Chapter Thirty-Nine:


"Mon Dieu! Did y' filles buy out de entire French Quarter?"

Rogue rolled her eyes at Claude's sarcasm and set her shopping bags on the patio table silently. Mercy, however, couldn't resist a remark. "Y' jus' upset 'cuz dat's mo' stuff y' can' steal, Potier."

Claude shrugged, not denying the accusation. "I am a t'ief, Mademoiselle. What did y' except?"

Ah swear, one o' these days, Ah'm gonna wipe that smirk right off o' his face, Rogue thought with a soft snicker.

I would pay to see that, Tessa replied telepathically. Rogue glanced over at her, and Tessa winked at her from behind her sunglasses. When Mercy had invited her to go shopping that afternoon, Rogue had asked Tessa along, and had been pleased when the older girl agreed. The two of them had spent several hours helping Mercy pick out furnishings to redecorate the suite Mercy and Henri shared, and Rogue was exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep for the next twenty-four hours.

"Mercy, dere y' are."

Rogue looked up to see Henri striding towards them across the courtyard, Lucas at his heels. "Bonjour, mon amor," Mercy said, reaching up to give him a kiss in greeting. "Allait-il comment votre jour?"

"Long," Henri replied with a heavy sigh. "Mon pere had plenty o' work fo' me t' do. Nearly worked my fingers t' de bone."

"Poor baby," Mercy said with a mock pout. "Y' must be exhausted."

Henri laughed. "Dat I am. But, alas, duty calls. Mon pere wants t' see us both. Said he wants t' discuss some o' de dealin's wit' de Assassins Guild."

Mercy and Rogue both sighed, and while Rogue knew Mercy's sigh came from disappointment of having to put off the relaxing bath she'd been hoping for all day, Rogue's own sigh stemmed from an entirely different emotion. It had been a week since the meeting between Jean-Luc LeBeau and Marius Beaudroux had taken place, and they had yet to hear anything from Bella's father about the betrothal proposition. Julien had been able to sit in on the meeting, though, and Jean-Luc had been fairly optimistic that Marius would take his son's words into serious consideration. Still, Rogue had never been very good at waiting, and now was no exception.

Patience is a virtue, Tessa reminded her with a smirk.

Shut up, Tes, Rogue shot back, mentally sticking out her tongue at the woman.

"I guess dat's my cue, non?" Mercy sighed, making a face at Rogue and Tessa. "See y' both at dinner, oui?"

"Oui," Rogue assured her. Tessa merely nodded.

Rogue watched Mercy and Henri disappear into the house, then turned to face the others, only to find Lucas and Tessa looking at one another intently. "I need your assistance going over the skematics for the job Theo, Emil and I are going to pull this weekend," Lucas told Tessa. "We've been having a techincal difficulty with the layout."

"Of course," Tessa replied, casting Rogue a glance out of the corner of her eye. "It would be my pleasure."

The two of them slipped away, leaving Rogue alone in the courtyard with Claude. "I'll get dose," Claude insisted, gesturing to her bags. "Y' look tired. Why don' y' go on upstairs an' get some rest, hahn?"

Normally Rogue would have been slightly suspicious of his suddenly helpful nature, but as it was she was too tired to make an effort. "Thanks," she said, lifting off the ground. "Ah appreciate it."

"Pas de probleme," Claude called as she floated up towards her bedroom window.

Flipping the latch on her window, Rogue lifted the glass and slipped into her room smoothly. As soon as her feet touched down on the cool wooden floor, her sixth sense began to tingle. Looking up, she wasn't surprised to find Remy laying sprawled on her bed, watching the t.v. in the corner.

"Make yo'self at home, swamp rat," Rogue drawled as she shut the window.

"T'anks, pt'tite," Remy replied, lifting the remote and turning off the t.v. "Don' mind if I do."

"Ya been loungin' 'round here all day?" Rogue asked, moving across the room to open the mini-fridge under the sink and pulling out a bottle of water. She twisted off the lid and took a long sip, savoring the cold liquid after a long day in the hot New Orleans sun.

"Non," Remy said, shaking his head as she turned to face him, leaning against the corner of her bedroom table. "Been busy all day. I jus' got back a li'l bit ago. Jus' b'fore y' did."

"Anythin' interestin' happen while Ah was gone?"

"Now, chere, how y' gon' ask me dat?" Remy asked with a grin. "Y' know dat de only t'ing Remy's interested in is you."

Rogue blushed, but favored him with a warm smile. "That's good t' hear."

"Oui," Remy nodded. "An' if y' liked dat, den y' gon' love the other t'ing I got t' tell y', beb."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Oui, dat's so."

For a long moment Rogue studied him curiously. There was a smug eagerness about his eyes, a look that she knew meant he had something to tell her. And from the way he was swinging his legs over the side of her bed, it was something important.

"Well?" she asked after he didn't offer anything else. "What is it?"

"Mon pere spoke wit' Marius t'day," Remy said casually, picking up the music box on her bedstand and running his fingers over the top of it as if it fascinated him. "De Assassins made a decision."

"They did?" Rogue asked softly, her chest suddenly tight and stiff. "What did they say?"

Remy shrugged, returning the music box to its place on the bedstand. "Not much, really. Jus' dat Theo was an acceptable replacement, an' dat dey wanted him and mon pere to come over t' sign up de papers." He looked up at Rogue, the corner of his lip twitching into a smile. "Not much, at all."

Rogue let out a sigh of relief, the pressure in her chest gone now, replaced by a wave of warmth brighter than anything she had ever felt before. Remy was free of the contract binding him to Bella. That meant that Bella and Theo could get married, and that she and Remy could finally be together without any obstacles getting in their way.

"Rogue?" Remy asked with a worried frown. "Roguey, y' in dere?"

Shaking off her shock, Rogue nodded weakly. "Yeah, Ah'm here," she assured him, smiling faintly. "Jus' a bit overwhelmed, is all, ya know? This is what we've been waitin' an' prayin' fo'. What we've been tryin' so hard t' make work."

"Yeah," Remy agreed, rising from the bed and moving towards her. "T'day's been a good day fo' us, non?"

"It certainly has," Rogue said softly as he reached out a hand to brush a stray strand of hair away from her face. "One o' the best days Ah've seen in a long while."

"Remy knows how y' feel, p'tite," Remy said, placing a gentle kiss against her lips. "Suddenly it seems like de world is at our fingertips, don' it?"

"Yeah," Rogue whispered, kissing him back. "It certainly does."

She was about to kiss him again when he pulled back, and she frowned in confusion, until she saw him reaching into the pocket of his duster. When he brought his hand back out, he was holding a small black box. Rogue's mouth felt dry all of the sudden, and her heart was racing as Remy lifted the lip to reveal a small gold band, with a beautiful diamond in the center, its brilliance even brighter set against the two emeralds on either side.

"Remy..." Rogue breathed, her voice hitching on his name.

"I was wonderin', ma chere," he whispered huskily, his red-on-black eyes boring down into her own green ones with fiery intensity. "If y' might still want a lowly t'ief fo' a husband?"

Rogue swallowed hard, tears welling in her eyes as her lips curved into a trembling smile. "Well," she said hoarsely, her voice tight with emotion. "Seein' as how Ah have a mutant terrorist fo' a mother, an' a vigilante X-man fo' a brother, Ah reckon a t'ief fo' a husband would be jus' 'bout perfect."

"So dat's a yes, non?" Remy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," Rogue whispered, her eyes brimming with tears. "Yes, Ah'll marry you, Remy."

Remy leaned in to capture her lips with his, sliding his arms around her waist as he drew her against his chest. When they broke apart, he tilted his head down to grin at her. "I got one mo' question t' ask o' you t'night, chere."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Oh? An' what is that?"

Leaning his cheek against hers gently, Remy whispered in her ear, "Dormirez-vous avec moi ce soir, Rogue?"

Rogue's eyes widened slightly as she realized what he'd just asked, and she pulled back slightly to look him in the eye. His eyes were brimming with love and devotion, and there was a storm of desire and passion clouding his pupils. "Yes," she replied softly, letting him pull her back towards the bed. "Ah will."

And she lost herself in her fiancé's kisses.


Translations:

Allait-il comment votre jour?- How was your day?
Dormirez-vous avec moi ce soir?- Will you sleep with me tonight?