A/N: Chapter title named for Bad Touch by thestarsjustblinkforus (on ao3), which I had the pleasure of reading recently. It was really very good, and it does Gambit and Romy greater justice than I have here. I recommend it hardily to any Romy shippers that missed it when it was first posted.

He panicked the moment she fainted. She'd clasped her hands to her face, dug them into her hair, let out a whimper, and then she just fell. It had hit him like ice in his veins, and still, he couldn't get warm.

His breathing was still staggered. He didn't understand it. She'd touched plenty of people before, and she had been made stronger for it. What had Carol had inside of her that hurt Rogue? Why had she fainted?

Neither Rogue nor Carol had woken up.

He hardly left her side those first days. She seemed to be sleeping, until she just wasn't. She raged. She seemed to be speaking to him in tongues and her eye color cycled, and she was out again as quickly as she had come to. She was more than one person now. He wasn't sure how it worked, the plumbing of her powers, but he recognized Mystique was eyes on her face. He had thought the people she touched faded away...

There was nothing anyone could do. Nothing here to try.

The impotent waiting swelled inside of him. "I'm going to fix this." He was careful with her body, careful not to touch her skin-to-skin. He couldn't imagine it would help.

He hadn't told Magneto or anyone he was leaving, that he had taken her. He wouldn't be talked out of it. She was all that mattered right now, and he'd earn forgiveness afterward.

He brought her to the front door. He couldn't think of a better way of doing it. He held her bridal style even though it blocked his access to his power. Maybe they'll see it as a temporary laying down of arms. And they had.

They let him carry her all the way down to the clinic. He remembered the twists and turns from his many tussels a lifetime ago. It was an odd business. The mansion was the closest thing he had to a childhood home.

It'd taken a crowd to get him out. No direct threats, no fights. It was all civilized in a way that bothered him, just suggestions. But, he knew that she needed them, the X-Men with all their science and philanthropy. He wouldn't risk her wellbeing. He hadn't meant to before.

He kissed the top of her head, whispered promises he hoped she could hear, prayers. Come back to me. I'll come back for you.

Rogue came to. The room was white, the light hazy. Her mind was loud, thoughts and thoughts and thoughts tumbled together like a fist fight and only some of them were hers but which ones? She screamed.

Rogue came to. Professor X had his hands hovering over her head. It was quiet, and she smiled at him, and a dam broke. Thoughts and thoughts and thoughts.

Rogue came to. It was quiet, and she thought she smelled cigar smoke. Logan? He was talking in her mind now. A dam broke.

Rogue came to. Thoughts and thoughts and thoughts. Bobby was watching her and asked who was talking.

Rogue came to. Professor X had his hands hovering over her head. She took a slow breath, met his eyes. He smiled, asked her how she was feeling. She said, "It's quiet".

Rogue came to. It was quiet. The room was white, the light sharp. A dam didn't break. She was alone, and she was tired.

Rogue came to.

"Marie." A pause. "How're you feeling?"

Her throat felt dry when she took a breath. She licked her lips, turned her head. It was Bobby speaking to her. "I'm thirsty."

"I'll get you some water." He was gone.

He came back with water and Professor X. She smelled cigar smoke as the door opened and closed. She took the glass carefully, noticed she was not wearing gloves and figured he didn't know it didn't matter anymore. His hands didn't twitch or hesitate, and she remembered why she liked him in the first place.

"I can control it now." She offered.

He frowned, and she realized that she just admitted to absorbing someone on purpose. "Carol was one of us." He supplied.

So was I. She wanted to come home. "Sorry." It was tepid. "Is she… okay?" She didn't know what happened, couldn't remember anything after touching her. Bits and pieces of everyone inside of her came all at once when she tried to remember. A dam broke.

Rogue came to. The glass was shards on the floor. Xavier told her that Carol was locked in her mind. Now she knew what would happen if she held onto another's skin too long.

"I can keep the psyches of those you've absorbed at bay, but I need to teach you how to stop calling them back up. You are pulling them from the recesses of your mind."

She thought it was a band aid. She thought she was supposed to live with the cost. "Okay. I'll do whatever you say."

Rogue trained. Bobby came to visit again. He was wrapped in the tragedy of it, and she realized part of them still loved each other. They played cards. He called her Marie, and she told him to call her Rogue. He helped her move into a dorm when Xavier said it was safe enough. She only brought up Carol now, because Carol was in there more than the others, and only when she tried to fly. Rogue kept training.

Logan asked her if she was going back to the Brotherhood. She thought about embers and temple kisses and sisterhood. "Can't." She thought about cigar smoke and cold breath and family, and she wondered if people could ever go back to anything at all. He let her try his cigar, and it was wet and kind of gross. They fell back into rhythm, mostly, and she realized they still love each other too.