Author's Note: The parts that are italicized are Rogue's or Gambit's thoughts or flashbacks.

After Apocalypse everything changed for Rogue…

She lay on bed, dizzy from the battle last night, dizzy from that power absorption, too dizzy to remember everything. But all she could clearly recall was that at the end, she lay in someone's strong arms, carrying her home and into bed.

Rogue opened her eyes and faintly saw someone standing by her bed. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. There was a man standing by her bed. Was it Scott? No way, he was probably too pre-occupied with Jean. Was it Logan? Maybe, but it was certainly a little early for him to be up. Was it the Professor? Maybe, but if Rogue woke up, then he would know. She knew it had to be Beast because he was always tending to her, but what she found by her bedside was not something she expected.

"Good morning chére," Gambit gently said to her, "How are ya feelin?"

"Gambit?" Rogue asked. She couldn't believe her eyes. What was he doing here and by her bedside?

"Shh," Gambit told her, "Der's no need to get all distraught. Everythin will be alright. You'll see."

"What are you doing here?" she asked staring into his eyes. For once, she actually noticed. His eyes were red, bright red, and they were surrounded by dark mysterious black pools. She vividly remembered the day she first met him. They were normal eyes, just a regular dark brown eyes, but beautiful. Yet now she felt drawn to his red eyes.

"Ya weren't feelin too hot after your encounter with Apocalypse," he told her, "So I took ya home and made sure you were feelin okay." He smiled. And Rogue smiled back. Gambit had a way to make girls fall in love with him, that much Rogue knew with his love game and charm. He was certainly handsome, and charming. And that smile was sure to make girls swoon over him. But he was also mysterious and funny and completely understood her. That was how Rogue truly fell in love with Gambit.

"Thank you," Rogue said weakly. She got up and sat in bed. There was a rush of blood to her head. She felt dizzy again.

"Whoa der chére," Gambit said to her, and put a calming hand on her shoulder, "Ya need rest. No need to get up and out."

"Ah'm fine," Rogue told him reassuringly, "Trust me."

Gambit smiled and got up from his chair as Beast entered the room, "I'm sure you are chére. You always were quite de fighter. But au revoir pour maintenant." He then gave her a wink and left the room.

"What did that mean?" Rogue asked Beast who was checking all her monitors.

"I believe that meant, 'goodbye for now,'" He told her.

And Rogue smiled, because she had a feeling, Gambit would be true to his word.

A couple of months later, the Cajun returned with his bags…

The doorbell rang. Rogue ran down the stairs. "Will someone get that?" she asked as she stumbled down the stairs with laundry baskets. It seemed everyone was out doing something while she was left inside the house, doing her and Kitty's laundry. Kitty had paid her twenty bucks to do it while she went out to a concert. Rogue didn't really like this band, so it seemed like a good idea. Well now she was left home alone again, while everyone was out.

The doorbell rang again and again like a broken record. The person waiting at the door was impatient. After all since it was laundry day, Rogue was left to wearing something old. She wore dark black pants, dark black sweater and an olive green shirt over. Her hair was tied up in a sloppy fashion. She was tired and exhausted from doing all her chores today.

The doorbell rang again and no one was there to answer the door. Rogue growled. She dropped all her baskets at the foot of the stairs and marched over to the door. Without looking she pulled open the door and screamed at the person standing there, "What do you want?" she angrily said. But then she looked in awe when she realized who was there at the door.

"Good evening chére," he smiled, his famous smile, "What are ya doin on a beautiful Friday evening at home? I expected to be greeted by the Professor and not you."

Rogue shrugged, "Fine suit yourself." She grabbed her baskets and yelled out the Professor's name.

"Non," Gambit rushed over to her, "I'll be fine with jus you tourin me around dis joint."

"Well ah've got a ton of laundry tah do Gambit," she told him as she carried the baskets towards the washers, "Ah'm sure the Professor won't mind tellin you what tah expect here at the Mansion. Besides, you're gonna have tah see him anyway."

"What if I help ya with some of dis laundry, den will ya give me a tour?" Gambit grinned.

Rogue sighed. "Fine," she told him. After all, she could use all the help she could get. And he wasn't a guest anymore. After a couple of minutes of playing with laundry detergent and finally loading the washer and then dryer after the clothes were done, Rogue and Gambit laughed and walked around the Mansion.

"Gambit," the Professor greeted him as they walked towards the stairs, "Nice seeing you here. Do you plan to stay here?"

"How about we talk about dat privately sir," Gambit told him, "I've got a few things I need to talk to you about."

The Professor nodded. "Okay, just follow me into my study. I do have a feeling you didn't just come here for pleasure."

Gambit sighed and followed him. "But I want Rogue to give me a tour of dis place, an' get some ol' Southern hospitality." He turned around and gave her a salute and then turned to follow the Professor.

Rogue smiled at them until they faded into the dark shadows of the Mansion. But a beeping noise brought her back to the reality she was in: laundry was done.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. A phone rang, bringing Rogue back to the present and out of her dream world. The ringtone was a sappy love song that went something like, "We've got a strange love…but always finding our ways through the rocks that fall and divide us." Kitty, who was still sitting on her bed, reached for her phone on the vanity. It was obviously Lance, because the moment Kitty saw her phone she smiled. Kitty then gave Rogue a quick pat and ran out of the room. But she paused and calmed herself down before she answered calmly.

Rogue sighed and checked her cell phone. There were no messages. No messages from Remy. But what did she expect? He wasn't soft and vulnerable like Scott was who would have probably sent Jean a thousand texts and calls. She scoffed when she remembered the two of them fighting, and Scott calling almost every other minute. Rogue thought it was gross and sappy at the time, but now that she looked back on it, she thought it was sweet to know that he at least cared.

She opened her phone again. There was a text from James. It said: "When can I c u?" She sighed and checked her clock. It was 3 PM . He would see her when she would see him, which was never. Rogue felt like her old self again: alone, angry, and wanting to stay alone. She looked out the window and wondered what Gambit was doing.


Gambit sat outside on the porch. He threw his trench coat on the grass and did what he did best: playing with cards. Gambit set them out like a game of solitaire. He smiled because he had a memory in the back of his head.

Rogue was sitting there at the kitchen table all alone with a glass of milk and a couple of cookies. She was playing solitaire. Gambit tried to sneak up on her. He reached for her cookies and at that moment a quick slap came down on his hand. Gambit immediately pulled back his hand and massaged it. Rogue hit him hard.

"Don't take mah chocolate chip cookies," she warned him, "those are my favorite." She took a bite of out one of them and put them back on the plate. Rogue then reached for her glass of milk. All this time she never left her eyes from the game in front of her. Rogue was almost finished with the game. She had every single King down to the ace placed in the right spot, positioned to be put in each suit, except for a few cards: six diamonds all the way down to the ace of spades, a Jack of clubs and a ten. Up above, she had a nine and an eight and a seven. She was missing the Queen of Hearts. Rogue was clearly frustrated. She turned around angrily to Gambit and said, "Are ya gonna jus stand there an' mock me? Or are ya gonna leave me alone for once?"

Gambit smiled, "No I've come to jus watch and maybe help ya some."

Rogue growled, "Ah don't need your help Swamp Rat."

Gambit chuckled, "I'm sure you don't chére." He then reached into his pocket and placed a Queen of Hearts right where she needed it. "Like I said Rogue, you've got people looking out for ya." He then smiled and walked away.

"Wait," Rogue called out to him, before he left the room, "Ah'm sorry about tha way ah acted towards you. Ah'm jus frustrated is all. Ah should be showin you a lil more Southern hospitality. After all you are new here, an' ah want tah show more kindness towards you than what mah teammates did when ah first came here. You should know that you're more than welcome here."

Gambit walked back and smiled at her. He then sat down at the table. Rogue smiled back at him and offered him her plate of cookies. He carefully took one and looked at her before he took a bite. Rogue laughed. "It's okay you can have one. Ah offered one tah you didn't ah?" Gambit smiled and nodded. These cookies were good. "Ah baked them myself." Rogue told him like she read his mind, "Somethin mah mom taught me. Ya know, Mystique." Gambit nodded. He couldn't help but feel bad for the girl. Mystique was her mother and she was hunting her new family down. But she had to know that Mystique actually cared for her in some twisted way.

"Listen chére," Gambit said as he gulped down the cookie, "By de way, dese are delicious!" Rogue smiled. "But ya know Mystique is jus tryin to make sure you're okay." He gulped down the last part of the cookie and before he said anything, he looked at Rogue. She was sad and still angry at herself, he could tell. "Hey," he said trying to cheer her up, "Let's play a game of poker, oui?" Rogue smiled.

"Did someone say poker?" Wolverine walked into the kitchen. He stopped when he saw Gambit, "What is Cajun doin in our kitchen?" He looked at Rogue with a funny look in his eyes, "What did I say about bringing strangers into our house Rogue?"

"Relax Logan," Rogue told him, "Gambit's a part of tha family now. He's stayin here. Professor even got him a room and stuff."

Logan growled and pulled up a chair. "Fine," he looked at Gambit, "Deal em."

"Did I hear someone is playing a game of Poker?" Beast asked as he ran into the kitchen. He smiled when he found Gambit. "Figures you'd be the one to start it." Beast pulled up a chair and sat down.

The game was pretty much a tug between Beast and Gambit. One would win one game, another would win one game, and so on and so forth. Rogue and Wolverine were mostly left in the dust. But it was Rogue's first time playing, so it wasn't a shock she wasn't doing too well. The Professor even came in and would help out Rogue occasionally, but even then she wouldn't win.

"I win! I win!" Beast yelled as he took all the cookies in the center. They didn't have any money, so they used Rogue's cookies.

"Well ah'm all out," Rogue sighed as she pushed herself away from the table. "Ah didn't think tha cookies ah baked would be used in poker. Ah baked em for everyone here tah eat."

"Wait Rogue," Gambit said. She immediately turned around. "I'll give ya one cookie so you can play again."

"Fine but that's it!" Rogue said as she sat down again, "Ah'm not playin anymore after this." She sighed and waited for Gambit to deal again. Wolverine put down one cookie, Gambit put down two. Beast put down three. Gambit put down two more cookies, and Beast put down three. Gambit put down one cookie, and Beast put the rest of the cookies he had.

"What are you doing Gambit?" The Professor asked in his mind. "You don't really have much to win with that."

Gambit responded, "I know. I'm bluffing."

"Well I see that," The Professor replied mentally, "but that's not going to get you anywhere."

"But who said I was playin to win?" Gambit smirked.

And as each player put their cards down, Rogue's frown grew into a smile. "Ah won!" She shouted in glee. "Ah won! Ah won! Ah won!" Rogue smirked at all of them and took one cookie. She then walked away and back to her room.

The Professor smiled, "I see what you did Gambit." He said in his mind and Gambit grinned.

"I swear Cajun!" Wolverine growled and tossed his chair, "I saw what you did for her! You've got yourself a soft spot for one of my students? Lettin her win by dealing the cards all nicely for her," He scoffed. Wolverine then grabbed Gambit by the collar and looked him deep in the eyes, "Well lemme lay it down for you. Next time you do something like that and especially when there's real money involved, you ain't gonna see another Queen of Hearts again!" Wolverine then tossed him back in his chair and stormed out muttering something.

Beast smirked at him and then ate another cookie. The Professor shook his head. Gambit grinned even wider. "What?" he shrugged. "I guess I've got myself a soft spot for the Reine de Coeurs." He lay back in his chair and sighed, "Looks like I'm gonna enjoy my time here."

But it wasn't like Rogue wasn't good at any other card games…

"Have you guys ever heard of playin Blackjack or Texas Hold Em?" Rogue whinned as she sat around the same three guys. She didn't want to go to a college party much to Kitty's dismay, especially with all the touching and awkwardness, so she sat with the same three guys. Though Rogue decided to stay at a nearby college, she wanted to dorm at home back at the Institute to save up some money. But even though she rarely partied, Gambit could tell that she was happy.

"Yeah chére," Gambit said as he played around with the deck of cards, "After all ma name is Gambit. I can play any game dat requires cards."

"Well ah'm good at those two games, especially Blackjack," Rogue taunted him, "Why don't we play those? Unless you're scared?"

Wolverine and Beast laughed. "We can even play with money," Beast offered and pulled out a wad full of cash. "Unless all of you are scared?" He looked around and each one of them pulled out their wallets.

"Blackjack," Wolverine looked at Rogue, "is a man's game." He placed his money on the table, "Besides you don't got much money college girl. Go use it on your books."

"Blackjack," Rogue answered him coolly, "is for anyone, unless you're not man enough or tryin tah scare a lil girl like me." Gambit and Beast snickered. "Besides," Rogue replied, "Ah've got money, from a mechanic job ah've been doin. Almost gettin as good as Forge. An' ah can use tha money ah wipe from all of y'all for books."

"Well let's play den instead of talkin cheap," Gambit replied and dealed the cards.

Well in the end, Gambit found himself awestruck. He found the first girl to ever beat him and not just once but several times. Rogue wiped them all out clean and occasionally he could come up close to beating her, but came out second. "Well look at that," Gambit whistled when Rogue beat him again, "Elle m'a battu de nouveau! Je n'ai jamais perdu auparavant et pas cela mal non plus!" He sighed and pulled out his wallet for more cash and went fishing for more.

"Translation please Beast?" Rogue turned to him.

"If I believe this is right, my French is a little rusty, forgive me," Beast cleared his throat, "Gambit said, 'She beat me again! I have never lost before and especially not this bad either!"

"Oui oui monsieur," Gambit frowned, "but this is true."

"Merci monsieur," Beast grinned and then rubbed his head. "Rogue you've managed to wipe me all out. I'm afraid I can't play anymore."

"Me too," Gambit sighed and put back his wallet. "I've been robbed."

"Well," Rogue said as she counted the money she was holding, "Looks like ah'll be able to buy all my books this year and next year." She grinned and stood up, "Since all of y'all losers are wiped out, ah'm leaving." Rogue then walked out to her room happily.

Wolverine growled, "Listen bub," he looked him calmly in the eyes, "If I found out that you had let that girl win, it'll be the death of you." He then raised up his hand and withdrew his claws to show he was serious.

Gambit put his hands up to surrender, "Look Wolverine," he told him, "Would I want to lose more than three hundred bucks? For once Rogue beat me fair and square. No tricks or anythin."

"I'm afraid he's right Wolverine. He's serious," Beast told him as he got up from his chair, "Rogue wiped me out with my whole paycheck for the week." He sighed, "I brought the money thinking that I wouldn't lose it all, or at least stop before I lost it all. She has a ton of money and I learned not to play Rogue again at Blackjack. Maybe at poker, but not at Blackjack," He then walked out of the room.

"Well," Wolverine told Gambit as he too got up, "Looks like you're not the King of Cards or King of Hearts anymore."

"What's dat suppose to me?" Gambit glared at him.

Wolverine grinned and started to walk towards the door, "Not only did you lose Blackjack big time, but you're startin to fall for the little lady, am I right?" He then walked out of the room to leave Gambit to think on his own. Wolverine was right.

"Gambit?" Kitty asked, interrupting his thoughts. "What are you doing?"

"Playin solitaire," he looked at her suspiciously, "What does it look like I'm doin?"

"Nothing actually or going crazy," Kitty replied, "That's not solitaire," she then pointed at the cards below him. They were all placed as if he was playing the game, but they weren't placed correctly. One part had all spades and all clubs. They didn't go red and black, but was all black. Then one part mixed up the hearts and the diamonds and some clubs. The numbers were out of order and nothing was right. Gambit sighed and Kitty giggled. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Non," he admitted. "I jus don't understand…"

"Rogue?" Kitty asked. "You don't understand Rogue?"

"Yeah," Gambit scoffed. It was funny, he found himself talking to her own roommate, her good friend, when it should have been him and Rogue talking about their feelings. They were good friends but it soon turned to something else.

"Well let's just say she loves you more than you know," Kitty told him, "But I'm not the one who should be saying that. It should be her and it should be you."

Gambit sighed. "Well I've been tryin but…"

"Well keep trying Gambit!" Kitty replied, "You know, I would hear stories about how you were such a ladies man, charming ladies easily. Well this time you have a challenge. Rogue isn't too easy to charm. But you've got one playing card on your side, the Queen of Hearts. Rogue loves you."

Gambit smiled, "Thanks chére."

Kitty smiled back, "You're welcome. I just think that you and Rogue make the cutest couple ever, no matter what Jean says. But I want to know, what is your favorite memory of you and Rogue?"

Gambit chuckled, "I'd say de first time she'd ever call me Remy."

"That's your real name?" Kitty asked and Gambit nodded, "What happened?"

Rogue was sittin alone outside. She had jus beat me at Blackjack several times. Maybe she was jus really good, but after seeing her under de stars, I had a different opinion. Rogue wasn't wearing what she usually wore back in high school. She was wearing a nice red jacket an tight black pants. Kinda like what I saw when I first walked after comin back from New Orleans jus a few days ago. But for de first time I actually realized dat I loved her more than anyone.

We walked around de gardens for a while. Ya don't know how much I wanted to kiss her right den and der. She was jus so beautiful an' I finally found my match. Rogue was good at cards an' someone I'd actually wanna change my bad habits for. We had somethings in common and she certainly was a challenge. An' when she called me Remy, something Bella Donna only really did, I don't know how to describe it. Somethin jus changed inside of me. Usually only my real good friends call me Remy, but she did it and without asking and without even thinkin bout it either, like as if we were good enough friends already.

Gambit sighed. He had been doing a lot of going back to his past lately.

"I never knew something like calling a person by their real name could be so romantic!" Kitty giggled. She grabbed his hand and lifted him up from the ground. "C'mon! You're talking to Rogue now!"

"Nah Kitty, I don't want to rush it," Gambit said pulling himself back down. He grabbed all his cards and put them into a deck. Gambit put his hands in his pockets.

Immediately Jean came running towards them, "Kitty and Gambit! There's trouble! A few of those Sentinel robots are loose and fighting against the poor Morlocks and other mutants! We need to stop them! And all the defeated mutants and being caged by this anti-Mutant defense called the MRD!"

"What's that?" Gambit asked as he stood up.

"It stands for Mutant Response Division," Jean told them impatiently, "It was started by our old principal, Richard Kelly, who is now a Senator! He is very anti-Mutant! But you need to get suited up so we can fight against these robots!" Jean then turned and ran towards the jet.

"Well," Kitty sighed, "Looks like we'll never see the end of this, will we Gambit?" She looked at him. Kitty quickly phased through the Mansion to get her clothes in her room and then came back out.

But Gambit didn't notice because was looking at Rogue, who then turned and looked at him. However, he immediately turned away and looked at Kitty, "Guess not." He replied and frowned, but he wasn't talking about the Sentinels. Gambit then picked up his trench coat and turned back to face Rogue and ran towards the jet, unaware of what he would have to face.