Hi all,

I know some of you have been waiting for the aftermath piece of my trilogy of Gambit / Sandman stories.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the wait. I've written and rewritten this whole thing at least five times, because I was always dissatisfied with the details, the style, the linkages, the result, etc.,

But here is at last. Well, at least a snippet of it. I finally decided to release the "aftermath" as a series of short stories, linked by the Prologue and the Epilogue.

It is not by any means finished, unfortunately. But this is the only way I feel comfortable in releasing it bit by bit.

At the moment, I've plotted around fifteen short stories ~Oh my god! What on earth was I thinking of??! 8-) ~

I tried weaving all of it together, and that's what stalled me. Got too big for my britches :-} That's why I changed it this final time to be a series of short stories, tenuously held together as an aftermath of 'Sound of Wings'.

By releasing this 'Foreward,' and the 'Prologue' now, I am also committing myself to finishing this. So rest assured I *am* working on this, and I *will* finish it, but it's going to be slow ... since Real Life (tm) is a **big** presence.

Okay, I'll stop my spiel and get down to the story, sorry. So with your patience, here are the notes for 'Nothing by Chance.' I hope you like this one.

Nothing By Chance

Key

#…# Telepathic speech

<…> Thoughts

{…} Flash back

[…] Written text

As a recap, the events of the Gambit/Sandman arc begin after the Onslaught mess. The entire Zero Tolerance debacle, the Antarctica adventure, and the trial, *never* happened in this universe. It started with:

'Perchance to Dream', where Gambit meets Dream for the first time, and for his assistance, receives his first boon, that of an end to his nightmares.

'Degree of Insanity', follows a few months later where Delirium asks our Cajun to help her brother, and in turn receives from her a promise that she will bar him from her realm, unless he chooses to enter of his own free will.

'The Sound of Wings', rounds off the trilogy, and takes place, perhaps two years after Perchance. Where all of Gambit's plans, since he met Dream, reaches fruition.

'Nothing by Chance', picks up immediately after the events of 'Sound of Wings'. You'll see the teasers in the 'Prologue'. <evil snicker>

In 'Nothing by Chance', I am striving to cover all the innuendo I littered through the trilogy, and with my style, I'll be adding more :-) :-) :-) But I promise it will *all* be explained when the whole thing is finished.

A fair warning to all though, Remy LeBeau *is* dead.

Okay, I'll shut up and get to the story.

Hope you like it.

Best Regards, Jacque Koh, November 1997