The safehouse of the Unified Guilds of New Orleans was quiet, except for the sound of footsteps walking through the house. Theoren Marceaux reached his destination and knew what he had to say was going to make a certain member of the Guild very happy. He poked his head into the kitchen, where his young cousin Emil Lapin was sitting at the table staring at the clock on the wall as if he was waiting for it to start dancing or something. Theoren smiled and made his announcement.

"Remy's here, kid."

Emil's blue eyes lit up with excitement and he decided not to hide it. "Woohoo! Finally!" He exclaimed as he stood up, and, after picking up the large backpack and duffel bag, he followed Theoren out to the main foyer to meet their cousin.

Emil had every reason to be excited, and no one blamed him. It was less than two weeks from his twenty-fifth birthday and as a present, Remy had made arrangements for the two of them to take sailing lessons in Florida and spend two weeks on the coast outside Miami. He knew Emil would be delighted with the gift, and he hadn't been wrong. Emil had always wanted to learn how to sail.

Remy laughed as he walked into the room. "I s'pose you been packed an' ready to go for a week, huh?"

"More like since de day you told him, Remy." Theoren said. Aside from being a cousin of the two younger men, Theo was also the closest thing to a father figure they had since their own fathers had died. "I wish you weren' goin' out-of-state for dis trip t'ough…"

Both Remy and Emil caught the unease and worry evident in Theoren's voice. Emil rolled his eyes and sighed as he headed out the door.

Remy and Theoren stared at each other, each of them thinking of that time, almost exactly ten years prior to this trip, when Remy's developing mutant powers had inadvertently caused the death of Theoren's adored baby brother Etienne. That had changed their lives forever, and Theoren had never quite trusted Remy since, even though it had been an accident.

"We can' take sailin' lessons here an' actually have a vacation away from everythin' else in our lives, Theo." Remy said quietly. "I checked, b'lieve me. Nothin' will happen, our teacher is a professional instructor. B'sides, Emil's wanted to do dis all his life, you know dat better den I do."

Theoren sighed and agreed. "Oui, I know. Jus'…don' disappoint me, Remy. Call me when you get dere."

"I ain' fifteen anymore, Theo. Please trust me. An' yeah we will. I promise."

Theoren nodded and watched Remy leave. "Okay…have fun."

Remy pulled the car out of the driveway and headed towards the airport, trying to will himself to be more upbeat. He failed though, because he kept thinking about Etienne. Emil noticed the waves of thoughtful sadness radiating from Remy and said something as they took the exit towards the airport. "Everythin' okay, Rem?"

"Oh…yeah…oui, everythin's fine, Emil. Jus' t'inkin', dat's all." Remy replied, trying to smile and not quite managing it.

"Theo was doin' a lot of dat earlier, too." Emil observed. "He was havin' a real hard time agreein' to dis."

Remy sighed. "He's got a pretty valid reason."

"True. But we ain' kids, an' we ain' gon' on a job. It's not de same."

"Dat's what I said to him. An' t'anks to Warren, we've also got one of de best professional sailin' instructors in de world teachin' us. He won' let us go out until he's convinced we know what we're doin'."

"Dat's good. Who is he?" Emil questioned as they parked the car and walked to the terminal.

"His name is James Armstrong an' he was even on de British Olympic Sailin' Team a few years back. He came highly recommended by Warren an' a few other people as well." Remy explained as the got their bags checked and headed to the gate.

Emil checked his watch eighty-five times before they had even boarded the plane and sixteen more times before the plane even left the runway.

"Time won' go any faster dat way, y'know." Remy joked tolerantly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but I jus' really wan' get dere!" Emil returned with an anticipant smile, his blue eyes sparkling but betraying his fatigue. He had not slept for one minute the night before due to his excitement and within moments he was napping peacefully, using Remy's shoulder as a pillow.

Ten minutes before they landed in Miami, Remy woke his cousin up, so Emil could look out the window as they approached. Remy got a kick out of Emil, who was as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning.

The cottage Remy rented for the two weeks was located on a beach in an area outside Miami. As they drove up in the taxi they hailed outside the airport, they were both struck with the same thought. The cottage was a large beautiful home that reminded them of Tante Mattie's family home in Slidell. It was perfect.

Their sailing lessons weren't scheduled to start until the next morning, so they settled into the cottage and unpacked their belongings. Then, true to his word, Remy called the guild safehouse and let Theoren know they had arrived. They ate a late lunch at a diner down the road from the cottage, and then went back to the cottage, retiring to their chosen bedroom and getting a much-needed afternoon nap.

Emil woke up around six p.m. and walked through the house looking for Remy. He wasn't alarmed when his cousin was nowhere to be found inside the building, because he knew Remy wouldn't go far without telling him. Sure enough, Remy was sitting on the porch steps outside the cottage, smoking a cigarette and staring out at the nearby ocean. Before Emil could sit down and join him, Remy stood up and grinned. "C'mon."

Together, they walked down to the sandy shore, breathing in the warm salty air. They took off their shoes and socks and walked along the edge of the water, peacefully at first, then getting playful.

"Hey!" Remy exclaimed as he was ambushed from behind by Emil and splashed. Emil chuckled and darted away as Remy raced after him. They chased each other through the shallow water, each trying to splash the other. The game ended when Remy succeeded in tripping Emil, knocking him off balance, and Emil succeeded in taking Remy down with him.

Drenched to the skin, they sat in the warm waves and laughed until they couldn't laugh anymore because it hurt too much. Born just weeks apart, this summer also marked the fifteenth anniversary of their friendship, which was Remy's other reason for wanting to do something memorable with Emil, away from the disturbances caused by the guild and the X-men.

As they walked back to the cottage, picking up their discarded shoes and socks on the way, Remy studied Emil, who had always been more like a brother to him than a cousin. He noticed with a smile that Emil looked more relaxed and content than he had since the unification of the Thieves and Assassins Guilds almost a year before.

Emil caught Remy smiling at him and promptly crossed his blue eyes, making Remy crack up laughing again. He attempted to spike his damp, wavy red hair and failed miserably, his mock frustration making Remy laugh even harder.

With an absent shrug and a lopsided grin, Emil explained his actions. "Figured I'd give you a reason to be smilin' at me de way you were."

They paused at the cottage doorway and looked back at the ocean. The sun had begun to set and the effect of the multicolored rays of light bouncing off the water was awe-inspiring. Emil smiled with a peaceful sigh, his blue eyes shining as he took in the beauty of the scene before them. Had he looked at Remy, he would have seen the same expression in his cousin's strangely unique red-on-black eyes, but he didn't think to.

Before he turned to go inside the cottage, Remy gave Emil's shoulder a brotherly squeeze and said, his voice quiet,

"Happy birthday, Red."