**Story Note: We finished it! Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! --Wolvertique and her husband**
Ororo's eyes flashed as she stalked down the hall, heading to the men's dormitory. He dared to take her spare lockpicks, did he? Well. He was going to have to answer for that.
At first, it didn't register that the man in the duster was her quarry, but then she looked into his eyes and stopped. "You!" she said.
He stopped and bowed to her. "The same, chere."
Her eyes narrowed. "We need to talk. Privately."
He shrugged. "Whatever you want. Nothin' private here, though, chere."
"You're right." She swept back her hair and nodded toward the stairs. "That's why we have a vehicle pool."
"You drivin'?" He started down, and she followed.
"Yes." She pulled a set of keys from the combination locked box, then went to the green Jeep and opened the door. "Get in."
Remy bowed again, his eyes burning into her, and sat down, closing the door firmly. "Where to?"
"I have a place in mind." She drove for a while in silence, heading for a restaurant by the lake. It was fairly isolated, no other X-men usually went there, and it had an upper deck which was empty and looked out on the water.
When they had taken their places at the table, and the waiter had gone, she leaned over the table toward him. "I believe you have something that belongs to me."
He tapped the table. "You givin' back Remy's staff?"
She had almost forgotten that she had taken something of his as well. She placed it on the table, and he reached into a pocket and put her spare lockpicks in front of her.
"So, why is Remy a Jack?" He ruffled a hand through his hair after he had put his staff away.
She smiled and pocketed her lockpicks. "Because they carry staffs. Kings carry swords."
He laughed. "So Kurt a King, huh?"
She laughed with him, then was quiet again.
"And you, chere? What's with you changin' suits?" His eyes flashed.
She nodded. "I have always felt I was more a fighter. Besides, you cannot garden without a spade."
"Good point." The waiter came back with their drinks, and she sipped hers until he was gone.
"So." He put down his glass. "Gotta ask you. Why?"
"Why what?" she asked evasively.
He laughed again. "Why now?"
"I am not certain." She frowned, trying to remember. "I felt I had to say something or burst. I did toy with the idea of just ending it after that first haiku, but the more I read and saw, the more I was compelled to create."
"Did you." He sat back and took his glass in his hand again. "So how long you been feelin' this way?"
"I always felt this way for you. I always admired and respected you. After all, I sponsored you. But then you became involved with Rogue, and things simply grew more complicated after that. Forge and Belladonna, and life as X-men." She looked down at her drink, afraid of seeing the inevitable rejection in his eyes.
"Really." He stretched across the table and took her hand. "I never knew. I wish I had."
She lifted her eyes to meet his. Instead of rejection, she saw tenderness, and hope swelled within her. She swallowed. "You should have figured it out much earlier, you know."
"How?" His thumb brushed across the back of her hand.
"Who else would use so much nature imagery?" She gave a satisfied smile.
"Chere, you know, lots of people write about nature in poems. Not many where they don't. Gambit does read." Still, he laughed.
She thought about it a moment and conceded. "That is a valid point. You almost caught me, though." She could see he knew what she meant.
"So how did you notice it?" His eyes were bright with interest, and she squeezed his hand gently.
"Did you think I would not? I'm as good a thief as you. Maybe better."
"I did not know who I was after at the time, chere. So when did you notice it?"
She considered his question. "I knew something was wrong, so I walked to the board and pretended to read for a while until I figured it out. There are no smoke detectors in that part of the hallway. Really. That was hard to miss."
"Most people forget to look up, chere, when they look around." He grinned.
"I am Storm. I soar on the winds. I know to look up." She paused. "So, did you get Beast to make that device for you?"
"No. He wouldn't help me, so I had to help myself."
She groaned. "Forge. Gods help us."
He nodded. "Damn Forge has trackin' devices in everything he makes. I swear. Can't make a dishonest livin' around here."
"So what did he do to you?" She sipped her strawberry daiquiri, enjoying the chill as it tingled down her throat.
"Well, I work it so I owe him a little favor. It took some doin', but this ol' Cajun could talk his way out of anythin'."
"Anything, you say? And what if you like what you've talked yourself into?" She raised her eyebrows, teasing him.
"That the other thing Gambit good at. Then I seal the deal." He reached into another pocket of his coat. A hidden pocket, somewhere inside. He palmed something and offered his clenched fist to her. Intrigued, she placed her own hand beneath his, palm open. Into it, he dropped a band of gleaming metal, yellow and green and pink. Black Hills gold. The classic grapes and leaves wound about it, interspersed with jagged bolts of silver lightning.
She stared at it, unable to speak for many minutes while he watched. It was as if she were trapped, closed in, unable to think or breathe, except that it felt good. Right. Amazing.
Somehow, she found her voice again. "You owe Forge more than a little favor, cher." Gambit's smile spread a little as she used his own favorite endearment. "You rob him, then con him into making this?"
"How you know Forge did this?" He was funny. She laughed, as he tried to look innocent. "What, chere? Tell Gambit."
"We were very close for a time, Remy. I know his work, and you did not buy this at a department store counter."
He shrugged. "So maybe it a big favor."
"I wonder if he would be willing to extend a favor to me." She placed the ring on her left ring finger, where it sparkled in the sunlight. Naturally, it fit perfectly. "We will require a matched set."
