Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters; please don't sue me I am a poor college student. I am not making any money off of this and I am just writing it for the benefit of my own entertainment as well as the entertainment of the other fans out there. Also, this is a story from my own imagination, any resemblance to real life events, or even those in fiction is completely coincidental. As an additional note, there are so many fan fiction stories out there on this site as well as others, so any similarity is coincidental or great minds just happen to think alike.

Summary: One shot- College Freshman Rogue had planned on spending the weekend with a certain visiting Cajun. Too bad fate didn't feel like helping her out with that.

Who: Rogue and Gambit

When: Well, since Rogue was a high school junior in Evo, I'd say this takes place about two years later when she's a freshman in college.

Additional notes: I wrote this story around last March or April but never got around to posting it (I couldn't find where I stored it on the computer). It's also my first original concept (not song fic) X-men Evolution based story, so please be gentle:-)

Promises to Keep

by demiducky25

Remy's coming here today! That was the first thought to cross my mind when I woke up this morning. A huge smile broke on my face and I actually started to giggle. If only my roommate could see me now, she'd think I was nuts. But then again she thinks I'm nuts anyway. I'm the "goth girl who's angst-y and wears lots of dark colors and dark make-up." But that's me and I'm happy with it. After graduating high school, the Professor made sure that everyone had the opportunity to receive a higher education. He told us that it was important that mutants be well educated, especially with the world we live in today. Unlike Scott and Jean, who graduated they year before me, I chose to go away to school. Living in the Mansion and helping to train new recruits while taking classes at the local college might be good for them, but I wanted…no…needed a change. So I found a small, liberal arts college in North Jersey, far enough to get away from it all but close enough that the X-men can come get me if they need me.

I pushed the blankets off of me and got up. My roommate in the other bed rolled over and pulled the blankets up higher to cover her head. Yeah, it's early and she knows it, but I can't help it because Remy's coming here today! I look over at my roommate for a minute. It's funny how she reminds me of Kitty, my roommate in the Mansion in so many ways. In fact, Kitty came to visit one weekend during her school break and the two of them hit it off. How I always get stuck with these happy-go-lucky perky girls, I don't know. Must be my luck! But I like both of them; they are sweet and kind, genuinely good people. I make my way into the bathroom so I can start getting ready. Yes every room in my school has its own bathroom, so you only have to share with you and your roommate. When Kitty found out, she was livid; the school she was planning on attending next year had bathrooms where the whole floor had to share. Kitty, who takes a year and a day to get ready, would have to share a bathroom with 28 other girls. The thought made me laugh. She could hardly share the bathroom with just me, and since I've been away she's had that all to herself.

Once in the bathroom I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, dried my hair (I'm sure the roommate loved that since the hairdryer is noisy), and put on an outfit I knew Remy would enjoy. Funny, for someone who wears fairly dark colors himself, Remy LeBeau was always trying to get me to brighten up my wardrobe. Using that Cajun charm of his, he'd tell me how "belle" I am and how I should be wearing colors that bring out my eyes. But I am not going to change for anyone, not even for him. But the outfit I decided to wear was one that I knew we both enjoyed: a sheer black shirt with a red tank top underneath, black pants, and my trusty black boots. Capping it off with a pair of black gloves would complete the look once I put on my makeup. I reached into my makeup bag and was not happy with what I found. How could I be out of lipstick? Did I really go through it that fast? Not only that but my roommate had borrowed my eye shadow the night before for a party and I had no idea where she put it. Oh well, I'll just have to go through the day "au natural." The roommate will get a kick out of that. Speaking off…

I left the bathroom ready to start my day, glanced at the clock and noticed that she wasn't up yet. I pulled on my gloves as I went over to shake her.

"Jen? Hey," I said while shaking her gently. "Don't ya have class in lahke ten minutes?"

"Hmmmm," she mumbled, "I don't feel so good. I'm just going to sleep in." With that she rolled back over to sleep.

Oh great, what a time for her to get sick. Remy's going to be here in about an hour and we can't even be alone! She knew he was coming over and she was going to give us some alone time. Right after class she had to go to work, but at this rate, it seemed like she was going to spend the entire day in bed! I was looking forward to being with Remy today. My only class this morning was cancelled (the professor had told us the class prior) and the roommate was going to be out for the day. It was going to be just him and me. Because of my mutant powers we can't do what my roommate probably thinks we are going to do, but I still LOVE being alone with him. It gives us a chance to talk about things we won't share with other people and just be truly ourselves. It's funny, this relationship might have never gotten started if he hadn't tried to kill me when we first met, kidnapped me not long after that to help save his father… you know, the usual for a mutant relationship. But after that time in New Orleans, we did get to know each other better, one thing led to another, and there you have it, one wacky relationship with two wacky people. Everyone at Xavier's really doesn't know what to make of it. They can tell Remy cares about me but they are skeptical, after all, he use to work for our greatest foe, now he just floats around taking care of jobs here and there, he has no real team affiliation, but he is truly a good man. Their feelings range from Kitty's "It's like sooooo romantic!" to Logan's "I don't trust that Cajun punk." But I really don't care what anyone thinks. I know how he feels about me and how I feel about him.

Well, even with the lack of makeup and roommate still sleeping, nothing could ruin this day. I was about to pick up a book to kill an hour when my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"'Allo, Chere."

"Remy," I exclaimed excitedly, nearly forgetting that my roommate was sleeping. I brought my voice down a level before speaking again. "What's up? Are ya downstairs cause Ah'll come let ya in."

"Rogue, I've got some bad news," said the voice on the other end.

I could feel the smile leaving my face, "What's wrong?"

"De car I…um…borrowed from mon père broke down; it looks like I won't be makin' it dere after all."

"Are ya still in New Orleans?"

"Non, I made it clear out of N'awlins. I guess de old wheels couldn't handle the entire trip. But dere's no way I'm getting' dere today. I'm so sorry Chere."

" 'S'ok. Ah'm just glad ya're safe." I can't believe this was happening. Well I didn't want to hear anymore or where he was, and I prayed that this Swamp Rat was telling the truth. "Listen, Ah gotta get goin' so Ah'll talk to ya soon, ok?"

"Oui. Bye."

"Bye," I said as I hung up the phone. DAMN! Well, I guess it doesn't matter that the roommate's going to stick around today cause Remy can't come up here anyway. What had started off as a great day had suddenly gone to hell. Well, if Remy's not visiting, I might as well get started on next week's assignments. And as hard as I try to get things done, the only thing I can think about while reading my chapters is the man with the ruby eyes. I gotta get out of the room.

"Ah'm goin' out for a bit," I announce to my slumbering roommate, who probably can't hear me and if she can she doesn't care. I feel obligated to tell her anyway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Remy closed his cell phone and put it back into the inside pocket of his trench coat, the tow truck operator was in the process of hooking his car up for the long ride home. MERDE! Why did this have to happen? He didn't get to see Rogue often and he hated the fact that he'd have to just turn around and go back home. The next thing he'd have to do is call Jean-Luc LeBeau and let him know that his favorite classic car wasn't safely in the garage like he thought. Not to mention the price of the tow truck to drag this thing back to New Orleans…across all those state borders…he shuddered at the thought. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.

A black van pulled up in front of him, the driver rolled down the window and asked if he needed a lift, he knew for a fact they were going the same way. If he could survive the trip then Remy knew it would be worth it. He explained the situation to the tow truck driver and slipped him a nice large sum of money to take the car safely back to Jean-Luc's. Then he got into the van to prepare for the ride of his life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I figured doing some research in the library would get my mind off of old what's-his-name, but it didn't help that my topic for the history paper was the Louisiana Purchase. As hard as I tried to push my defunct weekend plans out of my head every mention of Louisiana made my mind go reeling back to when we enjoyed a leisurely dinner at a New Orleans café. Then again we never really got to dinner; we just had our water in front of us and were waiting for the appetizers when the fight broke out where I absorbed information on his father's whereabouts from one of the goons. But still, we had a lot of time to talk on that trip, getting to know each other. Not long after the situation with Apocalypse, he came back from New Orleans to see if I was alright since he had heard about it on the news. We talked about our status and decided that we had fallen for each other. And although our relationship would be long distance for the most part (he hadn't really settled down anywhere, but spent more of his time in New Orleans picking up the pieces of his relationship with his father), we knew that we wanted to be together more than anything, even if we couldn't physically be together.

Well, after two hours of attempting to do some research on a topic that kept distracting me, I decided to head to the cafeteria for lunch. For all its hype, college food was nothing but better quality high school cafeteria food. Sure the food tasted better but it was the same thing everyday. Or at least that's what I was anticipating. BUT OF COURSE, they had to serve us Cajun Chicken today of all days! UGH, looks like I'll be having a salad today. After fixing my salad and getting a drink I make my way over to an empty table. I don't mind eating alone; I'm use to being a loner. I prefer it for the most part; it means I don't have to explain why I wear all the clothing I do or talk about my past. But I do have friends at this school, not as close as the ones I have back at the Mansion, but they are still nice nevertheless. They don't know I'm a mutant, and I'd hate to think they'd stop being my friend because of it, but I'm not stupid, it's happened before. I just want to go through my college years like a normal student, and I don't think that's too much to ask.

After I finish my lunch I take my try to the rack where it will be carried off to be washed, and I make my way to the student center where I can aimlessly walk around the bookstore and browse the bulletin boards to see what's happening on campus this weekend. I usually don't attend too many school functions, but I'll do ANYTHING to get Remy off my mind. There is so much activity going on around me: students rushing to get to their last class before the weekend started, the commotion at the bookstore as some students struggle to purchase certain books before midterms that they should have gotten earlier in the semester, the colorful flyers advertising the plays and other functions for the weekend- and it all does temporarily give me peace of mind. I spend about an hour just meandering before making my way outside to go back to my room to see if my roommate had done more than just roll over since I left hours ago. Then maybe I'll get some work done as well.

As I walk back from the student center I notice that everybody has someone. Nearly everyone around me is hugging someone or holding hands or kissing. Damn, why can't I have that! It's funny, it hurts me to see this because I know I can't have it, but that's not what's bothering me at the moment. What's bothering me is that Remy won't be here today. We might not be able to touch, but what we have is more important that that. It's less superficial than most relationships because that essential physical part has been taken away. And then what we have left is just ourselves, pure and simple.

I feel tears start to well up in my eyes and quickly shake them away. NO! I will not cry; I'm stronger than that! The junior year of high school version of me would kick the butt of my college freshman self! Starting to cry over a guy…A GUY! Then again, junior year of high school Rogue only knew Remy as the mysterious guy who tried to blow her up in the heat of battle or whisk her away to New Orleans for his own personal mission. The college freshman version of me knows how special he truly is and how he is the only person I can truly let my guard down around. And most importantly, he loves me for who I am, despite my flaws, just as I love him despite his. I guess the longing for all that warranted me the right to a few tears.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I make it back to the room, and find a note on my desk. So the roommate went to work after all. Not only that, but she was going to her best friend's college for a weekend party so I wouldn't see her until Sunday night. At the bottom she said that she hoped Remy and I have a good time together, wink wink, in her cutesy, loopy handwriting in pink pen on floral notepaper. DAMN! Can this get any worse! At least if she was here this weekend I would have someone to talk to and it wouldn't seem so overwhelmingly lonely every time I thought of Remy. Now I have a weekend alone with my thoughts to look forward to? Unbelievable! Just when I was about to think that this couldn't get any worse, it did.

The silence of my room was broken by the ear-piercing screech of the fire alarm.

"WHY! Haven't Ah suffered enough today," I screamed to no one, though it wouldn't have mattered if anyone was there anyway since they wouldn't be able to hear me over the noise. I leave me room again and cram into the stairwell with the other people in my building. I try not to think about all the people surrounding me and just make my way outside as fast as I can. Once I'm outside I join the other grumbling residents as we wait outside. I can guarantee that half these people won't be here by tonight. Many were going away for the weekend. Come tonight there would only be a handful of us left, and I'll bet anything that the others who will be here have some sort of plans. I almost consider calling Professor Xavier to have him send someone to bring me home for the weekend, but decide against it. I should take advantage of the peace and quiet, after all midterms are two weeks away, I might as well start studying for them now since my brain is working super slow due to the loss of my weekend plans. It'll take me twice as long to get half the work done.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once the all clear signal was given I fought my way up the stairs with the rest of the students in my building. I really hate cramming into this tight stairwell with all these other bodies rushing past me, but my skin's all covered up so I have nothing to fear unless someone hits me in the face. But still, it's an uncomfortable feeling. It seems like it takes forever to get to my floor and when I do I breathe a sigh of relief for being free from the confines of that stairwell.

Then I notice something. I see a figure in the distance, at the other end of the hall. No, that can't be him. Granted, there must be hundreds of guys who wear trench coats, but none make it look so good. I stop and stare as the figure moves towards me. In the distance I can specks of red. His eyes, his wonderful eyes.

"REMY!" I know this goes completely against my personality but I started running towards him.

"ROGUE," he exclaims. And as cliché as this sounds, he started running towards me until we stopped right in front of each other.

"It's ya, it's really ya," I say starring at him.

He grins, "What, no hug?"

I wrap my arms around him, feeling his body against mine, feeling his arms around me lifting me in the air effortlessly, and spin me around. He finally puts me down and we look at each other.

"Ya said that ya couldn't make it. Ah thought ya weren't coming."

"I made you a promise, Chere. And Gambit always keeps his word. Be thankful your Wolverine was in t'neighborhood where my car broke down. Somet'in' about a mission he was on."

I stared at him in disbelieve. Logan? My Logan? The one who would rather wipe the floor with Remy than help him in any way? He must have picked up on my shock because he spoke again, "Oui, he an' I had a nice conversation on de way up here. He says "Hi" and dat I better not be distractin' you from your studies."

"But he hates ya?"

"Oh Chere, hate is such a strong word. We cleared up some misunderstandings on our ride up." Remy looked at me with an intense look in those eyes of his. His gloved hands cupped my face, caressing my cheeks with such affection, "He knows how much I care for you. And dat's enough to make him tolerate me. So you see, hate is such a strong word."

I gave him a wry smirk, "So he tolerates ya, well, that's a start anyway. Anyway, ya didn't have to drive up here with someone who could have ripped yoah heart out with his claws. Ah mean ya could have just…"

"What? Forget about you, never. How can I miss out on seein' dis belle femme?

He took my fully gloved hand in his and we made our way back down the hall to my dorm room.

"No makeup Chere? It's a good look for you."

I looked at him and made a face. "Don't even start with me Swamp Rat! Today has not been mah day." I then proceed to tell him about my day and eagerly wait to hear the details of his.

XXXXX-- The End-- XXXXX