Home | Forum | Mailing List | Repository | Links | Gallery
 
 
Chapters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
 
 
 

Ghosts in Westchester - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Dandelion
Last updated: 07/18/2007 10:21:38 PM

Chapter 3

Ororo

"Ororo?"

I glanced up from my cup of tea and smiled. "Hello, Jean." She looked anxious, angry and a little sad. "Is something wrong?"

Her brow furrowed and she sighed softly. "It's nothing that won't work itself out in time," she seemed to shake herself. "Listen, Remy's at the boathouse. I think he'd probably like it if you went to see him."

"At the boathouse?" I felt my eyebrows raise.

"I took him down there so he'd get some sleep," a dark look came across her features. "He's been running himself ragged, the jerk."

I smiled. "Well, I'm glad you saw to it he get some rest, and I'll go to see him as soon as I finish with this," I gestured to my teacup.

She nodded. "Have you seen Nathan?"

"I believe he is in the lab with Henry."

She nodded again and hurried off. I finished my tea and rinsed the cup out. It seemed to me that Jean and Remy were ready to go public.

It was about time.

Logan was lurking around the boathouse as I drifted down from the sky. He looked up at me as I approached. "Hey Ro."

"Logan," I studied my old friend. He seemed very angry but also sad. Something had happened between Logan and Jean, that was obvious, and it did not appear to have been good.

"Tell me something, Ro," Logan continued to glower at the boathouse. "Who do you think Slim woulda wanted Jeannie to move on with?"

So it was about that. "I think he's want her to be with whomever made her happy."

He swore under his breath. "So what brings you out here, Ro? Jeannie's in the mansion."

"I know, I came to see Remy."

His gaze snapped to me. "You know?"

"I know Remy is here," I replied evenly. "Jean said she brought him here to get some sleep."

"Right," he muttered. "I'm goin' out for a bit. I think you and me need to talk about your boy when I get back, Ro."

"If you wish," I nodded.

"Yeah. I wish." He disappeared into the woods.

I stared after him for several moments feeling helpless. Logan was hurting and I knew why but I couldn't do anything for him. A large part of my didn't want to do anything. I sighed. I was hard to know what to do.

I went to the boathouse door and knocked.

"S'open!"

When I entered I saw Remy standing near one of the windows looking out at the woods Logan had disappeared into.

"'Lo Stormy," he smiled at me but continued his watch.

"I have asked you repeatedly not to call me that," I responded as usual, closing the door. "And I don't believe Jean would appreciate your smoking in her home." Jean probably didn't mind but I felt obligated to keep up the pretense until Remy called an end to the game.

"She's used to it," he shrugged. "But I know you don' like 'em much." He left the window and put out the cigarette waving his hand to help dissipate the smoke. "What brings you here?"

"Jean seemed to think we should spend some time together."

He stopped, looked at me, then smiled. "C'est vrai," he gestured to the couch. "Sit down, 'Roro. I got somethin' to say."

I did so.

He pulled a chair around the coffee table and set it so he was facing me He leaned his elbows on his knees and studied his hands. "You and me, we been friends a long time.:

"Best friends," I corrected him gently.

His head jerked up at that and the grateful expression in his eyes almost brought tears to mine. He beamed a smile at me. "Best friends," he concurred, then heaved a heavy sigh. "You know Jean and I are involved."

"I know."

"Figured you must. You always been hard to fool."

"We all know, Remy," I told him. "Henry and Nathan as well."

He didn't seem particularly easy with that bit of information. "Yeah, I guess you all had to know."

"We never talked about it, though," I continued. "For some reason we felt we weren't supposed to. We were waiting for you and Jean to come out with it. Why didn't you?" I could hear the wounded tone in my voice and Remy flinched slightly at the sound of it. This was the issue that concerned me the most. They were among friends and yet they had hidden this. It had hurt. It still did.

Remy looked thoughtful. "The first couple of times we were together we didn't think it was going to last. We just figured it was two friends working closely together falling into bed. We just didn't think it was anything worth talking about.

"But then, I'd find myself at her door in the middle of the night or she'd come to mine and it stopped being nothing and started being something. We just weren't sure what. And we couldn't tell anybody about it when we weren't even sure what we'd be telling you. We thought if we kept it between us we'd be able to figure out what it was and then we could tell everyone."

"Does this mean you've figured out what it is between you?"

He offered me a roguish grin. "No, but there are a few things that made a difference."

"Such as?"

"Such as leavin' Moscow and coming back here to all the memories and finding out she still wants to be with me."

I felt my heart squeeze. "You didn't think she'd want you anymore?"

"C'mon Ro," he frowned at me. "We're all grown-ups here. We know the spell a foreign city can cast on you when you're away from your home and the troubles you left there."

"We were there nine months, Remy," I insisted. "That's hardly a winsome vacation that sweeps you away from the real world."

"Aw, Stormy, get real," he burst out. "We only stayed there as long as we did because none of us wanted to come back. We wanted to pretend that everything was status quo. None of us wanted to come back to no Xavier and an extra headstone in the graveyard."

I studied Remy for several moments. There was a haunted expression in his eyes that I had only seen there a few times. It only appeared when he was dealing with his darkest demons. "You didn't want to leave either."

"No. I didn't."

"Why?"

"Because I felt like I was doing something right. I felt like I had proven myself to all of you." Remy scrubbed his eyes with his fingers. "I didn't want to come back here and just be a traitor again."

"Now you listen to me!" Before I even knew it I had clasped his head between my hands, forcing him to look at me. "You are not 'just' anything, least of all a traitor!" My voice was surprisingly raw. "Everyone's come to terms with that part of your past."

"Not everybody," he whispered.

"Your team has," I assured him.

"It's going to be brought up again when they all find out I'm with Jean."

I pressed my forehead against his with a sigh. "You're right. It will." I stayed like that for a moment before pulling back and settling on the couch again. "But I know you and Henry and Nathan do now as well."

"You'll pardon if I'm a little skeptical 'bout Nate being an out and out supporter of my sleeping with his mother."

"Nathan might surprise you."

"Well, that'd do it." Remy sighed. "Ro, you know no one's going to be cheering about this. It's bad enough I took Scott's position as leader but his woman too? Hell, if it were anyone else I'd be sneering at 'em, too."

"So stop seeing her."

Remy's head jerked up at that and I could see him bite off an angry retort. "You testing me, Stormy?"

I smiled and teased him. "Moi?"

He snorted but grinned as he shook his head.

"Are you in love with her, Remy?"

He didn't look at me for a moment but I could see he was seriously considering the question. "Not yet."

My smile widened. "That's a good place to be, I think. I'm glad you aren't rushing into it."

"I learned my lesson there, Ro," he muttered darkly.

"Mmm, speaking of which," I said. "When are you going to tell Rogue?"

He shrugged.

"You are going to tell her."

"Dat girl don't wanna hear anyt'ing what comes out of my mouth," Remy sniffed, his anger coloring his accent. "I've tried contacting her. I've tried writing. I get nothing from her. Maybe I'm not in such a hurry now."

"Remy," I looked at him sternly.

He squirmed slightly but shook his head. "I'm not making any promises, Ro."

I could see that was all I was going to get from him on that subject. I didn't necessarily like it but it wasn't up to me. I hoped he would talk to Rogue himself but those two were currently locked in a battle of wounded pride and neither was prepared to take a step back. Yet.Remy got up from the chair and picked through the pocket of his coat.

"You got any place you need to be, 'Ro?"

"Not immediately," I assured him, craning my neck to catch a glimpse of what he was looking for.

He brandished a deck of cards. "You ready to play?"

"Only if you're ready to lose."

"You got quite an ego there, Stormy," he gestured to the dining table.

I stood up grinning and took a seat at the table collecting the cards in my hand as he dealt them. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that."

 

GambitGuild is neither an official fansite of nor affiliated with Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
Nonetheless, we do acknowledge our debt to them for creating such a wonderful character and would not dream of making any profit from him other than the enrichment of our imaginations.
X-Men and associated characters and Marvel images are © Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
The GambitGuild site itself is © 2006 - 2007; other elements may have copyrights held by their respective owners.