The food was good, the music great, but it was the company that made the evening fantastic in Remy's opinion. After everything that he'd done, and had done to him, there were times it was hard for him to put it away and simply enjoy the moment. But Rogue, the girl who'd "lived" as much or perhaps more than he had, had the amazing ability to switch it off and enjoy herself with a child-like abandon.
"Stuéfiant." The whispered French blended into the music and was carried away but Remy didn't mind.
He smiled behind his wine glass as he sipped at the cool semi-sweet red liquid, content to just watch the girl across from him. She was beautiful; it had been Remy's thought the first time he'd laid eyes on Rogue years prior, and it had never changed. Her green eyes danced in the candlelight from the table, and her pale cheeks were flushed with excitement as she leaned toward the stage eager to catch every note of sound the musicians played.
When the last song of the set ended she clapped along with the rest of the crowd before turning back to Remy. He would have sworn his heart skipped a beat as her impossibly radiant smile struck him full force. He swallowed hard as he carefully sat his glass down so that he wouldn't make a fool of himself by dropping it.
He already had a pretty good idea of her answer but couldn't stop himself from asking, "You havin' a good time cher?"
Rogue looked around the room trying to find the best way to describe how much she was enjoying herself. A way to tell the man across from her what the night meant to her, but every word she could think of seemed to fall short. Sometimes she wished she had Remy's gift for languages, he always seemed to know the perfect words for every situation.
There really wasn't anything about the night that the average person would really consider extraordinary. The Blue Note wasn't the most exclusive club in town, there were a lot of regular people came here to enjoy the music and company. The bracelet was undoubtedly expensive, that was just the way Remy was, but he had a good eye and would have made sure to get the highest quality for whatever the price. Besides that, it made a perfectly ordinary gift choice for an anniversary, which this was supposed to be.
It was the fact that the night was so "normal" that made it anything but. Remy understood how much being normal meant to her and he did his best to give it to her. She felt herself laugh at the irony of how miserably he failed by succeeding. Finally Rogue shook her head giving up trying to find the right words and simply told him the truth. "Ah can't describe it."
"I tink you do très bien." Remy said as he picked up Rogue's hand turning over to gently place a kiss in the center of her palm. She curled her fingers around his kiss as he locked his unique gaze with her's. "Je t'aime, Rogue."
Rogue's heart stopped for a long minute at hearing those words, before beating hard against her chest. She remembered the first time Remy had made that admission, and every time after. She most especially remembered the last time, and the pain that had filled his voice when he'd called out to her. Pain she'd put there with what she said and what she did to him.
Though she regretted her actions almost instantly after she'd done them, by then it had been too late. Even when he'd come back, seemingly from the dead, Rogue hadn't expected they would be able to repair their friendship. As it was it took taken months before they'd been able to be in the same room without the ache of it haunting every second. After that she had just counted herself lucky, and didn't dare to hope for more. Even when Remy admitted that he still wanted her and they'd started dating again she never expected him to utter those words to her again.
Now that he had, Rogue felt tears sting the back of her eyes as her mind went suddenly blank for a response. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out and she closed it again as her eyes went wide with fear. Remy had just told her he loved her and she couldn't talk; after the last time she couldn't imagine what he would think of her lack of response.
She opened her mouth to try again, but whatever words that might have came where cut off by what sounded like the building being torn from it foundation. The room shook violently, pieces of dust and chunks of ceiling tiles fell down as thick black smoke and screams filled the room. As other's ducked or ran for cover the two X-Men surged to their feet instantly ready for action.
Gambit's hand instinctively reached for the playing cards he was never without and drew one into his fingers as string of Carole curses poured from his lips. "One night, jus' one night! Really dat so much to ask?"
Rogue was torn between agreeing with the rather vocal Cajun, and a surge of relief at the unexpected reprieve from having to form a reply to Remy's admission of amour. She shook her head to clear it of uncharitable thoughts, and focused on the matter at hand. "Ah think the explosion came from back stage."
Gambit eyes shot in the direction Rogue indicated and he nodded. The smoke defiantly seemed thicker that way. "I'll check it out; you stay here, and call da X-Men."
"Ya think that is really necessary?" Gambit just looked at her, and Rogue nodded. "Good point."
Still Rogue didn't want to stay behind; she was an X-Man too and perfectly capable of handling herself in a crisis situation. Except that she wasn't exactly dressed to go wadding into a crisis situation type crowd of frightened humans. With her mutant powers all it would take is for someone to accidently brush against her bare shoulder or leg for her to absorb their personality and leave the poor bastard in a coma.
As it stood, Rogue, and everyone else, would be safer if she stayed right where she was. The table Remy had insisted on when they arrived had a low wall on three sides, giving it a hit of seclude privacy in the otherwise large dining area. What had started out as a purely romantic gesture was now a practical means to an end.
It didn't take long for all of Rogue's thoughts to run through her head and for her to make up her mind. She stepped against the wall, out of Gambit's way, and looked up at him with feelings she hadn't been able to put into words. "Be careful Swamp Rat."
Gambit eyes flashed as he turned back to her, his trademark cavalier smirk firmly in place. "Careful is Gambit's middle name cher."
If they were characters in one of Rogue's many romance novels this would be the scene where the dashing hero would pull his lady into his arms and kissed her breathless before entering pitched combat. Of course they weren't just some romantic characters in a story and there would certainly be no kiss. Still Gambit did the next best thing considering their lot in life, and winked at her before moving against the tide of fleeing humanity toward the source of billowing smoke.
Rogue drew her lower lip between her teeth, fighting the urge to follow him despite the possible consequences to the people around her. "An X-Man has to think of the safety of others over their personal wants and desires."
Rogue could almost hear Cyclopes' reprimanding tone ringing in her ears, but as big as a tight ass as Summers' could be he was right about things like that. Even so she couldn't help being overwhelmed by a sense of foreboding as she dropped down to retrieve her communicator from her purse that lay under the table. It was as if something were trying to warn Rogue that her life was about to change forever.
The idea frightened her and caused a small tremor in her hand as she depressing the "X" at the center of her round red and gold badge. The tremor moved further up her arm and down the rest of her body as she waited for a response from the mansion. It felt like hours passed before a gruff voice barked a one word answer, "Wolverine."
Something eased in her chest at hearing the Canadian's voice. They'd had their differences lately, if she was honest most of it was her own fault, but there was still no one better to have at your side when things were going to hell then the Wolverine. The night certainly qualified as one of those times in Rogue's opinion, and only managed to give the standard radio response due to years of training. "Wolverine, Rogue here."
Rogue didn't know if there was something in her tone of voice that tipped off the older man to the urgency of the situation or if perhaps he'd heard the commotion behind her over the transmission. Either way he didn't waste any time with questions, just growling out, "The team's on its way."
Rogue nodded her head dumbly at the silent piece of tech in her hand; Logan broke transmission immediately after his last word left his mouth. Knowing him, he probably sent an alert through the house at the same time and everyone would already be rushing to the hanger bay. But the fact that no one would hear her didn't stop her from pleading with the badge in her hand anyway. "Please hurry."
