Work Text:
Title: "To Please Their Queen"
Author: Kat Lee
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: Storm comes home.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
He drank alone in the kitchen, having finished the dishes and his preparation for the next day's meal, which he himself was to cook. Howling winds rising from the ocean rattled the windows as LeBeau contemplated rising with his bourbon and going to the roof to enjoy the view. He'd always been one to like a good storm, and the X-Men's island home presented a great view of the weather. He smiled to himself as he recalled sitting out on the bayou back home and enjoying the storms in Louisiana; those were the only storms he'd even seen more beautiful in their deadliness than the ones that occasionally hit here.
Remy's red eyes glanced up as a lightning bolt struck the window above the sink. Jubilee fussed as the TV in the next room went on the fritz for a moment, then resumed flipping channels the moment an actor's mouth could be heard again. Logan stomped in cussing and stomping toward his room; Scott followed behind him, also fussing but going in a different direction. Remy lowered the eyebrow he'd risen, sighed into his mug, and took another sip of his bourbon. He usually liked something stronger, but he'd opened the bourbon while setting up his meat to marinate and decided that its sweet poison was what he wanted this night.
The Cajun looked back up at the window as he heard something wailing out in the storm. Maybe tonight wasn't the best night to sit out in the nasty weather, he thought. He paused in sipping his drink as he felt a shift outside. He looked up again, this time to the door, as one hand went for the pack of cards he always kept in his shirt pocket. Something was out there, but then a second later, he realized who it was and smiled.
Remy was already rising when the knock came on the X-Men's door. No one else heard it, and that was fine with him. He strode forward, threw the door open, and smiled at the soaked woman who stood on his doorstep. He knew Ororo could choose to fly through a hurricane and not get a drop of water on her chocolate skin or allow the wind to pull one ivory hair out of place, but tonight, her hair was a mess and water clung to every spot on her beautiful body.
The feelings that instantly began to arouse in the Raging Cajun ceased the moment he looked into 'Ro's blue eyes, however. He realized, in an instant, that she was the Witch he had heard wailing outside and that she'd been crying ever since she left Africa. "'Ro," he spoke her name simply, noticed how her bottom lip quivered, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms tightly around her. Without asking, he picked her up in their hug and lifted her the rest of the way into the home that never should have stopped being hers.
He hugged her tightly until he felt her need for tears begin to pass, and then he pulled just slightly away. His hands stayed on her biceps, keeping her steady and allowing him to stay touching a dear friend he hadn't seen in far too long. Emotions warred within him as he gazed at her. He still remembered the child she'd been when he'd first met her. He'd always felt a need to protect her since that initial encounter; that need was now roaring louder than the howling wind inside of him.
But then, too, Ororo was no longer a child. She hadn't been a kid in far longer than the time in which he'd known her. She'd been a grown woman trapped inside of a child's body even then, but now the woman she was stood before him, tired, sad, needing a friend, needing a man to heal her broken heart, and looking as amazingly beautiful as she always had. Many women could turn Remy's head, but none like Ororo Munroe. She made his breath hitch every time he looked at her. She burned something deep inside of him each time he touched her flesh, and yet he wanted to hold on to her fire and never let go. He claimed to love Rogue, partially because he knew the girl needed him and partially because he knew 'Roro would never look at him the way he gazed upon her with such need and desire screaming inside of him that only she could fulfill, but many, many nights, it was Ororo he dreamed of taking to bed and making, sweet love to instead of the Southerner whom no one had been able to touch for so long.
Remy shook inside but didn't let it show as he raised a hand and softly touched Ororo's face. She was bruised. He wanted to kill T'Challa at the mere sight of that bruise, but with their lives, they were constantly being hurt. He couldn't just assume. "Did he hurt you?" he whispered, brushing her snowy white hair away from her skin that was as soft as it always had been. Remy wanted to bury himself inside of her flesh and hair, to live forever on the soft beauty that was his best friend, but he knew he could not and must not let his desire show.
The only emotion Ororo saw in Remy's well-trained, red eyes was the flicker of silent rage. Never one to lie to her friends, she shook her head quickly instead of voicing an answer. She knew he would take the movement as denial, but she could not let him know the truth. If Remy, Logan, or any of Ororo's other dearest friends even suspected the Hell T'Challa had put her through, they'd surely kill him. Not only could she not allow his death to be on their hands -- after all, she was the one who had made the mistake of marrying him when others had advised her against it --, but she would not see the war that would undoubtedly break out in her homeland with the destruction of the Black Panther.
Remy hugged her again, just as tightly as the first time this stormy night, and then took another long look at her. There was something, he knew, that she wanted to ask. He gave her time, and finally, she spoke, "Is there a room available?"
He noted the way her regal voice trembled slightly as she spoke her question. It set the fire that was already burning within him to destroy whatever had hurt her so badly even more ablaze but turned his smile broader and more charming, too. "For you, chere," he replied, keeping one arm around her, guiding her further into their home, and kicking the door shut behind them with a booted foot, "always."
The delicious aromas of the dinner the X-Men had shared still lingered in the kitchen. One sniff reminded Ororo quickly that she had not eaten all day. "It smells wonderful in here," she complimented.
"I can't take de credit for tonight, petite. I'm makin' my gumbo tomorrow; you've got to stay for it."
She smiled; his heart fluttered. It had been far too long since this beautiful woman on his arm had smiled! "It will be an honor. I've missed your cooking."
Their eyes met, and he knew she had missed him. She had, however, he reminded himself sternly, missed them all. Still, he couldn't help grinning like a fool. He tried to downplay his smile as he shifted the subject, "Bobby made ice cream cakes for dessert; dat's what you're smelling dat smells so good."
"I'm sorry I missed them."
"De boy made a few extra. Would you like one?"
She nodded, and soon, Remy was setting one of the small ice cream cakes and a glass in front of her. Bobby had made the cakes individually sized, and now, Remy found himself wondering if the younger man could have somehow suspected that they'd have a very special guest arriving late that night. Surely he couldn't have known. None of them had known, not even the Professor or Logan, and he was the one with the honor of welcoming her home. Still grinning widely, Remy reached into the refrigerator for the jug of milk, but Ororo's soft voice stopped him. "I . . . I think I'd like something a bit stronger, please, Remy."
He shut the door and poured some of his own bourbon into her glass. It was his last bottle and was hard to get without a trip to the mainland, but Ororo was worth any sacrifice, big or small. He watched her take pleasure in a bite of the cake and a sip of his drink before commenting, "De African Queen's on TV, if you'd like to see it." He'd heard Bogart's and Hepburn's voices earlier, while Jubilee had been flipping channels (she'd since, evidently, turned the television off as he no longer heard it or her) and knew how well Ororo liked the actors.
"I think that would be nice," Ororo agreed, rising. Capping his own bottle and sticking it in the crook of his arm, Remy snatched up her plate and glass before she could lift them. He would wait on her this night as the Queen she was. Ororo smiled, again causing Remy's breath to hitch.
He followed her into the living room and helped her to settle onto the couch before turning on the TV and leaning back next to her himself. He knew Scott liked to have a rule about no food in front of the television, but Summers could stick all his rules. He'd do whatever it took to please Ororo and make her happy again. He brought her a plate of leftovers after the cake. A half hour later, Ororo's hunger was sated, the bourbon gone, and she slept soundly as Katherine and Bogart played a love scene on the television.
Remy looked down at where his cherished best friend's beautiful head rested on his shoulder and wrapped his arm a little more closely around her. Scott and T'Challa could both be damned. Ororo was back where she belonged, and this time, he'd keep her with him, and with the X-Men, no matter what it took. He also, he thought, needed to find a way to sneak off to Africa and kill that blasted T'Challa, but that would wait until Ororo wasn't quite as frail and needing of his companionship. It could wait until she'd forgotten that he might avenge her broken heart. Then he'd find T'Challa, kill him, and bury him in the ocean. Remy smiled, his red eyes glowing in the darkening room, and continued to watch over Ororo, instead of the movie, for the rest of the night.
Meanwhile, Jubilee had crept up to Logan's room. She looked in on him with a grin that showed the tips of her deadly fangs. "She's back."
"I know," he grunted and guzzled down another beer.
"Remy's with her. They're downstairs, watching TV." Jubilee watched him, for a moment, through the red eyes of the Vampiress she had become before leaving him to get drunk.
Logan waited until she'd left, then downed two more beers, crumpled the cans, and threw them onto his already messy floor. "Good," he growled. Let Remy fix her broken heart this time. Neither of them deserved her, but he could get closer to Ororo than Logan ever could. Besides, he had a mission to kill an Avenger. He finished his six pack, rose, and left without anybody ever noticing his departure.
The End