After looking over his shoulder more than what would be considered socially acceptable, he jumped the small gate and walked to the front walkway. Upon reaching the front door, Remy LeBeau knocked at the door in a special sequence that would allow him to be immediately recognized. That way they would know it was someone familiar and safe. She would be reassured that it was okay to open the door.

The house he stepped into was welcoming from the open door to the smile that greeted him in the wide hallway. Upon the walls were photographs of former residents who were now happy and successful after their life-changing moment of clarity. Women who looked so obviously proud of themselves for defeating their demons and lifetime nightmares, as they should be.

The floor was an old-fashioned parquet with a blend of deep homely browns and the walls were the greens of summer gardens meeting a bold white baseboard. The banister was a twirl of a branch, tamed by the carpenter's hand, its grain flowing as water might, in waves of comforting woodland hues. Under the lamp shine, it was nature's art, on the wall that met the newly arrived, there was a landscape painting, something simple but beautiful that soothed right to the soul.

After the excitement of initial hellos, the lady who had greeted him at the door looked pensive, worried. Even though she was truly glad to see the man who had grown into someone she would call a friend and benefactor, she wished it was under better circumstances.

"She's here. It happened yet again," she stated simply. It seemed like no more words were needed anyway because the handsome mutant before her understood what she meant instantly, he knew very well who she had been referring to and was now looking as worried as the lady herself was.

"Just as we thought it would," he commented sadly, in a barely-there voice. "It's a never-ending cycle," he added, shaking his head in disappointment as he did so.

"She's in pretty bad shape this time and refused to let me take her to the hospital. I didn't know what else to do, I thought that maybe you could talk some sense into her. With your history, I'm sure she'd listen to you, so I called," She paused, eyeing him cautiously, and continued. "I'm sorry, Remy. By the look of your outfit, it seems like you had much better plans for the night."

He simply shrugged and showed her a sad, little smile.

"Nah, I was just torturing myself. I was seeing my past before my eyes and letting it get to me. I keep longing for someone unattainable, and that just ain't healthy."

He wanted to say more, that he was with his best friend, the one who could have been his life partner but somehow, it all slipped through his fingers. He was sure he was much better off there at the house, doing something useful than playing dangerous love games with Rogue.

Maria knew exactly who he must have been talking about. Not long ago, when he came over to bring money and help out with some maintenance work in the house, he finally accepted her invitation to stay over for dinner. He knew how his male presence could be a trigger to some of the ladies, he was an empath, after all. So he usually preferred to be as invisible as possible, but she ascertained him that it wouldn't be a problem.

He ended up staying because of her insistence and he enjoyed the experience more than he had expected. Remy, Maria and the residents all talked and shared over dinner. His own bitter experiences were confided, and he felt light as a feather telling secrets not even Rogue knew about him and his past.

That day he had a realization. Even though he had been just recently pulled into that situation, he decided he would take it on as a new commitment of his. That was it, a new form of redemption, he was in this for the long run. It was yet another honorable cause to embrace.

When they were doing the washing-up, Maria felt comfortable enough to ask him about his own current circumstances, she was much older than him and was in no way chatting him up. She was curious and, despite all that dreadful reality her career made her see every day, she was still a romantic. She knew there had to be a story for him to share in that department. his discretion and mysterious aura were so alluring and intriguing. She couldn't help her curiosity.

"So, Remy, how come you've never mentioned any love interest, a partner, a relationship of your own? You got no one to go back home to? Forgive me my intrusion, but I find that quite hard to believe."

"Remy here does have some girls here and there, you see, but no one you'll ever care to meet," he offered. The tone of his voice was off, he was not bragging about having many ladies, quite the opposite, in fact. He sounded sad and lonely.

"Really? Has no one special stolen your heart for good? Forgive me, but I find it quite hard to believe."

"Well, there's someone, but well, we are the definition of the term 'it's complicated' I'd say," he confessed with a chuckle. "If you look it up in the dictionary, you'll find Remy and Rogue."

"Rogue, huh? That's an interesting name..." She let it hang in the air, and that was how he started to open up and she learned that Rogue's name was hardly the most interesting thing about her. The way Remy described his beloved and their story together made Maria want to meet her someday. After all, for a lady to captivate that man's heart like she had, she could only be an amazing lady herself.

Back to the present time, she looked at him right into his eyes for the first time that night. He had been avoiding eye contact, probably subconsciously. The truth was that Remy didn't want to have to remember that night up until that moment, he didn't want to answer questions about Rogue and their status quo. He'd much rather focus on the lady upstairs who desperately needed their help.

"What do you think I can do about Stephanie?"

"Talk some sense into her. You've saved her before, you're the one who has the best chance to do it again."

"D'accord," he replied simply, speaking more to himself than to Maria. He proceeded to ask her where the lady they called Stephanie was and she told him which door to knock on. He left her without another word and climbed the stairs in silence. When he reached the indicated bedroom door, he knocked but was met with silence, which was in seconds broken by the sound of a lady sobbing.

"Stephanie, it's me, Remy LeBeau. Remember me? Would you open the door?"

The sobbing abruptly stopped but the door never moved an inch.

"I'm here to help," he paused and sighed deeply. "Again," he added sourly.

That seemed to trigger a reaction, and a few bitter memories too. The slightly disfigured woman opened the door. Reny couldn't hold back a gasp when he got a glimpse of her face, it was that bad. His hands balled into a fist, and he was possessed by a feeling of hatred. Her otherwise beautiful face was swollen after certain physical aggression. He hated that, absolutely hated it. Feeling determined to do something and break that vicious cycle, he made his way inside the room swiftly, even if the door wasn't open wide enough for him to come in.

"Never expected to see you again in this situation, mon ami," he confessed, trying hard not to make it sound like an accusation, but perhaps, unsuccessful at that.

"He was changed, I swear. Things were going well..."

"Until they weren't anymore," he said, interrupting her. He knew what she was going to say, could as well spare himself the trouble of listening to it.

It was too painful. He had seen that all before, not only her as a victim but other people in the past. Two of those had changed his soul forever. Secrets buried so deep within, that no one in his life knew about them. After years of living with those memories, he knew all about domestic violence and the mental strain it caused. The victim tends to exonerate the abuser and it is all because of the way they are stripped of their sense of self-worth. Some of them, like Stephanie, come to believe they can love the abuse out of that person. As if her loving him enough would make him a better man. However, that is far from what actually happens. No amount of love will cure abuse, he wishes he didn't know about it from a front-row seat.

"Listen, chére, there's no such a thing. He won't get better, it's not on you to make him better. You have to see the writing on the wall and get out of this situation."

"But the children..."

"Mon Dieu, don't tell me they're with him!"

Remy knew her two sons. Stephanie's two boys were the ones who were responsible for him to get to help her the first time around. He had just completed a fairly uncomplicated heist for the Guild. Some acquisition that was so easy that it insulted his skills. It was early hours of the morning when he left the premises and jumped onto his bike. He was five minutes into his ride, doing his age-old routine of losing a tail. He deftly weaved through traffic and used larger vehicles like big rigs, box trucks, and SUVs to place a visual barrier and remain unfollowable. All of a sudden, from behind a truck and little boy was in full view, crying for help. Remy managed to avoid hitting him just in the nick of time. His heart hammered against his chest at the scare it gave him, he unmounted his bike and rushed towards the boy with his hear in his hands. If there was one thing Remy absolutely loathed was witnessing a child being neglected. A boy of that age coming from a good loving family wouldn't be alone in the middle of the night crying, looking for help, unless something awful had happened. His superhero instinct kicked in immediately and he asked the boy how he could help him.

The boy couldn't be much older than 9 or 10, he was shaking with fear and his wide eyes spoke volumes. A language that Remy LeBeau spoke too when he was even younger than Stephanie's son. That memory alone haunted him sometimes at night. To the indifferent world around him, that's how he must have looked, an even shorter version of that terrified boy, except nobody had helped him until he met Jean Luc.

"It's my dad... he's gonna kill my mom! Please, help her!"

And that was the first time he got involved in this type of situation, helping out a victim of domestic violence, and how he ended up meeting Maria and forming an alliance with her.

Once Stephanie mentioned leaving her two sons behind, Remy lost his cool and confronted her, demanding to know why in the world she would do such a thing. He knew he shouldn't, she was as much as a victim as her boys, but it somehow became personal. It felt like it was himself, abandoned, neglected, all over again.

"He loves them, he's a good father. He'd never do anything to harm them," she offered, once again falling into the pattern of defending her own abuser.

"Besides," she continued. "I could never give them the good life they have. I am stupid, can't keep a job. Only get the crappy ones who demand too much of time and awful shifts that keep me away from them. How will I support them? How could I ever afford to give them all that they have with him?"

"If you can give them a safe environment, devoid of fights, physical abuse, and psychological torture, that would be good enough," he spat back at her. It was young and lost Remy taking the lead and speaking out. He should know better than that and go easy on her, but hearing her kids were left behind made his blood boil in his veins. They were having a heated conversation when he heard voices coming from downstairs. Perhaps she had been followed and someone was at the front door, giving Maria a hard time.

"Listen, I'll get you medical attention. I have someone I trust that can help you if you are afraid of any repercussions if you go to the hospital," the battered lady tried to oppose but he kept going. His voice was gentle, his words firm and assertive. "Right now I have to check on Maria and see if everything is alright. I'll be back in a minute."

That house was the third one he managed to get them. Using his connections and the discretion of some trusted clients of the Guild, it hadn't been too hard to get these women in need a place to live while they worked on getting their lives back on track. But every time some asshole discovered their location, they were forced to move their unofficial shelter to a different address. He would hate to see that someone had found out the location and purpose of this new home. It had been the longest standing one to date, they had it for 8 months now.

As he climbed down the stairs, he could faintly hear the voices coming from the front door. They were female ones and that put his heart at ease. However, when he got to the bottom of the staircase and saw who it was, his blood ran cold. Unbelievable! It was her, out of all people in the world. It was Anna, his Anna. All blood was suddenly drained from his face as he saw the girl he still loved with the passion of a thousand suns.

No matter how many curve balls life threw at them both, he remained forever in a state of intense longing for her. God knows how hard he had tried to shake her off his heart, but it must be some celestial joke, how the seductive Don Juan, aka Remy LeBeau, could not escape his feelings for that woman in front of him. All his attempts at moving on from her were doomed to failure and would remain that way until he drew his very last breath.

When he wouldn't say a word, but just stare at her blankly, dreading the possibility of having to share with her yet another dark aspect of his past, she took it to herself the responsibility of initiating an attempt at communication.

"Sorry, Remy. I shouldn't have..."

"What? Followed me? Yes, I believe you shouldn't. I thought you had grown into a person who trusts my judgment when I said I didn't need your help. I guess old habits die hard," he delivered the blow and got Rogue glaring at him after that.

Yikes, that came out all wrong. Much harsher than he intended and he saw her eyes narrow, a spark of anger lit up those beautiful green eyes and her apologetic ways flew faster than the speed of sound.

"Well, if you would quit the habit of keeping secrets from me, Remy. Then maybe, just maybe, you would get different results. Don't act the same as ever and except things to be different, sugar," she said, turning her back on him and stomping her way out of the house.

Maria watched the whole scene play before her eyes without saying a word, but decided to intervene. Just that little interaction of theirs, the tension between them, she could figure out rather effortlessly why those two weren't together.

"Well, actually, Rogue. It's Rogue, isn't it?" Maria asked her, her voice so calm and soothing. She had a gift and could calm a situation by speaking in a certain tone that made people stop on their tracks and see reason. Remy LeBeau's eternal love flame simply nodded her head in reply. Getting her confirmation, Maria continued "I guess we could definitely use your help, if you're still willing."

That got Rogue's full attention, it was all she was hoping to hear. Rogue and Remy were very similar in that sense. Both of them have a penchant for helping those in need and saving the day. Besides, Rogue hadn't come all this way to argue with Remy, quite the opposite. She wanted to be there for him. However, Rogue had no idea what kind of help was being asked of her, but she would soon find out.