Once the decision was made, things fell into place easily enough. The jet that the Guild kept in New York couldn't be moved to Africa, but the Guild had longer-ranged aircraft. Maybe not left in Africa, but they could have one ready if it was necessary.

There were several days filled with getting various things set up. There were secure lines that he and Ororo could be contacted through. Even though they would have communicators with them. he'd also gone out and gotten new satellite phones for himself and Ororo. Where they were going, cell phones would be iffy.

He made certain that his number was left for a couple of the students. Kate and Timothy. He'd input it onto Jono's Sidekick and sent a letter to Eddie with the number and permission to give it to Wicked. The team got all numbers for him and Ororo, including how to get ahold of them through the Guild.

There'd been the one fight to break up with Timothy. And the letter from Ian. That he'd had to sit down and read through a few times. He rubbed his hand over his face, feeling almost guilty about his choice for the first time since he'd made it.

There was a package and a manila envelope left inside Ian's apartment on the dining room table the next morning.

Inside the package was a brand new Sidekick with several numbers already programmed into it. One of them was Remy's new number. The others were marked 'Jean-Luc', 'Mercy' and 'Ororo'.

The manila envelope held a certificate for a first-class ticket to the nearest airport to Wakanda and a letter.

( Letter to Ian )

Remy looked at the phone for a long while in the morning. He had woken up early, then realized that he had to wait a while until Belle might actually be awake. Not that he was looking forward to the conversation. It needed to be done, though.

Not that it would make things better with Ian. He was pretty certain at this point that nothing would.

Finally, he got fed up and picked up the phone, punching the numbers in and sitting back to wait for it to be picked up.

( The ensuing fight was long and loud, but then again, any conversation with Belle was like that these days. )

They said their good-byes and Remy hung up, rubbing his hands over his face before looking at the clock. It was almost noon. He'd better be getting ready for lunch, then class. Even if it didn't seem like such a big deal now.

Italics = Translated from French

Who: Remy and Mercy LeBeau (guest star played by Jess)
Where: The Church of Lost Thieves, then a cafe: New Orleans, LA
When: Late Friday/Early Saturday
What: Remy goes to pay his respects to his brother and runs into Mercy. Explanations abound.
Warnings: Two Cajuns talking to each other. Please don't run this through the spellchecker if you love your computer.

( Dat girl gonna tear up de whole goddamned state o' Lou'siana ova' dis. )