Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men

On that night, at a sushi bar in the center of New York City…

"So…" Rogue said after chewing sushi in silence for a while. Bobby was very quiet tonight, almost as if he was avoiding talking so they wouldn't have reasons to fight, and she was starting to feel slightly bored. When they did talk, it was about generic matters, such as the weather, her new coat, how their day had been. She held back a sigh.

"How's the food?" he asked, taking a sip of his coke.

"It's amazing, I love this place. It's really cozy and the fish doesn't taste like refrigerator."

Bobby chuckled. "I know what you mean. You know, I had been thinking… what will you do this vacation?"

"Ah don't know. Stay at the mansion probably. Got no where to go, to be honest. Why?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to go on a trip to Puerto Rico." He smiled at her when her jaw dropped slightly.

"Bobby! Really, sugah?! Ah haven't gone to a warm place since I left Mississippi. I miss the hot temperatures so much! Oh, and there is the beach, swimming pools, shopping, historical tours… you can teach me how to surf!"

"This means you want to go?"

"Yeah sure! Although Ah wouldn't be able to swim at a crowded beach wearing a bikini, but still I could wear those special surfist's suits, rahte?"

"Yep. I don't think anyone will mind. Kitty said her cousin loved to surf so maybe he could …"

"Wait… you told Kitty we are going to Puerto Rico already?"

"Silly, she is going with us. Just like Piotr, Sam Guthrie, his sister Paige, Betsy, Lorna, Warren, and Kitty is telling Jubilee about it tonight. By the way, the house belongs to Kitty's uncle and she said it's huge!"

"Ah-Ah thought it was just you and meh. Like in a romantic trip." Rogue sighed. "Ah'm so stupid!"

"Wait, aren't you happy about it?"

"Bobby, why everything we do has to be related to Kitty somehow?! This is supposed to be a romantic dinner, and you come and invite meh to go to Puerto Rico. That's wonderful! But guess what? She will be there with us too. It's not you and meh evah! It's always you, meh and Kitty!" she finished the sentence almost screaming.

"Rogue, calm down. I thought you would be happy about everyone traveling together."

"Ah'd be happy if we were doing fahne, but we've been fighting. Ah wanted us to be together for a while to make things work again. We need some time for us. How many times do Ah have to say that?! Us, Bobby, us!"

Bobby rubbed his head with both hands and cursed silently.

"Ok, Rogue. Then never mind this trip, ok? Let's stay here, just us, rotting at the mansion." He murmured.

"That's how ya feel when you are with meh? Rotting?"

"No, I'd feel rotting staying at the mansion during the vacation while everyone is in Puerto Rico!"

"We could travel somewhere else! Why do you always avoid being alone with meh?"

"Because it always ends up like this!" He spoke loudly, hitting the table with his open hand.

Rogue looked around and realized every single person at the restaurant was staring at them. She held back her tears and whispered: "Fine."

She grabbed her purse and stood, then walked to the door. Slowly at first, giving him the chance to come after her but all he did was calling her name. When she reached the exit and saw he was still sitting at their table, she mentally cursed and left. All she wanted to do was to get away from him.

Rogue turned around to the right after walking a few blocks, leaving the crowded avenue and kept walking with no destination until she got to a dark street and sat on the pavement. 'Ah can't believe he just did that. Or is it mah fault? Am Ah really this hard to be around with?' She finally let her tears come out as she took in the place she was sitting at. There were some broken light signs of a hotel across the street, and light coming out of the bar behind her, but that was it. Everything else was dark and she could only hear a distant rumor of the cars, mixed with some heavy metal song coming from behind her. A chill ran down her spine as she felt someone exiting the bar and coming towards her. She stood up in a second, wiping her tears, and clenched her fists.

"Hey, miss. This is not a nice place to be, sitting alone like this. Want to join me for a drink?" A red haired man asked her. He didn't look ugly, but he surely looked like he had other intentions besides drinking. And he already looked very drunk.

"Nah, thanks. A friend is coming to pick meh up. He just called and…" Rogue tried to sound as firm as possible.

"It's okay, I'll take you home, sweety. Just join me for a drink and we can go, what do you say?"

"I just said: no."

"Too bad. But you're so pretty I think I'll be a little more persuasive." He came closer to her and tried to take her by the arm.

"Get yer hands off me!" she screamed at the same time the guy was shoved away.

"The fille said non, Dean. Leave her alone." A deep voice said.

"Oh, Louis, I was just inviting her for a…" Dean shut up when he looked at Louis' face and saw he wasn't in the mood. "Ok then. Maybe some other night." And he went inside the bar again.

Rogue crossed her arms and looked at the man in front of her.

"Ah could've handled it, Louis."

Remy smirked at her and put his hands in his pockets, shrugging.

"Ya' didn't expect me t' tell dese people my real name, did y' chérie? Or let y' get your hands dirty with dat." He nodded in the bar's direction. "Admit, ya're grateful."

"Oh yeah, swamp rat. Should Ah kiss yer feet?"

"Hum, maybe y' could kiss my…"

"Ah was being sarcastic. How do ya know that guy anyways? Is that the kind of people ya walk around with?"

"Non, but it is good t' have contacts in the … underworld." He whispered the last word as if trying to make it sound spooky.

"Sounds like ya."

"But he was right about somethin', belle. Dis is not a good place for y' to be sittin'." He frowned, sounding serious for the first time. "What happened? Weren't y' goin' out with dat Iceboy? Where's he?"

"We… had kind of an argument. So Ah decided to take a walk by mahself." She shrugged.

"He let y' walk around here alone?! What is dat idiot thinkin'?"

"Hey, don't talk like that about mah…boyfriend." Rogue put her hand on her hip, trying to put a little more confidence in the last word.

"Yeah, whatever, chérie." He said absently as he walked to his Harley. "Come, Remy will take y' home."

"If you think Ah'm getting on that bike with ya, you're so wrong."

"Y' are too belle to be so stubborn." Remy sighed and walked to her.

"Hey, what ya think ya're… put meh down!"

Remy put her over his shoulder and walked to his motorcycle that was parked across the street, while Rogue protested and punched his back. Deep, very deep inside, she couldn't really say it felt that bad. It did feel annoying to be carried around like a baby but the sweet yet spicy scent coming from his coat and his abnormally warm body made her feel strangely relaxed. It made her feel she could stay a while like that, when he suddenly sat her down on his Harley.

"Now, y' put dat helmet on and behave while we head home, ok?" He almost sounded serious, but his heart stopping smirk ruined it.

"Ok." She whispered, still slightly dizzy with the scent. It didn't help that he sat in front of her and placed her arms around his chest. His muscled hot chest. 'Gawd, what am Ah thinking?! Control yerself girl!' she told herself.

"Hold on, chérie." He said as he started the motorcycle. The roar of the motor made her smile a bit. Logan had taught her how to ride, but never on his bike, only the small ones, since he thought it was too dangerous for her yet. He'd kill Remy if he found out where she was sitting right now. Since she couldn't argue with Remy because of the noise, she just enjoyed the ride, trying to get her mind off the bad events of that night.

They arrived almost too soon. It took her a second to let go of him and stand up. She took off the helmet and realized Remy was smiling at her. She lowered her head, letting her hair fall around her face, and pretended to be cleaning her clothes so he wouldn't notice the blush on her face.

"Your face gets even prettier when y' blush, chérie."

'Crap.' Rogue thought.

"Ah'm not blushing, Ah'm just nervous about this ride. Ya don't drive very well, ya know?"

He laughed and stood up as well, approaching her slowly with that predatory look he so often gave her. Rogue held her breath, unable to move beyond that. Her cheeks burned when she felt his eyes piercing hers.

"Non, ya're blushin'." He whispered as he took the helmet off her hands and backed away. She let the air out of her lungs slowly and looked furious at him for a second, and then walked out of the garage, heading to the garden.

"Stop following meh, swamp rat."

"Belle, it hurts my feelings when y' talk like dat."

Rogue just fastened her pace, feeling the tears wanting to break through.

"Ah want to be alone, if ya haven't realized it yet! So stay away!" She turned to look at him and saw no one. "Good." She whispered and walked to a bench under her oak tree.

She sat there for about twenty minutes and didn't realize someone was staring at her, sitting on a branch a few trees behind her.

Remy thought she had to be alone for a while. Maybe her fight with the Iceboy had been bad, after all. Although he still felt like breaking Bobby's face for leaving Rogue alone in the middle of a metropolis at night, he decided to sit there to make sure she wasn't going to leave the mansion again or something like that.

'Ya're being too careful about this fille, Remy.' He shoved away this thought almost immediately after he had it. It was normal he didn't want a woman to get hurt. It wasn't like he was caring about her. He stopped his thoughts when he heard her hold back a cry without success and jumped off the tree in a fluid move. In less than a heartbeat he was at her side.

"Rogue?" He said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She jumped up, looking surprised at him and shunning his hand.

"Ah thought Ah told ya to leave meh alone?!" She intended that to sound aggressive, but all it did sound was helpless.

"I just wanted t' make sure y' were… chérie?" Remy looked concerned at her when he saw her watery eyes. "Hey, you sure y' don't want t' talk about it?" he whispered, still keeping his eyes on hers.

"No, Ah just…Ah…" her voice faltered as more tears strolled down her face. 'Why can't he leave meh alone? Why isn't Bobby here, instead of him?' She sobbed and covered her face with her hands, crying copiously. Remy held her close without even needing to think about it. Soon his chest was wet with her tears. Rogue kept crying as he stroked her head and back.

'What broke this girl so badly?' He wondered, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Ah can't take this anymore. Ah hate it!" She finally managed to say, between sobs.

"Hate what, ma belle?" He whispered. It was when she realized how close they were and pulled away, frightened. He looked confused at her. "I ain't gonna hurt y'. It's ok."

"It's not that. It's meh." She said, shaking her head.

He kept looking confused and she sighed.

"Ah'm so tired of mahself, Remy. Tired of trying so hard to make things work, tired of failing. It's all mah fault."

He took a step closer, still not getting it and she pushed him, surprised he hadn't figured it out yet.

"Rogue…"

"It's mah powers, Remy! That's why mah relation with Bobby is crashing. It's mah fault… Ah can't control mah powers. I'm a vampire, a life taker. How is he supposed to have a relationship with a girl who can't touch?! How can Ah blame him for growing more and more distant with meh? How can Ah blame anyone for being scared?!" She kept drying the tears off her face without success.

Remy stopped, realization striking him. When he learnt about her powers, he actually imagined she could deliberately control it. Maybe she could be a threat, but only when people pissed her off. Now, he figured it wasn't that way. There was no control. That's why the warnings… not because she could choose to hurt him if angry but because she could hurt him even if she didn't intend to. 'I got everything wrong.' Now he really felt bad for what he did in the Danger Room in their first session together. But how could've he known her powers were such an issue for her? 'Merde, Remy.'

He finally understood her fear. The fear he saw in her eyes when they first met. And whenever he got close to her. She wasn't scared of him, but of touching him. Of hurting him. That was the reason for all those clothes covering her beautiful body, the reason for the sadness always lurking behind her smile, the reason nobody ever got too close to her if they could avoid it. He looked at his own hands.

Rogue took his silence differently, thinking now he was definitely scared of her. She bit her lip, ashamed of being there in front of him, ashamed of her powers and incapacity. She held her own body, half trying to calm down, half trying to hide from the man in front of her.

"It's not your fault, Rogue. Y' didn't choose dis power." That caught her attention, but she still didn't raise her head. "It gives him no right t' treat ya' the wrong way. If he was not d'accord, then he should've told y' straight away, instead of behaving the way he did, making y' feel lonely, leaving y' alone, and I don't know what else. If he cared, he would have found a way t' make it work. And if he doesn't care and makes y' feel like you're the one to blame, then y' shouldn't bother too much about him either. Remember dat." He held her gloved hand as she wiped another tear and her eyes widened while she stepped back. "Don't cry."

"Please, don't get too close to meh." She nearly begged, feeling her heart aching. "Ah told ya already. We could end up touching by accident."

"So?"

"So?!" Her voice came out bitter, as she remembered most of people's apprehension towards her.

Remy smiled sympathetically. How pretty were her eyes, with droplets of tears shining like diamonds on her eyelashes.

"Should I be scared of such a belle fille? Y' think I'm crazy or what? I'm not scared of touching y', whether by accident or not." As he said that, he wiped away a teardrop from her cheek with his bare fingers. It lasted less than a second, not enough to drain anything from him, but it made her heart rush.

'Why is he doing this? Why is he not backing away?' She wondered, finding herself frozen for a moment. She could hardly believe that he had just touched her, without even hesitating.

"Stop crying your heart out because o' dat boy." He murmured, and something about the way he said it gave Rogue chills. Again, there was a hunger in his attitude that scared her.

"Ah…Ah should go now. Jubilee must be worried that Ah still didn't arrive, and Bobby must have called her saying Ah'm missing. If that's true, Logan will be here by any minute." She turned away from him and left without even looking back.

Remy didn't say a word, just stood there until she went inside. He was about to go to his room when a voice behind him whispered his name, making him shiver. A pair of red eyes looked at him from behind the dark trees.

"We need to talk." The voice said and Remy followed it against his will. He kept following the dark figure walking in front of him until they got to a distant place among the forest next to the institute. It was very dark, since the moonlight couldn't get past the trees which were too close to each other. The man turned around and faced Remy. His pale skin seemed to reflect even the slightest ray of moonlight, and his red eyes emitted a glow of its own. He looked elegant but still mysterious in his black expensive clothes, and he seemed to radiate evil from his interested grin.

"So, LeBeau, you managed to get in. I saw you already started to have some fun." The man's cold voice made the darkness seem even deeper. Remy narrowed his eyes a bit. The presence of Nathaniel Essex always made him feel uneasy.

"What brings y' here, Essex? I'm doin' everythin' as planned."

"Just wanted to make sure of that. Don't forget the reason you're here. Work, not fun."

"Yeah, y' should know how Gambit works."

"I do know. Gambit works as I tell him to, if he wants to get his payment." Essex had a smile on his face, but the words sounded like a real threaten. Remy clenched his fists and his eyes glowed.

"Y' promised dis would be the last one. Is it true?"

"Yes, it is. If you do everything according to the plan, of course."

"Gambit will, as he always does. How long d' I have t' stay here?"

"Maybe a month or two. I'm building Magneto's machine and finishing my own… project. I'll warn you when it's all ready. Meanwhile, search for the diamond and keep an eye on it. Did you get what I told you?"

Remy took the files from his trench coat and gave it to him. Nathaniel Essex looked through them with a satisfied smile. Remy, on the other hand, had his eyes narrowed in disgust.

"Very well done, LeBeau." He put the files in his suitcase and looked back at Remy, analyzing him. "I got an offer to make…"

"Non, I ain't taking no offers from y' anymore. I'll be going now. Bye." Remy snarled and left. It had been a long time they first met and, if he could turn back time, he'd never make a deal with that man. Remy remembered how young and desperate he was when his powers ran out of control. Essex appeared to him and made an offer to give him control if he worked for him. Remy agreed and Essex removed the problematic part of his brain in exchange of favors. At the time, the jobs didn't seem a big deal, just stealing things from laboratories and giving him information. But one day, he got to Essex lab and found him doing experiences on corpses and still living creatures, mutants mostly. He remembered he couldn't sleep for several nights without having nightmares. It was when he decided to stop… but it wasn't this easy to get rid of Nathaniel Essex or, how Essex started to call himself after some time, Mr. Sinister.

'But dis is the las' job… then I'm free.' Remy thought.

Essex watched his favorite employee leave and disappear in the woods. 'Too bad he wants to leave. Such a talent. A rebel for sure but still…' An evil grin appeared on Sinister's pale face, but his eyes remained dead somehow. 'He won't be able to run and refuse my offer forever. After all he needs his riders…not for long of course, but he will need them in the beginning. And then…' A dark laugh broke out of his thin lips and this time his eyes glowed a sick red, while he turned to finish what he came to do at the Institute.