Chapter 11 

Disclaimer: The X-Men belong to Marvel, the Coda to Wildstorm, and the
story to me.


New York City....Poppa Gumbo's Cajun Deelites in Greenwich Village...

A strikingly beautiful Fey woman nearly choked on a bite of something
that set her mouth on fire, more so than the psychic flames she'd endured
earlier in the day, and certainly spicier than her late afternoon liason
with the suave, sophisticated Cajun who now sat across the table from her.
She invoked her Coda training to refrain from letting her eyes tear up, and
let him have the pleasure of seeing her react to his favourite cuisine.

"'s hot enough for ya, cherie?" he purred silkily, letting his fingers slip
along her jaw line as she glowered at him warningly. His luminous garnet
eyes practicly twinkled with mirth at her misery. She would get him back for
this, she swore to herself, and she'd get back at Emma for agreeing to it
on her behalf...

"It's as hot as you said it would be, sweet," she replied after taking a
none-too-hastey sip of her sweet rose chablis, "*whew* IF I did't have
psibernetic prosthetics for eyes, I'm sure I might be tempted to blot away
a tear..."

They were simply being an English aristocrat and a charming rogue of a 
Cajun for another evening, as they'd promised themselves they'd do once
a week, come hell or high waters...

"Now, 'Lisabeth, we said no cryin' tonight, non?" he teased her gently,
"Been far too many tears sheddin' round our brood th'las' week..."

She looked at him, shaking her head, as he smoothed her bangs back out of
her eyes, "How can you blame me, Remy? I lost a battle to save a 'soul'?
No one else is going to mourn Madelyne's 'death'..."

Their quiet conversaion wasn't commented on in the bustling, cheerful 
environment of New York's only Five Star Cajun eatery. They had a quiet
table, in an alcove that overlooked 9th Avenue, and their section was 
fairly quiet... Being an English aristocrat had its perks.

Remy knew how hard it was for Liz, finally coming into her power after
being a moderately potent telepath for so much of her life, to now be as 
or more powerful as Emma or even Charles Xavier himself... and Emma was 
the only one she trusted to help her deal with Jeanne's problems as well 
as her own.

After all, she was helping him deal with his own empathic abilities which
had remained buried for so very long... They were partners, and outsiders
at Xavier's. He'd even considered moving to the boathouse with her, but
he preferred his brownstone over in SoHo. Perhaps, when Jeanne was better,
Liz and she would move down here? 

He just held her hands for a while, letting their minds gently intertwine
as they expressed their deeper feelings, taking solace in each other, "Don'
cry, cher! --Ah don' wan' sound crass, but tears don' bring back th' dead.
Believe me, Ah know...an' we been doin' what we can fo' her as best
we can, all week long, oui? So wha's so wrong wit' tryin' t'be a part of th'
livin' for a night ever'so often, cher?"

She pinned him with a stern look he called her 'Royal Glare', "I was *not*
crying, Remy, dearest. I was merely spitting out that horrible gumbo..."

She blushed and crooked an eyebrow at him when he burst out laughing, deep
from his heart, "Don't stop on account of the stuffy British baroness across
from you, Remy. I've never heard you do that--laugh deep and true, like you
meant it. I *like* hearing you laugh, and feeling it in my mind, even if it's
at me from time to time."

Remy leaned over and kissed her fingers gently, as she reminded him of
something, "Usually, you're laughing too late at a bad joke that wasn't
funny, especially if it was one you told..."

"Ah thought we didn' 'ave all tha' much t'laugh 'bout up at Old Baldy's Tomb,
darlin'," he retorted, "'an all you British types seem t'tink that humour is
some form o'midevil sickness, what wit' yer stiff upper lips an' all."

"Hmmm, suppose not," she replied as she tasted the red beans and rice, which
she found to her liking, "Now this, is a dish worth celebrating. Not a slimy
orca pod in sight..."

"Dat's *okra* O-K-R-A, cher. Orca's bein' killer whales..." he muttered, 
insulted by her subtle jibe, "Orca's'll eat ya, okra'll just put a lilt in
a lovely lady's voice, ya know..."

Some time later, Emma was privately laughing over the things she'd seen
from her passenger seat at dinner... She was beginning to look foreward to
getting back to her own 'home', and getting back into the action of life...
Now if she could just find a man who suited her as well as Remy suited
Liz she'd be happier!

The warm spring winds had carried her 'bunkie'and her beau to Central Park,
an oasis in the middle of a large, battered city; just as the night out had
been for Liz and Remy. She sighed, wishing she didn't feel like she were
the 'fifth wheel' on the hansom carriage they'd just engaged for a ride...

"A hansom carriage ride through the city? How incredibly romantic and
Continental of you, Messeur LeBeau!" Liz was saying, her mind suffused
with warmth and appreciation, "You realise that I'm not quite qualified to
be Cinderella for this magical carriage?"

He was laughing softly as he laid a boquet of English lavender and honey-
suckle in her lap, watching her eyes widen in pleasure as he handed her up
into the carriage, "Thas' quite all right, m'Lady Braddock, 'cause the only
thin' Ah know how t'do wit' a glass slipper is t'drink champaign from it!"

His arm settled around Liz shoulders, Emma notised, as she felt him nuzzling
her 'bunkie's' pointed ears as the driver inquired of their destinaiton in
a gruff voice. Remy leaned closer to Liz, whispering,"Where would y'like
t'go, cherie?"

She was almost purring audibly, to Emma at least, when she replied with
out really thinking, "Right now? Anywhere *you* do, Remy..."

Apparently Remy wasn't expecting that out of an aloof English baroness who
also happened to be a lethal Coda warrior, and a fey psi to boot, but trust
that rogue to twist it up with humour, Emma thought with a snicker, as his
arch reply came back, "Now, y'sure thas' how y'wanna be phrasin' it t'me,
hon?"

He chuckled softly as Liz joined him, <<Uh-Huh...>> she whispered back
in the mindspeak as they shared another one of 'those' kisses, where their 
minds were as well meshed as their lips. But it broke as their thoughts
turned to other things. Remy held Liz close, stroking her hair aimlessly
as they watched the city roll by at a leisurely pace, and Emma watched them
from the depths of Liz' mind, listening and feeling more lonely than she'd
ever felt in her entire life. 

For all that she was one of the world's most powerful telepaths, and one
of the world's most successful business women, she was never alone, but she
had never thought of herself as lonely until Liz had started seeing Remy
a few weeks ago... And it made her think about a few of the choices she'd
made in her own life...

"Dis is how Ah've wanted tings t'be since Ah first laid eyes on you, 'Lisabeth,
beyond all the flirtin' an' teasin' Ah done, past all th'games an' uncertainty
people played wit' your head an' heart, cher; Ah know we can be hurt." he 
confessed, "In body an' in heart an' in mind, but all dem risks are worth 
takin' 'slong as Ah got you, mon petite..."

Remy gently took her hair down out of its crown of braids, letting it stream
over her green silk jacket, just holding her close. A luxury both of them 
had grown up without, but something that neither needed continue lacking.
Liz was oddly content, just to be with her charming rogue sometimes, just
to know that someone else was there for her...

"Remy, there's something else you should know about people like me," she
said, her voice soft in the darkness as their carriage trundled through
Central Park, "We are...immortal..."

"Hush, cher. Old, young, immortal, mortal...don' mean nothin' yet. Eternal 
life don' make us what we be inside," he told her gently tilting her face 
up so he could look into her eyes, "an' Ah know what's inside o'ya, petite, 
and y'know wha's inside o'me an' tha's all dat matters!! Maybe we'll both 
learn somethin' about lovein' an' trustin' an' what all o'tha' really means. 
Ah just can't think 'bout anyone Ah'd rather try t'learn with, 'Lisabeth; now 
let ol' Remy take those tears out o'y'r eyes, ma belle...maybe dis thin' 
will work out better in th'long run, oui? 

Emma smiled to herself, glad that most of Liz fears and uncertainty were
laid to rest... The least she could do was quit being a voyeur and let them
have some privacy; and make sure no one else got to gawking too much at the
two best friends she'd ever had...