Chapter 6
"So you are back in N'Orleans," said a man's voice behind Gambit in the grocery store. "And here I was thinking I was mistaken about the exile being lifted."
Gambit turned and gave the man with beaded dreadlocks a cynical look as he dropped the maple syrup into his hand basket. The large, well-built man looked almost silly carrying his own small hand basket, filled with eggs, protein bars and cat food.
"Nice to see you too, Gris Gris. Congratulations on the promotion, by the way."
"Let me make this perfectly clear, Gambit," Gris Gris said coldly. "I don't like you."
"I'm not exactly trying to get you into bed either," Gambit replied.
"You killed my friend -"
"That was his idea if I recall -"
"- and lifting your exile has caused Bella Donna no end of trouble."
Gambit imagined he meant that on top of the trouble she was already having with the Assassins Guild council, but there's no way Gris Gris would admit how bad any dissension in the Guild was to him of all people.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Gambit said. "I certainly bear Bella Donna no ill will, and I would like to think our Guilds could actually get along."
"You're right, you know," Gris Gris said. "What happened with Julien that day? That was all his doing. Thing is, it wouldn't have really mattered which way it went; it still would have been his last day in N'Orleans. If he'd succeeded in killing you, Jean-Luc would have demanded restitution too. Even if he had agreed to exile over execution, Henri never would have lifted it."
"What's your point, Gris Gris?"
"My point is that there are a lot of Assassins who want to see you dead. Some of them object to Bella Donna's decision to the point where they would be willing to kill you for being here, as per the terms of your exile," said Gris Gris. "Personally, I don't care what happens to you, but Bella Donna's my friend too, and she put her neck on the line for you. I would hate for that to all be in vain."
"Don't worry about me," Gambit replied. "People have been out to get me well before Julien died. I wish I could say that was paranoia."
Gris Gris snorted. "From you I believe it, although I never thought I'd say that to a Thief."
"Today must be a day for firsts then. I never thought an Assassin would warn me to watch my back."
"Yeah... let's not make a habit of this."
"Agreed."
The next few weeks leading up to the Guild Christmas party were almost a blur of activity. Gambit was filled with an almost boyish excitement about the event: his first Guild Christmas party in the Guild Hall in over twenty years.
"So Henri," Jean-Luc said one day whilst in ear-shot of Gambit. "Where do you think we should hold the party this year? Remy's place or the Hall?"
"Hmm... tough question," Henri replied seriously.
Gambit pulled faces at them.
"Oui, you're going to be a fine example for your child," Henri said.
"But of course!" Gambit replied.
Rogue was rather impressed by the massive Christmas tree the Thieves acquired and was even more impressed to see the decorators at work on it.
Like the year before, on the day of the party, Tante Mattie recruited Gambit and a number of other good cooks amongst the Thieves and had them all busy cooking for the masses that night.
Finally, Tante Mattie released Gambit from the kitchen, and after changing he met up with Rogue in the ballroom.
"Huh, a projector," Gambit mused as he looked at the white screen that was set up at one end of the hall. "I wonder what they're planning on using that for."
"Got me," Rogue replied with a shrug, all the while having a pretty good idea what it was for.
Before too long the ballroom started filling up with Thieves and their families. Rogue was reunited with her friends, Zoe, Andre, Stephane, and Brad for the first time since the wedding. They had all been busy stealing things, too.
"Hi there little foetus," Zoe said to Rogue's stomach.
"Little foetus?" Brad repeated. "Oookay."
Rogue laughed.
"So, having any weird cravings?" Zoe asked.
"Weird? Like peanut butter on pickles?" Rogue asked.
"Yeah, like that," Zoe said, pulling a face. "Eww."
"I agree. Nope, no weird cravings."
"Oh, well, that's good then. Although you are missing out on grossing people out with weird combinations."
"This is true. Oh well," Rogue replied with a shrug.
"Next time?"
"I want to get through this a first time before I start thinking about 'next time'."
Zoe chuckled.
This party was a little different from parties of previous years. Everyone, not just Gambit, was anxious to learn the names of this year's Top Ten Thieves; specifically if Gambit had made it to number one and had broken the record for most years in a row spent in that position. There was a good deal of speculation, most in his favour, but rumour had it that Gambit had stiff competition this year. For security reasons, the details of jobs were never made public knowledge, so the job Rogue did for the Assassins never went outside of the upper members of the council and the immediate LeBeau family. Nevertheless, regardless of the fact that few knew the details, it had become common knowledge that one of the Novice Thieves had scored much higher than normal this year and all fingers were pointing at Rogue.
Jean-Luc waited until Tante Mattie informed him that dinner was about ready to be served before he took the stand. It didn't take much to get everyone's attention.
"Mes fils et filles," Jean-Luc said to the waiting crowd. "I was going to announce the Top Ten Thieves list, but I've been informed that dinner's ready, so I'll let you eat first –"
He chuckled to himself as there was a mass objection to his delay.
"No? You want to wait?" he asked. "Well, it's your fault if my food gets cold. At number ten, Stephane Rousseau."
"Yes!" Stephane cheered. "Two years in a row."
"Shh," Andre hissed at him.
Jean-Luc continued to call out names. Emil winced when his position was at number eight. Zoe was thrilled to bits when she found out she climbed two places to number six. When Jean-Luc got to number three, Rogue was expecting to hear her name, and was a little surprised when it wasn't. Still, they had said it would depend on how other people did as well, so Rogue thought nothing of it until Jean-Luc's next words:
"You may be interested to know that there are only eleven points between first and second this year," Jean-Luc said. "I have been informed that things haven't been that close between first and second in years. But before we announce any names, I have this video I'd like to share. Henri?"
Henri nodded and grinned as he set up the video. They had needed to edit the original footage so that the fact that Rogue stole the Assassins Guild didn't get announced to the world.
Everyone watched as the image of Jean-Luc's office came up on the screen. The focus of the video was Gambit, beside him was Rogue and on the other side was Jean-Luc behind his desk. They couldn't see Henri, but they could hear his voice when he spoke, and all they could see of Mercy were her legs (Henri wasn't complaining).
"You're not going to be able to get out of it that easily, Remy," Jean-Luc said reprovingly. "You're still going to have to learn the ropes. I've done my best over the years to keep you informed, but there is so much that can't be done by remote."
"D'accord," Gambit nodded. "I am quite prepared to sit down and learn what needs to be learned, but next year. This is my record breaking year."
"Ahh, oui, your record breaking year," Jean-Luc said with a glance at Henri.
"What?" Gambit asked, looking between them. "Do I have a strong contender I don't know about?"
"Well, it's just that this year there's going to be a new record set," Henri told him. "First novice ever to make the top ten."
Everyone looked at Rogue, who had a stunned expression on her face.
"Me?" she asked.
Henri smirked to himself. They'd needed to cut out a whole chunk of the conversation here, and then blot out some of Gambit's next words:
"So, how does stealing ... score?"
"A very good question," Jean-Luc replied. "And one we debated quite seriously."
"Oui," Henri nodded. "In the end we decided to find the most points scored by any one person for any one job and times it by ten."
"I still think that might be understating it a bit," Jean-Luc said.
"Well we haven't exactly got any precedence, and ... it's not likely that's a record that will ever be beaten."
"True."
"This looks to be your year for breaking records, Rogue. Not only first novice, but you're going to beat Remy's record for highest debut too."
"Merde!" Gambit exclaimed. "I'm supposed to be at the top spot this year. It's year thirteen, the year I'm supposed to break the record I spent my entire exile aiming to beat! Père, the jobs that have come in, they're all being kept in the same spot, right?"
"Oui," Jean-Luc replied casually.
"Bon. Chére," Gambit said, giving Rogue a kiss. "Congratulations and all, but I have a record to beat and only six more months to ensure I beat it in. Love you."
"Love you too," Rogue replied and grinned as Gambit rushed out the door.
There was a mix of laughter and chatter as the video came to an end. Many were highly amused at Gambit's panicked reaction, and just as many were rather curious about what exactly Rogue had done to score so high. Henri was rather proud of his editing.
"I can't believe there was a camera," Gambit muttered.
Rogue laughed and squeezed his hand.
"Ahem," Jean-Luc said. "As you saw, Rogue has set the records for first Novice on the Top Ten List, highest score ever made for a single job, and highest Top Ten debut. Remy has also succeeded in setting the record for first person ever to successfully solo a four man job."
The tension was way too thick at that point for anyone to even consider chattering in response to that.
"He has also..." Jean-Luc said, and then rushed on with the last part; "broken the record for most years in a row spent as the number one Thief!"
Everyone cheered and applauded. Gambit leapt up on his chair with a whoop and proceeded to do a happy dance, his arms waving in the air. It was quite some time before order could be re-established.
"And after thirteen years in the top spot, it's time someone else had a go, don't you agree Remy?" Jean-Luc said with a teasing grin.
"Nah, I have to go for fourteen years now," Gambit replied.
A mass of groans followed.
"Hmm, fortunately for aspiring Thieves everywhere, you're going to be retiring from the field," Jean-Luc said.
"Yeah, now we just have to worry about his wife!" Emil called out.
Rogue laughed.
Everyone was released for dinner after that. In honour of his achievement, Gambit was allowed first choice of the food with Rogue a close second.
"Hey, save some for the rest of us," Emil teased her.
"Shush you," Rogue said. "I'm eating for two. By rights I should have two plates instead of heaping everything on one. See? I am being conservative."
Gambit laughed.
After Zoe filled her plate (when she eventually got to the buffet), she joined Rogue, Gambit and the group they were sitting with.
"So, I have to know," Zoe said to Rogue, "what exactly was it that you did?"
"Come on Zoe," said Henri. "You know she can't tell you that."
"Yeah, but I'm dying of curiosity over here."
"You and everyone else."
Stephane joined them only a moment later and promptly asked the same question.
"Okay fine," Rogue said with mock-irritation. "If you really must know –"
"Rogue –" Henri began.
"I stole Remy," Rogue finished, pointing at her husband with her plastic fork. "I stole his heart, his soul, his sperm... I stole him from all other women everywhere –"
Gambit cracked up laughing.
"And you have to admit," Rogue went on cheerfully, "stealing a Master Thief, Remy in particular, is quite an achievement."
"You're not serious," Stephane said.
"No, of course not," Rogue replied.
"She does raise a good point though," Henri said thoughtfully. "Maybe we should give her points for that."
"Yeah," Emil agreed. "I'd say it's worth at least twelve points..."
Gambit whacked Emil upside the head.
"I'm guessing that the whole council knows?" Zoe asked. "Or at least the upper ranks?"
"That would be correct," Henri replied.
"Note to self," Zoe said. "Earn place on council."
Rogue laughed.
"Hey, I don't get any perks from being the official rep of the Tokyo Thieves Guild, do I?" Zoe asked.
"Not those kinds of perks, Zoe," Henri replied. "But nice try."
By the time the party was over and Gambit and Rogue had finally returned to their bedroom, Gambit felt like he'd been congratulated by every Thief in the Guild. In hindsight, he was probably pretty close. There had been no shortage of probing Rogue for details either, but Rogue just pointed out that she never asked them for the details of their heists and she wasn't about to start either.
"Well," said Gambit as he got ready for bed. "Tonight was a good night, no?"
"Yes, yes it was," Rogue replied. "I didn't realise we'd be so close together for first place though."
"Disappointed you didn't beat me?"
"Actually I'm relieved," she said, sitting on one of the chairs to take off her shoes. "I would have felt terrible if you'd missed out on getting your record because of me."
Gambit grinned at her. "And I admit that I would have been devastated if I missed out, but I also would have been very proud of you, chére."
"Well, you deserved to get your record," Rogue said firmly. "You've only been working towards it for over half your life. It took me less than a week to do the job for Bella Donna, and most of the prep was done on the day."
"Best kind of job; minimum effort for maximum return," Gambit said. "Actually, I'm kind of glad things worked out the way they did; stopped me from being complacent and forced me to put some effort into it. Plus I've been toying with the idea of doing a four-man job for years."
Rogue laughed.
"Of course, it couldn't just be any job," Gambit said seriously. "There's a certain amount of flexibility with the multi-men jobs, but there isn't always a loophole big enough to solo them."
"Oh, I don't think it's me you have to worry about following your example, Remy," Rogue replied with a smirk.
"My example? What about yours?" Gambit asked as he got into bed. "You've only done what every Novice in the history of the Guild has secretly wanted to do and that's be identified as a truly natural, talented thief and outdo all Master Thieves before they've earned the rank themselves."
"We make a great pair, don't we?"
"Absolutely. And you realise what this means, right?"
"What does it mean?"
"Our children will be unstoppable."
Rogue laughed as she lay in bed next to him.
"Speaking of children," Gambit said, rolling onto one side to look at Rogue. "We haven't furnished the baby's room yet, or, you know, picked out any names. We might want to do that."
"What, you want to give our baby a name?" Rogue asked jokingly. "What a shocking concept. I just figured he'd pick his own name."
"Maybe when he's older."
"If we have a girl, I want to name her Rebecca."
"Rebecca," Gambit repeated. "Yeah okay. And for a boy?"
"No idea."
"Me neither."
"We should probably get some name books."
"Ouias."
Christmas Day was strangely quiet in the Guild Hall. The LeBeaus were the only ones who actually lived on the premises, but it was rare that they were the only ones there. Even in their own wing of the extensive mansion (which Rogue thought was roughly on par with Xavier's), there was normally one or two servants going about their work. Today it was just the LeBeaus and Tante Mattie, who left as soon as it was polite to after lunch; she had plans to spend the afternoon with Bella Donna and Avril, having played mother-figure to Bella Donna as well as Gambit, Henri and Julien.
Rogue wasn't used to having servants yet. She'd never had them before and never expected to. Just to make things even more interesting, however, was that the housekeeping staff uniform – for both men and women – was quite tight and skimpy. The women was very "gentlemen's club" and the men had about the dignity of male ballet dancers. Rogue felt that, all in all, it was like a bad porno flick waiting to happen, and inadvertently verbalised this opinion within Henri's earshot one day. His first response was to ask her how she knew what went on in 'bad porno flicks'. Rogue replied with dignity that she had a lot of voices in her head.
"We thought about changing the uniforms once," Henri said. "But then we came up with a really good excuse to continue being perverts – err, I mean we decided we had good reason to leave the uniforms as they were."
"Uh huh," Rogue drawled sceptically.
"Security. It's really hard to hide things on your person when your clothing doesn't hide very much," Henri said seriously. "Most of the housekeeping staff and half the kitchen hands are not Guild members, and while we do have our own checks when we hire people, spies can – and have – gotten in as servants. That's why they only do the public areas, bathrooms, the council chamber after sessions are over, the training rooms after classes are over, and the unused bedrooms; nothing important is ever kept in there. Everywhere else we have to do our own cleaning."
"Because cleaners have access everywhere?"
"Oui. And normally they're also invisible; people ignore them, so they make excellent spies."
"So, why not do your own chores if they're a potential risk?"
"Deux reasons; One, we're lazy."
Rogue laughed.
"Deux," Henri went on with a grin, "working with the servants is not only good punishment for erring apprentices, it's also excellent training for when we pose as housekeepers to steal stuff. Which reminds me –"
"If you think you're going to get me into one of those outfits, you're sorely mistaken."
"I'm sure Remy will be very disappointed."
Gambit was delighted to get to spend his first Christmas at home in New Orleans in twenty-one years. He went to a lot of trouble to make lunch perfect.
"And just think," said Mercy. "This time next year we'll have another family member."
"Yep," Rogue said with a big grin on her face.
"Have I told you how much I'm looking forward to being an oncle?" Henri said.
"Oui," Gambit replied. "On multiple occasions."
Henri rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Just you wait until I get all those noisy toys. Drums. They don't require batteries. Oh sweet, sweet revenge."
"You fed them red candy too, didn't you?" Rogue asked Gambit.
"Of course," Gambit said with a grin.
"We always loved Oncle Remy," said Claude. "He was always giving us cool gifts and junk food."
"I had to make up for all the time I couldn't spend with my nephews in those few, scant meetings..." Gambit said.
"Oh woe is Remy," Mercy said dryly.
AN:
Alternate response:
"My example? What about yours?" Gambit asked as he got into bed. "You've only done what every Novice in the history of the Guild has secretly wanted to do and that's be identified as a truly natural, talented thief and outdo all Master Thieves before they've earned the rank themselves."
"Yeah," said Rogue. "If this was fanfiction, I'd be accused of being a Mary Sue."