blush but you're lovely!
Xmengirlzrule: no, its really not…but perhaps Rogue can work some magic, hmm? Lets hope so, thanks for reviewing!
Chica De Los Ojos Café: I think I've written these "Remy's family" chapters quite badly, reading over it I seem to have put in quite a bit of comic relief…eek. Not good. I never was much good at writing the heavy stuff…
NaijaStrawberrie: thank you, I'm glad you liked it, ta for reviewing!
Freak87: well? Are you ready to be let down? Are you? Well are you! Just a hint… ;-)
Psycho88: woohoo, UK reader! A-Level art is hard because you have to do a lot of work for it, but if you enjoy it, then it doesn't seem like so much of a hassle. As long as you put in the time you'll do fine. I did Fine Art and History of Art in 6th form (I do photography now, but just as a hobby, I'm not planning to be the next Lee Miller), but art was my favourite, art students have the most fun ;-)
DKFairy: another UK reader! And a Libertines fan? Ace. The song is fab, but I'm not sure if its getting released properly or just getting radio play. Don't worry about not reviewing; I'm lazy about things like that too! But I'm glad you're liking the story so far, thanks for reviewing.
Lovelylady: I feel quite ashamed I've neglected the kiotr, maybe I'll write them their own story some day to make up for it. I'm really glad you like my story so much, I'm just worried you're going to be disappointed with it now…ooh. Thanks for reviewing, you live up to your name!
Music When The Lights Go Out
Chapter Sixteen (Something about family)
It had been two days now and Remy's state of mind had not improved one bit. He was a wreck. Rogue had tried to help him as much as she could, but it was hard, he was so depressed, and other than just being there for him, she didn't really know what else to do. She had organised the flight to New Orleans though, figuring it was quicker and easier than driving all that way, and that's where they were headed right now.
Remy had barely said a word for the whole flight; he hadn't really felt like talking much. He would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to seeing his family, but not like this, not knowing poor Lapin wouldn't be there…
They weaved their way through arrivals, looking for a cab, still not saying a word. Every time Rogue tried to make some kind of conversation he would answer with one word and it would be unintentionally stopped in its tracks. She even began to wish he would go back to being a snake-charming letch like he had been when they had first met, anything would be better than this.
As the taxi drove through the bustling streets of the French Quarter Rogue was amazed that she could still remember things from when she had been here as a kid. The vibrance of the place still impressed her; she imagined it would be especially impressive around Mardi Gras. She stole a look at Remy whose gaze was completely transfixed out of the window, not paying an ounce of attention to anything else and lost deep in thought. She sighed and went back to her own window, she wished there was more she could do for him, some way to take the pain away.
Eventually the car pulled up outside an extremely impressive mansion, surrounded by a high wall and wrought iron gates. It was very striking, and completely unlike any place Rogue had ever been before, she wasn't sure she was even good enough to go through the gates. No wonder Remy was used to the finer things in life, it made her wonder what on earth he was doing with her.
After taking their luggage and paying the driver, Remy went up to a little metal speaker box by the gate and pressed the button, hearing a buzz resonate from deep inside the property. Looking up at a security camera above him, he gave a little wave and the gates opened.
They hadn't even got to the front door when LeBeau's began to pour out of the house to greet them. Remy came from a big family, she knew that much, and seemingly they had all come to stay this week to say their final farewell to Lapin.
"Remy! Y' made it!" an elderly man with greying hair rushed forward, giving Remy a firm hug, "how y' holdin' up son?"
Remy just nodded and then turned away. The older man breathed out heavily, and finally turned back to Rogue, a smile pasted back on his face.
"And y' must be Rogue," he took her by the hand and led her towards the group, "Remy told us a lot about y', I'm Jean-Luc, his father, dis is Tante Mattie, Henri, Mercy, Etienne, Theo…" he kept pointing and telling her names, it was very hard to take in. Finally, the last family member had been met and everyone looked expectantly at her, the whole group quiet.
"Its nahce ta meet ya all," she smiled weakly. She had only ever got to the meet-the-family stage once before, and it hadn't been on quite this scale, it was all a little overwhelming.
That seemed to make them happy though, and a collective "ahh!" rippled through the group.
"Y' right Mattie, she does seem much nicer dan Bella," Jean-Luc said, not so subtly, to the woman standing next to him. Evidentially, the prospect of meeting Remy's new girlfriend had served as a nice distraction this week.
Rogue raised an eyebrow and turned to Remy, who was staring at his feet and looking more than a little worried by now. "And who exactly is Bella?"
"I'll explain later chére."
"C'mon y' t', y' must be tired after y' flight, don' wanna keep y' standin' around in de driveway any longer." Tante Mattie interrupted, ushering them towards the door, the whole LeBeau clan following. Remy reached down and for the first time that day, took Rogue's hand in his.
"I'm sorry, dey can be a lil…overbearin' at times," he whispered gently into her ear, making her smile.
"Oh they're nothin' ya should meet mine…"
Inside, someone made tea and Rogue sat and chatted to Remy's sister-in-law, Mercy, whilst Remy went over some of the funeral arrangements with his brother and cousins. The mood was pretty sombre, Rogue got the impression that on a normal day, this house would be an awful lot louder than it was now.
"Ah should probably take our cases upstairs and unpack," Rogue said suddenly, remembering that they'd left their luggage in the hallway with the intent of unpacking once they'd relaxed a bit. Rogue felt sort of bad about just leaving it in everyone's way like that.
"O' course, y' can both go in Remy's old room, he can show y' de way." Mattie told her, still busy fussing over one of the younger family members.
As soon as the door shut behind her and Remy, Rogue could hear furtive whispers coming from within. Obviously they were hot gossip, well for today at least…Remy, who was feeling a little better now, not to mention a little more affectionate, wound his arms around her waist and kissed her hair.
"T'ank y' mon amore."
"For what?"
"Survivin' de LeBeau experience."
"Well so far, it really ain't been too bad."
"Oh y' say dat now chérie."
He let her go and they took the cases upstairs to what was formally Remy's bedroom. Rogue was almost surprised there were no swimwear posters on the walls or something, given the previous occupant, just the deep red paint and a few pictures of motorbikes.
"So…" she dumped her bag down and spun around to face him now that the door was shut. "Do Ah get ta find out who tha mysterious Bella is now?"
Remy took a deep breath before starting. He knew he should have told her about Belle before someone else let it slip, it wasn't a conversation he was looking forward to.
"She was m' first serious girlfriend chére, m' first girlfriend full stop really. We were engaged, but I found out she was cheatin' on me…we were t' young fo' all dat marriage crap really, barely outta our teens. Never had anot'er serious relationship until I met y' chérie, Belle broke m' heart dat bad I swore I never wanted t' do it all again..."
He looked so downright miserable having to talk about her, Rogue felt like a monster for just having brought her up, but all the same, she was glad she knew. She picked her way around the suitcases on the floor and pressed her body against his, sliding her hands into the back pockets of his jeans.
"She didn't know what a good thing she threw away sugah, and for that Ah'm grateful." She comforted. "Besides we all got our skeletons, an' its not like we ever had tha past relationship talk, so Ah cant be mad at ya or anythin' for not bringin' her up."
"Dat makes it sound like y' got somet'in y' rat'er not bring up huh chére."
Rogue rolled her eyes. Damn her Cajun and his little mind games. She pulled away from him and ran a hand through her hair, pushing stray white strands away from her face before flopping down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"Go on, spill." He collapsed down on his back next to her.
"Joe, two years ago. He was real big on tha whole commitment thing, tried to make me sell up and move ta tha suburbs. Ah've never really been tha white picket fence type, so Ah left. He took it pretty badly though, started followin' me around, leavin' me all these threatenin' abusive messages…In the end Kitty convinced me ta take out a restrainin' order…
"Well I gotta say, I'm pleased about Kitty's intervention, he sounds like a psychopath."
"Yeah, Ah hate ta think what mite o' happened if Ah'd actually gotten more serious than Ah already was with him…"
"What happened t' him after dat?"
"Ah really have no idea, Ah'm not sure Ah wanna know ta be honest. For months after he left Ah couldn't face tha idea o' another big relationship, so Ah never stayed with anyone for more than a week. Ah hated it so much, sometimes Ah would never even know their name, Ah'm never goin' back ta that."
"Y' never have t' chérie, I'm here f' good now, hmm?" She nervously smiled a little before shifting the attention away from her.
"So anyway, what became o' Bella?"
"Oh she's probably still knockin' around here somewhere, might even turn up at de funeral…can't imagine she'd be pleased t' see me…"
"Well," Rogue started, moving into the crook of his arm, taking his hand and lacing his fingers with her own and placing a quick kiss on his lips. "Ah promise ta protect ya from tha big, bad Bella."
"Merci chére." He gathered her closer, kissing the top of her head as she lay as against his chest. Suddenly, he was very glad that she had come with him after all.
So there you go, the anticlimactic secrets of Rogue!
But it doesn't end there, oh no! I've still got more fizz than a bottle of tizer…Well I will do if you REVIEW! anyway… ;-)
