Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to Marvel, but the story idea is mine ... And BTW, did I mention that I'm not making any money from this?
Note: Bless my soul, Vicki's on the roll! A result of having absolutely *nothing* to do during her break, besides her crappy job ... ;)

Part 6
November 1997

Ah rolled the sweet wine around in my mouth before lettin' it slip down my throat.

Man, that was good steak; he sure can cook, ah'll give him that.

Gabriel had three of his friends over ... Ariel, Manny and Keith. Ah had a little panic attack meeting people; normal people, to be exact.

"So, Sabine, what do you do?"

Uh oh ... "Uhm, well, ah have a degree in anthropology ... But right now, ah'm workin' as a ... "

Think girl, think.

" ... communications officer."

Ah ended that what ah hoped was a sweet and convincin' smile. Whew.

"That's so cool!" Manny said. "I'm a sound engineer, Ariel's my assistant, Keith ... well, he -"

Keith interrupted and took over in a fake Cajun, "-is a chef. At Papa Gumbo's Cajun Cookout. I make de gumbo, mon amis,"

Papa Gumbo's?

Ah choked on the wine as a flood of memories overwhelmed me. Our first date ... How could ah forget? Oh, Remy ... Can't ah ever be free?

"Hey, you okay?" Gabriel passed me a napkin and patted me on my back.

"Yeah, ah'm fine, thanks. Guess ah'm not used to drinkin' this stuff, nice as it is," ah smiled weakly.

The rest of the night was hardly bearable, while the others were makin' talk and laughin' away, all ah could do was do pale imitations of carefree laughter occasionally. How could ah put my heart into socializin', when it was somewhere far away?

He stared intently out of the cab window, his focus set on the multiple stars on that cloudless night.

It felt so strange to be sitting in a taxi; well, he probably never sat in one before the accident, he had his Harley. Definitely the word was 'had', because the vehicle was probably rusting at a junkyard now, all dented and smashed up.

"Right here, buddy," The cabby announced and pulled up in front of a decent-looking three-storied, six-apartment block. "It's a good night, so I'll take 13 bucks, pal."

Remy LeBeau handed the money over and muttered his thanks. Alighting and stepping onto the sidewalk, he pulled his jacket close and looked up at the pristine white building.

'So ya made it dis far. What now?'

He scratched the back of his neck irritably then tucked his hands deep into his jacket pockets. Hesitantly, he began to scale the steps to the main entrance, looking out for any signs of Rogue meanwhile.

Three flights of stairs later, the Cajun found himself staring at the front door of her apartment.

#03-05

The shiny gold lettering sparkled hypnotically at him. Remy finally raised his hand to knock on the door. He waited, but got no answer.

"So much for dat li'l bravado," he muttered to himself and sat in front of the door to wait some more.

"Whoo, look at the time!" Rogue glanced at her watch. Five to midnight. "Ah'd better go, ah haveta work tomorrow."

The others smiled at her and they shook hands as she left, promises of more gatherings to come.

"Hey, ah'm sorry if ah wasn't much fun tonight, ah've got some tough things t'think about."

Gabriel handed her some leftover steak in Tupperware and said cheerily, "No problem ... Thanks for coming over!"

"G'night, y'all!"

Her acknowledgement came in forms of drunken echoes, but she didn't mind. She found it amusing in fact, thinking of how alcohol would never have an effect on her similar to theirs. Stepping out into the dim corridor, she closed the door behind her and started for her own apartment.

As she approached her new residence, she noticed a shadowy figure crouched in front of her door. She inched nearer, but couldn't make out who the stranger was, his head was buried in his jacket.

Then a distinctive scent came to her attention, the heady mix of tobacco and cologne ...

She drew a sharp intake of breath in her surprise and dropped the Tupperware. He started awake; his sharp, reddish eyes finding her immediately.

"Rogue!"

The young woman turned on her heels and ran. She didn't really know why; she just didn't want to face him or her problems-she just wanted to run away from them, like she did every time things went wrong.

Remy sprang after her and caught her gloved wrist. She twisted around and hissed at him.

"Can't ya just leave me alone?" A lump was already forming in her throat. "Can't ya just go back t'Jenny?"

"Make me, Rogue. Ain't goin' nowhere till I get de truth from ya."

"Just take it as it is, Remy. Ah-"

"How na‹ve can you be, Rogue?" the Cajun raised his voice at her.

Gabriel's door opened all of a sudden, and the couple parted quickly. The neighbour frowned and asked suspiciously, "Trouble, Sabine?"

Remy lifted an inquisitive brow.

She managed to pull her gaze from her feet to Gabriel's person. Shrugging, she said, "No, ah'm fine. Ah know him, it's okay, thanks."

Gabriel nodded and grudgingly slid back into his apartment.

Rogue looked back at Remy. She chewed on her lip in distress before finally offering him entry into her new home.

To be continued.

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