InsaneJournal

Who: Remy, Dani
What: Catching up, Teasing Moonstar.
When: Recently, before the AU plot.
Where: Croft Manor.
Rating/Warnings: PG. There's like... some swears maybe.
Status: Complete!


It had been a long while since Remy had looked in on Moonstar. He knew she’d had a bit of a rough time, but he’d also heard rumors about a girlfriend. That meant there had to be mockery. So he was standing on her doorstep, ringing the bell, hoping she was around.

Now that Sam's parents had cleared out, Croft manor: America Edition was more or less back to its normal self. Dani was relieved to be back at home, and had been doing some much needed cleaning in the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

She was honestly happy for the break, and her face lit up even more when she opened the door and saw Remy standing there, "Hey, Cajun. Come in!"

“Hey, Moonstar.” Remy came bearing turkey - not deep fried turkey, that had gone a long time ago, but he still figured he’d bring her food. Call it a late Christmas gift. “Was in the neighborhood. Thought I’d look in. Bring stuff. Maybe see if your laaaady friend was ‘round.” His smirk was unstoppable.

The teasing, sing-song tone in Remy's voice made Dani's nose crinkle a bit. She squinted at him as she closed the door behind him and then lead him into the kitchen. She pulled out some comfortable stools for them to sit on and motioned for him to make himself comfortable. Though she was trying to look grumpy, she couldn't help but beam a little.

"Whatever you've got there better be amazing. So good that your teasing ends up being worth it," she joked.

“Turkey sammiches and soup?” Remy held out the bag. “Candy made stock with them bones, so we been eating turkey everything for weeks.”

Dani took the bag from him and inspected the contents. Turkey sandwiches and soup sounded really good, "Hah, we didn't end up with any leftovers from Thanksgiving because Renji will eat the entire house if you let him. We're constantly having to replace the contents of our fridge and pantry. He even eats all the condiments."

It was pretty funny. But if you didn't label your food you didn't end up eating it, and even then it was sometimes a gamble. She got out a sharpie and marked the two containers with her name before putting them in the fridge, "I spent Christmas at my... Shepard's house. We didn't have Turkey, I made a special breakfast instead."

“At your Shepard’s house? That’s a new one.” But he couldn’t tease her too much; she looked too happy. “You can guess I ain’t much of a cook, but Candy likes it. Who am I to intercede? If she, outta the goodness of her heart, wants to feed me?” Remy tried to look innocent.

"I sound like I'm dating a pastor or something now." Dani screwed her nose up a bit at the thought, then couldn't help but laugh. Commander Shepard as a pastor? Never, ever going to happen, and not just because she was female.

"I always kind of thought you'd be a good cook, you know, with those cajun roots and everything. Running around making things like gumbo or... whatever else it is they eat down in New Orleans."

Dani stowed the foodstuffs away, then motioned to the shelves of various beverages, "You want something to drink?"

Remy laughed. “Nah, I grew up there, but I grew up with the nuns. They cooked real good, though. Sister Mary Christian’s etouffee, that still the stuff of my dreams. Maybe I should try, though Candy says I make everything triple-hot. She made them sandwiches, by the way.” He smiled a little. “Glass ‘o water would be nice, merci. You got the house t’yourself today?”

"Yeah, It's kind of nice actually," Dani replied, while grabbing some glasses. Their new fridge had really good water right on the door, and though it'd taken her a few hours to figure it out, she could now get it to pour whole glasses without having to stand there and babysit.

"Renji's at work, Sam's off being Sam and Lara's probably in a library. It's nice to have the place to myself, I finally got a chance to do some in-depth cleaning. I'm sure I'll work up an appetite to scarf down all of those sandwiches Candy made, though."

She retrieved their glasses of water and took a seat near Remy, handing him his, "How are you two holding out? Wasn't she going through some kind of rough spot at some point?"

Remy nodded a thank you and sat down across from Dani. “Candy had some issues cause her daddy found where she was livin’. Bastard beat her up when she was a kid - she got out, but then he found her. He in jail now, though.” He couldn’t help but smirk. “He messed with me.” Candy had finished it, but he’d started it. “Putain de merde gonna rot in County.”

"Shit... I wish I'd been paying more attention." She couldn't remember how far back that was. Sure, they both had stuff to deal with, and they weren't supposed to talk about the fact that they saw each other at meetings, but she'd missed plenty of those since the Cancer started, "I need to get to know her outside of certain circumstances. That way when you get to be all badassed and kick some rotten bastard's ass I can help."

She smirked a bit, "I'm looking forward to kicking ass again."

“Good to hear, that.” Remy smiled. “And she’d like you, I’m pretty sure. Candy don’t take anybody’s shit, not even mine. Two of a kind, you are.” He drank some of the water, sitting back. “Fact, she giving me shit now. I got a li’l part in a movie shooting soon, and she already started to pretend to swoon when I walk by.” He had to grin.

"Hah, well, I remember how she fought that last time we were all together. I definitely wouldn't ever want to be on her bad side," Dani joked. She grinned even more widely at the thought of Remy LeBeau: Movie Star, "That's exactly how we have to handle it, you know. You've already got an ego the size of the planet, we don't need it exploding and blowing up the universe."

She was teasing him, of course, and it felt good to get to tease him back a little.

“I ain’t that bad. Course, maybe I get that bad.” Remy smirked. “I’m sure between you, Candy, n’ Logan, though, I gonna keep my feet on the ground. What else are mes amis for?” Honestly, he was more excited than anything. It felt surreal, still. It probably would long after he’d finished shooting.

"If your friends can't keep you in line, no one else can," Dani joked.

She took a long sip off of her water, then asked, "But what kind of movie is it? What role are you playing? Joking aside, that's got to be pretty amazing. I think I'd throw up."

“It’s a space western type thing. I play the hotshot pilot. Always wanted to be Han Solo when I was a kid.” Remy grinned. “It ain’t the biggest part ever, but I got some good lines. It’s exciting! Scary as hell for me too, but at the same time, I wanna do it. It’s more money, it’s a bigger house for Candy and any bebes in the future. Give my dog a yard.”

"Han Solo was the best part of those movies," Dani agreed. The part sounded exciting, but she smiled the most widely when Remy mentioned the house and all of that, "Yeah, you have to have room for all those adorable kids you two are going to have. And dogs really do need space to run around. I'm glad Ho'nene's got the run of the ranch. She'd hate being penned up here. The backyard has a beach but there isn't nearly as much of it."

After a pause, she added, "You two thinking of doing the baby thing soon?"

He answered honestly. “Not soon. Not ‘least til Candy finish school. But we talked about kids. And I dunno. Maybe one day le monde’ll be ready for little Remys.” He chuckled, sipping more water. “More concerned about Miss Ruby right now; she chewin’ on the couch.”

"Want me to talk to her? I've got the power to do that. I'm not sure how much longer I have it, but I could probably get her to behave for now at least."

Being able to communicate with animals was the part that Dani was going to miss the most, she was certain. It seemed like that had put the biggest hole in her life, anyway.

She took a long sip of water, then added, randomly, "Shepard really wants one. Or two. It's on my... 'un-bucket list'. But I don't know if the world is ready for mini Shepards, either. And if there's mini Remys running around, too, we might all be in trouble."

“Might be a good idea, see what’s eatin’ Ruby.” Remy cocked his head to one side when she talked about kids. “You more worried about mini Shepards, or mini-Moonstars?” Dani tended to be stupidly hard on herself, and push herself stupidly hard too. He’d have bet money on Dani being scared of being a shit parent more than anything.

It was probably a good bet. Dani nodded her head a bit, then tilted it off to one side. One of her fingers began to trace at the rim of her glass, "Well... mini-Moonstars are probably about as bad. And then there's the part where they grow up out of the baby stage and into more developmental stages. You have to teach them things. Like driving. We all know that Shepard can't take on that responsibility."

She wrinkled her nose, "I want them. I mean I want them stupidly badly. I even had Faiza save eggs before Chemo. But you can't just bring a life into the world, you have to look after it, too."

“Mais oui.” Remy looked at her. “Dani, you got the hard part over with. Most people I know, they bickerin’ about wanting les bebes. You two already agree. Just a question of when. And I guess in your case, who’s gonna carry.” The idea of Dani pregnant was oddly sweet, though he knew she’d probably hit him if he said so. Still, it might calm her down. Give her something to focus on besides her problems.

"Hah. Yeah, that's true. But it was kind of a condition of being with Shepard at all. She wants them really badly, and my biological clock has gone haywire. I blame the last year or so."

Dani couldn't even imagine Shepard pregnant. Whenever she tried, the mental picture just amused her more than anything. Tyra, lumbering around as big as a house and being unable to do crazy things? She laughed just thinking about it, "I think you know which of the two of us would be carrying them. Living with Shepard would be unbearable once she got too big to get out of her own way."

Of course, all of that was contingent on whether or not Dani could carry them at all. It didn't need saying, so she didn't bother bringing it up.

Remy chuckled. “You could adopt, too. Not cause you can’t have none or whatever, just I know there’s lots of little ones who need good stable homes.” And California was probably better about that shit than back down South. Nobody in Cali was going to care about two women adopting kids. He couldn’t help but grin, though. Maybe he’d risk saying it. “You’d look all cute knocked up. But you know you’d get damn bored, too.”

She reached out a hand and swatted at him for his words, but it was mostly playful in nature, and she was blushing a bit.

"I don't know. I'm pretty used to sitting on my ass and playing pokemon at this point. What's another nine months or so?" She joked, after a brief pause to collect herself. But there was something nagging at the back of her mind, something that made his talk of adoption a little more serious.

"Adoption might be a better idea, though. I mean... I think she really wants one that's hers and mine genetically, and I know there's a way to do that now. And a kid we'd create would probably be gorgeous. But... Remy... What if it gets the bad genes?"

Like the one for alcoholism. Dani wondered briefly if Candy had the same fear.

She did, and Remy said as much. “Candy worries about that, too. Shit, I worry about that. I don’t want no kid goin’ through what I did. But all you can do is tell Shepard that, and if she wants to take the risk, you go with it. I sat Candy down an’ told her everything, and said I’d leave it up to her.” He smiled a little, thinking of Candy. “If Shepard tells you she wanna risk it, who’s you to tell her non?”

"Hmmm, I guess you're right about that. It's not one of those decisions you make on your own, anyway. That's a decision we'll need to make together. There's probably a lot we really need to sit down and talk about... probably when we're all done holding our breath about my health." Dani nodded, and grinned a bit. Things were starting to look up on that front, anyway. It was exciting, but kind of terrifying, too.

"I'm actually not sure what I'll do first. I know it's only been a few months but it feels like I've been dealing with this for years. Maybe throw a big party. I'll need your advice for that, everyone knows you and Candy throw the best ones."

“Do first now that you healthy?” Remy chuckled. “I think me ‘n Candy can help there. Promise, nothin’ Shepard would come after us for. That woman might be able to kick my ass, even if she ain’t a mutie.”

"When I get healthy, yeah. And I think she could probably even take on LOGAN if he promised not to pop his claws. I mean..." Dani made various hand motions in thin air to indicate how built Shepard was, "Even in peak condition I wasn't that built. She's just... God, Remy, it's so unbelievably hot."

She realised she was gushing and darted her eyes to the side, then cleared her throat, "But yeah, I more meant a good party with like awesome food and fake cocktails and stuff. The 'Dani's gonna get to grow her hair back' party or something."

Remy smirked. “Dani, that was almost cute. You might be a li’l fucked here.” But then he got serious. “I’m pretty sure we can help. Hell, think there’s a caterer on the network. A baker. Somet’in like that.”

"We've got a few bakers. I wonder if they do regular cooking, too. I love to cook but I'd rather not get stuck cooking things for my own party." Dani responded to his second statement, intentionally skipping over his teasing. Though she was blushing red, now, and grinning like an idiot.

“That’s fair.” Remy smirked. “You should get waited on, treated like a queen. That Shepard don’t have some kind of hot dancer costume, does she? She can feed you grape leaves under a canopy?” Dani would probably hit him for that, but it was worth it to see the look on her face.

Dani made an insulted sort of noise and leaned over the counter to smack him upside the head, just like he'd been expecting. But the thought was also hysterically funny, and she couldn't help but laugh a bit when she sat back on her chair, "Gods, can you even imagine that? Because I can and I think she'd shoot me for suggesting it."

A pause, then, "I should suggest it, just to see what her reaction is. Maybe she'd do it just for me. Usually I'm begging her to wear one of her suits. A hot dancer costume would be completely out of her element."

“Ow.” Remy laughed. “Maybe dress like her commanding officer and make her obey orders?” Now he was just being an idiot, mostly to make Dani laugh.

"Oh god..." Dani laughed a bit, and started shaking her head, "Ordering around Commander Shepard... You know I'd just order her to do naughty things and she'd smirk at me a lot and it'd end up becoming sexy role play time."

“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that! Free show.” Remy leered, then let up. “You know I’m teasin’, Moonstar. Just, I’m glad for you. You got somebody to look after you who ain’t Scott.” He liked Scott, truly. Just, the man needed to loosen up. And people like Dani tended to chafe at such close supervision.

"I've got a lot more people looking out for me than I ever thought I needed. But I'm really glad for it. I think moving out of there was probably the best decision I made since I got back. I have a lot of love for Scott, but... He'll always be my commanding officer and I'll always be some kid he has to look out for." Dani wrinkled her nose a bit. Things got weird between them when the dreams started. And she still couldn't get the image of Scott nearly blowing his own head off out of her head. She'd carry that with her to the grave, probably.

But she didn't want to dwell on that after Remy'd put her in such a good mood. She grinned, "I've got Renji and Lara and Sam, Shepard, You and Candy look in on me sometimes and I know I'll always be able to talk to you two about certain problems. Hela's around, too. Hell, even my ex has been supportive."

“I’m glad! Real glad. You deserve it.” Remy said, smiling. “You just give me a ring, eh? We party it up Cajun style.”

Dani gave him a thumbs up, "I knew I could count on you."