I apologize for the long wait for this finale, but real life hasn't
been cooperating of late.  I realized the other day that it's been 10
months since I posted the first chapter of this story!  So I thank
you all for staying interested in it for this long. :)  Thank you to
everyone who has left me feedback and made me feel all warm and
fuzzy.  Especially big hugs to Rebop, Peggy, Chris, Lee, Bobbi, Phan,
Shala, Cass, Rabid, Wyrd, Silver...hell, it's Christmas, hugs to you
all!

And apologies to those I usually let read my chapters before posting
them...but I had to get this thing posted before Christmas!  I
promised myself and others!  :)
 

Note:  The ham radio call signs used in this chapter are fictional,
though the jargon is real.  Neither of which is something to worry
about anyway unless you're a ham...
 
 

Chapter 8
 

*ring*

Nestled in her bed at the Academy, Jubilation Lee rolled over and
tried to ignore the phone on her nightstand.

*ring*

She put her pillow over her head.

*ring*

"Aw, hell!" Seriously torked that anyone would be calling her at -
she looked at her alarm clock - 8:04 am on a Saturday morning, she
answered the phone almost out of spite. "What?!"

"'Bout time, kiddo."

Jubilee immediately brightened. "Wolvie! Sorry about that, I was
sleeping pretty sound, I guess."

"Figured as much. Listen, you're awake now, right?"

"Yeah. Why? What's wrong?" She didn't like the tone of his voice.

Logan sighed. "Well, we're not sure yet, and that's the problem. Rem
and I need your help."

"Sure, anything for you and...'Rem'?" Jubilee sat up and raked her
fingers through her hair, one eyebrow raising in surprise. "Since
when is he 'Rem'? Hell, I don't think I've ever even heard you call
him 'Remy'! Gambit, yeah, Gumbo, Cajun, Swamp Rat...what's up with
that?"

"Uh..." Jubilee heard a husky Cajun laugh in the background and knew
the X-Men had her on speakerphone.

Years of jumping to conclusions had taught her how to come to the
right ones. "Oh. My. God!!! You two are doing it, aren't you?!"

"Jubilee!" Logan sputtered. Remy laughed loudly.

"Holy crap! I knew this would happen eventually! And duh, you're all
alone together, perfect timing! Damn, Cyke is gonna shit a brick!"

"Maybe, if we can find him, petite," Remy said softly.

She gasped. "Whoa. You two better fill me in, here."

"Cyke didn't check in today." Logan's tone was serious again. "We've
tried hailing him with no response. The homing beacon on the
Blackbird isn't even responding."

"And they didn't tell you guys where they were going." Jubes got out
of bed and put on her slippers.

"'Zactly, petite. Now, we can't imagine dey'd have gone anywhere for
this long wit'out telling Sean and Emma de location."

"For sure not, but they didn't say anything to us before they left."
She yanked on her robe before stepping out into the hallway. "But
that doesn't mean we can't find out!"

"That's what I hoped you'd say," Logan grinned over the phone. "Who's
all there besides you?"

"Just Jono and Ange. Everyone else took off for a couple weeks
between spring and summer sessions." Jubilee thundered down the
stairs. "None of us is a Kitty Pryde, but I think we can have some
coords for ya by the time you can get here."

"Thanks, kiddo. We owe you one." Logan paused. "How'd you know?"

"Know what?"

"About...us?"

Jubilee laughed. "Duh! As if you two haven't been literally watching
each other's asses for the past five years or however long it's been.
Give a girl some credit, Wolvie!" She finally reached the door of the
rec room. "Gotta go, old man. See ya in a bit."

She disconnected the call and entered the rec room. Ange and Jono
were just where she'd left them at 2 am, each sprawled in a corner of
the couch, Nintendo controllers still loosely clutched in their
hands. She gave each of them a hard rousing shove. "Up and at 'em,
boys. We've got a job to do."

* * *

Back at the mansion, Logan sat and stared at the speakerphone, the
dial tone humming annoyingly.

"C'mon, cher." Remy lifted and dropped the receiver to sever the
connection, bringing relative silence. "Let's go."

"How'd she do that?" Logan pushed back his chair, regarded Remy
curiously. "We couldn't have been that obvious, could've we? If I
never knew you liked me, and you never knew I liked you, how'd she
figure it out?"

Remy pulled on his duster, then bent down to kiss his lover
lightly. "A little girl knows her pere, mon coeur." Then he turned
and walked out of the comms room.

Stunned, Logan watched Remy's retreating back for a moment before
wiping a single tear away, getting up and following him to the
hangar.

* * *

"The Savage Land?" Logan asked incredulously. "They went to the
Savage Land?"

~That's wot it looks like, mate,~ Chamber shrugged, seated behind
Emma's computer with the printouts of e-mail hacking tips Angelo had
found on the internet. ~Though it doesn't appear that yer team told
Em why.~

"I thought we were all done with that place years ago," Jubes
shivered.

"Moi aussi." Remy scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Unless Ka-Zar
needed help with something. S'pose it's possible he contacted Jean or
de Prof."

"Ka-Zar? The mano with the tiger?" Ange asked.

~And a luverly wife in a little fur bikini, if I remember me X-
history right,~ Jono winked.

"One and the same," Logan chuckled. He leaned back against the wall,
an unlit cigar clenched between his teeth. "But why the hell would
they keep something like that from us?"

Jono, Ange and Jubes all shrugged. "Aren't they keeping everything a
secret from you these days?" Jubes smirked.

"Good point," Logan sighed.

~Yer at least know who all yer looking for, right?~

"Jean, Scott, Rogue, Henri, Stormy and de Prof."

"You've tried contacting Jean or the Professor by now?" Ange asked.

Logan sighed wearily. "Tried, but neither of us has ever been good at
calling them over a distance."

"Too many shields," Remy explained simply.

Jubilee turned to Jono. "Do you think you can reach that far? Maybe
not to the others, but at least to the 'paths?"

~Can try.~ Several minutes and a trickle of blood from one nostril
later, Jono gave up. ~Either I'm having a shitty psi-day, or they're
all unconscious. Not so much as a whisper."

"Shit, kid. Ya didn't have ta hurt yourself." Logan handed him a
tissue.

Jono shrugged. ~Comes with the territory.~

Remy was now pacing back and forth. "So dey leave last Friday, get
dere yet dat day. Cyke checked in daily, always indicated dat all was
well. In fact, yesterday he said dey almost had everyt'ing wrapped
up."

"So you think they might have been heading home today?" Jubes asked
quietly.

"C'est possible. At first I t'ought dis might just be an electrical
or comms problem, but if y' put it all together wit' de fact dat
dey're all down for de count, I'm t'inking a crash."

The room was silent for a moment as Remy's words sunk in. Finally
Logan took the cigar out of his mouth. "Well, the X-Wing's stocked
with everything we could possibly need for any repairs...or
injuries."

Remy nodded in agreement. "Let's get going, cher."

"We could load up our X-Wing and go too," Ange offered.

Logan shook his head. "Nah - I hate dealing with the White Queen when
she's in a mood, and putting three o' her students in harm's way like
this is sure to piss her off. But maybe you could get it ready
anyway, in case we need backup."

"Consider it done, amigo."

"Jubes, punkin, you're the best." Logan hugged her tightly. "I'm
taking you to the mall once we get back and everything's squared
away."

She lit up, the teenaged mallrat still lurking beneath the surface of
the increasingly sophisticated young woman. "Really? Sweet!"

"Hey, hombres! We did all the grunt work!" Ange protested.

"Hmmm, dat's true. Comic and record stores?" Gambit offered with a
grin.

~Sold!~ Jono answered, eyes crinkling.

Jubilee took a printout from Emma's laser jet and handed it to Logan
as he and Gambit left. "These are the coords Xavier sent to Emma.
Looks like our standard landing area."

Once they were gone, Angelo cleared his throat. "'Cher' means what I
think it does, doesn't it?"

"Yup!" Jubes winked.

~Cyke is gonner have kittens.~

* * *

The longer they travelled, the more fidgety Logan became. Remy,
however, was the picture of calm.

"Damn it, darlin', how can ya do that?"

Remy looked up from the control panel. "Do what, cher?"

"Be all patient and stuff."

The Acadian shrugged. "T'ieves' training. Getting too excited is a
sure way t' screw up." He eyed Logan curiously. "You're usually not
one to get dis wound up."

Logan shifted positions in his co-pilot's chair for perhaps the
thousandth time since they'd taken off from the Academy's landing
pad. "Can't quit thinkin' the worst, I guess. In my mind I keep
seeing the Blackbird in flames..."

"Shhh, honey." Remy squeezed Logan's knee. "Trust me, dat's gone
t'rough my mind too. Among other t'ings."

The thief's inflection changed on that last sentence, and now it was
Logan's turn to watch his lover with concern. The Cajun was staring
back out through the windshield at the white sliver on the horizon
that was slowly getting larger as they approached. Antarctica. Remy's
gaze grew more vacant the longer he looked at it. Logan said nothing,
just took Remy's hand in his own.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Remy asked eventually, his voice sounding
unusually fragile to Logan's ears. "Dey sure didn't try very hard t'
find me, but now I'm going to try to find dem. Including de one who
left me behind in de first place."

Logan squeezed Remy's hand tightly; his fingers were cold and
trembling. "A lesser man woulda been spiteful an' turned his back."

Remy snorted. "Never coulda done dat even if I wanted to. I'm up to
my full quota of guilty conscience."

"Don't, Rem..." Logan started, but was interrupted by a static-y
squawk on their radio receiver. They both held their breath for a
moment until through the white noise came the distinct di-di-dit dah-
dah-dah di-di-dit of Morse code.

"Found 'em." Remy, back to business, quickly set the plane's tracking
equipment to home in on the weak signal. It was another agonizingly
long moment before the location was locked.

Logan studied the coordinates now lit up on one of the screens on the
panel; they were along the outer fringe of the Savage Land. "They
almost made it out..."

"Don', Logan," Remy admonished with a slight grin, the light back in
his eyes. "Dey fine. And even if dey aren't, de Calvary's coming."

Buckling his seatbelt for the first time, Logan sat back in his seat
and gripped the armrests tightly. "Put this pup in overdrive, Rem.
Time's a' wastin'."

Gambit only increased the speed of the aircraft to show his
agreement.

* *  *

The Blackbird wasn't in flames when it first came into view. Not
anymore.

A chill silence filled the cockpit, Remy and Logan's mouths going dry
and hearts stopping at the sight of the grand airship broken and
battered. The starboard wing was torn off, lying smoldering on the
ground a few miles away. It was immediately clear why communication
was down, as the power generators were under that wing and that
entire area was ripped to shreds, a gaping wound in the side of the
plane.

But as they flew in closer it looked as if there'd been some control
to the downing of the Blackbird, not quite as much a crash as landing
in a hurry. The damage, while large, looked repairable. And to their
greatest relief, they saw a blue fuzzy mass moving about, a slimmer
blue mass limping behind him.

As they touched down the big blue fuzzy ran up to their aircraft,
coming into view as Hank McCoy. He was beaming. "Your timing could
not be better, my friends!"

"Hank, what happened? Is everyone OK?" Logan asked worriedly as he
and Remy got out and joined Hank in the ankle-high grass.

"We're all fine. All of us took a bit of a knock to the head, Jean
and the Professor are just now coming around. Scott cut his leg, but
as soon as he sits down and lets me stitch it up, that will be fine
as well." He turned to lead them to the wreckage. "I just sent Storm
and Rogue to return to Ka-Zar's village, but I imagine they'll be
coming back if they saw you coming in. And as for what
happened...well, simply put, the wing fell off."

Nearing the Blackbird they saw that Scott finally had sat down, next
to his groggy wife and the groggier Professor. He was holding a
wadded up towel to his left thigh, the white cloth slowly turning
red. He looked pleasantly surprised to see Remy and Logan, but hid
his emotions well. "Well, this is unexpected. Not a complaint," he
added quickly, seeing the slightest start of a snarl at the corners
of Logan's mouth, "just a truth. How'd you find us?"

"Let's just say Emma needs to secure her e-mail better," Remy
smiled. "Den we picked up on your SOS...a-ha!" He chuckled and picked
up the amateur radio sitting on a nearby rock.

"Good thing we can always count on Hank to be a geek and take that
thing everywhere," Jean noted as she slowly sat upright, leaning on
Scott's arm.

Hank gave a toothy grin. "And you always try to tell me there are no
contacts to be made out here. Ha! X3MH prevails again."

"Four and six, not bad considering the conditions." Remy tossed the
radio back to its owner.

Hank raised one eyebrow. "I don't suppose you have something for me
to put in my contact book?"

"RI5TCH."

"Remy, I had no idea you had a license!" The doctor was a bit
stunned.

Remy just grinned.

All the chatter finally helped rouse the Professor, who made a dry
comment about how one would think telepaths would be better equipped
to take a hit on the head. Remy and Logan had gone to start examining
the damage to the Blackbird and Hank was settling in to start
suturing Scott's leg when Ororo and Rogue touched back down.

Storm's normally tightly reigned emotions were free to run wild in
this untamed land. "Remy!" She threw herself at Gambit, who was so
caught off guard that he nearly toppled over.

"Ca va, Stormy?"

"Don't call...oh, never mind, go ahead! I'm so thrilled to see you
both!" She peeled herself from Remy and attacked Logan with the same
joy and abandon...leaving Remy open for other's affections.

Rogue walked up to Remy and wrapped him in a hug. "Ah knew you'd come
for me, Remy."

He patted her lightly on the back and pulled out of the hug. "Logan
and I came for de team, Rogue," he told her, almost coldly.

She was undaunted by his icy tone. "Whatevuh, sugah. Doesn't matter
how you say it, I reckon." She took him by the wrist and started to
pull him away from the group. "Listen, Remy, Ah've been thinking,
maybe Ah was wrong in calling this off again..."

Remy shook free of her grip. "No, Rogue. I'm not going down dat road
wit' you ever again," he said evenly, anger contained only by the
strongest of wills.

Confusion flashed in her emerald eyes, and a little fury. "Remy,
c'mon, let's just talk." She reached for him again, only to find her
own wrist trapped in Logan's strong grip.

"I think he said 'no', Rogue."

Rogue looked at Logan. Then to Remy. Then back to Logan. Then to
Logan's other hand, which was now resting on Remy's hip. Then back to
Remy, who was looking at Logan in a way he used to look at
her. "Oh...mah...God..." She clasped her free hand over her mouth,
realization dawning.

"Logan, I think you can let go now." Charles glided his hoverchair
closer. Logan let go, flushing a little having realized he'd just
exposed their relationship to the rest of the team. But everyone
seemed OK, just mildly surprised and almost pleased. Scott neither
shit a brick nor had kittens; he was clearly the most blown away, but
once he picked his jaw up he even smiled at Logan.

"I think the two of you need to get things talked out," the Professor
told Remy and Rogue. "Now. The rest of us can get started on the
repairs."

Remy nodded. "C'mon, Rogue. Let's get dis overwit', finally." He
walked toward the treeline. Still stunned, Rogue followed. Logan
watched until they were out of sight.

Scott shook his head as Hank cleaned his wound. /Some punishment that
turned out to be.../

* * *

"So."

"So."

Remy and Rogue stood a few feet from each other, each with their back
against a tree, avoiding the other's gaze. The tension was as thick
as the humid air - both could be cut with a knife.

"Logan, huh?"

"Oui."

"Do you love him?"

Remy looked at her, surprised by her question. "Yes. Yes, I do."

Rogue stared at the green leafy canopy above them. "It's really over,
then? We're over?"

"Yes," he replied, voice firm and steady.

She sighed, then dropped her eyes to Remy. "Well, Swamp Rat, it's
about goddamn fuckin' time."

Remy just gaped at her for a long moment. "Uh, chere? What did you
say?"

"I said it's about goddamn fuckin' time." Rogue slid down the trunk
of the tree to sit in the grass, and gestured for Remy to do the
same. "Remy, haven't you ever wondered why Ah've always treated you
the way Ah have?"

"Well, oui..."

"Because you let me." Before he could try to dispute her, she kept
talking. "Now, Ah ain't blamin' you for anything, it's all mah fault,
was from the beginning. Ah broke it off that first time without
thinking, and Ah didn't reckon Ah had a prayer of you forgivin' me
and givin' things another try. But you did. And the next time, too.
After about the third time, sugah, Ah knew that we really weren't
right together. Knew you were the catch, and Ah was just a mess. But
Ah didn't want to be alone. Reckoned you didn't either, seein' as how
you always took me back. So Ah just kept pressin' my luck, tryin' to
keep things at a level of misery just above solitude."

"Misery loves company," Remy noted wryly.

"You could say that," Rogue smiled. "But ya ain't miserable anymore,
are you? You're really happy with Logan?"

A slow, blissful smile. "I am, chere. Very."

Rogue nodded. "Then that means my luck's ran out. And that's for the
best. High time Ah started actin' like a grown woman instead of a
whiny teenage playin' mind games."

Quiet fell between them for a moment. "Why'd I let y' play me dat
way, Rogue?" Gambit's voice trembled a bit.

She shrugged. "Always wondered that mahself. Hell, you even took me
back after...well, what happened here. Reckon the reason why is
something you'll have to work out...maybe Logan can help you with
that." Rogue rose to her knees and crawled the short distance to
Remy, placed a gloved hand on his knee. "Remy, Ah am so sorry. Ah've
been a god-awful bitch. We shoulda stayed broke up that first time
and just been friends. Hopefully it ain't too late for that."

His gloved hand covered hers. "Nah, chere, not too late. We
Southerners need t' stick together, n'est-ce pas?"

Rogue laughed. "Weren't for us no one would ever eat decent at the
mansion!" She stood up, gently pulling the Cajun to his feet. "We OK
now?"

Remy nodded, smiling. "Oui, Rogue, we finally are."

"C'mon, then! Ah got a jet wing to hold up for a while, while y'all
weld."

Remy followed her out of the clearing, for the first time ever
feeling totally comfortable in his relationship with her.

* * *

It took several hours of hard, non-stop work, but then the majestic
Blackbird was once again airborne, with the X-Wing tailing closely
behind. And once again Remy and Logan were alone, a slightly tense
silence between them. Remy had drawn into himself, put the aircraft
on auto-pilot and now sat continually charging and uncharging a
single card, mesmerized by his own power.

Logan could only take it so long. "Rem? Are you OK?"

"Oui."

"Really."

He sighed. "Non. Maybe. I don't know." He drew the charge back out of
the red deuce and ran his hands through his hair. "How much y' hear?"

Logan hesitated. "Everything."

"Everyt'ing?!"

"Well, cripes, Rem," Logan coughed. "It isn't like I was
eavesdropping. You an' Rogue didn't go that far away, and I can't
just turn off my ears."

Remy bit his lower lip. "Sorry, cher. It's just..."

"That she was right?"

"Oui. I let her walk all over me, even though she gave me every
opportunity to leave. Why would I do dat?"

"Because ya loved her. Wanted her. Emotions make ya do funny things."

"Wit' all due respect, cher, I don't t'ink it can possibly be as
simple as dat."

"Wasn't finished."

"Oh."

Logan searched out a spot on the dash with no buttons or levers and
propped his feet up. "What was the reason Julien had for challenging
you to that duel?"

Remy looked away, out the window, anywhere but Logan's eyes. Where
had that come from? "Didn't approve of de marriage."

"Why?"

"No t'ief was wort'y of his sister. Didn't t'ink I deserved her."

"Did you deserve her?"

Remy turned his head and blinked at his lover. "I...I guess so. Least
I t'ought I did."

"So you defended that and got exiled as a result."

"Cher! My poppa had no choice!" Remy protested weakly. Jean-Luc had
had a choice, and had made the wrong one. Remy knew that and had
forgiven him long ago.

"Maybe, but that's not really the issue, Rem. You wanted her love,
but everyone convinced you that you didn't deserve it. So the first
time Rogue turned you away, you just resigned yourself to thinking
you didn't deserve her anyway. But ya still wanted her, wanted to be
loved so bad that when she came running back you got your hopes up
that somehow, now, you were worthy. She left again, you chalked it up
to not deserving her after all...vicious cycle."

Remy stared at his boots for a while. "When did you get dat
psychology degree?" he finally asked, a tiny smile evident in his
voice.

"Correspondence school," Logan smirked. He began chewing on an unlit
cigar again. "So, did I nail it?"

Remy nodded reluctantly. "Yah. Merde, I'm just a little ball of
issues, ain't I?"

"Yup." Logan laid a hand on Remy's knee. "But so am I. We're suited
for each other."

Fingers twined as Remy looked Logan in the eye. "And I *know* I
deserve your love."

"Damn straight, darlin'. And ya have it. Unconditionally."

The two men shared a long, soft, open-mouthed kiss. Then they both
turned back to the view out the windshield. Remy disengaged the auto-
pilot, paying more attention now to the larger aircraft flying ahead
of them now that they were nearing home.

* * *

Once everyone had showered and eaten - and Hank had given the main
team all a thorough exam - Remy and Logan met with the rest of the X-
Men in the war room for the standard post-mission briefing. Here the
nature of the team's trip was finally revealed to the lovers: Ka-Zar
had called them to help settle a dispute between two groups within
their ever-growing colony. They also had several people in need of
expert medical treatment (Hank had performed two c-sections while
there) and needed help replenishing the irrigation waterway they used
for their vegetable patches. The entire mission had been rather
quiet...except for the earthquake two days ago, which everyone
hypothesized may have weakened the structural integrity of the
Blackbird. Notes were made to check all the vehicles and make
modifications where necessary.

With the briefing completed Scott turned to the next order of
business. He swiveled his chair to face Remy and Logan. "Well,
technically, by leaving the mansion today you broke your probation.
But in the same breath, what you did also did more to prove your
dedication and commitment to the team than anything else possibly
could have, as far as I'm concerned. Not to mention the fact that
your new-found happiness should help you both concentrate on combat
again. So...I'm lifting your sentence of house arrest. Gambit and
Wolverine are hereby reinstated to the team. Provided you want to
come back?" he asked, one corner of his mouth twitching to smile.

Logan and Remy looked at each other, a million words passing in that
lovers' gaze. At last Remy nodded ever so slightly and Logan turned
back to Scott. "Yeah, Cyke. Of course we want to."

Everyone around the table let out a happy sigh of relief. Scott
looked relieved too, in spite of himself. "Well, I obviously speak
for all of us when I say I'm glad to hear your answer. The team isn't
the same without you both, and it will be wonderful to have you both
back in prime form. I just hope that this time off the team to
reflect proved constructive."

Logan took Remy's hand in his own and locked eyes with the thief, so
much emotion in his expression that Remy's eyes misted over with
tears. "It did, Cyke," Logan replied, never looking away form the
young man he so madly loved. "It did."

~FIN~