Chapter Forty-Three:


Light, airy laughter wafted through the window from the courtyard below, and Remy LeBeau glanced away from the computer in front of him to see what was taking place outside.

What he saw brought a smile to his lips.

Rogue and Mercy were seated on a blanket they had laid out across the cement patio, both dressed in jean shorts and tank tops, Rogue with her two-toned hair pulled back into a loose bun, Mercy with her golden locks falling freely down her shoulders. They were facing one another with a wedding magazine opened on the ground between them, and Mercy was pointing to something that she found hideous, that was written clearly in her expression. From the laughter bubbling forth from his fiancé, he took it Rogue agreed with her.

"Dey still out dere?"

Remy looked up to see his father leaning in the doorway of the study, an amused smile on his face. "Oui," he confirmed with a sarcastic grin. "Dey never quit."

Jean-Luc chuckled, moving across the room to stand near him. "Weddin' fever," he explained. "Jus' be glad dat in anot'er month it'll all be over."

"A month," Remy murmured, his chest swelling with a stir of emotions; excitement, anxiety, fear, and a whole lot of longing. It was hard to believe time had flown by so fast. In less than thirty days Rogue would become his wife.

"Y' nervous?"

"Comme l'enfer," Remy replied honestly, running a hand through his messy hair. "Were y' dis bad when y' were engaged t' Maman?"

A familiar wistful look flickered over his father's face, one that Remy was used to seeing whenever someone spoke of Marianne LeBeau. He had been young when the woman who had taken him in as a son died, barely even four years old, and he didn't have that many memories of her, mostly just flickerings of a warm smile and loving arms, but he remembered enough to know that Jean-Luc had loved her dearly.

"Oui," Jean-Luc answered. "I was a big ol' mess o' nerves. Sometimes I t'ought dat my stomach was jus' gon' drop right t' my feet. But I knew dat I was makin' de right decision."

"How was dat?" Remy inquired.

"When I t'ought o' my life, couldn't see it wit' out her in it," Jean-Luc replied simply. "Kind o' like you an' Rogue, non?"

Remy smiled at the comparison, knowing it was true. He couldn't imagine his life without Rogue anymore. Hell, he couldn't imagine life without her period. "Knew de moment I first laid eyes on dat fille dat I was gon' marry her," he announced, and on some level he thought he truly might have. That spark that had passed between them had haunted him from their first meeting until the rescue mission, and never had any woman so consumed his thoughts.

"Oh?" Jean-Luc raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Is dat so? Dis comin' from de most notorious ladies man dat N'awlins has ever seen?"

Remy shrugged. "Rogue's not like any ot'er woman dat Remy's ever met."

"Dat's de truth," Jean-Luc agreed with a laugh. "Somehow I doubt dere are too many like her in de world, even as big as it is."

"S'pose I'm one o' de lucky ones, den, hahn?" Remy asked with a lopsided grin, leaning back in his chair.

"T' get a femme like dat? Condamner droit!" Jean-Luc retorted with a smirk.

Remy snorted. "Merci, Papa."

"I mean it, Remy," Jean-Luc said evenly. "T' find a girl dat accepts y' fo' all yo' flaws, an' trust me, pup, y' got quite a few, who don' judge y' fo' what y' do, fo' what dis family does, an' who can relate t' yo' powers de way she does? Y' got real heureux."

"Glad y' like her," Remy said dryly as he pulled out his deck of cards and began shuffling them, but he meant the words completely. It was a relief how easily his father and Rogue got along, for both were dearer to him than he could ever say. It wouldn't have felt right for him to marry someone his father didn't approve of, or that didn't approve of his father.

Thankfully that wasn't the case.

"I do like her," Jean-Luc agreed with a small smile. "Beaucoup si. An' de ot'ers all feel de same. She's part o' dis family now, same as you."

Remy agreed with that wholeheartedly. It was strange, but some mornings he would come downstairs to find Rogue helping Mercy set the table for breakfast, or he'd come across her watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on t.v. with Emil, or bickering with Theo over who cheated first at Monoploy, and it just seemed so natural. Like she'd always been there, always been a part of his home, his family, his life.

Sometimes he had a hard time remembering life before her.

De king o' hearts had finally found his queen, Remy thought with a soft chuckle, producing the matching cards from the deck with ease. He ran his thumb across the surface of the playing cards, unable to keep the smile off of his lips.

"Do y' ever t'ink about yo' real parents?"

Remy looked up at his father in surprise. "Que?"

"Yo' real parents," Jean-Luc repeated, his gaze carefully directed out the window, his expression neutral. "Do y' ever t'ink 'bout dem?"

"Can' t'ink 'bout people y' don' know," Remy retorted without hesitation. In truth, he hadn't ever really given the people who brought him into this world that much thought. He'd been lucky, he'd found a wonderful home and a loving family with Jean-Luc LeBeau, and he wouldn't trade it for the world.

"Den y' don' wonder 'bout dem sometimes?"

"Non, pas vraiment." Remy frowned, eyeying his father suspiciously. "What's dis all 'bout, hahn?"

"Jus' wanted t' know if y' ever wondered what dey might have been like, dat's all," Jean-Luc replied with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders, still not looking at him. "I know dat I've given it some t'ought over de years."

"Oh?"

"Mostly when y' were younger. When you'd be out playin' wit' Emil an' Etienne, de trios o' y'all fo'ever trailin' 'long behind Henri an' Theo. Sometimes I wondered what kind o' life y' would have led if y' hadn't ended up wit' us, what kind o' people yo' parents would have been, whether o' not y' would have been happy."

Remy blinked, startled. Never had he heard his father talk about such things. "What brought dis on?" he asked.

"S'pose it's dis weddin' business," Jean-Luc responded evenly, finally turning to offer him a faint smile. "Watchin' de girls help Rogue get everyt'ing ready, makes me t'ink dat maybe she's missin' her own mere more dan she lets on, non?"

"Ouias," Remy agreed quietly. He'd noticed that, too. "Y' may be right. I t'ink dat de closer de weddin' gets, de harder it is on her. She's missin' her whole family, not jus' her mere. De X-men were more like family dan Mystique ever was t' her an' Kurt. An' dere's a good chance dat she's not gon' see any o' dem ever again, dat's not somet'ing dat yo' gon' get over quick."

"S'not somet'ing dat yo' ever gon' get over, mon fils," Jean-Luc said, shaking his head sadly. "Lost enough people dat I loved in my life t' tell y' dat fo' sure. Dat pain lessens in time, but de memories, dey don' ever go away."

Recalling his cousin Etienne's death a few years back, Remy was inclined to agree. There was still a piece of him that felt empty without the younger boy's energetic laughter, a part of him that blamed himself for an accident no one could have prevented.

Y' did yo' best t' save him, Remy, he told himself for the millionth time since Etienne's death. Y' did yo' best, an' it jus' wasn't enough.

He'd sworn, as he stood in the cold rain, watching his cousin's casket lowered into the ground, that he would never fail anyone else he loved ever again.

As if knowing what he was thinking, his father laid a hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "Accidents happen, Remy. Dey're no one's fault. Dey jus' are. Dere are some t'ings not even you can stop, hahn?"

Maybe, but he could sure as hell try.

Turning his gaze back out the window, Remy watched as Rogue and Mercy playfully teased Emil, who had wandered into the middle of their planning session. The three of them were laughing, and, though he couldn't hear what they were saying, Remy could tell they were having a good time.

"S' nice, non?" his father asked with a knowing smile. "Havin' a family t' call yo' own? Havin' people dat love y' fo' who y' are?"

"Oui," Remy agreed quietly. "It really is."



Translations:

Comme l'enfer- As hell
Maman- Mom
Condamner droit- Damn straight
heureux- lucky
Beaucoup si- Very much so
Non, pas vraiment- No, not really
Ouias- Yeah
mere- mother