Disclaimer: I do not own Gambit, the X-Men or any related references to said universe. Marvel owns them.
"Gambit, you're looking well," Warren said brushing by him through the swinging kitchen door, a newspaper folded neatly under one arm.
"Worthington, I'm surprised y' be down here wit' de little people," Remy replied to the snide comment. His appearance he knew was lacking a certain appeal. His general clothing style was casual, but he was currently in his work clothes composed of material too stubborn to give up despite the gaps and gashes plaguing them. The conversation he'd had with Cyclops had been unpleasant to say the least. Whatever menial work would have been hired out or meted throughout the others had been granted solely to him.
The man probably wouldn't have been quite as mad if Gambit had agreed to show the X-Men's field leader just how he had managed to open the supposedly sealed Danger Room. Trade secrets were trade secrets after all. Scott was going through the computer like a man possessed, reordering systems and rearranging components. His thought process was, if he had to work to 'fix' the systems, than Gambit had to be working too. Cyclops was notorious for being anal when it came to details, and Gambit had a feeling he would be busy for awhile.
Wolverine's sudden departure had put Cyclops, and surprise, surprise, Jean, in a bad mood. Gambit felt he should hardly be blamed for the event. Wolverine tended to go off on his own on a fairly regular basis. Remy was pretty sure that there was a pattern to it—he had a theory it was tied to eclipses. Somehow Scott hadn't seen the amusement factor in his analysis. Then again, when was the last time Scott had been amused by anything?
What it all boiled down to of course was that he had less and less time to spend with Rogue. Left to her own devices he was afraid she'd convince herself to quit reaching out, and they'd be back to square one. Worse she'd blame him for pressuring her again, not accepting her and her reality. But with a few gentle and not so gentle nudges they'd be on their way.
"Brother?" a melodic voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey chere," Gambit replied hopping onto the countertop, his ever ready smirk brightening as he spotted his favorite and only windrider clad in one of the wispy outfits she seemed so found of in the summer months.
"What are you up to?" she questioned raising a silver eyebrow suspiciously.
"Who says I be up to anyt'ing?"
"I know that look. It is the same look you had right before you told me of your plan to steal the Star of the South diamond," Storm said pointedly. "You never told me, did you pull off the heist?"
"Eh Stormie, y' know me, de jewel was in its proper place. I would never have stolen it."
"Something tells me believing you would be a mistake," Storm said in a chiding tone, reaching beside him for a clean glass and filling it with tap water.
"Dat hurts chere, really."
"Too true I'm sure. Now no more diversions. What have you planned? And I beg you whatever it is, leave Scott out of it. I don't think he can take any more, and I certainly cannot take anymore of him."
"Why he be mad at y'?"
"He was gone, I was in charge," Storm said simply tilted blue eyes calm and clear.
"But y' weren' here," Gambit said stating the obvious. "An' nobody said to call y', since he was supposed to be back pretty quick."
"Well it seems I should have known instinctively," she kidded. "Jean is on my side and really I think what Cyclops is more concerned about is my inability to control you."
"Excuse moi, when did Gambit become y' pet?"
"Perhaps I chose the wrong word," Storm offered. "But I brought you to the team. Goddess knows that Cyclops has not been able to get through to you. He expects me to be able to fit you into the mold, as it were. Yesterdays antics are supposedly a reflection upon me."
"Everybody be tryin' to make somebody over. I blame reality TV," Gambit muttered under his breath. "Don' worry Storm, I don' see why everybody be tryin' to take credit for somet'ing dat wasn't dere responsibility in de first place."
"I believe it is the X-Men creed."
"Cynicism from y' chere, I'm shocked," Gambit grinned, his eyes lighting up.
"Well we all tire from time to time. Please at least try to stay out of trouble for awhile longer," she pleaded laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"I promise Scott will never know."
Storm, on her way out the door, stopped short. "That was not exactly what I meant," she said concern pinching her features, but when she turned, Gambit as he often did, had already slipped away.
"Rogue, bout what we were talk'n bout de otha day..."
"No, Remy I don't want ta talk about that anymore. I thought we had an agreement," she interrupted tension singing down her spine. The thief just never knew when to quit.
"An' y' said sharing. T'ru sharing comes trust…an' den some other stuff," he spoke hastily. "But y' were honest bout y' powers. What y' really felt bout dem, now I jus' wanta help Rogue! Come on petite, y' neva know if y' don' eva try," the Cajun spoke convincingly.
Rogue brushed her hands roughly against her jeans trying to keep the bitter expression off her face. The couple had finally gotten some time for themselves despite the Danger Room fiasco, and they had connected, at least she thought so. But the Cajun couldn't leave that moment, that memory alone. Gambit had to ruin it, bringing up her powers again. She had her turn at sharing and look where it had led her, into another interrogation by her supposed lover. Shouldn't it be his turn? Hers powers were inseparable from herself and she'd accepted that fact, and had said as much yesterday; it did not help either of them to dwell on what might be.
"Ya are supposed ta be quiet, say ya understand till it's ya turn to share. I don't want ya ta try and get in the middle of my problems. I guess ya neva really did this whole sharing thing before didja?" she asked rhetorically. "Course I seemed ta have done more than my fair part of the sharing.
Just stop wishing for something that ain't never gonna happen. It'll only hurt us both. I accept my powers Swamp Rat, you should too," she continued glaring at him through thick eyelashes.
"Rogue y' haven' accepted y' powers. If y' did dey wouldn' bother y' so much." The vicious curl to her lip convinced Gambit that his little insight wasn't exactly appreciated.
"Rogue," Gambit tried again, trying to corner her in the hallway with a smoothly muscled forearm. "Okay, I know dat yesterday was a little one-sided, but dere is only so much dat we can deal wit' at one time right? I didn' want to add on t' de load."
Rogue immediately looked affronted brilliant green eyes widening, "Well I am so sorry that I have so much emotional baggage that ya can't bear ta add to it!"
"Dat ain't what I mean!" Gambit said quickly, a despairing thoughts running through his mind. They spent more time explaining themselves than talking it seemed. Some things were easier said and felt through touch, a kiss in the right moment in the right way could share more emotion, show more feeling than a week of words. Impossible with Rogue, and their arguments went around and around.
"Y' can' keep livin' like dis, afraid t' touch, afraid t' try…Y' powers will neva change if y' don' do anything about dem! I know I ain't de first person t' say dis Rogue, but when y' gonna start listenin'?" he asked, his frustration creeping up on him.
"Ya listen here Mista LeBeau! I have done plenty ta try and work out my powers. Nothing works! It's time ta just admit that they'll always be like this! Just forget," she repeated strongly.
"When Rogue," he asked with seeming courteousness.
"When what?" she snipped back, not in a mood for another round of questioning by her beau, though he might not be for long with the upper-handed attitude he'd adopted, she thought darkly.
"When was de last time y' tried to do sometin' bout y' powers?" he asked deliberately, refusing to let the subject be brushed aside once again as it had the previous day. As soon as the subject of what she actually wanted to have done about her powers rose, Rogue had immediately clammed up. Feigning feeling a raindrop Rogue had led Gambit into a collective exit from the park, dry the whole way home.
Rogue's brow furrowed lightly as she tried to remember, pushing aside the tattered memories she'd absorbed to find her own. She had originally come to the X-Men to learn to control her powers as a young woman, but she was twenty-three now, that seemed like a lifetime ago. She had tried a few times with Moira and Beast to gain control over her powers, but again that had been long in the past and had ended unsatisfactorily. At some point she had given up searching for a cure. Sure in the knowledge that the only way to keep her powers in check were inhibitors, or medication donated by less than benevolent villains, she gave up, neither options she was willing to consider.
"I don't know, it's been awhile," she grunted, "but I don't think anybody's come up with any breakthroughs since then," Rogue added glancing away obliquely from the strong pull of his dark eyes, crimson iris in flame.
"I ain't talkin' bout Xavier, or Bete chere, I mean you Rogue. When was de last time y' tried to control y' powers," stressed Remy.
"I don't know—every day!" shouted Rogue slamming his arm out of her path her strength just short of breaking bone, glaring angrily at the auburn haired man. "My powers are dangerous! I can't go experimenting in my free time."
"Everybody's powers are dangerous chere, not jus' y'," he retorted forcefully. "Any one of de people in de mansion could kill if dey wanted. Me and Cyclops tear up a place real quick if we wanted to. Heck chere, Bobby could freeze de blood in y' veins and nobody be de wiser…We all practice so we don' hurt each other cher. Y' can do de same."
"If I knew I was gonna be getting a lecture outta all this, I never woulda told ya anything. I thought we could just be together, no pressure, I guess I was wrong, ya just like every other man I've met," Rogue snapped brown hair whipping as she whirled around to stride down the hall. Gambit followed quickly and caught her arm before she could fly away, more than once having their conversation cut short in such a decisive manner.
"Chere, Rogue…" Remy spoke quietly in what he hoped was a calming voice, not wanting his own aggravation to give her an excuse to depart. For someone who wanted no pressure, she sure had a lot of questions, and expectations to go along with them. He had a feeling he'd give her the wrong answer some day and she would disappear on him.
"I know y' scared petite, but I am here for y'. I know y' powers are dangerous, an' not just to otha people, but to y' too. I jus' want to help non? Please chere," he pleaded. Rogue's determined set of shoulders eased at the fervent honesty in his voice, a quality she knew he used sparingly, and she collapsed bonelessly against the wall, a truculent expression on her face. Eyes that had been snapping a moment ago seemed drained.
"I know ya do Gambit. A lotta people do," she added ironically. "But I don't think ya can. I don't want ta live like this, who would?" she said harshly. "But I won't hurt anyone else just because one of my silly wants. Ya understand don't ya Gambit? I mean…Cody…Carol, and I finally got the voices under control…I'm not sure it's worth it ta try for more. Maybe this is all I get, I'm supposed ta be this way. I want to be able ta touch, more than ya know, but I can live without it for the rest of my life if it means I won't hurt anyone else."
"Oh chere," Gambit returned knowingly, "dats just guilt talkin' dere. An' it ain't a silly want, it's a basic human…want," he said skipping over the word desire knowing with their physical closeness she would interpret it incorrectly—perhaps he was learning.
"Y' don' have to live like dis if y' don't want to. Everyone's powers are controllable, at least to an extent,"
"Is that so? I don't think I've ever seen Beast turn off his blue fur."
A pursed smile, as he revised, "de energy-based powers den, not de physical."
"Personally I think I fall in ta both categories. Besides, Havok, Cyclops—"
"Were y' dropped outta a plan when y' were a kid?"
"No."
"Den I t'ink y' be fine. What happened wit' Cody was jus' a mistake. Y' powers had manifested pretty quick, y' couldn' have know dat woulda happened. Y' got to let go of dat chere , focus on de control y' can earn today…not de loss of de control y' had yesterday."
"I can't hurt anybody else," she repeated clutching her fists.
"I know that Rogue, dat one of de t'ings dat so great bout y'. Y' be one de strongest people dat I know, but y' spend most of de time wondering if y' might be hurtin' other people. But if y' don' try to control y' powers, y' be hurting more people jus' on accident," he said bluntly. Emerald eyes locked with a sympathetic set of lightly glowing ruby eyes.
"How Remy?" she demanded. "Even if I did agree ta this, then what? Henry, the Professor, Moira…geniuses have failed, what do ya plan ta do differently Remy LeBeau?" she questioned shaking her head. "Control of my powers is so out of reach for me Gambit, ya don't understand. Hoping, wishing like this, it just sets me up for a fall. And I'm tired of it."
"I'll catch you," Gambit assured quickly, "Dere ain't nothin' wrong wit' wishing on a star chere… dats how I found y'."
"I'm sure," she replied dryly, hesitatingly meeting his eyes, for once willingly letting him take the lead in the conversation.
"I don' have everytin' planned out jus' yet Rogue," he admitted with a wry but fetching grin, "but de first step would be to try it out non?"
"So what are ya saying Swamp Rat?" she questioned narrowing her eyes.
"Y've never really used y' powers dat often chere, an' when y' do, it be in battle, de heat of de moment, not lots o' concentration," he put forth watching her reaction.
"I suppose that's true enough," Rogue allowed a small grin creeping up on her features.
The childlike part of herself she kept cordoned off from the rest was jumping up in down with glee, someone was going to help her. Remy wasn't going to let her push him away, she knew how stubborn the man could be. He'd stay until he fixed the problem or die trying.
That's what the responsible adult was afraid of. Remy cared about her. Getting him to say 'I love you' had always been another matter. But she felt it, or at least she hoped she did. Despite the fights, the break-ups he was still heart-stricken over her. He would stay by her, even if it was not healthy for him.
"So what do y' t'ink Rogue? If…" he started over searching for the right words, "I t'ink dat if we jus' practice enough it'll work. Nothin' gets betta if y' jus' sittin' round. We don' have to tell anybody if y' don' want. Y' can just surprise dem one day neh?" he asked smiling brightly as if he wasn't suggesting a plan that could possibly lose him his life, or send him into a months long coma.
"Remy…" Rogue spoke exhaling loudly boring a hole with her gaze and biting her lower lip gently, "I'll do it," she blurted out before her rational side could take over. "But you're right I don't want ta tell anybody yet. I don't think I need the extra pressure." She lay her gloved hand hesitatingly over Remy's shirt sleeve, "Promise me," she insisted, "promise ya will stop, and let this go if it doesn't work out. I won't lose ya over this. Ya got me Swamp Rat?" Rogue threatened using an iota of her super-strength to dent his muscles.
A brilliant smile burst out over the Cajun-breds face, glad to have gotten his way, but he dimmed it down wetting his lips before replying seriously, "Y' have my word Rogue, but let Gambit decided when he's had enough, not y', eh chere? Y' have a tendency to be overprotective," he spoke through his smile.
"Well we'll see," she allowed, "but the second I start using ya accent without meaning to we'll stop. I love ya sugah, but I don't want ta be ya."
"Fair enough," Gambit answered quietly and was surprised when Rogue leaned back into his embrace. He lowered his chin until it rested lightly on top of her head wrapping his arms around her frame as close as her powers would currently permit.
"Soon," Rogue replied to his unasked question, and the pair stood in a thick silence, knowing that the coming trials would fundamentally change their relationship. For better or for worse, they were taking the next step.
A/N: Hey Guys, thanks for the reviews—
BJ2, calliopeia, coldqueen, Golden Elanor, ishandahalf, Jen, MJK, Pincher, Siarra, Streetwise Girl, Sweety8587, and Tammy.