"I can't believe how stupid I was," Storm repeated to Remy as they drove toward the Denara's. "It's just that Hank is always on his computer. I can't even fight with him. He just stares at that thing like it's his whole world. It's like I'm not even there to him."

"T'ought we be talkin' 'bout dis Danny guy," Remy commented wondering if he and Pete were the only sane X-men left. These days Scott and Logan couldn't stand to be in the same room, Hank never left his room, Ororo never shut-up about Hank and Jean was putting off some weird vibe the made his hair stand on end. Of course the Professor was still the Professor, but Remy felt about as comfortable in his presence as he did in the presences of a poisonous snake.

Remy was almost glad he'd been forced away from the mansion, the rising tensions would have driven him to take his chances on the streets again months ago. Except even though Scott was a pain and Logan was away more often than not and Jean didn't like him and Pete always seemed to keep him at a distance and Ororo and Hank were both too wrapped up in their personal melt downs to think about anything else, they were still the first people he'd called friends or counted on in longer than he could remember and he didn't want to loose that.

After what seemed like an eternity of listen to Ororo ramble about Hank and Hank disguised as Danny she stopped the car in front of the Denara's.

" 'Mind Scott that I could be helpin'," Remy said as he got out of the car and started for the house.

Walking through Kevin's gardens Remy saw even more leaves drooping, curling and beginning to turn an unhealthy brown and he wondered how long it would take for them to die of grief.

He noticed fresh turned earth and other evidence of Rachael's efforts to stave off the inevitable. A futile gesture in a war that was already lost. The gardens weren't natural. Thanks to Kevin's mutant abilities, they were alive and aware in a way that was just wrong for a plant. From mourning their master they would fade and wither despite Rachael's best efforts and it didn't matter anyway. No matter how long Rachael managed to keep the gardens alive, they would never welcome Kevin home.

"It would have been easy to envy the other boy his loving family," Remy thought to himself. "If Kevin hadn't been dead that was." With things the way they were Remy just hoped Logan would pick him up before the body was found. He liked Rachael and Mark; he didn't want to be there to see their hopes crushed out.

"Doin' what I can," Remy reminded himself firmly. "If dere was somet'ing more I could do, dat Scott would let me do, I..."

Remy paused taking in the shear amount of labor Rachael was putting into the rapidly fading garden. "Mebbe it gives her some comfort, or at leas' a distraction. What she gonna do when it be gone?"

Remy closed his eyes, taking slow deep breaths and carefully reached out with his abilities to try to change the emotions he sensed around him. "Je desolute, mais yo' can't cry no more," he murmured softly. "Know he's gone an' yo' hurtin', but dere be other people carin' 'bout yo'. Who will Rachael have to care for if yo' all up and die? Don' yo' love her too? Kevin loved her, can feel it me. He'd want yo' to take care of her. Yo'll love Rachael for me, for him, won' yo'?"

After a few moments Remy shook his head in disbelief. "Talkin' to a bunch of plants, must be crazy neh?" He said to himself. "Mais, hope it worked." Then knocked on the door.

"Remy," Rachael greeted him welcomingly. "You don't have to knock."

"Mebbe I like bein' 'vited in chere," Remy replied trying to cover up the awkwardness he felt about them opening their home to him.

"Afternoon Remy," Mark said, he didn't ask but Remy heard the question anyway.

"Found a lead I t'ink," he said. "Cyke an' Stormy be lookin' into it."

"Do you think?" Rachael began her eyes shining with hope.

"We t'ink we know who be responsible," Remy replied avoiding the real question. "I be a little tired, yo' mind?"

Having excused himself Remy retreated to his room.

Cyclops glanced nervously over his shoulder. "Does it normally take this long?" he asked.

"It wouldn't take as long if you'd hold the freaking light still," Storm snapped, not looking up from the lock she was trying to pick. "Gambit probably has much better nerves for this kind of thing. I should have taken him," she muttered. "What is it with you? Fighting super-villains, no problem, but a little B&E makes you a nervous wreck."

"Remy's too young..." Cyclops started when Storm interrupted with a snort. "And we're breaking in to a cop's house. It's going to look really bad if we get caught without anything to back up our suspicions."

"Then come on, the door's open," Storm said pocketing her lock picks and opening the kitchen door.

"I'll check the basement," Cyclops said.

"Too obvious," Storm disagreed. "Bedroom maybe?"

"We're going to split up anyway," Cyclops replied with a shrug.

"Merci," Remy said unsurprised to see Officer Cardie waiting at the door. Remy joined him on the front step. "Let's take dis away from de house. Dey nice, upstandin' people, no reason to upset dem," Remy suggested.

"Look kid," Cardie said making an effort to tower over Remy. "I have no idea why the Denaras would want to have another freak around and by now I'm sure you've got a pretty good idea of what happened to Kevin. I looked you up, you could leave if you wanted to, it'd probably increase your life expectancy."

Remy tried not to laugh at the man, he'd stood up to Sinister, his sparring partner and best friend was the world's top assassin, the idea of a middle-aged cop threatening him was a little ridiculous. Still he should at least act like he was taking the conversation seriously, getting a confession or some valuable information out of the man would help derail Scott's tirade about him having it in the first place.

"And if you do decide to risk staying, keep the hell away from my daughter and any other normal girls and for god's sake stop painting a target on your back."

"If I don'?" Remy asked letting his eyes glow a little.

"If I see you with my daughter again I'll see if I can renew the NYPD's interested in you. I can understand them not putting much effort into nailing you for petty theft, but hell, they had you connected to a double homicide and several thousand dollars worth of missing diamonds. I'm sure they'd be eager to re-open the books on that one. As for the other stuff, just common sense kid, you do fit the profile for our local serial killer, you don't have to work at pissing that guy off."

Remy watched with something approaching shock as the older man turned and started walking away. "Dat's it?" he demanded.

Cardie paused. "Yeah, this was a warning; stay the hell away from my kid, you don't I'll find a way to keep you away from her. And if that isn't enough incentive to get out of town, I thought you should realize you're courting an ugly death living here. I don't need the paper work, so why don't you go back to where you came from."

"Attic?" Cyclops asked.

"Process of elimination say yes," Storm replied. "You know I've been thinking, Cardie's a cop, he'd know better than to keep incriminating stuff in his own house right?"

"You couldn't have had this revelation an hour ago, say before we broke in?" Cyclops hissed.

"Why didn't you?" Storm snapped back.

"Okay we're here anyway, lets be thorough," Cyclops sighed.

The attic was little more than a crawl space beneath the roof turned into a storage room. Several minutes after the two X-Men began poking through boxes the distinctive sound of a door slamming echoed through the house.

Without a word, Cyclops scrambled back to the trap-door entrance, quietly lowering it back into place as Storm positioned herself beside an air-vent.

After a few minutes they heard Cardie's voice raised in anger. "I don't give a damn, lock him in the basement handcuff him to his bed, just keep the junior psychopath under wraps for a few days. I'm dealing with the problem!"

There was a break in the conversation.

"Phone?" Cyclops mouthed to Storm who nodded in agreement.

"It won't be for much longer," Cardie said a moment later. "This kid isn't like the others, he's got no real ties to this place. I can get rid of him, but I'm fucking tired of hiding bodies for you."

Another pause.

"Well you raised him. Just keep him under control, people are starting to wonder, he's going to get caught. Hell, I think the damn mutie-boy suspected *I* was the killer. We can't keep doing this," Cardie concluded slamming down the phone.

Cyclops gestured to the window, "Let's get out of here," he whispered. Storm opened the small window then crawled out, her winds wafted her gently to the ground. Cyclops followed her. He paused sitting on the window ledge, looking at her questioningly. Storm grinned and waved him on. With that reassurance Cyclops jumped, he landed softly beside her. They walked into the shadows across the street.

"I'll stake him out," Cyclops said. "You call Remy, let him know Cardie isn't the actual killer and Remy is definitely a target. Tell him to get somewhere safe; we don't need his help anymore. Oh yeah, find out if Remy's new girlfriend has any brothers, cousins or anything. Call Beast too, have him hack the phone company's records, I want to know who Cardie was talking to. If Beast doesn't think he can get the info by morning, have him put Marvel Girl on a plane here. Damn, I wish we had a second Blackbird."

"Will do," Storm replied.

"You can check around, see if you can find any relatives or friends of Cardie's with any sons in their teens or early twenties." Cyclops continued. "But make sure to get some sleep as well, you're relieving me tomorrow at 10:00, I'll call if anything happens before then."

"Look out or you'll start sounding like Scott," Ororo said.

"I had news an' yo' weren't 'vailable," Remy snapped.

"We turned them off while we were taking a look at Cardie's house," Ororo explained.

"It ain't him," Remy said.

"Yeah, we know," Ororo replied. "He isn't doing the killing, but he's involved in the cover up. Scott wants you to hole up until Logan gets here. You did your part, now it's our turn."

"I can still help," Remy protested.

"Come on, Remy, you and Scott 'll just fight about it and it'll slow everything down," Ororo sighed. "Everyone knows Scott's being anal but now isn't the best time to fight about it."

"Fine," Remy growled. "I jus' be back at de Denaras' watchin' m' toenails grow." With that the younger boy stalked down the hall and violently slapped the elevator button.