A/N: I suggest that you read all previous parts of the Romy Chronicles before you read this one.

Disclaimer: The characters and plotlines of X-Men Evolution unfortunately don't belong to moi. Also, this idea of chronicling certain events in a characters' life doesn't belong to me either. Full credit goes to Deandra who writes awesome Lord of the Rings stories. I got this idea from her and I suggest you go read her stuff.

Summary: Rogue is surprised when she happens upon a certain Cajun swamp rat in downtown Bayville.

The Romy Chronicles

Part 8: Encounter

Rogue winced as she slammed on the brakes of her new dark green Jeep, coming to an abrupt halt in front of a red light. She sighed in frustration as cars started passing by in front of her. She was late. Logan's daily Danger Room session started in 5 minutes and she still had to get through more than half of Downtown Bayville. Ah'm so dead, she thought resignedly.

Failure to arrive on time resulted in an extra session with Logan himself that brought a whole new meaning to the phrase 'cruel and unusual punishment'. All of which took place after the usual training session where he worked you to about an inch of your life. And to think, everyone had thought that maybe they had defeated Apocalypse, Logan would cut them some slack. Well, no such luck. He actually worked them harder then before, producing sore and aching limbs 24/7. 'Better safe then sorry' was his new motto.

Rogue scoffed out loud and drummed her fingertips impatiently on the steering wheel. A loud noise, loud enough to penetrate the music blasting out of her windows, caught her attention and out of the corner of her eye she spotted the source. A Harley Davidson pulled up alongside her in the right lane, it's motor purring loudly as it came to a stop. Rogue studied the bike with an appreciative eye. The bike was a beauty; even Logan, who usually only had eyes for his own ride, wouldn't have been able to dispute that.

The rider, becoming aware that his bike was being appraised, turned in her direction. His reaction wasn't quite what she expected. His body stiffened in recognition and surprise but only for a moment. His helmet's visor was down giving Rogue basically nothing to go on but his clothing. Did she know him? A worn out trench coat and a pair of combat boots. But that sounded like…

Suddenly, his mouth curved into a lazy smirk and Rogue recognized him even before his gloved hand pushed back his visor to reveal two gleaming red and black eyes. His eyes gave her a once over before locking on hers and she could see that they were laced with amusement. For a second, Rogue could do nothing but gawk at him.

"Gambit?" she asked incredulously, finally finding her voice. She could barely even here her own voice over her stereo but she knew he got the gist when his grin grew wider. What was he doing back in Bayville? He couldn't be just passing through; Bayville was in the middle of nowhere. Had he heard that Magneto was still alive and had come to join up again? Or maybe…had he come to check up on her? Before she could ask him what he was doing in Bayville, the light turned green.

Gambit's eyes slid from her, to the light, and then back again. He mock saluted her as he had done the first time they met. "See y' 'round, cheríe," he yelled across to her, giving her a wink before bringing his visor back down on his face. He revved his bike and turned right, speeding off down the street and not letting her get a word in.

Rogue blinked, stunned at this sudden and brief encounter. She almost gave in to the urge to follow him until she remembered her training session. Hmm, risk Logan's wrath or find out what Gambit is up to? she asked herself, only half-joking. The car behind her made the choice for her however, honking loudly for her to move. She accelerated abruptly, gazing in the direction Gambit had gone until she lost sight of it.

Did that really just happen? Rogue asked herself, returning her focus to the road ahead of her. For all she knew, Gambit had just been a figment of her imagination. There one second, gone the next. But no, Gambit had been there, in the flesh, looking just as mischievous and arrogant as he ever did. And what had he meant when he had said 'See you around'? Was it just a casual way of saying goodbye or did he actually mean that he would be seeing her again? Rogue had far too many questions and not enough answers. Gambit was a walking, talking mystery. A mystery was sure not even the brightest of detectives could solve.

Rogue's eyes narrowed in frustration. It had been weeks since she'd thought of Gambit and she didn't want to start again. Focus, Rogue, she told herself, glancing at her digital clock. She forced the red-eyed Cajun to the back of her mind and sped up, hoping to get to the Mansion before Logan totally lost it. She could ponder Gambit's sudden reappearance later after she was finished with her torture session...

"What's up with you today?"

Rogue accepted Kitty's hand and pulled herself off the ground. "What d'yah mean?" she asked confusedly. "Ah'm fahne."

Her friend eyed her critically. "I haven't seen you this distracted since, like…Well, I've never see, you this distracted," Kitty trailed off before rounding on Rogue again. "First you're late and you're usually, like, obsessively early. And now you, like, can't even block any of my moves. And we totally know who the better fighter is here," she finished, obviously looking for an explanation.

Rogue scoffed. "Ah'm just havin' an off day. Nothin' to freak out about," she snapped, hoping Kitty would just drop it. "Now, come on," she prompted, noticing Wolverine's death glare in their direction.

All around them, their fellow X-Men sparred against each other, the only rule being that they couldn't use their powers. Rogue usually excelled at these types of Danger Room sessions as her mutation was something she liked to use only as a last resort. Today, however, her focus just wasn't on and there was only one person to blame for that. Stupid, swamp rat, Rogue thought distractedly before deliberately putting any thought of him out of her mind.

Rogue took a deep breath. Concentrate, she told herself sternly. She and Kitty circled each other for a couple seconds before Rogue took the offensive. About a minute and a half later, it was Kitty this time who was on the floor, accepting a hand up from Rogue.

"That's more like it," the petite brunette said, though grimacing and rubbing her sore behind.

Rogue smirked successfully and pushed back her sweaty bangs with a gloved hand. They had been at this for more than an hour and a half now and Rogue almost groaned out loud at the thought of having to train with Logan after this. Around her, her teammates looked like they were also feeling the strain, most of them moving slow and sluggish like. Apparently noticing this, Wolverine, though quite reluctantly, called an end to the session.

"Alright, alright," he growled at them all. "That's enough fer today. Hit the showers."

The group, consisting of the both original team and the younger, new mutants, let out an unrestrained cheer. Even Colossus, a.k.a. Piotr Rasputin, the former Acolyte who had just joined their team last week, managed a small smile, which was a breakthrough for the usually stoic Russian.

As the other students slowly dwindled out, Rogue glanced at Logan uncertainly, wondering if he had forgotten her tardiness. Deciding she didn't exactly want to find out, she hurried, as discreetly as she could, to catch up with Kurt and Kitty. The three of them were almost out the doors when Wolverine stopped them.

"And where d'you think yer goin', Stripes?" he asked, the amusement clear in his rough voice.

Kitty gave her a sympathetic look. Kurt was slightly less than helpful, though. "Vell, it vas nice knowing you, mein schwester!" he exclaimed. He latched on to Kitty and they both disappeared with a 'Bamf!' and a puff of smoke.

So much for brotherly support, Rogue thought sourly. She turned to Logan and gave him a sheepish look before walking back into the openness of the Danger Room. The doors closed automatically, leaving the two of them alone. When he didn't immediately call up a training program, Rogue looked to Wolverine questioningly. She started to fiddle with her gloves nervously when she found him studying her with concern.

"What?"

"You okay, Rogue?" he asked gruffly. "It's not like you to be late to a trainin' session."

"Ah was at the library and lost track of tahme," Rogue explained a bit exasperatedly. "Ah'm fahne."

Logan wasn't convinced. "You sure?"

Rogue hesitated this time. She could tell him about seeing Gambit in Bayville. But no, that would only cause him to make a big deal over something that wasn't anything to fuss about. Better to keep it to herself for the time being.

"Ah'm fahne," she repeated firmly.

Logan studied her for a second longer before nodding. "Alright, I won't pester you. I'll leave that to Half-pint and Elf," he joked, giving her a rare grin. Rogue affectionately rolled her eyes at him before he turned to call out some random sequence. Around her, the Danger Room transformed into a cityscape.

As Wolverine explained the object of the program, Rogue contemplated why she hadn't told either of her two closest confidants about seeing Gambit. It's no big deal, Rogue thought idly. But an inner voice that she tried her best to ignore whispered sarcastically, yeah, right...

A/N: I know, I know! It's been almost 2 months! Please, have mercy on me! I had a ton of stuff to deal with between work, school, and family stuff. Plus I was really stuck on how I wanted Rogue and Remy's first encounter to play out. I'm pretty satisfied with this part though it could be a little better. It's not about what I think though it's about what you guys think!! So please review, let me know you're out there and you like it or dislike it. Thanks! And thanks to everyone who reviewed Part 7! I'm glad you guys liked it. )

Now I have another thing to ask you guys about and I hope you'll help me out! I've had this story idea in my head for sometime. I've just been waiting for someone else to write it but I haven't really come across anything or what I do come across isn't what I really want. Lol. I live by the proverb, If you want something done right, do it yourself, so I'm hoping to attempt it. So my story line is this: Remy never became and Acolyte, he joins the X-Men sometime between the end of Season 1 with Asteroid M and the beginning of Season 2 with the New Mutants. I've got a ton of plot lines I really want to try out and I've already started writing some. What I want to know is if you guys would be interested in reading such a story. This would be like a long fic with lots of chapters and I'd need some support behind it, possibly even a beta. I hopefully would still keep up my chronicles (I've already started on the next one), but I really want to do this story. So what to do you guys think? Also, if you want a teeny tiny sample of the story, I've got a little excerpt I can e-mail to anyone who wants it. Okay? So review Part 8 and tell me what you think of my idea! Thanks guys! You're the best!

Melissa