(Six)
Henry sat at his desk, rubbing his eyes. All was quiet now in the lab. Creed was sedated and sleeping, Kimble locked away for the night. Henry was well prepared for a night's work, he had a nice hot cup of coffee and a plate of Twinkies nearby. He had just showered and was dressed in comfortable loose pajama pants and a white T-shirt. Living alone had its perks, he could spend his time here at his computer without having to worry if he would be missed. He figured he might be here awhile.
He had chosen this night to do some quick research. He was startled by what he had found, even more so that it was right under his nose the whole time. Curious about Remy's speedy recovery, he had decided to take a quick run through of Remy's medical records. There wasn't much, Gambit was skimpy with details and sometimes sought treatment outside when he wanted to hide things.
Henry started from the beginning. Remy LeBeau, mysterious thief and scoundrel, was brought into the fold by Storm, a long time team member and teacher at the Institute. At that time, Gambit's mutations were listed as a producer of bio-kinetic energy and enhanced athletic skills. Perhaps some enhanced night vison as well. It wasn't until much later that his latent empathy was suspected, but he had come in with the reputation as a con man and master manipulator. He could charm his way through a crowd, picking their pockets blindfolded. He had already been well trained in martial arts and gymnastic skill by his Thieves' Guild upbringing.
Remy had been an orphan living in a New Orleans' orphanage when he had the brass to attempt to pick the pocket of Jean Luc LeBeau, the head of the Thieves' Guild there. Jean Luc was taken by the boy's audacity and adopted him, raising him as his own. There Remy had been trained to be the master thief he would later become, an occupation that suited his mutations well. He learned how to enter a building silently and take whatever he wished. He was the perfect ghost, choosing his battles and fighting only when it was necessary.
At the age of seventeen Remy was exiled after a Guild dispute forced him out. He was living on his own for a while, pulling odd jobs to stay alive. It got him into trouble. His ability to produce bio-kinetic energy was raging further and further out of control as he grew older. Remy was pulling heists for a mutant scientist named Sinister, and the guy offered him a deal. He would fix Remy's little problem if he would be so kind as to lead this group of men down into the Morlock tunnels. There were hideous mutants living down there and Sinister wanted them gone, finding them offensive in his way. He told none of this to Remy of course, he only asked the thief to collect some hired hands and bring them down there to gather some blood samples for his use in the lab.
Remy was desperate enough to do as he was asked. Here Henry saw the basic seeds of Remy's goodness. Gambit had done this thing because he was afraid he would hurt someone with his power, it was not an act of greed. And Beast firmly believed Gambit never would have done it if he'd been fully aware of just what the consequences of his decision were to be. Remy's biggest mistake was trusting Sinister, a man who's evil would rival the Devil's own.
Remy brought the men down, Sabretooth included, and was rocked by the horror that followed. He did his feeble best to try and stop it, but it was too late. Sinister had already blunted his power by then and the men were too many. Sabretooth, evil incarnate in and of himself, turned on Remy and slashed him open wide, giving him the horrible scars he still bore to this day. Over three hundred Morlocks had died in the tunnels that day. The X-men had been down there was well, trying to stop it. It was this that had cost Warren his wings. It was the worst thing Henry had ever seen.
Gambit scrambled and managed to escape, pulling another trick that once more confirmed Henry's suspicions that Remy was not the monster some believed him to be. This was mostly rumor of course, since the thief himself had never confirmed this - but in spite of his horrible wounds, Gambit had supposedly grabbed a small Morlock child that had strayed into his path and carried her off with him, not thinking twice about how she might complicate things for him. He saw only a child in need or rescue and was there for her.
Weakened by a severe loss of blood, Remy still managed to get them both to a nearby hospital for treatment. His name was never listed, but Henry had uncovered records matching the description of Gambit and his wounds. It had taken well over thirty stitches to repair the wounds and the boy had nearly died. Hampering things were traces of alcohol and signs of drug use in Remy's system. Even at a young age, Remy was well on his way to losing it. Gambit recovered and eventually slipped out of the hospital before he could be officially released and disappeared.
All records of the child Remy had saved were supposedly closed, but Seth with his clever Siskan mind, had managed to discover that she had been taken into foster care. It was clear early on that she was not Remy's blood relation and he had made no claims on her before he left, he hadn't even asked, he simply slunk away and disappeared.
It was two years later that Storm had come across the thief and brought him along to join them. From the onset, Remy was hedgy around any medical exams, never putting himself in a position where he would have to reveal his scars. It was an injury that brought them to light - he had been knocked unconscious and ended up in the Med Bay for treatment. When pressed about the scars he was evasive and refused to give an answer anyone could believe. It had answered one question, though. Of all the X-men, Remy was the only one who routinely wore body armor, especially the flexible chest plate that had become a staple of his wardrobe. Could it come as any surprise that a man so horribly scarred might want to keep his chest and belly protected?
A year or so after that came Antarctica.
By this time Remy was hitting on Rogue pretty heavy. He had kissed her once, ended up in Med Bay for four days in a coma after that disaster. Since then, there had been some tension and unease in the couple. She was sensing that he was hiding something, something he refused to confess no matter how much she begged him to tell her. She had absorbed some of his memories, but not enough to decipher them and he was giving her no help at all. It came to a head on this mission.
They had gone to Antarctica to scope out a secret base of Eric the Red, a mysterious unknown mutant who was causing quite a bit of trouble. What they found instead was secret base of Magneto, a powerful omega mutant far more than the team had been able to contend with. Upset with the trespass, Magneto saw fit to turn the team on itself. Somehow, Magneto had already known of Remy's involvement in the Morlock Massacre and recognized the thief on sight. He exposed Remy's biggest secret and sat back to watch the show when the team fell apart.
Rogue had been a young girl when the Massacre happened and on the X-men team at the time. The horror of it never left her. When she learned Gambit was responsible, all hell broke lose. There was a terrible fight in which Magneto got away and the team was scattered. The base was nearly destroyed. Rogue managed to drag Remy out of the ruins only to dump him just outside. She cursed him and left him for dead, not caring in the least if he lived or died. When the team reassembled, she didn't immediately say what had happened. When she finally confessed, they went back for Gambit but he was gone, probably having wandered off into the snow.
Henry rubbed his head, always feeling pained and anguished over this. He had been along on that mission and it broke his heart to think of what they had done. His only excuse was that he had been knocked out during the battle and revived after the deed was done, removing his culpability if not his guilt. Later, Rogue would say that she had only done as Remy himself wished, that his guilty heart had come across in the transfer of memories and she was only acting on what he himself had desired. It was water over the bridge now, but Henry couldn't buy into her thoughts. Just because Remy had desired punishment did not mean that it had to be so final. Anyone who felt as horrible as Remy did over the matter was a soul worth saving. If Rogue truly loved the boy, she would have known this, but hey, Henry was not one to interfere with anyone's love life. Even when the pair later resumed their tumultuous relationship, he kept his mouth silent.
More than all of that, as a doctor, Beast never would have left Remy behind, regardless of the thief's guilt. This was Antarctica, the coldest continent on Earth. It had been a death sentence that only the luckiest of thieves could have escaped.
It was only recently that Henry had been able to fill in the gaps of what happened to the poor thief after this. Seth's addition to the team and his hacking abilities had really paid off here. Eleven days after Remy had been dumped to die, he was picked up by Russian salvagers looking to cash in on Magneto's ruined base. Eleven days with no food and only snow for drinking. It was miracle Gambit survived at all. A Shi'ar miracle actually. Henry had combined some of that alien technology to create the special environmental suits they had all worn that day. The suit was enough to keep Remy from freezing to death although it had been a close call. He had the first stages of frostbite, but not enough to lose any fingers or toes, thank Heaven. He had hyperthermia and was starving. He also had a severe laceration on his wrist, possibly a self inflicted wound, a serious suicide attempt. As if anyone would blame him for trying out there in the frozen waste.
Remy was taken to the salvager's boat that was stuck in the ice nearby. He spent two months in their infirmary fighting a case of double pneumonia and hyperthermia. He would give no details of who he was nor why he had been there. He was described as being despondent and begged more than once to be left to die. The Russians managed to free their vessel and he was given passage to Australia where he disappeared once more.
He turned up in New Orleans months later, bone thin and back to pulling jobs. He was making his way up the coastline in a slow but steady path back to New York. Not long after, he showed up on their doorstep, begging the Professor to take him back. Of course Charles agreed, he never would have left Remy like that in the first place. Rogue had been soundly reprimanded for her treatment though there were some on the team who didn't argue with what she'd done. The Massacre had been horrible and affected a lot of people.
Again Rogue argued that she had only reacted on what Remy himself was feeling. He was suffering from guilt over his act and felt he deserved to die for his crimes. When he was exposed, she did as he himself would have wanted done. She knew this from when she had kissed him and shared his memories, she had tasted his horrible guilt and that's what had prompted her to leave him. The Professor did not agree, his mind following that of Henry's. Just because the prisoner begs for death doesn't mean he deserves it. If Rogue had truly loved him, she never would have let his feelings sway her. She was too upset over his evasions to really see what was going on inside of him. If Gambit was truly evil, he never would have felt so horribly about what he had done. Countless times he had risked his life for the team and others without a thought. Deep inside this shattered man was a hero just waiting for a chance to reveal himself. He was worth redemption and Charles made sure he was given the chance now that the opportunity had presented itself.
Here Henry's own personal medical records resumed. Gambit struggled mightily to get back into fighting shape. He had trouble aerobically, having trouble catching his breath. Of course Remy blamed the cigarettes and lack of steady exercise over the past year but Henry had always wondered. At this time he'd had no idea of what Remy had gone through after he had been left and Remy refused to talk about it. Being a touchy subject, no one pressed. Three months after his return, Gambit got plowed and broke three ribs, landing himself back into Med Bay. A chest X-ray revealed more than fractured bones, Remy had extensive scarring in his lungs from the pneumonia and the frozen air. He would never have full lung function again in his life and he was barely twenty two. Beast had crawled into his quarters and wept. He couldn't believe what they had allowed to happen. He knew better than to try and apologize, Remy wasn't his former cheery self. He kept to himself and tried to maintain some kind of dignity while being persona non grata on the outside edge of the team.
Time passed. Kimble came. Gambit began struggling with the added stress of helping to get Kimble out of trouble. What Henry didn't know then of course was that Remy was battling a newly boosted empathy and guilt over having let Kimble get so messed up. That was a bad year. Henry had prescribed anti-depressants and medicines for an ulcer for the thief. Again came the admonition to quit smoking. It wasn't until Kimble got back home for good that Remy finally began to heal.
Here was what Henry had overlooked. Gambit showed remarkable progress in his physical fitness after this. This during a period of time where Henry had just now learned Gambit was having an affair with Kimble. Remy had a reputation for having quite the sexual appetite, one he never refuted. He would have been getting frequent doses of Kimble's power, Henry surmised. Gambit had once said that Kimble's power presented itself most powerfully during intimacy.
Remy wasn't getting injured that often but it did happen. Then this year, back in January, another chest X-ray for severe bruising. No, no broken ribs this time, but what Henry had overlooked was the fact that all of Remy's scarred lung tissue was gone. Now he had known Remy had quit smoking, or at least had cut way, way back. But that alone could not explain this.
Kimble must have healed Remy's post Antarctica injuries.
When Kimble had first come back, he had been living with Sabretooth. Some evidence had come in that Kimble's power had affected Creed's powerful rages, soothing him somehow and making him less violent. What if Kimble's power went beyond the emotional and into the physical? It seemed more and more likely looking at all of this in that particular light.
What had Logan said? If it was true and knowing how close the pair still was, Henry wouldn't be surprised if Remy and Kimble were still sexually active on some level. Kimble could heal, maybe not all at once, but perhaps a little at a time with frequent exposure. That would explain why Remy's leg had healed quickly, but not all at once. Henry had to believe this. He casually wondered what it would take to get Remy to pull his shirt off. It had been a long time since he had taken the time to look at Remy's scars from Sabretooth's attack, he was now curious if they remained at all.
These new ideas also helped to explain Creed's remarkable survival. There was no way Victor would have survived his surgery on his own, Beast fully believed that now. Kimble had boosted his will to live somehow, just enough that he survived.
Another nagging question was Molly's pregnancy. Was it coincidence that she had been unable to conceive until now? Remy's leg had healed quickly, but the biggest jump was most recent, since they had packed up and moved here. Now Molly was pregnant after years of fruitlessly trying. Henry shook his head, not quite liking the way his mind was wandering. Yes, Kimble might be affecting his friends, but it was impossible to believe that they were all having wild pig sex in the same room. Or at least, he would like to think it wasn't so.
Henry, these thoughts are a by-product of you spending far too much time alone, he chided himself playfully, unable to ignore an unbidden shiver of arousal at the thought of that. Doctors are not supposed to think these things about their patients, it's uncivilized.
Question now was what should he do with this information? It steeled his resolve to do right by Kimble, the Siskan was a hidden asset. Being useful, especially in such a benign way, would boost Kimble's ego and the Siskan needed that so very much right now. He would need to speak to the Professor.
(break)
When Gambit stepped out of the darkness and into the snow he knew he was in trouble.
"Merde!"
He knew this nightmare and knew it well. Wet sloppy snow all around, bright white blindness. What could be more horrible? Already he could feel the frozen tightness in his chest, the inability to breathe without gasping. He blinked up at the bright white sky, expecting the inevitable Rogue apparition to be hanging there, her eyes bright and accusing. This is how it had always gone, his ex-girlfriend always so willing to just dump him here to die a horrible frozen death in spite of the strength of their love. It wounded him deeply each and every time he relived it, even now after he'd left her behind and Molly was here now beside him. Still enough of the old pain remained to torture him in these dreams.
In Rogue's place was a strange woman dressed in white robes. He had no time to ponder this strange new development, she was speaking to him with a gentle urgency. "The world is breaking, my son," she said. "Can you hear the lions? They will be here soon."
Remy had no idea what to think, this wasn't his usual nightmare. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. At least the constriction in his chest was loosening, as if the newcomer's presence reversed the panic attacks that usually followed these dreams. He took a wheezing breath and asked, "What you... want... Gambit to do, chere?"
"Stop this war, stop them."
"Gambit's only ... one man. You want... de impossible."
"Help is coming. Help from an unlikely place. Do not be afraid. You are stronger than you think."
"Gee, t'anks, chere. Good to know... somebody t'ink so," he snapped sarcastically. Recent events had tapped his reserves on self worth.
She reached down and kissed him, frozen white lips from a face he couldn't really see. / Mother, whispered his internal companion at the contact. His eyes flew open in surprise but then all he saw was the dark of his bedroom and felt the heat of his wife beside him.
"Stupid dream!" Remy muttered, rubbing his eyes. His heart was hammering in his chest, pushed by the tightness in his lungs that was finally, blessedly letting go. He wouldn't have the usual prolonged breathless dizziness that usually followed when he managed to jerk awake from these sweat soaked nightmares. He didn't dream of his abandonment in Antarctica as often anymore, but it still happened now and again. A stress reaction Karen would say. It didn't usually go this way, this was the first time he had seen someone other than the woman who had once claimed to love him, the one who had left him to die in the frozen waste.
He knew where the stress dream had come from. The big ugly incident with Mary had been two days ago now and his attempts to get Kimble freed had been in vain. There had been another bitter verbal exchange with Warren and some muttered comments about his untrustworthiness had slipped out under the winged man's breath. Apparently the powers that be had taken those comments seriously and Remy's pleas for Kimble's speedy release fell on deaf ears. All of his attempts to speak with Charles ended up in disappointment. It was as though his opinion was now meaningless. He was getting unfavorable vibrations from the folks in charge who now seemed to view him as unreliable and too biased when it came to Kimble's care. He was in love with Kimble, the emotional attachment was just too strong for him for him to be reasonable, they were thinking. The thought that his voice no longer mattered had filled him with a despair that had been hard to get rid of. It was eating at him, making him sick. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat. He was starting to lose it and the only thing holding him together was Molly's constant presence and her endless patience.
Making matters worse, this morning Angel refused to go to school. She had been kept out of the loop for the worst of what had happened, the big folks around her trying to shelter her as much as possible. She was much too young to have to deal with the knowledge of Kimble's murderous rampage. Of course Angel was a very bright child and knew instantly that something had gone terribly wrong with her father. Even now she hadn't been allowed to see him yet. No one trusted Kimble's mental condition enough to allow him any visitors other than Henry and Remy. Gambit knew better. The separation of father and child was hard on both parties, especially on Angel who was left in the dark — or so Remy had thought.
He asked her why she didn't want to go to school and she sobbed, saying the other kids had told her that her daddy had killed someone, that he was a bad man.
"Oh, non, petite," he had soothed, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight. He should have guessed this would happen, and he cursed the world for being so cruel. She should not have had to find out this way. Rather than try to evade, he just came out with the truth, knowing she would be able to sense his sincerity in his belief that Kimble wasn't as guilty as others might think him to be. "Yo' daddy did what 'e done to keep you safe. 'E was t'inkin' dat someone was gonna 'urt you. 'E wouldn't let nobody touch you, dis prove it."
"All the kids hate my daddy!"
"Dey jus' don' know 'im, is all."
"My daddy isn't bad!" she wailed, forcing him to grip her even more tightly.
"Non. Yo' daddy isn't bad, not bad at all. 'E look after you and take care of you good. 'E was just bein' yo' daddy, looking out for you, comprenez?"
"Then why did Uncle Logan lock him away?"
Oh, this was hard. Remy closed his eyes. "De 'Fessor say we gotta fix our problems wit'out killin', petite. Dis a good way of t'inkin', de right way. Dey...dey just upset dat yo' daddy didn't t'ink dat way, too. 'Fraid, p'etetre, he do it again."
She backed away from him then, just enough to look into his eyes. "Why would they think that way?" she asked and then paused. Remy felt that tiny buzzing in his head and then tears spilled from her eyes. "He's done it before, hasn't he? And not just to protect me."
Gambit was at a loss. She had cut through his mental shields like nothing. He reached out and carefully patted her head, not letting her go. "Long time ago, yo' daddy was a little confused. Dis before 'e found you, hien? Before you made t'ings right in 'is world. 'E done some bad t'ings, but...but den 'e make up for it by doin' one really big good t'ing."
"What did he do?"
Remy began to carefully explain about how Kimble had been with Sabretooth, had been owned by him briefly. Sabretooth had planned to blow up a lot of people and Kimble had stopped him. Kimble had saved thousands of lives, far more than the three people he had killed. "Dis why yo' daddy never leave de 'ouse back in Westchester. We make a deal wit de police. Kim stay at de 'ouse, dey don' take him to jail. We do dis 'cause we know Kim is a good man, a man wort' fighting for."
"Why did that lady want to hurt me?"
" 'Cause she work for Jael."
"That's the guy who wants my dad."
"Oui, chere. 'E wants you, too. 'E want you bot'," Remy replied, opting for the truth in this most tenderest of moments. He couldn't bear to lie to her or try to cover up the truth, he wanted her to understand. "Yo' daddy, 'e conflicted, understand? He want to keep you safe, but at de same time, 'e don' wanna 'urt nobody no more. Jael not givin' 'im much choice. Dat's why 'e get so upset."
"My daddy loves me."
"Like de world, chere. 'E always love you. 'E kill fo' you," he whispered softly, a single tear spilling out of one eye. "Don' you hate him fo' what 'e do."
"Thanks," she said, coming back and squeezing him tight.
"For what, eh?"
"For talking to me and not hiding anything."
"Gambit never want to hide anyt'ing from you. 'E just don' want you to 'ate yo' daddy. Gambit love you bot' so much."
She pulled away and wiped his face with a gesture much older than her years. "I love you, too. You're the best Uncle. The best."
"Merci beaucoup, chere. Sometimes Gambit really need to 'ear dat."
"Do I still have to go to school?"
"Non. You can stay 'ere wit Molly 'n me. But mebbe, de day after dat you go. Show dem kids dey ain't got no power over you. You a strong girl, petite. Strong, just like yo' daddy."
"Okay," she said, smiling in that way she did. She might not be Kimble's biological child, but she had a way of looking right at him the same way Kimble did when he was the most proud, the most loving of this Cajun thief. Angel kissed him and then slipped off to Molly's bed, seeking motherly comfort.
Remy watched her go and almost fell over. He was relieved that he had finally told her the truth of the situation but at the same time, didn't want to ruin her innocence or gentle way of looking at the world. That was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. It stayed with him all day and apparently into this night as well, prompting this stress dream.
Back in his bedroom, Remy rose and shuffled to the bathroom, trying to be as quiet as possible, Molly was stirring. His nightmares almost always woke her immediately, his wheezed, freight train breathing harsh to her sensitive ears. She would hold him tight, pulling him into her arms and whispering her soft grunts in his ears, her vibrations telling him, / You are good. You were worth saving and you prove it every day. You are my husband and the only man I love. Why does this still haunt you? It doesn't matter, I will always be here for you. I will love you always. / He couldn't bear the thought of ever having the dream only to wake with her not there. So quickly she could calm him down. Seemed like this night he had woken up too quickly to rouse her. He was glad for it.
Remy stepped into his tiny bathroom and went to the sink, stepping carefully around Princess as she lay on the bathmat next to the toilet. He had moved Kimble's cat in with him just as he had his tiny daughter, almost making the apartment across the hallway something of a waste of time. The large tabby had settled in quite happily, always content to be wherever her food dish was. She had taken a liking to the plush green mat in the bathroom, sprawling out and not moving for anyone, no matter how stinky they might leave the room. Just like Kimble to end up with a cat with no sense of smell.
Remy had just begun to splash some water on his face when the phone rang. He stood there frozen, somehow just knowing this was no ordinary call. Should he answer?
It rang again and he grabbed for it before Molly could. "Bonjour?" he mumbled sleepily, his voice a little hoarse from tension.
"Hey, Remy. Sorry ta wake ya," came Logan's low growl from the other end. "Got bad news from New Orleans. Can ya come down to my office? I don't wanna do this over the phone."
"Oui. Just give me a minute."
Logan grunted and hung up.
Remy set the phone down, unable to shake his sense of unease. New Orleans? What could that be? Most of the folks he really cared about had moved up to Boston when his father died and the Guild had split apart because of it. Jean Luc's death caused a rift in the Guild and a good chunk of it moved north, now headed by Remy's cousin Etienne. Wasn't too long after that that the woman Remy regarded as his mother, his Tante, had gone to stay with Etienne as well. What was left in New Orleans?
Sleepiness gave way to a horrible, dawning realization. His eyes flew open wide as he knew the answer to his question. "Oh, fuck! Trishnar!"
To be continued in Reunion.