Disclaimer: I don't own any characters except my characters. Which are quite a few this time around. Let's try it this way: I don't own any Marvel characters that happen to show up in the upcoming chapters and which I'm sure you'll recognise without any need to name long lists.


7. A Proposal

Gambit had no idea why he was nervous. Outside the obvious fact that Rogue might be in a bad mood. After all, she hadn't wanted to see him the night before, when the alarms had gone off, and she knew it had been on his account. Then there was the obvious fact that he was about to ask her to turn her world upside down, even if only for a while.

Still, he couldn't quite account for all the nervousness that had him standing by Rogue's door for almost five minutes now. Best to just get it over with and knock already.

"Who is it?"

Oh, she was guessing who it was alright. That slight intonation gave her away.

"C'est moi, chére."

She didn't open the door immediately. Gambit could have counted at least 30 seconds before the door clicked open and slowly gave way. She looked stunning! Her bright green eyes burning in a mix of anticipation and annoyance. He leaned on the door frame and let his eyes caress that perfect body she had half hidden under a dark red robe, grinning at the overgrown winter slippers in the shape of... grey mice?

"What?"

"Ya look more dan beautiful," he smiled. And she did, she really did.

"Ya knocked on my door at 7 am t'tell me that?"

She was in one of those half-annoyed half-amused moods, which meant he had to tread lightly, especially after two years of silence.

"Alors, Gambit, he wanted t'talk t'ya 'fore ya went t'classes... see if ya can find a lil' spot in yer busy schedule fer moi."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Classes?"

Gambit hid a sudden doubt. "Ya help wi'de History classes, 't least accordin' t' Madame Bella."

Rogue allowed a sudden smirk to blossom into a half-smile.

"Ah give a hand when Ah'm around," she drawled almost playfully. "But Ah ain't got no classes today."

He got the sudden impression she might have taken the day off her 'helping hand' schedule, which, if it were true, bode well enough for his goal.

"Alors, ya wanna go somewhere?"

His shoulder slid purposefully on the door frame, forcing him to take a step forward to keep balance, but Rogue took a step back and started closing the door.

"Ah'll get dressed," she was smiling fully now and Gambit felt a rush of pleasure course his veins as he stepped away from the closing door.

Hank was so wrong! She was going to jump of happiness at the suggestion. She had missed him, after all; he reckoned about as much as he had missed her. He paced excitedly by her door for almost twenty minutes before she finally came out, wearing the green coat of the day before and a dab of makeup.

"Since ya woke me up so rudely after keepin' me awake all night with all those alarms," she grinned provocatively, "Ah'll let ya pay me breakfast in town."

Uh... in town? But she was already walking down the corridor.

"It's a short walk from the staff dormitories," she was saying as he caught up with her, "through the grounds. A very relaxin' twenty minutes."

"But, chére, won't we be seen by de folks in town?" She frowned at him, obviously not following his drift. "Madame Bella, she be keepin' tabs on all single ladies. She sees us two an' she be startin' up de gossip."

Rogue laughed, loud and clear, carefree. Dieu, he'd missed that!

"Well, she wouldn't be much of a matchmaker if she didn't keep track o' the single folks in town, now would she?"

She laughed harder at his expression and slid an arm in between his as they stepped outside, under the bright winter sun that made the snow sparkle.

"Ya see, Bella an' her husband were near bankruptcy when the Academy reopened, but with the incomin' folks an' them havin' the only shop in town, they quickly bounced up."

The snow came up to their knees, at some points of the path through that wooded part of the campus. Secluded and intimate, as if the whole world had stepped back.

"In fact, they did so well, they opened up a supermarket down the street an' they've even hired two o' the newcomers as staff."

The sun rays, flashing through naked tree branches and bushy pine leaves, illuminated her profile.

"Ah guess she figures that the more folks settle down wi'their families, the more clients she'll have."

"Not bad thinkin'," he forced out when she looked at him, apparently expecting a comment.

"Yeah, but people need..."

Rogue tripped slightly over something under the snow but, as Gambit hurried to steady her, he himself tripped too and they both ended up keeling forward. Chuckling, they got up and carried on, his arm now embracing her waist.

"So, as Ah was sayin', people need jobs if they're t'settle here. Frost's been helpin' folks open shops an' other small businesses but it ain't enough so now she's thinkin' 'bout startin' some type of industry in the area."

The wall that enclosed the campus became apparent in the distance, a metal door incrusted in its thickness.

"What's Frost's aim?"

Rogue shrugged. "Ah think she wants t' found a sort o' Valle Soleada. An' she is gettin' there, ya know. Wait a sec, I got the keys here..."

Gambit considered the idea, founding a community of mutants and humans living together, while Rogue got her keys to the wide service door and opened the three locks. It was a fairly heavy door, especially with all the snow. As Gambit stepped out, he could see the town in the distance, with its fancy main street and the several smaller streets irradiating from it.

"As Ah was sayin'," Rogue locked the locks with a loud clang, "in the school, we got all sorts o' kids. We got both mutant an' former mutant kids as well as their normal human siblings. We got the children o' mutants an' former mutants even if they're almost all regular humans. We got... Ah don't know! There's even this one kid whose mother was harassed fer bein' a mutant 'cause she had vitiligo, wi'these white skin spots on her face an' hands. Can ya believe how stupid some people are, t'actually claim she was a mutant 'cause of a skin condition?"

"Alors, de town don't have many mutants, den?"

Rogue put the keys away and leaned her head on his shoulder, enjoying the view over the town from their higher location.

"Ah'd rather not keep tabs," she said slowly. "They're all fleein' persecution an' discrimination, whether they're one thing or the other, an' they're all ready t'accept each other, whether they're one thing or the other. Ain't that what's important?"

Like Valle Soleada. Gambit embraced her, her hair tickling his face and neck, and he wanted nothing but to kiss her. It almost hurt, physically, not acting on the eager need. He closed his eyes and let it out. It was now or never.

"I ain't stopped thinkin' 'bout it, dese two years."

She looked up and he had to take a step back, his hands resting on her hips, over the thick fabric of the coat.

"Thinkin' 'bout what?"

"Valle Soleada. Ya ever think o' goin' back, the two of us?" He felt her slip away and blurted anxiously: "A vacation. Just de two of us."

"A vacation?" But she was frowning, and the frown seemed neither amused nor playful.

"One, two mont's." He grabbed her gloved hands tightly before they could slide away. "Just you an' me, chére."

But her hands still slipped away.

"Like before," he ended in a whisper, almost hopelessly now. "Chére..."

"What good would that be, Remy?" The bitterness of before was back in her voice, angrily. "We can't touch, remember? Ya wanna go back fer what? Ta remember what we had an' can't have again? T'rub some more salt on the wound? Is that what ya want?"

"Non, Anna! Non!" She held her ground, waiting for him to convince her. "I mean... we should go back but wid a power inhibitor."

Her expression changed suddenly, shock and surprise, and he pressed his hand, eager for her surprise to become a happy welcome.

"Gambit, he already talked t'Hank. He can get ya a power inhibitor an' den we be free t..."

Rogue turned her back to him abruptly, her hands covering her face with a grunt, then sliding over her hair.

"Ya talked t'Hank?" He started saying yes, that he wouldn't dream of making such a suggestion without first being certain it could be pulled through, but she cut him after a single syllable. "Behind my back!?"

This was not going well... "I had t'..."

"Ya had to?" When she turned, there were tears of fury flooding her eyes. "HAD to?!"

Dieu, this was all going to hell! He'd let her vent and then he'd explained himself bett...

"Ya're tellin' me, ya damn swamp rat, that ya had t'arrange a way o' gettin' rid o' my powers behind my back? That ya want me ta get rid o' my powers? Is that it, Remy? Ya WANT me ta get rid o' MY powers?"

Merde, merde, merde!

"Non, Anna! Is just fer a month, a vacation togeder, you an' me. T'start..."

"Ah can't believe this!" She cried. Ah, Dieu... "How can ya be so... so... selfish! Ya self-centered ass! How can ya ask me ta choose 'tween you an' my powers? It's who Ah am! Can't ya see that, ya stupid, stupid...! How could ya ever!"

All gone wrong.

Gambit just stood there, stricken, as she flew off, crying her heart out.

How could he ever had got this to go so wrong?


If you've enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review. Just let me know what you liked and disliked so I can keep improving my writing skills. Thank you.