AN:

Okay, there is precious little information about how the Guild operates in the comicverse, so although I've attempted to use as much from the comicverse as possible as a base, only a small part of it will be canon. Also I didn't do enough research on the Guild prior to writing Queen of Identify Fraud, so that's made things harder for myself in a couple of places, but what's done is done, haha.

Theoren Marceaux and Genard Alouette really are the Harvest Master and Harvest Disseminator, respectively. The Disseminator description is an extended variation/interpretation on what it says in the comics. I couldn't find a description for Master, so I made one up that fit in which that which had already been established in this series.

The Guild is also made up of clans, including 'LeBeau', 'Lapin' and 'Poiter'. Claude Poiter is comic canon. All other names belong to OCs. The Departments are all my doing, as is the Minister of Stores. The Minister of Tome and the Minister of Hoard do exist in comic canon but since we're not doing the whole prophecy thing, their roles have been slightly altered.

And now that I'm done babbling...

Chapter 7

Henri grinned at Gambit as he stepped into his office and gestured to a nearby chair and table.

"Have a seat," Henri said.

"Thanks," Gambit replied dryly, already suspicious of his brother's grin.

"Now, can you remember why you're here today?" Henri asked as if he was talking to a small child.

"So that you can have fun being patronising?"

"Close, but not quite. Care to try again?"

"To train me to take over from Père as Patriarch one day," Gambit said, giving Henri a dark look.

"Very good! Now I know that Jean-Luc did his very best to keep you informed all these years, so today we're going to see how much you've actually taken in," Henri said, thoroughly enjoying himself. "Let's start with the basics, shall we?"

"Are you going to carry on like this all the time?"

"Can you tell me what the Patriarch does?"

Gambit sighed and took the continuing use of the 'talking to a child' tone as a 'yes'.

"He leads the Thieves Guild."

"I asked what he does."

"That is what he does."

"Be more specific."

"He runs the council, makes all the big decisions, conducts ceremonies, oversees the initiation, promotion, retirement and – worst case scenario – expulsion of Guild members. He maintains relations with other branches of the Thieves Guild, and with the Assassins Guild. On paper this also extends to the local gangs," Gambit said with a slight smirk, "but in practice they think they're too good for us."

"Very good Remy," Henri said as he walked over to him. "You get a gold star."

Henri grinned as he put a little gold star sticker on Gambit's collar. Gambit looked at him for a long moment.

"You've been planning this for awhile now, haven't you?"

Henri didn't reply at first. Without the grin moving from his lips, he picked up a large sheet of paper and a packet of crayons.

"Okay Remy," Henri said with the false eagerness of a children's television show host. "Now you get to draw. Isn't that exciting? Why don't you draw me a picture of the Guild hierarchy structure? Don't forget everyone's names."

"Okay Henri," Gambit replied in the same tone. "And afterwards we can hold hands and go skipping through the daisies."

"Only if you're a good boy and don't make any mistakes."

"Right," Gambit said contemptuously as he picked up one of the crayons. "Like this is anything I don't know."

"Then it won't take you very long."

Although at first Gambit was rather disgruntled by the whole situation, he did get some mild amusement out of picking different coloured crayons for different parts of the drawing. Partway through, the thought occurred to him that one day he might end up drawing pictures with his children and somehow that seemed to take the edge off the embarrassment he was feeling.

When he was finished, Gambit raised his hand in the air and waved it around.

"Oui Remy?" Henri said, once his attention had been caught.

"Monsieur LeBeau, I've finished," Gambit said childishly.

"Okay Remy," Henri said, coming around with his packet of gold stars. "Let's see what you've got."

Henri leaned over and turned the paper around so he could get a good look at it.

"Let's see, 'Patriarch', 'Jean-Luc LeBeau'. Well, that was an easy one, but I guess I can give you a gold star for that. And another gold star for getting our positions as 'lieutenant' correct. Oh, and I suppose I can give you another star for spelling your name right –"

"Henri –"

"Deux more gold stars for remembering that Theoren Marceaux is the Harvest Master and Genard Alouette is the Harvest Disseminator, as well as being the heads of their clans. Do you know what the Harvest Master and Harvest Disseminator do?"

"Goods and services," Gambit replied with a smirk.

"Uhh," Henri said, momentarily thrown off. "Well, I suppose that's true in a nutshell, but I don't want it in a nutshell, Remy."

"Of course you don't. The Harvest Disseminator sells the loot, stores and hides what can't be sold yet and manages the safe-houses. The Harvest Master is concerned with recruitment, training and equipment."

"Right. Now, you've got all the other clan leaders... and you remembered all their names too," Henri said, putting more gold stars on the paper. "An extra gold star for remembering that Eloise Picard is the Head of both the Legal Department and the Picard Clan."

"Now there's a busy woman."

"If only all the clan heads were that busy," Henri said with a smirk. "Let's see, Forgery Department, Tech Department, Minister of Hoard, Minister of Tome and Minister of Stores, and then the rest of the Thieves. This is looking rather good, Remy. There's just one problem."

"I didn't name all the Master, Expert, Journeyman, Novice and apprentice Thieves?" Gambit suggested with raised eyebrows.

"Non, that's what the roster is for. Actually, you're missing about a dozen people."

"I am not."

"Oui, you are," Henri said, grinning broadly at Gambit's indignation. "They're all in a similar position too. I'd say that if you got one on here, you'd remember all of them, but you actually have two in this position and still have no idea what I'm talking about."

Gambit looked at the paper with a dumbfounded expression. "Who am I missing?"

"I'll let you figure that one out for yourself," Henri said, and then added cheekily: "Guess we won't be going for that skip through the daisies after all."

Gambit threw a crayon at him. Henri just laughed and went back to his chair while Gambit reviewed his chart. Somehow he was missing a dozen people. That was quite a few people to just forget. Just as Gambit was beginning to think that Henri had just made up the additional people as some kind of test for his reaction, however, he finally realised who he was missing; all the lieutenants or second-in-commands of the different Clans, Departments and chief assistants for the Ministers.

"That's all the positions," Henri said when he came to check. "But you seem to have missed quite a few names."

Gambit shrugged. "I don't usually interact with them so..."

"Which is the first thing we have to fix," Henri said firmly. "We're not a Guild made up of strangers who have something in common; we're a family, and as the future head of this family – the father – you have to know who your children are."

"What about illegitimate children?" Gambit asked cheekily.

Henri rolled his eyes and whacked Gambit upside the head. "And that's your assignment for this week: Go learn their names and get to know them a little. You've had too much time away from the Guild proper, and now we have to fix that."

"You're telling me," Gambit muttered.

"Oui, that's what I just did," Henri replied. "Now git."

"Yeah, yeah," Gambit said as he stood up, hiding the fact that he was actually rather pleased with the idea of socialising over paperwork. "Oh, and Henri?"

"Oui?"

"Next time you give me a gold star, I'm shoving it up your ass."

Now that a new year had begun, Rogue could freely do jobs without worrying about robbing Gambit of his record. Granted, she was also seven months pregnant, but if anything Rogue felt this just helped her position: no one suspects the pregnant woman.

Rogue had also chosen not to use her powers unless she had to. She figured that since food, cigarettes, general emotional health and that kind of thing could influence the baby during pregnancy, that it was possible her psyches might also be able to influence the baby, to say nothing of the potential dangers of shape-shifting. Thus it was that all the stunts Rogue pulled were conducted without the aid of her mutation.

Claude Poiter raised an eyebrow as Rogue drove the car into the garage and was there to open the driver's door for her.

"Doesn't the stomach get in the way of trying to hotwire these things?" he asked her. "Not to mention trying to drive?"

"Nah," Rogue replied. "As long as I can still reach the pedals without it touching the steering wheel, it's all good."

Not long thereafter, Carnival season started and Rogue could be found out in the crowds with many other Thieves putting her pocket picking practice to practical use. Gambit was not happy about his pregnant wife being out in the thick crowds.

"Chére –"

"Stop being such a mother hen. I'm fine. The baby's fine –"

"And I'd like it to stay that way, thank you very much!"

Rogue rolled her eyes at him from across the room as Remy sulked on their large, unmade bed.

"The only thing that's going to happen out there," she said, "is a few pockets are going to be lighter."

"For that kind of small change, I really don't think it's worth it."

"Hey, I have all sorts of credit cards to max out," Rogue said. "Plus I never really got to enjoy Mardi Gras last year."

"There'll be lots of Mardi Gras. There'll be lots of Mardi Gras spent picking pockets and probably with our kids too. It'll be a nice family event, but not this year, please chére?"

"Family event, huh? You know, you could always come with me."

"I can't. Henri's not letting me off to socialise any more."

"Aww poor baby."

"Believe me," Gambit said. "I'd much rather be with you. I hate paperwork. I hate being stuck behind a desk."

"You sit behind a desk to play WoW," Rogue pointed out with a grin.

"That's different! That's fun."

"You also sit behind a desk when you hack into other people's computer systems."

"That's also fun. I like being places I don't belong. Please Roguey," Gambit said. "If it wasn't Carnival I'd be all for you going out, but I just think it's too crowded, and it's only going to get worse before the season is over. I don't want to see you - either of you - getting hurt."

Rogue sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I can take care of myself," she said.

"I'm not saying you can't," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm saying that I don't want anything to happen that you'll have to 'take care of' in the first place."

Rogue begrudgingly conceded a couple of days later when she started becoming a little uncomfortable with the crowds herself. She went up to the offices to see if she could catch Gambit for lunch when she heard his voice come floating down the hall:

"- not cut out for this 9-to-5 crap, but now not only do I have this faux honest job -"

"Bite your tongue," said Henri.

"- I've also got a wife and a kid to deal with. My life is over."

And then Gambit and Henri came around the corner and his eyes fell on Rogue with her lips pressed tightly together.

"Chére -"

"Well," Rogue interrupted him. "Since you feel that way about it, I'll get out of your hair."

Henri stifled his grin as Rogue turned and half-strode, half waddled back down the hall. Gambit hurried after her. Henri followed as well, partly because he was going that way, and partly because he wanted to see how Gambit was going to talk himself out of this one.

"Rogue, chére, I didn't mean it like that -" Gambit began, slipping his hand onto the small of her back out of habit.

"I think it's pretty damn obvious what you meant," she snapped.

"Well, I don't," Gambit insisted. "For one thing I'm still alive and breathing -"

"I can fix that!"

"- so clearly when I said my life was over, I wasn't actually talking about my life-life," he said, his mind already racing ahead to fill in the gaps.

Rogue slammed her hand down on the elevator button. "I don't care which life you were talking about -"

"I was talking about my life before all this. The one I had as... as a carefree bachelor."

"Well, I'm soooo sorry to have robbed you of all that," she retorted hotly.

"I never said it was a bad thing!" Gambit said, all the while thinking "although I wouldn't mind going back to that right about now."

"Remy, I'm the one you married," Rogue said as the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. "I'm the one carrying your child, and I'm the one who got your exile lifted making this whole Patriarchy thing possible. You'll excuse me if I take blanket statements like 'my life is over' just a little personally!"

"I just got all the responsibility dumped on me all at once and I'm not used to dealing with it," Gambit said as he followed her into the elevator.

"You're not used to dealing with it? How the hell do you think I feel?" Rogue snapped. "I'm going to be a mother. My husband has been away for most of my pregnancy. I'm trying to prove that I'm capable of being a decent thief without having to rely on my powers to get the job done. I'm living in a place where people randomly start speaking in a language I only partially understand. My back hurts all the time, I can't sleep because everything aches too much. And I'm having motorcycle withdrawal. Stupid cars."

Gambit restrained the urge to laugh at her last complaint. Henri didn't, although he at least covered his mouth in the corner of the elevator.

"Chére, you're doing fine," he said gently, cupping her face although she wouldn't look him in the eye. "Really! And I wouldn't change anything that's happened for all the world, I just need some time to settle in and get into the swing of things, okay?"

"You've got six weeks," Rogue replied shortly. "After that I'm pretty sure things are going to get harder with a baby to take care of."

"Well, you drive a hard bargain, but I accept."

Rogue finally met his eyes and was silent for a long moment before cracking a smile.

"Henri," she said as the elevator doors opened, not bothering to look at him. "I'm taking your brother for lunch, and possibly the rest of the day as well."

"I don't know, Rogue," Henri replied. "Remy's got a lot of work today."

"You can do it, and you can think of it as the price you pay for listening in on our argument and laughing at us."

"I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at Remy. By the way," Henri said gleefully. "You are aware he charmed you just then?"

"Henri!" Gambit objected.

"Yes, of course I am," Rogue replied with a hand waved in dismissal. "But if I didn't let him charm me, I was going to start crying, and I hate crying. Stupid hormones."

"Ha!" Gambit said, smirking at Henri.

"Don't you start getting used to me letting you off so easy, Swamp Rat."

"Wouldn't dream of it, River Rat."

"All right, this is it," said John over the voice system. "The Horde verses the Alliance. The X-men verses... people with taste. We're ready to kick your Gnome-loving butts!"

"Nuh-uh," Jubilee insisted. "Not this time, chump."

"This coming from my Tauren's midnight snack," said Pietro.

"And let the battle of Warsong Gulch begin!" John declared.

The gates on either side of the battleground opened and the players sent their characters out. Pietro, thanks to his superspeed, had five avatars at his disposal: A Blood Elf paladin, a Forsaken priest, an Orc shaman, an Orc warlock and a Tauren warrior. He immediately went to work guarding their Horde flag.

Gambit with his Orc hunter and pet wolf, Rogue and her Tauren druid, Wanda and her Blood Elf priest, John and his Troll mage and Dominic and his Orc warrior set out towards the Alliance base to capture their flag. Emerging from the tunnel of the Alliance base was Jubilee's Gnome mage, Pete's Human paladin, Bobby's Draenei hunter and with pet bear, Kitty's Night Elf priest and Hank's Human death knight.

Rogue had been quite shocked to find out from Jubilee that Hank was actually a rather avid WoW player. Hank had been rather delighted to find out that his young friends had taken an interest in the game. Much to Storm and Logan's disgust, WoW quickly swept around Xavier's, ensnaring the X-men and a number of students as well. Logan could never be made to admit it aloud, but since the X-men often teamed up together in-game, it had also improved their teamwork in the danger room as well.

The two offensive sides clashed against each other in the middle ground. Rogue found herself being stabbed in the back by someone's Dwarf rogue. John lobbed fireballs at Kitty's priest and cackled evilly when he succeeded in counter-spelling her heals and killed her. He made his avatar run over to Kitty's avatar's body, sit on her face and quickly stand up again to race off and start attacking his next target.

"What the... John! Did you just teabag me?" Kitty exclaimed.

"Mmmmaybe..." John replied, grinning away.

"You scumwad! You are sooo dead!" she said as she waited to be resurrected.

John just laughed. Thus was the beginning on an epic battle where the two singled each other out. Unfortunately for Kitty, John won most of the time as experience, gear and knowledge of class trumped righteous anger. At one point Pete swooped into Kitty's rescue and pounded John, finishing with a critical strike that sent John to the graveyard.

"Eep! I'm squishy!" John said in half good humour, and half indignation.

In the end, the Horde won over the Alliance and as the final two minutes counted down John located Wanda and made his avatar kneel before hers.

"Wanda, I was wondering," he said, "will you marry me?"

Wanda stopped and stared at her screen as a trade window opened and a "Flawless Diamond Solitaire" appeared. While she was still digesting this, there was a noise beside her and John was kneeling for real in the floor in front of her with a genuine ring in his hand.

"Wanda! The silence is killing us!" Jubilee said. "To say nothing of what John –"

"Yes!" Wanda said, jolted out of her shock by Jubilee's voice. "Yes, absolutely, I'd love to marry you."

A variety of cheers, awwing and congratulations followed as the battleground ended.