The Prince of Thieves

Chapter V: Bringing Home Gambit

By: Michelle

"I don't believe this." Ororo said to Xavier as she looked at the traffic. It was bad enough we took longer than expected getting the rest of Remy's things from his motorcycle. But now, we are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. "It's going to take us forever to get home." So far, Wednesday has sucked.

"It's alright Ororo." Xavier replied. "We are in no rush."

"Yeah." She sighed and adjusted her mirror to view Gambit asleep on the back seat.

Ororo, he's going to be alright.

I know Professor, but I have the feeling he is hiding something from me. Usually, he's so talkative. He tells me everything.

He trusts you.

I know, but I'm really worried about him. I've never seen him like this before.

He's going to be fine. You need to be patient with him. Don't force him to do anything he doesn't want to.

OK. She turned to Xavier. I'll let him come to me when he is ready.

Good. Xavier looked at his watch. "I'm going to call Kurt and Logan to tell them we are going to be later than expected."

Ororo took one last glance in the rearview mirror. Please let him be alright. She sighed and readjusted the mirror.

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R O G U E Now that is some thick dust. Rogue thought as she looked at her name written in the dusty dresser. She sprayed an old rag and wiped off the dresser.

She had been cleaning the room for over an hour now. At this point in time, the bed sheets were drying in the dryer and the carpet was already vacuumed. Alls she had left to do was dust, remake the bed and clean the bathroom.

"Like there you are." Kitty smiled as she and Jubilee popped in the room. "We were like wondering where you were hiding."

"I wasn't hiding." Rogue replied and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Logan asked me to clean up the guest room for Ms. Munroe's friend."

"So this is where he's going to be staying." Jubilee smiled. "Cool."

"So how much trouble did Bobby get into?" Rogue asked changing the subject.

Jubilee smirked. "Well, Bobby hit Kurt with a slice of pizza during the food fight."

"Yeah. And like now he has him like finishing cleaning like the cafeteria with a toothbrush."

I wish I had a camera. "Serves him right." Rogue replied. "I told him to stop acting like a fool. Professor and Ms. Munroe are never going to trust us if we can prove we are responsible mature adults."

"Yeah." Kitty agreed. "But I think Mr. Logan and Mr. Wagner were like way harsh on him."

"Well, we'll let you go chica." Jubilee smiled.

"Yeah." Kitty smiled.

"Oh." Jubilee smiled mischievously. 'And while you're at it. Make sure you make us some peek holes for us to check out hottie."

'I'll think about it."

"We'll see you later."

"We'll like totally bring you dinner and stuff too."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Evan (Spyke) sat down as his Aunt Ororo's piano with his two friends, Rahne (Wolfsbane) and Jamie (Multiple Man). "Check it out. I'm the Phantom of the Opera." He said as he began banging on the keys.

"Evan, Rahne, Jamie." Kurt fussed as he saw the three seven year olds playing with his girlfriend's piano.

"Hi Mr. Wagner." Evan said innocently.

"Up." He said. "You know better than to play with Ororo's piano, especially you Evan."

"But we were just making sure it still worked." Evan replied. "Aunt Ro hasn't played any songs in a while and we thought it might be broken."

Kurt sighed. Ororo hadn't been playing songs for the kids lately. Lately, she has been distracted and a little depressed. Of course, she has been stressed out more with her new leadership. "Come on. Let's go back in the den and watch a movie." He said softly as he led them out of the room.

"Look Mr. Wagner. My tooth is loose." Rahne said as she opened her mouth and wiggled the tooth with her tongue.

That's just disgusting. "That's nice Rahne." Kurt replied. "You can show the Professor it when he gets home."

"Where is Professor?" Jamie asked.

"He and Ms. Munroe went to the hospital to get a friend." Kurt explained. I hope it's a friend.

"Ms. Kitty said it's her boyfriend." Rahne added.

"Na Ah." Evan protested. "Mr. Wagner is Aunt Ro's boyfriend. Ain't you Mr. Wagner?"

"Ja Evan." Kurt sighed.

Evan smiled. "My mom said if you marry my Aunt Ro that you are going to be my new Uncle."

"Ja." He blushed.

"So you found the munchkin land." Logan said as he appeared in the room with the youngest students at the school.

"Ja, they were playing with Ororo's piano." Kurt said.

Logan shrugged. "I could have been worse. They could have touched one of her plants."

God forbid. He chuckled knowing how over protective Ororo was over her plants.

"Guess what Mr. Logan?" Evan smiled up at the grumpier older man.

"What Porcupine?"

"Mr. Wagner's going to be my Uncle."

Logan glanced from Evan to Kurt. "Is there something I should know about Elf?"

"No Logan." Kurt replied.

"Sure."

"Positive." He answered. "But you better have a vell stocked mini fridge of beer, because ven Ororo and Professor get home. I'm going to need more than one."

"Shit." Logan agreed. "You ain't lying."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A couple hours later…

Rogue looked around the room. Not a bad job. It's clean. Of course, that suggestion Jubilee made about drilling three holes in the bathroom wall so we could spy on Ororo's apparently hot guy is not a bad idea.

"Hey."

Rogue spun around and placed her hand on her chest feeling her rapidly beating heart. "Jesus Bobby. You scared the shit out of me."

"I'm sorry." Bobby smiled and carefully hugged her. "So this is where that Gambit guy is staying."

"I guess." Rogue replied and the walked out of the room. "So who is this Gambit anyway?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "He's Ms. Munroe's friend. I was just starting here when she met him. Haven't really seen what he looks like though. In fact, I don't think anyone but Mr. Summers and Dr. Grey have actually met him." He said as he walked with her down the hall. "I didn't even think he was real until I heard Kurt and Logan say she went to pick him up. I just thought Ms. Munroe made him up after that big break up she had with Forge."

"Forge is that guy who asked her to marry him, then took it back before she could say yes."

"Yeah." Bobby replied. Jerk. "Anyways. I heard that Gambit guy is really freaky."

"What do you mean?" Rogue asked as they paused in front of her door.

"Besides the fact no one has actually seen him." Bobby said.

"Yeah, besides the fact that no one has actually seen him."

"I don't know." He said not really having an answer. "He just is."

"That's not a really good reason to say he's freaky." Rogue replied. "It's not right to judge him like that when you don't even know him."

"Yeah but I heard…."

"It doesn't matter." Rogue said and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. She wasn't in the mood to fight. "Look, I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast."

"Good night Rogue."

"Good night Bobby."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Late that night…

Ororo walked in tired and ready for bed. "Hey."

"Ororo." Kurt hugged her. "I missed you. You have been gone all day."

"I missed you too." She kissed him softly on the lips and broke apart from him. "We can continue this later. Right now, I need you and Logan to help me Gambit to his room. Oh, and turn on your image inducer."

"Ok."

Kurt and Logan looked at the sleeping form in the back of her car. Is she crazy? She brought that home.

"Gambit." She said and lightly shook him. "Gambit wake up. We here."

Half sleeping, he slowly sat up. "Dis be a mansion. Gambit thought Stormy work at a school."

Stormy. Kurt suddenly felt jealous. He calls her Stormy.

"Gambit, the mansion is a school." Ororo replied.

"Oh" He replied and looked at the people staring at him. He could recognize Professor Xavier, but not the other two. He grabbed his Bo staff. "Who dey be?"

"It's alright." She replied and introduced them. "This is Kurt and Logan. They are teachers here too. They are going to help me take you to your room."

"Oh."

"Alright Kid." Logan said as he and Kurt helped him to his feet. The kid's a fucking sky scrapper he thought as Gambit stood completely up. "Damn. Well I feel short."

"Logan, compared to everyone you are short." Kurt replied, but felt like a shrimp as well. He's a good 6 inches taller than me and I'm 6 inches taller than Logan. "Pretty soon Rahne is going to pass you up."

"Funny Elf." Logan grumbled.

Ororo grabbed Gambit's bags out of the car and they made their way to the room.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee sat on their beds and painted their nails.

"Like Oh My God." Kitty said. "Like Orlando Bloom was so fine in Pirates of the Caribbean."

"Orlando Bloom is fine." Jubilee drooled. "I wish I was the girl being kissed by him in the end."

"Orlando Bloom." Rogue shook her head. "I'd rather have Johnny Depp any day."

"Johnny Depp." Kitty made a face. "He's like 40 and plays all those weird freaky characters."

"So." Rogue replied. "That's kind of sexy."

"It is so not."

"Yeah it is." Rogue smiled. "The man could look like shit, but still be fine."

"Hey." Jubilee said as she jumped up from her bed. "I think Ms. Munroe and Professor is home."

"Yeah." Rogue said and listened closely hearing Kurt and Logan pick on each other. "I can hear them coming down the hall."

They peeked out the door to their room as the X-men led the new mutant to a guest room.

Rogue studied his appearance as he walked past their room. He was tall, towering inches above the X-men. His knee-high metallic boots clunked on the floor as he walked passed them in a long brown trench coat. Under it, He wore a rather unique and torn up form-fitting costume, with the pants and sleeves colored black with stripes of magenta and the torso entirely magenta. Like her, he wore gloves, only his were fingerless. He had long auburn hair pulled into a ponytail with a black bandana around his head.

His eyes lit up red as she noticed her gaze on him. She noticed his eyes were black with red pupils and had bags under them. His face was quite pale and he had a semi-thick beard. She could almost feel how weak and tired he was.

"Hey you three." Ororo said to them. "It's late. You have classes tomorrow."

"Yeah." Jubilee replied. "Night Ms. Munroe."

They closed the door and looked at each other.

"Oh my God." Kitty said and walked back over to her bed. "That guy was like so funky."

"Yeah." Jubilee agreed. "Good thing you didn't drill a hole in the wall of his room for spying."

Rogue sat down silently. She felt bad for him. She didn't know why, but when he looked at her, she was hit by a tidal wave of emotions. Confusion. Depression. Anger. Shame.

She listened as her friends began to talk about him. She made it clear to herself she wasn't going to act that way.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Gambit felt uncomfortable with all the students opening the doors to stare at them. With his mental shields down, he could feel their emotions hammering down on him.

They were so curious to who he is and what he was capable of doing. Yet, at the same time, they were frightened and appalled for him. Except, there was one who seemed to reach out to him.

She stood there in her black nightgown with her friends. She had long wavy brown hair with white highlights outlining her face. She had the most luscious ruby red lips he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to kiss. In a nutshell, she was gorgeous, but her eyes were what really make her stand out. Her eyes were the brightest shade of green he had ever seen. It was like staring into two emeralds. He wanted to stare in them forever.

But, of course he was too tired to say anything. He could barely walk. Just my luck. Of course, who could forget a girl like that? Why can't my room be next to hers? Better yet, in hers.

Instead, Ororo opened up a room on the other end of the mansion for him. She made me walk down the hallway with that beautiful girl just to torment me I bet.

"Here we are." Ororo said and smiled. "I'm going to put your stuff over here for now."

Gambit nodded and felt Kurt and Logan lead him to a double bed. A bed. A real bed. As they let go, he crawled on and spread himself across it. A real bed. He didn't bother getting under the covers. He was just happy he was on the bed.

"Gambit."

"Huh." He groaned as his eyes started to close again.

"Logan is in the room next to you and Kurt is across the hall." Ororo said to him. "Wake them up if you need anything."

"Ya huh."

Ororo watched as her friend closed his eyes. Oh goddess. What kind of mess has he gotten himself into? She walked over and brushed his bang out of his eyes. He was all ready out.

"Ororo." Professor said and she turned. "He's going to be out for a while. In the meantime, we need to have a meeting."

"Yeah." She replied and took one look at him. Then, she turned off the light and closed the door.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"So what box did find this kid in 'Ro?" Logan asked.

Ororo gave him a look. She wanted to fry him then and there for making a comment like that.

"Sorry." Logan mumbled under his breath. "What happened to him?"

"According to the nurse, Gambit was in a motorcycle accident." Xavier explained. "He was driving late at night on a quiet highway and lost control over his bike. He was lucky he jumped from it before it crashed into a tree. He fractured his wrist in the fall as well as acquired many bumps and bruises. When the bike crashed, a piece of metal flew off and cut him in the head. He lost conciouness shortly after. He woke a couple of hours before we arrived."

"Ouch."

"Vhat caused the accident?" Kurt asked.

"I'm not sure." Xavier said honestly. "But I'm having his bike brought here Friday. I'd like you to take a look at it Logan since you know the most about motorcycles."

"K."

"Vhat did Gambit say about the accident/"

"When I asked him, he said he didn't want to talk about it?" Ororo replied slightly worried.

"How do you know him?" Logan asked and folded his arms.

Ororo's eyes widened at the question. She had never talked about Gambit to anyone but Xavier, Jean, or Scott. She completely forgot that Logan and Kurt knew nothing about him.

"Ummm…A few years ago in the early part of summer, Cyclops, Jean, and I were on a mission. I battle I was knocked out and kidnapped by out adversary." She explained. "When I woke up, I didn't remember anything. It was like I was 13 again. I managed to escape by climbing out of a window. But I couldn't summon my winds, so I fell in the pool below. Gambit pulled me out." She took a deep breath. "He had been stealing a painting when he found me. I trusted him, so he took me down the coast until we got to his Tante Matte's house. She was some sort of a Voodoo healer. Not longer after, I got my memory back." She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "He took me back here. I must have been gone for two weeks. I asked him to stay, but he left. Ever since then, we have been like close friends. Almost like brother and sister."

She's hiding something. Logan thought as she finished.

Two weeks. Kurt thought. Two weeks. What did they do in two weeks?

Logan stared at her hard. "I'm assuming he's a mutant."

"Yes." Ororo replied.

"Gambit has the ability to convert an inorganic object's potential energy into kinetic energy."

"In English Chuck."

"He can blow stuff up." Xavier said putting it simply.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

As Kurt walked with Ororo to her room, his mind raced. "Ororo."

"Yeah."

"How close are you and this Gambit?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, were you and him…"

"No. We were not."

Kurt sighed in relief. Thank you Lord.

"But I do care about him a lot." She explained. "Gambit is like a brother to me. We have a lot in common."

Kurt looked at her confused. How could Ororo, a beautiful weather goddess, have something in common with that guy sleeping in a funky ass trench coat across the hall from him?

"Well, I'm going to go to bed. It's been a long day." She said kissing him good night.

"Alright." He kissed her back. "I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow."

"See you at breakfast." She smiled but before she closed the door, she remembered something. "Oh Kurt."

"Ja Liebling." He turned around and smiled.

"Make sure you hide anything valuable you have."

"Ok."

"Good night."

"Gute Nacht." He replied and watched as she closed the door. He turned and began making his way to his room. Hide anything valuable. What did she mean by that?

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Logan sighed and stared at Professor Xavier. "There's more to this kid than meets the eye, ain't there?"

"Yes Logan." Xavier met his gaze. "I trust Ororo's judgment of him, but I'm not sure myself how Gambit stands. Like you, this is the first time I have actually met him face to face."

"Well, if you want my opinion." Logan said. "The kid smells funny. There is this scent on him that is so familiar to me, but I can't place it."

"I agree." Xavier replied. "I think there is something more to this than it seems. That's one of the reasons I want you to take a look at his motorcycle. I don't know much about motorcycles or seen one after an accident, but I have never seen anything like the way it was. I was amazed we were able to get stuff out of that trunk part and the two sides."

"What kind of bike was it?"

"It was a Harley Davidson." Xavier replied. "I think it was the Electra Glide Classic, if I'm not mistaken."

"That's an expensive bike. At least, seventeen grand." Logan answered. What is a kid like that doing with such an expensive bike? "It was a shame it was wrecked."

'Yes, Logan it was." Xavier replied. "I guess we will find out more Friday after you examine it."

"I guess we will." Logan said. I'm going to find out what that kid is hiding. "Good night Chuck."

"Good Night Logan."