Firstly, this is my first Rogue/Gambit fic and only the second fic I've published. I hope there's something in it you enjoy. I've had a lot of fun trying to put everything together. I have most to all of the story I want to tell plotted out and I'm gonna attempt to post regularly.

Also, I want y'all to know I know I come off a little hard on Scott here, but he's gonna grow and learn over time. He's a very stressed out boy who's taking leadership too seriously, but rest assured I love him still and I'm not someone who enjoys characters being bashed. This is a Romy with majority to most focused on Rogue/Remy and their character/relationship development, but I'm not laser focused on that enough to forget the other characters. Worry ye not. Scott'll get there.

Lastly, I am terrible at writing accents. As much as I would like to deliver on that for y'all, I'm hoping you guys will be able to hear them in your mind as you read without needing to see them written out completely phonetically.

Thanks to thehazeofdusk for all the fun fandom talk and getting me pumped to actually be brave enough to post this? :D

Chapter 1

Another early morning, another killer Danger Room session.

It seemed to Rogue that Danger Room sessions should have become less terrible and strenuous when Scott took over running the sessions from Logan. She scoffed to herself as she barely dodged another fireball thrown directly at her. Clearly, she'd assumed wrong and they sucked even harder. At least Logan's training sessions usually aimed to teach a lesson...

As official senior team leader (now that he'd graduated high school) Scott had taken it upon himself to amp up the intensity in every way, much to everyone's chagrin. In his exuberance to prove himself worthy of leading the X Men, Scott had become a whole new level of unbearable when it came to any official team matters. If she had to hear him talk one more time about how he wanted each and every one of them to "be the best me you can be!", Rogue was pretty sure even she would clock him. And Jean, who Rogue was 100% certain Scott's new motto had come from.

Rogue knew Scott well enough to see how stressed and worried he was about living up to a standard he thought everyone was holding him to, but this was getting ridiculous. Scott was pushing his team to levels that even Logan wouldn't have during training-it was too much for the team to sustain long term without injury or mutiny. Personally, Rogue was about ready for the mutiny option. The best Scott was aiming to be was clearly a nightmare and they were struggling to reach for his expectations. Rogue had never thought she'd be wishing Logan would come back to train their team instead of the New Recruits, but here she was. Upon waking up that morning, she'd almost had a beautiful, blissful moment of forgetting she was preparing for training under Cyclop's leadership, instead of a Logan session. Until he came in to brief the team on their mission today. Rogue remembered previously choosing Iron Back Survival Camp over training with Logan...Scott's tenacity made both options sound like summer camp.

Even Jean had seemed to finally show her concern that morning when the senior members of the X Men had walked in to train and found the same exact simulation that had been kicking their ass for the past five days. Apparently, they were going to keep running the same simulation over and over until they finally succeeded and learned whatever lesson Scott was trying to teach them. That or Scott just really loved the educational value of Capture the Flag.

Again, Rogue dodge-rolled from blast of fire headed straight for her, finding herself crouched behind some simulated crates. She rolled her eyes. As if sims of the Brotherhood and every other mutant Scott could think of wasn't enough, apparently he had brought new sims into the session to defend the flag.

Starting with Pyro.

Great.

She moved along the crates, crouched for cover and trying to think of a way to take out Pyro quickly. Unfortunately Scott's sims were very accurate and Pyro was one to shoot fire first, fight with fists second. Not something she could fight against very well without using her powers (something she was fairly certain Scott was trying to get her to do-and because of that something she was absolutely refusing to do). Hand to hand combat was out unless she could get rid of the source of his fire.

Luckily the problem was solved for her as she heard a yelp from Pyro's voice and assumed Jean or Kurt had decided to take on Pyro. Worked for her. She'd prefer to take on whatever sim Scott threw at them next. For the most part, there were very few sims Rogue felt like she couldn't take out without using her powers, something that seemed to eternally frustrate Scott but she was pretty sure made Logan proud. Apparently avoiding her powers for a few weeks after Apocalypse had been defeated had been too much time for Scott, let alone the five months it had actually been.

Rogue had come to a point where the crates were stacked higher and she felt covered enough to stand and peak around the corner, checking who had what under control and if Kitty was still succeeding in finding the damn flag. They'd planned on distracting Scott (and his simulations) enough that she could sneak around and finally find the flag so they could end this cycle of repeating the same thing over and over until Scott was satisfied. With Scott up above in the control room it wasn't an easy task, but they were running out of ideas.

She was able to see it was indeed Jean who had taken on fighting the fake Pyro. Kurt was distracting another simulation, apparently having drawn the short straw and having to deal with Sabretooth. That meant, if Scott was only picking from the current Acolyte line up per usual, Kitty and Rogue probably had Colossus left to deal with. Magneto's team had been down a member since Mardi Gras (not that Rogue was going to focus too long on that fact, because why should she care) so unless Scott was going to pull out Magneto himself, there was no option other than Colossus or a wildcard. All things considered, Colossus was not the worst to be stuck fighting. She'd noticed that Colossus, although incredibly intimidating and strong, tended to pull punches in most fights and preferred to defend instead of attack. Not exactly what you'd expect from a guy who worked with a ruthless leader like Magneto, but Rogue appreciated it in the context of this Danger Room session as well as whenever she was up against him in the field.

She managed to catch Kitty's eye across the room, her head sticking out from a wall taking in the spectacle they were faced with. Rogue gave a quick nod, signalling to her team-mate that she could handle whoever Scott threw at her and that Kitty should just keep looking for the flag Scott had hid somewhere in the Danger Room. If Rogue, Kurt, and Jean could keep Scott distracted long enough by putting up a good fight against Scott's chosen fighters, they could buy Kitty enough time to phase through any barriers, get the damn flag, and end the simulation so Scott would let this go and they wouldn't have to do the same exact thing tomorrow. Kitty rolled her eyes and nodded back, sinking back into the wall behind her.

At that, Rogue heard a slight creak behind her and turned just in time to see out of the corner of her eye a figure come flying down from the crates above her. A bit out of character for Colossus, but somewhat expected for Magneto. Awesome. Taking out the master of magnetism was just the way Rogue wanted to start her day...

At least Magneto (or Colossus) had snuck up on Rogue instead of Kitty, allowing Rogue to be a distraction and giving the smaller girl a better chance of ending the sim quick. Rogue sighed and prepared herself in a defensive position, whipping around ready to face either the metal giant or Magneto only to be met with neither and instead come face to face with the cocky grin of Remy LeBeau.

She was sure she physically felt her brain's gears stop and restart in shock, blinking dumbly up at the face she hadn't seen since February. Although she probably hadn't physically stopped for more than a second or three, she felt frozen in the moment with him grinning down at her, infuriatingly invading her personal space just like the real Gambit would. He was just a simulation and she hadn't seen his face outside her memories in eight months, but she could still almost smell the swamp water around them from when last she'd seen him, could almost feel the warmth of his hand around hers from that day, could almost remember the way his face had looked when -

She minutely shook her head, trying to put herself back in the present moment. Vaguely she recognized Gambit getting into a fighting position but instead of doing the same she whipped around, looking upwards to the control room where she knew Scott was watching from.

Her eyes narrowed in Scott's direction as she barked out "Rogue, Emergency Code 331. Stop the simulation!"

Immediately upon her code, the simulation around her dissolved, fake Gambit and his annoying grin with it. Through the haze of her heart beating and anger roaring in her ears, Rogue distantly heard whines from Kurt and Kitty exclaiming something about being this close to the flag and "what gives, Rogue?". Without stopping to explain or letting any of her teammates stop her, she marched straight to the doors, slamming her hand on the button to open them and jamming her thumb into the correct button to take her right up to Scott Summers and give him a piece of her mind.

When the elevator reached the correct floor, Rogue paid no mind to the numerous younger mutants gathered around taking notes as they watched the Danger Room simulation and stormed right past them over to Scott, who was standing by the controls.

"Scott, what the hell?" she demanded, jabbing his chest with her finger, hand on her hip.

If she hadn't known him better, she wouldn't have seen a small amount of guilt flicker across his features before his business-like Cyclops persona came to the forefront. His jaw hardened and he didn't back down from her glare. "Language. And I don't know what you mean," he said as he busied himself looking at the control panel beside him.

Rogue rolled her eyes incredulously, leaning back on her heels and crossing her arms over her chest. "...seriously? Language?"

Scott's cheeks flushed slightly under her visor, but he seemed determined to remain in the "team leader" mindset. When he spoke, he sounded nothing but confident and authoritative. "Younger students are in the room. Watch your language. And we're training as X men right now. You know to call me Cyclops." There was a slight sound behind her that Rogue assumed was Bobby trying to protest being called "young" before someone else shut him up.

Rogue rolled her eyes again and frowned up at him. "Oh, whatever. You know that ain't what I'm talking about, Scott."

He continued to stare back at her stoically, apparently refusing to contemplate or admit he'd crossed a line. For a brief moment, she wanted to consider that maybe he didn't understand why she was upset, but the longer he glared back at her, the less she was able to give him any credit right now. A muscle in his jaw jumped upon hearing her refusal to call him Cyclops, but he didn't comment at first, just glared back at Rogue and tried to change the subject. "Emergency Codes are for emergencies only, Rogue. You know better."

"Don't you dare try to play this game with me, Scott," she nearly spat his name out.

Normally Rogue felt she would be among the first to defend Scott in his new leadership role, after Jean. She knew he was nervous and trying to do his best to move into this new role the Professor had given him, but right now wasn't "normally". He'd picked the wrong line to cross. "Gambit hasn't been with Magneto's team for months. He's probably still off in New Orleans and he's never comin' back." If he didn't show up for Apocalypse, he was as good as gone from their lives forever, she thought to herself somewhat bitterly. "There was no reason for you to put him in that session."

"Of course there was," Cyclops replied, his tone all business.

She was so livid her face felt like it was on fire. "Oh, really? And what would that be, Scott?"

"This," he gestured to her as he spoke. "It got a reaction out of you. It threw you off your game," he turned to speak not only to her, but also apparently to continue whatever lesson he'd been teaching to the younger students. "The Danger Room is about preparing us for the world out there and you're not going to learn anything new if you're not challenged with new things." Rogue scoffed as Scott continued and turned back to look her square in the face. "Hand to hand combat is only going to get you so far and you needed to be put up against someone you would have to use your powers on. We both know Gambit's fighting skills are off the charts even without his powers and that means to win you'd have to use your powers for once."

She opened her mouth, already ready to give Scott a piece of her mind, but he cut her off before she could even start.

"If you never practice using your powers, you're going to be completely unprepared the next time you have to use them out in the field. On top of that, you froze, Rogue. You need to be prepared to deal with anything out there - no matter how surprising - and if you would use your powers instead of looking for every way possible to not use them, maybe you wouldn't have frozen just now and needed to end the sim instead of just fighting Gambit." Scott's tone had become a little too smug for Rogue's liking and she found her cheeks warm uncomfortably in embarrassment rather than anger this time, her voice uncharacteristically caught in her throat and unable to stop Scott's monologue. "You and I both know that if he ever comes back Gambit's not going to care enough to let you react or decide if you should use your powers or not. He's an Acolyte: not a good guy by any stretch. He's going to follow orders and take you out, regardless of however he acted when he took you to New Orleans," Scott said, putting an emphasis on the word "took" that brought all of Rogue's anger roaring back to her cheeks. Rogue opened her mouth again to tear Scott a new one, but before she could the Professor's voice floated through her mind.

"All Senior X Men please report to the hanger immediately. Junior X Men and New Recruits please return to your rooms and prepare yourselves for school today. Mr. Logan would also like to remind you to bring the notes you took over the senior team's training session to your Danger Room session after school."

Rogue recognized hearing Bobby groan about being sent back upstairs with the younger kids, but her eyes never left Scott's. His face was serious and calm, but the firm set of his jaw still said he felt he was 100% in the right.

"I don't care whatever lesson you think you've taught me, Scott. That was a dick move and I thought you were a better leader and friend than that." She whipped back around and started to storm back towards the elevator to go down to the hanger, doing her best to not pay attention to Scott moving quickly behind her.

As the elevator doors closed, so fell the look of authority on Scott's face, although still not showing even a little of the guilt Rogue felt he should be feeling. Instead of the fearless leader Cyclops who was always in charge and not willing to admit fault, in his place was just her friend Scott. Still just as self righteous, but more likely to stop and listen to other's points of view, she'd always felt. Up until now, she suspected. "Rogue-"

"Don't, Scott. I cain't believe you would try to play mind games with me just to get me to use my powers." As little as she would ever want to admit it, the subject of Gambit always left her more confused than before, often tongue tied where normally she would be comfortable speaking (or yelling) freely. She'd hoped some part of Scott (the part that was her friend) would have understood that, thrown her some slack, and maybe decided against throwing the Cajun into a training session, especially with no notice.

Scott ran his hand through his dark hair, frustrated. "You've gotta start using them more, Rogue. Your powers-you...you're useful to the team whether you like it or not. I know you're probably scared of yourself after Apocalypse and the psyches trying to take over, but I'm just trying to help you live up to your potential. You're stronger than the psyches you absorb and as soon as you realize that, you can go back to using your powers to help the team."

"I can't believe you're actin' like that was completely okay down there! I recall hearing about a certain guy freakin' out when I was thrown in as a sim in a danger room session before I joined the X Men." Scott's face flushed. "Where's that guy? He's the one I want as my leader. The guy who cares about his team and the people around him more than being a hardass and some perfect soldier."

"That was different."

She locked eyes with him, feeling the flush of anger rush through her freshly. "How?"

"I knew you were a good person. You were scared and confused and you hadn't kidnapped any of us or done any of us real harm. I knew you could potentially be a friend and maybe even a team member in the future."

Rogue narrowed her eyes, voice quieting. "I told you, Gambit didn't kidnap me."

Scott had the audacity to scoff at her. "Oh yeah, you just left your friends and family to take off with some guy you barely know who works with the bad guys," he said sarcastically. "And he totally wanted you to stay around once you used your powers to help him too." he finished, each word feeling like a sharp jab in her stomach.

"He never made me use my powers to help him," she said, voice even lower. The statement felt inadequate, but also entirely important to say out loud. And it was true. Despite the fact that Gambit had definitely hoped she would use her powers and had put her in situations where she would likely choose to use her powers, he never pushed her to do so or even once asked her to. He'd never backed her into a corner and given her no other option but using her powers, which she knew from the brief time his psyche had been in her head had actually been on purpose. Yes, her finding the Ripper's base was necessary for his plan to succeed, but he'd apparently drawn a line for himself at straight up asking her to absorb his enemy's memories and had instead chosen to put them in a situation where she could unknowingly choose to get the information the easy way, or he would have back-up if he needed to get it the hard way. Weirdly, he'd been completely intentional in letting her make her own choices whenever he could on that trip, even if he'd withheld information and not been as upfront as she'd have wished he'd been.

"Yet you used them to help him anyway."

She knew she had many reasons to feel defensive, but she still didn't want to think too much about why she had been trying so hard to defend Gambit since she returned from New Orleans. She felt confused enough her choice to stubbornly refuse to call their time anything but a "trip" to everyone who had needed to know the story upon her return. After one day of thinking about it far too long, she'd been able to conclude that she'd understood what had pushed him to such desperate measures, as well as why he hadn't just asked her for help and that was going to have to be a good enough reason to keep him from being labeled a kidnapper for now. No one needed to know the whole story and the fact that the puzzle pieces hadn't shown that picture from the start. "He asked for help. I helped him. That's what X Men do, Scott. He's not a terrible person."

Scott's cheeks flushed again as the elevator hit the bottom floor, a dinging sound signifying the doors about to open. "He asked for your help so he could use your powers and you let him. Funny, really because you refuse to live up to your full potential and be useful to help the team."

The elevator doors opened and Scott turned as if to walk out, but seemed to think better of that and looked back at her. "Besides that, if he isn't a terrible guy like you say, why didn't he show up for Apocalypse? You were the one who apparently had his number and called him, but I don't seem to remember him taking the time to even make up an excuse for why he bailed on, oh I don't know. Saving the world from the literal Apocalypse." He then strode out, apparently feeling like he'd said all he needed to on the subject.

Rogue knew on some level he was right. Not about Gambit being a bad guy, but about her powers. She couldn't avoid using her powers for forever. But wasn't it better for her to be able to defend herself without her mutant ability and only use her powers as a last resort? And was it a crime for her to enjoy being the only one in her head again for a short while? Her powers weren't a game to be played around with, which Scott just didn't seem to understand-or he could just think it was a game worth the risk. Easy to think when you don't have to deal with the fallout. She sighed and blew her bangs out of her eyes as she walked after him, keeping distance between her and Scott but still headed to the hanger bay.

Even if Scott was right on a small level, she still couldn't fight the discomfort over Scott talking about how useful her powers were to the team. She knew why she the word "useful" was leaving a sour taste in her mouth and she resolutely refused to think about a pair of red on black eyes flashing as a warm honey voice told her he understood how it felt to be valued only for how useful her and her powers could be. That he had sympathy and understanding for the path life had led her down, because life had led him down a parallel path.

She immediately tried to stop that train of thought in its tracks, as she tried to do with every thought that led back to him. It wasn't like he would be sitting around thinking about her. Clearly. Their impromptu trip south probably wasn't anything special-he'd probably done something similar dozens of times. Despite the fact that deep down (okay, from the faint whispers of his psyche when she'd gotten home from their trip and had a chance to think everything through) she knew he'd also felt like she understood him back, she kept trying to remind herself neither of them owed the other anything and she certainly didn't think it was a possibility that he would find his way back to Bayville for a catch up some day. Why would he? Understanding was one thing, but friendship was another and she found it unlikely he would actually see her as a friend.

And technically, although she was loathe to admit it, Scott was kind of right. He wasn't coming back and their trip didn't make Gambit her friend. He had slipped her that stupid Queen of Hearts card in New Orleans and promised her she had people looking out for her, but that didn't mean it was anything more than a gesture of good faith or a thank you for coming back for his sorry ass. Although a month after New Orleans, she'd walked into her room to find a shadow on her balcony and had stupidly let herself believe that maybe he did consider himself a friend and maybe he was back, she'd squashed the thought as quickly as possible when the shadow disappeared as soon as she reached the balcony door. It had to have been him, she knew when she looked down and saw what the shadow had left behind, but he hadn't stuck around for any pleasantries. That or maybe her eyes had been playing tricks on her and he hadn't seen her coming and decided he didn't care enough to actually stick around and say hi to her face for his delivery.

On the balcony floor he'd left her backpack, a little worse for the wear but still in one piece. Why he hadn't just chucked it was beyond her. It had been even more confusing for her when she'd looked inside. inside the backpack still sat her planner, her french homework (completed with some creative translations she would never admit had made her laugh, except when her french teacher hadn't appreciated them when she turned in the assignment a month late with different handwriting), and tucked in neatly between them, a new Queen of Hearts card, this time with a phone number scrawled in the same messy handwriting. None of that meant he was planning on staying in contact with her or that he had to be on friendly terms with her. Sure he was making a small amend by bringing the backpack back, but they were still technically on enemy teams as far as she knew. Just because they'd helped each other once, it didn't mean they were suddenly besties. Still, despite all of that, she'd stupidly thought that the second card had been some sort of reassurance from him. Although she would never admit it outloud, she'd thought it meant if she ever really needed help she should call him (either as a way to make up for what he'd done or, maybe, as a sign he actually did want to look out for her as he'd alluded to in New Orleans), but when she'd actually used it and called to ask him to come help take down Apocalypse, he hadn't responded at all.

Damn it. She needed to stop thinking about the stupid Swamp Rat.

"Don't forget, this is just a recon mission. I don't want any fighting unless necessary. If Magneto and his team really are out there and if they want a fight, let them start it. You finish it," Wolverine growled. He glared out the window, sniffing out what could be there. "Alright then Cyke, ready to play team leader?"

Scott cleared his throat, preparing to lead the mission. He was trying to have his "in charge" demeanor, but Rogue could see underneath the same nervous energy Scott had right before a big test. It was still fairly recently Scott had stepped up and Wolverine was clearly enjoying frazzling his nerves as often as possible. Rogue couldn't stop herself from thinking that maybe today, he deserved to get a little frazzled after the crap he pulled with her (and the entire team in the Danger Room). "Shadowcat, you and Jean go scout the north end. Nightcrawler, you and I are going to go south. Rogue, you're going to take care of the docks in the east. There's plenty of cover and you can radio for Nightcrawler if you need assistance."

Assignments given, the team turned on their communicators and took off in their respective paths. Rogue wasn't much surprised by the groupings, nor the fact that Scott felt she would work best in this situation away from everyone (well...that she would work best in every team situation off on her own). Part of her liked the fact that the others knew she could handle herself, but another part she chose to shove down could feel a bitter taste in her mouth over the fact that this was just the norm. She wasn't called the Rogue for nothing, but in moments like this, she sometimes felt a slight pang run through her for her old partner. She understood Spyke's reasoning for leaving the team (more than anyone else on the team, really), but it had been somewhat of a comfort when the team had even numbers, guaranteeing her some back up and not having to go into a situation like this blind to what could be out there and alone with only a communicator as her back up. That and she and Spyke had generally gotten on fine, so his company had been almost welcome to her, as long as he wasn't on a rant about the latest skateboard move he was mastering.

She wasn't so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the feeling of being watched, but she was surprised it had probably taken her a little too long to catch that she was being followed because she'd been off in her own brain, overthinking. Stupid Scott and his stupid ego getting her stupid stuck in her stupid head.

Rogue tensed her body, prepared for a fight. She mentally ticked through the list of Acolytes. Colossus she could handle, although he wasn't the type to stalk his prey before fighting them. She had a clear feeling of being herded into a corner which meant Magneto was out too. Pyro could have gained some subtlety since last she'd fought him, but she doubted it. That meant she'd drawn the shortest possible straw on this mission and most likely she was going to be stuck facing down Sabretooth. She groaned to herself and worked to subtly remove a glove. If she was going be fighting Sabretooth, she was pretty much going to have to use her powers. Not fun in the moment or for the next week of him snarling throughout her head, but better than having her ass handed to her (or worse, considering she knew Sabretooth didn't have many qualms about ripping someone in his way to shreds).

She put her back to a pile of crates, looking all around as discreetly as possible trying to not let Sabretooth know she was on to him. Granted, it didn't do much and he probably was laughing at her attempts to keep cool, but it did make her feel a little better to have one side protected a little. She continued to inch along the crates, hoping for the path between the crates to open up to a wider more open area, better for a fight. In the small area between the crates she was in right now, she couldn't dodge as easily and buy for time until Kurt or Logan could come help her. She took a deep stabilizing breath, each second feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise more and more. She couldn't hear a single sound or spot any movement and Rogue hated that she felt like a mouse being played with by a cat before it pounced. She almost wished Sabretooth would just get on with it already and attack: it wasn't like him to not attack a teenager on their own with no backup. It was odd and made her feel even more on edge. Almost immediately at that thought, she saw a shadow leap over the crates, landing swiftly in front of her ready to fight.

She blinked.

He grinned.

She could only blink again before finally realizing she wasn't hallucinating. Her eyes narrowed. Almost as if he'd been summoned by Scott's simulation earlier that morning, who was standing in front of her, insufferable smirk and all, but none other than Remy Fucking LeBeau.