Amanda, Remy - Wednesday morning
Jun. 9th, 2005 09:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsWhile Meggan's talking to Professor Xavier about her impromptu adventure, Amanda is wearing holes in the floorboards outside. Remy catches her at it and during the course of the conversation, suspicion is cast in a direction neither wants to accept. Problem is, in the face of evidence, there isn't anyone else to blame.
Amanda tried hard not to pace the hallway outside the Professor's office. He had Meggan in there, trying to piece together what had happened, and she knew he wouldn't hurt her or frighten her, but after what had happened it wasn't easy to let the small girl out of her sight for too long. Finally she made herself take a seat on the padded bench along the wall, sitting on her hands so she wouldn't start chewing her nails.
"You know," Remy wandered down the hall, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall across from her. "You try to spend de next six months hovering over de lil' bit, both of you going to come out the worse for it."
"That obvious, huh?" Amanda said with a small, wry smile. She sighed, leaning back against the wall and looked over at him. "She's in tellin' the Prof what happened. Just wanted t' make sure she knew I was here if she needed me. Patches... he's not exactly a nice bloke."
"I'll find him." Remy said, that strange intensity in his eyes that kindled every time that he skated closer to his old life as Gambit. "And den I'll find who hired him. Don't you worry 'bout dat."
The mention of someone hiring Patches made the nasty little worm of suspicion squirm again in Amanda's head. She'd kept it subdued ever since that phone call with Charlie, but now it was sneaking back out. "Patches does his own work, usually," she said slowly. "But..." She stopped, not willing to voice the thought. She had to be wrong.
"But?" Remy raised an eyebrow. Betsy had talked to her the night of the kidnapping, and someone else involved had brought Meggan back. There were too many unknown elements for his comfort. "You got something dat you should be telling me, chere?"
"Sometimes, if the price is right, he takes on commissions. But only if there's a lot of money to be had, an' Patches don't tend t' cater for the upper crust..." She took a breath, made herself stop rambling. "You'd need a lot of money an' know 'bout magic. 'S only one group in this city I can think of'd fit that an' know 'bout Meggan."
"De Hellfire Club?" Remy shook his head. "Dere's no way dat dey know 'bout Meggan. Jake and I overturned dere surveillance group in town, and been keeping our patterns in de city random 'nough to make you impossible to track. Much as I might make de Club seem like de bogeyman, dere are limits to dere power."
Nothing for it but to cough up. "Pete knows," she said in a very small voice.
Remy took a long deep breath, held it for ten seconds, and let it out slowly. "Wisdom knows." He said flatly. Amanda had been through enough that a screaming match was the last thing either of them needed, but...
"You been in contact wit' him, or he wit' you?"
"I emailed him a couple of times from Germany," she said, still looking down at her feet. She'd been so stupid, she saw that now. "Some photos from the weddin'. There's an email address he gave me, a coded one, for when he was on a job. I thought... I wanted him t' see, what he was missin'. Maybe if he knew I missed him, that there was another way, that maybe he'd... come home." The last words were said with a small choke in her voice. "I never thought... Rom said he was bein' stupid, but he'd never stop carin' 'bout his family."
"So now he's up to date." Remy shook his head. "Merde. You sure dat's it, 'manda? Nothing else gone through?" His voice was intense, the no-nonsense tone that he used on the job.
"Nothin' 'bout the school, I swear. Never mentioned you, or the X-Men, or any of that. Just... personal stuff. Like I used t' talk t' him 'bout before..." Amanda covered her face with her hands. "It was stupid, I know. But I tried t' be careful - never emailed him from the school, killed the accounts after I was done. I just..."
"Needed to talk to him." Remy closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "You know dat it has to stop, don't you?"
"I never thought he'd do somethin' like this," Amanda said miserably. "All this started 'cause he was tryin' t' keep me an' Rom safe, I didn't think he'd use what I told him t' do somethin' like this." She took a deep shuddering breath. "No more. This was a warnin', an' Meg's fuckin' lucky t' be here - 'm not gunna put her at that sort of risk again."
"Oui, you right 'bout dat. I'm sorry, 'manda, but more and more, it looks like Wisdom has sold us all out. He might not be behind Patches, but why else would he get involved in something like dis?" Remy recrossed his arms, stuck between wanting to comfort her and shake her. "You're not alone, 'manda. It's not just Pete any more."
"You don't understand. Pete was..." Amanda heard the whine in her voice, cut herself off. Whatever Pete had been to her, he wasn't any more. "You got somethin' puttin' him there?"
"Non. Which is why I'm saying he might not be involved. However, dere's not a whole lot of other options. We going to narrow it down before we do anything." Remy said gently. "But still, no matter what we find, even if being in de Hellfire Club is Pete's way of protecting you, it's not safe to pass things along. Dere are plots and subtleties dat none of us can really keep a handle on."
"Yeah, an' I've always been shite at that sort of thing." Amanda's snort was bitter. "Don't worry, Remy, I won't be that stupid again." She looked towards the Professor's door. "Can't afford t' be, when it's not me that pays the price."
"'manda, I've got over twenty years of training and experience in my head, and Wisdom played me a dozen ways. You expect to have done better? To have known?" Remy shook his head. "You weren't stupid. You just never realized you ever had to think like dat 'bout it. Now you know. But shouldering 'nother sack of blame and self-hatred, dat's de last thing you or de lil' bit need."
"I won't. Don't worry 'bout me, Remy, I know that isn't what Meg needs." She made another conscious effort to pull herself together, straighten her shoulders. "I'd forgotten what I'd learned, is all. Won't again."
"Seem to remember having dis exact conversation months ago, and seem to remember you saying de exact same thing." Remy said sharply. "Don't trust, don't care. 'cause den you not going to make a mistake? You smarter den dat 'manda, so you don't get dat excuse."
"Bastard," she said under her breath. "Didn't mean that, Remy. I know that's not the way t' go, not for me or the munchkin. But t' keep trustin', when the person gives you a hundred reasons t' stop... 'S like Rack all over again. I hated him, but there was a part of me that never stopped wantin' t' please him, even when he was beatin' the shite out of me. I thought I'd gotten past that when I did the unbindin' spell."
"If a spell could get you past dat, den de world would beat de door down to get it." Remy actually smiled a little. "She's safe, you learned, and we'll get to the bottom of it. Dat I promise. And next time you not sure, Remy not all dat hard to find, you know?"
"It's not that I wasn't sure - I just figured I knew what I was doin'." Amanda shrugged and gave him a crooked half-smile. "Worse n' Lee, sometimes, with the arrogance. But yeah, if I'm not sure, I'll come talk t' you." A shadow crossed her face. "Pete asked me t' do that, after that spell, the talkin' t' the dead one. Made me promise t' talk t' him before doin' any big spells again." Shaking the memory away, she went on. "If you don't mind me botherin' you, you'll find me on yer doorstep every so often."
"If I minded, figure dat I'd have dealt wit' it already, chere. Don't you?" Remy finally sat down. "And a word to de wise? You, de school, de lil' bit? Get some help. No offense, but de worst thing you can do for dat lil' one try to be a mother, an' a friend, an' a sister all at once. Don' know if anyone can. Because de more you load up on you back, chere, de more comes down on you when you fall, neh?"
"Nate said something like that last night," Amanda said. "Funny enough, I have been askin' for help, tryin' t' spread the load - just takes time. People have got their own stuff, their own lives t' deal with, an' can't always be there when I need 'em t' be." Like Nathan and Moira. She'd been away so long, and he had been so distracted lately.
"Dat's true, but dere's nothing else. Otherwise, you going to break down, and den dat leaves Meggan completely alone. Not able to deal wit' others, and not able to count on you." Remy said gently. "De professor is a good place to start. I know he's not you best friend, but de bete bleu or dat Jean? Dere's going to be people."
"McCoy offered to help me with the school work when I asked, before all this happened," Amanda said with a faint smile. "An' I asked the Prof 'bout helpin' Meg learn t' talk an' read an' write. One thing 'bout all this - she's made a jump t' actual sentences now. She said she didn't have anythin' else t' do while she was all tied up, so she practiced in her head." She tentatively reached over, touched his arm lightly. "It helped, knowin' you were out there lookin' for her," she said quietly.
"Lot of good it did her." Remy said, tiredly. "But you should know by now, chere. Remy here for de long haul. And if I do my job right, maybe dat Meggan never has to risk being de person who has to do it too. Dere are worse goals, you know."
Amanda bit her lip, didn't tell him that was what Pete used to say. There were too many memories associated with this whole conversation. "Still, thanks. I know you would've done it any way, but it doesn't mean I don't appreciate it." She looked over at the door again, 'hearing' in her head the Professor's summons to come in. "Prof's done. Wants me in there." She squeezed his arm briefly, and then let go. "Maybe later I could bring Meg by the boathouse? We could watch her beat Cain at Go Fish again."
"As long as Remy's not doing de babysitting, Remy all for dat," he said, getting up and stretching. "Besides, everyone know de money in Go Fish is all in de side bets."
Amanda tried hard not to pace the hallway outside the Professor's office. He had Meggan in there, trying to piece together what had happened, and she knew he wouldn't hurt her or frighten her, but after what had happened it wasn't easy to let the small girl out of her sight for too long. Finally she made herself take a seat on the padded bench along the wall, sitting on her hands so she wouldn't start chewing her nails.
"You know," Remy wandered down the hall, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall across from her. "You try to spend de next six months hovering over de lil' bit, both of you going to come out the worse for it."
"That obvious, huh?" Amanda said with a small, wry smile. She sighed, leaning back against the wall and looked over at him. "She's in tellin' the Prof what happened. Just wanted t' make sure she knew I was here if she needed me. Patches... he's not exactly a nice bloke."
"I'll find him." Remy said, that strange intensity in his eyes that kindled every time that he skated closer to his old life as Gambit. "And den I'll find who hired him. Don't you worry 'bout dat."
The mention of someone hiring Patches made the nasty little worm of suspicion squirm again in Amanda's head. She'd kept it subdued ever since that phone call with Charlie, but now it was sneaking back out. "Patches does his own work, usually," she said slowly. "But..." She stopped, not willing to voice the thought. She had to be wrong.
"But?" Remy raised an eyebrow. Betsy had talked to her the night of the kidnapping, and someone else involved had brought Meggan back. There were too many unknown elements for his comfort. "You got something dat you should be telling me, chere?"
"Sometimes, if the price is right, he takes on commissions. But only if there's a lot of money to be had, an' Patches don't tend t' cater for the upper crust..." She took a breath, made herself stop rambling. "You'd need a lot of money an' know 'bout magic. 'S only one group in this city I can think of'd fit that an' know 'bout Meggan."
"De Hellfire Club?" Remy shook his head. "Dere's no way dat dey know 'bout Meggan. Jake and I overturned dere surveillance group in town, and been keeping our patterns in de city random 'nough to make you impossible to track. Much as I might make de Club seem like de bogeyman, dere are limits to dere power."
Nothing for it but to cough up. "Pete knows," she said in a very small voice.
Remy took a long deep breath, held it for ten seconds, and let it out slowly. "Wisdom knows." He said flatly. Amanda had been through enough that a screaming match was the last thing either of them needed, but...
"You been in contact wit' him, or he wit' you?"
"I emailed him a couple of times from Germany," she said, still looking down at her feet. She'd been so stupid, she saw that now. "Some photos from the weddin'. There's an email address he gave me, a coded one, for when he was on a job. I thought... I wanted him t' see, what he was missin'. Maybe if he knew I missed him, that there was another way, that maybe he'd... come home." The last words were said with a small choke in her voice. "I never thought... Rom said he was bein' stupid, but he'd never stop carin' 'bout his family."
"So now he's up to date." Remy shook his head. "Merde. You sure dat's it, 'manda? Nothing else gone through?" His voice was intense, the no-nonsense tone that he used on the job.
"Nothin' 'bout the school, I swear. Never mentioned you, or the X-Men, or any of that. Just... personal stuff. Like I used t' talk t' him 'bout before..." Amanda covered her face with her hands. "It was stupid, I know. But I tried t' be careful - never emailed him from the school, killed the accounts after I was done. I just..."
"Needed to talk to him." Remy closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "You know dat it has to stop, don't you?"
"I never thought he'd do somethin' like this," Amanda said miserably. "All this started 'cause he was tryin' t' keep me an' Rom safe, I didn't think he'd use what I told him t' do somethin' like this." She took a deep shuddering breath. "No more. This was a warnin', an' Meg's fuckin' lucky t' be here - 'm not gunna put her at that sort of risk again."
"Oui, you right 'bout dat. I'm sorry, 'manda, but more and more, it looks like Wisdom has sold us all out. He might not be behind Patches, but why else would he get involved in something like dis?" Remy recrossed his arms, stuck between wanting to comfort her and shake her. "You're not alone, 'manda. It's not just Pete any more."
"You don't understand. Pete was..." Amanda heard the whine in her voice, cut herself off. Whatever Pete had been to her, he wasn't any more. "You got somethin' puttin' him there?"
"Non. Which is why I'm saying he might not be involved. However, dere's not a whole lot of other options. We going to narrow it down before we do anything." Remy said gently. "But still, no matter what we find, even if being in de Hellfire Club is Pete's way of protecting you, it's not safe to pass things along. Dere are plots and subtleties dat none of us can really keep a handle on."
"Yeah, an' I've always been shite at that sort of thing." Amanda's snort was bitter. "Don't worry, Remy, I won't be that stupid again." She looked towards the Professor's door. "Can't afford t' be, when it's not me that pays the price."
"'manda, I've got over twenty years of training and experience in my head, and Wisdom played me a dozen ways. You expect to have done better? To have known?" Remy shook his head. "You weren't stupid. You just never realized you ever had to think like dat 'bout it. Now you know. But shouldering 'nother sack of blame and self-hatred, dat's de last thing you or de lil' bit need."
"I won't. Don't worry 'bout me, Remy, I know that isn't what Meg needs." She made another conscious effort to pull herself together, straighten her shoulders. "I'd forgotten what I'd learned, is all. Won't again."
"Seem to remember having dis exact conversation months ago, and seem to remember you saying de exact same thing." Remy said sharply. "Don't trust, don't care. 'cause den you not going to make a mistake? You smarter den dat 'manda, so you don't get dat excuse."
"Bastard," she said under her breath. "Didn't mean that, Remy. I know that's not the way t' go, not for me or the munchkin. But t' keep trustin', when the person gives you a hundred reasons t' stop... 'S like Rack all over again. I hated him, but there was a part of me that never stopped wantin' t' please him, even when he was beatin' the shite out of me. I thought I'd gotten past that when I did the unbindin' spell."
"If a spell could get you past dat, den de world would beat de door down to get it." Remy actually smiled a little. "She's safe, you learned, and we'll get to the bottom of it. Dat I promise. And next time you not sure, Remy not all dat hard to find, you know?"
"It's not that I wasn't sure - I just figured I knew what I was doin'." Amanda shrugged and gave him a crooked half-smile. "Worse n' Lee, sometimes, with the arrogance. But yeah, if I'm not sure, I'll come talk t' you." A shadow crossed her face. "Pete asked me t' do that, after that spell, the talkin' t' the dead one. Made me promise t' talk t' him before doin' any big spells again." Shaking the memory away, she went on. "If you don't mind me botherin' you, you'll find me on yer doorstep every so often."
"If I minded, figure dat I'd have dealt wit' it already, chere. Don't you?" Remy finally sat down. "And a word to de wise? You, de school, de lil' bit? Get some help. No offense, but de worst thing you can do for dat lil' one try to be a mother, an' a friend, an' a sister all at once. Don' know if anyone can. Because de more you load up on you back, chere, de more comes down on you when you fall, neh?"
"Nate said something like that last night," Amanda said. "Funny enough, I have been askin' for help, tryin' t' spread the load - just takes time. People have got their own stuff, their own lives t' deal with, an' can't always be there when I need 'em t' be." Like Nathan and Moira. She'd been away so long, and he had been so distracted lately.
"Dat's true, but dere's nothing else. Otherwise, you going to break down, and den dat leaves Meggan completely alone. Not able to deal wit' others, and not able to count on you." Remy said gently. "De professor is a good place to start. I know he's not you best friend, but de bete bleu or dat Jean? Dere's going to be people."
"McCoy offered to help me with the school work when I asked, before all this happened," Amanda said with a faint smile. "An' I asked the Prof 'bout helpin' Meg learn t' talk an' read an' write. One thing 'bout all this - she's made a jump t' actual sentences now. She said she didn't have anythin' else t' do while she was all tied up, so she practiced in her head." She tentatively reached over, touched his arm lightly. "It helped, knowin' you were out there lookin' for her," she said quietly.
"Lot of good it did her." Remy said, tiredly. "But you should know by now, chere. Remy here for de long haul. And if I do my job right, maybe dat Meggan never has to risk being de person who has to do it too. Dere are worse goals, you know."
Amanda bit her lip, didn't tell him that was what Pete used to say. There were too many memories associated with this whole conversation. "Still, thanks. I know you would've done it any way, but it doesn't mean I don't appreciate it." She looked over at the door again, 'hearing' in her head the Professor's summons to come in. "Prof's done. Wants me in there." She squeezed his arm briefly, and then let go. "Maybe later I could bring Meg by the boathouse? We could watch her beat Cain at Go Fish again."
"As long as Remy's not doing de babysitting, Remy all for dat," he said, getting up and stretching. "Besides, everyone know de money in Go Fish is all in de side bets."
