Gambit POV--Phoenix Treatment

I have to admit, I didn't like Chase at first. At all. She was too calm, too cold, too…quiet. When she responded to my flirtations exactly the way I expected her not to, I disliked her even more strongly. She was trouble, and I knew it. I knew that little slip of a fille would grow up into a statuesque femme like this one, with hair like raven silk and skin like gilt porcelain.

I like pretty things, as evidenced by the ladies of my choosing, but this was one pretty thing I didn't like. She was civil enough to me, and returned my best "heartbreaker" smiles with formidable beamers of her own. But she took my roof at night, to look up at the stars and "cleanse her soul" or some other such artisan merde. I didn't like that.

So I complained to Stormy, and she told me to bugger off. Sucked. That little fille had stolen her heart, too. I thought, maybe if I shoved her into the Danger Room that she would cool off and stop invading my places. I never thought that maybe the reason she liked all the places I did was not because she was infatuated by me, or because she was annoying, but because she was just like me.

Turns out she was just as pissed off with me as I was with her.

She hated seeing me around every corner, at the end of every corridor, in every room she walked into. Because she and Cable were pretty thick, she hung out with Stormy a lot, too, which made it even more difficult to avoid her.

Then she disappeared after the Marauders and Monsieur Sinister attacked and I didn't know what to do, how to handle it.

I was used to seeing her around, and I missed her.

Betsy said she'd walked away with Sabretooth. That in itself said too much.

They say I hate admitting what I'm afraid of. That's true, I guess, but I think everyone pretty much knows that I'm terrified of Creed. He's the embodiment of everything I have had to struggle against since…ever. Since I was out on the streets, since I was trained by the Guild, since I was banished from New Orleans, since I roamed the world as an errant thief, since I've fought with the X-Men. He was a Marauder, he's been my Team's enemy for years, I think since even before Wolverine transferred from Alpha Flight.

And she walked sweetly away with him, holding his hand.

That scared me, because anyone confident enough to put themselves at Creed's mercy is either insane or extremely and terrifyingly powerful. Not even Apocalypse could kill him.

I volunteered to go back for her because I felt guilty, yes, but also because I felt that she had something I needed that she'd somehow transfer to me if I went to rescue her.

Yeah, it was a long shot, and it never even happened. I think the reason I attacked Scotty for bringing up the fact that Sinister had a little too much interest in me was because I wanted to see her so badly that I couldn't control myself.

And it wasn't just because I wanted the power she had. I wanted to see her, period.

Chase has something. Something I've never seen in a woman before. Something a little like my charm powers, but different. She has control. So much that it scared even me, le Roi du Control. Still does.

And then, I suddenly found myself sleeping next to her.

Granted, that was three years after the whole Sinister-Deadpool-Copycat fiasco.

But it felt like just the next day.

She cured my wounds, cured my angsting, I don't even like the roof any more. Wonder how she did it.

I mean, she never forbade me to go up there. If anything, she went up with me and pointed out constellations. She loves Orion. The hunter. I guess that in itself says plenty about her. She never did the "talk to me" bullshit either. She was always patient, always present, always…there. Always supportive, but in a different way. She didn't pry, so that when I opened up to her, it was on my own terms.

She didn't treat me like I should have been in the psych ward, even though I probably should have been during that time. I was all pissed off at Rogue because she was bed-hopping. Now, I just think, if she hurt the Wolverine as much as she hurt me, it's a wonder that man's still on his feet with no need for Chase. Maybe he just feels weird cause she's Phoenix.

That must be it.

There are no words for Chase's treatment. It's all…psionic. Spiritual. Epiphany.

Phoenix treatment.