Okay, the waiting is over....bet this isn't what you expected....

Disclaimer: As always...not mine. Why must I do this?

Part VIII

John rushed to try and get back into this house. His hands shook violently, shocking him with his fear, the key to the door dropped, landing on the doormat.

"God damn it!" John moved to get the key but found himself pressed against the door harshly, the weight of another person pushing against him, the rough sound of growling in his left ear. John tried to get his breathing under control, knowing that if he couldn't do that then things would be so much worse. "What you doing here then mate?"

"I'm not yer mate, and I want some answers, bub." Three adamantium claws shot out right beside John's face. "Now, just what was that about at the Institute tonight?"

"Dunno what your talking 'bout. Just giving ol' Gambit back his things." John said, pushing against the solid door, hoping to get some space between him and the Wolverine. "What do ye want?" John asked, failing to get the space he needed, his ribs were being crushed under the pressure.

"I want answers." He said, giving the lithe male a shove just for enforcement.

"I told ya!" John said, bringing his legs up against the door and pushing back until her got his feet against it. "I," he straightened his legs, "don't know," bending them slightly before pushing back with as much strength as he could muster, "ANYTHING!" Wolverine jumped back, watching John scramble to his feet, grab the matchbox and the key and quickly pull out one of the matches. "Just go away Wolverine. This has nothing to do with ya." John said, not yet striking the match.

"What are you planning boy?" John rolled his eyes, why couldn't anyone just stop asking questions and trust him? Just for once? He knew it was hard but surely just this ONE time someone could give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Well, nothing. If you don't clear off and not get me killed I might think of something but with you hanging around here, getting all scent like and stuff, old tooth and claws up there is gonna get a little territorial. That, old mate, would not bode well for this little fire-starter!" John ranted, his temper flaring like his favourite bird of fire. Wolverine cocked an eyebrow, clearly mulling over what had been said.

"Anything goes down, and it goes wrong," the three claws from each hand popped out again, emphasising the Wolverine's point, "I'm holding you accountable." Slowly he stalked off, leaving John on the porch, keys and matches in hand.

"Anything goes wrong mate," John murmured to himself, looking up at the huge house behind him, "and I'm already dead."

- - -

Zaire lay on her bed, eyes open, staring at the ceiling. She was having trouble sleeping again, her hip itching and burning to make her pay attention to it. The stench of fear, or what she thought fear would smell like, filled her senses every time she closed her eyes. Zaire slowly sat up in bed, wondering if perhaps Gambit was up, the Cajun didn't sleep much, maybe he was having nightmares too. But then maybe Rogue was still with him. Zaire didn't want to intrude on their time alone; they didn't get much of it because of Logan or Scott. An unjustified wave of jealously washed over the young runaway, her eyes starting to water once more as the room drew in on her. She wanted something like what they were having. Rogue and Remy, the way they just looked at one another, they way she smiled or he smiled when the other told a joke or made a stupid or sarcastic comment. She wanted that, but for some strange reason she didn't want to go out and find it.

Getting out of her bed, pulling on her stolen Harvard sweatshirt, Zaire made her way down stairs and sat on the living room sofa. The main room in the downstairs area was larger than any other. Since the attack by Sabertooth only a few days ago Zaire had been suffering from mild bouts of claustrophobia. She had always thought her room to be big, but it was far from it. She couldn't take the elevator down to the lower regions of the mansion now and she had panic attacks even at the mention of the Medical Bay. Her hopes of ever making it into the medical profession were completely shattered. If she couldn't go and see Hank down there then there was no way she'd be learning anymore. Zaire wondered if maybe she would be able to eat any more ice cream, or if that would just cause a tummy bug or something making her feel lousy. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Zaire tried to focus on relaxing herself. There wasn't a sound from the mansion, everyone was probably in bed, and rightfully so at nearly five in the morning. Relaxing her body completely Zaire attempted to put herself into a deep trance, hoping that it might give her back some strength.

"Kid?" A hand clamped down on her shoulder and Zaire jumped out of her skin, falling off the sofa and causing the coffee table to tumble making a loud banging sound. Zaire cringed, looking up at Logan's confused face. There was the sound of a door opening and Remy skidded to a halt in on the polished wooden floor. Zaire glanced over at him, Remy's expression rather similar to Logan's.

"Chere?" Remy asked, bewilderment creeping into his tone.

"Umm, sorry." Zaire sad lamely, looking from one male to the next. "Okay, nightly dose of embarrassment over, I'm going back to my room." Zaire stood up, smiling at Logan and Remy before trying to leave without making a bigger fool of herself.

"You sure you're okay kid?" Logan asked, and for once Zaire didn't mind the 'kid' being added on.

"Yeah, Logan," Zaire answered, looking over her shoulder, "just my pride that's hurt." With that she ran up the stairs, along the hall and into her room, closing the door as silently as she could.

"I am such a moron."

- - -

Logan stood where he was for a while, not saying a word and just watching the Cajun. Gambit was standing exactly where he had when he dashed into the room to see what was happening, watching the spot on the stairs where Zaire had turned to reassure Logan of her health. Logan watched with fascination. After all the mess Gambit had been through, he was still willing to care for people? Even though few had given him the grace of caring back. Logan wondered slightly, which of the two females it was that held Gambit's affections. The untouchable or the unreadable?

Sure, Stripes and Gambit could probably work around the whole no touching thing, but did they have enough in common? Could they bury the past of betrayal and lies? Could they move on from their separate pasts and make something of a future? Logan found he wasn't too averse to having Stripes try to work something out with Gambit. For some reason he was far more worried about Zaire being the one who took on the Cajun.

Zaire was a free spirit; Zaire was happy young woman who enjoyed her life. Her incident with Sabertooth left a permanent mark, and Logan wasn't meaning the neat little scars on her hipbone. Logan knew of the fears that crept up on Zaire, Logan could smell her fear whenever she was stuck in a tight space or when she was stuck with a large crowd. She was good at hiding it, but not that good.

"You want a beer Gumbo?" Logan asked, walking into the kitchen. Remy seemed to have to take a second or two to process the question.

"Non, merci." Came the reply. Logan looked at the clock, noticing that maybe beer wasn't a great idea.

"How 'bout some coffee?" The Wolverine quickly went about the kitchen area getting the bits and pieces he needed to make a decent cup of coffee.

"You t'ink coffee a good idea for me?" Remy asked incredulously. "I be jumpy as it is. Non, don't t'ink that coffee be a good idea, mon ami." Logan nodded, hoping that Gambit would realise that he wanted to talk. Luckily the thief seemed to catch on. Sighing, the red eyed male jumped up, sitting in the middle of the kitchen on top of the counter. "What you wantin' to say to me?" Damn the kid was blunt.

"I don't want you hurtin' those girls." Remy frowned, and Logan wondered if maybe he was too blunt.

"Der be more than one?" Remy asked, frown raised and the lines in his forehead creasing.

"Yeah, as in Rogue and Zaire." Realisation dawned on Gambit's face, understanding now that Logan wasn't just looking out for Rogue.

"So I'm being warned away from Zaire too huh?"

"I'm not warning ye away. I'm just saying, don't hurt them." Logan said, putting the kettle on and turning to face Gambit, leaning against the sink.

"What make you t'ink I'm gonna hurt them?" Logan sighed at the question.

"I don't, but I just want you to know, they ain't just some girl ye can pick up and then throw away." Logan said, feeling slightly like the over protective father. "If ye hurt either one of them, I'll hurt you. Understand?"

"Oui." Gambit said in a soft voice. Logan frowned, why was he quiet suddenly? Shaking his head Logan turned back to the kettle and poured the boiling hot water into his mug. When he turned back to face the thief, he was gone. Logan heard the click of a door and shook his head. The kid sure was light on his feet.

- - -

Come Saturday morning the living room and kitchen were buzzing. Remy stood in his doorway, completely unnoticed and watched them all. It was a total turn about from life at the Acolytes place. If John beat everyone to the kitchen then there would be enough pancakes made to feed an army, and then there was the fresh orange juice he loved to make. Remy knew that the juice squeezer had been a bad idea, John had a thing for gadgets, any toy he could get his hands on he would play with. True enough, Remy almost missed Saturday morning pancakes a la John. Smiling to himself he entered the kitchen and sat at an empty seat, happy to observe the others.

"Scott, quit hogging the milk!" Kitty complained, phasing through Scott's stomach to get the milk for her cereal. "It's not just for coffee you know." At the sound of the word coffee Gambit perked up immediately. Coffee that Creed didn't make? That sounded like heaven!

"Morning Remy, sleep well?" Jean sat down beside the Cajun, smiling brightly and Remy wondered how she managed it first thing in the morning.

"Oui." He answered, not going into detail and not telling the truth what so ever. After his 'talk' with Logan, Remy had been unable to sleep. Why was the Canadian worried about Zaire being hurt? Zaire was a good friend, something like John. She was always bringing his mood up and always understanding him without him having to spell it out to her. Why would she get hurt in all this? Plus the fact that Logan had admitted he had no problem with how close Rogue and he were getting. Remy was sure that Logan did have a problem but wasn't going to say anything for fear of losing Rogue as a friend, cause Remy knew that's what they were, maybe even a little more.

"You want some coffee? You look like you could use it." Scott asked, standing behind Kurt. Remy looked up and nodded his head, trying to remember how to speak.

"Merci." Hope they knew a little French. They should by now, what was this, a non-multi language equality halfway house? Bah, to early in the morning for those thoughts, intelligent thoughts take more coffee. Scott places a mug in front of Gambit, the Cajun wrapping his hands around it and taking in the warmth of the mug. After lifting the mug to his lips and taking a sip of the hot liquid. "Gah!" Everyone turned to Remy, wondering if Scott had poisoned him by mistake or not. "You call dis coffee, mon ami?" Kitty laughed and Jean just shook her head.

"What's wrong with the coffee?" Scott asked, completely oblivious. Remy got up and went over to where Scott stood, the tin of coffee granules on the counter behind him. The Cajun picked up the tin and put another spoonful of coffee into his mug.

"What's wrong? Der's no coffee in it. Needs to taste like coffee." Remy replied, hands wrapping around the mug again, this time to heat up the liquid and dissolve the newly added coffee. After a glance around the kitchen Scott discovered that most people agreed with Remy on this one.

"Well, that's how I like my coffee." He argued, not about to back down from what he liked; Remy just shook his head, drinking his coffee happily now. "So what was breakfast like with the Acolytes?" He asked, catching Remy slightly off guard.

"Breakfast?" HE thought it over. "Pretty normal. If you count John having his ice cream and fritters." Remy said with a shrug, why did Scott want to know about breakfast with the Acolytes? It seemed to be a rather strange topic of conversation.

"So, it's not all that different being here then?" Jean asked, everyone's attention was now on Remy, something he would rather not happen. Strange discussion this, very strange.

"Oui, I guess." Remy said slowly, "Creed not usually there for breakfast, just John, Piotr and me. Three hommes having breakfast, one be slightly crazed but," Remy shrugged, "de numbers just be multiplied here." Remy put his empty mug in the sink and made to leave the kitchen, but was stopped by Kitty.

"Wait, like, who's the crazed one here?" She asked, a small frown on her face while she thought it over.

"Dat one you gotta figure out on your own."

- - -

"Please Professor?"

"It's not like we're asking to go to a party, it's the library. A place where we can learn and progress as human beings." Zaire and Rogue stood in front of Professor Xavier trying to convince him to let them go to the library on Sunday with the rest of the students. Zaire had already mentioned it to Kitty and Kurt, thinking of it as a way to get out of the mansion and into town for some fun. What Kitty and Kurt didn't know was that Zaire had been scheming with Rogue and Remy. They had went along with it and convinced the others that it would be a good idea, now all they needed was to convince Xavier that it was a good idea.

"I am shocked merely by your eagerness to go to the public library, we do have a library here." The Professor argued, raising his eyebrow at the two girls.

"But ah'm looking for a vampire novel, there ain't none of them here." Rogue said, knowing that the Professor didn't have any of the literary material that she enjoyed reading.

"Yeah, and I've read all the medical books. I'm looking for something new, a challenge as it is." Zaire chimed in, a grin on her face while she rocked back and forth on her heels. For some unknown reason Charles felt the beginning of a headache start, neither of them would stop till they got there own way.

"Very well," he finally gave up, "talk to Scott and Jean, and I want either Hank, Ororo or Logan to accompany you."

"Can Remy come?" Both asked at the same time.

"Why would we exclude him?" Charles knew both of the young women had accepted the abused Cajun as one of the team now, even though he was not an X-Man and would not be until the matter of his abuse was addressed and he passed a full physical, he also had to agree and want to join the team. Charles let Zaire and Rogue leave the room, both debating who was better to come along to the library; Zaire was tempting Rogue into asking Logan just to annoy him but the young goth was leaning more to the side of asking Ororo.

Charles sighed and turned to look out of his office window. He had yet to have a session with Gambit to try to sort out the problems that Magneto may have caused. Perhaps on Monday, while the students were at school, he could try to talk to the young man. This would be a difficult obstacle to overcome, but with guidance and help, perhaps it would shape Gambit into a better person, or at least to be the person he was meant to be.

- - -

Please review and...I'll love you forever?

Also, does anyone know the Roman numerals for 9, 11 and 12?