It's the elusive Jean-Luc POV. I'm not sure it adds much to the plot, but I've always wanted to explore what Jean-Luc thought of Rogue. Next time, the plot gets going!

CHAPTER THREE: THE FATHER-IN-LAW

Jean-Luc LeBeau had never wondered who his younger son might grow up to marry. It had always been Belladonna Boudreaux, princess of the assassin's guild. Their relationship had been as carefully planned as any heist, starting with their apparently chance meeting as children. Jean-Luc remembered sitting across the long stone table from Marius in the thieves' guild headquarters. The other man had come in secret to make peace, tired of the long war of attrition that had cost them both their families and friends.

I'll set Belle up, the assassin had said from beneath his dark, velvet hood, The Boudreaux got a rival faction in the guild. They be targeting her and Julien, looking to take out my heirs. I'll give them the chance they want. Make sure your future son is in the area.

You okay with the risk?, Jean-Luc had asked, What if Remy is too late?

Belle can handle herself, Marius had waved away the other man's concern with a hand, She don't need le Diable Blanc to play the hero.

And then we hope they fall for each other?

We make them, Marius had smiled, Once they teens, we keep them away from each other. They be a regular Romeo and Juliet. Star crossed lovers all alone against their fathers and their guilds. Hormones will do the rest.

You know how that story ended, Jean-Luc had said drily, One poisoned and the other stabbed by her own hand.

So we rewrite it. This time it ends with a wedding. A comedy, not a tragedy.

Remy must have figured the scheme out at some point. He was too smart not to have put the pieces together. But by then he loved her with all his loyal, eighteen year-old heart and wanted nothing more than to be her husband. Their relationship had ended with a wedding, but not in the way that either Marius or Jean-Luc had intended. A tragedy, after all.

After exile, Jean-Luc had thought Remy had given up on love. Thieves Guild spies reported a series of women, some men, he took to his bed for a single night, if they ended up in his apartment at all. By all accounts, it was consensual, fun, safe. Everyone knew what they were getting, had a good time, and there were no bastard children to complicate the already convoluted LeBeau family tree. No disgrace.

But then Remy, Gambit, an X-Man now, had met Rogue. Jean-Luc had no doubt she had started as a challenge. The untouchable woman, the eternal virgin, locked in a prison of her own skin. It didn't hurt that she was stunning, all green eyes and coppery curls shot through with white and curves made to hold. It was one of the few times he had been ashamed of Remy, or thought his son's intentions had been less than honorable. He didn't care how much Remy fucked around. Jean-Luc had done the same in his time. He did care about him deliberately, calculatingly breaking a girl's heart, as he had once before with Genevieve Darceneaux. But then Remy had shocked him - likely shocked himself - by falling in love with Rogue. Le coup de foudre.

His stupid son, with his loyal heart, kept loving her regardless of what she did. There had been times when Jean-Luc had hated Rogue. When she put Remy in a coma with a kiss at the end of the world. When she left him to die in Antarctica. When she chose other men over him. His son never moved on, despite Jean-Luc's advice that there were plenty of thief women who'd want to be his queen. He'd even pitched a reconciliation with Belladonna. With Marius and Julien dead, and Belle the new queen of the assassin's guild, peace through their marriage was possible again in a way it hadn't been for years.

You loved her once, you could again, he had said.

Oui, Remy had replied, I loved her once, but I'm not eighteen anymore. I'm a different man now.

After Jean-Luc had heard about his son's hasty, stolen wedding to Rogue, he hadn't known how to react. As a member of the guild, it was a political disaster. The king marrying an outsider, a hero, an Avenger. He hadn't even had time to prepare them for the idea. As a father, he had been thrilled that his son finally had got the girl. He remembered Remy telling him over the phone, sounding stunned and a little shy. Shy! Remy was never shy!

"So, papa, I got married again. I asked Anna to be my wife, and she said yes. And, as we just happened to be at a wedding that got called off, we did it," he had paused, "Sorry that you and Tante Mattie and the family couldn't be there."

"You love her?" he had asked.

"With all my heart."

"And you be happy?"

"More than I thought I could be."

Hearing those words, Jean-Luc resolved to make it work, whatever strings he had to pull, whatever personal markers he had to call in. His son deserved happiness. He had sacrificed it so many times before for the sake of the family and the Guild. Jean-Luc knew he hadn't always been a good father, but he could make up for that now.

He looked at his new daughter-in-law sitting next to him in his son's New Orleans apartment, legs curled up beneath her. She had just finished telling him about Belle's visit and what she had said about Candra's schemes. His own sources had made him aware of the External's new machinations, and he had already reached out to Remy - rather, Gabriel Robert - with a suggestion that he return to New Orleans. He had thought about asking Rogue, and dismissed it. Outsiders had no place in guild business, but then he needed to get used to the fact that she wasn't an outsider anymore.

"Belle told you the truth about Candra and her new elixir. She came to them first - Remy and Belle - and they sent her away. Don't know why she thought it would work, but Candra always had the audacity if nothing else. So, she started recruiting directly," he scratched his chin, "And, oui, I'm sure there's a lot Belle ain't telling girl usually playing an angle of her own, but you don't need me to tell you that. I can get my people to sniff around, see what they uncover."

"That'd be a help," Rogue leaned back into the leather sofa, shoulders relaxing infinitesimally. She looked pale and drained in a way that Jean-Luc had never seen her before. She was wearing jeans and an oversized maroon sweater that clearly belonged to his son, the long sleeves dangling over her hands. He could see just the tips of her finger tips, covered in black gloves. He made a note to tell Remy to take her somewhere with sand, sunshine and good cocktails, and hang the do not disturb sign on their door for a week, "But, otherwise, play along? Find Candra, drag her scrawny ass through the swamps, smash and burn any elixir I see."

"That's what I would do," he paused, "Sorry, chere. I should have brought you in. Remy would have."

"He didn't," Rogue's voice was flat, then she sighed, "Guess he didn't want to bother me with guild business. I've made it pretty clear that I see it as his world. Left him to carry the load by himself. Marriage is really just a long process of figuring out how you're letting the other person down, ain't it?"

She sounded lower than Jean-Luc had ever heard her. Rogue was normally all sass and brass, quick to flirt or joke with him. He wondered whether she was as happy as his son, whether she loved him as much as he loved her. If she didn't, if she left him, it would destroy Remy, and Jean-Luc didn't know whether he could put the pieces back together this time.

"Hopefully you be having some fun?" he asked hesitantly.

"Sorry, Jean-Luc. I'm in my own damn head right now," she rubbed her eyes, and then looked at him and smiled, "Yeah, outside of this particular mess, it's great. Remy … Remy's amazing. Like the time I found his closet of Star Trek collectibles, and, instead of being embarrassed, he was horrified I hadn't even seen TNG, and he made me watch it all from the start. Can't say I'm a fan, but watching him watch it and be so into it… He was cute."

Rogue's cheeks were flushed pink, and Jean-Luc could guess how those evenings had ended. Whatever was on her mind, it wasn't relationship issues. He shouldn't have doubted her. For all her past mistakes, she loved his son and had his back when it mattered. Remy had told him how she had flown in from New York, all fists and fury, to save him when Candra had him held captive the last time. He'd seen the thieves and assassins after she was done with him. Tante Mattie had spent hours treating bruises and setting bones, though she had been none too gentle with the traitors.

A good asset to have on their side, the calculating part of him, honed by decades as king of thieves, thought, You need to make sure she stays that way.

"That's not the story I expected you to tell about my son, chere."

"Gotta keep it G-rated, sugar," she patted his arm, "You are my father in law."

"Oui, you got family, which means you don't have to handle this mess alone. Do you need back-up? I can put a team together."

"Safer if Belle and I handle it ourselves. From what she said, there could be some supersoldier-level threats on the field, but I wouldn't mind some extra eyes on the ground."

"I'd say I'd send my best, but your husband ain't here."

"I left a message about Candra on his burner. Could be he's on his way right now," she said, then added almost too low for Jean-Luc to hear, "God, I hope he is."

Jean-Luc placed a hand over her gloved one and squeezed, "You got this, Anna. I know Remy got faith in you, and I do too."

"I won't let him down. I can't," she replied, "I know how much you and the guild mean to him. You're his family. Mine too now."

"Then, there's nothing to worry about, chere. It's just Candra. How bad can it be?"


NOTES:

Remy's first meeting with Belle and the implication it was set up is Gambit #1 (1999).

Genevieve's story is in X-Men #33 (1991).

Rogue came to Gambit's rescue, and beat up the treacherous assassins and thieves in Mr and Mrs X #11-12.

Rogue and Gambit's first kiss was X-Men #41 (1991). Antarctica was Uncanny X-Men #350. Rogue and Magneto have sex in X-Men Legacy #249 (ick, sorry for the reminder of that dark time).

Rogue and Gambit got married in X-Men Gold #30.