Special note for this chapter, the character of Chance is from the the Marvel FALLEN ANGELS miniseries (circa 1988) Chance was a Korean American girl who was a streetkid who had the power to either lessen or heighten the mutant powers of any mutant near her. She's faded into comicbook limbo, but I liked the character and there was an attraction between her and Sunspot in the miniseries.

DREAMS AND DESIRES

By Keri Wilson

LEBEAU PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Chapter 3: Seperations and Beginnings

Tara watched the last of the kids go in the house. She thought, tomorrow's the big day. Remy and mah school officially opens. The LeBeau Preparatory School for Gifted Children- ages 3 tah 13. We're the primary school, then the Massachusetts Academy is the secondary, and then to Professor Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning-really the X-Men.

It's hittin' me now, just how much responsibility we have. Ah'm glad it's not just Remy an' me, but Jubilee, Kitty, an' Piotr too. Jubilee will make a great P.E. teacher, ah can already tell. Plus she'll have Logan comin' by every so often, tah help her teach the kids self-defense.

Luna is our oldest student, 11 years old, she's also the only non mutant, but with her family tree, she probably has latent genes. So that even if she doesn't ever develop anything herself, chances are high if she has kids they'll be mutants. Plus we're all like family tah her anyway.

Then there's Hana, Caleen's and Toshi's daughter, she's 10, and a developing telepath. They are the only older children here right now. Maybe Professor Xavier can find some other older kids that'd want tah come here. As it is, my foster nephew, Kurt's and Amanda's son, is our next oldest student. Mathias, though, is only 5 and a half, and the other seven official students are even younger. Plus we have three babies, two of them mah own.

Accidentally spaced those two a little closer than ah had planned. Regina was born just two weeks ago, barely over nine months after Roger. She was two weeks early, but ah'm not gonna tah have them so close together again. In fact with all these responsibilities, it be bettah tah wait a few years before we have the next one.

Jubilee yelled from the den, which as served as their communications room, including a videophone. It was this phone that Jubilee was telling Tara, there was incoming call from Professor Xavier.

"You need to get Remy. Prof' says it's urgent, and for the moment just for you and Remy to hear. He wouldn't tell me anything more."

Rogue nodded her head, and then flew up to the third floor. He was watching the babies, and probably telling them who knows what all stories, Rogue grinned to herself. He had a great story telling talent.

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"Remy, shugah, the Professor has somethin'important tah tell us over the phone. We gotta go down tah the den,`cause he's on the vidphone. Ah'll ask Jubilee tah come up an' keep an eye on the babies."

"Need t' get a connection up here, chere."

"We should, especially now, but Forge ain't here right now, so we'll have tah downstairs."

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After they closed the door to the den, Professor Xavier came straight to the point, "Were you aware, Gambit, that you have a son, now twelve years old, in Baton Rouge?"

Gambit looked as shocked as Rogue, then something dawned on him, "Non, but I t'ink I know who his maman is; Helene Maupier, she was my partner, in a few deals, 'bout dat time. We parted fairly friendly, but she never told me dat she was enceinte."

Rogue sighed, another secret from his past comes back to haunt us. He did tell me about her, but just mentioned that they had been partners in both senses of the word for a short time. Now there's a kid. Then she asked, "What's wrong with the kid. How did you find out about him, when Remy didn't even know about him?"

"Cerebro notified me of a emerged mutant in the Baton Rouge area, yesterday. I was preparing to call you this morning, to tell you this, when I received a call on our public phone number. Apparently, Ms. Maupier, had heard of my school, and knew that it is for mutants. When her son's eyes turned glowing red, and he accidentally exploded a milk carton, she knew what had happened and found the number and called this morning. She wanted to assure me that she had no antimutant feelings, she only wanted to enroll her son because, she had no idea how to help her son deal with the power, and she knew the school could. She also told me that she had no hard feelings toward you, but had no romantic attraction to your person anymore."

"So his mom wants us tah pick him up?"

"No, she's bringing him to your school. They are flying into New York. I've sent a car to pick them up at the airport, and drive them to you. They should arrive early this evening."

"What's my son's name?"

"Andrew Thomas Maupier"

"She could of used my last name, why didn't she?"

No one knew the answer to Remy's question.

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A few hours later the car pulled into the driveway. Hank opened his door, bounded around to the front passenger side, opened the door, and turned off his image inducer, surprising Ms. Maupier.

"Oh! M'sieu McCoy, you startled me!"

"A thousand pardons Madame Maupier."

"Helene is fine, you make me sound like an old lady, m'sieu."

"If I call you Helene, you can call me Hank."

"You look so much more handsome, Hank, with blue fur, it much becomes you."

"Thank you, Helene, I have been told that before by the ladies, but never so lovely a lady."

By that time Andrew was rolling his eyes and looking bored. His mother noticed this and whispered to Hank, "I think we should go inside now, or my son, he will begin to complain. He is somewhat anxious to meet his father."

"Then by all means let us adjourn to the dining room, you are both surely quite hungry after traveling so far."

"I'm not terribly hungry, we both ate the bad airplane food, and it has ruined my appetite; my son, he will still be quite hungry, I am sure."

Andrew blushed and said an embarrassed, "Maman!"

"Helene smiled at Hank and says, "My son, he does not like any undue attention directed his way, especially by his maman."

"Helene, forgive my curiosity, but are you Cajun?"

"Mais non!" She says, laughing. "I am a Creole myself, our ways and speech are quite different from zhe Cajuns!" She said with just a touch of haughtiness.

"That's why I asked, I noticed that you did not speak in the Cajun manner, like our mutual friend, Mr. LeBeau."

At that point the three of them had reached the dining room; Helene and Andrew felt all eyes directed to themselves.

When Tara got her first look at Helene Maupier, she felt a twinge of jealousy. This woman made Belladonna look plain. Ms. Maupier had short, very curly brown-black hair, that looked very thick. She had an olive skin tone, with a face that still looked soft, smooth and youthful, even though she had to be at least forty now. Her large eyes were the color of dark chocolate; she had a small, delicate looking nose and full lips. She was quite petite, notover five feet even, and slender, with slim hips, but large breasted. She looked ultra feminine to Tara. In contrast, Tara felt too tall and motherly looking. Then she scolded herself, because she knew she was still pretty, and who did Remy love, anyways, but herself. He had stayed married to her five years, and they had four children, so far, and eventually planned on at least two more. Remy wants three more, tells me seven is luckier than six, she smiled to herself, and knew she'd more than likely end up lettinghim 'convince' her. It wouldn't take much 'convincing' she grinned.

Remy had ended his marriage to Belladonna, because he had realized he was more in love with me, Tara remembered. This woman meant even less to him than Belladonna had, but there was the boy, Andrew, who was his son. Could that reattract Remy to Helene?" And despite what she had said, could Helene still be attracted to Remy?" Remy could be very persuasive, it was one of his powers.

Tara dismissed her worries for now and looked at the boy who was Remy's first child, Andrew. There was no doubt, even at quick glance, who his father was. He was tall for his age, and his hair, although more mahogany than chestnut, was fairly straight like his father's. His eyes, at least at this point, did not glow red all the time, because right now they looked quite 'normal' and were the same shade as his mother's. The shape of his eyes were Remy's though. The boy's skin color appeared to be a compromise between his parents, with a light yellowish cast. His nose showed signs of looking like Remy's.

Tara asked them to sit down and join them for the meal. Andrew quickly sat down without being asked twice. After supper Tara, Remy, Helene and Andrew went to the den for a private discussion.

"So Remy, someone finally got you to settle down. Madame LeBeau, you, I can tell, are a very kind woman. Only such a woman could reform such a rascal, huh, even that wonder, Belladonna, could not." Helene said the last with definate sarcasm, that spoke of a long ago jealousy.

Tara exchanged a look with Remy at the mention of Belladonna. A hurt look briefly flashed across his face. Tara touched his shoulder with her hand. This brought back memories of other times she had touched him that way. He felt her warmth and love flow through him. He looked at her with gratitude in his eyes.

"Oh I am terribly sorry, I didn't realize her name would cause a hurt. Perhaps I should not tell you a message she herself told me to tell you?"

"Yah spoke with her?" Tara asked, curious in spite of herself.

"Oui. We have been friends for several years."

"What did my former wife have t' say?"

"She said zhat she forgive you, Remy."

"Anythin' else?" Tara asked.

"I don't... Non, there was anoder thing. someding about you, Madame LeBeau... Now I remember, she said she hoped you would do a better job of 'taming' Remy then she did. Oh, and she would like to see a photo of your children. And she asked she could possibly be godmother to one of your children."

"Did my former wife ever marry again?"

"Non, she is not interested in marrying anymore."

"Did yah evah marry, Ms. Maupier?"

"Oh non, one child is enough to take care of, a man I do not need, I found that out long ago. Please, though, Madame LeBeau, call me by my first name, there is no need to be so formal."

"Okay Helene, mah name is Tara."

"As in the house in GONE WHIT THE WIND ?"

"Yes, exactly. Mah mother was crazy about that book!" Then returning to a businesslike tone," Now you say you want Andrew tah come here tah train his power ?"

"Oui, I have no abilities in that area. Here I know he will learn what he needs to know about that and any odur subjects he needs to learn."

"Andrew, ah'd like tah hear from you, do you want tah come tah this school?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, ah just wanted ta follow procedure, ah have tah make sure yah really want tah come here. Just tah ease your mind, the policy at this school is that a student's parent or parents can visit anytime, all they have tah do is notify us that they are coming at least a day beforehand."

Then she turned to Helene and asked, "Do you want tah stay the night? A few other parents are spendin' the night here tah help their children settle in."

"Oui, the flight was long and I would feel better if I could help my son 'settle in' too."

"Ah'll show y'all his dorm room, and the guest room you can stay in tonight Helene... Remy do ya want ta come along too?"

"Non." Then looking at his oldest son, he said, "Andrew, it be okay if I came by later an' we could talk?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Andrew responded slightly uncomfortable.

"Mebbe, you'd like better t' come t' me sometime, neh? Thas okay, whatever you want t' do mon fils."

Andrew blushes at the "my son", then turned away and hurried out of the room to catch up with his mother and Tara.

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Meanwhile Caleen and Toshi were helping their daughter, Hana, prepare for their leave-taking tomorrow.

"Hana chan, we will return to see you next month, for your tenth birthday. If you are lonely or miss us please call."

"What your father is not sayin' is we will miss you too, if yuh can call us once uh week, so we know everythin' is o.k. We trust the LeBeau's, we know this will be uh good school. We just want tuh know you're still happy here."

"Mama, Papa, wakatta, and don't worry, I'm a big girl, I'll be ten next month, I'm not a little baby."

"Hana chan, we just want to hear from you, we are not trying to keep you a baby. Calling us doesn't mean you're uh baby, it just means yuh miss us, and want tuh talk tuh us."

"Alright, alright, I'll call you once a week, if I can, but don't get all crazy worried, mama, if I'm not able to call every single week!"

Caleen and Toshi look at each other; realizing that their daughter is adjusting to this separation better than they were. She was getting her first real chance to show some independence, and she was ecstatic about this. They tell Hana goodnight, and that they would briefly see her in the morning, before they left for home, and she went to her first class at this school.

Just as they left the room a young blond haired girl, who looked to be about the same age as their daughter, introduced herself to Caleen and Toshi, "Hi my name's Luna Maximoff, I'm going to be a student here, are you Hana's parents?" When they told her "Yes." she said "Hello" again,and then went into Hana's dorm room and introduced herself.

"Hi I'm Luna Maximoff, I'm going to here at this school too. I'd like to be friends with you."

"Great! I'm Hana Oikawa. I'm ten years old, how old are you?"

"I'm eleven. We can still be friends if it's okay me being a year older?"

"Sure! Everyone else is little kids anyway. We're the only older ones."

"No we aren't!" Luna grinned. "There's this cute boy named Andrew who just enrolled today. I saw him in the hallway downstairs earlier. He's related to Mr. Lebeau somehow. I'll ask him tomorrow at breakfast how."

The girls told each other about their families, and Luna told Hana a little about their teachers, and who she thought would be the hardest, and who would probably teach a easy class.Then they talked about cute boys, and what their favorite music, colors, movies, tv shows, and foods were. They talked until they were told it was time to go to sleep. They promised to meet each other in the morning, because they still had lots of stuff they wanted to tell each other, even before school started.

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Meanwhile Remy was having a conversation with Helene. Remy told Tara he was going to, Tara, despite a small attack of jealousy, didn't demand to be there. While he talked, Tara waited anxiously in their room.

"Helene, chere, why didn't you tell me `bout de boy. When I called you four mont's later, t' see how you were y' didn't tell me y' were pregnant."

"Remy, chere, I didn't love you, and you didn't love me. You weren't mature enough yet to be a father either. After I found out I was pregnant, I decided it was time to stop playing. That's why I went home to my maman's resturant."

"I would have-"

"I know you would, but how long would it be before you came to hate the situation, especially, the you of back then. Remy, let's forget the past. I told Andrew you were a wonderful man, but were too young to know how to be a father at the time."

Great, Remy thought, he t'ink I was jus' a playboy. "Chere, I would -"

"I know, he'll get to know you now. I probably should have told you as soon as I heard you were married, and had a child. Tante Mattie told me."

"She know `bout de boy an' not tell me either? I'm beginning t' be glad I told Tara all my big secrets, and she tell me hers. Keepin' secrets aren't always good, not dose type secrets."

"Remy, you really weren't ready to be a father yet." Helene insisted.

"How y' know dat?" Remy responded heatedly.

"Remy...think, think about how you were then. You were the best lover I ever had, but you had de itchest feet I knew, couldn't stay anywhere more than a week, that's no life for a child, especially if the parents don't really love each other. I liked you, desired you, but I didn't love you. You were the same about me, if not less. You were young and wild. When I found out I was pregnant after you were gone, I felt like it was a message from God that it was time to go home and grow up, so I did. I was nearly thirty, you were, what, 20?"

"Around dat."

"Let's forgive and forget, ma chere, let's stay friends." Helene stuck out her hand.

"Friends." Remy said somewhat reluctantly, but took her hand and shook it. "Goodnight, chere, I best be joinin' my wife now, or she get worried."

Helene smiled enchantingly and said, "Goodnight, then, go be with your wife." Helene was genuinely happy for them, and felt they were well suited. Remy's maturity made her feel good about leaving her son here, letting Remy get to know his son. Andrew was a good boy, and was geniunely curious about who and what his father was.

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The next morning, as the school day began, Tara and Remy were called away from their classes to the office. Tara had been teaching a twentyth century world literature class to Andrew, Luna, and Hana. Remy was teaching a basic math class to Mathias, Ian, John, Scotia and Renee. Kitty was staffing the office, and Jubilee was teaching a P.E. class with Richard, Lotan, Louis, and Mary. Piotr was in the nursery watching the babies.

When Tara and Remy came into the office the first thing that greeted them was a very hysterical Roberto DaCosta. "I don't know how to take care of a baby!"

Remy, clearly irritated said sarcastically, "Should of t'ought of that mon ami, before you make one."

"But I thought Chance..."

"You thought Chance would take care of it.`Berto, ah swear, do you remember she told all of us how she felt about families, especially babies." Tara reminded him.

"I thought she'd change her mind, when she..."

"When she saw the baby.`Berto, how cliched can you get!" Kitty said.

Before Roberto could respond, Tara said,"Okay, we've abused yah enough. Ah assume yah want us tah take the baby.

"Her name's Maria."

"Well hallelujah, at least you named her." Kitty couldn't resist one more comment.

"Chance left the X-mansion without even looking at her. She left the next day after Maria was born. Chance hates me now. I got her to agree to have to have the baby, but she refused to have anything to do with either of us after the baby was born. It sounded so weird I thought she was exaggerating."

Chance doesn't exaggerate." Tara said.

Since they decided start the school, Tara and Remy had been in much closer contact with the X-mansion, and knew what was going on there: gossip,etc...

The voltile attraction of Roberto and Chance had struck almost everyone else as strange. The two of them couldn't have been much more different. The relationship was doomed from the start, but the attraction was there, and they acted on it. Now poor Maria DaCosta would pay the price for their decision. Tara, Remy and the rest of them at the school would do the most they could for her.

"We'll take her, `Berto."

Roberto looked very relieved."I'll visit her, I promise." He said as he left.

After he left, Kitty took the baby up to the nursery. "Piotr we've got another one."

Piotr groaned. He hadn't realized how hard taking care of babies were until he and Kitty had one. Nursery duty was the job he dreaded the most. He looked at the clock, thank goodness, only a half hour to go. Then Jubilee would take his place, and he would teach the little ones art.