Chapter Fifty-Two:


Sunlight streamed in through the open balcony doors, the white curtains rustling gently in the soft morning breeze, and the melodic song of birds chirping filtered into the room from the bustling world outside.

Remy LeBeau yawned, his eyes fluttering open, and glanced over at the clock on the nightstand to find that he had slept later than he'd intended to.

Guess dat means no foolin' around dis mornin', he thought groggily, and then grinned at the double meaning of those words, recalling the passion of the night before. With a sly smirk he rolled over in bed, intending to give his wife a kiss, only to find that she was gone.

Groaning, he rolled his eyes at the white ceiling of their bedroom.

"Lookin' fo' me, swamp rat?"

Propping himself up on his elbows, Remy raised an eyebrow at Rogue as she floated in through the balcony doors, her long hair tousled from the wind. "Why can' y' go runnin' like normal mutants?" he asked dryly as her bare feet touched down on the wood floor.

"Ya ever met a mutant who was normal before, sugah?" she asked, raising an eyebrow of her own.

"Non," Remy admitted with a chuckle. "Guess not."

"Didn' think so," Rogue said with a grin. "Besides, flyin's more fun." She made her way over to the bed and leaned down to give him a quick kiss. She started to pull away, but his arms snaked up and got her by the waist, pulling her down beside him. "Remy," she scolded, swatting him lightly. "Quit it, we've got to get cleaned up for-"

He silenced her by drawing her into a long, passionate kiss that left them both breathless. "De last t'ing on my mind is gettin' cleaned up, chere."

"Tough luck, Cajun," she snorted, rising from the bed, despite his efforts to keep her there. "It's Jacques' birthday, don' fo'get."

"Didn' fo'get dat," Remy assured her with a shrug.

"Yeah, well, did ya fo'get that we're havin' breakfast wit' yo' family in half an hour?" she retorted, heading for the bathroom. "And the last time we were late fo' breakfast, Emil set off the fire alarm hopin' t' trick ya in t' runnin' outside naked."

"Jus' 'cause I fell fo' dat once, when I was fifteen..." Remy muttered, which only made her laugh.

"Ah'm gonna hop in the shower real quick," Rogue told him, opening the door to their bathroom. "Ah'll be quick so there's enough hot water fo' ya when Ah'm done."

"We could always share, p'tite," Remy offered with a smirk, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Sugah," Rogue said, with a smirk of her own. "If we do that, there's no way we'll make it t' breakfast at all."

"M' willin' t' take dat risk," Remy shrugged.

"O' course ya are," Rogue rolled her eyes, stepping into the other room. "Be out in a jiffy."

She disappeared behind the door, and Remy sighed, sinking lower into the white sheets of their bed that covered him from the waist down. Even though she'd turned him down for a shower for two, he couldn't help feeling rather smug.

Dis is de life, he thought with a grin. A lovin' family, a beautiful wife... an' all de riches dat I can steal.

If someone had told him a few years ago, even during their time together on Magneto's island, that this was what the future held in store for them, Remy would have been skeptical. As much as he had liked Rogue, he would never have thought an X-man would accept his thievery, much less end up joining the Thieves Guild herself, even if it was as a reserve member instead of an active thief.

He hadn't expected an X-man to ever fit into his world as easily as Rogue had either, but she had proved him wrong. It was almost frightening how smoothly she made the transition, and the warm welcome she had gotten from his family had made it easier on them both.

Now, four years after they had first met, Remy found he couldn't imagine his life without her in it.

Grabbing the remote, he turned on the television to MTV and watched some music videos for a while until the door to the bathroom opened again and Rogue stepped out wearing a pair of black dress pants and a hunter green sweater with the sleeves rolled up. Her wet hair was wrapped up in a towel atop her head and she was barefoot, her face flushed from the hot shower, but she had never looked so beautiful.

"Y' save me dat hot water dat y' promised me, chere?" Remy asked as he slid out of bed, the floor cool under his feet.

"Ah think so," she replied, biting her lip as she pulled off the towel and began to dry her hair with it. "Ya need t' be quick, though, Ah saw Theo's car pullin' up when Ah looked out the window jus' now."

"Sure t'ing," Remy promised, heading for the bathroom, pausing to press a kiss to her temple as he strode past. "Don' go nowhere wit'out me."

"Never could, sugah."

Five minutes later, Remy was showered and dried off, and emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his waist. "Y' seen my khaki pants, chere? De ones dat Mattie gave me fo' Christmas?"

"In the closet, far right side," her voice called from the closet, and he could see her sitting on the floor lacing up her brown boots. "Ah put 'em between yo' dress pants an' that blue sweatshirt."

"T'anks," Remy called back, grabbing the pants out of the closet and choosing a black sweater to go with it. He got dressed quickly, and by the time he was finished Rogue was sitting on the bed, clasping a necklace around her neck, ready to go. "Y' look nice," he told her as he sat down beside her and slipped on his own shoes.

"Ya say that every mornin', swamp rat," she observed with a smirk.

"Can I help it if it's true every mornin'?"

She laughed and stood, giving him a hand up before moving across the room to pick up a neatly wrapped present from the top of the dresser. "Ya got yo' gift?"

"Oui," Remy nodded, and lifted up the giant teddy bear for her to see. When he had first shown it to her, she'd started to giggle about how the bear was twice as big as their nephew, but Remy had only told her to wait and see, the kid would love it.

After all, what kid didn't need a three foot tall stuffed teddy bear?

Together they left their suite and took the back staircase down into the kitchen, where Tante Mattie was fixing platters of sausage and bacon. Remy tried to sneak a piece of bacon, but Mattie rapped his knuckles with a wooden spoon without looking up from what she was doing.

"Marie, chil'," she called. "Dere's a big plate o' pancakes on de table. Would y' take it on in de dinin' room fo' me, si'l vous plaît?"

"Sure," Rogue replied, handing the present in her hands to Remy before picking up the tray. "Smells great, by the way, Tante Mattie."

"Merci, chil'," Mattie said with a chuckle.

Remy followed Rogue into the other room where the rest of the family was already seated. "Look who decided t' join us," Emil said dryly. "De lovebirds got out o' bed jus' t' have breakfast wit' us."

"Fo' yo' information, Lapin," Mercy scolded, clearing a spot on the table for Rogue to set down the tray. "Rogue was up early dis mornin'. Saw her off on her mornin' flight when I came down t' make coffee."

"Y' got somet'ing on yo' face, Emil," Remy said with a smirk, reaching over to tug on the patch of red hair on his cousin's chin. "Oh, t'ought dat was some fuzz or somet'ing. Sorry 'bout dat."

"Remy," Rogue swatted his arm lightly. "Play nice. Ah happen t' like his goatee. It makes him look roguishly handsome."

"T'ank y', Marie," Emil said with a grin. "Nice t' know dat somebody in dis family has taste."

"Oh, don' know 'bout dat," Henri snickered. "After all, she did marry Remy."

"Hush up, LeBeau," Bella chided wryly, giving Rogue a smile in greeting as Rogue took the empty seat next to her. "Yo' settin' a bad example fo' yo' son."

"Speakin' o' which," Remy spoke up, glancing around. "Where's my favorite nephew?"

"He's yo' only nephew," Theo reminded him with a snort.

"All de more reason t' spoil him, non?" Remy replied with a shrug. He was about to say something else when he felt tiyn arms encircle his legs. Looking down, he found a blond haired little boy grinning up at him, blue eyes sparkling with excitement. "Dere he is, an' look how happy he is t' see me!"

"Oncle Remy, where presents?" Jacques asked eagerly, and the others laughed, including Remy.

"Look over dere, kid," Remy said, pointing to the chair where he had deposited the giant teddy bear. Jacques turned to look and his eyes lit up as he let out a squeal, racing towards it.

"Jacques," Henri said evenly, and the little boy stopped guiltily. "What are y' fo'gettin'?"

Jacques bit his lip for a moment, obviously thinking, and then he ran over to Rogue and hugged her around the knees. "T'ank y', Tante Marie."

Rogue smiled, leaning down to hug him back. "Yo' welcome, sugah. There's more presents fo' y' t' open later, okay? After we eat."

"More present?" Jacques echoed, wideyed.

"Yeah," Rogue nodded. "More presents."

Excited, Jacques hurried back to his new teddy bear and picked it up, nearly toppling over under its weight, then plopped down on the ground with it, content.

Rogue chuckled, shaking her head. "Reminds me o' li'l Jamie at Christmas time..." she murmured, and for a moment a sad look crossed her face, but it was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by a sincere smile as she turned to Mercy, placing a kiss on her sister-in-law's cheek. "That boy's the most precious thing in the world."

"Y' say dat now," Mercy retorted. "Wait until y' babysit him again. He's goin' t'rough dat terrible two stage already."

Mattie came in a few moments later with the last of the food, and made sure that everyone got enough on their plates before sitting down at the table, her chair being on the opposite end of Jean-Luc's. The head of the LeBeau household and the patriarch of the Thieves Guild said grace, and then they called Jacques back to the table, and breakfast began.

Some nights Remy and Rogue had dinner up in their suite alone, but most meals were spent as a family downstairs, and one of the things Remy liked most about family meals was the noise. There were always people talking, people laughing, people smiling, and it made him feel at peace to be surrounded by so many people who he loved, especially when Rogue was sitting across from him, so he occasionally rub his foot against her leg, smirking at how easily it distracted her.

She'd glare at him for it, but he couldn't resist. Sometimes he just needed to touch her to reassure himself that she was real, that this wasn't all just a dream and that he wasn't going to wake up to find himself sharing a room with St. John in one of Magneto's hidden bases. He knew it sounded ridiculous, but sometimes he felt like it was all too good to be true, that there was no way he deserved this life, deserved this woman.

But she obviously thought that he did, or she wouldn't have married him, and he wouldn't trade the past few years with her for anything.

As if she knew he was thinking about her, she glanced over at him with a smile before turning back to her conversation with Bella, and he was struck by how beautiful she was. They were still young, he was only twenty-two and Rogue was a year younger, but hers was the kind of beauty that he knew would never fade, no matter how many years past.

"Somethin' on yo' mind, petite frere?" Henri asked as he passed Emil the sausage tray.

"Jus' thinkin' how lucky I am," Remy replied with a grin.

"An' don' y' fo'get it," Henri clapped him on the shoulder.

"Like we'd let him," Mercy added with a grin of her own.

"Ah dunno," Rogue said, leaning across the table to squeeze Remy's hand in her own. "Sometimes Ah think Ah'm the lucky one."

Their gazes locked and Remy's heart swelled with love for her. She could have had anyone she wanted, she was so beautiful, and once Magneto had given her the ability to touch... yet she had chosen him. Of all people, a lowly thief with a shady past.

"Je t'aime, Marie," he whispered huskily.

She smiled, that bright, dizzing smile that always made his heart flutter when it was directed at him. "Ah love ya, too, swamp rat."

"Well," Emil said sarcastically. "I'd tell dem t' get a room, but dey'd probably take dat literally an' run back up t' de bedroom."