Epilogue/Teaser

Rogue closed the door of their luxurious hotel room and Gambit rolled their bags against the wall.

"Well," said Rogue, "it's official: We're finally on our honeymoon."

Gambit laughed.

"Oui," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Took us long enough, didn't it?"

"Yeah," Rogue replied with a grin, "and all so generous of your brother to let us go so soon after your appointment to Patriarch."

"Argh, don't remind me," Gambit said. "It was all I could do to stop from throwing myself on the floor and screaming 'I don't wanna be Patriarch! You can't make me!'"

Rogue giggled and Gambit grinned at her.

"Just imagine, chére, won't be long before Oli starts throwing tantrums..." he teased her.

"When he does, I'll know who to blame," Rogue replied evenly.

Gambit chuckled.

"So," Rogue went on as she leaned against the wall. "Didja wanna go out and sight-see?"

"Hmm," Gambit considered as he ran his eyes over her. "I think I'd rather stay here and 'sight-see'."

"Oh really?' she replied with a smirk.

"Oui," he said, smiling slyly. "In fact, given that this is our honeymoon, I think you'll be lucky if we leave the hotel at all."

"I thought you wanted to do the wine tour?" Rogue asked, sauntering over to him.

"It can wait," Gambit replied as he put his hands on her hips and pulled her over. "Right now I want to make wild, passionate, unbridled love to my wife."

"Well," she said as she ran her hands up his arms, "maybe not 'unbridled'. We don't want to make Oli a big brother just yet."

"Aww," said Gambit, laying back and pulling Rogue down on top of him. "Why not, chére?"

"Well, for one thing," she said dryly. "I've only just started to get back into shape, and think that trying to do the infrared beam obstacle course while pregnant might just be a tad difficult."

"But just think, chére," he teased. "You could set a record for first person ever to pass the test while sporting a bump."

"I don't think so."

"I set a record for the first person ever to do it blindfolded," he said, grinning.

"Because you could, right?" Rogue asked cynically.

"Actually, certain people - who shall remain nameless, but you can probably guess who they are - decided to insinuate that because I could see the infrared spectrum that I wasn't as good as they were."

"Ahh," Rogue said, understanding instantly. "So of course, you took that as a challenge to show them up."

"'They' should have known me better by then," Gambit said.

"Maybe that was the idea. Besides,' she went on, changing the subject back to the original topic, "Oli's only nine months old. I think I'd like to wait a bit before having another child."

"Okay," he replied agreeably.

Rogue raised an eyebrow.

"Since when are you so eager to have more kids?" she asked.

"Well," he said after a moment's contemplation, which apparently required repeatedly kissing Rogue's neck in order to be effective; "I am and I'm not. On the one hand, I'd like to get all the newborn and toddler years over and done with. On the other hand, I'm not really sure trying to look after more than one newborn or toddler at a time is really a good idea."

Rogue laughed.

"I'm thinking of putting a cot and a playpen in mon père's... in my office," Gambit went on, thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah?"

"Well, I figure that'll give me more time to spend with Oli, and you won't have to ask Mercy or Tante Mattie to look after him every time you want to do some training or a job or whatever. Not that I imagine they mind that much, but they have their own lives too."

"I think it's a nice idea," Rogue said and she planted a kiss on his nose. "And I'll pretend this isn't all part of a scheme to say things like 'Oh I'm sorry, I have to change Oli's diaper, can you do it?' to Henri."

Gambit laughed.

"I was also thinking -" he began.

"I notice you didn't deny it."

"- about our house outside the city. I thought it might be a good idea, now that all the silliness with the Assassins Guild is over, for us to stay there on the weekends. Maybe not every weekend, but at least once a month, just for the change of scenery."

Rogue nodded.

"I like that," she said. "Now, less talk, more tongue."

Gambit saluted. "Oui madame."

He'd just started complying with his wife's wishes when his phone started ringing. He ignored it.

"Not going to get that?" Rogue asked when she found a moment to come up for air.

"Non, it's probably just Henri anyway," Gambit replied. "Remind me to turn it off."

Rogue didn't have a chance to laugh before his lips captured hers once more. The phone stopped ringing not long thereafter.

"Bonjour, you have reached Gambit's voicemail. If this is Emil or Etienne, joke's over guys, if you don't lay off the 'king' quips I'm going to appoint you both 'court jesters'. If it's anyone else, leave a message, and I might even get back to you."

"Hi Remy, this is Storm. I can't believe I'm saying this but... I need to hire the Thieves Guild."

End!

This was so much fun to write. I think I say that about all my stories... ahem, hehe.

Anyway, I hope you guys all enjoyed it. A big thanks as always to everyone who reviewed; you've been most encouraging.

Another big thanks to Lizzieturbo for her beta work. Go read her story "Normal" if you haven't already. It's awesome.

The next story in this series will come out when I figure out why on earth the X-men would hire the Thieves Guild. That premise alone is one big plot hole. Fun, isn't it? :-D

There's no ETA on when the next chapter fic will be coming out. I'm working on a couple of stories at the moment, but only the muses know which one will get finished first, haha.