Disclaimer: Jab We Met and X-Men Evolution belong to Imtiaz Ali and Marvel Respectively. This is purely for my entertainment.

Author Notes: Hey everyone *looks around. Why is the room empty?* I owe you guys an apology after telling you to expect the chapter in a week and taking it up to nearly a month to deliver. From now on no more promises though this story will definitely be finished I will still try to deliver in a week. Reviews are great motivators for writing so please send them along my way. Constructive criticism will always be appreciated. Thanks to Azalea Rose Black who has done an awesome job with this story so for and continues to help me out. You rock

tfobmv18 Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know how much you liked it. I just hope it keeps up to your expectations

Raven34link There's definitely a few surprises for Rogue and Remy but what I can guarantee is that it won't be what you expect. As for Jean you'll see soon enough what's going on there. Also John loves that car like he loves his flame throwers; you can see why that would upset him when there driving it like crazy lol

Arriving in the small quiet town, they had been dropped off at the garage by the couple who had made introductions before going on their way. Paul's son Jim was as helpful as his parents and after a large tip was offered if he worked on their car immediately, he had gone on his way taking the car keys with him.

Remy made his way outside towards the diner across the street. It was a relief to get away from the heat outside into the air-conditioned room. Rogue was sitting at the counter talking to a blonde waitress while holding on to a milkshake. The lunch crowd hadn't arrived yet and the place was empty aside from one other customer sitting alone near the fire exit at the back.

Sitting on the stool besides her, he offered a smile to the waitress who gave him a flirtatious look back, her name tag identifying her as Rose while grabbing Rogue's milkshake and taking a sip from the cool drink he went on. "S' delicious Rose seems like you got excellent skills."

"Oh it's nothin you should see some of the other things I can mix up."

"Oui? Maybe after work you teach me some too hein?"

The waitress blushed but before she could say anything Rogue interrupted bluntly. "Well Ah was talkin ta Rose here earlier and she was tellin me bout the stuff to see in this town and well there's a lake nearby, wanna take a look?" Asked Rogue.

"What Mississippi? You missin de river already? Look we got couple of hours to kill before we can get goin. Maybe you enjoy de river while Remy enjoys some belle company." Remy said partly joking.

"Can it Cajun, before this gal throws ya into one," Rogue said before getting up and eagerly pulling his arm along.

They both sat on the high dock above the river, legs dangling over the water. The river was postcard perfect; surrounded by wilderness and nature on all sides, the water a murky blue with a dirt road leading to it. It was peaceful and calm. Rogue breathed in deeply enjoying just being there. God if she lived here she knew where she spend most of her time; curled up here with a good book.

Remembering living down south she spoke up, "Ya know this reminds me of being home before, before Ah moved to New York."

"What was dat like?" Remy asked curious about her upbringing.

"Different, Ah remember Ah spent a lot of time by the river, always loved it there." Rogue's tone had turned wistful as she remembered some afternoons spent outdoors. "Ah was adopted ya know. Mah mother, if ya can even call her that, she wasn't exactly the best role model an' Ah spent as much time as Ah could out in the sun."

"Dat couldn't have been too bad cher."

Rogue contemplated whether she should say anything more and somehow she had started talking before her mind had even made a decision.

"I hate her, ya know my mother she was Ah right bitch. She must have been ok once but Ah don't remember much of that but afterwards it was all Ah could do to live in that house. She hurt me so badly once Ah…she broke mah arm and mah head was bleeding, she said she was sorry later, that she didn't mean it, she was always sorry but ya don't hurt someone like that unless ya mean it." It was strange her voice sounded so calm, so rational, like it didn't bother her at all but the memories brought a shiver as she remembered the fear she lived in.

She could feel him watching her but she refused to meet his gaze, she was afraid of what she see there and she didn't need anybody's pity especially not his, continuing to look straight ahead she went on. "Ah knew Ah had to get away before she did something worse. Ah was fourteen when Ah ran away." Despite what she told him Rogue smiled as she went on, "Best thing Ah ever did an' damn lucky that Logan picked me up, he's been there ever since."

Why he did was a mystery to her, the weather further north was colder and she wasn't accustomed to it, the clothes she packed in a hurry didn't seem like much anymore and she had started to lose a little weight, the money stolen from Raven wasn't going to last much longer. He had stopped and had insisted that she come and take a look at the institute as an option. Rogue had been afraid, thinking that a stranger offering so much, there had to be a catch and she could tell that he knew she didn't believe him; her disbelief must have shown plainly on her face. He didn't make her come just handed her a card with an address in New York, and if she was ever interested in coming to drop by. Rogue had looked the place up at the library; it was a small but prestigious boarding school. She didn't have that kind of money. Did he mean it? It was better than just wandering around aimlessly at least this way she would get somewhere. Looking back she couldn't imagine doing anything else than showing up at the school.

Remy took her hand squeezing it gently and she was surprised when she didn't pull away. He didn't say anything and that was better than some useless spoken sympathy. With him like this it was a silent comfort to just lean against him.

"Ah'm not saying all this because Ah want ya to feel sorry for me or something but Ah want ya to understand. Ya might get a bad hand but ya just have to deal with it, live every moment, take risks and appreciate the little things. While livin with Raven sometimes Ah think Ah was so close to givin up but if Ah let that hold me back it would be like Ah was lettin her win, like she could get to me after all this time. Ah made a promise to myself that Ah would try to be happy, won't let nothing get in mah way."

"Your far braver den you realize Rogue." Remy spoke quietly, his voice hoarse and he knew what he spoke was the absolute truth. Living in a world filled with corruption and deceit and Rogue still managed to find the best in people, to not let her past get in the way of her future. He couldn't do it, his past defined him, made him who he was and he couldn't let it go no matter how much he wanted to.

They sat in silence for a while. Each lost in their own thoughts, enjoying the comfortable silence in each other's company. He didn't know how much, but some time later it was broken by Rogue.

"Hey, wanna jump in the water?"

"T'ink we need to have a serious talk bout some of your ideas, actually make dat most." Remy said giving her a stern look.

"Awwcom'on it'll be fun! Ya tried crazy, let's do somethin stupid!"

"Rogue I t'ink you should get a psychiatrist to look inside your head."

Rogue stood up pulling on his arm, Remy reluctantly got up standing beside her. They both stared at the water below the deck. It didn't look that peaceful to him anymore.

"On the count of three, one…"

"Rogue jus' t'ink bout dis…"

"Two…"

"If it's freezing, we could get hypothermia…"

"Three!" Rogue shouted and jumped while pulling on his arm.

He heard a brief scream from Rogue and the next second water splashed as they went in. It was cold despite the weather being hot. Rogue had let go of him once they hit the water and Remy swam towards the surface, breaking out a second later. Spluttering water, his clothes dragging water, he took a look around looking for Rogue. She was further away in the water, coughing up some water, grinning at him; he couldn't help but grin back at her.

"Chéri, if we had to do this it might as well have been skinny dipping." He said treading water.

"Cajun, when are ya gonna give up? Ya don't get to see mah goods." Rogue spoke before swimming towards him.

"Can't blame a homme for trying," Remy replied jokingly following her as they both swam towards the shore

"God that was so much fun," Rogue spoke looking back at him and was splashed by water.

He couldn't help but chuckle at her expression of outrage. Rogue hissed something about this being war before splashing back at him. He let her get him back before moving forwards. They finally reached the river bank walking in their wet clothes towards the dirt road.

The pleasant wind now seemed cold on their wet clothes but the sun on their back created a pleasant sensation. Remy glanced at Rogue at his side, she was shivering slightly.

"You're folle you know. I would say dat it was a bad idea but dat be like hittin my head against a wall," He said conversationally.

"When was the last time ya did something like that, that was so much fun," Rogue carried on despite her continued shivers.

"Let's get back to our stuff before you freeze out here," Remy said looking at her in concern, river rat dat she was he couldn't help but look at her, the glances she kept throwing at him when she thought he wasn't looking amused him. Wet clothing really did something to a girl's figure.

"Cajun Ah hope you're not checkin me out," Said Rogue walking Ahead of him now, not bothering to look back.

"It's good to hope Chéri, keeps your faith strong," He said while increasing his pace to walk alongside her on the road.

They had walked back to the café together, he had been quiet the whole time and surprisingly Rogue hadn't said much either. She seemed in deep thought. He wished he could look inside her head and see what she was thinking. Normally he could read her easily; the girl didn't have a poker face at all but every once in a while she went quite on him. Thinking about what she had told him he wondered if she had ever really moved on.

They quickly changed inside the small bathrooms in the café before grabbing some lunch for the journey. Remy had ignored the questioning look on the waitress face as they had walked in soaking wet.

Now they were both on the road again and had managed to stay without anything happening, a small miracle in his opinion. The car had a small engine problem and Jim had managed to change the part fairly quickly. The radio was playing tunes softly and it had started raining outside some fifteen minutes ago. The digital clock showed that it was nearly three.

Did she want to go straight home to New York or should he be looking at the next hotel for them to stay at, at the rate they were going the second option seemed more likely.

"You want to stop somewhere for the night?" He asked wondering if she was up for the long drive.

"Nah, if we go straight there Ah can be home bout two in the morning, let's go straight. Ah want to get there tonight," Rogue said after a short silence in which she thought about it. She sounded excited at the prospect of finally getting there.

What was it about her fiancé that made her risk her family's love for him? He didn't ask, didn't want to know more about him. Instead he thought about how Rogue had shared more than a few of her secrets as if he deserved them, as if he had somehow conned her into thinking that he was the good guy. That she could trust him.

Angry with himself, he glared at the road; at least the weather was consistent with his mood. It didn't look like it would stop raining anytime soon.

"What are ya thinkin bout?" Rogue asked quietly, almost whispering.

"You heard of the LeBeau Enterprise?"

"Yeah, it's some Industrialist right? They were in the papers a lot recently. Ah swear the drama that follows them, not the company but the family, Ah guess people prefer gossip," Rogue said remembering the magazine she had picked up at the university common room as well as the frequent times over the years they had popped up on the news. Now that she thought about it she couldn't remember him giving his real name all the times they had stayed somewhere they could be traced and he preferred using cash, made sense if he didn't want to be found.

"Dat's true, dey always follow you to de clubs rather dan to work."

"Oh?" She said looking at him and giving him her full attention.

"Chéri, I'd be de one dat's responsible for de mad house."

"Oh mahgawd! You're The Remy LeBeau? You're the one with car crash and the suicide girl!" Rogue exclaimed as some of the stuff she'd read came up before clapping her hands over her mouth. She slowly let them down rambling in an apologetic tone. "Ah'm sorry Ah just heard it in the news like that. An'ya know me, it just blurted out. Ah'm so stupid Ah just don't think-"

He had frozen when he first heard her words but her apology snapped him out of it and he quickly said. "Rogue S' ok. It's not like what you said s'not true."

"Ah'm sorry, Ah shouldn't have-"

"Will you stop apologizing? It's the truth ok! She died cause of me, I was messin bout ,Jejouais avec elle." Giving a humorless chuckle he went on desperately, now that the words were out he couldn't seem to stop. "Nobody was supposed to get hurt. Jean-Luc, Mon Pere was meetin some business client in Paris; he was showin me the ropes. An' I was messin bout with the client's daughter, t'ought I have some fun with her but I planned to use her from the start."

"Remy-"

He didn't want to hear her explanations to try to justify his actions. He knew he had played Genny, thought it sweeten the business deal mixing business with pleasure, "Non Rogue! You don't get it and you won't 'cause you see de best in people but some people dey don't have a whole lot of good in dem. The note she left; it's my fault Genevieve jumped of dat damn building! She dead 'cause I was havin' a bit of fun."

"Listen up Cajun and don't interrupt. Ah heard ya. Yeah what happened was bad and ya were stupid but ya didn't make her jump, ya didn't push her down. It was her suicide so don't go blamin yourself for it when she gave up on her life. Don't ever think that!" She finished angrily.

He continued driving looking straight ahead on the road. As much as he wanted to believe what Rogue said he knew he was to blame. When he met Genny, he been impressed by her, unlike the girls back home she didn't hang by his every word. She was an equal to him bringing more to his every daring suggestion but for her it had all been a real fantasy adventure come to life. She wanted to live on the wild side. A sheltered life with her parents and he'd come and blown it all away. Her love for him, even after finding out his intentions had turned into an obsession. Rogue didn't understand how much he could hurt her, how much he could use her.

"Remy say somethin'," Rogue said after he been quite for some time.

"You don't know Rogue." His voice was steady and calm when he spoke not betraying the turmoil he was feeling. His face didn't betray anything. He settled it into a blank canvas.

"Know what?" She replied softly

"What I'm capable off. You're with me alone and anything could happen to you an' nobody would have any idea dat I was even travellin wit' you. What's to stop me from doing anything I want to you? You'll try but we both know dat if it comes down to it, I could hurt you so easily."

"Ya wouldn't," Rogue said her voice strong with her conviction.

He didn't know where this sudden anger at her was coming from but he wanted her to hate him, to doubt him. She shouldn't trust him. She didn't know him at all. He braked suddenly and the car spun a little on the empty road before skidding to a stop on the side.

It was quite inside except for the pitter patter of the rain. He didn't look at Rogue who had let out a sound of surprise and was now breathing heavily. She seemed too astonished to be angry yet.

"What if I attack you Rogue. You're with a stranger. How much do you really know bout me?" He was gripping the steering wheel tightly as he spoke his body tense, his tone harsh.

"Remy, Ah know ya won't do-"

Frustrated with her inability to believe him he abruptly moved across the seat grabbing her hands, trapping her against the door before she had a chance to react.

Rogue struggled against him "Remy!" She tried to twist her hands away; she screamed, "Let go!"

"You might know some karate Rogue but I never told you dat I have training in martial arts, I've lived on de streets. You t'ink you're safe when you don't really have a defense dat I couldn't get past. So what's to stop me now from carrying on?" As he spoke she tried to get some leverage but he had her completely blocked.

"Remy don't-" She cried

"What's to stop me Rogue? I bet nobody at home even knows who you're travellin with. Do dey even know my name?" His voice sounded cruel as he stared at her his face inches from hers.

Rogue hadn't paused in struggling against him the entire time but she finally stopped looking at him in desperation, in anger and when she spoke her voice was strong and the look she gave him laced with venom. "Because you're an idiot who rescued me in the middle of the night instead of taking advantage of the situation! Who looked after me when Ah couldn't do it mahself! Ya didn't even know me. Damn it Remy! Let go, now!" Her face was red and tears were running from her eyes.

He let go slowly backing away until he had settled in his seat. He didn't look at her but could feel her settling down, trying to wipe her eyes discreetly, her posture stiff. Did she finally hate him or worse pitied him?

He started the car again very much aware of any movements at his side. He didn't know what to say after that. Could he even say anything to her?

"Ah won't help ya believe that you're a monster. You're right, ya do use people, ya use them to convince yourself that you're worthless and Ah won't be a part of that. Ah want ya to drop me at the next train station. Ah think it's best if we make our own way."

He nodded, knowing there was nothing he could say to make it better. A painful silence settled around them. This was for the best. He got what he wanted didn't he?

Sometime later and Rogue had not spoken a word. He wanted to apologize. This was not how he wanted them to part but then again if had been thinking he wouldn't be in this situation. She could shout some more at him that would be better than her staring stonily out the window in silence.

"You know I never told you but I was adopted too." He waited for her to say something but she carried on staring out the window.

"Was abandoned as a bébé. Lived on the street till Jean-Luc picked me up, was bout nine by den stealin to get by. S'a funny thing though, him takin me in when I tried to rob him but instead of turnin me in to the police he takes me home. Best job I ever did." This was the most he had told about himself in a long time. It wasn't a secret but getting him to talk about his upbringing was something only a few people had managed so far. Always being in the public eye had tended to make him really cautious and living on the streets as a child had gotten rid of any illusions he might have had about people. They took what they wanted form you and ignored you when you got in their way.

Just when he thought she wouldn't response he heard her voice. "Bet that was an adventure."

"De best kind, dough I think Jean-Luc might have t'ought twice if he knew de trouble I bring."

"Naw Cajun one look at ya and Ah bet he knew ya were trouble already. Hah! Ah bet ya were a geeky, scrawny kid."

"I'll have you know Chérie, I was as charmin den as today." He said smugly."Had to keep de filles away with a stick."

"Poor girls, how many were hit on the head to get so delusional?" Rogue said a small smile on her face and a glance his way.

This was good. It was progress from the cold shoulder.

"Chérie you need to appreciate de company you're in. You carry on like dis an' you could jus' bout bring a guy's ego down." He said continuing with the light banter. He could carry on this routine any time.

"Trust me Cajun. Yours is so inflated Ah doubt Ah could do any damage to it anyway." Sounding confused she carried on, "Why didn't ya give your real name all that time ya used your cards and stuff?"

"Didn't want to be found an I can tell you some people will definitely be lookin. Got a couple of different cards for when I want to be discreet." He knew how to stay of the radar of both his family and any magazine looking to find gossip. He been taught by the best. Jean-Luc knew that when it came to business most things were better to be done quietly.

Rogue didn't say anything to that instead she unbuckled her seatbelt rummaging in her bag in the back seat and getting out the sandwiches they bought earlier. Putting their food out she opened hers taking a bite before asking. "What's your family like?"

"Fou, de lot of dem. If you knew some of de t'ings me an my cousins do. Dere was dis one time err…actually S' better dat you don't."

He heard her laugh, glad that she had at the time let go his earlier act. She didn't tend to hold grudges.

The scenery around them changed gradually as they moved towards the city and the station. He slowed down as they approached nearer not yet ready to say bye. Despite the dawdling speed they had arrived.

Rogue looked at the station before getting out. He followed grabbing her stuff from the trunk. It seemed like an obscenely large amount of luggage for one passenger.

"You need help getting your stuff inside?" He didn't want her to go. He needed her to stay.

"Nah Ah'll manage," She said taking the things from him, "Ah guess this is goodbye," To his surprise she had been quite once they had gotten in the city.

They were both standing beside the car facing each other, the station in the background behind her.

"S' funny t'ought you were gonna make me take you to New York. What with de way you chased me de other night."

"Mah god, don't remind me," She said as she stood there awkwardly. She seemed unsure what to say and hugged him quickly before turning away towards the station.

He had to stop her.

His hand shot out grabbing her arm before she had taken a step further. She looked at him as he spoke. "M' sorry"

"What?"

"Don't go, I was stupide for what I did earlier. I want us to go together."

She was going to say no. Why would she want to stay with him anyway? He didn't have anything to offer her. He should have kept his mouth shut. Preparing himself to hear a no or even a pitying glace as she said her goodbyes but she was best when she surprised him.

"It took ya so long to ask me to stay and apologize. Cajun, ya have a thing for dramatics?"

"Only wit' you cher." He said breathing a sigh of relief as she walked back towards the car.

French Translations

Chérie: Darling or sweet heart

Chere/ Cher: Dear but in this context more affectionate perhaps

Homme: Man

Mon Pere: My father

Je jouais avec elle: I was just playing with her

Bébé: baby

Fou: mad

Folle: crazy (fem.) crazy insane and mad all come out as the same meaning…

Stupide: stupid