Part Nine
Rhiannon and Remy did not wake up until well after noon. Remy stayed with her until nightfall, when she said she had to get ready to perform that day. They did not actually do much in the short time they were awake, mostly talked, and ate. He let her make breakfast this time, and she was not too bad at it. Of course, making eggs and bacon was an easy enough task, but she also made strong coffee. To Remy, that was the sign of a good cook. It was easy to overlook a lot of cooking mistakes when you could sink your teeth into a good cup of coffee.
"I want to see you again, Rhian," he commented, as he was putting on his jacket to leave.
"You know where I live, you even know where I'm working," she replied.
"Dat's not de answer I was hoping for," he said, looking at her.
She smiled. "I would like to see you again, too."
"Now dat's de answer I wanted to hear."
He walked home, slowly, not really in much of a rush to get there. He was not looking forward to meeting up with Scott. He had cooled down from his original rush of anger at his behavior towards Rhiannon the night before, but now he had other reasons for being annoyed with the man. Rhiannon's story of Scott scheming to get rid of her did not sit well with him. It seemed too underhanded. Remy and Scott had been through their share of problems getting along in the past, but Remy never thought Scott would do something like that. He could see Scott's frustration at Rhiannon, if Rhiannon indeed was the mouthy adolescent she claimed she was. But getting rid of her by telling her she was not wanted? That was something he never would expect Scott Summers to do.
Remy also used the time to try to puzzle out his feelings about Rhiannon herself. Answers did not come to him. He knew he liked her, but he could not quite define just how much. He wanted to spend more time with her, but he did not think he was falling in love with her. Yet the sex they shared had been more than just a couple nights of pleasure. It was making love. If such a thing is possible to do, with someone you're not in love with, he thought.
When he arrived at the mansion, dinner was over and people seemed to be settling in for the evening. He went to the kitchen to get a beer and make a sandwich. As he was making the sandwich, Scott came in. "Hello."
Remy looked up. "'Ello."
"Uhm you told me to remind you to kick my ass," he said, smiling faintly.
"T'anks." Remy said. Turning his attention back to his diner, he added. "Mebe later. I wanna eat first."
"All right. I can wait."
Unable to resist, Remy chuckled faintly. "After I eat dis sandwich, I'll be happy to give you an ass whuppin', if dat's what you got your heart set on."
It was Scott's turn to chuckle, which he did. Gambit finished with his sandwich and put the bread, cheese and meat he had used away. When he sat down at the table with his snack, Scott sat down across from him. "Remy, can we talk?"
He nodded. "I suppose." He looked at Scott, carefully. As far as he could tell, Scott was calm, unlike last night when he had come out, screaming at Rhiannon. Remy wished he could see Scott's eyes though. That was one of the things that sometimes made it difficult to deal with Scott Summers, the inability to make eye contact, or at least know he was making eye contact. Remy, despite coming across as shallow and egotistical at times, had put a lot of time and effort into studying people. He always found someone's eyes to be the real key into what they were feeling. Body language could be faked, if someone knew enough about it, but eyes could not be. "What you wanna talk 'bout?"
"Your new friendship."
"She has a name," Remy said. "Rhiannon."
Scott ignored Remy's stress on her name. "Are you sure it's wise to spend so much time with her?"
Remy shrugged. "Well, I wasn't intendin' on visitin' her last night, but you made such a lovely impression on her, I had to go an' see if she was all right."
"You didn't have to spend the night with her."
"You my father, Scott?" He raised one brow, studying Summers with a quizzical look. "Come to tell me who or who I can' spend de night wit'?"
"No," Scott said, shaking his head. "Look, I know I've been acting like a real " he paused.
"Putz?" Remy supplied for him.
Scott smirked. "Okay, that wasn't exactly the word I was trying for, but it will do. I'm sorry I've been acting like a real putz about this friendship of yours."
"Apology noted." Remy took a bite of his sandwich and chewed it thoughtfully.
"But I'm worried," Scott added.
"I'm a big boy, Summers," Remy said, not unkindly. "I can take care o'myself."
"I know that," Scott said, sighing. "This isn't coming out the way I want it to. Look, how much did Rhiannon tell you? About what she is, about us? About Bobby?"
"She tole me quite a bit 'bout everythin'," Remy answered.
"Did she tell you what she did to Bobby?"
"Oui," Remy nodded. "An' de whole t'ing sounds like a big mistake to me. She din' know what she was doin'. She feels real bad about dat' incident."
Scott pressed his lips together in a thin line. "You weren't here, Remy. You didn't see what she did to Bobby."
"I can imagine," Remy said. "She painted a pretty vivid picture. I t'ink de term 'mindless zombie' was used. However, Bobby is okay now. He has some big, gaping holes in his memory, but I suppose de Professor t'ought he was doin' de right t'ing. Mebe it was de only t'ing he could do, under de circumstances. Besides, it was all an accident. Rhiannon didn' know she was doing it."
"Are you sure about that?" Scott asked. "I mean, I'm sure she said that, but do you really, deep down in your heart, believe it?"
"I 'ave no reason not to," Remy countered. "She really feels bad about what 'appened. She don' strike me as de type to lie."
"You might be a bit biased in her favor," Scott said. "She's a very beautiful woman."
Remy looked at him, eyes narrowing, lips twisted into a smirk. "Scott, I t'ink we both know by now, dat I'm not de type to get taken in by a pretty face. It's not like I've never associated wit' beautiful women before."
"True," Scott agreed. "But she's more than just your average, beautiful women. She's part vampire."
"Not her fault," Remy said. "She was attacked."
"I'm not saying it was her fault. I'm just saying that what she is, what she became, might influence her behavior. Vampires aren't exactly known for their honesty."
Remy did not know what to say to that comment, so he ignored it. He was not about to start explaining his feelings about Rhiannon to Scott. Hell, he could not even figure them out himself, what chance did he have of explaining them to Summers? "Look, Scott, you don' like her. Dat's obvious. I do like her, an' I intend to continue to see her. Can' we just agree to disagree on dis one?"
"Remy, I'm worried. She must have feed from you."
"Oui, she has." Remy nodded. "But she tole me she can't take enough blood from me to kill me, she'd get sick first. An' what happened to Bobby had somet'in to do wit' him drinking her blood."
"So that's how it happened," Scott mussed. "We didn't know."
Remy wondered if he had told Scott too much. Although Rhiannon had not sworn him to secrecy, he had the feeling she had told him a few things she probably should not have. He did not know if there was some sort of code of honor among the undead, but it would make sense if there was. "Look, is dere a point to this conversation?" he finally asked, trying to change the subject.
"I-I can't stop you from associating with anyone you want to, Gambit," Scott said softly, "But I can warn you, and I am. As a team leader, as your friend, please be careful."
He frowned. "Scott, I t'ink you did 'nough damage t'the girl, okay? Stay out of dis."
"Damage?" Scott sounded shocked or, maybe worried. "What damage did I do?"
"She tole me how she left de X-Men," Remy said, trying to keep his voice controlled. "How you lied an' tole her dat you an' de other X-Men had a little meetin' and decided she wasn' X-Men material. Problem is, dere was no meeting, right?"
Scott shook his head. "You only heard her side of it. Will you judge me only by that?"
Remy bit his lower lip. The man had a point; after all, he had listened to Rhiannon's point of view on things. "All right," he finally said. "You tell me your side."
"There had been some talk about Rhiannon's place with the X-Men," Scott said. "Did Logan tell you that she used to love to give me a hard time?"
Remy nodded. "But I can understand why. She was a kid, Scott. Stuff had 'appened to make her very distrustful of authority figures, an' like it or not, you come across like a real tight ass a lot of de time."
Scott frowned. "All right, you're right on that. And, I'll even concede that when Rhiannon came here, it was not a good time for me. Jeanie was believed dead " He paused for a moment, as if falling into memories, then shook his head, focusing back on the issue at hand. "But there was a lot more at stake than just her and I not getting along. Rhiannon was a mutant, with an ability that could have come in quite useful, but she hated using it."
"Why?" Now Remy was puzzled.
"I don't know all the reasons," Scott admitted. "But I think she just thought it was wrong. She told the professor once, that she worried that no one really liked her, that on some subconscious level, she was making them like her. It worried her. And it didn't help that she and I didn't get along seeing how I was the only person around here who she couldn't affect."
"I can' see her bein' able to affect the professor," Gambit said, thinking. "I mean, she goes into someone's head, an, no one is better dan de professor at fighting dat sorta t'ing."
"I agree, but she was never sure," Scott said. "She was always afraid that on some level she wasn't aware of, she influenced people. She hated the idea that she might control people. This made it really difficult to train her. On top of that, she did have a lot of trouble taking the X-Men, what we are, and what we stand for, seriously."
"So you kick her out?" Remy asked, raising one brow. "She'd been here since she was fourteen, you might 'ave been a little more helpful, tried to make sure she'd be all right."
"I didn't kick her out," Scott said. "I did call her into Charles office that night to discuss her attitude. It was becoming a problem. But she immediately took the defensive and insisted I was kicking her out! Then she started saying that if we didn't want her, she'd leave, and since she was eighteen, I couldn't stop her. What could I do Remy? I tried to explain that no one was kicking her out, but she didn't want to listen."
Remy took a sip of his beer, rather than answer. He could almost picture the situation in his mind. Rhiannon had already proved to him that she could be overly defensive. Being called on the carpet by Scott Summers, a man who she did not particularly like, to discuss her attitude Well, it was easy to see where she might immediately conclude she was being kicked out and decide to get out of there as fast as she could. It was the sort of thing he might have done himself in the same situation. Especially when he had been younger. "So, you sayin' dat dis whole t'ing wit' Rhiannon is a misunderstanding?"
"Why she left? Yes, it is," Scott said. "Okay, I probably should have tried harder to talk her into staying. But, I admit that I wasn't too fond of her, and it was kind-of a relief to see her go."
"What 'bout de little scene wit' her last night?" Remy asked. "There was a lot of hate goin' on between de two of you. After all dese years, you t'ink you could 'ave gotten over it."
"Don't get me wrong, Remy. Misunderstanding or not, I don't forgive her for what she did to Bobby."
"It was an accident," Remy said.
"Perhaps it was, but she still shouldn't have been feeding off him in the first place. It's wrong, Remy. I can't condone that sort of thing. Not with Bobby, not with you."
"I let her," Remy said. "Bobby did too."
"Did you let her the first time?"
Scott had him there. "Non, I didn'. But Bobby did, according to Rhiannon."
"We can't confirm that, can we? Bobby doesn't remember any of it. And deep down, don't you think it was wrong of Rhiannon to do that, to take your blood without asking?"
Remy frowned. "Mebe, but it ain't like dat's somet'in she can jus' come out an' ask, 'hey, you, can I drink some of your blood?' Look, Scott, we can go 'round an' round 'bout dis, but we aren't gonna get anywhere. I wan' to keep seeing her. I will keep in mind all dat you tole me, but I'm not going to just walk away."
If Scott was disappointed, he hid it well. "All right. I suppose I can't stop you. But please, Remy, be careful, okay? It really hurt seeing what she did to Bobby. I'd hate to see it happen to anyone else."
Remy nodded. He did not know what else he could do or say. While he understood Scott's worry about all of this, he also had the uncomfortable feeling the man was holding back something.
Aw, fuck it, he thought, finishing up the last of his beer. Don't make much difference one way or t'other. Ain't like Rhiannon is in any hurry t'come back to de X-Men. Dis is my private life. He just hoped that the one would not interfere with the other.