I'm no expert on medication and all that so don't flame me for mistakes! And Racetrack's Goil – Gambit hasn't been cut out of X-3. At least, I don't think so. Apparently he has a small cameo role. But we'll soon known! Those wanting ROMYness better read on!

Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 10

"Gently, gently."

Gambit was lowered slowly upon the cold hard surface of the dirt floor in the sewers. The X-Men had brought him back to the sewers after the attack in Washington and throughout the journey he had remained unconscious. As the jet was once more hidden from view, necessary materials were taken from it, including emergency food rations, blankets and medical supplies and they were brought into the sewer. Together, Storm and Scott lowered Gambit onto one of the blankets near the cave wall.

Cautiously, some of the students had come closer, including Rogue who was staring down at Gambit's bloodstained face with a horrified expression, "What happened?" she said in a breathless tone.

"Humans jumped him," answered Logan gruffly as he slowly looked towards to Rogue.

At this, Pyro had quickly looked up with a distasteful expression, eyes watching Gambit, whilst he shook his head slowly.

"He'll be alright," said Jean quietly as she kneeled down besides Gambit, "Just let me tend to him." She looked pointedly at the students who quickly understood and backed away. Two poles were pulled out of refuse by a glance from Jean and they flew towards the cave wall, which Jean and Gambit were besides. They pressed down into the dirt, and a dirty blue tarpaulin flew across the top of a nearby fire to land upon the tops. It attached itself to the poles and the cave wall, forming a makeshift tent against the rocks that hid Gambit's bloodied form from view. Jean looked round slowly at Scott who crouched behind her, "I don't want the kids to see.." she murmured.

Scott slowly nodded his head in understanding before he pulled back with a quiet farewell, and disappeared from view outside the tent. Jean summoned the plastic chest of medical supplies towards her, and they calmly slipped into tarpaulin tent and landed besides her. Jean slowly cast her eyes across Gambit's form again; watching his relaxed face as his head lay a little slumped. She reached across slowly, pushing back his spiked fringe from his forehead so that it would not lie in contact with the gash across his forehead. She sighed quietly as she watched his facial injuries. No doubt there would be more. She lifted his body slightly so his trench coat could be pulled off. She pushed open his shirt slowly, unfastening the buttons. As she did so, she could see the extensive injuries upon his upper torso, including a stab wound at his shoulder and numerous cuts and bruises littering his muscular chest.

But a small noise sounded from Gambit, and he slowly lifted his head with a pained groan, "Oh.." He flinched a little, "You got cold hands.." he murmured quietly, his eyes lifting to watch her as he spread a weak smirk. Jean gently pulled her hands away, offering an apologetic smile. Gambit slowly looked down across his chest, giving a raspy chuckle as he let his head fall back, "Gambit hasn't had a pretty belle undress him for a while," he cheekily grinned at her, winking a bruised eye, "Being stuck down 'ere don't get you close to many girls."

Jean shook her head with a soft chuckle, "Be quiet, Gambit. Smooth talking isn't going to make your injuries heal any faster."

"Non, but it might earn me a kiss or three," he smirked up at her.

But Jean continued to shake her head, turning to open the medicine box and pull clear plastic gloves onto her hands. She sifted through other sterilised items before she pull out a rather nasty looking needle. Gambit's smiling face instantly relaxed and he stared at the long needle. "Ah.. haha.. ya jus' kiddin' right?" He made a nervous laugh. "Ya ain't gonna be stickin' that anywhere in Gambit are ya now?"

"It's Hydromorphone, it'll help relieve the pain."

"Hydro-what-now?" asked Gambit, a note of panic in his tone.

"It's a painkiller. Don't worry. All you'll feel is a slight prick of the needle. You might feel a little sleepy or light headed once it gets working, but that's just normal."

"Look, chere, please do not stick that thing in Gambit, I be fine, look, I'm talking," he made a wince, "Slight pain - nothin' to worry about!"

"Gambit, please just let me do this, I need to stitch your wounds and it'll be terrible without the drug!" she moved closer, holding the needle ready.

"No!" yelped Gambit, pushing back from her.

"You're over exaggerating!" she muttered as she crawled closer, she almost fell upon him in the process of pulling his arm flat to the floor and pressing the needle into the vein and quickly injecting.

Gambit made a whimper, closing his eyes. He reluctantly opened once the small prick of pain subsided and slowly looked up at Jean who was practically straddling him. "Dat's it?"

"Told you it wasn't that bad."

"Only cos I got you distracting me," Gambit spread an impish smile whilst Jean tutted and pulled the needle out. She pulled back from him, moving a hand to gentle rub the area of injection to ease any discomfort.

"Well, at least I got it in. It will help, otherwise you'll be in agony later."

Gambit scoffed quietly, "I ain't feelin' too peachy right now either."

"The drug will help."

Gambit dropped his head back into the dirt, sighing quietly, "So ya keep sayin'."

"Now to stitch your wounds."

"I ain't gonna like this part either, am I?"

The cave lay in gentle darkness as the mutants slept. A few fires were only burning embers that sent a few flickering sparks up into the air. Gambit was sleeping inside the makeshift tent whilst the others took the newly brought blankets and slept around the fires. Rogue's eyes slowly fluttered open to stare up at the ceiling, watching the faint orange glow that weakly filled the area. It was only as she lay awake, wrapped tightly in the warm thick blankets, that she heard a sound across the fires. She slowly lifted her ear from the ground to try and listen better. Soft pained winces were coming from Gambit's tent.

Frowning, Rogue pushed herself out of her blankets and slowly made her way towards the blue tarpaulin they lay over the posts and rocky wall. She cautiously hunched down as she walked into the shelter. It was quite dark inside, with the firelight shining on the blue sheet and casting distorted shadows inside. Rogue pushed back the tarpaulin as she made her way inside. The soft scratching noise of the moving material caused Gambit to slowly look her way. "Rogue.." he said in a soft tone. His eyes closed gently as he leant his head back down, sighing quietly.

"You're in pain.. I'll go and get Jean." she quickly turned, intending to fetch her.

But Gambit suddenly spoke, "No.." She quickly looked round, seeing him shake his head, "I'm fine.. a bit of pain is nothin', huh?" He smiled weakly. Rogue slowly moved towards him and crouched down to sit besides him in the dirt. She frowned gently as she looked over the numerous bandages on his body, a few stained with blood. Whilst he was naked from the waist up, he was covered in a beading sweat and every so often he made a soft wince of pain. Seeing her concerned look, Gambit made a raspy chuckle, "Don't worry about me, girl."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Probably several hours," said Gambit quietly as he watched her, "It got kinda lonely."

"Well, I'm awake now, I'll stay with you."

"Ya sure?" murmured Gambit with a wry expression, "Popsicle won't mind?"

"..Popsicle? Oh, Bobby! No.. who cares, anyway? You're hurt and ya need company." She smiled down at him, gently looping her arms about her knees.

Gambit coughed quietly as he lay, unable to suppress a sudden wince and a shaky gasp of breath. The sweat on his face trickled slowly into his hair. Rogue watched him worriedly for a moment before she looked round and grabbed a bottle of water from the corner of the tent. She unscrewed the lid and brought it to Gambit's lips.

"Here, drink," she said quietly. Gambit obediently let his cut lips part and Rogue tilted the bottle so the water gently flowed into his mouth. She paused so he could swallow and repeated the process before pulling back. "That better?"

Gambit mutely nodded, closing his eyes slowly. Rogue leant forth slowly with a flannel left by Jean; it was still damp from the cool water that it had been soaked with. She slowly brushed the sweat from his face and neck, taking care not to move too close to the wounds She moved away and Gambit slowly let his eyes open as he smiled softly at her, "Havin' fun playin' the nurse-maid?"

Rogue grinned sheepishly, blushing a little, "I just wanna look after ya. Can't just leave ya, can I?"

"Hey, I ain't complaining, chere. Nice to have attention," Gambit chuckled a little, indicating his wounds, "The positive kind anyway. Not the ones that involve trying to kill me."

"The humans.." began Rogue hesitantly, "They just attacked ya, for no reason?"

"Yeah.." said Gambit quietly as he frowned and looked away.

Rogue, misreading his averting eyes for painful recollections immediately backtracked, "Sorry.. I just don't understand how they recognised ya were a mutant."

But Gambit stayed quietly, purposely not looking at her. It was quite different lying to this girl; perhaps it was because there was something of innocence about her, something pure. "I don't know exactly, chere," he saw her concerned eyes and grinned weakly, "Feelin' sorry for me?" he asked cheerfully. He gently raised a hand in a bid to push her hair from her face so he could see her better. But to his surprise, Rogue had quickly grabbed the oncoming hand and closed her gloved fingers around it.

"No.."

"I was only gonna move ya hair from your face," said Gambit quietly, looking at her in a bemused way.

Rogue stared at him for a moment before she sighed and bowed her head, "I don't wear these gloves for the hell of it y'know.."

"Oh? So it ain't some weird fashion statement?"

A slight grin twitched Rogue's lips, "No," she said, glancing briefly at him, "Definitely not." She slowly lowered her hand slowly, but his just moved with hers. She found that it wasn't her grip keeping them together, but his. "No, it's my mutation. My skin.. it somehow hurts people when they touch it. I take people's memories.. and their strength," she looked at him morosely for a moment. "And in a mutant's case, I borrow their powers for a while."

"Can it kill?"

"Yeah.." answered Rogue quietly, "The Professor says so."

"Don't worry, chere," said Gambit quietly as he tenderly squeezed her hand, "Plenty of mutants have it rough, but they cope. I mean, look at the Morlocks, at least you ain't forced yourself to live out of the sunlight. Ya can still see the world up there. Plus ya with the X-Men. Couldn't be safer for ya."

"Couldn't be safer?" Rogue gave a dry laugh, "Oh yeah, the MRA is gonna be passed and we're gonna get hunted down at vermin."

"Ssh.." whispered Gambit consoling, "No humans know we're here. And anyway, we got some good fighters, and the Morlocks on our side. We could take care of ourselves."

Rogue slowly slipped down to lay on her front in the dirt, watching his face as she lay besides him, "I just wish I was back at the mansion, and everythin' was alright and none of this was happening."

"Well, one good thing has come out of this."

Rogue looked surprised, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Gambit spread a smirk, "Y'all met me."

My birthday on the 24th! I'll be18! I'm off on holiday now after this update (23rd,) so I hope to see an inbox full of reviews when I get back (26th!) So, please review, as a present, hehe.