A/N: Do I smell a backstory? Oh yes, I'm actually trying my hand at Gambit's past. It's not that long, but believe me, good things are coming.

Jade4839: Oh just you wait hun, just you wait ;)

Chapter 3: Don't Be Sorry, That Makes Me More Pitiful

Violette somehow stopped spending as much time with him as she used to. She was focused on Kurt and Jamie was focused on… Nothing in particular. She was just busy with her relationship and he sat on the couch and read comics between homework and dinner.

He got it. She was almost an adult now and he… Well, he liked being the kid of the Institute. People let him off easy and Miss Munroe always packed him an extra cookie for lunch, even though recently he outgrew Kitty and Rahne. Mister McCoy always ruffled his hair when he passed him in the hallway and even Mister Logan almost smiled at him at least twice a month. He played video games with the guys, got pampered by the girls and life was beautiful.

Except for the fact that his sister seemed to be moving on from her 'let's-coddle-Jamie' phase into 'Jamie's-grown-let's-bang-Kurt' phase, and while he could understand everything, the thought of his sister even thinking about doing anything simultaneously scared and grossed him out.

And so, Jamie thought of the perfect plan to not only bond with his sister, but also maybe… Postpone some of her plans.

There were very few things he and Violette had in common, to be honest. She was rubbish at video games, he didn't understand the appeal of reading books. She liked to relax and listen to music, while he preferred doing something, anything, even if it meant bruises and consequences.

He never understood how she and Kurt got each other so well. Kurt was pretty similar to Jamie in that they both didn't like to stay still for too long. Or maybe Jamie knew nothing about Kurt or Violette at all and in actuality they were both sappy, romantic bores.

Who knew by now? Certainly not Jamie.

But the most prominent thing that came to his mind was their mother. There was nothing more undeniably theirs and theirs alone. There was not another soul on Earth that loved that woman as fiercely as they did. He knew Violette hated to even think about her, but there was something that he could mention without sending his sister into a spiral of self loathing.

And that was their roots.

Violette tried to teach him French, but she didn't have the patience. They baked Buche de Nol last Christmas, but that was about it when it came to French cuisine. He knew close to nothing about anything else, since his father forbid anything French after Violette ran off. He felt a pang of guilt when he thought about what it would mean to his mother if he knew those things.

He thought of the perfect conversation starter, and that was him actually speaking French to her. So, he did the only thing he could – asked Mister Logan for help.

"No way, kiddo" The man sighed, turning another page in his newspaper. "My French is rusty at best. And it's Canadian. Not the kind you want to learn."

Jamie doubted there was that much difference between the two, but he wasn't crazy to argue with the Wolverine, so he did the next best thing.

"Non."

"Please" He put his hands together and shook them in front of Gambit's face. "I know you have the time. And you speak not the kind of French I need but the next best thing."

"Why?"

"Because I need to speak French and connect to my roots" Jamie sighed. "Otherwise my sister won't love me anymore."

"From what I've gathered, your mother was a Cajun like me, while the kid's father was French, mon ami" He patted Jamie's head. "You're not French."

"How do you know?"

"I found out" Gambit shrugged. "It's crucial to know these kinds of things. It was my job to break in and get things – and sometimes information – for other people."

"Even better" Jamie did his best puppy eyed stare, knowing that if it failed, he had nothing else. "Please, I'll be the best student you could imagine, I promise!"

Gambit looked him over for a second, sighed, then shook his head.

"Alright."

Jubilee felt a bit bad about the decisions she made in her life that led her to this point.

Here he was, kneeling on the floor, a bouquet of roses in his hands, smiling beautifully up at her.

"Come on, Jubes" He pushed the flowers into her hands, looking so hopeful. "One date."

She tried to imagine what it would be like. She's heard about love from the girls, about the butterflies and fireworks and that simmering heat they felt when they were near their boyfriends, but she's never felt that. She's never felt the need to feel that. There was never a person who made her feel like that and she doubted there would ever be.

And she couldn't lie to her best friend.

"I'm so sorry, Bobby" She gave him back the flowers, not really knowing if hugging him was okay. "But I don't think it's a good idea."

The way his smile gave way to a look of despair almost made her deny what she just said and accept.

Almost.

"You did the right thing."

Jubilee looked up from the flowers he left on the floor and narrowed her eyes.

"Don't read my mind, Jean" She sighed, brushing her hands over her face.

"I thought you-" The woman shook her head, walking out of the room. "Never mind."

Rogue hated that he butted into everything she had established during her time at the Institute. Somehow he managed to ruin all of her meals, workouts at the gym and quiet, secluded moments at the library.

But now, here he was, sitting at the table with Ray, Roberto, Bobby and Sam, shuffling cards.

"No."

"Oh come on, Rogue" Roberto sighed, gesturing towards the tricks Gambit was doing with the deck. "He's an actual threat to you! Don't you like a challenge?"

'I've already played with him' Rogue bit her tongue before the words slipped out.

She sat in between Ray and Sam, knowing that Bobby always tried to be sneaky with freezing the table in just two spots, so that he could see the reflections of the cards of people next to him. Gambit was either blind to it or had something up his sleeve, since he scooted over towards the boy.

Since real gambling was prohibited, they had to buy Monopoly and just keep the fake money, swearing not to ever tell anyone that they'll be exchanging it for real cash later.

"Who starts the bidding?"

"He does" She nodded towards Remy, who just finished passing out cards. "Since he decided to butt in."

"It's good to know that you love me so much, cherie" He winked, scanning his cards before exchanging them.

Bobby's lower lip started to quiver.

"Is everything okay with him?" Gambit raised his brow, brushing his hair back. "It's just cards, mon ami. I get that you love 'em, but…"

"She doesn't love me!" Bobby collapsed face first onto the table, staining the cards with tears. "She doesn't love me!"

Sam and Roberto looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Bobby, come on, it's going to be alright" Ray reached over the table and tapped Bobby's head.

"It won't be!"

"Shit, he's such a drama queen" Rogue murmured into her cards, shaking her head.

"Who are we even talking about?" Gambit looked to Sam for help.

"Jubilee, for sure" Sam rubbed Bobby's shoulder. "Dude, maybe you're just not meant to be."

"How dare you?!" Bobby's head shot up, tears running down his cheeks. "We're perfect for each other! We're best friends! We have the same birthday! She likes my jokes!"

Roberto mouthed 'good job' and took over from him, shushing Bobby.

"Don't shush me, you hot Latino prick!" Bobby slapped his hand away. "You're probably, like, eighty percent of the reasons why I'm like this! How can I compete with a Portuguese male who's literally on fire!"

Rogue rolled her eyes at Roberto's nervous chuckle.

"Bobby, it's not the end of the world" She sighed, checking over her cards before exchanging one. "A girl can actually not be into you, you know?"

Bobby started to sniff.

"What if… What if she has someone and never told me?" Bobby's eyes got wide and his mouth formed into an 'o' shape. "Of course!"

"He's so dumb" Rogue looked over at Gambit. "Okay, bid."

Remy fished his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, cursing when he took out the last one. It was just after nine and there was no way he'd be able to get a pack and return before the security system switched to the night mode. He could always sneak in, but that would mean leaving his baby outside the gates for the night. Or walking all the way to the nearest gas station. And he wasn't up for either.

He rested his head against the pillar, staring at the calm water before him. It was cold, incredibly so, but it was nearing Christmas, so what did Remy expect? He wrapped his coat tightly around himself and took a drag, welcoming the taste of nicotine on his tongue.

He almost laughed at the kid's misery when she told him sternly that smoking was prohibited inside the Institute and directed him outside on the snow. She was still a child so they forced her to quit and that seemed like such a funny concept to Remy, quitting because you're too young. You're not too young to fight with super powered villains or sacrifice your life for the greater good of humanity, but you're too young to fucking smoke.

He started to play with his ring. It always weighted him down, as if he was carrying an additional ton on his right hand, instead of a small silver band.

'Too young to buy cigarettes, but not too young to get married.'

"I knew you'd steal every ounce of privacy I could possibly have."

He looked up at Rogue, taking the cig out of his mouth and blowing out the smoke.

She looked angry, as per usual when he was within ten feet radius. Her purple hat was covered with a thin layer of snow. He didn't even notice when it started to fall down again.

"I can get back inside if you'd prefer that."

She seemed surprised to hear this. Remy wasn't the best at keeping his distance from people and he was always the one seeking her out all the time.

"No" Sighed Rogue, sitting next to him. "You can stay."

They stayed in silence, him looking at the sea and her looking at him. Her stare made the cold weight of his ring feel as if it was tightening around his finger.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He looked up at her, her eyes warm and open. He hasn't seen that look since they parted in New Orleans.

"No" He shook his head. "But you want to."

She averted her gaze and he could feel his heart skip a bit. He finally had her, she was once again opening up, he couldn't possibly screw this up, but-

'She wants to know, she deserves to know.'

"I didn't quit the Thieves Guild" Remy dropped his cigarette onto the snow, waiting for the hunger to come back and nag him. He deserved it tiring him to no end for the rest of his life. "They kicked me out. If not for the fact that I was the boss' son, they'd get rid of me."

"What did you do?"

"I married their enemy's daughter."

"You're married?"

"Well-"

He felt slightly impressed that he had no idea she was going to slap him up until he felt her hand on his cheek.

"You're married?" Rogue stood up and started to slowly back away. "B-but we… You're…"

"I was" He sighed, rubbing his cheek. She could pack a punch. "For a very short period of time. Close to two months."

"And then you left her?" She chuckled, but it was devoid of any humor. "Of course. Of fucking course."

"I didn't" Remy sighed, patting the space next to him. "If you could maybe calm down and sit next to me, cherie, then you'd be able to find out what actually happened, instead of this jumping to conclusions you so love."

She didn't look half as convinced as Remy hoped.

"Come on, it's time for my sappy back story, this time the full version, even more tragic than before. I guarantee you'll shed about twenty more tears, cherie."

She sat back down, but shuffled as far from him as possible, her back against a pillar. Remy chose to pretend that it didn't affect him.

"Her name was Belladonna and she was two years older than me. We knew each other since we were kids and when we grew into teenagers, we fell in love" It sounded so childish in the grand scheme of things. Two kids in their twisted rendition of Romeo and Juliet. "She was a part of the rival gang, the Assassins. And as you can probably guess, no one was too happy when we got together, but at first my father just wrote it off as something he could maybe gain an advantage from in the future. But Bella and I, we were… Pretty serious about each other" They were children, how could they be serious about each other? "When I was old enough, we had a quiet wedding. Only my brother Etienne and Bella's friend, since we needed witnesses. But the news got around either way" He kicked his legs back and forth, suddenly feeling small and much younger than he was. He must seem like a stupid kid to her, getting married on a whim just because he thought of forever every time he looked at her. "I got kicked out from the Guild. We both though the Assassins still knew nothing, until…" Remy brushed a hand over his face, the picture he was about to describe flashing before his eyes. "I was living with Etienne, but I used to sneak into her flat every night. I climbed in and… The Assassins were never ones to be sentimental. Once you broke their rules, you were dead, no matter if you're the boss's daughter or not."

He wanted the splash of waves to drown out the thoughts running through his mind, but it was hard to pretend that he didn't hear his mind screaming at him.

'It's all your fault!'

"I'm… Sorry."

Remy stood up, wondering why he even told her about Bella.

"I'll go back" He turned around and started to walk towards the mansion, making sure not to look at Rogue at all.

"Bobby?"

He looked up from his tub of ice cream, the blanket he wrapped around himself falling down from his head.

"Jubes?"

She smiled sadly and slowly walked over to the couch to sit next to him. He muted 'You've Got Mail', staring at her with wide eyes.

"Oh, Bobby."

"You've got somebody, right?" His voice cracked and it was awful, horrible, he felt ready to fling himself out of the window. Because they were perfect for each other. They loved the same things and thought the same thoughts and wasn't that what love was all about?

Jubes shook her head, wrapping the blanket tighter around his shoulders.

"Then why?" He felt his eyes turn moist and he felt even more pathetic than before.

"Because I can't" She pushed his hair back and he chased her hand with his head. "I don't… Feel like that. About anyone. Ever" Jubes' eyes hardened. "I can't… Lie to you like that Bobby. I'm just… I don't want anything like that. And I don't think I ever will."

He swallowed, slowly nodding.

"Thanks" Bobby looked down at the strawberry ice cream in his hands. "For being honest with me" He bit the inside of his cheek, before brushing away his tears and smiling at her. "Wanna share?"