A/N So this took a little longer than I wanted. Hard to type with a fractured thumb and all. But here!
I also appreciate all the reviews, very much. Makes me all kinds of cheery and makes it easier to write knowing that someone likes what I'm doing.
K is for Kids
Rogue and Gambit had been together for a year when he took her home to meet his family in New Orleans. It was during the summer, a few weeks before the start of term. Mercy and Henri, Gambit's sister-in-law and brother, had just had their first child and Gambit was excited to meet his niece.
They took a taxi to the guild's headquarters, Rogue fidgeting the whole time. When they started down the long driveway and she began picking at the fabric of her jeans, Gambit reached across and grasped her hand.
"What's going on in that pretty little head?" he asked, running his fingers over her hand. "Why so nervous?"
Rogue bit her lip before speaking. "I only have Kurt, one family member, you have this huge, illegal, badass family that I need to impress and I just…"
"Don't worry about that," Gambit said. "My cousins have dated far worse than you."
"Great," Rogue said drily. "I'm not as bad as your cousins' drunken mistakes. Fabulous."
Gambit laughed and kissed her forehead. "You worry too much, chère. They'll love you, I promise."
The cab let them out at a second set of gates before driving away quickly. Apparently the name LeBeau was still well known. They'd barely made it to the front door when it flew open. Rogue had a second to see a man standing there before he squirted Gambit in the face with a water gun. Gambit didn't move, just spat water off his face.
"And you're a parent?" Gambit said. The man laughed and pulled him into a hug. "Roguey, this is mon frère, Henri."
Henri shook the squirt gun at Rogue. "You get a pass this time, but be aware it's open season next time," Henri threatened somewhat jokingly.
"I'll come armed," Rogue promised.
"Good," Henri said pleasantly. "Now let's get you two inside, you need to meet the baby!"
A smiling, blonde woman stood just inside the door with a chubby little baby in her arms. Gambit grinned and made a beeline straight for her, dropping his luggage to the floor.
"Remy, meet Laure. Laure, say hi to Oncle Remy," Mercy said, waving one of Laure's pudgy little hands at him. Laure just blew spit bubbles.
"May I?" Remy asked, putting his hands out. Mercy grinned, handing Laure over. He cradled her reverently, making little cooing noises.
"Look at that, three seconds to melt his cold little heart," Rogue said with a smile.
"Dieu, sorry," Gambit said. "Mercy, Henri, this is Rogue. Rogue, mon frère is the twit with the water gun." Henri waved cheerily. "And this hellish woman is his wife, Mercy."
Mercy smiled indulgently. "Just wait 'til you don't have an infant in your arms Remy LeBeau, I'll remind you how hellish I can be," she said. She turned to Rogue. "Forgive my husband, he's mentally younger than Laure."
"Remy is, too," Rogue assured. "It's nothing new to me." Gambit handed Laure back to Mercy before bowing lowly in response.
"That seems to be a trend in this family," Mercy said. "They're professional when they need to be, but all overgrown children in any down time."
"Remy!"
They turned to see two men coming in. "Speaking of children," Mercy said to Rogue. "This is Rogue, Remy's girlfriend."
"Theoren," one said, bowing deeply and kissing her hand.
"Eitenne," the other said, bumping the taller man out of the way and bowing even lower.
"You'd think you'd never brought a girl home before," Rogue said, throwing a smirk over her shoulder to Gambit.
"Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumbass," Gambit said good naturedly before yanking the two into a hug.
"It's been too long!" Theoren said, clapping Gambit on the back.
"You haven't even been taking any jobs for over a year!" Etienne added. "Your père isn't too happy about that."
"Well he and I will discuss that," Gambit said. "And I'm sure you gossip queens will know about it soon."
"So Remy," Henri said, crossing his arms. "How the sex life? Able to keep up with a younger woman? Still got a little zipitty in the ol' doo-dah?"
"Oh, it ain't little, sugar," Rogue said, wrapping am arm around Gambit's waist. "And I'd say 'zippity' is a mild word for mind-blowing –"
"Well, let's let these two get settled in," Mercy cut in over the sound of the men's whooping laughter.
Gambit gave Rogue a deep kiss before saying, "You're just jealous," to his cousins and brother, then led Rogue up the grand staircase.
"This place is huge," Rogue said. "And I've lived for years in a place we call a mansion, sheesh."
"It has to be," Gambit said. "We do everything here. Training, job planning, harboring thieves after assignments, equipment housing, all that."
Gambit led her down a lush hallway to a more private wing of the building. "This is where my family lives," he explained. "Mercy and Henri there, Père down the hall," he said, pointing to various doors. "Here we are."
Rogue's eyes went wide. "THIS is your childhood bedroom?" The room was done in deep maroons and dark blues. Masculine, yet obviously professionally decorated. The entire room was bigger than her and Gambit's rooms at Xavier's combined.
Gambit pointed to two sets of huge mahogany doors. "The left was is the closet, the right is the en suite."
"Sweet Jesus on a pogo stick."
"Such a lady," he said with a grin and dragged their luggage to the closet. "Tour before dinner?"
He dragged her all over the headquarters. There were a few places she obviously couldn't go, but he showed her everything he could. She wasn't even a little bit surprised at the huge game room. A video game area was secluded in the corner, while the majority of the space was filled with ping pong tables, pool tables, and a huge round table that Rogue was sure was used for poker.
The halls weren't exactly empty and they earned plenty of bluntly intrigued looks from people curious about the woman Remy LeBeau had brought home. Rogue was surprised at how many kids were running around the headquarters. When Gambit had told her he was a ranking member of the Thieves Guild, she hadn't really pictured a child-friendly environment.
"Well they have a lot of classes here," Gambit said, pointing into various rooms in the lower levels. Rogue looked at him blankly. "You know, training in martial arts and agility, lockpicking, security systems."
Rogue broke into a grin. "You have a thieving school?"
"Of course. It's not like public school will teach them how to get into a high-security vault," Gambit said. "Though I'm pretty sure Etienne asked his history teacher once…"
"So they aren't home, er, guild-schooled then?" Rogue asked.
Gambit shook his head. "No, we tried for a bit but we need them to have social skills to blend in with and be able to read targets. Sometimes spending all their time with us morally bankrupt thieves makes them a little crass to the average person."
"No way," Rogue said monotonously. "Never you."
"On that note, let's go have dinner with a bunch of morally sideways master thieves."
Rogue didn't know what she was expecting, maybe a table of elegantly dressed people in elaborate jewels, or maybe everyone dressed in cat suits, but they looked just like any other family sitting down to eat. Henri was struggling to keep a hold on Laure, who was refusing to stay in her highchair, Mercy was rubbing her temples while drinking tea, looking like she wanted nothing more in the world than a nap, and at the head of the table was a distinguished looking older man reading a bunch of papers in front of him.
Gambit cleared his throat before saying, "Père?" The gray haired man looked up, peering over his reading glassed. "This is Rogue. Rogue, this is mon père, Jean-Luc." He assessed them for a moment before standing to take Rogue's hand.
"Pleasure, Mr. LeBeau," Rogue said.
Jean-Luc kissed her hand. "Don't worry, Rogue. I'm not nearly as boring as I appear," he said. "No need to be so formal, we don't exactly stand on ceremony here." There was a laugh from behind them as Laure shoved a Cheerio up Henri's nose. "You may call me Jean-Luc."
"Oh good," Rogue said, relieved. "I'd be kicked out pretty fast if I had to curtsey or something whenever you came into a room."
"She'd probably fall," Gambit said.
"We may be at your house, but I'll still break your nose, Remy LeBeau."
"No bone breaking until after dinner!" They turned and Gambit grinned at the sight of the small, old woman tottering into the room.
"Rogue, this is Tante Mattie," he said.
"Lovely to meet you little one," she said hurriedly. She allowed Gambit a quick kiss on the cheek before shoving him bodily into a chair. Rogue quickly sat next to him before being pushed, too. Tante Mattie was rushing around, putting dishes down everywhere until she finally settled into a seat across from Rogue and Gambit. "Now," she said, all speed lost into a sweet voice. "Welcome, Rogue. Gambit told us you love scalloped potatoes and turkey, so here we are."
"Oh, you didn't have to do that," Rogue said, surprised.
"Nonsense. It's a welcome into the family," Tante Mattie said.
Gambit noted Rogue shifting minutely at those words, but was sure his family didn't know her well enough to see her tells. "Well, thank you," she said humbly. They finished dinner slowly, Gambit's family catching him up on everything he'd missed in the past year or so. Rogue watched raptly, engrossed in how he interacted with his family. It was like a whole new part of him had opened up. There was suddenly this completely family-oriented man that she'd only been peripherally aware of. It was one of the most adorable things she'd ever seen, but at the same time, it filled her a bit of uneasiness.
Gambit spent the next two days taking Rogue around New Orleans. The first time, he indulged her touristy side and brought her to Bourbon Street all the major attractions, but day two he took her all over his favorite local haunts. The first bar was a little too full of women eying him for Rogue's liking. She was pretty amused though, at how far his playboy status was known. The bartender in the first place they went took a double take and asked Gambit why he was out with a woman in the middle of the day instead of just at night. Rogue had laughed. "Well aren't you just a famous little slut."
Her favorite place was this little hole in the wall restaurant in a back alley by the water. As soon as she stepped in, she could tell that everyone in the room was dangerous in at least one way or another. Besides the obvious physical cues, it was just a vibe she got. But absolutely no one seemed to care. Everyone was aware, but everyone was also at ease, just relaxing. After Gambit and Rogue took their seats, the owner came over, a man name Sean.
"Remy, been a long time," he said, shaking his hand.
"Been a little busy," Gambit said. "Anything interesting tonight?"
Sean shrugged. "A few assassins in celebrating, you just missed Emil and Theoren. Poker game on Friday. Got a couple out-of-towners at table eight. Pretty sure they're arms dealers or something similar. Nothing out of the ordinary."
Rogue raised her eyebrows. Thieves, assassins, and arms dealers were things she'd consider out of the ordinary, but Sean and Gambit were just talking as if he asked what tonight's specials were. Once they'd ordered and Sean had walked away, Rogue looked at Gambit incredulously. "Um, what is this place?"
Gambit shrugged. "There's no real name. People just call it the neutral zone."
Rogue grinned. "As in, Star Trek reference?"
"Maybe," Gambit said slyly. "It's basically a place all us scum of the city can come and not worry about being ambushed by each other. Assassins can't kill here, thieves don't steal from here, dealers of any kind don't do business here or anywhere too close. Actually, the sex shop next door doesn't know it, but they're probably one the safest places in the city."
"So anyone can just come in?" Rogue asked, picturing the place full of hookers.
"Well, the elite of the city's scum," Gambit conceded.
"How can a place like this even exist? Doesn't everyone's business come first?"
"Well everyone needs a night out sometimes, somewhere to relax. It used to be an unspoken rule about this place forty years ago when Sean's father owned the place. There was a big meeting between the major guilds, gangs, heavy hitters, etc., and everyone agreed it's an out of bounds area. Whoever violates that answers to Sean," Gambit explained.
Rogue stuck her head out of their booth, taking in the small, smiling Sean across the restaurant shaking hands with what Rogue could only assume was a mafia boss, and raised her eyebrows at Gambit. "Sean. Really?"
"He doesn't look like much, but he packs a wallop," Gambit said. "So what do you think?"
"I like it," Rogue said honestly. "It's very beautiful, in a creepy, back alley way."
"Drawn to dangerous things, are we?"
"Well I'm with you, aren't I?"
After they'd finished, with a few nods at the other heavy hitters, Gambit took Rogue back home. He'd stripped out of his shirt and was working on hers when he noticed her biting her lip. He pulled back, studying her face. "What's on your mind, chère?" he asked. "You've been less snarky tonight."
Rogue laughed. "It's probably not a good things that your signal for something being wrong is me being nice."
"I dated an assassin," Gambit reminded her. "You're like a sexy Mother Theresa compared to her." Rogue snorted. "So?"
Rogue sighed. She knew this conversation was going to come eventually, she just was hoping to avoid it for as long as possible. "It's…I'm not…" She struggled to articulate her thoughts before just blurting out. "I don't want to have kids." She tried to read Gambit's reaction, but his face was neutral, encouraging her to speak what was on her mind. "I don't. I never have. Plus, what if things get worse in the next ten, twenty years? What if mutants are hunted and killed? What if the world gets worse, why would I bring a child, most likely a mutant, into that?"
Gambit watched her face as she spoke. Once she'd started, it was as if she couldn't stop. They'd never broached the subject before, both avoiding any long-term commitment talk. So far, they'd enjoyed the moment and lived in their relationship, but not made any specific plans.
"Besides, what if I can't? What if my mutation eats the fetus up? What if someone keeps hurting mutant kids? I don't want that," she said.
Gambit nodded and took her hands between his. Her face was anxious, searching his for any sign of anger or rejection. "Are those the reasons why you don't want children? Because of what might happen to them? If so, that's not a good reason. Parents protect their children and we both know you're fierce in what and who you protect. If those are the reasons why, you should reevaluate that. Or do you just not want children? If so, that's just fine, too. What is it that you really want?"
"I don't want kids," she said. "I never have. Some kids played house and mommy, I played the aunt that lived next door. People just know if they want to be parents, and some people just know they don't and I just don't." Rogue started speaking very fast at that point. "And I saw how you are with your niece and all your family this week and how you're such a family man and I don't want to give you a family of your own and that's kind of a make or break deal in a relationship and-"
"Whoa whoa, chèrie," Gambit said, pulling her face into his hands. "Is that what you've been worried about? That I'm going to leave you if you don't want kids?"
"Yes," she said quietly.
"No, Dieu, je t'aime ma belle d'amour," he murmured, kissing down her forehead, nose, cheeks, and lips. "Is that what's been worrying you?"
"I don't know if this would cause you to not want to be with me, if there's not future…"
"I don't want kids either," he said. Rogue instantly sagged in relief. "Don't get me wrong, I love ma famille, and the children at the school, but I don't want my own. I'll be a fabulous oncle, and I'll be there for the Xavier kids that need me, but I don't want my own."
Rogue threw her arms around him. "Oh thank god," she muttered. "I didn't want this to be the end."
"This isn't the end, chère. We haven't even gotten close to the end."
Thanks to reviewers, couplest, AnnaWalker.92, Gidgeygirl, Booklover9477, Suze Nora, HermioneSakuraGardner07, and all you anons.