Remy, Madelyn - Wednesday evening

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

Madelyn hunts down Remy to give him the Mistra taskforce overview. It's as well received as usual.



There was only so long she could put this off, and she'd reached that point. Let it never be said Madelyn wasn't organised. With a copy of the taskforce on Mistra overview tucked under her arm and a certain amount of trepidation, Madelyn headed for Remy's office. With any luck he'd be out and she could just leave it on the desk.

Unfortunately for her, Remy was justing heading out of his office, a file in his hands and a preoccupied look on his face. He looked up to see Bartlet advancing down the hall and scowled.

"If it not Florence Nightingale. Shouldn't you be giving Nate his spongebath or something?"

Oh yes, this was going to be as painful as she'd expected. Doing her best to keep a civil tone - and not think about certain unexplainable actions the last time she'd had to deal with the Cajun - Madelyn held out the folder. "The taskforce review on their entire operation against Mistra. Charles suggested giving you a copy might be useful." She bit down on the 'I can't imagine why' that wanted to tack itself onto the end of that sentence.

Remy snagged the file and kept walking, forcing her to trot after him. He flipped through the contents rapidly, checking over details. "Looks like dey finally got decent intel in de Med again. Can't imagine how dat happened." He paused to check a sheet, before filing it back again. "Still doesn't really explain how Mistra was able to transition so effectively out of government control, but Remy guess dat would mean questions of de boss. Can't have dat."

Madelyn barely repressed the roll of her eyes. So we were back to the paranoia, were we? "The President's been as upfront as anyone about the whole thing - even you have to acknowledge there are whole areas the Oval Office is never told about. When Ruiz and the other directors decided to take matters into their own hands, it didn't take much to disappear - they'd already been operating under the radar for years." She didn't bother to keep the impatience out of her voice.

"Hard to do dat without someone inside helping you along." Remy turned and grinned nastily at her. "Think dat Remy can claim a pension for my time in government service? Or maybe one of dem shiny medals? Bet you got one, Bartlet. Framed and everything." Remy wanted to make sure that Bartlet didn't have any questions about how he felt about her, and his words practically bristled with spikes.

"I'm not denying this is a God-awful mess and there's any number of people who need to answer certain questions. Which is why you're getting cut in on the loop," Madelyn said, impatience rising. "But I swear if you keep needling me like that, this will be the last time I bother even trying." She hated the way he could so easily press her buttons, all the more so because he knew how well it worked. "How about some fucking professionalism?"

"Dat's right. Let's put dis down as an takeaway action item and discuss solutions at our next meeting." Remy said, stopped in front of the linen closet, and turning to come face to face with the red headed woman. "I know. We can make a solutions committee which can debate de overall viability wit' our corporate stratagy, and you can run it. Remy go and get de muffins and coffee. Professional enough for you?"

"Just what the hell is your problem with me?" Madelyn demanded, standing her ground. Fuck this, she was sick of the man's contempt, especially when she hadn't earned it, in her opinion. At least not initially. "You've been on my back since the day Charles let you come back, and that's not including that lovely choke hold you used on me. If it's a personal thing, fine, but I'm sick to death of you implying I don't know what I'm doing! In case you hadn't noticed, we've managed to take down Mistra without any input from you."

"Dat's right. Pillers of flame, toppling buildings. Very effective." Remy sneered. "But de fact dat you treated me like something found on de bottom of your shoe since day one seems not to have registered much. What was de term; dirty street rat?" Madelyn winced. Apparently, LeBeau's hearing had been very good, even when he thought he was a teenager. "So dat's my problem, Bartlet. De fact dat you seem to think dat you somehow better 'cause you part of de law, and Remy only good for doing de jobs dat you won't lower yourself to."

"I came to you for help with Hank because I knew you had resources I didn't!" she retorted. Her conscience had pricked her a little after the Infectia incident, realising she'd pretty much pushed Remy into being Gambit again. "You helped save a man's life... and why am I even bothering arguing with you?" This was futile, and it was doing her blood pressure no good at all.

"Because you got nothing better to do?" Remy shot back, knowing that he'd just scored a hit. There was something about Madelyn that just set him off, and in the back of his head, he was well aware that it was as much him as her that kept the arguments going. "Dis is a way you get to feel superior to Remy, by showing how important dat you are. Oh, and dis information? Got most of it a week ago, but thanks for keeping me in the loop."

"This isn't about me! Or about you, you arrogant, self-absorbed bastard!" Madelyn's voice, already on the loud and angry side, rose. "Charles wanted you to have that information, so you have it, O Most High Intelligence Guru. Personally I don't give a flying fuck what you do with it, or how much you already had. No wonder we're working at cross purposes! I would have thought you'd have learned the value of information exchange, but I guess you're too busy being a lone wolf to give a shit!"

Remy had two options, and knew that people would be upset if he hit her. That left one solution.

He kissed her, hard. It wasn't about love, but something between fierce attraction and violent hatred that left them both winded. She broke the kiss and slapped him hard, her palm landing with a satisfying loud smack across his cheek. Remy's head whipped back, and he turned to say something and was stopped by Madelyn grabbing his head and forcing her mouth over his again.

This was insane. This was the person she couldn't exchange civil words with, let alone spit, and yet here she was, kissing him with a hunger and desperation she couldn't even begin to explain. At some point there was some fumbling for the linen closet door by one or both of them, and then they were enclosed in starch-scented darkness, still kissing as if they were trying to devour each other.

Remy buried his hands in her auburn hair, forcing her face against him, their kisses almost bruising in their intensity. She pressed him against the soft racks of sheets, her lithe body moulded harshly against his, a need close to madness locking them in an intertwined position.

She had her fists bunched in his shirt to pull herself closer against him, the injured shoulder protesting but for now she was paying it no mind. She wanted... she wanted... what she wanted wasn't this. Not this. With an effort, she pushed herself away, panting slightly, her lips feeling swollen, raw. "What are we doing?" she managed to say.

"Thought dat was obvious." Remy said horsely, shaking his head and leaning back against the sheets. None of this made any sense. It was something electric, and violent, and utterly insane. It made no sense, but something between them pulsed, heavy and erotic.

"Fucking wiseass..." Madelyn found herself moving towards him again, and jerked herself back, towards the door. "Whatever's going on here, it's a freak thing, some sort of aberration. Never again, understand me? I am never kissing you again."

"Dat right? Well, good!" Remy shot back, painfully aware of how lame the retort sounded. "Remy tired of having to use a whole bottle of mouthwash to get rid of de taste, everytime you can't control you self!"

"Me? You're the one who started it this time! You, and your lips!" His lips and his tongue and those hands... Reaching out almost blindly, Madelyn snagged the front of his shirt and yanked him towards her. "I'm going to have to scrub myself raw after this," she almost growled, before kissing him again.

"Bet dat," Remy said between kisses. "-was de-" He gasped for air. "-plan all along." His hands went to her waist and then hips as she pushed herself hungrily against him. She snarled at the comment, but it didn't slow the voracity of their kisses, or the almost violent struggle as they moved against each other.

She winced as he pushed her up against the linen closet door, but didn't pull away. "You are such..." she gasped as he left a trail of rough kisses down the line of her throat. "...an arrogant bastard. You think I like this?" The words ended in a noise that was almost a moan as he pulled her harder against him.