Oh man here we go

Let's get some romance going on amirite

I'm sure some of you wonder about the lack of grammar or punctuation or just about everything in my chapter opening part

X-23 was completely berserk.

The mission had started without a hitch. They had broken into the facility that housed the trigger scent. They had slaughtered nearly everybody in the facility, looking for clues and answers as to why the trigger scent was there, and who was buying it. They had discovered that the trigger scent affected everybody. What they still didn't know was who was in charge. They scoured the place, looking for clues as to who it was, but all they knew that it was a woman.

That is, until X-23 caught a familiar scent and leaped into an elevator. She heard a familiar voice as well, and then suddenly the elevator was being pumped full of gas. She tried to hold her breath, but it was impossible. By the time the elevator doors had opened into the subway crowded with civilians, everything was red.

"X!" Jubilee cried as she leaped in front of X-23 in an attempt to prevent her from attacking the innocent people standing on the subway platform. X-23 slashed at her with a claw, and Jubilee jumped backwards. "X, stop it!" X-23 continued to advance, each attack getting closer and closer to actually injuring Jubilee. Just when X-23 was getting perilously close to hurting Jubilee, she was jerked backwards. X-23 snarled and whirled around to stab the person who interfered with her attack.

Wolverine gagged when she first stabbed him in the gut. He grabbed her wrist before she had a chance to move, holding her hand firmly against his stomach. He grabbed her free hand before she had a chance to attack him again.

"That's right." He growled. "Let it out. Do what you have to do. But I'm not letting you go, X." She growled, and tried to tug her claws out of his stomach.
"I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO!" He shouted at her. Her hands were slick with blood as she struggled further to pull from his grip. Just has her hands began to slip from his, Gambit grabbed X-23. He stroked her snarling face tenderly, the same way he stroked it every night when she woke up from a nightmare and he would hold her close. She tried to tear away from him, but he held onto her.

"Laura." X-23's red eyes focused on Gambit for a moment, but it was all he needed. "Remember who you are, petite." He wiped away a bit of blood from under her eye. "Remember who loves you." X-23 stopped thrashing, and froze completely, her eyes trained on Gambit's. They softened, and slowly returned to their normal shade of blue. Gambit's breath caught in his throat. He almost hadn't expected it to work. He wanted to rock her and hold her as he had always done after a nightmare, but this time the nightmare was real, and it had just happened, and he couldn't whisper to her that it had been a dream, just a dream. "Oh, Laura." He lamented softly.

"I... am sorry..." She whispered. Gambit held her for a moment longer before stepping back. She turned to look up at Wolverine, her claws still stuck firmly in his stomach. "...I am..." She was shaking, staring at where her hand met his abdomen.

"Shh, darlin', it's okay. It's okay." He kissed her gently on the top of her head, and for the first time in months, wrapped his arms around her. "I'm here." There was a slightly sickening noise as X-23 retracted her claws, pulling them from Wolverine's stomach. He grunted softly. "We're all here. You're not alone." Her breathing was unsteady, and she was shaking like a leaf, and Wolverine pulled her closer. They gripped each other tightly, the first real embrace they had had in what seemed like forever.

"We need to get going." Gambit said, somewhat unwilling to break the two up. He wanted to leave them together, but the police were arriving. The four of them ran for it, exiting the tunnel swiftly and leaving behind the people to wonder what had just happened.

Back at the hotel room, Gambit leaned back in his chair and stretched, grunting as his sore and injured muscles protested. The girls had gone out, presumably to talk about what had just happened and spend some time alone.

"You're a mother hen." Logan said once the girls had left.

"What?" Gambit asked, a bit of a laugh in his voice.

"I never thought I'd see the day." Logan said.

Gambit frowned, suddenly serious. "She's worth it." Logan nodded. They say there in silence for a few more moments, then,

"She sees the way you treat Jubilee." Gambit said suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"You treat Jubilee like a girl. You treat Laura like a... a weapon. You don't protect Laura the same way you protect Jubilee."

"Jubilee's... different. X knows she was a weapon. She can't just walk away from that sort of life." Logan reasoned.

"You put a hurt girl on a death squad." Gambit said, anger leaking into his voice.

"She wouldn't let me stop her, dammit. She's independent when she wants to be."

"It would've taken one word from you to stop her, Logan. She loves you. So don't think it doesn't hurt her when she sees the difference in the way you treat her and Jubilee. Because it does. She's trying to be better, and you make her feel like she's failing. She's not going to ask for it, but she needs your approval, and right now it looks to her like you're denying it." Gambit took a swig from his beer. Logan just stared. Gambit wasn't usually this serious when it came to X-23. He was used to being told lighthearted stories, not being told how to parent.

"You done, Cajun?"

"Oui."

The silence was strange and awkward for a while, until Logan made a weird joke and all was well between the two men again. They had discussed the matter of X-23, and had gotten their thoughts out in the open. All was well for now.

Around an hour or so and a few more beers later, the door opened and the two girls entered. Jubilee, as usual, was chattering on about something. X-23 was listening, nodding occasionally. The two of them joined the men at the table. Logan was retelling some inane story about when they were younger, and Gambit was grinning wildly. Jubilee suggested that both men had had too much to drink, which launched Logan into yet another story. This process continued for a while. X-23 was content to sit and simply watch the other three enjoy themselves. She didn't get many of the jokes or references. She hadn't been present or just didn't get the humor.

It wasn't until Jubilee yawned and Logan's enthusiasm had died down some that Gambit glanced at the clock. "It's pretty late. I'm gonna get some sleep." He decided. He tossed his last empty bottle of beer into the bin, and headed over to the bedroom he shared with X-23. "X, you comin'?" She nodded. She got up and wished the Jubilee and Logan goodnight. There was an awkward moment where Logan made as though he might get up to hug her, but then thought better of it. X-23 stood there for a beat longer, and then headed to her room to brush her teeth.

Around a half an hour later, X-23 was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. On the other side of the small hotel room, Gambit was reading a book by lamplight. She listened to the gentle sound the paper made as he turned pages, and breathed in the scent of the hotel room. It was very quiet, something that she appreciated. She heard a dull thump as Gambit closed the book and turned to her.

"Petite, I'm going to turn out the lamp, okay?" His hand rested on the small switch. She didn't seem to hear him, and he was about to ask her what was wrong when she finally spoke.

"I am sorry if I scared you today."

"It's fine." He lied.

"You seemed... upset." She turned to look at him.

"I wasn't able to protect you." He finally admitted. "You're scared of bein' taken over by the trigger scent, and I let it happen. It's what you dream about, isn't it?"

"It is." X-23 admitted. She stared down at her hands. "I do not like it. Waking up afterward and seeing that I've hurt people. That I've scared people."

"Logan's fine. He heals just as good as you." Gambit re-assured her. "And I don't get scared."

"You were. It was upsetting to see that you were afraid of me." X-23 said. "When I woke up, you were afraid."

"I was scared that you wouldn't wake up and I would havta hurt you to make you come back to your senses." Gambit said. "I don't want to hurt you." X-23 didn't say anything.

"I'm going to turn off the light now." Gambit said, lifting his hand to flip the switch.

"Gambit, can I..." She made an awkward jerking motion with her head. He looked at her, confused for a moment, before it dawned on him.

"C'mere, petite." He lifted his covers, inviting her to join him. She crawled into bed next to him and pulled the sheets over her body. Gambit understood. It was hard for X-23 to ask for help, especially emotional help. She was okay with somebody helping her in a fight, even though it damaged her pride a little bit. But when it came to something like emotions, which she had been taught as a child were useless and unneeded, her willingness to allow people to help her was diminished. She craved the physical contact that she had been deprived of her whole childhood, but didn't know how to ask for it. Gambit pulled her closer to him, and wrapped his arms around her under the blankets. She reached over and turned out the light. They lay together in the darkness, her face resting in the crook of his neck.

Gambit found that it was almost comforting to have her body flush against his. Every night when he fell asleep, he would be wondering if she would have a nightmare that night, and if he would be able to wake her early enough that the nightmare hadn't progressed too far. The anxiousness that he experienced normally had completely disappeared.

"Goodnight." She murmured. Gambit closed his eyes.

"G'night, petite."