Updated again! Yay!

Let me know what you guys think of this one. I must admit, I had a little trouble sleeping after I wrote this. Darn that Cajun!

Anyway, enjoy!

Zari

Chapter 4: Memories.

Remy took a seat on the stool next to her. He scooted her now filled cup of hot chocolate toward her.

Rogue took the cup and stirred the marshmallows into the chocolate. She tried to avoid looking at Gambit. She didn't want to give him any more reason to bother her. He was already annoying enough with the limited amount of attention he had gotten from her before.

"So dis dream," Remy said, making himself more comfortable in his seat, "it mus' have been bad."

Rogue took a sip of her hot chocolate. She almost said something about it, but she remembered that she was sitting with Gambit. He's a liar, and a thief, and a user. She was still annoyed that she had been checking out other women's butts for two weeks after their little touching incident. "It was just a dream," she said as she took another sip.

Remy was very still, watching her with distrust. "If it was jus' a dream, then why are you hiding it?"

Rogue looked over at him carefully. She didn't want to give too much away. "It was a nightmare. Ah was scared. So, sue me!"

Remy shrugged. "Fine, Chère. I was jus' trying to be nice."

Rogue took another drink of her chocolate, now annoyed at him for being his usual self. That's when she considered something that should have come to her sooner. Remy was probably only interested in her because she seemed like she had this amazing power. Maybe if he knew all the struggles that came along with it, he wouldn't be so interested. She let out a soft sigh, and didn't look at him as she spoke. "It wasn't a dream."

Remy looked at her with intrigue in his red eyes. There was also something else present, fear, maybe?

Rogue continued her explanation. "When Ah touch someone, Ah get their thoughts, their memories, their abilities, and their life force." She looked at the exposed skin of her hands as they held the mug. They seemed so innocent. "Each person stays with me even after the abilities and life force have faded away," she said softly, instantly regretting saying anything about it at all. Why couldn't she have just made something up? It was none of his business what was happening inside her head.

Remy continued to look at her as though she might say something more. When she didn't say anything else, he said, "And they haunt you."

Rogue nodded. "But it's more than that. Ah forget who Ah am sometimes. Ah think Ah'm someone else. Ah have to remind mahself who mah friends are, and who Ah am." She stared down at her cup for a few seconds. "Ah think that's why Ah want to be normal."

Remy was quiet for a long time, much to Rogue's amazement. He shifted in his seat and supported his weight on his elbows on the counter. He looked over at her with a look that she hadn't seen on him before. "It's not so terrible to be different," he said.

Rogue scoffed at his comment. "Different is not the word that describes me," she told him. Being completely transformed into another person in your mind was not different it was a nightmare! He was a fool if he thought this wasn't terrible.

Remy leaned closer to her. "Am I still there?"

Rogue looked at him warily. She wondered if she should tell him the truth. Maybe it would scare him away even more. Wasn't that a guy thing? Didn't they freak out when girls thought about them all the time? "Yes," she finally let slip through her lips.

Remy grinned at her, a twinkle in his red eyes. "Can you tell which my favorite memory is?"

Rogue lowered her eyebrows at him questioning. What was he talking about? She hadn't seen all that much of his memories. She knew enough, and that was all that mattered.

Remy came closer to her until he was nearly touching her nose with his. "You kissed me when Mesmero had you collecting powers."

Rogue felt her heart leap in her chest. She what! When did that happen? She didn't remember anything from when she was under Mesmero's control. The only thing she was able to remember were the memories from all the people she had stolen the powers from. "Ah…"

Remy grinned at her maniacally. "I could remind you," he said as he moved closer.

Rogue jumped off her stool and took three deliberate, though panicked, steps away from him and the counter and her hot chocolate. She never took her eyes off of him. He was unbelievable! She just told him the most horrible part of her power that was keeping her awake at night and he was fixated on some kiss that he claims happened between them while she was under Mesmero's mind control?

Remy looked at her as though he had just done something horrible and irreversible. "What's wrong, Chère?"

Rogue shook her head at him and started out of the kitchen quickly. "Just stop it!" she snapped as she rushed away. She ignored the fact that she felt so foolish for running away like a frightened child. It didn't matter that she looked stupid, because Remy was the only one that had seen her anyway.

"Whoa, Rogue," Bobby said, making his way down the stairs toward the kitchen. "I didn't even know you had clothes like that," he told her.

Rogue promised herself that she would never wear these pajamas outside of her room again. She walked past him quickly, making sure to not touch him. "Goodnight, Bobby." She didn't look over her shoulder or behind her to see if he was looking at her. She didn't want to know. She wanted to go to bed and get a little sleep.

She closed her door to her bedroom behind her, and she closed her eyes as she stood with her back to it.

The memory of when she first saw Gambit came back to her mind, but from a different perspective:

I recognized the fact that I was waiting for someone to come around the corner. I was ready. In fact, I already knew who was coming, and how to take her completely off guard. I reached into my pocket and pulled a card out that I had been holding as ammunition.

A slight twinge of surprise and excitement rolled through my chest as I saw the brown-headed girl with the white streaked bangs quickly walk around without even a weapon held to defend her. What could she possibly have had as a power that it was unnecessary to carry a weapon? Even I was carrying a staff in addition to my mini arsenal of explosive playing cards.

The girl looked up at me with startled green eyes. She didn't seem to have the killer instinct to be fighting with this group. She almost looked naïve enough to fall for a simple trick.

I lifted the playing card, the king of hearts, that I had been holding in my hand, and handed it to her.

She took it gently and looked up at me as if expecting me to say something, anything.

I used my power to ignite the card, and I stepped away, giving her a quick solute before disappearing, as the master thief that I was. Still, a part of me wondered if it would have been smarter to have her join out group instead. Not that I knew anything about her power that would be useful, but she was cute. I like women, and that one would have been fun.

Rogue's eyes shot open and she rubbed her forehead with her hand. "Stop!" she thought to herself. "Ah'm Rogue! Ah'm not Remy! Ah'm not Remy! Ah'm Rogue!" She sighed as she leaned back on the door. She wasn't going to be able to gain enough control to get back to sleep tonight. She knew it was going to be too much. She moved to her bed and curled into the blankets. She tried to force herself to at least be trapped as someone else's psyche, besides Gambit's, attempted to consume her. She was tired of looking at her own butt in a sexual way. She shoved her head into her pillow and tried to concentrate on herself.

Yay! Another chapter down! I hope this made up for the cliffhanger before. Let me know what you all thought!

Rogueslove22 - I know! Where the heck is he when I come downstairs after a nightmare? Jeez!

Chellerbelle - Thanks! Yes, Remy is a pusher, and he's not going to stop anytime soon!

LibraMoon - Yes! Gambit is possibly the greatest character ever created!