It was Logan who initially heard Rogue's squeals of joy, but it wasn't long before all of the X-Men had rushed into the foyer, anxious looks plastered on their faces. Even Remy had come bolting down the flight of stairs, and after learning that no one was hurt, now stood in the doorway, leaning against the threshold with his arms crossed and his eyes faintly aglow. All eyes were on Rogue, whose cheeks flushed brightly as she wrapped her right arm around Joseph's neck.

"What is it Rogue? Is everything alright?" Storm questioned fervently, everyone listening keenly.

"No Ah'm fahn! We're both fahn…it's just…well…" the lines of her lips broadened into a wide, genial smile. "…well…Joseph an' Ah were talkin' and…he proposed! …An' Ah said yes!" Rogue outstretched her left arm and flaunted her new engagement ring. She waited for a rush of excited talk and congratulations to overwhelm her, but the only thing closest to recognition that she received was a muffled gag and cough from Scott.

"Well?" Rogue probed, waiting for some type of verbal response.

Logan glanced over his shoulder, only to find himself staring at the empty doorframe where Remy had once stood. Rogue was becoming increasingly annoyed now. Not one person had said anything, whether encouraging or not, since she had spoken last. "WELL???"

Wolverine promptly looked back at Rogue, and was the first to break the silence. "That's …uhh…great kiddo." he mumbled. The others broke from their trances and followed his lead.

"Vonderful, Rogue! Zat is great news!" Kurt offered, followed by a flood of support issuing from his colleagues.

Joseph finally spoke. "I want to take everyone out for a fancy dinner tonight, as an early birthday party for Rogue, and to celebrate Gambits homecoming and our engagement."

An awkward and hushed silence fell over the crowd again, just as Jean steered the conversation to safety. "Sounds like a fantastic idea, Joseph. No one was looking forward to dinner tonight, anyways."

"Hey! My cooking's not that bad." Bobby muttered indifferently.

Jean shot him a sour expression, rolled her eyes and continued unfazed. "So, let's all go get into some nice eveningwear. Hurry!" Everyone shuffled off in different directions, but Ororo grabbed Logan's arm and spoke to him quietly under her breath. "Where is Gambit? I did not see him anywhere."

Wolverine replied "He was here, but when Rogue…well… sigh …I smell him upstairs. He's in his room."

Storm closed her eyes as wrenching guilt flashed across her face. As she opened them again, she spoke softly "Go talk to him. He needs a friend…"
Wolverine opened his mouth to protest, but her eyes bore deep into his, and her hand's grip tightened around his arm. "Wolverine, I must get ready. And you are his friend! He needs our support now, more than ever!"
"Alright! Fine! I'll go! He better not start with all that emotional bullshit, though! That's your department, 'Ro." Wolverine headed towards the stairs, mumbling irritably the entire way up.

When he reached Remy's door, he knocked lightly. "Cajun, I know you're in there. Hell, I can smell ya. Open th'door." No one answered and Wolverine grimaced. "I dun' have to be a genius to tell this ain't gonna be easy." He shifted his weight on his feet, and began running his thumb over his knuckles. It was taking all of his patience to refrain from bursting down the door, but he could empathize with the kid. He, too, had been burned before.

"We're…uh…all goin' out for a nice dinner. All of us wantcha there. And dress smart." He called through the polished wood. Although given no response, Logan knew that he had heard him. With that, Wolverine trudged off to his own room to fix his attire. "I sure as hell hope Roguie knows what she's doing." He shook his head and hung it low as he closed his door to change.

Half an hour later, everyone was making their way to the foyer once more, dressed fashionably in elegant eveningwear. Wolverine took one more admiring peek at his mirror as he fixed his shirt cuffs. He was sporting a grey pant suit with a powder blue collared shirt, and a teal striped tie. The colors accented his wild hair, which he attempted to tame with gel. Prior to joining everyone, he headed towards Gambit's room again, hoping to persuade him to come, even if it was the last minute. But before he could even knock, the door swung open forcefully and the Cajun stepped out, dressed and ready to go. He wore a black pant suit with a maroon shirt that was opened a few buttons at the neck. His hair was pulled back neatly into a low ponytail. Remy swiftly closed the door behind himself and, careful not to make eye contact with Logan, headed towards the stairs with his head hung low. "Ah, so it's gonna be dinner and a show tonight, eh?!" Wolverine mused to himself, as he followed closely behind.

However, their night out was rather uneventful, contrary to what many X-men would have thought as soon as they saw Gambit traipse down the steps, his eyes glowing a piercing red. He was keeping to himself, barely speaking or looking at anyone. This seemed to annoy Rogue the most. Why, after all she had begged and pleaded and threatened, was she upset that he was acting submissively? Her fiancé was avidly discussing mutant rights with his fellow colleagues, too busy to notice Rogue's distracted glances. She glowered at Remy from across the round table, as she clung on to Joseph's arm to her left.

"Why can't he jus' be happy for me an' Joe?" Her harsh stare suddenly evolved into a look of sincere concern. "Or why can't he jus' be happy? Ah hate seein' him lahke this." Anna Marie watched as a wisp of bang fell across his face, as he continued to stare at his plate. She couldn't help but admit that he looked handsome, what with his chiseled and brawny physique being highlighted by his stiff-collared top.

Apparently the waitress had also shared her sentiment, and attended to their table more often than necessary, using the time to 'accidentally' brush up against his shoulders, or breath seductively down his neck. This, of course, did not sit well with Rogue. She had half a mind to run over and punch the waitress right in her pretty little face. When all else had failed, the young girl unbuttoned her white uniform blouse a tad, and let her mane of strawberry blonde locks out of her low work ponytail. When Remy did not show even the slightest acknowledgement or feigned interest, Rogue smiled haughtily. Gambit was always one to recognize, and act on, a women flirting with him, she was sure of it. Instead, he chose to flat-out ignore her. But why Rogue found herself grinning smugly, she couldn't justify. She quickly jerked her mind awake and turned her attention to the man on her left, "Mah fiancé" she reminded herself.

Before they left the Chinese restaurant, Joseph called the waitress over for the bill. She nodded curtly, and began clearing away the finished dishes from the table. She left with a pile of plates balanced on her arms, and a smirk smeared across her face. Moments later, the girl placed the black bill tray gently in front of Joseph, and was making her way around the table, personally handing out fortune cookies. When she reached Gambit, she took extra care that her chest grazed over his right shoulder as she reached from behind to hand him his cookie. Gambit seemed unfazed by the contact, but Rogue's cheeks flushed red to match her scarlet cocktail dress. Fortunately or unfortunately, Joseph had busied himself with the bill moments before, far too absorbed with head calculations to take notice.

Yet one thing had caught Gambit's eye. A small piece of white paper was awkwardly sticking out of his fortune cookie. As everyone broke their cookies and passed around their fortunes, Remy grabbed hold of the paper and gently pulled it out of the cookie, beginning to unfold it at ever crease.

Even as Rogue was listening to her friends read their fortunes aloud, she watched Gambit out of the corner of her eye. He stared at the note for several minutes, thinking, and then discretely folded it back up once more, pushing the note back into the slender crack in the cookie. He placed it back on the table in front of him, hoping to make it appear that the cookie went untouched.

Once everyone stood from the circular table and headed to the front of the restaurant to leave, Rogue let her curiosity get the best of her. With her back to the front door of the restaurant, she rested her purse on the table, calmly pulled the note out of the last remaining fortune cookie, and vigorously unfolded it. Suddenly Rogue found herself masking a vicious leer behind her hand.

"Her phone numbah. Hmmph. Sorry girl, Remy ain't interested." She hastily folded up the note again, and pushed it back into the fortune cookie.

"You coming, Rogue?" Joseph called from the front of the restaurant.

"Just a sec, Sugah." She called over her shoulder, bringing her hands to her purse, pretending to rummage through it. After a moment or so of fake groping, she slung her purse over her shoulder and walked towards the front door, a small but confident swagger in each step she took from thereon in.

OOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOO

Catch your interest yet? Here's the deal, I have a bunch of the next chapters all ready to go!! This was just your beginning taste. Here's what you have to do to get the next ones...can you guess? REVIEW! If I get a bunch to start with, I'll even post some more tomorrow or the day after...I'm quick! The more you review, the more motivated I'll be to keep going. Don't just sit there, get cracking!