**Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters; please don't sue me I am a poor college student. I am not making any money off of this and I am just writing it for the benefit of my own entertainment as well as the entertainment of the other fans out there. Also, this is a story from my own imagination, any resemblance to real life events, or even those in fiction is completely coincidental. As an additional note, there are so many fan fiction stories out there on this site as well as others, so any similarity is coincidental or great minds just happen to think alike**
Note: I apologize for the spacing and random indents and anything of the sort. When the pages are loaded onto this site everything seems to get a bit messed up. I noticed that single lines get double spaced randomly. Sorry about that.
Through the Years
Chapter Ten: Matters of Trust
It wasn't hard for the Professor to find Gambit alone after Christmas dinner. Gambit had stepped out onto the porch for a cigarette break after dessert. The Professor's hoverchair was virtually silent and most people wouldn't have known that someone was standing…er… sitting right behind them. However, it was Gambit's job to know everything that happened around him, the years had taught him to never be off guard. In fact, Rogue was probably the only person who could sneak up on him, although most of the time he let her. But she knew him well enough to get the upper hand sometimes.
"Can I help you," Gambit asked with his back to Xavier.
"I'm not exactly sure what it is Gambit, but there is something that you aren't telling me," said the Professor.
"Well you know how t'get any information you want mon ami," Gambit said while turning to face the bald man.
"You know that I don't believe in using my powers to invade anyone's thoughts."
"Den how you know I got somethin' to hide," he asked while exhaling the smoke.
The Professor's cheeks reddened at the accusation. "I'm sorry Gambit, I can't always help it when my powers automatically get to work when I feel something's up. I didn't read any of your thoughts; I just got a feeling that you were hiding something, that's all. Something about the expression you made when I offered you and Rogue jobs at the school triggered a reaction for me."
"Doesn't matter, you wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway," Gambit dropped the cigarette to the ground and rubbed it out with his foot.
"What's that suppose to mean"
"You know what it means."
"No Gambit, I don't."
"Wouldn't matter anyway if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. Nobody truly believes me, or trusts me for dat matter. Everyone just t'inks dat I'm some dumb t'ief," Gambit couldn't believe what he just said. That came out of nowhere; after all it didn't have anything to do with what the Professor said. But the fact that the Professor accused him of something brought back old feelings. He thought that he had gotten through all this years ago, but he hadn't. Just a simple question about Gambit hiding something was enough to put him on the defensive. He knew the Professor wasn't questioning his loyalties, but any hints of suspicion had put Gambit on edge.
Powers or no powers, Xavier must have sensed Gambit's growing anger, "You are partially right. Although we have all gotten to know each other over the years, you constantly remain a mystery. But you have proven yourself time and time again to be a valuable member of this team, a trusted member of this team. Despite all our differences, I would trust you with my life."
Those words resonated in Remy Lebeau's ears: "I'd trust you with my life." The most powerful telepath in the world would put his life in the hands of a thief from the Big Easy. Part of Gambit was still upset at the team leaving him in Antarctica; he knew that Rogue had no control over her thoughts, after all she was being persuaded by the self- hating feelings she absorbed from Gambit. But why didn't the others do anything to help him? What excuse did they have? Why did they leave him? After all, not one of the X-men could say that they never did something that they weren't proud of. Xavier himself was Onslaught for goodness' sakes! But they didn't trust him enough as a team mate and they left him in that frozen wasteland to die. And yet, the Professor just said he was willing to trust him.
"You'd trust me wit' your life?"
"We all would Remy."
Gambit knew that it was time to let go of the grudge once and for all. That was a long time ago, everyone had apologized for leaving him there and he had said that he forgave them, but perhaps now it was time to forgive them once and for all inside his heart. He thought about his wife for a second, up until recently she had been in a state of peace that he had never seen her at before. The reason was because she had decided to just "let go" of all the emotional baggage that had been plaguing her for so long, especially those feelings that had to do with her inability to touch others. Sure, she still couldn't touch anyone besides Gambit, and that had even cost them their unborn son or daughter, but she was slowly dealing with that too. Gambit decided that perhaps it was time for him to deal with his inner demons that made him think he was an unwelcome member of the team, thoughts that he had concealed inside himself since the day he joined the X-men. After all, he had nothing to hide anymore that would make the X-men hate him. If they could forgive him from leading the Marauders into the Morlock tunnels all those years ago, then nothing could ruin those bonds of loyalty. It was now time to let go of the suspicions he thought his teammates harbored. He was, and forever will be an X-man.
"T'anks Professor," Gambit smiled at the Professor's statement, and he didn't need to say anything else for Xavier to see that something was suddenly different. The Professor didn't need his powers to sense that Gambit had just come some sudden realization of peace. He didn't know what had been plaguing the Cajun, but it seemed as if their conversation helped eased whatever worry he had.
"So mon ami," Gambit said with a smirk, "You want an answer to t'original question?"
"Only if you feel like sharing."
"Ok, but you aren't goin' to believe me. If you want t'answer, you know how to get it."
"Gambit, I don't want you to feel like I have to use my powers to get an honest answer…"
"No, it's ok, I trust you mon Professeur."
Xavier saw that Gambit wasn't telling him to use his mental powers to force an answer; rather, Gambit was showing his trust by letting the Professor enter his thoughts so he could see what caused Gambit to make the face he did when the Professor offered him the chance to go to college and teach at the Mansion. So Xavier established the psychic link and……….
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Two days after Christmas Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Jubilee, Jean-Grey, Cyclops, and Professor Xavier headed back to the Institute. Beast stayed behind at the LeBeaus because he had a meeting with some scientist friends from a California university right after New Years. Since the others were all heading back to New York, Bobby teased that they just wanted to celebrate the New Year a few hours before Gambit and Rogue did. Most of the X-men in the Blackbird were laughing and reliving various scenes from the past few days. Nightcrawler and Wolverine noticed that the Professor had been fairly quiet during the trip. Every now and then he'd take down some thoughts in the notebook that recorded his plans for the Institute, but for much of the trip he sat fairly pensive.
"Hey Chuck, ya wanna tell us what's going on," Wolverine said making his way over to the Professor.
"Is everything alright," Nightcrawler reiterated.
"Oh no, everything is fine Logan, Kurt. I was just thinking about how just when you think you know someone, something happens to change your perception…"
"What do you mean Professor," Nightcrawler asked.
"Did either of you know that Gambit graduated from Yale?"
When he said that both Wolverine and Nightcrawler thought the same thing, "I wouldn't put it past him." They knew that there was much more to the Cajun that meets the eye. So it would come as no surprise to them that Gambit attended an Ivy League school for a number of years after being banished from New Orleans, but before becoming involved with Mr. Sinister and the Marauders. He had to be doing something during the years before he joined the X-men, so that was as good of an explanation as anything. The look Gambit gave the Professor in reaction to his offer to educate him was because Gambit knew he didn't need the offer. Not unless he wanted another degree in addition to the two he already held in literature and psychology. It made perfect sense; Gambit would never cease to amaze them. No matter how well they thought they knew the mysterious man from New Orleans, something would happen that proved to them that they really didn't know him at all!
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Author's Note- Got the idea for this chapter a few years ago after reading an X-men novel someone gave me. In the novel there was a scene in which Beast was quoting something and Gambit quickly dismissed and went off on this tangent about how the philosopher who said it really didn't know what he was talking about and cited various examples to prove his point, thus shocking the X-men. Ever since then I believed that Gambit knew more than he let on, so I wanted to incorporate that into my story.
le_bibliothecaire~ HI! :-) So nice to meet you! Thanks for sticking with me! Glad I didn't scare you or anyone else off :-P
Star-of-Chaos~ Wow, I never thought about a west coast school, but that is a good idea (smells future fanfic coming) Hey, if you ever wrote about a West Coast school I'd definitely read it!:-) I do hope that you will like what I cooked up for this though, I think you will ;-)
Ishandahalf~ Nah, your fist shaking didn't scare me off, though I was afraid of scaring all you off with the drama that unfolded there, but since it didn't, I think we can all breathe a little easier now:-) Xavier does deserve those gold stars you gave him; after all, he's been trying to get mutant equality for how many years now? (I know it's over 30 years our time, but it's still going to be a lot of years X-men time too) Don't worry, any girls that ever drool over Remy would have to face the wrath of Rogue, she can take anyone! :-)
T~ I know, it is wonderful to see everyone together and relatively happy. It just makes their fight for equality all the sweeter!
Tammy~ Well, now you know what Gambit's look meant, just a little glimpse into a side of Gambit that he rarely shows. As for Jean's baby being Rachel (or Cable or any other dimension/ reality baby that you want to throw in there that either Jean or a clone had) I do plan to address that later, so stay tune! :-)
Lady Armandina~ Wow, your words really meant a lot to me! Thank you so much! :-) I'm so honored; I don't know what else to say! :-)