Y'all know the dilly yo, I don't own any of these characters, or x-men, or marvel.. blah blah blah.

- Just to let you know, there will be no mutant powers involved but I am keeping Remy's eyes red on black. Who would Remy be if his eyes weren't that colour. I'll just pass it off as if it was deformity of his. Hopefully I will place a new chapter for the other two stories within a few days. This story can basically take place in Evo-Verse or the comic-verse since it is A/U. But I'll keep in the Evo-verse since Remy and Rogue are only 23 or so. The rating so far is PG-13, but I might have to boost up to a R for some chapters to come. This is completely A/U and a ROMY so I hope everyone will read, enjoy, and hopefully review. =)

Author's Note: ff.net still stinks and they can kiss my ass. They won't even respond to my e-mails! Damn it! Anywho, I re-wrote a lot of this chapter as I am doing to basically all my chapters in all my stories. So, it's going to be a slow process, but hopefully it'll be well worth it, I guess. Damn ff.net! But, I'm trying to aim for at least one to two chapters posted a day. And most of them will be revised and edited and most likely longer than the originals. Encouragement always help, people =) Thank you for putting up with my frustration over this crazily painful and pathetic matter.

Shouldn't Be So Hard

            Their legs were entangled with each other's as they were seemingly submerged within layers of soft blankets. The sun was only beginning to rise while its mellow light streamed through the window. He held her close to him and rested his chin on top of her head of golden locks. She let out a murmur of satisfaction, which made him smile slightly. Then, he glanced over at the clock to check the time. It stated that it was six o'clock.

                A sigh of disappointment escaped his thin ruby lips. He pulled back from his sleeping beauty, and observed her peaceful guise of slumber. Ever so gently, he stroked her cheek and whispered, "Belle, it's six."

                Her arms slipped around him while she slowly opened her eyes. "So?" She asked drowsily.

                "Y' know I have t'go." He explained to her gently and loosened his hold on her.

                "But I don't want y' t'go." She responded stubbornly and tightened her grip on him in case he decided to get up at that very moment.

                "Chere, y' know dat Remy has a job t'do." He reasoned as he struggled a tad to disengage her arms that were wrapped securely around his waist. Was she always this clingy, he wondered to himself.

                "But Remy… it just feels so nice like dis." She whined as she retained her firm grasp on him.

                "Je sais. But it's my job, chere. I have t'go." He explained as calmly as he could, though it was a hard task to manage. Through all this, he tried even harder to unfasten her hands and he realized that he had definitely underestimated Belle's strength. Has she always been this attached, he wondered irritably.

            "Y' don' really have t'go, Remy. Y're de boss, y'can take a break when y'wanna. Not like dat little place can't survive wit'out y' for a day. Plus, it's not like I don' have 'nough money for de bot' of us. Mon pere is one of de wealthiest men in de country. And your pere's rich too…" Belle pointed out.

                Her comment immediately infuriated Remy LeBeau and he pulled violently back from her hold. His eyes burned an intense crimson as he left the bad hastily and grabbed for his clothes. He roughly pulled on his pants with his back against her while he clenched his teeth in order to prevent himself from saying anything he would regret later. Belle realized her mistake as she sat up in bed while she held the blanket to her chest. Her eyes watered up as she watched him get dressed.

                "Remy…I'm…"

                "I don' wanna hear it." He interrupted her curtly, still refusing to look at her. 

                Not one to take orders, she got up off the bed and walked towards him. But he simply walked away from her as he looked around for his Rolex.

                "Remy, I didn't mean it dat way. I'm sorry." She apologized regrettably.

                "Just because I can't afford t'buy a huge mansion, or a jet or a freaking island like your father, does not mean, I am not comfortable wit' what I have. My business may be small, but it does not mean it's not significant. Goddamn it! Y' know how hard I worked on it t'get it running. Y'know how much I love my job. And y'know how much I hate t'take anyone else's money! So, do not flaunt your pere's, mon pere's, or your money in front of me! Dat is NOT what my life is about and dat is NOT why I do what I do!!" He yelled at her angrily. The one thing Remy hated the most was when a woman made him feel worthless and incompetent and that was exactly what Belladonna just did.

                Her profuse crying began as she rushed over to her lover. She embraced him from behind as she buried her sobbing face into his back. "I'm so sorry, Remy. I didn' mean t' make y' feel less than de man y' are. Y'know I didn't mean dat. I know how much y'love your job. It's just dat I really wanted y' t'stay and can y' blame me? I always feel like I'm second in your life and your work is first. I just want to feel like I'm first for a change. But dat doesn't excuse what I said so, I'm sorry. I just love y' so much. Please don't be mad"

                Upon hearing her explanation, Remy sighed deeply and rolled his eyes. How many times have we been through this exact scenario, he wondered. And how come every single time, she always makes me feel so guilty when it was her that insulted me in the first place, he questioned further.

                He placed a hand over her clasped ones that were resting on his torso. "It's okay, Belle. Remy shouldn' have blown up like dat. I know y' love me." He comforted her half-heartedly while questioned why he was even bothering. Frankly, he wasn't even sure why he was still with her. It's because you love her, his head reminded him. Well if I really love her, why do I always have to remind myself that I do, he challenged himself.

                As soon as she heard him say he loved her, Belle's tears quickly tried up as her wretched frown was now replaced with a great big relieved smile. From the first moment she laid eyes on her red-eyed Cajun six months ago, she knew instantly that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She had always believed in love of first sight and that was exactly how she had expected to fall in love. And there was no doubt that she was in love with him. She was so in love that sometimes if he was gone for more than a few hours, she would become upset and depressed. She didn't find it unusual that she was so attached to him. She reasoned that it was all because of love.

                "I'll make it up t' you, Remy. How about I take y' out to lunch?" She suggested.

                This isn't a favour, she just wants to check up on me, he thought. "I can' t'day, chere. I'm already meetin' Lapin and Henri for lunch t' discuss de family business." He lied.

                "Oh… well I'm sure dey won' mind dat I come along." She told him.

                "Non, dis is business, chere. No place for a femme." He lied further and wondered why he was even lying to her in the first place.

                "Ohh… D'accord." She responded with disappointment all over her words.

                I'm going to hate myself for doing this, he thought and then, said, "How 'bout dis, chere, when Remy get home from work, y' put on de most dazzlin' dress y' own, and we'll go out and paint de town red. We'll have dinner at Bacco's and den take in a show at Le Petit Theatre Du Vieux Carre."

                "Really, REMY? I'm so excited! I'm gonna go buy a new dress! Eee..!" She squealed in delight.

                He slowly unclasped her hands from around his waist, and turned around to face her. He forced a smile to match her huge beaming one. That little gesture sparked her to pull him down for a deep kiss. As their kiss grew deeper she began undressing him. He noticed this and slowly pulled away from her.

                Her face fell with disappointment again, and she pouted to show her discontent.

                "Don' give me dat face, chere. Y'know dat I have t'go t'work. As nice as it would be t'spend de whole day in bed, I got a job t'go to." He explained. This reason didn't satisfy her though, and so he bent down to give her a kiss.

                When the kiss ended, he said, "And dere will be more t'come later. Remy promises."

                A smile returned to her ivory face. "I'm gonna keep y' to dat promise."

                He forced another smile and then kissed her top of her head. "Oui, oui. Y' just do dat den. I'll be home 'round six so be ready, so I'll pick y' up at seven thirty. Be ready, chere." He said and with that last note, he rushed out the door in a hurry before she could whine more.

                As soon as he got out of the building, he sighed. "I love her, I love her. Dat's why I'm wit' her." He reminded himself out loud.

-xoxo-

                As soon as he stepped foot inside the small establishment, he heard the chings of the slots and smelled the smoke of the cigars. He looked around and even though it was early, there were still a significant amount of people in the place. He knew these were the regulars. Most of the time, they were here all night and probably wouldn't leave until noon. He smiled proudly as he looked around his little flashy casino.

                He was solely responsible for the building of this fine business. Four years ago, Remy had used part of his trust fund to break out of the family's business to build himself a small company of his own. He was only nineteen then, and although many people had doubted him, he proved all of them wrong. For the longest time, he remembered how the whole family didn't expect him to ever make it on his own. After all, he had built a pretty good reputation for being a reckless, careless, and sometimes senseless boy who was more interested in frivolous things such as drinking, gambling, and occasionally having a one-night stand. His father had expected Remy to live off of him until he died so Remy could inherit his fortune. His mother, as much as she loved him, had never expected her youngest son to ever know the true value of a dollar. And his brother, who was the CEO of the family's business, was ready to provide his younger irresponsible brother with a meaningless title that had no actual occupational duties within the family enterprise.

                His recollection of his family's faithlessness in him led to the memory of the day when he announced that he was opening a casino. His entire family members' jaws had dropped with surprise, and he recalled clearly his mother's patronizing smile and his father's forced empty words of encouragement. They didn't expect him to follow through with this plan. They all thought he would lose interest within a couple of days if not hours. But he was stubborn and he wanted to prove that he was indeed competent, responsible and was not going to depend on his family's money for the rest of his life. This, along with the fact that he found the family's business involving art trades to be completely boring, were incentives enough for him to work extremely hard on the establishment of his casino. Plus, he loved the excitement of gambling and the thrill it felt to win huge sums of money. That only added icing to the cake.

                He walked towards the elevator, got in, and pressed the button with the number five on it. He smiled proudly at the elevator buttons for the numbers were made with little stones of emerald. When he had built this casino, he made sure that he was involved with the design process and that his casino, although small, would still be grand.

                The elevator stopped, and he stepped out of it and into his massive office. The whole seventh floor was his office and he had a huge window, which had a magnificent view of New Orleans. He walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair. He looked through the files that were placed on his desk, and signed a few items, while he revised a few others.

                He pressed the intercom on his phone and instructed, "Charlene, I'm done wit' de files and y' can pick 'em up. Also, schedule a board meeting for t'morrow mornin' at eight. And if I don' have any messages, I t'ink I'm gonna go down dere and have some fun."

                "D'accord, Monsieur LeBeau. Dere is only one message for y' and it's from y' girlfriend. She called ten minutes ago and asked y' to call her back." His secretary replied.

                Remy rolled his eyes and couldn't believe that when he had stepped through the door, Belle had already called to check up on him. Usually, she would wait until he was at least an hour into work.

                "I'll do dat later. Just come up here and pick up de files." He instructed.

                "Coming right now, sir." She replied and he clicked off the intercom.

                He sighed deeply as he thought about her call. As the days went by, his relationship with Belle merely felt more suffocating. Is this what love was supposed to feel like, he questioned since he wasn't even sure what love was, given that he hadn't 'love' any woman prior to Belle. Another sigh escaped him and he wisely put the thought of Belle out of his mind. He walked over to his closet, took off his sports jacket, and hanged it up. He took off the green vest from the hanger and put it on. He might as well have some fun while he was working.

                His idea of fun was being a blackjack dealer downstairs in his Le Casino Èmeraude, or if translated into English, The Emerald Casino.

-xoxo-

                "Remy, dis is so romantic." She cooed and smiled brightly across from him.

                He smiled back and said, "Only de best for my femme."

                 She giggled at his comment and said, "Remy y're too sweet t'me. No wonder I love y' so."

                "Me too." He responded although he wasn't even sure what his statement even meant. It would have to do because he couldn't bring himself to say those three little words.

                Her eyebrows furrowed as she was processing his remark in her head, but eventually she smiled again with the idea that he had meant that he loved her too.

                He smiled and looked down at his menu. The filet mignon looks good, he thought.

                "Hello, my name is Lauren and I shall be your waitress for tonight. Have you two decided on what you would like?" The waitress politely asked.

                "I t'ink I would like de Sicilian Eggplant and Penne and he would have de Tuscan Chicken." She replied.

                "Actually, non. I would like de Filet Mignon s'il vous plait." He stated. He looked at Belle with disbelief. She's ordering for me now, he thought bitterly.

                "But Remy, it'll be so much healthier if y' have de chicken. I was readin' in de magazine de ot'er day and…"

                "Chere, I can order my own food." He said in a stern voice, which silenced her immediately.

                He turned his attention back to the waitress and said, "I would like de Filet Mignon and bring a bottle of your best red wine, s'il vous plait."

                "Oui, monsieur. Right away." The waitress replied and left the tense couple to themselves.

                Remy looked at Belle and saw that her eyes were watering up. Does she always cry this much, he wondered exasperatedly. He quickly got over his anger as he began on the task of quieting her before she cried a river in public.

                "Chere, don' cry. I know y' was only t'inking 'bout what's best for Remy but I know what's best for me. I don' need y' to embarrass me by treatin' me like an enfant. So, next please don' order for me." He told her gently and gave her a forced smile to reassure her that everything was okay.

                Her tears disappeared so rapidly that Remy was convinced that she was most likely faking it. She smiled brightly once more and said, "I'm sorry, Remy. I won' ever do dat again."

                "D'accord." He said and started looking for the waitress. Merde, I need a drink, he thought desperately.

                Tonight was going to be a long night.

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