Note: think you guys will like the ending to this chapter XD

Chapter 10

Gambit's father wasn't just mad. He was livid. He took out his temper on anyone who would dare get close enough. He had to be restrained a few times. Especially from a guy who said that they were thieves and could earn back the money in no time. His father had argued it wasn't the point. In fact he went as far as to say their was a mole in the thieves guild. Everyone's actions were being examined and anyone who could be trusted was sent off to go back out to people they had recently talked to or been anywhere near. It took two days to get through everyone. Gambit was one of the last.

"Where you been? What you been doin' son? God damn it answer me already! You've been mopping around ever since you got here." But Gambit didn't say anything. "You know who did dis?" He shuck his head. His father was losing his temper quickly. "Henri, speak ta him. What's wrong with him?"

Henri who had been called in like a lapdog looked at his brother and sighed. "He's gonna find out Remy. Might as well tell em."

"Tell me what?"

Gambit didn't answer, so Henri spook up. "He's mourning. Love sick."

"Lovesick?"

"Oui. He was engaged, but... Things went bad."

"What? What do ya mean engaged? Ta who? Ya already engaged boy. What ya been doin' behind my back? I knew I couldn't trust you. Your a disappointment! Always have been. The only thing ya good for is ya damn powers, and ya refuse ta use em! What good are ya? Ya marryin' Bella Donna and dats final! Ya stayin' here from now till the weddin." Yelled his father.

It didn't seem to phase Gambit though. He just sat in the same position, holding his head and day dreaming. He really was love sick. Henri didn't really know what to say or what his brother wanted, but he had a feeling his brother and his father living in the same mansion together with all that's going on wasn't a good idea. "Father, he has ta go-"

"He ain't goin anywhere! He's stayin' here and marryin' Bella Donna."

"But father-"

"But nothing. I ain't askin', I'm tellin. He's stayin' here and dats final-"

"Father." Henri yelled which even got Gambit's attention. "He has ta go. The rippers ain't gonna wanna marry inta a family of thieves dat can't even tell when they're been thieved themselves. Der be no point. Besides, ya sendin' everyone out ta interrogate people they've been with. Gambit's been with Rogue. He needs ta go check her out."

"Well send someone else."

"Non pére. If ya send someone else and she is de thief then she gonna know we're on ta her and run and we may not ever find her again."

Gambit didn't believe that Rogue could be the thief. He didn't believe she was even in New Orleans. But Henri was the golden child and won Jean-Luc over. Gambit's new job was to find and interrogate Rogue as quickly as possible without eloping. This wasn't going to be good.

88888

Rogue had been living with Natalie for a week now. And, even though it had been going living with Natalie, it had still been somewhat depressing. They had been waking up, going to work, hanging out and coming back home to chill out and watch a movie. Natalie and Rogue shared a few things in common, but usually Rogue would be in mourning. She was either eating tones of ice cream while crying her eyes out watching a movie then eating nothing else during the day. In fact, there were a few times Natalie had to cover Rogue's shifts while she threw up from having been around too much food. She had gone pale and gotten skinnier.

It was weekend when something finally changed. It started off like a normal day now for the two. Natalie was ready to go out with a guy friend, and trying to convince Rogue to come out but was failing. Rogue was sat on the sofa, watching a sad movie, while she took off her glove and span the golden ring around her finger. She had forgotten all about it after the suppose-to-be wedding and when she realised she still had it, she was scared to go back to the resort and face Gambit again. When she finally did manage to pluck up the courage to go and give it back to him, she had to slip away from the resort manager who had told her that Gambit wasn't there and hadn't paid the bill. Most of the time Rogue would wear gloves and pretend it wasn't there. She couldn't bring herself to leavie it in a jewellery box or something where it could get easily lost, so she wore it. Sometimes, she would take off her glove, like she had now, and rub the warm gold around her finger. It would bring her happy memories of the night he proposed and she thought she was truly loved by someone, and that someone wanted her for more than just her powers, but it also made her teary as she realised she had just been being stupid. She had been imaging something romantic and sweet like that. Wanting that to be the truth, but it wasn't. Still, she couldn't help herself but think back to the memory as a nice one. Even if it was all fake.

There was a knock on the door and Natalie opened it to a guy just as pale and skinny as Rogue.

"Can... I help you?"

"Is Rogue here?"

"Errr." Natalie wasn't sure what to do. "Just... Hold on a minute." Natalie closed the door and hurried over to Rogue. "Rogue there's someone at the door for you." Rogue looked up, puzzled from the sofa. "It's a guy, tall, brown hair and wearin' glasses."

"Remy?"

"I don't know. I didn't get a name."

"Whoever it is tell em ta go away please."

Natalie frowned. "Maybe it'll be good for you to talk ta him. Look at you. Your wasting away."

"Ah don't wanna see anyone."

"Fine, I'll tell em to go away, but ya gotta start eatin' properly." Natalie said pointing at the ice cream in Rogue's lap. She returned to the door. "Sorry, Rogue's not here."

Gambit already knew Rogue was there and wasn't suprized that she didn't want to see him. But he wasn't going to let that stop him. He apologies for pushing past Natalie and entered the flat. When he saw Rogue his heart sunk once again. How did it keep doing that? Just when he thought he had hit low there was always a lower. When she looked at him, he saw those green eyes had faded and she'd become a whole different sheet of white. When those eyes saw him she looked like a deer in front of head likes. It was a similar reaction for Rogue seeing Gambit. Natalie wasn't far behind and watched the two exchange looks.

"I...I couldn't stop him... If you want I could get Mark ta-"

"No. It's alright Nat...Ah got this." Rogue said. Natalie nodded her head and said she was going to get more ice cream. When she left Rogue turned away from Gambit and watched the tv. Gambit came around to sit on the sofa next to her, but as far away as possible. Before he could say anything, Rogue spoke." What do you want? The clothes back?"

"Non, keep the clothes."

"Why? Cause some dirty gold digger who cuts themselves cause she has nothin' betta ta live for touched em?"

"Rogue-"

"The ring? You want your mama's ring back?" Rogue slipped the ring off her finger and throw it at Gambit. "Here, take it back. "

"I gave dis to you Rogue." Gambit said as he picked the ring up from the floor, the words Je t'aime shined from the inside of it. He let go of a breath as he held it back out to Rogue. "I want you ta have it."

"Why? Was ya mother a gold diggin' whore who cut herself like meh?"

"No! Rogue... I was angry."

" And ah'm pissed off. Why the fuck are ya here Gambit? What do you want from meh now?"

Gambit was taken back by Rogue swearing at him and that glare of utter hate. He'd never seen her look so angry before. "I...I..." Gambit wanted to say he was sorry, but the word didn't seem enough. He didn't know what to do. He placed the ring down on the table in front of Rogue. Maybe it was out of guilt, but for some reason he wanted her to keep the ring even though there was no chance in hell now that they would be married. Gambit hated himself so much. He couldn't even tell the girl he was worse than a stupid fool. So he tried the truth. "The thieves... We got our money stolen."

"And you thought a gold digging whore like meh stole ya money? Oh wait, can't be a whore cause ah can't touch and that's apparently why ah cut maself. Hmmm, so if ah'm not a whore then what am ah? How 'bout a home wreckin', self-harmin', gold diggin?"

"No! No! Stop it Rogue! Ah don't think ya any of those things. In fact I highly doubted you'd be the thief. Henri, Merci and Tante even doubted it. Dis is just an order ta... Check people out."

"Oh so you haven't come here ta apologies for callin' meh every name under the sun on our weddin' day and breakin' ya promise ta marry meh?"

"Non, wait, yes. Grrr." Gambit growled into his hands that were roughly scratched though his hair. "Look, I have been wantin' ta... Apologise... I really am sorry Rogue-"

"Ha, ya have a funny way of showin' it. Just set em up at the alter, then knock em down, and don't talk or search for em for a week after ta explain stuff and apologise with flowers or chocolates. Just find em a week later, accusin' em of steal from their family cause they're a gold digging whore."

"Will you stop callin ya self dat! Ya no where near a gold diggin whore."

"Oh yeah ah forgot, ah can't have sex. Just a gold digger then-"

"Will you shut the fuck up and listen to me so I can actually explain things...?" She said nothing. "Look Rogue, the reason I've not bein' searchin' high and low, day and night thought dis city and others is cause I have no idea how ta apologise for what I've done. Mon actions, my words were disgusting and definetly not true and... I've just been feeling like shit ever since then... Rogue... What happened... What I said... It was for your own good..." Rogue bit her lip. "Rogue... You can't marry me... I ain't good for you..." He breathed out heavily. "I just... I didn't understand. I thought... I thought we were gettin' on so well... Getti'n so close to each other... I... I was feeling things... Things that... I'm not even sure of myself... Then you started yellin' at me 'bout my idea of a wife and... Your my ideal wife chére... I was so confused and... Hurt... You hurt me Rogue. You scared me... I thought that... I'd lost my best friend... So I... I made a mistake. A real big mistake. I did somethin' real stupid." Gambit said, having no idea where this confession was coming from.

"Jumped into bed with the first pretty girl ya saw? Ah don't think that was stupid Gambit. I think that was just you. Must have been, what? Twenty four hours or more without hittin' on somethin' in a skirt? Ah could see it in ya eyes. That air hostess, that waiteress. Probably more when ah weren't lookin'. You were eyein' em all up. You must have been under so much pressure. Poor you havin' ta go without sex for a day or so. Oh wait, oh no a life time of no sex. Oh ah can see how marryin' the untouchable would be the biggest mistake of your life." Rogue said with venum.

"Stop it! Stop bein' sarcastic! Ya not even lettin' me finish... Ya know what, yeah, I was desperate for sex. Desperate ta touch someone. But not just any someone... You Rogue. I wanted you..." Rogue said nothing and her face gave nothing away. "That night. That day. It was one of the best in my life. It was just so... Fun. It was easy. Lay back. I could talk about how I really felt. I could hug you and call you mine. I could sit back and watch you work and be happy. Seeing you smile, seeing you happy, made my world light up... Then you shut me out. You ran out on me and I had no idea what I'd said or done. All I knew was we were talkin' 'bout the weddin' and you were upset 'bout mon famille comin' and then you turned on me and set me up ta disappoint you. But you know what Rogue, what I said in the restaurant. Everything 'bout havin' a wife. Her bein' able ta travel the world and also havin' someone ta come home to. Dat was all true. And if I had it my way, we would have been married ages ago and I would have took you around the whole freakin' world by now, in bed and outsida bed. My life, with you as my wife would be a dream come true... But that dream's gone down the toilet, hasn't it... You broke my heart and I broke your heart... Even though you promised to marry me it still felt like ya rejected me... It led me ta wanna drink myself ta death... And I almost did... Then, I thought of you, and thought I best be gettin' back ta you. Couldn't leave you on ya own with nuthin. You were the only reason ta live for... But you were already in the bar." Rogue looked at him through the corner of her eye with her eyebrow raised. "There was... This woman... She looked like you. Same green eyes and hair. Only without the white... She wanted somethin' outta me... And I wanted... You... We went back to her place which wasn't that far from the bar... I could hardly walk I was that drunk... I think I threw up a few times and... It's kinda a blur... But... I think we got to stage two... Before I passed out... Then ran out... I ran to my brother and Merci... I didn't know who else to turn to... I... I panicked... I thought I'd lost you... I thought... I thought I betrayed you... I don't know if I betrayed you... I can't remember... Then came the weddin... And Logan... And I just realised... I was forcin' you... Guilt tripping you... And you didn't deserve that... You didn't deserve to be brought inta any of this... You... Your an angel chére... And I just couldn't bear ta bring you down ta hell with me when you have a family and people who care 'bout ya even if ya think they don't... They do... Rogue...? ...Chére...?...Say sumthin please...?"

"So, instead of just breakin tha weddin' off ya had ta go and scream ya heart out like that?" She looked at him, a cold gaze sending chills down his body. "Ah'm not buyin' it. Not again. Not dis time. Ya just tryin' ta sweeten meh. Tryin' ta get my trust back so ya can crush meh. See if ah am hidin' the cash. Or maybe ya just enjoy puttin' meh through hell."

"Non, chére. Rogue, I'd never purposely wanna hurt ya."

"Oh really?"

"... That... That was different."

" How different Gambit, cause ya seem ta know just what to say to purposely hurt meh."

" I was angry... Angry at myself. Angry at dat woman... Angry at you!" Rogue raised her eyebrow. This was something which had crossed her mind, but was still a shock. Having Gambit to somehow turn this around on her and put the blame on her. Rogue had thought of her plan from the first moments after she realised what she was actually going to do to get back at Gambit. This scene was apart of her plan. Well not completely to plan, but not giving anything or showing anything was her plan. Keeping quite and innocent was her plan to get out of being caught. It was why she was still with Natalie. She did like livin' with the girl, even if her music taste and fashion sense were ghastly, but leavin' New Orleans and disappearing might have been too much of a grand statement. It's why she sat there and bickered with him like this. But some of the things which he was saying, couldn't help but get thought to her. And even though she was holding up her poker face, inside it was killing her to hear that he actually liked her and was upset because she had rejected him. She never thought of it that way and she never wanted to reject him. She was just waiting for the disappointment. And she'd let her guard down on her wedding day when it came. She wasn't going to let her guard down again. Not when she had a big secret Gambit wasn't suppose to know about yet. Where would the fun of revenge be in that? " I was angry at ya Rogue. Angry that you couldn't see how I... How I really felt 'bout ya... Really were my signs not enough? Ya the only girl for me. I want my wife ta be named Rogue. I wouldn't have any other woman. Really . They weren't just pick up lines ... They were real. Real feelings... And you ignored or rejected every single one of em. And you wonder why I was so angry at you... Do you know how frustrating it is to... feel these things for someone who doesn't feel em back?" Rogue turned to ice and her face froze. She said nothing. "... It hurts... It murders... Kills me more now dat I actually know how I feel 'bout ya after losin' ya and I've told ya this, and all ya can do is... Not say anythin... Speck to me Rogue... Please."

Rogue turned her head back to see those deep, watering red eyes. Was this just a show or was this serious? What or where did she go from here? This was never apart of the plan."... You hurt me Gambit... You hurt me real bad... Worse than ah ever hurt you... You say you gave me signs. Well ah gave em back... Ah told you stuff. Stuff ah told ya no one else knew. Ah let ya hold me and ah promised ma hand in marriage to ya. Ah ain't some shank. Ah told ya what marriage meant ta meh. Ah told ya 'bout how ah found it hard ta trust cause of some of tha things that's happened to meh. But ya just didn't care. Ya were more interested first in savin ya skin. You hurt and insulted meh at the begin of dis whole thing and it was gonna take meh time ta get around the idea of marriage. Ya might not of had this problem, but ah've had ta live through the nightmares of knowin ah'll neva know another human begin's touch. Knowin' ah'll never have kids and most likely, never anythin closer than a friend who ah can't even shake hands with. But havin' ta deal with the idea of marriage after years of isolation and believein ah was on ma own for good... It was hard... But ya didn't care. Ya only cared 'bout mah answer. Then we started gettin ta know each other and ah was warmin up to ya. Yeah, ya were good ta me and ah did pick up the signs that ya liked meh. Ah mean at the time ah was unsure considering that ah have no experience in that area. Ah thought it was just meh gettin' mah hopes up or you tryin' to charm me inta the marraiage still. So ah went with it and didn't say anythin' cause ah just wanted ta make sure you were alive by the end of the night. The reason ah kept pushin ya away, physically cause ah'm the untouchable and ah don't wanna hurt ya or have ya inside mah head, and anythin' else, ah was still adaptin'. Ya had a month, maybe longer ta wrap ya head round this. Ah had three days. A month compared ta three days is a lot more time ta prepare yaself... But ya wasn't thinkin' 'bout meh was ya? Just good old self. And now ya on ya own... So tell meh Remy? Who is the next bride ta be? Bella Donna or some poor barbie doll with two large melons for a brain?"

Gambit said nothing. He'd never thought of it that way. So... Had Rogue really been into him this whole time? And he'd just had to go and ruin it further with what he said. Tante Mattie was right. He should have just forgotten 'bout the bad night and moved on to having a fresh start with Rogue. So this really was all his fault. But... She was still asking about him. Did that mean she still cared? Was there hope? "I ain't marryin' anyone else... They'll only ever be one woman for me."

Rogue wasn't sure what to say to this so turned to watch the tv. "Ah didnt steal tha money. Ah ain't got any banks set up, so no point in ya tryin' ta look for an account. But please, search tha flat. Go crazy. Try findin' tha money. But when ya don't find it, shut the door on ya way out."

Gambit knew he wasn't going to search the flat. He really believed she wasn't the thief and he trusted her when she told him she wasn't. Besides if he did search the flat, it might make him seem ligit to the guild, but he'd once again have Rogue's hate. Not like he didn't have that already, but he didn't think he could stomach anymore. He stood up and while thinking of what he could stomach he thought of how thin Rogue was. "Ya haven't been eatin'?"

"What's it ta you? Besides, ya don't look in the best of shapes yaself. Guilde givin' ya a hard time?"

"Not really. Mon pére really fumin' 'bout dis money bein' stolen. He only yelled at me once when he found out 'bout our marriage... How 'bout we go get somethin ta eat?"

"With you? No!"

"Please chére. Ya fading away. Let me buy ya a meal."

"With what money?"

"I had some hidden away in cash. Now, I ain't leavin' till I see ya eat somethin." Gambit said sitting back down on the sofa. In his head, he'd come to the conclusion that Rogue was right and that he had been selfish. He had only been thinking about himself and how he felt. Well, that was going to change and he was going to put Rogue before everything, even himself. It was the least he could do. When Rogue didn't reply, or seem bothered by him staying, he got up and moved around to the kitchen where he checked the cupboards for food. "Fine den. If ya don't wanna go out, I'll bring the food to ya."

"No food in." Rogue stated. Gambit then frowned but was determined to make her eat something. He picked up his phone from his pocket and jumped over the sofa to come and sit next to her. Rogue looked angry at him from the corner of her eye as the sofa was really bouncy and almost knocked her off. Gambit couldn't help but want to smile at that irritated glare. It reminded him of old times.

"Alright then, we get take out. What do you fancy?"

"Look, ah don't want food alright. Now Ya've come, attempted ya sorry and done ya job in accusin' meh of thievin'. If ya not gonna check out the flat, or ya gonna do it later on when me and Nat are sleepin, then fine. Just get out!"

"Not till I seen ya eat sumthin'."

"Why? Why do you care?"

"... Cause... Ya the only person I give a damn about."

"That ain't true. Ya got Henri, and Merci, and Tante."

"Who all miss ya and wanna get ta know ya better. They wanna know the person I gotta know. They wanna know the girl who I've fallen for. Who's stolen mon heart."

Rogue looked at him, hoping to see a glimps of him lying or something untruth about what he was saying, but all she was looking at were serious red eyes with a look of lose in them. Rogue looked away from him and continued watching her old horror movie.

While she watched the movie, Gambit called and ordered two large pizzas with loads of spices. It was one of Rogue's favourite foods. And she realised this. He'd actually paid attention. Gambit sat watching the horror movie with her and answered the door when the pizza guy got there. He came back with two large, steaming pizzas and a drink and placed them on the wooden table in front of them. The horror movie had just gone off and Rogue was flicking through the channels. Gambit sat, unmoving his eyes from her."

Will you please eat something?"

When Rogue had flicked through all the channels and couldn't find anything she recognised or liked, she asked quietly in a friendly gesture. "What do ya wanna watch?"

Gambit didn't answer, but she could feel his eyes on her. She turned to face him and there was something about them. How sad they looked because he knew he had upset her. How soft they were because he didn't want to hurt her anymore. How desperate and pleading they looked because he just wanted her to forgive him. She pasted him the remote and he took it and put on a comedy he had seen already, but which he thought Rogue would like. He stayed late to watch the movie and was happy when, half way through the movie, Rogue started eating her pizza.

Note: Mark is the buff, next door neightbour.