Chapter Seventy-Four:


It was a good thing, Rogue decided, that she was usually an early riser, or else she might have missed out on breakfast. With a school full of hungry kids, breakfast was a big deal at the Westchester Academy, complete with at least a dozen different kinds of cereal, pancakes, waffles, sausage and eggs.

Jean did most of the cooking, with some help from one of the other instructors that Rogue had been introduced to the night before, Sean Cassidy. His daughter Theresa, or Tracy as she kept insisting she be called, was one of the girls who had been spying on Rogue's arrival from the upstairs window. Both father and daughter had a similar mutant power, the ability to emit sonic screams, which Rogue found curious considering not all mutant children inherited their parent's powers, in fact from what Hank had explained back at the Institute, most didn't.

Rogue liked Sean well enough, the older Irish man was a bit on the sarcastic side, but lighthearted and funny. It was the other new instructor she wasn't sure about, a telepath by the name of Emma Frost, who had struck Rogue to be arrogant and slightly callous. Jean had confided in her that she wasn't all that fond of Emma, but the other telepath worked diligently and had been able to make remarkable improvements with some of their more difficult students.

Of course, Rogue supposed she hadn't really given Emma much of a fair chance to make a good impression. Upon being introduced, Emma had immediately begun to flirt with Remy, and Rogue refused to believe that a telepath was oblivious to the fact that he was a married man.

Ah wonder if Ah could punch through that diamond-shell o' hers, Rogue mused with a smirk, remembering the smug look on Emma's face as she had explained how she could shift into a supposedly unbreakable diamond form. She'd run that idea by Tessa later on, just to see what her friend thought about the possibility.

Tessa and Lucas had both been awake with plenty of time to help themselves to whatever they wanted from the kitchen, but Rogue had been forced to drag Remy out of bed to make sure the kids didn't scarf down all of the food before he got a chance to eat.

After helping Jean with the dishes, two whole sinks full, Rogue had made a point of asking Remy to take a walk with her. Her husband had complied, donning a jacket and gloves, and escorted her outside to explore the estate's snow-covered grounds, appreciating the first snow fall either of them had seen in years.

Taking a deep breath, Rogue smiled, her gaze drifting across the glistening snow as she rubbed her gloved hands together for extra warmth. She'd forgotten how cold it could really get in the middle of winter when one was in New York, but luckily Kitty had made sure to buy her a ski jacket during their shopping spree back in Charleston, so the cold wasn't unbearable.

Still, Rogue didn't plan on spending too much time outside in the cold, because she didn't want to get a cold. After all, she had to be mindful of things like that from now on.

She'd first begun to suspect that something was off the day after they had fled New Orleans, but she had just chalked it up to anxiety about the Sentinel attack. It was when her uneasiness gave way to queasiness that she had started to wonder, and so she had secretly kept track of every little symptom that could have pointed in that direction.

It was Tessa who had confirmed her suspicions, though. The telepath had made a point of stealing her coffee, which struck her as odd at the time, but now she understood. After all, caffeine and pregnancy did not mix. Still, Tessa had refrained from commenting on it, until Rogue had gotten a bout of nausea at the airport. When she emerged from the stall, Tessa had bluntly asked her if she would allow her to do a bio-scan to see whether or not she was pregnant.

Rogue had been too startled to think about asking how long Tessa had suspected, or what had given it away, but she'd nodded her consent and a few moments later Tessa had informed her that she was, indeed, six weeks pregnant. On the plane to Westchester, Rogue had tried to pinpoint when exactly the conception had occurred, but she wasn't certain. That week had been the kind of week that Remy was notorious for bragging about with the boys, so it could have been any number of occasions.

Shaking her head, Rogue glanced over at her husband, who was admiring an ice-sculpture Bobby had helped the students make after dinner the night before. While the giant X wasn't exactly original, it was impressive nonetheless, and the look of complete exasperation on Scott's face when he saw it had been priceless. No matter how old he got, Bobby would always get a kick out of drivin their fearless leader crazy, and frankly she couldn't blame him, Scott made it all too easy sometimes.

"De Iceboy's got talent," Remy commented with an appreciative nod. "Dat's a big X."

"Yeah," Rogue drawled sarcastically. "Only two more letters t' go an' he'll have learned his ABC's."

"Den on t' de 123's?" Remy asked coyly.

Snorting, Rogue gave him a playful swat in the arm. "Ah'll have ya know that all o' the X-men got a first rate education at the Institute."

"Whatever y' say, p'tite," Remy smirked down at her. "At least we know dat if dis superhero business falls t'rough, Bobby-boy has a real future ahead o' him as an ice sculptor, oui?"

Despite herself, Rogue chuckled, picturing Bobby hard at work on a replica of the Eiffel Tower, fussing over the tiniest of details. "It'd keep him busy, that's fo' sure."

"Speakin' o' busy," Remy said slyly, lifting her gloved hand to give it a kiss.

"Get yo' mind outta the gutter, swamp rat," Rogue rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help smiling at his flirtation, and she wondered if he would be this much of a romantic after they'd been married for twenty-five years or so.

Knowing what a charmer he was, and having seen that in seemed to run in the LeBeau family, she imagined he would be.

And it wouldn't surprise in the least her if their son grew up to be a lady's man like his father.

"Remy?" she asked softly, and if he noticed the more serious tone of her voice, he didn't let it show.

"Oui, chere?"

"Do ya remember back when Jacques was born," she began slowly. "How we talked 'bout havin' kids o' our own one day, when things calmed down a bit?"

"Oui, o' course I do."

"Well," Rogue continued. "Ah know that our lives are anythin' but calm right now, but do ya think ya might like t' be a daddy anyway?"

Remy's eyes narrowed as he fixed her with an appraising look. "Dere be somet'ing dat y' wan' tell me, chere?"

"Yeah," Rogue said softly, fidgeting with her gloved hands. "Ah reckon there is."

Still, she couldn't seem to find the right words, so she bit her lip, trying to decide how to word it without coming right out and blurting 'Surprise, I'm carrying your child'.

Before she got the chance, though, Remy surprised her by reaching out and touching her stomach with a gloved hand, splaying his palm against the surface of her jacket as he pressed it against her skin. "Yo' pregnant, Marie?" he asked breathlessly.

"Oui," Rogue nodded, her eyes stinging with tears, though she couldn't quite identify the emotion behind them. If her hormones were already going haywire this early on, she pitied her husband considering they had over seven months to go. "Tessa scanned me the other day an' confirmed it at the airport."

Remy's expression turned distant and glossy, and Rogue was suddenly tempted to tap into her reserve powers and manifest Jean's telepathy, just so she would know what was going through his head, but she decided against it. She didn't think it would be a good idea to use any of her powers at all until she got to sit down with Tessa and figure out how using them might affect the baby.

Maybe Ah should get Hank t' give me an exam, she thought, and decided that she would bring it up after they announced her pregnancy to the others. The Professor already knew, of course, and so did Jean, who had questioned her about it the night before while starting dinner. She wasn't sure if Emma Frost had picked up on it or not, but if she had the woman had been polite enough not to mention it.

Telling the others wouldn't be so bad, although she had a feeling that Scott wasn't going to be overly thrilled to hear she was pregnant, but that was simply because he still thought of her as a teammate, someone to protect and look out for. The girls would all be excited, especially Kitty, and even Lance seemed to have warmed up to Remy in the past few days, despite his initial misgivings about the whole thing.

The only people she was worried about telling were the most important ones, her parents and Kurt. She had been optimistic about Kurt taking the news that she had married Remy in stride, but she was doubtful that he would be as accepting about hearing that the aforementioned thief had, to be frank, knocked up his sister.

And as for Logan and Mystique... well, Rogue was beginning to think maybe she ought to get them both really drunk before breaking the news. Of course, with Logan's healing factor he wouldn't stay drunk for very long, if it was even possible to get him drunk in the first place, so it looked like she would have to go with Plan B.

Zap them both with her powers and shackle them in the Danger Room before they woke up, then she would tell them, when they were incapable of doing any bodily harm to her husband.

Speakin' o' mah husband...

Rogue focused her attention back on Remy, who still had a dazed expression on his face, and she scowled, unsettled by his ambiguous reaction. "Well say somethin', sapristi!" she cried anxiously.

Remy shook his head, breaking free of the shocked reverie that had befallen him, and looked at her intently. "Yo' really pregnant?" he asked softly. "We're gon' have a baby?"

"In about seven an' a half months," Rogue confirmed with a hesitant nod.

For a moment Remy seemed to let that sink in, and then he let out a whoop of delight, scooping her up in his arms and spinning her around. "M' gon' be a pere," he said, laughing wildly, sounding for all the world like a little boy again.

"Ah take it yo' happy then?" Rogue asked with a smile as he finally set her down.

"Marie, chere, y' don' know de half o' it," Remy said huskily, grinning down at her as he leaned in for a long, passionate kiss. "Y' jus' made me de happiest homme in de world."

"Ah'm glad," Rogue said with a sigh of relief, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek against his chest. "Ah was worried there fo' a second."

"Je suis desole," Remy gave her a sheepish grin. "Y' jus' caught me by surprise, dat's all. Trust me, dis is wonderful news."

"Ah think so, too," Rogue agreed, lifting her head and rising up on her toes for another kiss. This one was shorter, but no less sweet, and when they separated Remy kept her close, resting his forehead against hers. "Thank ya fo' givin' me a chance t' be a mother, Remy," she murmured, the awe and wonder that she had felt upon first learning she was pregnant washing over her again. For one who had lived for so long as untouchable, it was an unreachable dream finally come true.

"M' de one who should be t'ankin' y'," Remy said, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Not every woman could tolerate bein' married t' de Prince o' T'ieves."

"Ah love yo' entire thievin' clan," Rogue retorted with a grin. "An' Ah wouldn' trade 'em fo' the world."

"Speakin' o' which," Remy brightened excitedly. "We've gotta call mon pere an' tell him de good news. Wish I could be dere t' see de look on his face when he hears, an' Jacques is gon' be thrilled t' have a cousin t' play wit'."

"Don' fo'get Bella's due in a few months," Rogue reminded him, feeling a stab of sadness at the thought of her dear friend. She missed Bella and Mercy and the boys, she would have to steal the phone away from Remy when he called home so she could talk to them, it had been too long since she'd last heard their voices. "He'll have two cousins t' play wit'."

"Li'l Etienne," Remy mused with a smile. "It's gon' be nice t' have anot'er li'l one runnin' 'round de estate. Wonder if dat kid will look like his oncle an' namesake."

"Maybe," Rogue replied. "But either way he'll be a beautiful baby, he comes from a beautiful family."

"Je t'aime," Remy murmured, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "J'ai toujours, toujours aimé tu."

"Je sais," Rogue said softly, leaning into his touch. "An' Ah know that this baby is gon' be more loved than any other kid in the whole wide world."

"Wit'out a doubt, beb," Remy grinned, kissing her on the tip of her nose. "M' gon' see t' it dat dis li'l fille is spoiled rotten."

"What makes ya so sure it's a girl, huh?" Rogue asked in amusement.

"T'ief's instincts, chere," Remy replied smoothly.

"Dream on, swamp rat," Rogue smirked up at him. "Mah money's on a boy."

"Dat's okay, Remy jus' go steal y' back de money y' lose when our daughter proves y' wrong."

"Ha! Our son is gon' make ya eat those words, Cajun."

"Dat so?"

"Yeah, that's so."

"We'll see 'bout dat," Remy smirked, and grabbed her around the waist, throwing her over his shoulder.

Rogue shrieked with laughter, squirming to get free, but not trying very hard. They both knew if she really wanted to get away, all she'd have to do was float into the air or use her strength to break his hold on her, but she didn't really want to go anywhere.

"Y' gon' take dat back, mon amour?" Remy asked, carrying her towards a snow bank.

"Never," Rogue laughed defiantly. "Do yo' worst, LeBeau."

"Y' asked fo' it, p'tite," Remy snickered, and deposited her into the towering pile of snow with a wicked grin.

Despite herself, Rogue gasped as the cold snow touched her skin, and she grabbed her husband by the wrist, yanking him down beside her. Laughing, she rolled herself over to pin him in the snow, dumping snow into his head.

Remy sputtered, shaking his head to try and get the snow out of his hair, but it was a futile effort. "Y' t'ink dat's funny, hahn?" he growled.

Rogue was laughing too hard to reply, so she just nodded, which made Remy scowl. Her seventh sense kicked in just in time to warn her of an incoming snowball, so she dove to the right, but Remy knew her all too well and was prepared for that.

Shrieking with laughter, Rogue squirmed furiously as he poured snow down the back of her jacket, some of it spilling under her shirt. Remy grinned, pinning her arms at her sides, despite the fact that she could have easily broken his hold.

"Do y' surrender, chere?" he asked.

"Never," Rogue answered breathlessly, unable to keep the smile off her face. "Ya ain't never gon' take me alive, Cajun!"

"Dat sounds like a challenge," Remy said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Ha!" Rogue laughed. "Ya wish ya could take me, swamp rat, but the truth is ya don' have a chance. Ah'm invulnerable, remember? Ya don'-"

Any further argument she might have been about to make was promptly silenced when Remy's lips crashed down onto hers, and after a moment's hesitation she sighed, giving in to the kiss. Still, she refused to let him win, so she let her knees buckle under her, pitching them both backwards into the snow.

Remy laughed against her lips, but he didn't break the kiss, and she threaded her fingers through his hair as they laid there together in the snow, locked in an intimate embrace. For the longest time, she lost herself in his kiss, savoring the warmth he offered, until she forgot all about the fact that her neck was starting to go numb from the cold snow pressing against it.

When they finally came up for air several minutes later, Rogue half expected to find the snow around them melted, but the tips of her ears were starting to hurt, and a wisp of her hair, now covered in tiny icicles, fell across her face, testifying that while the heat generated between them had been enough to warm her from head to toe, it did not have the same affect on snow.

"Y' look like a snow fairy," Remy chuckled, playing with her snow-laden hair.

"A snow fairy?" Rogue echoed, scrunching her nose in amusement.

Still chuckling, Remy rolled to his feet and then extended a hand down to her to help her to her feet. "C'mon, let's get y' inside an' warmed up, hahn? Don' wan' y' gettin' sick, not wit' a baby on de way."

"Ah'm fine," Rogue assured him with a smile as she let him pull her up. "But Ah could go fo' some hot cocoa right 'bout now."

"Den let's head back in an' see if Jean can point us in de direction o' some, oui?"

"Sounds like a right good plan t' me, M'seiu," Rogue said, and grinned when he offered her his arm dramatically. "Why thank ya, kind sir."

"Y' fo'got gallant," Remy said with a wink as they started back towards the mansion. "Not t' mention dashin', an' handsome."

"An' humble, too," Rogue teased. "Imagine that."

"Y' wan' humble?" Remy asked with a lopsided smirk. "Den hop on."

"What?" Rogue asked incredulously.

"M' back, chere," Remy said with exaggerated patience. "Hop on my back an' Remy'll carry y' back t' de mansion."

"Yo' gon' carry me?" Rogue asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "All the way back t' the front door?"

"Why not?" Remy shrugged. "S'not like yo' fat yet. Anot'er few months, well..."

"Ha ha," Rogue scowled, punching him lightly, but given her strength it was still hard enough to make him wince. "Jus' fo' that, ya are gon' carry me, swamp rat, an' ya ain't gon' complain once."

"Cross my heart," Remy said with a grin, and gestured for her to climb up. Sighing, she let him lift her up onto his back, locking his arms under her knees as she draped her arms around his neck, and they started forward.

"Ya gon' treat me like royalty fo' the next seven months?" Rogue asked dryly. "Or is this a one time thing?"

"Chere, y' wound Remy. Y' get treated like a princesse everyday."

"The Princess o' T'ieves?" Rogue responded with a grin.

"De one an' only," Remy said with a laugh. "Dere be no one else fou enough fo' de job."

"Watch it swamp rat," Rogue warned, swatting him in the head lightly. "Or else Ah'm gon' torture ya by makin' ya spend every wakin' moment o' mah pregnancy playin' mah nursemaid."

"S'long as Remy's at yo' side, chere, he be content."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Rackin' up brownie points ahead o' time, are ya?"

"What can I say?" Remy shrugged. "If dere's one t'ing dat I learned watchin' Henri durin' Mercy's pregnancy, it's dat y' can never have too many brownie points in yo' favor. 'Specially if y' got a wife dat can break yo' hand wit' yo' pinky."

"Ah could not," Rogue smirked. "Maybe wit' mah thumb, but mah pinky? No way."


Translations:

sapristi- damn it
Je suis desole- I'm sorry
J'ai toujours, toujours aimé tu- I have always, always loved you
Je sais- I know
princesse- princess
fou- crazy


A/N: I know this chapter was a little short, but school is keeping me busy this week. I have Friday off, though, so I hope to get a new post up this weekend- and it will hold the arrival of Logan, Kurt and Mystique, which everyone has been waiting for :)