As the next few months quickly passed, Tina slowly return to the same state that she was in before she had join team. If she wasn't out on missions, or training, she was in her room drawing or just staring out the window. Her nightmares had became much worse, and some of the time she did not sleep because of it, it was that or wake up the whole mansion every night. Jubilee notice that even though Tina was covering it up rather well around everyone else, including her and Gambit, she knew that it was all an act, and decided to do something about it.
Her plan was maybe a bit rash to some but in this case it was needed. She went looking for Gambit and found him in the garage polishing his "baby", and rolled her eyes at the sight. "Going somewhere Gambit?"
"Hey petite", Gambit smiled," just givin' my girl a little lovin'. And maybe take 'er for a ride". He could tell Jubilee had something to say so he waited for her to say it.
"But its a bike, how much attention does a bike need to have?" She took her head, knowing how men around here were with certain things, if it wasn't bikes, it was a car or something else. "Speaking of 'giving your girl a little loving' how things with you and Tina?"
"Ya have to take care of motorcycles petite," he continued polishing the motorcycle. He thought about what to say about Tina, he was concerned but she didn't seem willing to tell him what was bothering her. He had thought he gained ground with her but something must of happened. He didn't know what it was but she went back to being aloof.
"Tina seems preoccupied. Not enough to disrupt her training sessions and she doesn't seem willing to talk about it yet, I'm givin' her time". He shrugged, while it bothered him that she wouldn't tell him what was going on, he knew pushing wouldn't work. She would tell him eventually. In the meantime, he wasn't a kiss and tell kind of guy. And felt he told Jubilee enough.
"Well maybe she just need some cheering up, so why don't you do something for her, or with her, something. Cause every time I knocked on her door just to try and talk to her, she never answers. And since you have that 'charm' on your side, I would think that you would try something.." Jubilee hadn't really seen Tina smiling or going on and on about Remy as she normally does, so she hoped that Gambit would try and do something.
"Petite, I've been dating her for a some time now and she is shy and while I've found many things to distract her from whatever is bothering her, I can't force her to tell me. Everyone has secrets, maybe this is something she needs to work out on her own. She knows I'm here for her if she needs me." He put the towel he used on his motorcyle away and glanced at Jubilee.
He saw the look on Jubilees face, the look of concern and that she wasn't happy with him or with what he was saying. "Al'right, we usually go to dinner on Saturday, I'll see if she wants to go somewhere tonight and I'll try to get her to open up to me, but if she gets mad at me and pushes me away, its your fault."
"Thats better, now was that so hard?" Jubilee laugh to herself as she left the garage. From the time she lived there, Gambit had always had a status of being a romantic ladies man, so it amused her that now he decided to take his sweet little time with someone who could possibly tame him.
Meanwhile Tina decided to get some fresh air, hoping that it would brighten her mood a little bit as it seem to had work in the past. Plus she had a little something to give to Remy if she could find him. She looked all over the school, and decided to give the garage a try. Lucky for her, the man took his sweet time with taking care of his bike, and ended up finding him in the garage still.
"I figured you would be out here.." Walking into the garage and looking over his brightly shined bike
Remy smiled brightly at Tina, he took a couple of steps toward her and kissed her passionately, when they finished with their lip play he greeted her, "evenin' chere, wanna go out tonight?"
"But its not even Saturday, its Wednesday.." She hugged her sketch pad close to her. While the two been seeing each other for a while now, they only recently been kissing and Remy always gave her more than a basic kiss.
"I know its Wednesday, maybe we can pick something up and eat in the park, you can sketch while the sun sets, it'll be relaxing," Remy gave her a wicked smile and wiggled his eyebrows to show he was in a mischievous mood.
"Well, alright. Its something different and out of the norm for you.." She rolled her eyes at certain movements he was doing, cracking a small smile. "Oh and speaking of sketches, I made you something…..if I could find it.." Flipping through her book for a few seconds before, ripping out a sheet of paper. "Found it.."
Tina held up the drawing in front of him so he could see it. It was a very detail king of spades drawing but instead of the traditional king that would normally be on the card, it was replace with two drawings of Remy, and instead of it being the basic red and black, while they were still in there it had hints of a light shade of purple. She figured that if she was going to draw all the time, she might as well do a drawing of him, for him.
Remy took the drawing and stared at it for a long time. The detail and coloring was done well. After what felt like it was a long time, he glanced back at Tina, "Thank you for this, no one has given me anything so special." He leaned into her and kissed her deeply to show his gratitude.
"Glad someone appreciates my long hard work. And I'll get you a frame for it too, so it doesn't get bends in it. And besides your room needs a little something to be put on your ugly plain white walls, might as well be my artwork." She leans against the nearest wall, crossing her long slender legs a little, looking at him.
"Thanks, I'll put it in my room and grab a jacket. I thought we'd take my baby for a ride," he patted his motorcycle.
"I swear you might be screwing your bike before long, if you keep on calling it that." She giggled lightly. "Alright then, go get your stuff, I'm not going anywhere."
"Ya wound me, ma chere," he smiled, took his picture and went into the mansion and up the stairs to his room to get his jacket and gloves. He returned to the garage, mounted the bike and and held his hand out to her to join him.
Taking his hand, she hopped on behind him. "When are you gonna teach me to ride this thing, or would your baby get jealous that some chick is riding her, and not you?"
He laughed, "hold tight, and if you really want ta learn, I'll teach ya", he put the kickstand up and started his bike, once he felt her arms tight around his waist he revved the engine a couple of times and then like a bolt of lighting they rocketed down the driveway toward the gate. Once they passed the gate, he took back roads toward New York City. He wanted to enjoy his ride and he had discovered Tina enjoyed these drives even if he was driving a bit too fast. He would adjust his speed if he felt her flinch which she was doing less and less. And that make him happy, it was a sign she was trusting him. in a way he found that very appealing.
One of the things that Tina had picked up when riding with Remy on his "baby" was to always keep her mouth shut. There were a few times where she had forgotten this, and had a few bugs go flying into her mouth, and their little legs and wings got stuck between her teeth. So normally now she press her head against his back using him like a shield to keep the little gross bugs from becoming an unwanted and unwelcome snack.
Remy enjoyed having her lean into his back, it felt warm and while their relationship had not gotten too deep it gave him a connection to her. They made their way to Carnegie Deli, he left her with his baby while he went in and got a to go special for their park dinner. Once he had the food, he leaned in to kiss and had her wait with his bike. He needed to pick up the right wine for their dinner. Once he returned and packed everything in the saddle bag. He mounted the bike, once he felt her arms around his waist. He make his way to Central Park. He found a place to park his motorcycle. They dismounted the bike and walked toward a nice clearing where they would have a great view of the sun setting. He rolled out a plaid blanket and straightened it so that it would be comfortable for her. Then he took the food and placed it in the middle. He gestured for Tina to sit, while he opened the wine to let it breath. Once he was done with setting everything up, he smiled at her "bon a petite", he threw his hands in the air as if a great chef had just served them dinner.
"You are wacked in the head, Remy." She smiles a bit, as she started to set up her pens and pencils, among other things before deciding on eating."But I think thats what I like most about you, that you're crazy."
"Of course ya do ma chere, its part of my charm," he gave her a quick kiss but lingered a little so that she would know she was important to him. He recognized she was getting ready to be busy instead of paying attention him. He didn't mind that, he liked women who could be their own person and not need him to be everything for them. He appreciated that more than he would ever say. He also knew he needed to get her to talk to him and he thought once she was in her zone with her art and started taking bites of food, would be the time where he could question her without her turning into herself. She would give him hints without realizing she doing that because she was lost to her art.
"Yeah I know, thats why I could barely talked to you at first remember? I tried for about a month just to avoid you, so I wouldn't become a tripping mess. But Cyclops assigned me to you, and the rest is history." She said with a mouth full of food.
After she was finish eating, Tina quickly opened up her sketchbook, and started to get a rough sketch going of the sun actually going down, before putting in the colors and blending them into each other. Her eyes often looked at Remy to make sure he wasn't bored with just watching her draw for about an hour. Once she finished just before it started to get too dark to see what she was doing, she blew off the dust from the paper, before putting everything away.
"So normally I wouldnt ask such things, but I will. What with your spontaneous plans? I mean I'm not complaining, I rather enjoy it but taking me out on a Wednesday isn't not like you.." She looked down at him, before shaking her hand to keep it from cramping.
"You've been distant lately, and I was hoping that maybe you'd tell me what is troublin' ya. I thought that a nice night out, doing things you like would give your mind some peace. All I know is something heavy is on your mind. I'd like ta help if I can", Remy gave her a very sincere look, one that he hoped would get her to open up to him. "I'm here for ya, whenever ya need me." He smiled to himself now, and decided a little threat wouldn't be a bad thing. "Don't make me charm you," he knew he wouldn't and didn't really have charm. It was a myth that followed him but he thought if he could add some humor to his request it would ease her enough to talk to him.
"As much as I would like the help with this, its something that not much could be done for it.." Tina started twisting her hair around her finger before sighing. "I just been having really horrible dreams as of late. Beast and the Professor wanted to monitor them and according to them on a scale of 0.1 to a 10, they are about 9.9, which according to them could give me a heart-attack. So the choices are to battle through them, or don't sleep."
"Then perhaps talkin' about 'em, or drawing them might ease your mind. You don't have to show anyone your pictures but it might help you sleep if you can get them out of you head for awhile." Remy thought about her words and he was more than a little irritated, "The Professor didn't council you or try to help you with your dreams?" And then he thought it was time, to make a stronger connection to each other. "Wanna tell me ya dreams?"
"They are just mostly memories, that just turn more violent than they originally were. Like a former friend literally taking this huge ass knife and repeatedly stabbed me right in the back. Or my ex Justin, raping me or something. They are a lot darker than the actual memories…" She kept twisting her hair around her finger. "They aren't really the best thing to discuss on a date though."
Remy was dumbfounded, was she jesting? Did her ex rape her? She was being shy again and he recognized the twirling of her hair as a nervous reaction. While he was taking their relationship slow, it wasn't because he didn't want more. This new found information floored him.
"Would ya be able to tell a friend? I can be a friend and more if you'll let me. I'll hold you and try to help you as best as I can. Will you trust enough to tell me?" Remy hoped he was getting through to her.
."Well, what do you actually want to know, I mean I thought I covered the basic information while we were talking before we actually started to date, though I guess even the great Remy Lebeau can forget when in the presence of a lady.." Tina kinda laugh at that, before looking up at him.
"Tina, your friend Jubilee is worried about ya, I"m worried about ya, and yes, you told me some things. But you're not being honest with me. Why don't you think that whatever it is you are hiding from, that we can't help? I'd like more in our relationship but I'm not gonna to stand on the outside looking in." Remy sighed
"Cause sometimes, when I think too much, I start thinking about the worst possible things. When I hear some of the other girls in the school talking about how you pretty much bend over backwards for that Rogue girl I start thinking negative,that maybe there could be a small possibility if she were to come back, you would drop me in a heartbeat over happened to me before twice so.." Tina sadly sigh, rubbing her right eye.
Remy was suddenly fatigued, Rogue seemed to haunt him when he least expected it. And while he still cared for her, he wasn't waiting for her either. He had enough. And he wasn't going to have another relationship that mirrored his previous one.
The key would be convincing Tina, that they as a couple are different. "Chere, Rogue is the past. I'll always care about her but its clear we were not meant to be. The problem was trust, she didn't trust me. That turned into resentment, hers and mine. I can't do that again chere. I want to be with ya, but you have got to want that too. Am I wasting my time? I want to be with you, and I want to help you with anything but I can't have another relationship where I'm in the dark or not trusted." Remy gave her a serious look now, he wasn't messing around. "If you want me, you gotta show me and I really want your trust."
"No you're not wasting your time, and I do want to be with you. You see me as me, not as a girl who for years tried to cover up the fact that she was a mutant, or a living doll that some took for granted. I think that way everything crumbled around me, because I was hiding who I really was for so long, but you looked past that. You see Christina, not Nightmare. Not a name that carry so much past tension, but as Tina…"
"Then let me help you, let me in, tell me what is keeping you up at night. What are ya running from?" He reached over and kissed her softly, hoping she would finally open up to him.
"That my past may repeat itself again. That I would get whacked in the head or drug up to be tested on like a lab rat, and end up having another new power I can not control…" Her hands started glowing purple. "The person who did this to me, he is still out there, and when he finds me, and he will, he will end up doing more experiments on me until the day I die….all because I survived the last one…"
"No one is gonna touch ya while you're with me, I won't let anyone harm you. Tomorrow we'll put together a file on this guy, so that we can keep this guy from getting to you. We're going to let your friends help. I want you to tell me everything. I'm pretty well connected. We find him first and get rid of him, in any way you wish." He smiled hoping she got his meaning. He knew he was no saint but if behind bars wasn't an option. There were other forms of justice. He kissed her softly again, "thank you for trusting me." He then pulled her into a tight embrace, holding her against his chest.
"Your welcome…"Tina closed her eyes and listen to the beating of his heart before she looked up at him. "You would do that for me? I mean maybe the whole "getting rid of him" thing is taking things a little too far, but you would risk getting thrown in jail, just so I feel safe , and not have to worry about that?"
Remy laughed, "ya only go to jail if you get caught. And there are plenty of ways to take care of things. I'm the king of thieves, I might know a few people that I can call in a favor. I've got legal connections too.. To answer ya question, yes, I would do whatever in my power to make you feel safe." He smiled down at her.
"I must be something really special to you if you are willing to do that for me, because most girls myself included would think that is one of the highest form for flattering a guy could ever do, in a weird twisted kind of way, but still." Both of her eyes, blue and purple were locked onto his red on black eyes.
"You are special, don't let anyone tell ya different." He lifted her chin up, bent down and gave her the most tender kiss to show that he meant what he said. When he pulled away, he told her "lets put the bad guy away for tonight, we'll deal with him tomorrow. I know of a place where we can relax and enjoy each other," he winked at her.
"Alright, I am game for anything." Tina started putting her art supplies that she brought with her into her side bag, before getting up. "What exactly do you have in mind Remy?" She stared at him, for a moment or two, wondering what is going on in his head.
"I thought we'd go skinny dippin', there is a boathouse and lake that is hidden away from the mansion that is barely used. Maintenance keeps it up, but not many go there. I know we'll have it all to ourselves. Whadda ya say?" Remy was packing up all the other things to be packed into the saddlebags of his bike while he waited for her answer.
"Well, I say, that you better had brought your water wings with you mon chere, cause your ass is going to be kick into the water.." She lightly giggles while she was walking to the bike, and hopping on.
Once the motorcycle was ready to go, Remy hopped on and started the engine, "hold tight," he told Tina. He planned on taking back roads and breaking a law or two when it came to speed. Once he felt her arms wrap around him, he started up the engine and pulled out into the street. He made his way on back roads to Westchester and the hidden boathouse.