Author's Note: The first two chapters are mainly to introduce Rogue's relationship and history with both Gambit and Joseph and to set the current scene. The first chapter is all about Joseph and Rogue. The second will be about Rogue and Gambit. Hope you enjoy the story.

Apologies in advance for any spelling mistakes are sentences that may not make sense.

1

"'course this don't turn out to be a normal recruitment mission!" Rogue snapped as she ducked out of the way of lasers being shot at her.

Rogue felt the movement in the air before she saw the metal that had curved and formed a shield in front of her.

"I did apologise for my actions." Joseph said.

Rogue turned her head to look up at Joseph. He'd floated down from where he had been positioned on top of a block of flats. He had brought up the shield to protect her.

Rogue glanced over to the mutant they were here to recruit. Elizabeth Braddock stood grounded as she held up a purple shield to protect herself and Angel from the lasers that were being shot at them.

"I didn't mean it like that Joseph." Rogue said.

"I know," he said, his gaze moving from the armed soldiers to the woman crouched down on the ground.

"Angel!" Rogue yelled out, gaining his attention. "Get her outta here and head back to the institute."

"What about-"Angel started to say.

"Don't worry about her past!" Rogue snapped, sighing inwardly as she did what was right rather than let her feelings control her.

Elizabeth Braddock, also known as Psylocke, was a mutant with telekinetic and telepathic powers. The Professor had picked up on her powers and distress using cerebro and had sent Rogue out as team leader with Joseph and Angel to help and recruit her.

Joseph and Angel were both still new to the X-Men. Scott and the other X-Men had been busy though, so this was her team which, Rogue, honestly, didn't have a problem with. Even with their lack of experience on the battle field and in the recruitment area, she was still happy to have the back up or else everything would have been a lot worse.

When Rogue had landed their jet and actually found Psylocke, she had been shocked. Psylocke looked just like another person she had known before with short purple hair and a Goth touch. Risty, the girl Mystique had created to get close to her, only to betray her and use her. This put Rogue instantly on the defensive when she approached Psylocke. Psylocke had read Rogue's thoughts and felt her hate and dislike towards her straight away. This had made her run.

Psylocke had already been running from some soldiers because she was being accused of breaking into a government organisation and stealing files. The three had chased her, Angel finding her first and seemingly calming her down. Only for Rogue to show up a little later and ruin that calm, putting everything on edge again.

Rogue had decided it was a good idea for just her and Psylocke to talk it out alone as the girl had already made it clear to the whole team it was her who she had a problem with and why she wasn't going to go with them.

Psylocke and Rogue had had it out in a screaming match between the two in the streets. Rogue telling Psylocke to keep out of her head as Psylocke brought up that she knew Rogue was close to Mystique and she didn't trust her. Rogue had admitted that she wanted nothing to do with the mutant and expected Psylocke to have connections with Mystique since she looked like a girl she had impersonated before. Psylocke said that it was Mystique who was using her appearance as a cover and stole those files. Mystique had been setting Psylocke up over some petty reason and the two hated each other. It was just as Rogue and Psylocke were starting to connect over their hated for Mystique that she had begun to be shot at.

Angel had seen the men first and had flew down to warn them and get them out of there which had only sealed their fate. Psylocke had jumped into action, throwing herself in front of Angel and shielding him, leaving Rogue exposed. But Joseph had been watching her the whole time and protected her.

Psylocke, Rogue called out mentally. Psylocke turned her head, looking at Rogue a little out of the corner of her eye, struggling to keep the shield up. Please, trust us! I know I've made it hard for you, but please, come with us and I promise you, me and the Professor, we'll do whatever we can to help you! Even if that means tracking down Mystique and putting an end to her stupid games!

It took Psylocke a moment, but she nodded.

"You flying us out of here pretty boy, or what?" Psylocke had asked Angel.

Angel nodded, going to wrap his arms around her waist.

"Joseph, can you give them cover?" Rogue asked.

"Move with me." Joseph said as he began to hover towards Psylocke and Angel, the metal shield moving with him. Rogue ran towards Angel and Psylocke as Joseph moved. Once close enough for Joseph to expand his shield to both Psylocke and Angel, Psylocke dropped her shield, falling back into Angel's arms.

Rogue tried to think how she could get Angel and Psylocke out of here without them being shot out of the sky.

Before she could think of anything though, she felt an arm wrap around her waist.

Rogue stiffened at the contact, preparing for a soldier who had maybe got around their defences to be there. But what she saw was Joseph bringing her close to his chest with one arm, the other stretched out to keep the metal up.

"I can keep my shield up. Just fly!" Psylocke yelled.

Angel and Joseph both began to lift the women in their arms up into the sky and fly away towards their jet. Psylocke did as she said, making a shield again to protect herself and Angel as they flew into the sky. Joseph still kept a small metal shield curved around both himself and Rogue as he took off. Rogue found herself wrapping her arms around his shoulders, holding on tightly. She wrapped one of her legs around one of Josephs to strengthen the grip. It felt a little sexual as their legs pressed tightly together, but, for some reason, Rogue doubted Joseph minded. She could see he was focusing solely on keeping that shield up and flying them away rather than how close the leech was to his skin. But he had a very tight grip on her waist. Very tight.

Knowing they were getting through into the air where the soldiers' guns couldn't reach, Rogue turned her head to look over Joseph's shoulder at Betsy and Angel. Angel was crying her bridal style. She had dropped her shield, looking tired. Rogue could see she was smiling at Angel softly. It looked so romantic, Rogue thought. More romantic than when she had been carried like that by Angel. She was happy for them, guessing already that the two were going to have a close relationship.

Rogue breathed in Joseph's scent. He smelled of minty things. Sea salts or sea minerals and peppermint. Kind of like new metal, she guessed. It was nice. Comforting. She wasn't this used to being close to people, but, with Joseph, it was slightly different.

Joseph dropped his shield and was able to fly fast now that he wasn't multitasking. He looked down at Rogue first with those silvery eyes before reaching out with his with arm to move her into a steadier grasp. He reached for Rogue's legs and pulled them to his chest. Rogue had no objection to this, letting the man who could fly decide what was best. Besides, she couldn't really pay attention to what he was doing with her body. Not when his eyes never left hers. She needed to check her surroundings. Make sure her team was safe. But for the life of her, she couldn't bring herself to look away from Joseph's gaze either.

"Thank you." Rogue found herself saying.

Joseph's smile grew as he pulled her even closer to his body.

"I believe I should be saying that to you." Joseph said.

Rogue tsked, "What you mean? I wasn't the one to shield everyone and fly us to safety."

"No, but you did recruit me." Joseph said.

Rogue thought back to her time recruiting Joseph now. She had been younger, of course, and Scott and Jean were still leading the team (like they still were). This was back before Rogue had ended up being entrusted with leading her own team and doing her own recruitment missions like with Psylocke.

The jet had approached Joseph and, straight away been thrown out of the air. Joseph was in a rage and had lost control of his powers. He was being targeted and hunted, must like Psylocke was, by government agents. This had been shortly after Apocalypse and, even though everyone saw Magneto on live TV try and battle it out with the mutant, they also saw him attack others. There was so much on Magneto that the government found they had to arrest him. I was one of the most wanted terrorists in America for crying out loud. And Joseph, even though he was a young adult rather than a much older man, looked so similar to Magneto and also had the same abilities. Because of this, he had been tracked down and cornered by the MRD. He was furious that he was being compared to a mutant terrorist and just lost it. He lashed out, not wanting to be imprisoned without a fair trial.

Rogue had been there on the battle field to learn and figure all of this out. Hell, even as the X-Men approached him, they were sure that Joseph was Magneto and had simply changed his appearance to be younger. It wouldn't have been the first time. It's what made them hesitate.

Jean had tried to get inside Joseph's mind to try and calm him, but his rage had just been too powerful for her to calm down. She told the X-Men though that, whoever this man was, he couldn't have been Magneto. He was hurt that they were comparing him to the man when he was innocent.

Rogue, like the other X-Men, felt sorry for Joseph. But she guessed she felt sorrier for him as she had had Mystique in her life. She thought about all the bad things Mystique had done and she thought that, if she was accused of those things, being her daughter and all, she would be mad too. Mystique had forced her hand at times as well and made her actually do those horrible things like release Apocalypse.

Rogue had turned to Kitty and asked her to use her phasing abilities to get her close to Joseph without being hit by the flying metal.

Joseph has lashed out at them both, but Kitty kept them safe.

"I get it, alright!" Rogue could vaguely remember her saying to him at the time, "I know what it's like when you're being compared to someone who you don't want anything to do with! When you're being judged by someone else's actions rather than your own. Mystique, errr, my mama, she's a bad person too and she's made me do things, things that I'm not proud of. But I fight back every day! I try to prove to the world every day that I'm not her and I try to do right in the world. Please Joseph, I know it's hard, but you can do the same. You don't have to be like Magneto! You can be you! Just let us help you."

Somehow, as Rogue kept talking at him and eventually with him, he began to calm down. Scott and Jean had gave them cover from the MRD while Rogue and Kitty got a near unconscious Joseph loaded up on the jet. The Professor had cleared Joseph's name with the MRD, making them back off of him.

There had still been uneasiness though around the mansion. Logan didn't much like Joseph. Said he smelled just like Magneto and he found it too suspicious. There were a few other mutants who just avoided Joseph, kind of like they avoided Rogue sometimes. They were scared of their powers. Scared of their history and connections.

Over that course of time, Joseph had come to Rogue many times, asking her how she dealt with those looks and people comparing her to Mystique.

Rogue had tried to explain and help him as best as she could, but, her way of coping was summing it up to her telling him to just ignore them, no matter how hard it is and just act. Protect people and let his actions speak for him. Rogue had opened up a little to Joseph though and admitted that, the reason why she also ignored them and didn't try to reason with them was because she didn't want to get close to people because of her mutation. She had explained that, if he did put in the effort, asked to join a game of mutant ball or something, then the younger mutants would be more open with him and accept him faster.

He did do this, played mutant ball, but he made sure Rogue was there with him. He had tried to make sure that she didn't feel left out which Rogue thought was sweet, but she still proceeded to push people away.

Funny enough though, she had had a hard time pushing Joseph away. She guessed it was because they had a similar understanding to one another that made her have a soft spot for him. She had soon heard of the rumours going around the mansion that they were a thing, which had made Rogue blush, angry and try to just avoid Joseph. Joseph, however, had used her own words of advice against her, twisting them slightly. He said that, just because others think that, does not mean that is the truth. He said that they should not live letting their actions be controlled by what others think. They both do good because they want to, not solely because of Mystique or Magneto. And just like that, they should not change their actions or attitudes towards each other just to please others. Joseph had admitted then that he enjoyed spending time with Rogue. Rogue had admitted that to and almost stopped pushing him away.

He had a tendency to sometimes push conversations she didn't want to have, or, wasn't ready to have and that's what made her, mostly, uneasy around him and push him away.

Now, here he was. It had only been a short amount of time since Joseph had joined the X-Men, but he had joined the X-Men, won them over into believing he wasn't Magneto and was now helping their cause with her. Rogue tried to remember what they had been talking about before the memory hit her. His eyes were just so distracting though.

Oh, that was right. She had thanked Joseph for saving her butt back there, but he was saying he should be the one to thank her for recruiting him. Rogue instantly felt guilt about what she'd said before when it came to recruitments always being difficult.

"You know what I said before, about recruiting, I never meant that I regretted or hated recruiting you or Psylocke, right? I just hate the constant fighting with the MRD. They just make things ten times more difficult." Rogue said.

His smile grow. "Well, I am glad to know you don't regret recruiting me." Joseph said.

Rogue left herself blushing. Of course he would focus on that part. This was all getting too sweet and sentimental for her.

Rogue tsked, "Yeah, 'cause havin' ya on our side just makes things a whole lot easier. Speakin' of makin' things easier, you mind fixing the pipe later? The Professor was gonna ask before, but, ya know, Psylocke popped up and took priority."

She shuck as she felt Joseph chuckle. "Did you get into a fight with Bobby again?"

Rogue looked away, still blushing red. Looking away from him helped her concentration a little. But she had to admit, flying across a beautiful city in a handsome man's arms who looked into her eyes with such a deep and meaningful glace while he held her ever tighter to her body, how could that not be a hard distraction? It was almost romantic if Rogue could do romance.

"He started it and got what he deserved." Was all Rogue could say as she looked for her team. Angel had landed on the top of the skyscraper where their jet was parked. He still had Psylocke in his arms while he carried her up the steps into the jet. Yep, she was definitely betting with Logan that those two would be a couple by the end of the month.

Joseph began to lower them down two. Rogue never did look back into his eyes and he noticed this. He noticed it every time they got close like this, physically or emotionally, she would find a way to pull away. He understood why. Many had stopped to explain it to him. But he just couldn't help but find himself constantly having these moments with her. While he was with her and under his care he wanted to protect her and keep her safe. If that meant letting her walk away when moments like this occurred, if that was for the best, then so be it. But he found, that he could never completely part with her. Like now, as he landed on the roof top, he found her moving her legs to try and stand. He let her stand, but he found every possible way to try and hold onto her for as long as possible. As she began to walk away from him, he found his hand had stroked slowly down her back as she walked away from him.

He ended up making a fist after she moved away from him. All he wanted to do was grab her, pull her into his arms and just fly away with her. He just wanted it to be the two of them. Wanted, almost, to pin her down and admit everything until she admitted she liked him back. He just wanted to possess her rather than let her walk away. But he had to… And it felt like a direct blow each time he did let go. He couldn't risk anything.

He caught Rogue looking back at him, a little Oh playing on her lips as she did. But she kept walking, up the steps and towards the controls of the jet.

Joseph sighed and followed Rogue into the jet.