The entire Guild was ignoring them. Even Jean-Luc was giving them the cold shoulder, even though he still had to talk to them, being the Guild leader and all.

"How long you t'ink dis is goin' to last, Claude?" Theoren asked, joining his best friend on the front stoop of the LeBeau mansion after the Guild meeting was over. The others were all still inside.

"I don' know. I'm kind of worried. I mean, I don' t'ink dis is all dey're goin' to do. I mean I t'ink it might be all Emil does, but not Jackie. She's too much like Remy." Claude replied with a sigh.

"Dear Lord, what if dey bring Remy into dis?" Theoren said softly, his blue eyes widening in fear. Neither of the two elder thieves had ever liked Remy all that much. It wasn't that they hated or feared mutants, they didn't. They were just old fashioned and didn't like change. They were more tolerant of Jackie, almost to the point of being fond of her, but they had a hard time showing it, the same way they had always had a hard time showing the younger thieves how they felt.

"I don' t'ink dey will. Both of dem can take care of demselves, an' dey've already proven dey mean to take care of each other as well." Claude said.

"What do you t'ink dey'll do? Aside from ignoring us, I mean."

"Dat remains to be seen. Not dat we don' d'serve it…"

"You certainly do d'serve it," Tante Mattie's voice came from behind them. She had been standing in the doorway, listening to them, since they went outside.

The two thieves turned in shock and looked at Tante Mattie with a mix of fear and regret. Mattie sighed and stepped out to join them, shutting the door behind herself.

"We're sorry, Tante…we shouldn' have said what we did." Theoren apologized.

"Dat's right, you shouldn' have. You also shouldn' be apologizin' to me. You didn' hurt me." Mattie said sternly. "Honestly, I don' know what you two were t'inkin'. Why'd you do it, anyway?"

Claude looked down, unable to meet her eyes. "We…I don' know…Tante, why do we always do t'ings like dis?"

"B'cause you're a couple of old fashioned fools who can' bear change, dat's why." Mattie told them. "But I don' t'ink dat's why you did it."

Both men looked at her curiously. "Oh? What do you t'ink den?" Theoren asked.

"You care 'bout dose two more den you let on, don' you?" Mattie asked softly. When they didn't reply, she continued. "You don' want to see either one of dem get hurt, an' you don' want dem to rush t'ings. Dat's why you did it."

"We worry 'bout dem," Claude replied, after thinking of what she said. "You're right in everyt'ing you jus' said an' I guess we jus' don' know how to express ourselves."

"Maybe while everyone's ignorin' you, you should figure it out an' den, when dey start talkin' to you 'gain, you should tell dem. I t'ink dey really need to hear de truth from you two. No games. Try tellin' dem de truth instead of hurtin' dem." Mattie suggested.

"Oui. Dat's a good idea." Theoren said.

"So get t'inkin', an' if dey do or say anyt'ing else to you b'fore you talk, keep in mind dat dey're angry wit' you, an' hurt by what you said. Dey'll get over it."

"Dey're getting freaked out 'bout dis…" Emil laughed. He and Jackie were sitting together on the couch in the living room of the LeBeau mansion. Genard, Zoe and Mercy had all gone out into the backyard to play Frisbee, and Jean-Luc had gone to watch them. Claude and Theoren were on the front porch with Tante Mattie.

"Je sais. It's pretty funny." Jackie replied. "But I t'ink dey need to get a little scare of deir own, don' you?"

"What do you have in mind? I'm open to suggestions." Emil said, pulling her closer to him and wondering what she was thinking of doing to the two troublemakers.

Jackie grinned at him with an evil gleam in her eyes. "What do you say to bein' bait for a little lesson I have planned for our dear friends?"

"I'm listenin'," Emil replied, returning the grin.

Speaking quietly, Jackie told Emil of the plan she had. It wasn't much of one if you really thought about it. The Assassins could have done much better…or much worse, depending on how you looked at it. But it involved giving Theo and Claude a scare, and that's what they were going for.

Emil went to the door and opened it after seeing that Tante Mattie was gone. Theoren and Claude were standing there. Emil stepped out to join them, with a melancholy look on his face. Claude and Theoren didn't know it, but it was all part of Jackie's plan.

"Well, I hope you guys are happy," Emil said, trying to sound as close to crying as he possibly could, given his urge to laugh hysterically over the whole thing.

"What's wrong?" Theoren asked, turning around. He looked concerned. In spite of how he and Claude behaved, they were really happy that Emil and Jackie had found happiness with each other, and Emil hadn't looked sad once since they expressed how they felt about each other. The fact that Emil was suddenly unhappy didn't sit well with Theo, not at all.

"Oh, it's not'ing." Emil tried to brush it off.

"Not'ing? If it's not'ing, why do you look so unhappy?" Claude inquired. He caught the concerned vibe coming off Theo, and was instantly curious as to what was going on.

"It's jus'…well…I t'ought we had settled everyt'ing from de other day. But I guess I was wrong." Emil replied with a sigh. "Jackie jus'…"

Claude and Theoren looked at each other with alarm. They had not meant for anything bad to happen to the young couple.

"She jus' what?" they asked in unison.

"She told me she didn' t'ink it was goin' to work out b'tween us." Emil explained sadly. He nearly gave the ruse away; his desire to laugh was growing stronger by the second.

"Well, what're you doin' 'bout dat?" Claude wanted to know, exchanging a quick glance with Theoren. Neither of them was happy with this new development.

"What can I do?" Emil demanded. "Not'ing. Dere's not'ing I can do 'cept respect her wishes."

"Is she inside?" Theoren asked, moving towards the door.

"Oui." Emil replied.

"Okay, so come wit' us, we have to talk to her 'bout dis." Claude said.

"Pourquoi? What's de difference? She won' change her mind." Emil replied, managing a more melancholy look and another sigh, so they'd think he was really upset. They took the bait.

"Non, non, non. We have to at least try." Theoren replied, pushing Emil towards the door. It took every ounce of self-control Emil possessed to keep from bursting into laughter on the way back into the mansion.

The only person they saw when they went inside was Jean-Luc. He was sitting in the armchair, smoking a cigarette. He was part of the plan, Emil knew, and he couldn't wait to see how the next segment went.

"Well, I was wondering where you guys were. Jackie's pretty upset." Jean-Luc said, addressing Theoren and Claude, as Emil flopped down on the couch as dejectedly as he could. "You know, I have to admit, I'm really disappointed in de two of you. Dey were happy, den you had to go an' ruin it. Now dey're both miserable. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Um…" the two thieves said together, staring at the floor with sheepish looks on their faces.

"Dat's what I t'ought." Jean-Luc said sternly. "You couldn' let well-enough alone, an' look at what happened. You might want to talk to her…to 'both of dem. Jackie's in her room."

"C'mon, Emil." Theoren said. "Let's go see Jackie. We have to talk 'bout dis."

"Whatever." Emil replied, hauling himself off the couch.

Emil walked into Jackie's room first, and the two exchanged a quick grin. Theoren and Claude were close behind. It was now time to put the final part of the plan into action. They both knew Theo and Claude were freaked out about the whole thing.

"What do you want?" Jackie demanded from her bed. She was lying there, staring at the ceiling, a few fake tears rolling down her cheeks.

"We need to talk…" Theoren replied.

"We have not'ing to talk 'bout. I have not'ing to say to de two of you." Jackie said. "An' Emil an' I have already talked."

"Jackie, come on…" Claude said, his voice nearly a whine.

"Look at it dis way, guys, you were right. Be happy." Jackie replied. "I'm sure as hell not, but den 'gain, what do my feelin's matter, or Emil's either for dat matter?"

"Jackie…" Theoren began. Jackie cut him off.

"You know, I don' t'ink I've ever been dis angry at someone b'fore in my life. I can' b'lieve you guys could say t'ings like dat to me. I don' understand why you hate us so much dat you felt it necessary to destroy what we had." Jackie said, her purple eyes glowing. She was only pretending to be angry with the two older men, and she couldn't look at Emil, or else she'd start laughing and ruin everything.

"Jackie, we…" Theoren tried again. Jackie shook her head, glaring at him.

"Don' even start wit' me Theoren. I don' want to hear it," she interrupted. "I don' even know why you came up here. Not'ing you can say can fix it. Give me one good reason why I shouldn' make you pay for what you did."

Theoren and Claude gave each other another look of alarm. They were getting seriously worried over what Jackie was saying. Somehow, they knew she was talking about using her mutant powers against them.

"We d'serve to be punished, Jackie, we know dat." Claude said quietly.

"You're damned right you do." Jackie replied. Just for fun, she slowly began to kinetically charge Theoren's shirt so they would think she wasn't joking. Soon, both men were staring at the shirt as it glowed pink with energy. Emil almost had to leave the room. The looks on their faces were priceless.

"Jackie, please!" Theoren exclaimed, begging her to stop.

"Why should she?" Emil asked, speaking for the first time since the guys had joined Jackie. "After what you did, she's goin' easy on you."

"But if de shirt blows, I'm goin' to blow wit' it!" Theoren said. He looked and sounded truly frightened, and Claude did too, once Jackie decided to show him a thing or two as well. She began to charge his shirt as well.

When they were satisfied that the two men were well and truly horrified by what was happening, Jackie suddenly stopped charging the shirts. Then, she and Emil finally let loose the laughter they'd been holding in since the whole thing began.

"What de…?" Claude said, gasping. He and Theoren couldn't for the life of them figure out what was so funny, or what was going on. Jean-Luc appeared in the doorway.

"Are you two sorry yet?" He asked.

"OUI!" they exclaimed in unison.

"Very well. Den now you guys can talk. De game's over."

"Huh? What game…?" Theoren wanted to know. Jean-Luc merely smiled and left. When Emil and Jackie stopped laughing, they sat together on the bed and looked at their friends with devilish grins on their faces.

"De game dat's been played since Emil went outside to get you guys." Jackie said.

"You mean dis whole t'ing was a joke?" Claude said, confused.

"Yep. We planned all of it," Emil affirmed, taking Jackie's hand in his. We're closer den ever, we jus' wanted you guys to pay for what you did de other day. We wanted you to get a scare."

"It worked." Theoren confided. "I don' t'ink I've ever been as scared as I was a few minutes ago. Actually, dis whole t'ing was scary. We didn' mean for it to go as far as it did."

"So, why'd you do it? I mean, if you didn' mean de t'ings you said to me de other day, why say dem? Why not jus' be honest wit' us, like you should've been?" Jackie asked.

"De truth? We're worried 'bout you. We're happy for you, we're glad you've found happiness wit' each other, we jus' worry dat one or both of you will get hurt." Claude explained. "I guess we jus' wanted you both to t'ink 'bout what you're doin', so dat you don' do somet'ing you might regret later, you know?"

Jackie and Emil nodded. They understood what Claude was saying. "But why didn' you jus' tell us dat?" Emil questioned.

"Aw, Red, you know us, you know we don' 'xpress ourselves all dat well." Theoren replied. "But we are sorry. We didn' mean for it to get out of hand. I agree wit' what Claude said. Dat is why we did it. It wasn' s'posed to end de way it did."

"But it did." Jackie said softly. "I mean, we worked it out, but it could jus' as easily have gone de other way. Den how would you have felt? I know you two told Emil a few days ago dat you're behind us an' you s'port us, mais, I didn' really get dat vibe from you de other day when you were talkin' to me."

Theoren sighed. "We would have felt horrible. Like Claude said, we jus' want you to consider everyt'ing, all your options. T'ink 'bout what you're doin' b'fore you do it. We care 'bout you guys a lot. We don' want to see you get hurt. We're sorry."

"We forgive you, but can you promise us somet'ing?" Emil asked seriously, but with a smile on his face.

"Sure, what?" Claude asked.

"Next time you want us to know you're concerned, please don' play games wit' us. Jus' tell us, straight out, we won' be mad. We were angrier dat you chose to screw around wit' us instead of jus' tellin' us what was on your mind."

"Fair enough." Theoren agreed, while Claude nodded. "Can you promise us somet'ing too?"

"Okay…" Jackie said.

"Be careful, take care of each other, an' don' let anyt'ing take what you have from you. Your relationship is special, an' none of de rest of us in de Guild want to see anyt'ing happen to dat. Henri an' Mercy had it, but de Assassins destroyed it. We are goin' to do everyt'ing we can to make sure neither dey nor anyone else does de same to you." Theoren replied.

"T'anks you guys," Emil said. "We'll be careful. An' we appreciate everyt'ing you've said."

"Can we go now?" Claude asked. "I, for one, want to go ask Jean-Luc why he helped you do dis little prank on us."

Jackie and Emil laughed. "Yeah go ahead. We won' stop you." Jackie said.

"Dat went well," Jackie giggled when the door had shut behind Theo and Claude.

"It did." Emil replied, gently shoving her down on the bed with a grin. He pinned her down and kissed her deeply, abruptly stopping her giggles.

The kiss grew more intense and passionate, there was only one thought in Jackie's mind and when the kiss ended, she breathed the words softly to him,

"I don' t'ink dey have to worry 'bout us…"

"Nope…" Emil whispered in reply before kissing her again, thrilling to the feel of her body underneath him. He thought of how beautiful she was, and how glad he was that Claude and Theoren's game hadn't worked.