The three-year-old boy looked at the picture curiously. A man in a black tuxedo was carrying a woman with auburn hair and blue eyes in a white wedding dress down a set of stairs. "This you and daddy?" he asked.
The woman from the picture stopped putting the laundry away and sat down next to the little boy. A metal box was open and pictures were strewn across the bed. "Yes," she said rustling her son's hair.
"Why ain't me in it mommy?"
"It's why am I not in it," she corrected. "And you are not in it because that was taken before you were born."
"Oh."
"Now lay down and get some sleep."
The little boy nodded and lay back down. "Teddy?" he asked.
His mother smiled and handed him a small brown teddy bear. He slowly closed his eyes. They slowly opened again when he heard yelling. He grabbed 'Teddy' and slowly walked out of his room and to the stairwell. The little boy sat down on the stairs and looked through the rails. His mother was standing beside the man from the picture.
"Nathan," his mother said. "You can't do this. He's your son!"
The man looked at her his eyes narrowing. "Correct Tara," he said angrily. "He's my son. All I am going to do is make him better. He already possesses the X-factor. If I can add even more mutant genes to his DNA he could be more powerful than I ever could have imagined."
"I don't want him to be powerful. He's just a child. Let him be a child . . ." His mother spotted the boy looking through the rails. "GO BACK TO BED!"
The little boy bit his lip at the sound of his mother's voice. He began to go back to his room when his father spoke. "Come here son."
The little boy ran down the stairs and into his father's arms. His father opened a door and closed it shut behind him. He then locked it.
"NO!!!" he heard his mother scream as she pounded on the door. "Nathan give me my baby!"
"What's wrong with mommy?" the little boy asked.
"She's tired son," his father said laying him on a table in the middle of the room.
He watched his father walk over to a table with all kinds of test tubes and vials on it. He let his eyes wonder around the room. Huge screens were along the walls and above on the ceiling their were hundreds of glass tubing.
His father came back with a needle in his hand. "Daddy," the boy said crying. "No needles. Pwease."
"Sh . . . it's okay," his father said injecting something into his arm.
The little boy's body felt as if he was burning on the inside. "Daddy," he said crying harder. "It hurts!"
The little boy felt another prick in his arm and the burning sensation increased and became more painful.
"He's just a baby!" he heard his mother yell.
"MOMMY!"
Gambit bolted into a sitting position; grabbing for his covers. His whole body was covered in sweat. Tears streamed down his face as the images of the nightmare refused to leave. He had remembered his parents. That should have been reassuring. All his life he had wanted to remember them. His mother, his father . . . He shuddered at the memory and unconsciously curled into a ball, gently rocking himself, trying to forget.
"He's late," Scott grumbled angrily.
Storm sighed. She knew Scott didn't trust Remy and the news that Rogue was pregnant and Gambit was the father didn't help his relationship with Scott but getting mad at him because it was 9:01 and he was suppose to be here at 9:00 wasn't going to help anyone. "Scott do you not believe you are being a little irrational?" Ororo asked.
"You can say I'm being irrational after his probation's over," Scott pushed the intercom button. "Gambit you have a Danger Room session." There was no answer. "Gambit." Nothing. "GAMBIT!"
When there was still no answer Storm gently said, "Remy."
Nothing.
She frowned. "Perhaps he's on his way," she said.
"Cerebro locate Gambit," Scott said.
"Gambit is currently in his room."
Ororo pushed the intercomm button in again and called his name. There was still no answer. "Something isn't right," she said.
Scott followed her out of the Danger Room control room and to Gambit's door. She knocked on the door. There was no answer. "Remy?" Still no answer. She opened the door and turned on the lights. She tried not to gasp as she saw Gambit. She walked over to him. "Remy it's Ororo," she said touching his arm.
He pulled away from her and crawled under the bed. "Get Rogue," Storm told Cyclops.
"Can ah have the last pancake?" Rogue asked.
"Ya already had seven darlin'," Wolverine pointed out.
"Ah'm eatin' for two now, 'member," Rogue put the pancake on her plate.
"I still can't believe that," he said shaking his head.
"Well ya bettah. Beast redid the test several times," She said finishing the pancake. "Ah'm pregnant."
"I could have seen Betsy, Jean, maybe even 'Ro but I never pictured you," Wolverine admitted.
Rogue smiled. Scott suddenly ran into the kitchen. "Rogue something is wrong with Gambit," he said.
Rogue looked at Wolverine and then flew out of the kitchen and up the stairs as fast as she could. She found Storm by Gambit's bed. "What's wrong with him?" Rogue asked.
"I don't know," Storm said. "He's under the bed."
Rogue nodded and watched Storm leave the room and close the door. Rogue walked over to the bed and sat on it. "Ya gonna come out sugah?" Rogue asked.
She didn't get and answer. "Remy," she said and looked under the bed. She saw his eyes. "Please come out."
He didn't move. "Please," she whispered.
Gambit looked into her eyes and nodded. He crawled out and looked at her. She gently brushed his hair from his tear stained face. "Ya wanna talk about it?" she asked.
He opened his mouth; hiccuped and the tears started to fall again. Rogue pulled him close making sure their skins didn't touch. Remy laid his head onto her lap. She stroked his hair patiently waiting for him to talk.
After a couple of minutes he still hadn't spoken. "Did'ja have a nightmare?" she asked.
"No . . . oui . . ." he said. "I dreamt about my parents. Not de LeBeau's . . . my real parents."
Rogue bit her lip. Now's a perfect time to tell him 'bout Sinister. She opened her mouth but no words came.
"My mother was beautiful," Remy continued. "Like you."
Rogue smiled and gently wiped the tears from his eyes with her gloved hand. "I remembered having a teddy bear. And what did I name it -Teddy. Original, non?" Remy said.
"It's a wonderful name. I think mah first bear was called Teddy. Actually it was short for Theodore Eugene Bear but still Teddy's a nice name," Rogue said.
"Hmmm . . .wonder what happened t'Teddy," Remy said. "What happened t'your Teddy?"
"He was burned in a fire when Ah was eight." Rogue looked out the window.
"Oh," Remy said.
"What about yoah daddy?" Rogue asked.
Remy closed his eyes, shuddering at the memory. "He did somethin' t'me . . . it made my skin, ev'ry part of me burn . . ." he whispered.
Rogue closed her eyes fighting back tears. Sinister, you bastard. "Remy," she was shocked at how shaky her voice was.
Gambit looked up at Rogue. "Chere?" he said concern in his voice.
Rogue was trembling. He sat up and fought back the urge to brush her hair from her face. He didn't have gloves on and the last thing he wanted was to be in another coma. Rogue looked at him. "When Ah was at Sinister's base, and ya'd gone ta get that information, Ah found out that . . ." she looked away from him.
"Found out what Rogue?" he asked.
"Sinister's yoah father," she whispered.
"Dat not funny," he said.
She looked back up at him. "It's the truth," Rogue said and described what he had looked like.
"Mon dieu," Remy said. "Why didn't y'tell me before?"
"Ah didn't know how ta . . . Ah was . . ." she looked away. "Ah'm sorry."
Remy grabbed his gloves from the dresser and put the on. He then carefully pulled Rogue close. "Whatcha gonna do Remy?" Rogue asked.
"Talk t'de Professor. Maybe he can help me 'member somet'ings," Remy said.
"The Professor!!" Rogue said and looked at the clock. "Ah gotta go Remy. Ah'm suppose ta be with him now. Ah'm already late." She looked at Gambit. "You're late for a Danger Room session yoahself sugah," Rogue said. "Ya gonna be okay?"
Remy gave her a smile. "I'll be fine," he said. "What y'seein' de Prof for?'
"Therapy session."
"Mmm . . .what y'got after dat?"
"Jean and 'Ro are taking me shopping for baby clothes," Rogue said.
He nodded and stood up. "We better get goin'," he said pulling her up.
"Ya sure yoah okay?"
"Oui," he said. "Just need t'get dressed."
Rogue nodded and left the room. Gambit shuddered at the memory of his father. Sinister, he thought angrily as he got dressed. He went to the window. One thought was on his mind-make Sinister, his father, pay for what he had done. He opened the window and then quickly closed it. He leant back against it. Non. What about Rogue, Remy? he thought. If he have you who gonna stop him from getting' her and y'baby.
"Remy?" he heard from the intercom.
"Be right down Stormy," he said.
"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!!"
Waldorf, MD
Switchback stood by the edge of the elementary school building as she watched the children play. Laughter filled the area and Switchback had to close her eyes. Was I ever this happy? Was I ever a child?
She opened her eyes and saw her target, Timothy and Thomas Browne. They were on the swings laughing loudly. Switchback looked at the report Sinister had made on them. They were eight. Just children. She couldn't take them away. They had their whole lives before them. She turned away from the school and began to walk away.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Switchback spun around and saw Sinister standing in the shadows. "Going soft on me Haley?" he asked.
"No sir," she lied looking down. Come on Haley. Think. she thought frantically as she tried to make up an excuse. "I . . .um, well . . .it'll be easier to take them at the house. If I go now I can knock their mother out and take the boys when they come home. I could even make it look like a robbery."
She looked up. Sinister was gone. Oh god forgive me.
Sinister's Base
Sinister rematerialized in the doorway of his laboratory smiling. He walked past the three adults and towards the small boy. The child was asleep. Sinister opened the cylinder and picked him. He laid him on the table and then strapped his arms and legs to it.
Sinister removed a needle from the bench and turned back to the boy. He injected the liquid into the child and closed his eyes. He had done this same test years ago to his own son.
The boy awoke crying painfully. "It hurts," he screamed.
Sinister stepped back remembering . . .
"It hurts daddy," three-year-old Remy cried.
Sinister closed his eyes and injected the fluid into his son's arm trying not to cry as his son's screams became louder.
"He's just a baby!" he heard his wife yell.
Remy cried for his mother before falling into unconsciousness. Sinister put the needles away and picked up his son rocking him gently. He sat down by the wall. "I'm sorry Remy," he said. "I know it hurts. Remember I'm doing it for you. It'll make you better, stronger."
Sinister blinked back tears and looked at the small boy. He was unconscious. Sinister put him back into the cylinder and exited the room quickly.
The three adult prisoners looked at each other. They had never seen Sinister cry before. Maybe he had a change of heart.
The door opened again. Sinister walked in and over to one of the men. He opened the cylinder and grabbed the man by the neck. He strapped the man to the table. Sinister took a scalpel into his hands and turned back to the man. At the sound of the mans screams his fellow prisoners hope died. Sinister had no heart.