Disclaimer, for this and any following chapters: Now, this may come as a huge surprise to all those X-Men fans out there, but I do not, in fact, own the X-Men (unfortunately). Marvel, however, does. Ok?

Just your regular post DOR Rogue/Remy fic. This is my first fic ever, so you'll have to forgive sloppy writing, non-existant spelling and grammar, and the accents in general. I haven't written anything in ages so I'm really rusty, but getting a bit better. If you think this fic is bad you should have read the first draft, I seemed unable to construct sentences of more that 6 words. Anyway, please review if you want me to continue and/or if you want to flame me, I don't care!

Midnight Encounters

Chapter 1

Rogue shifted under the covers of her bed. There was an irritating sound, loud and persistent, pulling her out of the warm confines of sleep. She sighed heavily, if it wasn't going to go away on it's own, then she would have to do something about it, because apparently there was no way she was going to go back to sleep if she didn't shut it up. Frowning sleepily, she tried to concentrate on the sound. It was amazing, really, just how incredibly annoying it was, in fact she couldn't really think of anything more irritating. It was like, a series of beeps, and the gap between them was just long enough to make you think that maybe, hopefully, there wouldn't be another one. Then there was.

Another sigh, this time accompanied by grinding teeth, and she resigned herself to really waking up. Slowly, she opened her eyes, peering blearily in the general direction of the infuriating beeping. All sleepiness disappeared, however, as she found the source of the sound. Her eyes widened as she looked at it. A heart monitor. That was when she realised that she wasn't in her room anymore.

Fully awake now, Rogue lay very still as she surveyed her surroundings, tensed and alert for any possible threat. From her position she could see banks of monitors and other equipment and a small, wheeled table holding medical apparatus. Her breathing quickened and she felt adrenalin rushing through her veins as she realised what kind of room she had found herself in. It's a lab, oh Gawd… Rogue's eyes frantically darted around the room, until she did a double-take on a shadowed door just in her line of sight. She held her breath as she studied it, a desperate hope filling her mind. It looked familiar somehow, wasn't that a faint 'X' across it, like the one in the medical lab? Her stomach tightened slightly as she studied the room again, and this time the equipment was familiar and reassuring; she was in the X-men's medical bay. She felt her body go weak with relief. It was amazing how shadows and perspective could change the appearance of a room so completely, making it seem foreign and threatening. Feeling stupid now, she shook her head, brushing off her recent fears. She had never been completely at home in hospitals or laboratories and her recent experiences at the hands of Trask had probably not helped either.

So, what the hell was she doing here? The last thing she could remember was talking to Kitty about her room mate joining the swim team, and then, nothing. Well, not nothing, she corrected herself. There had also been several seconds of excruciating pain, and then nothing. She must have blacked out, and been brought down to the med lab for observation. Still, that didn't quite explain the heart monitor, but that was probably just cautionary, after all it wasn't every day that one of the students suddenly screamed then collapsed. Huh, happens round here a lot more often than is normal she thought dryly.Living in a mansion full of developing teenage mutants did tend to have certain side effects.

Well, she would probably get a few lectures in the morning but hopefully no worse than that. With any luck the Professor would still be too distracted to investigate too far and just leave it at, 'Rogue, is there anything you feel you need to talk about?' No problem.

Still, Rogue couldn't completely relax, there was still something off. For the third time in as many minutes, she sighed. Not only did she have to live with a genetic curse and endure two months of 'Wideawake' but now she was going paranoid. Great. Well that would certainly round things off nicely…

She stopped, there was something else, out of place, a light noise barely detectable over the beeping of the monitor by her bed. Rogue forced herself to keep her breathing even as she felt the muscles in her stomach begin to tighten again, it was coming from something in the lab. No,someone, the corrected herself, definitely someone. There was something very organic about the noise; perhaps it was just a little too irregular to be mechanical. But more than that, now that she knew what she was looking for it was almost as if she could feel a presence in the room with her. Behind her. She closed her eyes. Agonisingly slowly, she eased her self over onto her other side not wanting to alert…whoever it was, although that seemed a bit pointless after all the sighing she had done earlier. Carefully, she cracked open her eyes to peek through her eyelashes.

What she saw almost made her fall out of bed.

There, sitting on a chair beside her bed, his head cradled on his arms just below her pillow, was Gambit. What th' hell Not quite believing what she was seeing, she closed her eyes and shook her head before going to look at him again. No, not at him because there is no way th' almahty Remy LeBeau can actually be asleep next to mah bed. Can there? Sure enough, there he was.

Wide awake now, Rogue stared at the head in front of her. What? Her mind struggled to comprehend what her eyes were telling her. What is Gambit doing in th' lab at this hour? An' why th' hell is he asleep next to mah bed?! Ah think Ah preferred not knowin' where Ah was, at least that made some kinda twisted sense!

An incredulous look still plastered on her face, she gently eased herself up toward the headboard to get a better look at him. Her movement must have alerted him for he shifted slightly causing her to freeze for fear of waking him, or maybe to avoid the awkwardness of having to talk after discovering him asleep on her bed. That could definitely lead to some interesting questions, never mind the answers.

Now from her new position, she studied him closely. Jaw-length russet hair tangled over his head and spilling onto the sheets, chiselled face and high cheekbones partially covered by his long bangs, sensual lips relaxed from their normal smirk and long lashes nearly brushing his cheeks. No one should have lashes that long, Rogue mused as she watched him. In fact, no one should be allowed t' be that attractive, period. Especially him. She scowled. The first time she had seen him on the battlefield his looks alone had been enough to make her stop dead and stare (although she would die before admitting it to anyone, including herself). He had just smirked and handed her a card considerately charged enough to blow her hand off. Luckily she had snapped out of it in time to throw it away. Of course, a lot of things had happened since then, but from that moment on she had borne a serious grudge, not for his looks or personality, (although they definitely didn't help) but for the way he made her feel. He made her feel like she was losing control, and if there was one thing she yearned for, dreamed of, it was control. Losing the meagre quantities she had now made her angry as hell and scared out of her mind, (another fact she would never admit to herself).

Stirring from her thoughts Rogue's eyes narrowed. That fight with him and his cronies had landed her with more trouble than she had anticipated.

Flash back

Rogue was cold. Beyond anything else, beyond the pain, beyond the discomfort, she was cold. The first few days she had never been quiet, screaming obscenities that would have impressed whenever the guards came into hearing range. When they tired of this and took steps to 'persuade' her hold her tongue she had screamed at them. She never gave into them; never let them break her. Never.

That was before the tests began, the experimenting. They had learned all about her 'gift' from Fred, though she couldn't bring herself to blame him after the seeing the results of the experiments pushing his invulnerability to the limits. Even Logan's tests hadn't been that bad, she thought. He had come back half dead on several occasions and Rogue was sure that if it wasn't for his healing factor he would never had survived the first day, but Fred's general invulnerability meant the doctors had to be more…inventive.

When it was her turn to be taken away she had kicked and screamed, cursed and fought, but by the time she came back though, she was very quiet. Oh, she was far from broken, (contrary to what the guards believed) but her fight had evolved into something contained, something dangerous. She didn't have much choice. After the first couple of tests almost all her energy was turned inward fighting…

End

Rogue mentally jerked away from that train of though before it lead somewhere…dangerous. Even now, months after her capture and rescue from Trask's hellhole her mind shied away from the memory, from the knowledge of…that. None of the X-men knew what had gone on the cold steel tables where they… when they had taken her away. They thought they did, but they had no idea, not really, and she intended to keep it that way. Sometahms ignorance is bliss. 'Sides, Ah need to figure this out on mah own. At least foh now.


Next chapter coming soon, please review! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Vagabond