DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-Men.

He padded across the roof, not making any sound at all. Most people hated being snuck up on like that, but he was so used to walking softly, what with being a professional thief and all, that he couldn't even really help himself anymore. But as he approached the young woman who was now lying on her back in the shade of one of the mansion's many chimneys, he realized that no matter how quiet he was, she would know he was there. It was something of a sixth sense, he could tell when he was being detected. Of course, he hadn't known it during his art museum adventure, but generally, he could just feel it. He came up behind her and she tilted her head back, to look at him.

"Ah can smell you." She propped herself up on her elbows. "Ya also stepped in gum." Sniffing the air again, she clarified. "Juicy Fruit, t'be exact."

He checked his shoe. Sure enough, there was a pale yellow glob stuck there. He scraped it off against the chimney and turned back to her.

"Pick dat up from de Wolverine?"

"Yeah." She blinked and sniffed the air again. "It's gone now."

Remy leaned up against the chimney and slid down to a seated position, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He charged the tip just enough to light the cigarette, and took a drag. Rogue tipped her head back again and looked at him.

"Ya know those things'll kill you, right?"

He looked at her, slightly amused. "For a girl who calls herself Rogue..."

"Oh, shut up. Ya don't know anything about me or where Ah got that name from."

"Non, I don't. But you could tell me."

"Ah..." She thought a minute. Could she? The whole time that she had been there, there had always been a few things that she was unable to tell anyone, even Kitty and Jubilee. And they knew almost all of her secrets. Every time someone said anything to remind her of the time that she spent before joining the X-men, she cringed a little. She had considered telling everyone about what she had done, but then she would have to face the truth. And worst of all, she may not be welcome there anymore. She looked up at him again, and tried to read him. From what she could tell, he was genuinely interested in hearing the story. His red eyes burned into her mind, and she had to look away.

"Ah can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

She sighed. "Ah'm just too comfortable here. If Ah told you that, Ah'd have to leave."

"All of dat from jus' telling Remy how you got your name?"

"It's a little more complicated than that. Everyone here trusts me. If Ah lost that trust... Ah have nowhere else to go."

"I'm sure dat dere's not'ing you can say dat everyone won't understand. I mean, dey found me in jail, f'r crying out loud!"

"It's not the same."

"If you say so." A minute passed between them, and they were quiet. Remy smoked his cigarette, and Rogue just stared out at the gardens. She pulled herself up, and leaned up against the chimney next to him. He stubbed out the cigarette and followed her gaze. A group of the older girls were sunbathing by the pool, and one of them was rubbing lotion onto another's back. A sudden spurt of water shot at them from the pool, and they jumped in, grabbing the boy who had done it and tickling him. Rogue looked away from them, sighing. Trying to get her mind off of it, Remy cleared his throat.

"So... tell me about Magneto."

She gasped slightly and turned to him, concern spreading across her face.

"How did you know about that?"

"Kitty told me."

Her face softened a little bit as realization sunk in. "Oh, you mean Liberty Island? When he kidnapped me?"

"Yeah. What did you t'ink I meant?"

"Um... nothing. Yeah, Ah was kidnapped."

"Dat's it? 'I was kidnapped'? Pretty boring kidnapping, non?"

She smiled. "He held me prisoner then transferred his power to me so that this machine he built that turns people into mutants could wipe out the world leaders."

"Oh. Dat makes sense."

"Does it?"

"Non, not really."

She chuckled. "Guess not. It was powered by his specific mutation."

"So why didn't he do it himself?"

"It woulda killed him."

"But it didn't kill you."

"Yeah, it did." She pointed to her hair. "It sucked so much outta me, it started to drain the color."

"T'ought dat was just a, um, creative dye job."

"Yeah, Ah get that a lot. But Logan saved me. It knocked him out for two weeks, but he let me absorb his healing factor."

"Dat was nice of him."

"Tell me about it."

"Ok, I will. Well, if he hadn't done dat, I would have never met you and den—"

"Not literally. And so what?"

"Chere, I t'ink you know what."

"Oh, don't start with that again, Swamp Rat. Ah hate t' break it to ya, but you ain't God's gift t' women."

He grabbed his chest dramatically. "You wound me, Chere!"

"Doubtful."

"Non, really. Remy's never been turned down before."

"Ha! Ya know, Ah actually believe that."

"Dat's because it's true."

"Well, ya better get used to it, Gumbo."

"Again wit' de name callin'! And dat wasn't even one of your names!"

"Sorry... let a little Logan slip through."

"So was dat Logan turning me down or was that Rogue?"

"Both."

"Ah. I see." He stood up. "Well, nice chatting wit' you."

Rogue rolled her eyes and grabbed his leg before he could walk away. "Sit down, sugah. Ah didn't mean it like that. It's just... with Bobby and all, Ah don't want t' get back into things like that right now. You're still allowed t' talk to me, you know."

He sank down again, smiling. "Good."

"So tell me something about you."

"Well, I'm from N'Awlins"

"Ah know. I was there when ya got outta the slammer, remember?"

"Never forgot for one minute."

"Probably because it was two weeks ago."

"Maybe."

"So how about your family?"

"Don' really want t' talk about that. Might incriminate m'self"

She laughed. "Right."

"Non, I'm serious."

"Fine. Well, what do ya want to tell me then?"

"Hm. Wanna hear de dirt on Stormy?"

Her eyes widened, and she turned to face him. "Spill"

He grinned.

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Down in the medlab, Storm and Nightcrawler had talked Cyclops into going upstairs to eat and take a shower, and were sitting by Jean's bed. Kurt was sitting on the bed across from hers, his feet dangling below. Storm folded Jean's blanket down and smoothed it out. She looked down at her friend and sighed. In all the years that she knew Jean, she had never seen her look so helpless. Even when she slept, she had a certain look about her that told you not to try anything. Ororo patted Jean's forehead and sat down heavily in the chair. Kurt looked at her over the bed.

"She will pull through, Ororo."

"I hope so."

"She has so many people pulling for her. You must have faith."

Storm looked up at him. "Easier said than done, Kurt."

"But the reward for it is every bit worth the trouble."

Storm bowed her head again, and Kurt tried to change the subject.

"So... what was Herr Lebeau talking about earlier?"

"Oh, nothing really. I spent some time in New Orleans when I was younger... It was when I first came over from Cairo. I was trying to make some money, I met his father, and started doing odd jobs with them."

"His whole family steals?"

"It's a legacy. The guild has been around for hundreds of years."

"Guild?"

"Thieves Guild. Remy's father is the patriarch. He paired us up to pull a number of jobs. One time, we were lifting gold and silver items from a mansion, and in the middle of it, the owner of the house woke up and went to the kitchen for a snack..."

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Rogue was enthralled. She had never once thought that Storm was capable of stealing anything, let alone going on planned heists.

"So I'm in de kitchen, right? And I sometimes get hungry while I'm working. So I go t'rough de fridge, looking for somet'ing to snack on. Stormy is in the study, and she sees de guy come down de stairs, but she can't get dere in time t' warn me. So instead, she sticks her head out de window and hits de power lines wit' some lightning, making de lights go out. And de guy, he has no idea what's going on. He's stumbling around in de kitchen now, and I'm jus' barely leaping outta de way before he reaches me. And now, he's feelin' around on de counter for de flashlight, which o' course, I took away, and all of a sudden..."

----------------------------------------------------

Kurt stared at Ororo, his mouth slightly agape. He was interested, as well as shocked.

"So I'm right outside of the kitchen, ready to back Remy up if necessary, and I hear this man scream 'Who the hell is making a sandwich?!' Turns out, Remy had gotten a little hungry and decided to help himself to whatever was in the refrigerator. It's a bad habit he had. There was a watch out for 'the bologna burglar' for awhile. After that, he lost the habit pretty quickly. Claimed that he didn't that name, since bologna went straight to his thighs. But back to the story. So he's in there, trying not to laugh, and the guy is angry because he thinks that his wife had left the bread out."

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"And den, while he was trying t' get it all put away again, I lifted all of his silverware, from de drawer right in front of him. Stormy was still outside of de kitchen. So I come out, and turn around t' look around one last time, and I'm facing dis guy, nose to nose. Stormy tries t' make some noise outside so dat I can get away wit'out him hearing me, and she accidentally calls up a lightning bolt. Next t'ing I know, de guy is on de ground. Fainted. We got de hell out of dere. De next day, all de papers are running dis story about one of de rich guys seeing an angel and a demon ripping him off. Stormy must have been standing in front of de window, and he saw my eyes. You know, my 'beautiful' eyes?"

She looked down, blushing.

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"And then, I get a phone call. And it's fom Remy's father. He calls us into his office, and when i get there, Remy is already there. As soon as I close the door, Jean-Luc turns to us and yells that we had the wrong house. Turned out we had robbed one of Jean-Luc's friends. Most of the stuff that we lifted was things that we had stolen from other places. He made us go back to the house, replace all of the items, and apologize to the man and his wife. It was the most embarrassing thing I have ever had to do."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "I can imagine."

"Oh, come on, Kurt. You can't tell me that you've never done anything crazy before. You lived in a circus, for crying out loud."

Kurt's eyes lit up, and he grinned. "You want a story? I can tell you stories."

----------------------------------------------------

"Can you hear them?"

"No, I think they're over by the guys dorms."

Jubilee threw down the magazine and walked out to the balcony, where Kitty was standing on the railing, straining to hear whatever she could.

"Ok. Let's go."

Kitty hopped down. "What?"

"We're going to go visit Petey-boy."

"You're evil."

"Thank you."

They ran out of the room and sprinted towards the other side of the mansion.

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"Now I want t' hear somet'ing else."

"Ah dunno."

"Come on, Rogue. I know. What's your name?"

"It's Rogue."

"Non, your real name. I heard Logan call you Mary."

"Marie."

"So dat's your name?"

"No."

Remy sighed. "Den what is it?"

"I told ya. It's Rogue. That's mah name."

Remy was starting to get angry. "Why can't you tell me somet'ing as easy as your name? It's not a hard question. Just tell me!"

She exhaled deeply and closed her eyes, mumbling something under her breath. Neither of them noticed the two heads that popped up through the roof just on the other side of the chimney.

"What did you say?" Frustrated didn't even begin to describe Remy.

Rogue looked up at him again, her eyes full of something that he could not read. Then, she exploded. "Because Ah don't remember it, ok?! Ah don't remember what mah real name is. Marie is jus' what mah last set of foster parents called me, alright? The only name that ah've known th' whole time is Rogue. Rogue. That's mah name. Happy?"

Remy made a concerned face. "Non, dat's horrible."

"Yeah. Tell me about it."

"Y'know... Remy was adopted."

She looked up at him. "Was he, now?"

"Oui. Mon pere found me in a hospital when I was just a bebe."

"So ya never even knew your parents?"

"Non."

"Ah did. Ah ran away from home when ah was seven."

Jubilee popped her head back down into the room.

"She says she ran away from home when she was seven." She went to pop her head back up, not noticing that Kitty had let go of her arm, and she hit her head on the ceiling.

"Shit! Kitty!"

"Oops."

Bobby laughed from his bed, as Pete rolled his eyes.

"Serves her right."

"Da."

As much as Bobby wanted to hear all of the information being relayed, the methods being used to acquire it was, in his opinion, entirely unnecessary. The girls had come running into the room about a minute earlier and talked Pete into standing on his bed and letting them sit on his shoulders so that they could reach high enough to poke the tops of their heads out. Jubilee bent down again to continue the explanation.

"Her dad was abusive, called her a little Rogue. He mom died when she was six."

Bobby raised his eyebrows. He had suspected something similar to that, the way that she always skirted around that subject. Sure, he was a little bit jealous that he had never been able to get that information out of her, and now this complete stranger was getting her to open up, but he had decided that he was just going to let it go. He always hated it when she was angry, and he couldn't stand to have that anger turned on him. Earlier, as he was tending to the livestock, he had realized just how wrong his "if I can't have her, no one can" attitude was. It still made him angry, the thought of her sitting up there, telling her life story to Remy, but he just closed his eyes and leaned back, trying to not let it get to him. Jubilee popped her head down again.

"She was picked up by some woman named Raven Darkholme. Took her in for awhile, lived with her and her partner, Irene."

Bobby opened his eyes. Raven Darkholme. He'd heard that name somewhere before. He shrugged it off. Maybe Rogue had mentioned her in passing.

"Gambit wants her to tell him more about them, but she says she can't."

Bobby smiled. It was nice to hear her refusing to tell someone else about her life.

"She says that Raven and Irene only called her Rogue. When she was fifteen, she went to live with foster parents, after Irene died."

Bobby grabbed the pillow from behind him. He didn't know if he wanted to hear any more of this.

"And Ah was tossed around for two years before Ah got my powers and ran away again. That's when Ah met Logan and came here."

"Wow. Good story."

"Heh... thanks." She paused, thinking. " Y'know, Ah never told anyone that before."

"Guess Remy owes you anot'er story den, non?"

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"So Jimaine and I were in the dressing room, und we were waiting for our act to open, when Gerhard came in to take off his makeup before he switched characters. He did not know that I had replaced his cold cream with hemorrhoid cream."

Storm gasped. She had never heard Kurt tell stories like this before.

"So he put it on, and made a comment about how it smelled bad. I suggested that it was merely old, and he agreed. He spent an hour scrubbing his face, and he missed his second act. But the good news is that all of his wrinkles disappeared."

Storm laughed. She had underestimated Kurt. Sure, his religious side was very dominant, but she saw the glint in his eyes when he talked about his hijinks. His joking side was not only there, but she could see that it was very lively.

She was thinking of a good way to ask him about his apparent change, when the machine next to her started to beep. She looked down, and saw Jean's eyelids fluttering.

"Kurt, go get Hank and Scott."

He nodded and teleported away, as Storm stood and took her friend's hand.

"Jean, can you hear me?"

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A/N: There we go... Thanks for all of the reviews of the last chapter, keep them coming :-)