It was the perfect setting for a romantic dinner. Only problem was it was a French restaurant, and they tended to make Rogue nostalgic.

However, though this may have been the place to think about Remy, Rogue knew it was not the time. She'd long since given up on the notion that he would ever come back, and she knew she had to move on. It had been three years. So much had happened, so much had changed.

"Miss me, Darling?" asked a tall, dark-haired man as he sat down across from Rogue.

Rogue pushed all thoughts of Gambit out of her mind with a false smile. "Longest five minutes of my life."

The tint of sarcasm in her words was missed as he reached across the table to take her hand. "I don't know why you still insist on wearing gloves," he said. "After all, I did help you get over your little problem."

Rogue winced at his reference to her powers and had to remind herself that he didn't mean to sound condescending. It was just his way. "I know, Zander," she said. "I'm just used to wearin' them, I guess."

"They're like a safety blanket to you," Zander said. "You wear them because you don't trust your powers or yourself."

Rogue looked down at her covered hands, feeling ashamed. "I know."

Zander slipped off her gloves. "You have such beautiful hands. You really should show them." He raised her bare hand to his lips. "See, beautiful," he murmured.

Rogue couldn't help but blush.

"You know I love you, don't you?" Zander asked.

Rogue stared into his perfect blue eyes. All she could manage in response was a nod and an "uh-hu."

"And you love me?"

Another nod.

"Well then I love you and you love me, and we've been together for about a year now, and well…"

Rogue raised an eyebrow. She didn't think she'd ever seen Dr. Zander Hayes at a loss for words before. "What are ya tryin' to say, Sugah?" she asked.

Zander took a deep breath and pulled a small black box out of his pocket. He regained his usual self-confidence as he popped it open. "Rogue, will you marry me?"

Now it was Rogue's turn to be speechless. She stared at the ring, exorbitant and heavy in its dark, soft case. "Zander, I…I don't know what to say."

"I was hoping you'd say yes."

Rogue felt backed into a corner as she struggled to weigh the decision. "I need time to think," she said finally.

Zander gave her a smile of obvious disappointment. "I understand," he said. Rogue tried to nudge the box back towards him, but he clasped it firmly in her hand. "Keep it. You don't have to wear it, I just want you to hold on to it for now."

Rogue nodded and took the ring.

*** *** ***

Later that night as she sat alone in her room back at the mansion, Rogue contemplated Zander's proposal. She knew she loved him and should be overjoyed by the prospect of marrying him, but something just wasn't sitting with her right about the whole thing.

She picked up the ring box and looked inside. It was the most beautiful diamond she had ever seen, and Rogue wondered why she couldn't bring herself to put it on. She knew Zander would make the perfect husband.

Zander had changed her life in so many ways. He'd helped her finally learn to control her powers and then in the ensuing courtship he'd swept her off her feet. He was a respected psychiatrist in the mutant community, and Rogue had always enjoyed being the girl on his arm. She cared about him and was more than happy in the relationship they had shared over the past year.

But marriage?

"Aren't things good they way they are?" Rogue wondered out loud.

Rogue took her shoes off and reached up on top of her closet shelf to get their box down. She knocked over a pile of old pictures in the process and looked down to see a two-dimensional likeness of Remy LeBeau staring up at her. Rogue knew where her doubts about Zander were coming from now.

Gambit.

*** *** ***

"Jean, 'Ro, can I talk to y'all?" Rogue asked as she walked into the kitchen the next morning.

"Of course!" Jean said as a chair slid out from the table, seemingly by itself. "Have a seat."

Rogue sat. "Zander asked me to marry him," she said without preamble.

"Why that is wonderful!" Storm exclaimed.

"Congratulations," Jean said with a smile.

"I haven't said yes yet," Rogue said.

The other women looked at her in surprise. "What did you tell him then?" Storm asked.

"I told him I needed some time to think."

"Why?" Storm asked. "Your relationship seemed to be going so well. I believed you wanted to marry him."

"It is, and I guess I do," Rogue said. "It's just that when he asked me, I knew I couldn't say yes right then."

"You have reservations?" Storm asked.

Rogue nodded.

"Is it Gambit?" Jean asked.

Rogue sighed. "Yes and no. It ain't that I still love Remy and am waitin' for him to come back or anything like that. I gave up on that little fantasy a long time ago. It's just that, well, we never really resolved everything."

"So you feel like you can't move on with Zander until you've had some sort of closure with Remy?" asked Jean.

Rogue nodded again, thinking how much that sounded exactly like something Zander would say.

"We could try to get in touch with Remy if you would like," Storm said. "I'm sure Cerebro could locate him."

"No," Rogue said. "I can't find him after three years of bein' apart just so I can ask him to help me feel better about marryin' someone else."

Jean reached over and laid her hand on Rogue's arm. "I know you're confused right now," she said. "Marriage is a huge step. I said no the first time Scott asked me." Jean patted Rogue's arm before moving back. "Doubts are natural. They don't necessarily mean you shouldn't say yes."

Storm smiled at Rogue warmly. "You should listen to you heart," she told her.

Rogue could tell Storm felt that her heart was telling her to marry Zander.

"Thanks, y'all," Rogue said, standing up. "I'm gonna go back up to my room for a little while and think."

"Rogue," Jean called out as she started to walk away. "I'm sure Gambit doesn't hold a grudge against you."

Rogue gave Jean a weak smile then left the room.

*** *** ***

Gambit sat in his hotel room, staring at the wall. In his mind, old movies of the life he'd known back at the X-Mansion played on a continual loop. For the first time since he'd left, he ignored the bad and let himself remember the good.

He could admit to himself then that he missed her. The black and white image of her was so clear in his mind that he was almost desperate to find her and put her in color.

Gambit looked up and squinted his eyes, realizing that the sun was glaring at him from the sky. He couldn't remember when it had stopped being night.

He shut the curtains, making it mostly dark in the room again.

Without giving it another thought, Remy grabbed a bag from his closet and began haphazardly throwing his various belongings inside. He was checked in for another week at least, but he didn't care. He knew it was time to leave.

It wasn't too long until Gambit was back on his motorcycle beginning the trek from Louisiana to New York.