(Six)

The next day, the penthouse was quiet and Kimble paced restlessly. He had fallen into a nice routine here, but was always unsettled when the Master was gone. Even now, he still disliked to be left alone. Creed had gone off this afternoon to pull a quick job and would be back shortly. Kimble was alone in the penthouse and the Punisher was taking advantage of Kimble's somber mood. Zander had been relentless, pestering him for hours now.

It was two days after Halloween and the Punisher had been roused by the candy and the children. They had come to the door, brightly dressed and full of fun. He was allowed to pass out the candy, no one caring about his appearance because of the holiday. They thought he was wearing an elaborate costume. Sabretooth distributed candy to keep up the pretense of normalcy, he didn't want nosey neighbors poking around if he was unsociable. Usually it was Mary's job to handle the neighbors, but she was more than happy to let Kimble take over, especially when it had made him so happy to see the children. The only drawback had been the chocolate of course. It roused his memory and made him miss his dear friend Gambit like nothing else. The Punisher, naturally, was all over it.

"Call yer Remy, Kim. I knows ya 'members the number," he insisted, the words leaking out of Kimble's mouth.

"The Master's cummin' home soon," Kimble said. He was high and couldn't wait for his Master's touch. It seemed like hours since Sabretooth had walked out.

"I'll jus' bet that boy's been all worried aboutcha," Zander said, working Kimble and bending him to his will. He was hoping if Kimble heard Remy's voice, he would think about leaving this place. Maybe the X-men could figure out where they were. Anything. Anything to get out of here. He was choking here, unhappy with the terrible cycle of abuse and rough sex. Maybe Kimble and Lakotashay were all right with it, but he wasn't. He remembered what it had been like to be normal, this wasn't it. If they stayed like this, they would be ruined for a normal Master for certain. No one decent would want them. "Jus' tell him how happy ya are sos he kin stop lookin'. How's about that, huh?"

Kimble drifted over to the window, uncertain. He pulled the curtains back, something forbidden when the Master was here. Sabretooth was still fearful Kimble would be seen and stolen from him. He gasped with wonder as he saw small flakes of snow drifting down, lit up by a light on the outside.

"Sheyman..." Lakotashay breathed softly and shivered. She was mesmerized by the snow, too enthralled to care about Zander's whisperings to the Lover.

Zander was not one to let opportunity go to waste. "Feel that love, Kim, huh? Call yer Remy. Let him knows yer okay. Tell him thatcha loves him and yer all happy now. Kin ya do that? He'd do it fer you."

Kimble smiled softly in the darkness of Creed's bedroom and reached for the phone. "All right."

(break)

Remy came out of the house and stood on the porch looking up at the dark, cloudy night sky. He had come outside to smoke, but nature had provided him with a little entertainment, the first snow flakes of the season had begun to fall. He sat down on the railing and smoked quietly, his mind still trying to figure out what was going wrong.

It had been a over a month since Sabretooth spirited Kimble off into the mist. They were searching all over for Jael's lair, but there had been no sign of Jael or Kimble anywhere. Remy and Logan had done another exhaustive run through the Morlock tunnels only to come out empty handed. At least they had proven the map he'd made was accurate. The thought gave him no comfort.

Seth had no hits on the computer traps he'd set up, but the poor guy didn't have many facts to work with. Creed covered his tracks much too well. Seth was hacking as much information from the SHIELD computers as he could, but it wasn't enough. They needed Sabretooth to rear his ugly head, so far he had done a serious fade.

Gambit was jerked out of his thoughts when his cell phone rang. It was quite late, three thirty in the morning and he had forgotten to shut it off. Who would be calling him this late?

" 'Ello?"

There was a moment's silence and then they hung up.

"Stupid wrong number..." he muttered to himself and put his phone away.

A few minutes later, it rang again.

"Bonjour? Cajun hotline of love," he greeted with a short laugh of amusement.

Again, there was no answer, but this time he could hear someone breathing.

" 'Ey, you know I like a breather as much as de next guy, but it's late y'all. You gonna talk dirty to me or what?"

There was still no answer and Gambit was about to hang up himself this time, but then he heard his caller sniff and the sound of it was achingly familiar. "Kimble? Dat you, little brother?"

There was no response except for a muffled sob. Kimble had been overcome by the sound of Gambit's voice and could hardly speak.

"Oh man, Kimble, if dat's you, you gotta let me know you're okay. We been lookin' all over for you. Gambit's scared 'alf to death!"

"I-I seen the snow..."

Remy stood up and covered his eyes with a trembling hand. "Where you at? We been lookin' all over! Tell me! Tell me right now!"

"I- I seen the snow...an' I wuz thinkin'. I wuz thinkin' 'bout my father an all the lies he tol' me."

"Sheyman never lie to you, cher. You jus' got your 'ead all twisted 'round is all."

"Naw, I'm the best I ever been, y'know? It's all good now...all good. I'm home now, gots all the luvin' I need. Yous don' need ta look fer me no more. I'm home now...home. Don' wanna be nowheres else," Kimble slurred. He sounded drunk or high, certainly not the clear minded Kimble Remy had come to know. "I- I miss you sometimes. Mary gave me some chocolate the other day an' I wuz thinkin' of you. I miss the way ya useta smell..."

"I miss you, too, buddy," Gambit said, jumping a little when the front door opened and a sleepy eyed Logan stood there watching. Somehow, he'd heard me talking, Gambit thought to himself with wonder. Dis guy 'as ears like a dog. "Where you at, Kimble?"

"We had some kids come by all dressed up funny. Mary said it wuz Halloween but I didn' unnerstand what she meant. I only liked it cuz the Master let me gives 'em candy. He said it wuz okay if they seen me cuz they didn' think I wuz real."

Remy was a little taken aback. Why wasn't Kimble down in the caverns of Jael's hideout? His heart surged with hope. If he was in a safehouse, maybe he could get Kimble to give him enough clues so they could find him. "Yeah, we get de kids, too. You get a lot, eh? De come from de 'ouses 'round you?"

Logan grunted, impressed with Remy's improvised detective skills. Gambit had gone right to work without missing a beat.

"Nawr, we ain't in no house. We's in a buildin' way up high."

"Yeah? How high? What can you see?"

"I kin sees the Brooklyn Bridge from the Master's office."

Remy spun quickly to the East, trying to work out the geography. "What's de number on de door, s'il vous plait? Did you see it?"

"Yeah, it wuz 46B're sumpthin' like that. Why? Is that real high?"

"Oui, it's high enough, little brother. Who's dere wit you?"

"Is it true what Logan said about Seth? That he got out?"

Remy was momentarily confused by Kimble changing the subject. He answered quickly, hoping to keep Kimble talking. "Yeah. 'E been out a few weeks."

"Is he all right? Not so scared, I mean."

"Oui. Fallen's been 'elpin' him out. You okay? You sound different."

Kimble laughed. "Yeah, jus' a little high is all. The plasma...sometimes it's so hard ta think, ya know? But I been thinkin' 'bouts you a lot. You an' Seth. I'm glad about him. He an' Fallen must be so happy. Evraone should be happy. I'm so happy now."

"Why you so 'appy?"

"Cuz someone loves me now...loves me fer real."

"Who's dat? Who's lovin' you now?"

"The Master."

Remy frowned. He disliked the idea of anyone owning his friend, it hadn't worked out so well when Cameron Bishop was Kimble's Master. On an impulse Remy asked, "Who's de Master, Kim?"

"I cain't say, you'll gits all mad. I don' wants ya mad at me."

What was this? Remy began to tremble even more, the hope was more than he could take. If not Jael, than who? This was getting better by the minute. He looked over at Logan and saw the same hope there in his teammate's hungry eyes. Logan was more than ready to take this on.

"Gambit ain't never mad at you, Kim. Not like dat. Who's de Master?" he insisted, his voice firm.

Kimble never got a chance to reply. Remy jerked suddenly when he heard a door slam open on the other end of the line and the sound of the phone being slapped away. "What's goin' on here!" a voice bellowed that Remy knew all too well. "What are you doin!"

"I wuzn't doin' nuthin!" Kimble pleaded, then yelped as he was struck multiple times.

"Kimble!" Gambit shouted into the phone, pacing quickly in his frustration that he could do no more than just listen. He was mortified, his earlier hope fizzling out quickly. Sabretooth was no better Master than Cameron as far as he was concerned. "Leave 'im alone!"

Kimble's phone was picked up. "Who's this?"

"It's Gambit, you 'airy, murderin' asshole!"

"Well, if it isn't my favorite redneck Cajun. Long time no kill."

Remy could hear Kimble crying and blubbering in the background and he challenged Creed in a voice firm with anger, "If you 'urt 'im, I swear I'll jump right down your t'roat an' rip your fuckin' 'eart out, comprenez!"

"Fat chance of that happening, but yer welcome to try. Wouldn't be the first time I kicked your sorry little ass...won't be the last."

Impossibly, Kimble began to beg and plead for Remy's life. Gambit could hear him clearly, he must have come up close to Sabretooth, acting boldly in spite of having just been beaten. Several times Kimble called this man Master, something that ran a chill up and down Remy's spine. That he would never get used to, never. There was the sound of another scuffle, a yelp, and Kimble went quiet.

"Let 'im go," Remy demanded through tightly clenched teeth.

"Not a chance, Cajun. He's just too precious."

"I'll double Jael's t'ree million for 'im."

Creed just laughed.

"Si bien, I'll t'row in a Ferrari den."

"Right, like I'd fit in one." Creed was a large man.

"Mercedes SUV?"

Logan chuckled from the doorway, amazed at the exchange. His sensitive hearing not only let him hear Remy from outside the house- his bedroom window was cracked not far from the front porch- but now let him hear Creed's side of the conversation as well.

"I appreciate yer thinkin', but I already turned down a better offer. You couldn't even come close," Creed boasted.

"What you want 'im for, eh? He just a kid."

"He's so much more'n that or you wouldn't be offerin' me luxury vehicles, boy. Oh, an' if yer thinkin' of tracin' this down, don't bother. Yer boy just saw to it we're buggin' out tonight. There won't be anything left for you to find. Later, sneak."

"Wait—I can do better!"

Creed hung up.

"Damnit!" Remy snarled and threatened to smash the phone in his anger, but stopped himself in time. Kimble might be able to call again later.

"What's goin' on?" Logan growled, his brown eyes glittering at the thought of the hunt.

"Kimble's not wit Jael. Saby never turned 'im over."

"Well, I think I know just the place Kimble was talkin' about. You up to a drive?"

The heat in Gambit's eyes was enough.