Well, here's chapter two, on the road! I think last chapter gave people the impression that this would be a religious story but it's really not, it's more about Gambit finding a kid that reminds him of himself.
Anyway, I hope people enjoy this second chapter!
It was dawn when he checked himself into a motel. He claimed the child as his own and carried her to the second bed. She was small and dirty and without shoes and if he hadn't been so tired he might have gone out and found a store but these men had killed her father and he didn't dare leave her alone and anyway, he was too tired to bother with that now. He stripped off to his shorts and climbed into the other bed. He needed to rest and he needed to think.
When he awoke, it was past noon and the girl still slept. He thought it best to leave her there, after all, it must have been quite awhile since she had had a decent rest in a real bed.
He sat on the edge of his bed and ran a hand through his hair. Ah, this was going to be a mess. He could feel it. And what was he going to do with a six year old girl. Did he have a mother? When she awoke that would be the first thing he would ask her. But then he stopped himself. Her father had just been killed, she would be upset. He ran another hand through his hair and looked over at the sleeping child. What to do, what to do.
Well, breakfast was a start, when she awoke he would get her a nice full meal he still had the money he'd taken from the safe and if he needed more it would be no trouble to find some. But after breakfast he would need to get her away from the city. People were looking for her. And him. Bad people.
He pulled on is clothes again and his duster and boots and looked at the girl, he didn't want to wake her. Her went outside to have a smoke and sat quietly, half enjoying the sun and half watching the road for suspicious cars.
When his cigarette had burned down to the filter he called it quits and returned to the room. Panic struck him. The bed was empty and the girl was no where to e found. He looked around wildly but the window was closed and the door had not been unlocked. "Kathy?" He called.
The bathroom door opened and he relaxed she was washing her hands and face. "You scared me petite." He said, sitting on the end of the bed. "I t'ought I lost you."
She shrugged and dried her hands. She would need new clothes and a bath and shoes. She was filthy and her dress was torn and dirty. She would need a lot of things. She came out of the restroom and stood against the wall, watching him.
He ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I haven't properly introduced myself." He said. "My name is Remy Lebeau." He smiled and waited for her to say something.
She looked hm over for long moment before opening her small mouth and saying: "I'm Kathy Caldwell."
He smiled. "Dat short for Katherine?"
She shook her head. "Kathleen."
He smiled wider. "That's a pretty name. Pretty name for a pretty girl. Now, what say you about some breakfast?"
She nodded and a small smile crept across her face.
They checked out and climbed back onto the bike. Kathy climbed in front of him, she was too small to sit in back and she threw her legs over the side, sitting side saddle with her knobby knees poking out. He almost laughed, she was so grown up looking. He started the engine and they took off down the interstate, heading for the first fast food restraunt they could find. Denny's it was and that was perfect because it was breakfast food and because it would be filling.
The woman who seated them must have thought them strange, a grown man in a trench coat and a dirty little girl but she didn't say anything and Kathy ordered a big plate of hotcakes with cream and cherries and she ate the whole thing. He smiled, she looked as though she hadn't eaten in a very long time or at least not much and he hoped no one had starved her.
"So," He said, leaning back in his seat. "You don' happen to have any relatives around do you?"
The little girl pushed back her plate and looked up at him with her big blue eyes. "No. Daddy was the only one."
"What about a mere? A mother?"
She shrugged. "They don't talk any more. Not since she left."
He frowned. "She left, petite?"
Kathy nodded solemnly. "With Mr. Hagen. I liked him but Daddy didn't."
He felt both pain and pity for the poor girl. "What about aunts and oncles? You got any o' dem?"
She paused. "I don't know where they are."
He sighed. "Well, I'll have someone look into it. Don' you worry."
She nodded. "Are you mad that daddy can't pay you anymore?"
He quickly shook his head. "Non, don' worry about dat. I took care of money. Dem loan sharks paid me for him." He patted his pocket to show her and she broke into a smile.
"You stole from them, didn't you?"
He tapped the side of his nose. "Ain't nothin' they didn't steal from someone else."
She giggled. "I like that."
"An' I tell you what, when we find your family I'll gave all the rest of the money to you. I figure it's yours anyhow."
She nodded and smiled. "What if they find us first?" Although she was smiling he could see a flicker of fear in her eyes.
"Never you worry about dat. I'll take care o' dem."
She nodded and let her smile drop. "They're gonna be mad at you."
He rubbed his chin. "I took down two o' dem big ones. I t'ink I can handle de others."
She looked sad. "But the others are smart."
Ah, he thought. And so was she. He smiled kindly. "And so am I. I been in plenty worse situations."
She bit her lip and nodded. Oh well, if she didn't believe him now, she would eventually. He would prove himself. "Shall we be going, chere?"
She slid own out of the booth and her bruised and boney feet hit the ground. They didn't flinch or stumble as she walked and he knew she was used to not wearing shoes. Once a pone a time he had been like her. A child who didn't think he even needed shoes because he had never worn them and never seen a reason to. She didn't falter even as she walked across the gravel lot. He wondered how long she had been locked in that little closet. Had they let her out to walk about the warehouse and stretch her legs? Had they let her out even for a moment for fresh air? He felt pain in his heart for her sufferings.
Yet here she was, a survivor and a grown up little girl. When he lagged behind she stopped and waited for him and he ran to catch up as though he was the child. Oh, this wasn't right, he had to find her family and give her a normal life.
As they road, Kathy commented that she did not like the interstate. She said it was flat and boring. She said there was nothing to see and he laughed because it was such a grown up thing to say. He told her stories about New Orleans, telling her about the swamps and the French Quarter and the Garden District and the different parades. She loved them and told him that someday she would like to see the city. She said she had never seen an alligator and would like to. He told her she was lucky not to have.
They stopped again at a road side dinner and ate dinner. They were well away from the city but he wanted to get a little further before they called it quits for the day. He told Kathy she could sleep and he wouldn't let her fall. She said she could stay up for a little while longer.
As night fell he realized that he didn't know where he was going. He didn't know where to take her, he was far away from the mansion and had no one near by. People might be okay with taking in a lost little girl but they wouldn't be so happy with a grown man. Least of all a grown man who was also a mutant.
They had veered off the interstate and were taking back roads now. Kathy said she liked them better. She liked seeing the farms and trees and little houses. They slowed at an abandoned farm house and stopped for the night. He let her have his coat and he settled down in a corner by the door, ready for anyone or anything that might try and come through.
In the morning, he checked on Kathy but she was still asleep, bundled up in his coat, the top of her head and her little feet the only things visible. He smiled and looked about the abandoned house. There was a fire grate and it looked dry enough to use. He set to work starting up a fire. He had a pack of little sausages he could cook.
Kathy awoke to the smell of breakfast and watched him quizzically.
"We're having us a cook out." He said with a grin. Little things first, one step at a time, after breakfast he would think about where to take her. They finished eating and by then they were both quite filthy.
Kathy reminded him of some of the children he had known when he was her age. They had all been filthy, but they had lived on the streets, not been kept in an old warehouse. He smiled a little. She had the same sort of industrial look in her eyes as the girls he had known back then. The same kind of efficiency that said they could make a bad situation work. She was bright and clever and would survive.
He remembered the Christ Child from the night before and wondered if he shouldn't have given her to the priest. She could have been in a real bed with people already looking for her lost kin, not out in the middle of nowhere eating sausages cooked over an abandoned grate.
But, he reminded himself. The people who'd killed her father would have found her and they would have hurt her.
"Time to go, petite." He said, getting to his feet and stamping out the fire.
She gave him a quizzical look. "What's that mean? You're always calling me it."
He smiled. "Petite? It means little? You're little so I call you little one."
She nodded, seemingly filing the information away and climbed onto the bike, dress looking more worn than the day before.
"We gonna have to get you some new clothes." He said with a grin. "Dat dres looks like it's about to fall off."
She plucked at it. "I don't see what's wrong with it. They gave it to me when my other dress got too dirty."
"Dem bad people did?" He asked.
She nodded. "The big one, Miles did. He was always nice. You know sometimes he would let me walk around the warehouse. He'd watch me but he'd let me walk for a little bit. He didn't know it but I could open the door. Even when they locked it, I could still open it. I found this bit of wire and I found out that if I stuck it in the door knob just right I could make the door open. He always thought he'd forgotten to lock it." She smiled a little. "I used to go out at night and run around. I stole food from people and ate it before they could catch me."
He looked at her in wonder. "Why didn't you run away? Why did you go back?"
"I was afraid they would hurt daddy if I didn't come back."
He stroked her hair which was very dirty but he didn't mind. Once a pone a time his had been just as bad and that was part of it, such a clever, imaginative child in such a helpless situation, she reminded him of himself. She was just as bright and curious as he had been. Oh, he loved her, he was sure.
They were back on the road and again he asked her where she wanted to go. "Got anywhere in mind?"
She shook her head and rested against him. "No. I don't have anywhere."
He thought about taking her to Westchester and to the X-Men but he doubted she was a mutant and even if she was, it wasn't fair to introduce her to such a tumultuous life. He laughed a little, he was sure her life now was wild enough, but he wanted to find her a home. A safe home, not one constantly under siege from Sentinels and supervillains.
What to do, what to do?
They rode on aimlessly and he knew it had to come to an end. They had to go somewhere. "How about I take you to New Orleans? You said you'd like to go there someday, non?"
She looked up at him and nodded. It would be a good plan, he could ask someone there to look into her family, he just had to keep the guild's greasy mitts off her. A bright little thing like her might be snatched up in an instant.
So they turned South. He hummed a bit and told her a few more stories and she listened. She wasn't very talkative and there was something sweet about that.
Again, I hope this was good, thank you for reading!
The next chapter should be up soon.