A/N It's finals week, so apparently that means I'm giving up studying for temporary relief of typing. Go figure.
While some of the mansion's inhabitants were surprised that Gambit didn't immediately ask out Rogue, the vast majority understood what Bobby hadn't, that Gambit and Rogue were friends. While there was a certain level of attraction between them, what they were both consciously aware of and focusing on was their friendship. Gambit hadn't sabotaged Rogue's relationship, despite Bobby's insisting that he had.
Bobby was making little progress on his engine part scavenger hunt, not that he was putting in much effort. He bounced the idea off Pete of asking Rogue to replace the engine, but the look on his friend's face was enough for him not to pursue that. He also avoided Logan as much as possible, but found himself oddly scheduled for more and more danger room sessions with the pissed off Wolverine.
Rogue cut Bobby out of her life completely. If he was in the room she would either leave or more likely as time went on, just pretend he wasn't there. She devoted all her time to the classes she taught and sessions with Emma. She'd been going back and forth between feeling completely shattered, sure that her power would never be controlled, and feeling a stronger resolve than ever to gain control. This was extremely frustrating for Emma.
"You need to believe it Rogue. As much as I hate to agree with Gambit, he's right. You need to believe with every fiber of your being that this will happen."
Rogue nodded and closed her eyes, letting Emma dive into her mind. Emma swam to where she knew Rogue's mutation sat. It was the usual scene, everything was chaotic and disorganized. There was a particular large jumble of what Emma believed to be a representation of a literal ball of nerves, Rogue's anxiety. Pulling out, she looked at Rogue.
"I honestly think that your fear is feeding this problem more," Emma said. "So we're going to try something new. If we can work past this crippling fear, I believe we can find a way to move the active part of your mutation from the subconscious to your conscious mind."
"Okay," Rogue said. "I can't just say 'oh I'm over it' and that's that."
"I know," Emma said. "So I think you need practice."
"Practice?" Rogue asked warily.
"Someone you trust, probably Logan, to let you practice touching them."
"What?"
"You need to get over the fearing of hurting people," Emma said.
"It's not a fear, it's knowledge! I KNOW I'll hurt them and I don't want to!"
"And that fear is paralyzing you and the growth of your mutation. I believe you'll be able to control your abilities but you need to get over the fear."
"So I should just be okay with sucking the life out of people?"
"No," Emma said, forcing herself to be patient. "Touch gloved as much as possible. Handholding, anything like that. And once a week clear your mind as much as possible and touch skin to skin, two seconds, and let go."
"Won't that make it worse?"
"Humor me."
Rogue sighed, thanked Emma and left the office. She was so distracted that she barreled right into Logan. If it weren't for his quick reflexes, she'd have fallen right on her ass.
"Whoa darlin', what's the rush?"
"Sorry," she muttered and tried to move around him.
"Wait a minute, what's going on here?" Logan demanded. Rogue quickly explained everything Emma wanted and tried to get away again. "Hold it," Logan said, stopping her again. "I'm more than okay with that."
"You…what?
"Two seconds is enough to maybe make me mildly lightheaded. I'm not scared of it darlin', you shouldn't be either."
In a move that slightly surprised them both, Rogue threw her arms around Logan's neck in a huge hug. She pulled away with tears shining in her eyes and left without a word. Gambit was all for this plan too, offering to be one of Rogue's guinea pigs. She wasn't so sure considering he didn't have Logan's healing factor.
"I still heal fast, yo' remember how fast dat broken arm healed."
"Still…"
"Unless yo' are afraid of getting a piece of me inside yo'," Gambit said with a wink.
"Very worried," Rogue said with a laugh. "Thank you though, I might take you up on that."
"Bon."
"You know…I know you don't like Emma, and I'm not going to ask why, but maybe she'd be willing to help you with your amnesia. She's helped Logan clear up some of his foggy errant memories. She might be able to help you."
Gambit shrugged. Rogue sighed and went back to her book. Logan popped his head in, and they both were taken aback by the strain in his voice.
"War room, now."
Bewildered, they joined Jubilee, Emma, Kitty, Hank, Bobby, Pete, Loan and Storm who were already gathered. They pointedly sat far away from Bobby. Storm's face was full of tension, more so than Gambit had ever seen.
"There have been more mutant murders," she said shortly. "Eleven."
"The only reason we know about it now is some idealist reporter found out and ran a story."
"No one was looking into the murders and no one was issuing warnings. Kitty, you and Gambit are the best with computers and I have to ask something hard of you. Gambit, I know you have more experience hacking into government databases."
"I have no idea what yo' are talking about," Gambit muttered vaguely.
"So," Storm continued, "I need you to show and assist Kitty. You're looking in police and FBI databases, I want to know everything. This is unacceptable." She turned to the whole room. "No one goes anywhere alone. Groups of two or three, preferably more. All underage students will not leave the mansion unless accompanied by one of you." Eyebrows raised.
"This goes for every person in this room," Logan said. "Me, Storm, even you Gambit."
Gambit put his hands up in surrender. "No complaints here."
"Good, go."
Gambit spent the good part of the day teaching Kitty the ins and outs of hacking into government systems. He taught her how to cover her tracks, how to lay false trails and hide what they were doing. Kitty was sufficiently overwhelmed, but also more challenged and intrigued than by anything she'd ever learned.
They found next to nothing in the police database and absolutely nothing from the FBI. The police showed murders from Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, with no similarity other than the victims were all powerful mutants. Not that anyone was looking too hard.
Gambit, resigned to the idea that whoever was killing these mutants had also tried to kill him, finally decided to swallow his pride after almost four months. He knocked on Emma's door and awkwardly waited. He was rather amused at eliciting a surprised look from a telepath, but wisely chose to say nothing.
"What do you want?" she snapped. Gambit gritted his teeth. Doing this politely was going to be a lot more difficult than he'd imagined.
"I need help with my amnesia," he said, teeth still together.
"Oh?" she asked, eyebrow raised. She was determined to hear Gambit say that he needed her.
"I was hoping yo' would agree t' work wit' me t' recover de memories, since your sessions wit' Rogue seem t' help her." Gambit thoroughly thought he should be congratulated on making it through that sentence without losing the Chinese food he'd had with Rogue, Storm and Logan at lunch.
"So you're ready to stop being selfish and passive, and actually help yourself and the mutant community?" Emma asked nastily.
Gambit's jaw twitched. "Oui."
"Good," she said smugly. The next day he and Rogue started joint sessions with Emma sometimes as often as every other day. She didn't necessarily like pushing them or herself, but they felt an odd sense of urgency. Surprisingly Emma actually approved of the joint sessions. Since she didn't need to speak with either of them while she was delving into their minds, she had no problem letting them sit in each other's company, on the odd condition that they be holding hands. Emma believed this could only help Rogue be less afraid of touch, also that touch while Emma tried to push against the tangle that was Rogue's fear could only help.
This condition also had the added bonus of helping Gambit have something solid to hold on to while he opened his mind to Emma. Because of the nature of his mutation, Gambit had a basic shield around his mind that prevented a telepath from getting in, he had to let them in. Rogue's hand served as a helpful little focus.
Emma was pleased with the effect the joint sessions were having on Rogue. "The chaotic bundle, the representation of your fear is shrinking," she told them after a particularly hard session. "Not hugely, but there is a noticeable difference. You, though," she said, turning to Gambit. "You're making almost no progress at all."
"Hey! I've seen flashes!" Gambit argued. Emma scoffed.
"You are being deliberately difficult."
"Now what would dat accomplish?"
"Nothing, so stop it. And relax!"
"I'm going to go…" Rogue said and snuck out of the room, leaving the scene of the fight.
"Right, screaming always relaxes me," Gambit said with an eye roll. "Though I do like causing de screaming." He winked.
"You are impossible! You like the attention! That's why you aren't working harder. Or is bug bad Gambit afraid?"
"Go t' hell."
"That's it, isn't it?" Emma said, as if the possibility just dawned on her that Gambit even felt fear. "You're afraid? The great Gambit, afraid?"
"Happy?" he snapped. Emma looked at him considering as he stood to leave.
"Well," she said as he pulled open to door. "I'd think you were an idiot if you weren't afraid." Gambit paused before closing the door behind him.
The mood of the mansion was considerably dimmer than normal. The murders, and lack of information had taken a toll on every staff member. In order to lighten the mood, Gambit set up a pre-Christmas poker and old fashioned movie night. You were required to dress formally at least slightly and enjoy yourself.
Gambit tracked down an old film projector and got his hands on a copy of the original War of the Worlds, "not dis Tom Cruise, snoozey remake".
The turnout was better than Gambit had expected. Everyone, including Emma and Hank showed up. Though 'formal attire' seemed to have a different definition for everyone. Emma seemed to think it meant a tiny amount of sheer, flimsy white cloth while Logan's version of dressy was a flannel shirt with less holes than normal. Most took the dress code to heart though, Gambit and Pete in very dressy button up shirts and Hank in a full on tux.
Storm as well as Emma wore white, though her dress was infinitely classier. Jubilee to no one's surprise showed up in a funky canary yellow Roman-style gown. Kitty wore something sparkly and black, which apparently Pete approved of because he couldn't stop staring, causing a very noticeable blush to rise in Kitty's cheeks. It was Rogue who surprised everyone though. The expectation was a deep green long sleeved dress they'd seen her in multiple times. However, when she came down it was in a royal purple dress that vaguely had a renaissance type look to it. The dress was sleeveless and although she wore black gloves all the way up to her arm pits, the change was not unnoticed. Emma beamed triumphantly. The exposed neckline plus sleeves indicated progress in overcoming her crippling fear.
"Oh ma chère! Tue s tres jolie!" Gambit exclaimed, taking her hand and kissing it. Rogue smiled, nearly looking relaxed.
They all sat for the movie, Gambit passed around buckets of popcorn. Part way into the movie, Gambit snaked his arm around Rogue's shoulders, a move not unnoticed by Bobby. Emma also took note and though it still slightly irked her that he was Rogue's choice of friend and confidant, she was feeling a lot more charitable since it was helping Rogue. And it didn't hurt that she'd now glimpsed his vulnerable side. She hadn't even thought that had existed.
The movie ended much too quickly for Gambit's liking and he herded everyone to the shockingly large poker table. Much to his dismay, only Logan, Storm, and Rogue had ever played. He went through the basic rules of a five card draw, having to repeat them a few times when people got confused. He then sent Emma a scathing warning about using her powers to cheat.
"I have ethics," Emma said coldly. "And the skills to tune you all our, no matter how loudly you think."
"Okay den," Gambit said and passed out chips. "When you're out, you're out of de game. Last person standing wins."
"Gee, I wonder who that'll be," Jubilee muttered. Rogue smirked. As Jubilee had predicted, the pile of chips in front of Gambit grew steadily larger, while everyone else's shrunk. Logan was rather proud of Rogue's attitude toward Bobby. She didn't act angrily, but more as if he was a mildly irritating fly whose presence she'd merely accepted.
"Is there anything you're bad at?" Jubilee grumbled as she folded.
"No," Gambit said cheerily. Rogue and Logan called.
"I dunno, that mouth of his – "
Gambit interrupted Logan with, "My mouth gets things done very well, thank yo' very much." He winked at Rogue who rolled her eyes.
"On the topic…" Jubilee said.
"Never get Gambit on the topic," Logan muttered.
"How many women have you slept with?" she asked.
"A lot," Gambit said, and raised the bet.
"Supermodels?"
"A few," Gambit said. "Dey're not much fun though. Always worried about what dey're eating, how dey look, way too skinny."
"Celebrities?"
"My fair share."
"Any fantasies?"
"Natalie Portman," he said immediately. Logan, even Pete and Bobby gave an appreciative nod.
"So how many?" Jubilee asked.
Gambit gave her a tolerant smile. "A lot, dey had deir fun."
"Anyways!" Storm said, changing the subject.
Pete was the first one to lose all his chips, followed quickly by Bobby and Kitty, all who had some of the worst poker faces Gambit had ever seen. Jubilee followed and eventually the game was down to Gambit, Logan and Storm.
"What?" Storm asked to their surprised faces as she won a hand and pulled the pile of winnings toward her. "I've been friends with Remy for years, did you really think I hadn't picked anything up?"
Nevertheless, Gambit slowly chipped away at them until he was the sole holder of chips. "Good game my friends," he said cheerily. The rest of them grumbled. Kitty and Pete excused themselves to the kitchen to round up more food while Jubilee, Bobby, Hank and Emma put another movie on, this time the Wolfman. Rogue, Logan, Gambit and Storm began a game of blackjack.
Gambit's mission was successful, everyone was more relaxed than they'd been in weeks. There was laughter, jokes and even…romance? Rogue and Gambit had paused the game and entered the kitchen since Pete and Kitty hadn't returned with snacks and found the pair lip locked against the wall. Rogue gasped, jolting the two from their kiss. Turning red, they both started stuttering incoherently.
"We'll just leave yo' t' it, den," Gambit said with a wink. He steered the gaping Rogue out of the kitchen. "I think de night went rather well."