DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, etc, etc, there you have it.

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~Scarlet Letter ~

The Search For Allies.

They were at the gates before she spoke again, and he felt a certain creeping sadness that she looked so angry and dismayed when she had seemed so much more centred only the night before.

"Ah'm so sorry..." she said, putting her arms around her middle in her customary 'barrier' position. "Ah should have known they'd go overboard lahke that... Ah didn't mean for you to have t' go through that, okay?"

He smiled reassuringly and put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't shy away.

"It's alrigh', ma chere... Remy understands, dey're like y' family, non? It's what real family does, looks out for y'. Don' blame y'self. Remy should've left while he could," he said soothingly, glad when she looked him in the eye again.

"Ah guess... Y' know they hate you? Ah know it's dumb an' all, but they do. They think y're lahke a total psycho cause y' kidnapped me back then an' all y' did that for was t' save that creep who adopted you..."

"Stole Remy, actually chere... But den, we're all thieves so it's not such an uncommon ting after all," he said with a carefree smile, and she twisted her lips into a smirk.

"Ah know y're a damn thief an' a crook but y' daddy ain' half as decent as y'are," she said with finality, and his smile sobered a little.

"Remy glad y' tink so, chere... real glad."

"Well y've been a real gentleman t' me, an' that's the important thang," she said, skating gracefully over his tender moment.

"Y' gonna be skippin' town now y' know y' got the whole X-troop on your ass?" He grinned cheekily.

"Now would dis Cajun be any kind o' thief if he didn' know how t' avoid gettin' caught?" he asked her mockingly, and she batted his hand away and crossed her arms.

"Y' got caught this mornin' didn' you?" He staggered as though she'd hit him and cried,

"Ah, chere, y're a harsh femme! Y' lulled ole Remy into a false sense o' security chere, it won' happen again!" She smiled at him and rolled her eyes.

"If it won' happen again y' won' mind comin' t' see me tonight, will you?" He blinked a little in surprise.

"Y' hopin' ole Wolverine'll come tear dis poor Cajun limb from limb chere?"

"Naw," she laughed, "Y're jus' fun t' have around – an' y' promised me that story, remember?" His faith restored, he smiled.

"So he did chere. An' y'll get it. Y' home t'night?"

"Twelve o'clock straight Ah will be," she said with a cocking of her hips that made him momentarily forget what they were discussing.

"Den le's see if Remy can' get t' your window by midnigh', non?" She smiled warily.

"If they catch y' Ah'm not sure the Professor can stop Logan disembowellin' you," she said with a matter-of-fact edge to her vice, and he took her hand and bowed low over it, kissing the fabric of her glove quickly.

"'Til tonigh', chere..." And he got on his bike and took off with a mechanical roar, leaving her to walk back down the long driveway to the home that wasn't a home.

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The minute she was back in the mansion and the door was closed behind her Kitty descended.

"OhmyGod, like, what was all that about? I totally heard you and Logan screaming at each other and Kurt totally thinks you're like, busted for getting back so late last night! What happened?"

The most unlikely person Rogue could have picked for a best friend was hanging onto her arm and jumping on the spot, face alive with the possibility of fresh gossip, ponytail swishing vigorously.

"I told him I'd ask what's going on!" Rogue rolled her eyes and tried to disengage Kitty's arm from around her own, not quite irritated but not up to her antics after the events of the morning.

"Can we lahke jus' go and get some tea before Ah die?" she mumbled, and Kitty froze, hazel eyes wide open with shock.

"What? What's wrong?" The usually ever-talkative Kitty Pryde just shook her head and gulped.

"There's, like, a – card – stuck in your hair!"

"Oh, hell..." Rogue ran a hand over her hair and sure enough there was an Ace of Spades wedged behind a section of hair by her ear. Working fast, she covered Kitty's mouth, took her arm, and dragged her into the deserted morning room where she shut the door behind them and leant her squirming friend against it.

"Righ', y' cain' tell anyone about this, alrigh'? It's a secret, Ah don' wan' any of the others knowing about it, it's really importan' that y' don' tell!" Kitty nodded violently, eyes blinking a mile a minute, and Rogue sighed and said,

"Ah'm gonna let y' go now, 'kay? Then y' can ask me what's up..." She took her hand from the Valley girl's mouth and the verbal tidal wave washed over her with a vengeance.

"Like, OhmyGod, Rogue, what's going on here? Is that why – OhmyGod, it's not, like, anything to do with Gambit is it? OhmyGod, he's not like, back, is he?!"

"Ah told you, this is a secret, okay? Y' gotta keep y'r mouth shut!"

"It's totally shut, totally!" Rogue sighed, Kitty bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Ah met him las' naght at mah concert, okay? We talked an' Ah invited him t' come stay with me – Ah wanted t' know where the hell he's been all this tahme! That's all! An' then Logan came an' woke us up this mornin' by pretty much murderin' the guy, and the Professor made us come down an' talk t' him, and they made him leave... I was walkin' him t' the gates, that's why I was outside..."

Whatever Kitty had been expecting, this was clearly not it. She looked like she might pass out from excitement.

"He like, slept in your room? Gambit slept in your room? You sure he wasn't stalking you and that's why he was there last night? I mean who knows what he was doing while you were asleep! The guy's like, seriously disturbed, Rogue, even the Brotherhood guys are totally afraid of him – Lance told me this one time he took, like, all of them at the same time and he looked bored! And he refers to himself in the third person. That's just not right. What were you thinking?"

Rogue stepped back from her friend and shook her head.

"There's nothin' wrong with him –"

"Well he is totally hot, but you gotta admit, he's not exactly, like, sane, Rogue," Kitty interrupted, as though she completely understood that Rogue might cut him some slack for the hotness but that even she could see that it didn't completely cancel out the apparent lack of sanity.

"He's not insane, Kitty, he's had a horrible lahfe, y' cain' even imagine how horrible, an' he never did anything t' me when we were in New Orl'ns, Ah tol' you he was nice t' me the whole tahme!"

"He stalked you and kidnapped you to rescue some old guy he doesn't even like – is that sane sounding to you?" Kitty said with a wry grin, and Rogue said,

"Y'all hated me fer shovin' Mystique off a cliff – is that sane sounding t' you?" Kitty was immediately apologetic, putting an arm around Rogue and hugging her lightly,

"I'm sorry, okay? I get that he's had a bad life, I just want you to be careful..." she said quietly, and Rogue hugged her back.

"It's okay, really... Ah jus' hoped you'd try an' understan' me... Ah was inside his head, Kit, Ah know he's not some psycho kidnapper, he's just lahke us – tryin' t' find a way, y' know? Doesn' help he's been raised t' be the best damn thief the world's ever seen an' his ole dad never taught him any moral values... He went t' save him cause he didn' want blood spilt on his account, Kit. That's not what a bad person would do, is it? An' we were jus' talkin' las' naght... Ah wanted t' know why he never came back or anythang..."

Kitty smiled, eyes brimming over with sympathetic understanding. "I get it Rogue, I totally do... You want him to have a second chance, right? Like I want Lance to have one, and Wanda and Pietro – no one's all bad," she said wisely, and Rogue gave her a proper hug, totally impulsive and out of character.

Kitty's heart swelled with pride at the action of her usually distant friend and just took it as it came.

"Thanks fer bein' you, Kit... Ah knew y'd try..." she said, muffled in Kitty's shoulder, and the Valley girl sniffled and said,

"Okay, I'm, like, totally gonna cry if you don't let go of me now girl!"

Rogue wisely let go – Kitty was being serious. She was easily moved by displays of Disney-film-like affection. At least she gave fair warning though. Kitty's eyes were shiny enough all right, and she clasped her hands in front of her face as she said,

"You wanna come with me today then, get out of the house? I'm gonna go see Lance, Wanda'll be there too and you know she likes seeing you round there so you can help her talk to Pietro... It's like counselling or something!"

Rogue smiled. It was sort of like counselling the way they did it. Wanda had to be very careful with her thought patterns so she didn't slip into anger without thinking and damage something. Pietro was still freaked out enough by the my-sister-is-a-witch thing to react badly to it when she did slip up for it to have dire consequences, so they preferred to talk with a mediator when they could to avoid negative outcomes. Rogue was happy to do it and let them bounce things off her when they needed to. Besides, Wanda was one of her good friends, though she'd had to assure Kitty a few times that she of course had been the first and best so as to not upset the Valley girl's fierce sense of loyalty. She noticed that Kitty was still in her pyjamas, a cutesy affair with little smiling clouds and frogs on them, and laughed,

"Sure, Ah need t' get away from here fer a while... Wanna go pick out something t' wear fer Lance or are y' goin' lahke that?"

Kitty giggled girlishly and said, "I got something to wear yesterday – come up and help me get ready? I kinda miss having you around for that..."

"Definitely... Ah miss you too sometimes, Kit... Oh – jus' promise me y' won' mention Gambit t' anyone – not even Kurt!"

Kitty nodded solemnly and made a cross over her heart.

"I swear I won't tell anyone. So – did you see him without his shirt?" Rogue put an arm around her friend and they went off to get dolled up, talking nineteen to the dozen about whether or not it was right to wear blue shoes with a pink top and the virtues of tight black T-shirts on well-trained guys.

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Upon arrival at the Brotherhood house, the first thing that caught the eye was Toad, borne on a stream of crackling blue light, soaring out through the front door. He landed a few feet away from them, rubbing his head and groaning.

"Uuuurgh... Hey girls... If you're looking for Wanda, she's inside..." he managed, then got to his feet and hopped away unsteadily. Kitty raised an eyebrow at Rogue, who just shrugged back, and they entered the house with some trepidation.

"Wanda? Pietro? Lance?" Kitty called, and Fred came into view on his way to the kitchen.

"Kitty! Rogue! Hey! You here to see Wanda? Think she's in the living room – she's talking to her brother," he said, all good nature and smiles, and Rogue shot one back at him gratefully.

"Thanks Freddy. She in a bad mood or somethang? We saw Toad outside..."

He shook his head, a deep chuckle rumbling through him. "Nah, he just got too close again, buggin' her... She's okay today."

Kitty giggled, "Great, you know where Lance is?" Fred shook his head.

"Try the garage," he said, disappearing into the kitchen to load up on lunch. Kitty waved at Rogue and phased through the wall in that general direction, and Rogue went in search of the happy siblings.

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