Recap: It's day time. Logan and the other X-Men that survived the Vampire attacks and got trapped in the sewers find the mansion destroyed and worry about the children that were inside. Rogue wakes up in pain on the train that has arrived in New Orleans. She manages to teleport away from the train station and find Henri LeBeau. Rogue refuses an ambulance and asks for Gambit. Henri tells her he's not here and he can't help her. Rogue calls upon the life debt Gambit told her about when he first came to visit her. Henri then agrees to help her. Logan and the other X-Men manage to find the other X-Men who were in the mansion at the time of the explotion. Beast explains that it was Joesph who told everyone to hid and then he left and hasn't come back. Gambit comes back to find a load of the thieves waiting outside and questioning who the girl is. Gambit is confused , but once he understands Rogue turned up hurt, he rushes to the room she's in and questions Tante Mattie (who's tended to her wonds) how she is. Tante says she'll be fine but just needs rest. Gambit gets forced out of the room and then ends up being punched by Jean-Luc. Jean-Luc has a go at Gambit for telling Rogue about the Life Debt. Gambit defends Rogue but Jean-Luc suggests that Rogue is more of a prisoner than a guest because the guilde doesn't know if they can trust her. He then questions what happened to her and if Gambit had been around her all this time, why did he let it get so bad. Gambit say that he thought she was safe and he had to leave because someone he had been running from found and used him again. But, Gambit say, he has the remote that will finally turn the bomb in the back of his neck off.

Chapter 19

The four X-Men, Logan, Storm, Jean and Emma were relieved when they discovered that everyone who had been in the mansion has survived.

"But how?" Asked Jean.

"Wasn't you listening before?" Emma said snidly. "Joseph warned them."

"But how could he? We all thought he'd been taken by the Vampires." Jean countered back.

The X-Men were stood in a circle, the younger mutants around them listening in on the adult conversation.

"Maybe he thought we had been taken too and decided to come back to the mansion." Said Storm.

"Perhaps, but how would Joseph know there was a bomb?" Said Hank.

"His talent is in metal. Maybe he felt it." Storm said.

"Or maybe we've been set up." Growled Wolverine.

"Wolverine." Storm's voice was strict and warning. "If Joseph did have something to do with the bomb then why would he save the children?"

"Who knows? We don't know his motives either. He could have planned this right from the start."

"Planned what? Destorying a building?" Said Bobby. "The guys a hero! And he's dead."

There was silence. "He died trying to save us." Bobby said.

There was more silence. "What do we do now?" Bobby asked.

Storm and Logan looked to each other. Finally Storm began shaking her head. "Logan, we can't lose any have to send them home." There were gasps from the younger kids.

"You think they're gonna be any better off on their own with their folks?"

Storm exhaled deeply. "There maybe a chance for them; not to be in larger numbers."

"And what about the others Storm? The kids who have no where to go?"

"They can stay if they wish, but we've not much cover." Storm finally moved to si down and Logan saw how exhased she looked. Logan moved over to her then put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "We aint spliting the kids up Storm. We're not losing any more than we already have..." Logan looked up to address the others. "We'll build as much cover as we can and prepare for attacks. So, lets get to it."

XXXXX

Two days passed till Rogue stirred and finally woke up. Rogue was very dizzy and very light headed. Confused about where she was too. She didn't reconigse the room she was in and didn't even understand why she was waking up. Rogue didn't want to get up. She wanted to close her eyes and go back to sleep. She tried to, but the question of where was she bothered her too much. Slowly Rogue tried to get up, only to fall back down into the pillow as her head spun more. When her head eased up, Rogue managed to get out of the bed with a lot of hissing as she lend on her forgotten cuts. Rogue looked down at her body and noticed that what she was wearing wasn't her clothes. Rogue also saw that her cuts had been cleaned and bandaged up. She wondered how she'd became so bandaged up. But seeing the bandages reminded her of the attacked she'd faced from the Vampires and Joseph. Rogue managed to add more pieces of the puzzled together and had a suspion on where she was.

Slowly, Rogue got to her feet and began hoping towards the door. Before Rogue could open it though, it opened itself. Rogue used the wall besides the door to keep herself balanced and moved out of the way of the door. The door opened and in stepped a small large woman who looked up at Rogue with a gasp frozen on her face; in one hand she had a tray in hand that was covered by a tea towel.

"Child, what 'r' ya doin' outta bed?" The woman took Rogue by the elbow and guided her slowly, but firmly back to the bed. Rogue had no idea who this woman was, but her face and tone did seem familiar. "Get back into bed hunny child and rest up." The woman forced Rogue to lie back down under the covers, placing the tray on the side table as she did and once Rogue was back in bed the woman smiled down at her.

Rogue looked up at the woman, still confused. "A-Ah'm sorry, but w-who are you?"

"Oh, hunny child, I'm your Tante Mattie. I've been lookin' after you and healin' you while you been in dis roughed up state. Hunny child, what on earth happened to ya?" Tante asked.

Tante Mattie saw the look of hurt and deep sadness in Rogue's eyes as she asked. Rogue looked away from Tante and looked back around the room.

"If you don't want to tell me child, then you don't have to, but I hope, for your own sake, that ya at least tell that trouble some boy, Remy. What evers happened to ya hunny child shouldn't go unpunished. Now, I'm guessin' your hungry, non?"

Tante removed the tea towel from the tray to reveal a bowl of some kind of soup and a fresh glass of orange juice and some fruits on the side. A smile spread on Rogue's lips. Tante chucked. "Now dat's what I like ta see. A fillie still bein' able to smile even when the world's knocked 'er down a few notchies."

And suddenly Rogue liked the woman who smiled down at her with such a motherly look. Tante sat Rogue up, placed the tea towel on her lap and then the tray. "Eat hunny child. Eat!"

Rogue did what she was told, eating Tante's delicious soup while Tante moved around the room, cleaning it up. Tante straightened the chair by Rogue's bedside and put away the blanket that was ruffled on top of the chair. She began moving shoes that were under the bed and clearing up plates and cups that were on a futher table. Rogue listened to Tante as she did clean up muttering something about living with a house hold of messy boys and that living with pigs would be cleaner. This made Rogue chuckle. Then Tante turned on her. "Well, it's de truth. Honestly, these boys here t'ink dey can just leave their t'ings everywhere and expect some magic fairy to clean up after em. If there weren't an exception for dat boy, Remy LeBeau den I'd be draggin' him back in here by de ear and makin' em clean up his own mess. Disgaceful, leavin' a poor old woman ta clean up after young energetic men. Oh the shame on em."

Rogue just chuckled with a slip smile on her face. "Tell me about it. Ah..." Rogue thought of what she was going to say and realised that she couldn't refer to it in present tense because there was no longer a mansion full of mutants. "Ah used to live with a load of boys who'd leave their stuff all around."

Tante frowned seeing that Rogue's mood had gone down again. Rogue looked up from her empty soup bowl to Tante, bringing herself out of her reminising. "Ah... Y'all are thieves here right?"

"Oui, we are child. You should know dat or else you wouldn't be here id de first place." Tante replied.

"And thieves are good at finding things? Like, lets say finding a missing item that they want to steal, a thief here would be able to track it down easily, wouldn't they?"

"It depends how hidden the treasure is child. But it sounds to me dat you got another need for de thieves instead just usin' our hospetality." Tante said.

Rogue looked shocked at this. "Oh no, Tante, ah didn't mean ta-" But Tante put her gloved hand up and Rogue stopped talking.

"Child, it's alright. anyone could see ya needed a helpin' hand and ya did the right thing calling on ya debt. But de thing is hunny child, you've used up dat debt now and there's gonna be a lot of complications."

"Complications?"

"Oui, complications. You know of de secret thieves guild and where it is.-"

"Oh, but Tante ah don't know where it is! I don't know how I got here or-"

"I ain't finished child." Tante Mattie said firmly, silencing Rogue. "Either way, ya here now and ya know too much about the guilde. Too much for just an outsider to know. Now child, there are three t'ings dat can happen after you recovered. One, you'll have ta go through numberious thieves guild tests to quilif for a thief and den you'll have to give you're word and honour to dis family and dis family only. Once your in de thieves family, it's very hard to get out without gettin' killed. And dat's number two; you die. Three is ya marry inta one of the families. But knowin' Jean-Luc and with de fact that medical supplies have already been used up on ya and dat your a mutant, he's most likely put ya through testin'. But that be only if you agree to that the thieves test and honour."

Tante was looking at Rogue with a cold glace, waiting for her to say something. Rogue was taken back. Gambit never told her any of this. "Ah...Ah don't know if ah can be a thieve Tante."

"If it's 'cause ya scared ya won't pass the tests, then don't worry ma child, Remy and his cousins will help ya out." Tante said looking soft and sympathtic.

"No, it's not that. It's... Ya see, ah'm already part of a family; the X-Men. And ah'm loyal ta them. From what your sayin' though, ah'd have ta put the thieves first, only ah can't do that. Ah'd have ta put the X-Men first. Especially now with what's goin' on with them." Tante saw Rogue just getting deeper and deeper depressed.

Tante sighed. But took on a firm tone. "So den, I guess dat leaves only one other option. You're gonna haveta marry inta the family."

Rogue looked to Tante, a little confused and a little bathuled. "What do ya mean marry inta the family? Do ya mean ah'd actually have ta marry someone, like a guy in your family or something?"

Tante nodded her head. "Dat is exsaclly what I mean hunny child. If you quilify for marriage material that is."

Rogue's head suddenly started spinning and feeling a lot worse than before. Rogue slouched down more into the bed "But ah can't touch." Rogue muttered while missarging her temples.

Tante nodded her head at this. Things didn't seem to be working out for the fillie well. She tried to think of what Rogue could use for her case to sell herself into the family. "Well child you can learn to control it."

Rogue closed her eyes firmly and shuck her head. "I don't know Tante. I've been trying for a long time now with out much success. Ah don't know if ah'll ever be able to touch another human being ever again."

Tante Mattie moved over to Rogue's bedside, taking her hand in her gloved one and patting it. Rogue removed her hand from her eyes and looked up into Tant's warm reasuring face. "You don't know that child, unless you can tell the future. And even then there's many futures out there child. Ya never know, the one ya headin' down right now might be the one that'll help ya get that control. So, dis is what ya gotta say. Ya gotta explain your powers; really sell em. Then make all the negitives of ya powers turn out ta be possitives, for example ya can't control ya powers, but ya can learn to. Child ya gotta try and sell yourself if ya wanna marry inta the family."

"Sell my self." Rogue said looking disguested at Tante. Rogue even took her hand back from Tante and sat up straighter. "Sell myself, like Remy did when he was little. Ah don't wanna end up as miserable and trapped as Remy is now Tante. Ah don't wanna be used for ma powers or have ta marry some crazy person. Ah just wanna defeat the Vampires, find the Professor and Magneto, and all the rest of ma friends and have us all go home ta the institute that we'll all have ta rebuild now that it's been blown up." Rogue felt hot tears in her eyes and her breathing pattern become faster and abnormal as she brought her legs up to her chest and rocked back and forth; no longer looking at Tante. "All ah want is for things ta go back to how they used ta be when ah was happy and free with the X-Men. Ah don't want nightmares of Vampires attacking my friends! I don't want to know that my Professor and his enimy are locked up somewhere being experimented on and tortured! I don't wanna know that every night ma firends are bein' murdered by Vampires! I just want all this crap ta go away. Not get worse." Rogue was shaking and crying now. It had all gotten too much and she had no idea on what to do.

"Hunny child." Said Tante as she took a seat on the bed next to Rogue and wrapped her arms around Rogue's shoulders. Tante turned Rogue so that she was leaning against her and began stroking her hair. "Now you listen to me hunny child! What ya goin' through, it ain't easy. Dat's easy to see. Your families being ripped apart by des Vampires? Hunny child, I know it seems like your in a con here, but in a way you sorta are. I don't want to see such a beau fillie die, just because she asked for help. Child, I want ya to be free and live happily ever after with your family, but happily ever afters don't really exist child. And now ya now thieves territory. You could try ta run, but you'd get caught and killed fast than you could escape. Ya in no position to escape and I do hope ya have more noblity within ya then that. It seems child dat the only way ya gonna be able ta help yaself is ta either become a thief or marry inta the family, but ya already said ya loyal to your family. By marrying inta the family, your family would become our family and we protect our own."

"Huh, yeah. Right. Just like y'all been takin' good time of Remy." Rogue said slyly.

Tante's eyes widened in anger. The next thing Rogue knew she felt a hit on the back of her head. "Ow! What was-"

"You don't speak 'bout Remy or us in dat way young miss. We tried our best for dat boy, but things just got too caught up in rules. At least we kept him alive by convincing his punishment to be excial, not death! I'd do anything for dat boy to keep him safe and happy!"

Rogue rubbed the back of her head and suddenly felt really bad. "You're right. Ah'm sorry Tante. Remy always talks good of you, Merci and Henri. Ah shouldn't have said that. Ah'm sorry."

Tante nodded her head. "Apology accepted. Now hunny child, listen to me! Later on, Jean-Luc's gonna come speak to ya and you've gotta make it clear ya want ta marry inta the family. Dat way, when you are married, you'll be able ta save your family."

"But, marriage takes a while. Ma family's in danger now. What if it's too late. Plus, ah'll only be bringin' your family more bother. There are... People after meh." Rogue said sounding worried.

"Child, we're a strong bunch here. There's people after members of our family all de time. Whoever's after ya, we'll deal with them together. As for helpin' ya family, you'll be here, banned from leaving the mansion, but other thieves can go out and help find your family and bring em back here where they'll be safe. You asked if us thieves could find a treasure and retrive it," Tante took Rogue's hand in her's again, gripping it tightly. "any treasure, includin' people can be found and retived by us child. we just need a few clues and as soon as you agree ta marriage, then we can send thieves off ta help ya family."

"But...But." Rogue muttered, still feeling anxious and uncomfortable about the idea of having to marry a total stranger to save the X-Men. "What if I don't want to marry the thief y'all want me ta marry? What if-"

"Child, dat something you'd be givig up ta save your family. De fastest way ta get the thieves ta help your family is through marraige, but if ya really don't wanna be selfless and want to still have some freedom, then it'll take you a few months to complete the guilde training." Tante said coldly.

Rogue felt horrible that it sounded like she was being selfish, but marriage was a big thing to these people (at least she knew it was big from what Remy had told her). "And one other thing child." Rogue looked to Tante, dreading what next would be said. "We thieves here are Roman Catholics. If you're not a Roman Catholic you'll have to convert and you'll have ta know that dis family don't believe in divorces." Rogue turned away, seemingly gone from reality and hauted by devistating tradgies. "Child." Tante took Rogue's arm, stroking it as she spoke. "Sometimes arranged marragies aren't all that bad as they seem." But Rogue had stopped listening. She had entered the cloud in her head once again, just to get rid of the horrors of reality.