Brand New Yesterday

Disclaimer: The X-Men and likenesses belong to Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I make no money from this as I am merely doing it for entertainment. Renot, Irivan, and the other characters in the story belong to ME. Don't even think about pawning them off as your own.


Logan was awoke to the sound of someone moving about his room. He opened his eyes to him laying flat on his back, on material that felt considerably cooler and softer than his own bed linens. Sitting up, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before looking around strange surroundings. "What the...? Where the Hell am I?" Shaking his head a bit as if to clear it, Logan stared over to his left at the young maid who stood by the window. "You, where am I?" When no reply came, Logan slid off of the bed from the right side and started after her.

The young maid in a long, white cotton outfit hurried out of the room and past her employer, just outside of the door. She bowed quickly to the tall, handsome boss and then hurried down to the kitchen for the noon meal. She had been watching Logan sleep for nearly an hour while slowly going through her chores in the freshly made up room for the unexpected guest. The man slept pleasantly and whispered a name over and over in his sleep.

Standing in the doorway, the young man blocked the way for the maid to get away cleanly while he had a chat with the stranger from the lawn. "Afternoon, monsiuer. Interestin' night you've had... eh?" He was taller than Logan and had longer, auburn hair that had been pulled back into a ponytail, but somewhat resembled Renot. The red on black eyes stared calmly at the guest and watched with cat-like grace as the man walked around his room. Slipping his hands into his pants pockets, the young owner stepped into the room and over to the bed. "I trust de bed was comfortable for you?"

Logan turned back from staring out the window and watched the young man deeply before busying himself with small trinkets left out in the opens of the dressertops and sills and ledge of the room. "Who the Hell are you and how did I get here?"

"Je m'appelle Remy LeBeau. I own dis 'place'." Placing a hand on his chest as he introduced himself, Remy smiled shortly at Logan's bewilderment. "You don't know where you are?"

The name didn't mean much to Logan but then again, he was too busy looking around the room and outside that he hadn't really noticed his young host. "Name's Logan, and if I knew where I was, I wouldn't be askin you."

Remy laughed to himself thinking the small joke was very smart. "Good point. You hungry?" Remy thought he would switch gears and invite his guest on a tour of his new surroundings. "Come, I take you around de house, non?"

Logan came to a stop at the window and stared out at the greyish afternoon that blanketed the rich, green grass of the backyard. He was hungry but unsure of what could be in the food. His healing factor would prevent anything from killing him, but he wasn't entirely immune to something making him ill. He nodded and turned around to give the host another glance.

~~~~

".....and, de kitchen. Nice an' big, and perfect for sniffin somethin' yummy in de mealtimes. Dis is Luma, she's de best damn cook in N'awlins." Remy placed a calm hand on the small of her back and kissed the woman's cool cheek. Reaching to the salad bowl, beside the stove where they stood, Remy snagged a baby tomato from the salad and popped it into his mouth, smiling as he bit down.

The shapely woman turned around and tapped a dark finger to his lips, "You do dat again, I'm comin in after, ya heah?" Luma stopped her stirring of the big pot of gumbo and reached for two bowls from the cupboard to the right. She glanced over her shoulder at Logan and then back to Remy, who was still popping baby tomatoes into his mouth. "Ain't you got somethin to do, chile?" Her black hair had been pulled back into a tight braided bun that sat high on the back of her head. The gray in her dress accented the dark bronze of her skin, and her sharp brown eyes seemed to force the humanity to the front of a person. She stood just an inch shorter than Remy but proved to be his equal as she had been with the family since Remy was small.

Remy stopped his chewing and gave her a sullen nod before turning to Logan and returning the smile, "Sit, have lunch, an' I'll be back in a bit." He took a deep sigh and turned to leave, after taking a bowl of gumbo from Luma. Patting his left pants pocket with his free hand, he gave one last nonchalant smile to his guest, and then hurried back up the shallow hallway steps, to the far left of the stove.

Logan looked around the huge, antique looking kitchen, and let his mind take in the scents and sights. He sat down in a wooden chair, at the table that sat off to the right, next to the window, and looked out at the backyard. "What the Hell kinda dresser am I dealin' with here?" Logan's mumble caught the ears of the cook, and he caught her eye as she set the bowl of gumbo down in front of him. "Just so I can keep my marbles straight, what is it that the kid does around here?"

A low laugh before Luma spoke next. "Day boy is de quickest runner in de state of Louisiana. Iffin if weren't fer Capone, I reckon Detective Ness be comin for him. You just make sure, you's on de right side of Remy. He don't take no prisoners." She winked and turned back to her chores in the kitchen, leaving Logan to wonder what she meant by her request.

"Runner, huh? Capone.... Ness...." Logan mulled over the possibilities in his head. He wondered how a dresser could take him from Xavier's mansion to Louisiana in what.... the 1920s? 1930s? How would he be able to get back to where he belonged, if things did go bad? And, where did his host go with no explanation, or time to return? "He owns this house?"

Luma glanced back from the washing bin, and the small pile of dirty dishes. "Remy bought dis house from his poppa, who is livin in Paris. I seen dat boy scrape an' claw his way outta scrap 'er two, just ta survive. He come a long way, and deserves it. Good kid. Teachin me an' my family to read and write, and talk better. Schools 'round here won't take us, so Remy's teachin us. Answer your question?" She hadn't stopped her chores, only tossed her reply over her left shoulder while smiling at the one decent soul in a time where Remy would have been lynched for helping them.

"Yea." Logan nodded and took a bite of his gumbo, thinking about what she told him about his host.

~~~~~

"No, Remy. I don't want to do dis. Too tired." The little girl's voice was weak and strained in a pleading manner.

Remy answered in a calm and weathered tone, "I know, but you'll feel better afterwards. C'mon petite, let me do dis, den you can rest, okay?"

The little girl pulled back and disagreed, exhausting herself with her struggles. "Non. Don't want to. We can skip today, oui?"

"No." Remy was getting tired of playing the same game, day after day. He hated playing the scene like a broken record that he usually won, as she was growing more and more weak and tired from fighting him. Closing his eyes, he shook his head.

"It hurts. Don't want to, not gonna."

Remy sighed and convinced her that if she did it, and got through it, that he would take her outside in the evening. When she agreed, and he finished his task, he blew her a kiss, and told her he loved as he thanked her for being so good but she needed to rest now. "You'll feel better soon. Take a nap, petite. I'll be back"

She sniffled and gasped for air as it became harder to breathe after exerting herself in the struggle. "Want to feel better, now." A coughing fit before staring at him, again.

"I know, petite. I know. Rest." Remy smiled and removed himself from the dark room.

Logan stood outside and listened to the whole conversation with several scenarios playing through his head. As soon as Remy stepped out of the room, and into the hallway while closing the door behind him, Logan placed himself in front of him. "You playin' with innocent kids, too?" A sniff told him that Remy was aroused by turning to see his houseguest before him.

"What?" Remy seemed genuinely shocked at the accusation.

Logan growled, "don't lie to me, I can smell it on ya. I heard you con her into somethin'. You can have anything you want, but you'd rather take apart an innocent little child?" His anger boiled and it seemed to only excite the young cajun more.

Remy was thoroughly confused. "You don't understand."

"The Hell I don't." Punching the Cajun's jaw, Logan pushed past him, knocking Remy into the wall, and burst into the room. The initial smell had escaped him. In his long life, he hadn't come to terms with that particular scent, eventhough he had smelled it on numerous people.

Rubbing his left jaw, Remy stood in the doorway as Logan stepped forward, into the room. "Tuberculosis." He looked at the small face that stared, horrified, at Logan. "She's my sister, and I was connin' her to take her meds. Her name's Claudia."

Logan's jaw dropped as the weak, little body that lay in the bed, shook in fear of what the stranger before might do. He was speechless. All he could do was stare back at the tiny, frail angel encased in plastic. "I'm- I'm sorry."

"Remy?" Claudia coughed and turned to look at her brother for help.

"Shh, s'okay petite. Dis is Logan." Remy stepped into the room and up to the bed, slipping a hand under the plastic, letting their hands touch. "He won't hurt you, cherie."

Claudia swallowed nervously, and went back to watching Logan. Her brown eyes focused sharply on the new figure that stood in her room, opening wide as he came closer to her bed. The auburn tresses of hair had lost their curls but spilled over the fresh white linen like satin. "You like my brother, monsieur?" She tried to size the man up but couldn't read the man's expression from her weakened state. Thin limbs continued to shake at the cool air that came through the door, and her eyes hadn't adjusted to the daylight that spilled in from her doorway. Remy had kept her room dark, as she was plagued with headaches after coughing fits.

Logan wasn't sure what she meant but, the question was innocent enough. "Uh, yea. I like your brother." Clearing his throat, and switching gears, Logan inched forward and asked, "how old are ya, darlin?"

"Ten," Claudia smiled brightly. "You stayin here long, monsieur?"

The two men exchanged glances for a moment. Logan was unsure of what to say, having just decked his host after accusing him of being a liar and a pedofile.

Remy had other answers to the question. Patting her hand under his, he whispered, "I think it's time for you to rest, petite." Remy smiled down at her, and then motioned for Logan to leave the room before she could protest. "Night, petite."

"Night Remy." She coughed again, and called to Logan who stood in the doorway, "night, monsieur Logan!"

Logan smiled back at her, "night darlin."

Closing the door behind him, Remy waited until he was a few steps away from her room before explaining. "Dere's a hospital dat just opened up, a few years ago, in Kentucky. Wanted to send her dere, but it was already too full. Had a nurse for her but, she quit after she fell dawn de stairs by accident." He paced himself beside Logan as they walked down the hall to the stairs. His hands slipped into his pants pockets, and his stride eased more and more with every step.

Logan paused to look back at the child's door. "How long has she had it?"

"A year. Been keepin it under control for about dat long. But, lately, she's been gettin worse." Remy stopped and shrugged as he sighed deeply in buried emotions. A truck engine and a loud honk of the horn caught their attention. "Ah, I have to do some work. My house is your house. Dere's a pool around back, you can cool off wit'." Eyeing the man's stature, Remy smiled to himself about what Logan might look like sopping wet, and with less clothes on than he had. "Scuse moi, I'm needed for a bit." He hurried down the hall and down the stairs to rush out front and yell at the driver who continued honking the horn in a strange pattern that resembled Logan's alarm clock.

Continued.