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 Eleven: One Year Anniversary
Before they knew it, it was January, and Gambit and Rogue were planning on celebrating their one year anniversary quietly at home. Since he was houseguest yet again, Beast knew to make himself scarce for the evening, opting to work on some experiments at a local university with a scientist buddy. While Rogue was at work Gambit cooked up some of his famous gumbo and set up a romantic table for two on the back porch overlooking the beach. While he was cooking he thought about the conversation he and the Professor had at Christmas. Gambit was glad that he laid his worst fears about his teammates to rest, and that he had even revealed his most guarded secret. He had been scared that the others would treat him differently if they knew how accomplished he was academically, he did not want them to see him as anything other than what he had proved himself to be: tough, loyal, and of course charming. Now that he knew that he wasn't going to receive any different treatment, he was able to relay the entire story. After being banished from New Orleans he had needed somewhere to hide out and what place better to hide out than a Northern Ivy League school? His enemies, especially the stupid Assassins, would never look for him there. When he first told Rogue about his years spent at Yale, he joked that it was back up plan in case the thieving business didn't go as expected. Most people would take up stealing as a back up, but the thrill of it had always excited Gambit. He also recalled the long summers spent in Jean-Luc LeBeau's personal library, reading the rare manuscripts the head of the Thieves' Guild had collected over the years. Those, mostly stolen, books had provided young Remy with an outlet to satisfy the curiosities that he had about the world when no one else could answer his many questions.
When the Professor made that discovery he asked Gambit why he studied literature and psychology and Gambit told him because they helped him with his thieving. As a high class thief, he often attended social gatherings at wealthy homes, blending in with the guests, and robbing them blind while they sipped champagne together. Knowing literature helped him mingle these social events, preventing him from standing out as someone who didn't belong. Psychology aided him in outwitting his opponents when, and if, his charm powers failed to work on a particular foe. Perhaps his knowledge of the human personality and mind had even aided in his maintenance of his telekinetic charm powers when he lost his other powers at the hands of Vargas. Even Beast didn't have an explanation for that one, Rogue had lost all her powers, but Gambit could still charm even though he lost his ability to kinetically charge objects? Gambit liked to think that perhaps he really had lost his telekinetic charm powers and that he was subconsciously using his psychology degree for something!
Remy was putting the finishing touches on dinner when he heard the door open. He smiled because he knew it was the one person that he didn't have to hide any part of himself from. Rogue took her gloves off and noticed a note on the end table by the door. It instructed her to put on her best dress and go out to the back porch when she was ready. Rogue folded the note and smiled. She could detect the delicious scent of the gumbo from the minute she walked in the house and already her mouth was watering, not to mention the fact that she couldn't stomach food this morning so she was rather hungry right now. Not wanting to disappoint Gambit, she proceeded to shower, put on a green evening gown (Remy's personal favorite) and combed out her hair until it was cascaded down her back and shone in the moon light.
An eloquently dressed Gambit was already sitting at the table, two covered meals meticulously placed in front of each chair, when Rogue came outside. She never failed to take his breath away when she wore that dress. Heck, she never failed to take his breath away period whenever he saw her! Silently, Gambit stood up and walked to his wife. He took her hand in his and kissed it, all the while unable to take his eyes off of her. He escorted her to the table and pulled the chair out for her. Once she was seated, Gambit took his seat across the table. While they dined they talked, laughed, and reminisced about their tumultuous relationship. With this meal, the conversation, and the man sitting in front of her, Rogue couldn't help but fall in love with Remy all over again. Once the meal was finished and desert had been consumed, Rogue insisted helping to clear the table since Gambit went to all the trouble of making the meal. After they put the last few dishes in the dishwasher Rogue put her arms around Gambit and gave him a long, passionate kiss. When they parted she said to him:
"Remy, Ah can't believe ya went through all this trouble. Ah thought ya said that ya just wanted to spend a quiet evenin' alone at home?"
"We are Chere! We're at home, we're alone," he looked at her with a come-hither glance "But somethin' tells me dat it won't be quiet for long, no?"
Rather than roll her eyes at the comment, or laugh at her husband's never-ending come-ons, Rogue wordlessly picked up a rather surprised Gambit and flew him off to the bedroom.
The next morning Rogue woke up with the worst feeling in her stomach. The last few days she hadn't felt like breakfast, often opting for a donut on the way to work and yesterday she didn't even have that, but today she felt absolutely sick. The minute she sat up she knew she only had a few seconds to act. She ran to the bathroom, barely pulling her hair back in time to kneel in front of the toilet. Gambit felt Rogue get out of the bed and heard her in the bathroom. Not knowing if he should see if she needed help or let her have her privacy, he hesitantly make his way to the bathroom door.
"Rogue, you alright in dere?"
The only reply he received was not the most pleasant of sounds his wife had ever made. If they had been drinking the night before, he would swear that she had a hang over, but he had forgotten to pick up wine or anything of the sort so they made due with the flavored water that Rogue liked so much. Beast, who had come back late that night to get some sleep in the guestroom, also heard the noises coming from the bathroom and one look at Gambit standing outside the door told him that something was very wrong.
A few minutes later, a very pale looking Rogue emerged from the bathroom.
"Ah don't know what's wrong with me. Mah stomach's been a little sensitive foah the past week or so, but nothing like this," she looked at Gambit and then at Beast, "Perhaps the spices in the gumbo irritated whatever it is that Ah have? One thing's foah certain, somethin's wrong with me."
Gambit put his arms around his wife, "Why didn't you say somethin' about not feelin' well earlier, Chere? I would have made somethin' less spicy for you last night."
"I can give you an examination Rogue, and determine what has been ailing you," Beast chimed in. "I just wish you had said something sooner, after all, I am a doctor."
Rogue nodded silently and a look of sheer panic struck her as she broke away from her husband's hold and ran back into the bathroom to as Bobby would say, "make an offering the porcelain goddess."
Nothing prepared Rogue for the news Hank had for her. Since it was the weekend and she didn't have to be at work, Beast was able to scan and test to his heart's content. Rogue was ready for any news her friend had for her: the she had an exotic flu, a tropical disease, hell the long since abolished Legacy Virus had stuck her, but not this. She was pregnant!
"But….but…Hank, ya said that it was impossible for me to have a child. Ya… ya said that Ah wouldn't be able to carry one because mah powers would absorb it from the inside." A very confused Rogue sat on the couch in the living room next to an equally confused Gambit.
"I know Rogue; I'm at a lost to explain such a thing. There is a couple million to one ratio against the fact that you could ever get carry a child to full term. Your absorption powers would feed off the fetus before it has a chance to start to develop," Beast told the worried looking couple. "I thought that your miscarriage nearly a year ago was the closest that you'd ever come to being able to carry a child, but I was wrong. In fact, I have detected several cases of miscarriages in you that you were probably unaware of. From what I can tell a specific genetic combination might hold the key to whether you can carry a child or not. Last year's miscarriage had better genes, so to speak, than others that failed to be conceived or make it past a few hours of life in your womb. In fact, there is a great chance that this baby won't live inside of you for much longer. It will depend on its genetic strength, and that is something that we can only watch and hope for. I might have the necessary tools in my lab at the Mansion to aid you in maintaining this pregnancy but there are no guarantees. You could lose it while giving birth, or even tomorrow. Not to mention I don't even know what the personal health risks are for you. Are you fully aware of the risks of trying to bring this child into the world," Beast asked while readjusting the glasses on his nose.
Rogue looked at Gambit for a minute, she knew that he'd never ask her to put herself in danger, but this was a decision that she didn't have to think about for more than a few seconds, "Hank, if there is a slight chance that Ah can bring this child into the world, Ah want to try, Ah want to give mah baby a chance to live."
"Are you sure, Chere," Gambit said while looking at her with concern-filled eyes. "I don't wanna risk losing you."
"Ah understand Remy, but this is something that Ah feel Ah have to do. Ah just know it is," she said. Her emerald green eyes met his red-on-black ones as she mustered up a small smile, "Don't look so sad Shugah, we're gonna have a baby."
Author's Note Hey everyone! I don't know how many times I've nearly leaked the big news of this chapter to people who made comments during the miscarriage, but I kept a secret, GO ME! :-P Anyway, I'm heading into finals week so posting is going to be tricky, not to mention the fact that I just learned my internet at home isn't working. That means no FF.net for me until it is fixed! UGH! I'll try to post again while I'm still at the dorm, if not it might be a few weeks until I can post again, but fear not, this story will not die! I have too much fun stuff to share! But if there is a delay in posting soon please forgive me!
Luna12 Wow, very good points. I do agree with the fact that Rogue can probably control her powers because Carol Danvers use to control Rogue and her powers when that personality took over. However, I wanted to take some artistic license for my story. As for the AOA, I'm not too familiar with it and since it is an alternate reality I'm going to take stuff that happens there (and other timelines too) with a grain of salt. Besides, I needed some drama, and again, artistic license. Thanks for checking out my story and making some really good points! :-)
Star-of-Chaos I hope that there aren't regulations about breeding plot bunnies, I don't want the ASPCA coming after us:-P Seriously though that's a good idea, I'm surprised it hasn't been done before (and if it has been let me know, I'd like to check it out!)
Jean1 I'm glad that someone asked me about my choices for Gambit's degrees. I picked those two because I felt that I could have the most fun explaining them in my story, as seen in this chapter. I wanted to pick stuff that people wouldn't normally see associated with Gambit, but stuff that I could explain well enough to make sense in the story so that it didn't come out of no where. Also, I wanted to try to do something a little different than most people would expect. Actually, I had considered art history, (for Gambit it does make sense) but unfortunately I don't know anything about it so I didn't want mess up anything that I was saying. Though neither psychology nor literature are my major, I had a better chance playing with them than anything like math or engineering (though I could have gotten my boyfriend laughing with me trying to explain any of that since his original major was engineering, again something I know nothing about :-P) But thanks for reading and for bringing up some good points! :-)
RealityDreamer YAY! Hello again! I hope that this chapter helped to maintain that warm and fuzzy feeling that you were getting from the story! :-)
Tammy No guarantees but providing that all goes well with this pregnancy you might have that answer. Well, not for the first pregnancy but for this one! :-)
T Thank you, I'm glad that you loved it! :-)
Ishandahalf I'm sorry that I taunted you; I don't want to promote more fist shaking! :-P But I was good, I did tell you what the secret was, I could have been evil and left it a cliffhanger, but that would have been wrong, besides, I wasn't in an evil mood at the time:-P Since you're given our scholarly Remy gold stars perhaps I should make him take my finals! Hmmmm, that's not a bad idea….:-P
Kitsu black Aww, thank you so much for your kind words and for checking out my story! The novel was "X-men: Empire's End" by Diane Duane, good thing I brought it back with me after a quick stop at my house while I was bringing some dorm stuff home or else I wouldn't have been able to answer that! I don't remember too much about it because I read it a few years back but I did recall that scene between Gambit and Beast and I just HAD to make reference to it! :-P