AN: Wow! Thank you so much guys! 6 reviews for one chapter! That's the most I've ever had. Let's see if we can beat it? I know I'm getting my hopes up a bit but I have a trampolining competition on Sunday and today my back flips decided to fuck up majorly so I am freaking out! So some reviews would really turn this shitty day around *hopeful smile*
Song: Kings of Medicine – Placebo.
The decorations were up, tinsel glittering on every wall and picture.
The tree was tinkling with a myriad of tiny lights.
It couldn't have been more sickly sweet and Christmassy if someone lit a fire and everyone was wearing reindeer jumpers.
But Remy noticed that something was off... and he could summarise it in a single word:
Wrong.
Make that two words:
Very wrong.
Hell, why not, let's go for three words:
Insanely very wrong.
He hadn't taken Rogue out on a date.
At all in fact.
Well they'd had some 'stay in' dates. But no 'go out' dates.
This was unacceptable and needed to be fixed. Urgently.
He was walking to Rogue's dorm, intent on asking her to come with him when he spotted Morph in the living room. He was watching TV and taking the piss out of the people on screen by shifting into their form and taking on their voice. And then taking what they are saying and... Changing it slightly.
A news readers was on screen saying about the economic recovery and how it has been directly influenced by the mutant phenomenon. She was pretty and blond and Morph, in her shape said "I am a home wrecking slut with no personality."
Remy rolled his eyes. "'M glad to see y'r havin' fun..."
Kevin shifted back into his form and turned to grin at Remy. "You know it, honey buns. Now what can I do for you this fine day?"
Remy was struck by an idea, a light bulb moment if you will. "Go to Rogue. Tell her to wear somethin' nice as me an' her are goin' out tonight. Do whatever y' have to ta get her into a dress."
Morph saluted and, in a bad Scottish accent said, "Aye aye captain!" and saluted smartly before marching off.
Remy rolled his eyes at the strangeness before picking up his phone. He had a few arrangements to make.
Rogue was lying on her bed, minding her own business, listening to music and reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver. Even if it wasn't released till February. Let's just say she has friends in high places. It was at this point that her door flew open, crashing into the wall with an ear-splitting bang.
Rogue looked up, bored, espied Morph and looked back down at her book. "Afternoon Morph."
"G'day mate. Crikey. Look at you! We've got some work to do." Rogue glanced up again to see Steve Irwin in her room. Morph grinned at her before shifting into, what seemed like, a fashion designer of some sort.
"Now. Let's see what I have to work with here." He said as he strode over to her closet and wrenched it open. He started to look through all her clothes, throwing most of them in a heap behind him, some onto Rogue herself and ooohing and aahing along the way.
"Oooh that's cute."
"Where did you get this? It's adorable!"
"Ugh this is hideous! Charity shop knock off much?"
"Cute shoes."
"This is perfect." He held up a strapless emerald dress. "This and-" he turned to rummage in the cupboard while the arm holding the dress grew long and stretched over to Rogue. His head popped up again "-these shoes!" he said excitedly, holding up a pair of black heels. "These are Christian Louboutin! The limited edition Rolando Zip! There were only four of these made!How on earth did you get them?"
Rogue smiled fondly "I met a man in a bar and ended up saving his company. He was kind enough to repay me by getting me a pair of these."
Morph stared at her. "I love you and hate you at the same time." He shook his head. "Anyway. You have to get dressed! You have to leave soon!"
Raising an eyebrow Rogue said "Leave? Where am I going, pray tell?"
Wiggling his index finger at her like a teacher telling off a child Morph smiled "Nuh uh uh! That would be telling. Now come on! Hop in that shower before that spicy Cajun dish with some seriously hot buns comes up here and distracts you."
Rogue sighed but grabbed the dress and stormed to the bathroom. Morph smiled.
This was going to be fun!
Remy waited in the hall anxiously. He couldn't remember the last time he was actually nervous for a date. He'd already knocked over a vase (it didn't break) and tripped over his own shoes.
He glanced at his watch anxiously, noting that the hands hadn't actually changed in the two seconds since he last checked.
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Looking towards the front door he missed Rogue arriving at the top of the stairs. He glanced back briefly and did a double take. Her hair was down and slightly curled. Her makeup was subtle. Her dress suited her perfectly.
She was glowing.
Rogue walked up to him with a smile. "Hiya handsome."
Remy's mouth opened and closed a few times but no sound came out.
"Shall we go then?" She asked, trying to hide a smile.
He nodded several times, still staring at her, but didn't move an inch.
She laughed and tugged Remy towards the front door. "Eyes front and centre sugar."
Finally his brain kicked into gear and stopped being mesmerised by Rogue's body. He then grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in for a quick kiss. "Y' look lovely, chère."
She smiled up at him as he took her hand and lead her outside. Remy then walked her to her Lamborghini but stopped her a few feet away. "I'm drivin'." He stated firmly.
Rogue placed her hands on her hips and said "Oh really?" Before reaching into her small clutch bag while saying "How can you drive when you don't have..." she trailed off, searching for her keys. A small cough and a jingling noise caught her attention.
Remy was holding her keys.
She made a snatch for them but he whipped them out the way and then strolled to the passenger side door whilst swinging them around his index finger and whistling merrily.
He opened the door and looked to her. She rolled her eyes and stormed to the door, stopping to shoot him an ice glare before gracefully sitting down in the car and yanking the door from his grasp.
Remy grinned as he walked round to the driver's door. He couldn't imagine dating a normal girl. It would be so boring!
Rogue felt the car pull to a stop and was surprised when she looked out the window and up and the restaurant they had just come to.
She turned to Remy "Holy shit. You got reservations for Mimo's? How did you do that?"
He smirked and shrugged modestly "Gambit knows people. Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to." The doors were then opened and a gloved hand offered to help her get out. She took it and stepped out carefully.
Remy was by her side an instant later, tossing the keys to the guy who had helped her out with a murmured "If dere is a single mark on de car den my girlfriend will kill you. She loves dis car more den anyt'ing else. Comprend-vous?"
The man nodded, sweat beading his brow. He obviously wasn't used to being threatened by demon eyed customers.
Remy turned back to Rogue, who raised an eyebrow and placed one hand on the small of her back to guide her into the restaurant.
Once they were seated in a romantic corner of the restaurant and had given their drink orders they turned to the menu.
"Mmm. Everything sounds so wonderful!"
Remy smiled, glad to see her happy. She hadn't had enough time to just be normal and forget about anti-mutant hate groups and anachronistic super mutants trying to take over the world. It was a busy life, he mused, being an X-Man.
"'M glad y' like it, chère."
She glanced up from the menu, candlelight flickering on her cheekbones. "I love it Remy." She reached out a bare hand and took his. "Thank you for all this."
"Tis nothin' for one so beautiful as you." He said, as if reciting a flowery peon to her beauty.
This time she blushed and looked down at her menu.
The waiter arrived with the bottle of Cabinet Sauvignon and allowed Remy to taste it before pouring them both a glass. He then smiled and asked "Are you both ready to order?"
Rogue smiled back at him. He seemed like a nice chap.
In the end Rogue went for the pasta verde with black pepper and salmon while Remy had a salmon with a crème sauce and some spring greens.
Rogue sipped her wine slowly, enjoying the taste when a thought occurred to her. "So what made you want to come out tonight?"
Remy shrugged. "No reason. I just t'ought ma chère deserved a night off. Y' don' get many of dem."
Rogue gave a half smile as she knew exactly what she was talking about. Being an X-Man was fun and all but you really appreciated down time. Even lessons looked less dull than usual.
Their food arrived and the next few minutes were filled with the chomping of happy people enjoying first class food. Remy had to bite his tongue about four times to stop himself from commenting on Rogue's happy noises. And the other time she made them...
Just about managing to stop herself licking the plate clean, Rogue carefully placed her knife and fork with geometrical exactitude on her plate before taking another sip of wine. She was feeling warm and contented. Which was why she became nervous when Remy reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box.
Rogue dropped her wine glass and it was only Remy's super fast reflexes that stopped the rest of her wine going everywhere. He placed the glass back on the table before saying "'M just so talented don't-" He shut up as he looked up at Rogue. She was sitting there in exactly the same position, still staring fixedly at the small, innocent, innocuous little black box.
She finally moved her hand and pointed at the box saying "That-that's not..." she trailed off lamely, still in shock.
Remy looked at her, confusion written upon his face. But then his expression cleared and realisation dawned.
"NO!" he shouted. The rest of the patrons turned to stare at him. He glanced around before leaning in and saying, quieter this time "No...Sorry to freak you out. Dis is your Christmas present. I jus' didn' want to give it to y' in front of de others... Cause... Well. Y' know dem. Dey'd make it more than it is."
When she didn't touch the box, Remy sighed and opened it before placing it in her unprotesting hand.
Inside was a small golden ring that looked as if it had been plaited. It was beautiful and subtle enough so that it could be worn every day.
She plucked it from its velvet home and placed it on her little finger.
Rogue smiled. Finally. She then looked to Remy and her smile grew. She grasped his hand and said "Thank you Remy. I love it. Sadly you're present is at home and you'll just have ta wait until Christmas Day, sugar."
"But it's worth it, non?"
They were back at the house, lying on Remy's bed in their favourite positions. Rogue was draped across Remy with her head on his chest. She had started to trace patterns on his chest like usual when she suddenly stopped.
"Chère?" Asked Remy, lifting his head slightly.
"Rems... I just realised that we haven't had the whole family talk..." she trailed off as she felt Remy stiffen underneath her head.
She backtracked quickly "Just forget it, I'm-" But she was cut off when Remy reached up and covered her mouth with his hand.
"Y' really wanna know?"
Rogue thought for a second. "If you want to tell me, then yes."
Her head rose and fell as Remy took a deep breath.
"I dunno where I was born. I grew up on de streets, picking pockets and stealing anything I could. Until one day I tried to pick de pocket of the leader of de T'ieves Guild. He was so impressed dat he adopted me and raised me as his son. I have un frère, his name is Henri. Two other friends, who are both in de Guild called Theoren and Emil. Dey are such trouble makers. Dere was dis one time when a certain someone said dat it would be a great idea to steal a government plane and den-"
"Whoa. Back up the truck! You stole a plane? A government plane? A government plane?"
"Yeah. So?"
Rogue gaped at him before shaking her head and saying "Just... Carry on."
Remy smirked "Ma cousin, Etienne, Theoren, Henri an' me always used to give our Tante Mattie hell. She was our Aunt. Made de best cookies ever! It was a tradition to steal from her but she nearly always caught us. And gave us a good smack with her wooden spoon..." His expression sobered. "Etienne an' me were close. We had our tilling together. Cept we got captured by a powerful mutant who passed us on to a child slave trader. We managed to escape by jumping off a cliff into the ocean but..." He swallowed thickly. "Etienne didn't make it. An' Theoren never forgave me."
Rogue reached across to grab his hand and gently stroked the back of it with her thumb. "You'd like Emil t'ough. He's funny and light-hearted. Also totally insane an' has no concept for boundaries or rules but..."
Rogue smiled at that. "We should introduce him to Jubilee. They'd be perfect for..." She trailed off and a look of horror came onto her face. "Actually... On second thought that could cause the Apocalypse. Let's keep them away from each other. God help us if they become a crack team."
Remy laughed at her face before asking the question "What 'bout y' Rogue? Y'r family?"
Rogue sighed. "I was born and raised in Caldecott County, Mississippi. My parents loved me and raised me well. But when my powers manifested when I was kissing my boyfriend everything went downhill. Cody went into a coma and daddy kicked me out. Mama was able to sneak me some money but she was too afraid of Daddy to do any more. I hitched rides around Mississippi and ended up spending the night in a forest. It was there that Mystique found me. She took me home and raised me as her daughter. I even called her 'Mama'. She trained me in everything – hand to hand fighting, tactics, cooking. But I found out that she was using me. Then I travelled up towards Anchorage and met Logan in Laughlin city. We then got recruited by Storm and Cyclops into coming to see Xavier and then you know the rest."
Remy leaned down and kissed her on the head. "T'ank y' for tellin' me."
AN: I know Rogue's story is a little different from what we know and love but I wanted to combine a bit of movie and comic to make it fit. Okay now we are approaching the final chapter. It should (fingers crossed) be up in time for Christmas. Do note that I will be sans internet from the 15th-23rd as I am skiing (yay) But I might be able to work on it some more then and post it either late on the 23rd or early on the 24th.
Btw... Those shoes are real. Not limited edition. But AMAZING! So if anyone has a spare $795 knocking around...
