I own nothing!
He was watching her again, he knew it was wrong, he knew it was ever so slightly creepy, he just didn't care anymore. He wanted to know what she was doing, what she was like – if the person he had built in his head was really her.
He watched her from across the street, she was sitting on the chairs outside the local hang out – the coffee shop. He was sat in a tree in the town park across from where she now sipped a large black coffee. The others were with her – Jean, Kitty, and Kurt, but she didn't appear to be joining their conversation or even listening. Her eyes were fixed to the distance, he imagined that she was away in her own world, she did that a lot. He knew she hated being analysed and that if she knew he was watching her she would attack him there and then. They had an understanding of sorts in New Orleans, but that didn't stretch to him being able to stalk her like this. No, he thought, it's not stalking; it's just…watching someone's every move from a distance without them knowing. Not to mention hacking into their computer whilst they were out, reading their diary, occasionally taking the odd photo of her unawares, usually looking solemn and lost…no that's not stalking – right?
He cursed softly under his breath, what was he doing to himself? Why was he doing this? She was just a girl, an 18 yr old girl with severe trust issues and a rather complicated life. Not to mention – where would this go? She couldn't touch! Sure she might one day control it, but could he promise not to cheat in the mean time? It would be unfair to start a relationship if one side was more committed than the other. On the other hand, would he cheat? He could be quite creative when he put his mind to it…No! He thought violently shaking his head; get a grip on yourself man!
He sighed as he stealthily jumped down, ensuring that the tree blocked Rogue's view so she couldn't see him depart. This was absurd; he needed to get away from all this – to stop thinking about her. But hadn't he done that? He mused as he got on his bike and revved the engine, he had stayed in New Orleans for months trying to stop thinking about her and it hadn't worked. Maybe the opposite was needed – maybe if he spent more time with her he wouldn't be obsessing, he wouldn't turn into the frightening character he was seeing more and more in his mirror as he returned from another night of reading through her personal thoughts whilst she was on some mission. Maybe it's time to join the fight for mutant rights with Xavier's bunch, after all – Rogue had been on the opposing side to begin with and they now accepted her. Surely it wouldn't be that impossible for them to accept him?
He grinned as he pulled away from the traffic lights, his worldly affects were all strapped to the bike, and there was no point in putting it off. He turned right down the road towards the Mansion and began whistling a tune to himself; it was time to get that damn girl out of his system.
"Am I right in saying that you are here to join the X-Men Mr LeBeau?"
"Oui, and please call me Remy."
Xavier looked at Remy thoughtfully; the young man had shown up on his doorstep not ten minutes ago and had stated that he wanted to join the team. They were now seated in his office, Xavier had been thankful that Logan and Rogue were both out – he hated to think what they would have done to the former-acolyte had they opened the door to him.
"I need to know why Mr LeBeau."
"Was on hire to Magneto, Remy not got an alliance to his cause, and your side appear to have the better idea. Remy won't lie to you, he needs somewhere to stay and can't go back to New Orleans." He almost smirked but managed to stop himself, fair enough for the most part that was all true, but he had other places he could go. Looking at the Professor he could see he understood that Remy was playing up to him.
"I know you're not telling me the truth Mr LeBeau, I realise that some of what you say is true and you are already aware that I can't read your mind to ascertain your true reasons. But, I think that your reasons are not based around a desire to do harm either. I will let you stay on a probationary basis, But –"he said raising a finger as Gambit's smile grew, "If you cause harm to any student – any student – I will demand that you leave and I'll let Logan be the one who removes you from the property and whilst I am not able to read your mind, there are other ways available to tell if you are up to no good. I especially require that you cease entering areas on this property that are private." He raised his eyebrows and Remy realised with a shock that he knew about Remy's frequent visits to Rogue's room.
"If you're wondering why I didn't stop you, it's because I thought it would be better if Rogue didn't know, and I also made sure that whatever you were reading was not Rogue's words."
Remy's mouthed dropped, he hadn't had a clue that there was any switch; the words sounded so much like Rogue that he hadn't noticed. I don't know the fille at all he realised with shock.
"You are not as smart as you would like to think Remy, maybe we can help with that. You can benefit greatly from the training we can offer. However, I am going to inform Rogue of your attempts to read her diary, I think it's important she knows your intentions are not all that honourable – I do not like to see my students taken advantage of. Now, shall I show you to your room?"
Remy nodded without saying a word and followed the professor, his whole world had been turned upside down in a minute – he didn't know the young goth at all, in fact, chances are Xavier had manipulated him into wanting to know her so he would join. The young thief felt more stupid than he had ever done in his entire life – he had been played and played well!
He nodded his leave to the professor and sat on the bed, the whole walk to the room had been a blur – his mind was reeling. On the one hand he had been manipulated skilfully, on the other he now felt less of stalker – he hadn't known her, but now he could get to know her. Only the problem was now that she would never trust him, the professor would tell her and she would continue to think of him as the bad guy. He was screwed, royally and thoroughly screwed.
Rogue sat in the back of Jean's car, not listening to the other's excited chatter. They had had coffee and then gone onto a spot of shopping. Her mind was elsewhere though. For the last couple of weeks she had had the feeling of being watched. Occasionally she would enter her room and whilst nothing was different it would feel like someone had been there in her absence. A few days ago she had figured it out, whilst training she had absorbed Wolverine and then on entering her room she had smelt him, Gambit – he was the one who had been there. At first she was outraged, the smell of him was layered, some were older than others. He had been coming to her room for a while now she realised. Looking under the mattress she pulled out her diary and checked the many security measures she had in place to ensure she knew if anyone had touched it –were all intact, they were, but he was good at breaking into things – maybe he had managed it. The computer was where she checked next, once again the passwords were all in place and she was sure he hadn't entered them. Then she remembered a trick kitty had taught her – a way of checking every keystroke made on the machine. She checked the last 24 hours and sure as hell someone had been on there and it wasn't her. She checked the history and found a hidden file whose shortcut appeared to have been activated when the person – she assumed Gambit- had tried to open her password protected files. There were reams of entries that appeared to have been written by her but weren't – they were in the same style but the subject matter was slightly more morose, slightly more lonely, and did not cover half of what she had gone through in the last few months. She thought about it and realised that someone had laid a false trail for Gambit – making him think that he was reading her stuff. She immediately thought of Kitty but then shook her head – that was nonsense, Kitty couldn't keep a secret like that. It must be the professor, shutting down the computer she made her way out of the room – her and Xavier really needed to have a chat about privacy and honesty.
'Come in Rogue' he entered her mind as she stood at the door.
"Professor I think we need to talk."
"Actually yes, I have a matter to discuss with you and judging by the look on your face you might already know what it is."
"You've been allowing that swamp rat access to my room!"
"Not exactly allowing Rogue, merely trying to prevent him prying into your personal items. I am afraid I have been using you as bait to lure Mr LeBeau onto our team."
"Using me as bait? Gee Prof I would have thought that went against your moral code somewhat. Why not just tell me?"
"Because I wanted Gambit to think he was unsuspected. If you had known you would have known to watch out for him. He has been watching you for some time and whilst I have upped the security he still manages to evade it."
Rogue smirked, "Yeah well that's kind of his speciality." She frowned and sat on the chair opposite Charles's desk, "Look professor I'm not happy about this, I don't like being played and I kinda thought you would avoid doing that."
"I am sorry Rogue, it was an opportunity to lure Gambit in and I took it. You're right it wasn't the best way to go about things. I assume you found the files I put on your computer?"
"Yeah you got my style down to a tee. Can't believe he fell for it. Do you know why he's been watching me?"
"I am unable to read his mind, but I think he is infatuated with you."
"I'm sorry, are you telling me that you let someone who is infatuated with me sneak into my room? Should you really encourage that – he could have done something dangerous! You're playing with my life here Professor."
"Once again, I apologise – but he has requested to join the team, I think he is trying to rid himself of his infatuation. I sense that he isn't all to impressed by his actions. He seemed shocked when I told him about the fake entries – but also a little relieved, like he hadn't done something as bad as he thought. He's a complicated person, he acts so mature and confident – but he's only 2 years older than you."
"He was stalking me, that is bad – I don't care about the end result! You let an enemy wander around my room! And now you've le him join the team!"
"He's on probation and I've warned him to stay away from you, he knows that I am telling you about his actions. He's trying to atone for some sins Rogue, I am in no place to stop him doing that. He is a confused young man who finds himself drawn to a complicated young woman – he has acted foolishly and is now trying to stop himself acting more foolishly-"
"By getting closer to me!?"
"He is trying to remove the infatuation, he thinks that by being on the team and getting to know you better the mystery will be gone."
"And he told you all this?"
"He didn't need to Rogue, I was a young man once, I had many friends – we all had crushes. Young men don't tend to act the most rationally."
"Is he here now?"
"Yes, he's in the boys wing. The room next to Kurt's."
"Right, well then I'll show him the real me right now and get this sorted."
"Please don't resort to violence though. Have a good day."
Rogue nodded and made her way out of the room, she was seething with anger. She had been played, used and lied to again! She didn't want to yell at the professor though.