I've been informed that poker in casinos is—and this may come as a shock—nothing like blackjack. Who knew? Haha, yeah, so I wrote poker totally wrong, but I'm going to just go with it. Remy obviously had to work in a casino—um, hello, duh—and he has to play poker. So I made it happen, even if it's wrong. Just…use your imagination.

And now, shopping! Yay! I'm about a gillion times more excited than Rogue is, but not as excited as Kitty would be, so yeah…. Anyway! Here we go! And look how quickly I updated! Haha, screw my midterms!

Enjoy!

-Forbala-

CHAPTER ELEVEN: SHOPPING

After leaving the casino, Marielle and Raoul went shopping. In the department store, they went straight to furniture. Raoul approached a sales lady and said, "My wife and I have just moved here and we need to furnish our apartment from scratch. Could you help us, mademoiselle?"

The woman smiled and nodded—she would get a huge commission from furnishing an entire apartment. She immediately led them to the beds section. "How much are you looking to spend today?"

"Money is no object," Raoul said, smiling.

Marielle smacked him. "Stop saying that! We're not going to spend a fortune, and you can disregard anything he says."

The woman looked saddened by this revelation, but she figured she could work them into buying more than they needed or even wanted—especially the man. He clearly liked to spend money and like to have the best. She could work with that.

"Yes, madame. What size bed are you looking for? Double, queen, or king?"

"Double will be fine. We'll need two, though. One for…the guest bedroom," Marielle added at the woman's confused look.

"We'll have a double for the guest room and a king for the master. Right, chere?"

"No. A double is plenty."

"I won't go smaller than a queen."

"Fine. A queen and a double."

"Well, our queen beds are over here…" The woman led them to the beds to find a frame.

They shopped most of the day, stopping only to eat lunch. They didn't just need furniture, either; after lunch they shopped for dishes, kitchenware, the little touches, etc.

For the master bedroom, they got a dark wood frame with a somewhat traditional headboard, no footboard, and sheets with Tibetan influence in bright blue and brown. Raoul had more input in the master bedroom than Marielle would have liked, but she actually quite liked his selections. Dammit. The "guest" room (that is, Raoul's) had an almost identical bed frame, only this was a bit more modern—namely, a plain headboard. The sheets were nautical-themed blues and white.

They got matching dressers, short and long, two nightstands for the master bedroom and a wooden footlocker for the guestroom. The dining room table was a large square, the same brown as the bed frames and everything else, with a glass top and four matching chairs. It was simple, but with the curvy legs that made you feel more sophisticated. They got a single couch, a dark green cloth sectional, a short coffee table that really resembled a box more than anything else, and a large media center to house a TV, DVD player, movies, things Gambit stole—"You can't keep stealing!" "I don't want to steal, chere, but Gambit does. All these cabinets and drawers are great for him to hide things." As if Gambit and Remy and Raoul were all different people. Well, knowing him, they very well could be.

When they had finished their shopping, and after spending more money than Marielle was comfortable thinking about, they set everything up in the apartment. She vacuumed, mopped, and dusted, then washed their simple glasses and blue dining sets, and made both beds. This was all after or while Raoul was attempting to set up their furniture, with limited success. She actually had to got help him with the media center. She made him set out the kitchenware while she built the media center. But they got it all done and sometime around nine o'clock, the apartment was pretty much finished.

They collapsed on the couch. "Why did we get such a big couch?" Marielle asked, her voice more a groan from the long day.

"Because it's cool and we can have guests over."

"We're on the run. Who are we going to have as guests?"

"We're not on the run anymore, chere, we're incognito. We'll befriend the neighbors."

"I'm so tired. I hate shopping. More than an hour and I'm done."

"Then let's go to bed. Raoul will help you relax," he said, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her to him. She smacked his head behind her but was too tired to do much else.

"Get offa me, ya dang fool," she snapped, her accent getting thicker in her exhaustion and annoyance. It only made Raoul smile and hold her tighter. She made a high-pitched sound of annoyance and tried to wriggle away, but he accidentally tickled her and she twitched and giggled and screamed. "Stop! Stop it!"

"Oh, y' ticklish, chere?"

"No! Haha, get off! Stop!" she squealed.

They wrestled on the couch, Marielle trying to escape his grasp and Raoul trying to pull her closer, always closer, until they eventually fell in a heap on the floor, Marielle on top and flush against Raoul. She could feel his wonderfully hard body and her breath left her. She quickly realized she had to get off of him before she fell into his trap. Those damned eyes, vaguely red beneath the bright blue contacts. That smile, always mischievous and plotting something and gorgeous. His dark, almost auburn, hair that fell in his eyes.

Shit, get up!

She began to pull away, muttering nervously, but he wouldn't let her; he held on as though she would vanish into mist if he let go. He kept her flush against his body. "Kiss me, chere," he whispered.

"No. I can't," she protested, just as quietly.

"You can. I know you can."

"I'll hurt you."

"You'll absorb excess energy."

"Only for a little while. Then I'll absorb you."

"I don't care."

"I do."

"We could train, you know. I bet we could figure out how to control your powers."

"That's impossible. I can never touch anyone, ever."

"I don't believe that. We can control your powers and then we can touch as much as we want, we can be together in every way a man and woman should."

"I can't. I'd kill you."

"But what a way to go."

"Let me go, Remy."

"I'll never let you go, Anna Marie."

Marielle froze. "How do you know that name?"

"Remember that time where I stalked and kidnapped you?"

"Not one of my finer memories of you."

"I know everything about you, chere. I learned everything about you, using Magneto's resources under the guise of 'knowing my enemy.' But you were never my enemy. I never wanted to hurt you. I only ever wanted to be near you, in any way I could."

Marielle pulled away and this time he let her go. She stood. He sat up on his forearms and looked up at her. What a flattering angle.

"Shut up." Marielle turned and ran into the master bedroom and slammed the door. Raoul sighed and sat on the floor for a long time before finally going to the guest room.