Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, locations, and items within the X-Men Universe are the property of Marvel and their original creators. This piece of fiction was written purely as fan entertainment, the author of which intends no copyright infringement, and receives no monetary compensation from its creation.
Summary: The course of love never did run smooth, especially if that love is a girl with a toxic touch. Still Remy is looking forward to their date at a famous jazz club in New York. The night was perfect until the music was replaced by an explosion that leaves the master thief paralyzed. How will Remy coupe with this new twist in his fate and what about the other X-Men? - Loosely based in the X-Men comic book universe, though no specific timeline is recognized. Remy/Rogue romance, Logan/Remy friendship.
Remy Etienne LeBeau, master thief, gambler, playboy, and X-Man extraordinaire, sucked in a breath of pure masculine approval as he watched the love of his life walk down the Xavier Mansion's main staircase. Remy felt his temperature rise struck, not for the first time, by how wonderful the woman before him was. And tonight, the date they'd chosen for their anniversary, she would be all his.
Rogue was dressed in a classic cocktail dress of royal fuchsia. Remy smiled, the symbolism of her wearing his favorite color, when she much preferred greens, was not lost on him. The rest of the dress was equally as pleasing, as the material hugged the southern girl's athletic frame to utter perfection.
The dress was sleeveless leaving her shoulders and arms bare until they reached the top of smooth satin opera gloves, colored a deep purple to complement the dress, which incased her forearms and long fingered hands. The neckline of the dress was cut into a V to show off the beginning pale raise of her ample cleavage while remaining just this side of respectful. The skirt rode to about mid-thigh, exposing her long muscular legs that ended with her surprisingly dainty feet in heels, whose color matched her gloves and added another inch to her height of five eight.
The careful combination of skin and satin was endlessly tantalizing and set the Cajun's blood boiling. Still as much as he lusted for her body, and what breathing man wouldn't, he loved her face. He'd known plenty of women with great bodies, some arguably better then Rogue's, but no one had her face and the moment his gaze fell on it he couldn't look away.
Rogue had pulled her brown and white striped hair into a loose French twist leaving stray pieces to fall in artful disarray around her heart-shaped face. Her make-up was subtle in a way that enhanced her natural beauty without over powering it. Smoky eye-shadow drew your attention to her sultry emerald eyes. And pale pink lip-gloss emphasis the perfect bow of her mouth; the deadly temptation that Remy constantly had to fight not to give into.
When she was on the second to last step Remy let out a sigh of awe, "Cher, you look très magnifique, un véritable beauté."
Rogue smiled, a blush darkening her cheeks. No matter how many times Remy said things like that it always made her heart beat just a little bit faster. She wanted so badly to give into all the desires the smooth son of the bayou caused in her, but it just wasn't something she could do. So she simply rolled her eyes teasingly, "Bet ya say that ta all the gals."
"Oui," Remy admitted freely giving her a dashing smile as she came to stop before him finally, and took her right hand in his. He bowed his head in a practiced gesture as he brought her fingers a breath away from his lips. His red eyes burning with barely restrained passion as he looked up at her from beneath his long auburn bangs. "Mais you da only femme Remy eva really mean it to."
Rogue's knees went weak as Remy finally dropped his lips to her hand, laying a feather light kiss across her knuckles. She was so transfixed by the feel of his warm breath through the satin of her gloves she didn't notice his other hand moving until she felt something being wrapped around her wrist. Jerking her eyes down her breath caught as she realized the Cajun was fastening a shining bracelet on her arm.
"Oh Remy." Was all Rogue's dazed mind could come up with as she starred at the gift. It was a thin tennis bracelet that was constructed of nothing but pure white diamonds in settings of what looked like white gold.
"You like?" Remy asked with a satisfied grin, her answer already clearly visible in her suddenly damp eyes.
"It's beautiful, surgha." Rogue breathed out as she turned her wrist back and forth causing the gift to dance with brilliant white fire. "Was it expensive?"
Remy stiffened unconsciously at her question; in his experience there were only three reasons a girl asked that. The first reason being because the girl weighed their relationships by how much money was spent on them. The second reason had several possible roots but basically consisted of the girl not liking large amounts of money being spent on them. The third reason was one that typically reserved for people with Remy's special "talents", and it was because the girl wanted to know if the gift was stolen.
Rogue simply wasn't the type of girl who'd ask for the first reason. While she liked expensive things Rogue had an independent streak, stemming from her past when everything was calculated on a bases of debt and ownership, which sometimes made it hard for her to except gifts in general. So it be might be the second reason that prompted the question. Though she was wearing his colors tonight so it was more likely to Remy that it was reason three.
Remy told himself not to worry about it, that it didn't actually matter. After all he openly admitted to being a master thief, and bragged on many occasions he could steal a crown from the head of a king without the man blinking an eye. Still Remy felt a familiar sting of pain and he took a half step back. He maybe a thief but it didn't mean he couldn't be trusted. And whether reason two or three, it was trust that was at the heart of the question.
Remy would never use gifts or anything of the like to try and control someone else. He'd been there too many times himself to put someone else in that position. And while he still plied the tread his père John-Luc had helped him refine, he did it out of habit and he got a rush from the challenge. As it was it had been many years since Remy had stole anything for personal gain.
He had no need to; one, as X-Men all of his expenses were taken care of. Two, even if they weren't, he had money; a lot of money in fact. Remy LeBeau's net worth was easy on par with Professor Xavier's or even the snobbish Warren Worthington the Third. Of course Angel would never believe it if he found out, and the only way that was likely to happen was if Remy ever got the urge to tell him. Really didn't seem likely.
Either way, while the seeds of Remy's wealth had indeed come from some rather nefarious activities the vast majority of it, and all of it since he first joined the X-men, had come from investing in completely legitimate business and technologies stocks. He was a gambler after all and stock options came with bigger pay offs than most hands of poker. If played correctly they could be equally as fun.
As for the thieving, he was extremely picky about which jobs he took now; he'd learned his lessons on that the hard way. And whatever profit he made from them went to various charities under the name of a certain green eyed girl; just another type of gift. One she didn't know about true, but he liked to give her things that he thought would make her happy.
That was why, when he'd seen the simple yet elegant bracelet, he hadn't thought twice of spending the nearly half million dollars it cost to buy it for her. He knew it made her happy; whatever her concerns about it now it had made her happy that first moment she saw it. It was her first reaction that he tried to focus on as he finally opened his mouth to answer her question. "Un petit bit, mais mon cher worth it, non?"
Rogue heard the tension that Remy tried hard to keep from his voice and looked up at him confused. He stood just a little further away than he had earlier, his hands at his sides, and his head bowed eyes completely in shadows as he looked at a spot on the floor next to his feet. He looked both embarrassed and angry; only then did she realize what she asked, and how he must have taken it.
She hadn't meant anything by her words, she really hadn't, they had simply slipped out because she couldn't think of anything else to say. Rogue cursed herself every kind of idiot there was as she closed the distance once more. Biting the edge of her bottom lip she slowly, as if afraid she'd startle him, lifted the hand that held his gift and gently laid it on his cheek. She forced him to look at her again, and she put everything she felt for him into her eyes as she watched him.
No one ever made her feel like Remy did, he drove her crazy in every possible since of the word. She loved the man before her with all of her being, though she found it hard to admit to anyone, no one would ever take his place in her heart. She hoped somehow he saw that even when her words were sloppy. "Ah love the bracelet Remy, thank ya. But Ah didn't get ya anything."
Remy smiled at her, and like that his insecurities and fears where pushed aside, as he moved into her. The line of their bodies almost touching as he placed his hands on the swell of her hips, holding her near him. He bowed his head until his mouth nearly grazed hers, he ached to kiss her yet only his breath touched her skin as he whisper, "Remy have his Rogue, dat be a gift all it own cher."
Rogue blush again, and was about to tell Remy the feeling was mutual when a gruff familiar voice interrupted the moment. "Can't you two do that some place other than the middle of the hall?"
Rogue jumped in shocked surprise of the new addition, her eyes narrowing at Wolverine's deep growling laugh at her response. Gambit however, as smooth as water over glass, simply shifted his body around to wrap an arm around Rogue's waist and pulled her against his side to keep her from attacking the older man as faced him. "Wolverine, you jealous mon ami?"
"Sure Cajun," Logan agreed sarcastically, giving himself a moment to study the couple before him. He couldn't deny it, they looked good together. The New Orleans boy in a simple, yet obviously expensively tailored, black suit and tie his arm wrapped around the Mississippi bell in a seductive little dress.
He sighed inwardly, wondering how long this current affair with each other would last before one or both of them did something stupid to mess it up. Anyone that spent any time with the two southerners could figure out they were meant for each other, maybe even more so then Jean and Scott were. Logan realized it the first time the thief laid eyes on Rogue and though there were times they dated other people, deep down it never changed.
Wolverine's heighten sense of smell had told him the whole story; "chemistry" didn't even begin to describe what those two had. They were truly two halves of the same whole. When they were "together" they smelled whole, strong, and full of life. If they were split up, no matter how they behaved outwardly, they always reminded Logan of wounded animals. Their scent would become broken, weak, and frightened.
Logan thought on occasion to mention it to them, particularly after a few of their nastier break-ups, but always discounted it as not his concern. Still there were other things that involved them that were, "So where you kids off to?"
Rogue opened her mouth to tell the shorter man it was none of his business, but Remy answered before she got the chance. "Remy plan to wine-n-dine mon fillette all night; we goin' to da Blue Note in da city, left da details wit' Stormy."
Things for the X-Men had been hectic recently, which really wasn't new, with renewed anti-mutant sentiments and new more deadly threats popping out of the wood work it still paid to be cautious. Of course Wolverine should have guessed Gambit would know the score, and have his bases covered. The kid was a lot more tuned-in to situations then his cavalier attitude gave away; a trait that both irritated and impressed Logan to no end.
Figuring he'd wasted enough of the pair's time, Logan shrugged as if the boy's answer had meant nothing to him as he pushed away from the wall. "Whatever kid, just be quiet when you come in; don't want you waking me up."
"Make no promises homme." Remy shot back with his trademark smirk as he gently ushered Rogue away from their gruff little teammate.
He didn't slow down, easily lifting Rogue's keys from their hook as he opened the door and lead her out into the night. Remy had almost gotten her all the way to where he'd staged her convertible in the drive before the tension he'd felt running through her body snapped. "Why is it any of Wolverine's business how we spend our time tagether?"
Gambit knew that Rogue wasn't expecting him to answer so he didn't as he opened the passenger door for her. His gallant bow completely lost on his date as she continued to rant as she got into the car. "We're grownups ain't we?"
Remy bit his lip, mentally shaking his head, as he once again refrained from answering. He knew Rogue well enough to know she simply needed to blow off steam; it was just easier to let her do it. Closing her door while she continued to fume about nosy Canadians, he walked around to the driver's side and slide behind the wheel. As he went through the motions of starting the car and putting it into gear, he started slowly counted in his mind.
"What are ya doing?" Rogue finally asked glaring over at Remy as he drove her car down the drive.
"Tweny-four," Remy mumbled under his breath with a considering nod, so not too angry then, before glancing over at bright green eyes with a carefree grin. "It called drivin' cher."
"Ah know what it's called Swamp Rat." Rogue huffed crossing her arms haughtily over her chest. "Why are ya driving mah car?"
"You seemed preoccupied." Gambit replied with a shrug, not pointing out that he'd driven her car on more than one occasion in the past without issue.
Still, Rogue made an attractive display when she was angry and Remy took a moment to enjoy it out of the corner of his eye as he considered his options. One of the things he loved, and hated, most about Rogue was her fiery attitude. He'd never say life with the girl was dull, but tonight he wasn't looking for a fight and he made up his mind.
His red eyes flashed in the shadowed enterer of the car as he glanced back at her with a sigh. "You wan' Remy pull over?"
Rogue met Remy's eyes for the brief second before he turned back to watch where he was going as he pulled on to the highway that would take them to New York. Remy looked suddenly tired to her, and she felt her irritation leave her as quickly as it had come, replaced by a twinge of guilt. He'd spent nearly a month planning this evening and she was ruining it by being neurotic.
"No, Ah'm sorry shurgha." Rogue sighed, frowning as she shook her head. "Ah don't know why Ah let Logan get ta me like that."
Remy did, but pointing it out would only raise painful ghosts for everyone. He didn't want to dwell on the past tonight, he just wanted to be with her in the here and now. With that in mind he sent her a winning smile, taking a hand off the wheel and holding it out for her to take. "Don' worry 'bout it cher, we jus' f'get 'bout da Wolverine and enjoy our night, non?"
"Yeah." Rogue agreed smiling again she eagerly slipped her gloved hand into his. His palm was warm as he wrapped his long fingers around hers possessively, and Rogue leaned back in her seat contentedly.
Remy held Rogue's hand the rest of the drive to the city, releasing it only briefly whenever he forced to shift, enjoying the intimacy of the simple touch. They filled the distance with idle conversation about what wine they would try at the restaurant, to the relative merits of the artists that were suppose to performing. By the time Remy pulled up in front of the club's valet parking the incident at the mansion was forgotten and they were laughing and sending smoldering glances at one another.
