**Remy:

"Remove your shirt," Sinister demanded. Realizing that resisting wouldn't accomplish anything, Remy complied.

"You haven't been taking good care of yourself," Sinister analyzed. Remy looked away from his critical gaze.

"Sit down," he pointed to a lab table a few feet away.

"Non, please," Remy asked as his nerves got the best of him.

Sinister grabbed his chin and force their eyes to meet. "Did it sound like a request?" he demanded.

"No," Remy admitted. "You said if I came. . ." he began but stopped as Essex pushed him towards the table.

"I am not going to hurt you," Essex insisted. "Now sit."

"Where's Tori?" he asked as he sat down on the table without further protest.

"I require blood samples," he said pointedly ignoring Remy's question. "Will you cooperate or should I invite Creed to join us?"

Remy presented his arm without protest. "Where's Tori?" he questioned again. "Did you find her?"

"Of course I found her," he replied as he prepared syringes on the other side of the lab.

"I want to see her," Remy demanded.

"Are you in any position to make that demand?" Essex questioned.

"You said if I. . ." Remy began again only to have Essex cut him off once again.

"I never promised that you would see Victoria again," Essex corrected.

"Mais," Remy protested.

Essex walked towards him angrily and Remy had to restrain himself from charging something in defense. When Essex stood above him Remy forced himself not to flinch as both of his arms were seized by the man. "I assure you that she is currently in this complex, and I will release her only if you prove to me that you will fully cooperate."

"You're lying," Remy said as he trembled involuntarily.

"I have no need to lie," Essex insisted as he released Remy just as quickly as he had grabbed him.

"I just want to see her," Remy still insisted.

"I don't care what you want Remy," Essex informed him.

He brought the syringes over on a small tray and Remy cringed at the sight. "Can't Lilly do that?" he requested.

"No," Essex replied without elaboration. "Give me your arm," he demanded.

Remy knew he could have just taken it, but forcing the issue was probably a test so he gave his arm willingly. "What are you going to do to me?" he asked as he looked away to avoid seeing Essex draw his blood.

"Did the X-Men not offer you nutrition?" the man asked critically.

"I'm never hungry," Remy admitted. He hated that he was so unable to lie to the man and was nervous about what Essex would do about his admission.

"I see," he replied while placing a cotton ball on Remy's arm and adding pressure before taping it in place. Remy watched as Essex picked up the vials of blood and set them on the counter next to the computer on the far side of the room. "Your choices are simple Remy, you will eat what I provide or I shall continually keep you hooked up to IVs. Is that understood?"

Remy nodded, but knew the man wanted a verbal response so he forced a word of confirmation from his lips as well.

"Your room is currently occupied and I want you nowhere near Lillyanna so I have few choices of where to keep you," Essex informed him.

"I'm your prisoner?" Remy questioned. He hadn't expected free reign of the complex, but he didn't think he would be locked up if he returned to the man without a fight.

"What did you believe you would be?" Essex questioned with a laugh. "I already informed you that your hesitation was noted. I cannot trust you, and we both know that."

"Then why am I here?" Remy asked.

Essex shook his head before turning to his computer and ignoring Remy completely. He was unsure of what to do so he simply sat on the table and watched Essex.

"It wasn't Lilly's fault," he voiced when the silence lasted too long. Essex didn't turn to him; he simply continued to set up whatever test he was going to run with Remy's blood. Several minutes went by and Remy tried to think of something else to say.

"You would take on the entire world's guilt if given the chance," the man said without turning to him. He was right, Essex knew him better then he would ever admit and it frightened him. "That is your greatest fault Remy."

"Can I see Lilly?" Remy questioned even though he already knew the answer.

"No," Essex replied. Remy watched the man walk to the center of the room where his duffle bag had ended up. "What is in this bag?" he questioned as he picked it up and placed it upon the table that Remy still sat upon.

"Stuff I couldn't leave with the X-Men," he admitted. He couldn't risk someone learning the rest of the secrets that the box contained.

"If you have any weapons then now is the time to admit it," Essex informed him.

"No weapons," Remy admitted with a shake of his head.

"Good," Essex replied as he unzipped the duffle bag. Remy didn't move to stop him because he had nothing to hide. "You won't need this clothing. You will wear what I provide."

Remy wasn't surprised and he wasn't entirely sure why he had brought them at all. He had been so rushed and nervous that he didn't think everything through carefully enough. He should have listened to Logan and figured out a different plan. When Essex took the box out of his bag Remy focused all his attention on the man. "Can I keep that?" he asked as Essex opened it.

He was disappointed when Essex didn't answer. He watched the man rummage through it in search of anything suspicious. When he failed he set it upon the table and continued to rummage through the duffle bag. "You may keep your cards because you shall be collared soon enough," Sinister informed him. "However, now is the time to relinquish any lock picks or weapons that you have on your person."

Remy shook his head and Essex smiled. "You came here completely unarmed?" Essex questioned.

"Oui," Remy admitted. He couldn't let Essex search him because he had nowhere to hide the tracker and he needed to keep that. It may end up being his only way out.

"I am unsure if I am proud or disappointed in you, child," he informed Remy. "Set any cards you would like on the table and undress," he ordered before turning around and retrieving a set of black sweats.

Remy couldn't help hesitating as he knew there was no way he would be able to conceal the tracker. He set two decks of cards on the table before sliding out of his jeans and into the sweatpants and t-shirt that were provided. He kept his eyes neutral and tried not to garner any extra attention. Essex inspected the cards before giving them back. They both knew that now wasn't the time for Remy to use them.

Sinister kept him within eyesight as he retrieved a power-inhibiting collar from a locked cabinet. "I do not enjoy doing this to you Remy, but you must prove to me that you can be trusted." Remy didn't fight as it was locked into place. He knew he was now completely in the man's hands, and no longer had hope that he would ever escape.

"Follow me," Essex said as he led Remy out of the room.

**Logan:

When Logan made the decision to let Remy go he expected Ororo to be mad at him, and he expected that Xavier would be disappointed in him. What he hadn't expected was Jean's reaction. In retrospect he should have, she had grown very close to Remy the last few weeks. "How could you?" she asked distraught as she found him in the kitchen where he was drowning himself in beer.

"Jeannie," he whispered her name softly as he looked up at her from his seat.

"How could you?" she repeated again as she sat down across from him.

He shrugged and looked away; he was sick of this conversation already.

"Damn it Logan," she exclaimed with an anger that she had never directed at him before.

"Jeannie," he said her name again as he struggled to respond to her onslaught.

"I warned you so that you could stop him!" she continued when he offered no further explanation.

"I. . ." Logan began only to be interrupted.

"Instead you send him away?" she demanded.

"I didn't. . ." Logan tried to explain again only to be cut off once more.

"He's not well Logan," she explained. "He's good at pretending, but he's not healthy enough to be out there fighting alone."

"I know," he admitted sadly as he finished another beer. He knew that, the fact was obvious enough to anyone who looked at the kid. It was a fact he had unfairly overlooked the night before. A fact that now haunted him.

"You know?" she berated. "Well if you know than why isn't he here?" she demanded.

Logan sighed and looked at her intently. He didn't want to start answering just to be cut off again, so he opened a new beer instead.

"Well?" she demanded as her eyes narrowed at him.

"I can talk now?" he asked with a growl that he hadn't meant to direct at her.

She shook her head in anger or frustration; he wasn't sure which, although that didn't really matter anyways. "I want to know what happened," she said demandingly again.

"I ain't gonna keep justifyin this so you listen good," he said as he struggled to keep his tone lighter than his own anger wanted him to. He knew that this was Jeannie he was talking to after all.

She simply nodded for him to continue.

"Kid's got a past just like the rest of us," Logan began. "I ain't gonna stand between him and what he's gotta do."

"He shouldn't be out there alone," Jean reiterated. "We could have helped him if he had simply asked."

Logan closed his eyes as he took another gulp of beer. Remy had asked for help, which in itself was so uncharacteristic that Logan now wished he had simply said yes. "He knows we have his back," he informed her instead of admitting his own mistake.

"How?" she once again demanded. "We don't even know where he is!"

Logan was once again surprised by the depth of her worry. "He'll let us know if he needs help," Logan assured her.

"How is he supposed to do that if he's in trouble?" she asked. "Do you even know where he went?"

"No," Logan admitted, "but I know why."

She shook her head at him again and he felt like he was a child being scolded. "He can't control it," she explained.

"His power?" Logan asked.

"Yes," she admitted. "He can lose control at any time Logan. I know it scares him, that's the only reason he let me help him."

Logan had already guessed that, there were very few things that would have made Remy trust Jean enough to help him. Fear was an obvious enough reason for him to do it. He nodded, "Jeannie I already regret letting him go, but I didn't kick him out."

"Why did he run?" she asked. "I only told you that I thought he was going to do it because I thought that you could stop him." Her anger had tempered at his admission, but her worry seemed to have increased even more.

"I should have stopped him," Logan agreed.

"Why didn't you stop him?" she questioned bitterly.

"I was mad at him," he admitted uneasily, "he finally told me about his past and I got mad at him."He spoke the words as he realized the truth about what had happened the night before.

"What did he tell you?"

"He tells me the truth instead of some bullshit and I tell him I ain't ever gonna help him with that. Why Jeannie? Why didn't I help him?" Her words had finally broken him down and made him realize that it didn't matter in the slightest that Remy was married to a Creed. He wouldn't have been helping her; he would have been helping Remy. "We gotta find him," he admitted.

"How?" she asked.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"You said he'd let us know if he needed help," she reminded him.

"Yeah. I gave him a tracker, but he has to be the one to activate it," he explained.

"Can't we activate it?" she asked.

"No," he replied with a shake of his head. "It won't send a signal unless he turns it on," he explained. The tracker was designed that way to protect the person who had it; there were some situations that would be made worse if there was a sudden rescue squad running in simply because he had failed to check-in on time. It was a failsafe, a sort of last resort device that Logan had never had to use. Now he was hoping Remy used it long before it was his only option.

"We'll be ready when he does," she assured. It seemed that her anger had all dissolved, but her worry was even stronger.

"What if he can't?" Logan questioned. "I shouldn't have let him go," he admitted as her worry increased his own.

"We'll find him," she assured while moving her hand across the table to take his.