Work Text:
Face To Face
by SisterWine
It was a little after 10 PM when the taxi pulled up to the curb of Tipitina's Cafe. Rogue stepped out and shut the backseat door, leaning in through the front passenger window to hand the driver the fare and tell him to "keep the change." She wasn't sure if meeting this "other woman" was such a good idea but she wasn't about to pass up the only truth someone from Gambit's past might offer. She had dressed in her red leggings and navy blue T-shirt, exactly what she had told BellaDonna she'd be wearing. Ankle-high black spiked boots clicked on the pavement as she walked up to the door and pulled the heavy oak open. She stood there a monent and looked over the faces of the good-sized crowd until she found the woman sitting in a high booth, in the back. Clearing her throat and striking up the nerve to go up and sit down, Rogue shivered.
BellaDonna watched the sassy brunette weave her way through the crowd and finally up the three steps and over to the middle of the walk to sit down across from her, in the dimly lit booth. After waiting for an hour and fixing her white, off-shoulder cotton blouse and toying with the hem on her acid-washed jeans, it all came down to nerves and the rising amount. Staring at the woman's features, BellaDonna couldn't help but state the obvious, "you don't have blue eyes. I expected blue eyes. That's how I pictured you would be." It was said nonchalantly meant only as an observation. She had known Remy liked women with blue eyes because he had always given her a line of "swimming in crystal pools of Heaven." She had to stop herself from stuttering as she noticed Rogue's emerald orbs staring back at her, with equal amount of shock.
"And, you don't have long hair. Ah thought that you'd have long hair" Rogue twirled a long, curly brown lock in her fingers. She noticed BellaDonna had soft blond hair, cut to shoulder length. Laughing to herself, she added, "so, this is all a shock to me."
"I didn't know if you would meet me," BellaDonna shrugged.
Rogue shifted and chimed in, "or, believe me, when Ah said that Ah was fooled."
"I really thought dat I would hate you." BellaDonna sat back and stirred the glass of watered down scotch she had been nursing for a half hour, waiting for Rogue to show up.
The waitress was stopped by Rogue's gentle hand so she could place her order and then resumed her casual observation of BellaDonna. "Ah know Ah meant to."
"There'll only be one of us left when we're through." Both women had said it in unison and looked at each other as if surprised to hear their own words come out of the other's mouth. It became more awkward as they both started again with the same words, "now that we're face to face--" BellaDonna offered to let Rogue have her turn first.
Reluctantly, Rogue managed to finish her sentence before the waitress came back with a mojito, "And, Ah put myself in your place."
BellaDonna nodded. "I see the truth. I see who's really to blame." She had sat forward to whisper her revelation across the table but retracted her movement as the waitress placed the drink between them and asked if she was ready for another scotch. BellaDonna nodded and watched the waitress disappear into the crowd once more.
Rogue shook her head as if she had been staring at Remy, listening to his lies and cover stories. "Ah won't play his game." Her hands rested on the table, to either side of her drink and fisted angrily, wanting to punch every tooth from his lying mouth, until he was broken and lying on the floor beneath her.
"Or try to get even." BellaDonna placed a calming hand over Rogue's left fist and forced herself to make eye contact with the other woman. "He'll know he's lost," she started and was joined once again by Rogue finishing her sentence with her, "watching us leaving." She patted the hand that had loosened its grip and blinked as she looked deeper into the green orbs that threatened to burn the booth down. "I blamed you but, I see my mistakes, now dat we're face to face." She winked and nodded a 'thank you' to the waitress for the fresh scotch.
Rogue sighed and composed herself. She wasn't ready to show her anger to a woman she had just met, definitely not to someone she thought would be a good ally. Rogue scoffed at her own self notion. "Ah believe in true love." Her eyes flickered up and search for recognition in the blonde woman's sparkling blue eyes as she nodded in agreement with herself. "Somethin' to be 'sure' of. Isn't that what we deserve?" She searched BellaDonna's expression for an answer. She wanted to hate the feminine swamp rat but her heart told her to hold off until the bottom line had been reached.
BellaDonna nodded and squeezed lightly at the hand under hers. "There's no blame here. We both end up the same here; a little wiser dan we were." Keeping her voice low and soothing, she did her best to reassure the new acquaintance.
Rogue inhaled and smiled at her quick new friend. She leaned in and lowered her voice in intimate secrecy. "There was a time this would have killed me and it may still be hard to look you in the eye." Rogue flinched away and thought about the fleeting moments she and Remy had spent together, loving each other. "And now that all the spells are broken--"
"De truth's been spoken."
Rogue stiffened, proud to show herself on her own two feet. "Mah heart has the strength to tell him goodbye."
BellaDonna smiled and nodded firmly as they sipped their drinks and shared details of each life with Gambit. They had become fast friends but it was doubtfull of just how deep the friendship came to, knowing their common ground. Neither woman was there to be trifled with and both knew how to deal with such the snake that thought less of them for it.
Whatever they had planned for the auburn-haired Cajun was sure to leave a long, wide path of destruction in their wake.
End.