Two Pair
Chapter Four: That River In Egypt
by L.M Griffin
Six and a Half Months In:
Ring. Ring. Click. "Xavier's School. Talk fast, the game's at commercial,"
Logan growled softly. This was why he hated the days when everyone else
took off to do errands and the like. Left him alone to answer the damned
phone. Which on most days he wouldn't mind, if Georgetown and Michegan
State weren't at the end of the second period, score tied. This better
not be one of those credit card companies...
"Hel-Hello? Is this the, er, permanent residence of Remy LeBeau?"
The masculine voice was slightly nervous. There was noise in the background
that sounded like things were crunching and breaking.
Logan allowed a bushy eyebrow to rise. The guy sounded like a panicked
Tom Cruise. Well, he had Logan's attention at hello. "Yeah, but he's
not home right now. He went up to the city for the weekend," the Canadian
grunted.
There was a snort. "Yes, we know that. Are you one of
his, er, 'friends'?" There was another crash and the sound of glass
tinkering down to the floor. The man sighed heavily.
Logan's lips shifted to a straight line. "Depends on how many times
he skins me alive in poker. He in trouble?"
The man took a deep breath, when all of a sudden there was the loudest
breaking noise yet. The man put his hand over the phone and Logan tensed
as he heard another voice. Female. What the hell was going on? The man
came back on the line, his voice strained. "I am only going to say this
once. Help. Now. Please?"
Logan growled low in his throat before saying, "Just what's going
on over there, bub?"
The man's voice was wry as he replied, "Oh nothing, really. He's
just trashing his very expensive apartment
to pieces."
Logan felt a sigh heave out of his chest. This couldn't be good.
Well, he had promised the kid that
he'd look after the Cajun... "Where are you?"
The man who sounded like Tom Cruise gave him the address of a rather
high priced apartment building on the West Side. Logan turned off the
game, wrote a brief note to the others where he was and grabbed his
Harley from the garage. One hour later (bumper to bumper in the Holland
Tunnel, that sure as hell improved
Logan's mood) he pulled in front of the apartment building and walked
inside. The guard didn't even look at him twice when he said he was
here to see Remy LeBeau. Apparently, the management was used to seeing
strange men come to see the Cajun. Huh.
He rode the elevator up to the penthouse level and stepped out, broad
hands stuffed inside his leather jacket. Well, the place met Remy's
level of opualent grace. The black oak paneling was nice, but Logan
would have preferred the real smell of trees to all the wood polish.
He made his way to the broad, black door and knocked on it firmly. He
briefly wondered what he was going to find behind it. If Tom Cruise
really was here, maybe he had brought
Nicole Kidman with him. Logan grinned; he'd always had a thing for red-heads.
The door opened and Logan bit back a sigh of disappointment. It was
a woman, all right, but no red-head. Long, curly black hair framed a
dark skinned face of exotic beauty. Brown eyes moved over him with a
flicker of relief. Her voice was a mixture of accents as she spoke.
"Are you Remy's friend from Westchester?"
"Yep. Name's Logan, and since I know you're not Nicole...who are
you?" Logan quiered. Well, she was a looker. Not
a Jubilee-skrull, however, which worried him. Had Remy finally found a woman to replace Jubilee? That particular worry
heightened immediately when she reached out with her left hand to pull
him inside and he saw a HUGE diamond solitaire glittering on her finger.
He held in a growl. He'd hate to have to rearrange Remy's face to match
his...completely trashed pad. Logan surveyed the damage to the foyer,
his expression carefully blank. Place looked like Remy had gone ten
rounds with Creed - and lost.
"Nicole? What? Nevermind, I don't think I want to know. The name's
Sekhmet Conway. Call me Sek, you'll never be able to pronounce it correctly
otherwise," the woman now named Sek said, pulling him down the long
front hallway. "The panicky man on the phone was my fiancee, Jacob Gavin
Jr. Just to give you the short of it - we came an hour and a half ago
to tell Remy we finally set the date for the wedding and to make sure that he'd come. Old
joke between the three of us - Remy said he'd never believe that Jake could convince me to be his wife unless
we handed over the invitation him personally."
"Jake Gavin...the Courier? That means that you're that archaelogist
friend of the Cajun's?" Logan asked, his bushy eyebrows raising slightly.
"Thought you and Remy..." Well, at least she wasn't with Remy. The worry that gnawed at him for a moment faded to nothingness.
"Never got off the ground. The guy was still angsting over - that
woman whose name I refuse to mention because
it makes me break out in HIVES - and besides that, Jake knows how to
show a girl how much she means to him. In a sweet, corny way." A smile
of contentment settled on Sek's face, which then faded back into a frown.
Logan scratched the top of his head, making his hair stick out a
bit more. "Okay. So you come to tell him the good news and...he went
ballistic?" He grimaced at the state of the living room as they moved
through the doorway - completely destroyed.
"Oh NO, he'd already started this when we got here. We walked through
the front door, the wide open front door. Remy's
usually more cautious then that and we were worried. We headed into
the kitchen and..." She stopped speaking as Remy suddenly appeared from
the door to the dining room. Sek sighed, her expression shifting into
something close to pain. Logan's expression turned into something close
to shock. Which was impressive, because he hadn't thought that anything
could shock him anymore. Brownie points for LeBeau.
Remy was dressed only in jeans, his well muscled upper body covered
with a faint sheen of sweat. A half full bottle of bourbon was clutched
firmly in his hand, and he was obviously plastered seven ways to Sunday.
That wasn't what was making Logan
stare at him in complete surprise. What was making Logan
stare at Remy was the fact that the young man had entered the living
room skipping barefooted and singing, badly, at the top
of his lungs. "I'm a lil' Teapot, short 'n stout! Here is my handle,
here is my spout!"
Charging after Remy from the other room came a man who, Logan had
to admit, bore more then a passing resemblence to Tom Cruise, from the
scruffy looking hair to the finely tailored suit. Jacob Gavin Jr., the
normally smooth and suave Courier, was running futilely after the inebriated
Cajun yelling, "All right! All right!! You're a teapot! Teapots don't
drink bourbon!!"
Remy suddenly stopped, spinning around to face his friend. His accent
was heavy as he slurred, "Jakie, I think dat alllll de teapots should
drink bourbon. Ish goo' shtuff. Keeps ya from thinkin' 'bout things
like blue eyes, 'n black hair like satin..." A small whimper left his
throat and he stumbled over to the corner. He crouched, hugging himself
and the bottle tightly.
Jake let out a long sigh, then turned to face Logan and Sek. His
voice sounded harried as he said, "Tell me you're not the T.V. repair man."
Logan's lips quirked once. "Nope. Name's Logan. How long has he been
like this?"
"You mean completely smashed? I don't
know, a few hours?" Jake rubbed his head in frustration. He and Remy
had not always had been the best of friends, but they were friends. This wasn't like
the usually cool thief Jake knew, and it worried him.
Sek moved over to her fiancee's side, squeezing his arm gently. She
turned her soft gaze back to Logan. "When we came in, he was breaking
dishware in the kitchen. He said the noise kept him from thinking."
"Yeah, he was on this total noise kick. If he just kept making noise,
kept singing, kept smashing his used-to-be-nice belongings, she couldn't get into his
head anymore. Whoever she is." Jake frowned, bringing
his dark eyebrows together.
"He also said something like...'I don't understand why it's not working.
I stopped acting the way I feel, so she shouldn't be scared anymore.
She should come home..' He said it was a perfectly logical plan?" A
puzzled expression rested on Sek's face.
Logan's lips quirked again. So that was what Remy had been
thinking. Well, it was a logical plan. Idiotic, but logical. "Don't
worry about him. Gumbo's not exactly at his most rational," he said,
eying Remy carefully.
"This isn't a Rogue thing, is it?" Jake
said, then winced as his fiancee smacked his arm, hard. He glared at
her. She glared back.
"You know I hate that name. It
was the agreement we all made years ago: I wouldn't develop
that device to make her implode from hundreds of miles away if we just
never brought up that name again. My father was furious when I stopped work on it.
We could have made millions and I would have had fun playing with it.
But I stopped, simply because you and Remy promised NEVER to say that
name," Sek growled softly.
"Yeah, but I just wanted to know-" Jake protested, before Logan interupted.
"Kids, this don't have anything to do with...the other one. It does,
however, have to do with Gumbo being so stupidly in love he can't think
straight," Logan said calmly.
"Geez, figured that one out after he smashed
all his Wintermere crystalware." Jake said softly.
Just then Remy stirred from his corner, his crimson on black eyes
flaring up with drunken delight as they focused in on Logan. He staggered
to his feet and walked unsteadily over to the shorter man, wrapping
an arm around his shoulders. "Logan! Mon ami! I think you should b'come
a teapot avec moi. All yah hafta do is drink alotta bourbon. It keeps
de blue eyed imps away - but, I don't want her t'be away no'more. Logan,
you think if I stop drinkin', she come back?"
The look of total misery pasted over Remy's face almost made Logan
regret what he was going to do next. It was, however, the best thing
for Remy. Really. He tilted the drunk Cajun up enough so he was standing
on his feet, then ordered gently, "Say nighty-night, Gumbo."
"Nighty-night Gumbo..." Remy cooed softly, as Logan's fist cracked
into his chin. Remy stumbled backwards, and then took a header into
the floor, out like a light.
The couple stared at Remy for a moment, then Jake burst out, "Well
HELL! Why didn't we think of that?"
"Because darling, you can't punch worth a damn, and I just had my
nails done," Sek remarked dryly, leaning over Remy. He was breathing
evenly, and he might have a bruise on his chin, but he would be fine.
Physically at any rate.
"Hm...good point. All right, Logan. I'm going to ask ONE question,
and I demand that you give me ONE answer." Jake's line was good. It
just the delivery that came across as whiny.
Logan had moved over towards the phone, looking for a few phone numbers.
Two, in fact. One for a cleaning crew for this place, and the other
for a store that delivered groceries. Remy had both written down. Hm.
First smart thing he had seen the Cajun do all day. At Jake's question,
Logan's eyebrow lifted, as he rumbled softly, "Really now? Why?"
Jake gulped at the sudden feral glint in Wolverine's blue-grey eyes,
but he crossed his arms and stood his ground, "Because I had to listen
to a drunk Cajun sing 'I'm a little Teapot' one hundred and three times
in the past hour. Off key. That's why."
Logan's lips quirked up at the corners in the barest hint of an amused
grin. "Well. All right then. Ask away."
Jake looked at Sek, and together they asked, "Who the hell is SHE?"
Logan took a deep breath. He really didn't know how much Jake and
Sek knew about Remy's life outside of the X-Men. Oh hell. They'd find
out sooner or later. "You two ever hear the Cajun talk about Jubilation
Lee?" he said calmly, moving back over to Remy's side.
The couple blinked together, as they said in unison, "You mean that
girl with the...you mean that Remy is...that's 'her'?!?"
"Yep," Logan said, leaning down to pick up Remy's unconcious body.
Oof. Remy was going to have to start laying off the jamabalaya. The
couple absorbed the knowledge, and a glint of understanding entered
Sek's eyes. Logan appreciated it. Jubilee would like this woman..
Jake's eyes had a pleading quality to them. "Please, please tell me you're bringing her back? I never want to hear
'I'm A Little Teapot' again. Never, ever."
The dangerously smug look returned to Logan's face. "Nope...I'm not.
He is. Now, why don't you
folks get along out of here? I'll sober Remy up."
The expression in his eyes let Sek and Jake know that if Remy was
going to sober up, Logan was going to make sure that it was going to
be the hard way. They wisely said
nothing to that, and left the apartment. Both knew that Logan would
either smack Remy around or talk some sense into him. Maybe both. Good.
He needed it.
Logan dropped Remy in his bed (Very nice bedroom, too. All black
silk and black oak furniture. Very Gambit.) for a few hours of sleep.
Logan fixed a sandwich in what was left of the kitchen, let the cleaners
in (They gave the place a look around and sighed. Seemed like they were
used to this kind of thing. Made Logan wonder what Remy did in this apartment), and ordered several bags of ice. When
they arrived, Logan grabbed two of them and headed for the bathroom.
He plugged up the black marble bathtub and started running a cold bath.
After making sure the water was good and freezing, he dropped in
the two bags of ice, creating an ice bath that would make a polar bear
shiver. Satisfied, Logan strode back into the bedroom. Remy still lay
sprawled atop his bed sheets, his chest rising and falling quietly.
His stubble covered face looked peaceful, but the tightness around the
mouth and eyes screamed of silent pain in his dreams. Again Logan regretted
what he had to do next. He sighed, and lifted Remy over his shoulder
again.
At the jostling, Remy stirred half awake. He realized dimly that
he was being carried into his bathroom, and the person carrying him
was Logan. He remembered Logan hitting him, that hurt!...and then all
thought left him as Logan dumped the thief unceremoniously into the
tub of glacial bathwater. Remy forced himself to the surface of the
water, yelling as every last trace of drunken stupor left him. "MERDE!
IL EST FROID!" (trans. "Shit! It's cold!)
"That's the point," Logan said, settling himself beside the tub.
He planted one broad hand on Remy's skull and dunked him back under
the water. He waited a few more seconds, then allowed Remy to surface
for air.
Remy came up, teeth chattering loudly. "Logan, what de HELL! Why
are you in my bathroom tryin' to DROWN me?"
Logan pulled a cigar out of the front pocket of his flannel shirt
and stuck it in his mouth, chewing on it thoughtfully for a moment.
"You remember getting tanked on bourbon, then skipping around singing
while giving your old buddies Sek Conway and Jake Gavin coronaries?"
Remy frowned, running his fingers through wet hair. "Dimly...but
dat still don't explain--" He didn't get another word in, as Logan promptly
dunked him under the icy cold water. When Logan let him up again, he
yelped, "OUI! I remember!"
"Good. That's one of the two reasons I'm here. They were worried
about you, gave me a call at the Mansion. I told them I'd take care
of you, sober you up. You sober?" Logan asked calmly.
"How de hell should I know? Logan--" Remy managed to mumble out,
before Logan's hand descended on his skull and he was underwater again.
The Cajun came up screaming, "I'M SOBER! I'M SOBER!" He also added some
colorful curses in French about Logan's parentage.
Logan allowed a wry smirk to rest on his face as he held up two fingers
in front of the Cajun's flashing eyes. "How many fingers?"
"Deux. But you keep holdin' dem in front of my face, you won't have
ANY!" Remy snarled, hands gripping the side of the tub. He
would NOT be dunked again.
"You're sober." Logan's smirk widened as he rose, moving away from
the bathtub. He grabbed a towel from the rack, and tossed at Remy. The
young man climbed out of the tub still shivering and snagged the towel
in midair. He started drying himself off as best he could. Icy cold
water dripped down his back from his hair and Remy gritted his teeth
together as he asked curtly, "'N what's de other reason you're here?
Or was it jest t'give me a bath? Too kind, Logan, too kind."
Logan sat himself down on the closed toliet seat, lighting his cigar.
He gave Remy a thoughtful look before saying gruffly, "Actually, second
reason was...I wanted to ask ya a question."
Remy, in the midst of drying his hair, lifted the folds of the towel
high enough so that Logan could see the malice in his eyes. "Logan...dis
better be a damned good question." the young
man snarled out softly.
"Oh, I think it is. Why is it that you keep datin' girls who look like Jubilee, act like Jubilee, even dress like Jubilee - when the girl you're really pining for
is out wandering the backwater states of the U.S.?" Logan asked flatly,
folding his arms over his chest as he directed a stony look at the young
man.
Remy's mouth opened, then shut again. He draped the towel around
his shoulders, as he struggled to find the words, "Well, ya see...I..."
"Want me to tell you what I think?"
"Will it keep me from gettin' dunked into de tub again?"
"Yeah."
"De floor is yours."
"I think you're in love with Jubilee. I think you're so in love with
her, it's scaring you silly. To that point, you think she doesn't love
you, and that's why she ran
away - because it scared the bejezzus out of the kid. That's why you've
been going around dating these other women in a rather vain attempt
to get her to come home again, because you think if you show her that
there's 'nothing to be scared of', she'll come back to you." Logan took
a puff of his cigar and eyed the young man. "Now tell me I'm wrong."
Remy slumped down beside the bathtub dejectedly, muttering softly,
"Well, den I'd be a liar on top of bein' an idiot, now wouldn't I?"
Logan shook his head ruefully. "Gumbo, you've done everything you
could to show her she doesn't mean anything to you 'that way', including
lying to yourself. So if the reason for her to be afraid is 'gone',
why hasn't she come home yet?"
Remy twisted the ends of the towel with his fingers, a wry look working
over his handsome face. "Je ne suis pas...I was actually thinkin' 'bout
that before I *ahem* had a few too many..."
Logan took another drag off his cigar. "Now there's an interesting
question. If she didn't run away because of how you feel about her,
then why did she run away?" He raised
a quizzical eyebrow at the other man, a calm expression on his craggy
features.
Remy frowned softly as he tilted his head back towards the ceiling.
That was an interesting question. All
right, time to puzzle all this out. Jubilee hadn't run away because
she'd found out how he felt about her. A good thing. She still had run away though, and was continuing to do so. A bad thing.
Which meant she was still scared. Well, what would
scare Jubilee enough that she would run from everyone and everything
she knew?
Remy mentally skimmed over everything that he knew even vaguely disturbed
Jubilee, then smirked to himself. Of course, what else? Her own emotions. He'd assumed that she'd run away because of
how he felt about her. Well, what if Jubilee was dealing with some type
of her own emotional trauma? Jubilee would rather have to wear burlap
then admit to some sort of emotion. Especially those on the softer side
of the spectrum.
So, Jubilee ran away because she was feeling something she was scared
of. Then...why didn't she come to Logan, or even him? They were her
closest confidants, her family. Hadn't she said more then once that
Logan and he were the only ones she told everything to? So the only
reason she wouldn't tell either one of them was...if it had to do WITH
one of them. Wait, then she would have simply gone to the other one.
She hadn't come to him, which left only one other option...
Remy's head snapped back down, as he glared at Logan. "What did she say t'you?" She'd gone to Logan. He knew it.
A knowing grin worked over Logan's face. "Congratulations, Gumbo.
You've just re-entered the world of Intelligent Adult Thought." From
his jacket pocket he pulled out a much folded note, and handed it over
to Remy.
Remy quirked an eyebrow as he unfolded the note itself. "What is
it?" He idly pondered charging something to toss at Logan for withholding
this information for so long and decided againist it. He'd just started
to dry off, after all.
Logan said quietly, "It's a note Jubilee wrote to me before she left.
Maybe if I had given it to you six months ago, we all wouldn't have
to have gone through all this stupidity. But I didn't, thought it'd
be best if you two worked out your own heads. Note that I didn't think
that included wanderin' around the country like a gypsy or gettin' drunk
enough to start babblin' about teapots." He smoothed down his hair, giving Remy a pointed look.
Remy cleared his throat innocently before reading the note. He blinked,
staring at it in abject shock, then read it again. Then again. When
he finally spoke again, his tone was disbelieving, "She..she's in love
with me?"
Then a flash of anger worked it's way through him, as he growled
through gritted teeth, "How could she believe dat I wouldn't understand?
Dis has t'be de stupidest thing I ever heard from de girl!"
"A-yup. It's almost as stupid as datin'
other women to get the one you want back," Logan said innocently, flicking
ash off the end of the cigar.
Remy shot him a dirty look, but then a rueful expression crossed
his face. "Yah, looks like neither one of us went 'bout dis de right
way."
"As the kid would say, No Duh. Now, what are you gonna to do about
it?" Logan asked, lifting one eyebrow.
Remy allowed an innocent smile to pass his lips. "Dunno. Thought
you were gonna tell me."
Logan let out a growl. Sometimes LeBeau was just too much of a smartass
- probably why he and Jubilee were so damned perfect for each other.
"You should go find her, bub. Bring 'er home," he stated, stabbing a
finger at the young man.
Remy swallowed for a moment, as he squeezed the ends of his towel.
Going after Jubilee meant facing her. Telling her how he felt, opening
up and putting himself on the line. Trusting in love, after it had slashed
him open so many times before.
Logan read the doubt blooming on Remy's face, fully understanding
the sudden flash of fear that grabbed the younger man by throat, so
to speak. Logan allowed his gruff voice to soften. "She's not like the
others, Gumbo. She trusts ya."
Remy smiled bitterly. "Yah, but for how long? A day? A few weeks?
Or meybe she'll jest wait till I'm so in love with her I can't see straight,
den decide she don' love me anymore. Leave me in de middle of de Sahara 'cuz she don't trust
me. Meybe never did in de first place." Visions of Rogue moved across
his mind's eye, and he mentally winced.
"She won't," Logan said quietly. At Remy's dubious look, he pointed
a finger. "That's not her style, bub, and you know it. Once you've earned
her trust, ya never lose it. She'll follow you through the gates of
Hell, because she KNOWS you'll bring her back again in one piece. Don't
ask me to explain it; I just know that girl's got the most loyal nature
in the world. She let you and me in, Remy...that means forever in her
eyes. She won't leave you, unless you want her to. She's gonna love
you, want you, and yeah, trust you for..."
"Forever," Remy finished quietly. Something sparked in his crimson
eyes, a look of hope. Logan spoke the truth. If she was in love with him...she'd never stop. "Guess den...I'm stuck with
her, eh?" he whispered softly, looking at his fingers with a quiet smile.
"For as long as you both shall live, end quote," Logan said quietly,
"Now, I ask again, what are you gonna do about it?"
"Gonna bring her home, o'course," Remy said firmly, rising to his
feet. He would need to make travel arrangements, get himself packed.
Change out of these wet jeans. Shrinkage was a bad, bad thing.
Logan's blue eyes flashed satisfaction. "Good. Now, how you gonna
to find her?"
Remy smirked as he threw the towel back at Logan. "I'm going to rub
my magical Tiffany Lamp 'n ask de Cajun Genie inside. Think he'll sound
like Robin Williams?"
A matching smirk settled over Logan's face as he caught the towel
neatly. "Going home to ask your daddy then, eh?"
"Logan, if Jean Luc LeBeau can't track down Jubilee...she's left
de planet. 'N even if she has, I'd still lay even odds Poppa could find
her. It'd just take him a lil' longer."
"Good luck then, Gumbo.."
"Merci Canucklehead. Gonna need it."
"Not to mention dry undies?"
"Dem too."
*******
End Part Two
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