“Yeah sugah...there was nothin’ else aftah, except you. It doesn’t matter anyway... never did. It was supposed that I would feel emptiness. It just had to be.”  Her hand shook a little, and a little bit of the liquid in her cup fell on the table.

“No, I don’t believe that mom, I can’t. Why do you say you can’t tell whether that whole mess was your fault or not? Please, do it. You’re here for that, for better or worse” The young woman a stray of her short black hair behind her ear, as she cleaned the little mess her client had done on the table.

“Go on, he’s waiting”

“An X-Man? Wow! The majority of those died a long time ago! But at least Mr. Xavier had his dream become true, even if he didn’t got to live to see it. But I’m not sure you got the chance to be happy, mister.”

“That mebbe be true, garçon” Mister LeBeau said as he warmed his cup with the little left he had of his powers. “ See her dere?” The young man turned his attention from his client’s small power display to the old short gray-haired woman. “ This man came to see that woman. She left me, an’ it was all ‘coz o’me. All I have left is cold, and so Remy had to learn to live with it. But all dem that I used to fell a little warm, were never like her.”

The young man, Thomas, left in silence to the kitchen and nodded his girlfriend to go with him; feeling sorry for the mutant he’d just met. There was no music in the shop, no intoxicating smell of coffee and cigar, no loud young couples. Just one unresolved matter, much more intense than all those other things.

Then, walked slowly towards her.

“I feel sorry about them love, Rogue and Remy have suffered a lot, and they could never do a thing about it.” Agnes, said, as she rested her head against his boyfriend.

“Come on honey, you know your mom’s strong, not only in body but in soul, she’ll handle it.” He putted his arm around her, and they stood standing against the kitchen refrigerator. “You know, Agnes Lehnsherr, You’ve got your dad’s blue eyes...but they’re beautiful, peaceful...”

“Oh Thomas, she told me there was nothing else after!”  she sobbed “ I touched her yesterday, she had her powers on... and knew she didn’t loved Erik as much as she did Remy...”
 
His hands hold her tighter “I know hon. I talked to him, and I noticed his love for her too...” He putted his head on hers.

“Everything’s going to be alright”

“Calm down for Christ’s sake Remy! Ah’m nervous too, but why waiting till today? Why so long?” Rogue was almost getting off of her seat

“I dunno. ‘coz I tough it was over. But now I realize that I can’t leave dis world without gettin’ it all straight."  He stopped looking at the coffee and lifted it to her. He expected to see tears but instead he saw a calmed, sensitive face.

“Well Ah wanna thank ya sugah, Ah needed ta do the same thing. Ah don’t care how ya found me, and my daughter’s place” She made an effort to sound as sincere as possible.

Remy coldly replied “So Rogue, you got married wit' Magneto, huh?” This comment disturbed her a lot.

“Ah must tell ya, Remy, Ah never loved Magneto er...Erik as much as Ah did ya, Ah just wanted to have the normal things in life, Ah wanted to leave something aftah mah death ... and she didn’t got mah curse....”

Remy held her gloved hands “Yes, she is beautiful, she has your face ... now Rogue, Don’t be worried about dat, I’m happy for ya.  So how was it with Magneto?” Although he did know the answer, he needed to show her his concern about his life with him

She fastly looked down from the corner of her eyes “It was very nice.  I learned to love him. He died about ten years ago”

“I’m sorry chere” He read in her expression that there was something  else “What’s wrong?”

“Ah-Ah never could do those things with ya ... Ah could never touch ya”

He held her hands between them. With her powers off, he could see how age had made its way through her, and so it did with him; both hands cold, and its backs with freckles    “But ya tried, now didn’t ya Rogue? That’s what matters! Just look at all the miracles ya managed to do! It was moi who screwed it up all along!”

“Now don’t ya tell me mistuh LeBeau that you didn’t kept on because of me! Look at you! You’re still alive! You’ve fought against all yoah demons, and Ah’m the last one!”

“I guess ya’re right. Ev’thing’s settled down between us.  I wish I could have done this before, I wish I’d find a way for us to--”

“Gambit..." Her calmed voice said as she lifted his chin.  "What was befoah ain’t what it is now. Come down to earth sugah, I had to be like this, just like everything in this life God knows why. Don’t apologize for the rest of the world, don’t keep bringing things or dreams already left We must learn from our mistakes: the past’s the past. Ah just know  where we’d be standin’ if we’d do this decades ago"

“I know chere...you jus’ opened my eyes to that fact”

“Leave?” Thomas said

Agnes grabbed his hand tight and pulled him to the table. As they passed by the cash machine, they saw that there was some money next to it. And over the table...a deck of cards.  The King and Queen of hearts were against the cups, and there was something coarsely engraved on the table

“Do what you should now...you don’t know where’d you be if you don’t ... thanks for giving sense to the time we did this. Now we know why it had to be until now”

“UH?” she felt that her shoulder was tapped

A harsh, deep and loud voice was heard “We are gathered here today to remember the life and memories of our beloved friend, to some known as Rogue, to others as Mrs. Lehnsherr, and to a few one ones as—

“Agnes” Thomas whispered to Agnes, as she wake up in the middle of a funeral

“Oh, sorry Thomas, I went blank, out of this world ... but now I’m here”

“What happened?” Thomas replied very low

“I’m sorry, is just that I remembered last night, mom and Mr. LeBeau at the coffee shop”

“What? We still haven’t got the coffee shop, what’s wrong with you honey?”

“My God...that’s true!”

“Come on Agnes, let’s go home, I know this is hard for you, but let’s go home after this...we’ll think about that coffee shop problem and all those others later”

“No Thomas, we must not waste any time! She told me not to!”

“Shhh honey...Don’t worry”

And looking at her mom’s grave she began to think  “Thanks mom, even from a dream, you taught me the way for my problems...and you made me see that in your case, everything had its time....”