AN: Okay, I do plan on finishing this story, but it's going to take some time. Sorry, but I am in a different place in my life from when I first started this awesome fic. Hope Hannigan also mentioned a few things I hinted at, and have not explained yet. Well I lost my original notebook and have forgotten quite a bit. So if, you leave a review, could you mention what you would liked cleared up, or think needs to be elaborated on. I've written a few down, but I want to make sure I get them all. Thanks. Hope you enjoy.

Wiccamage – Thanks, I don't think I would have typed this chapter out if it hadn't been for you review. You give me too much credit, but I appreciate the comment.

Slenay – Why thank you. I really don't want to rush their relationship, they're both very untrusting people, so it's gonna take time for the two of them. And Deadpool is one of my favorite from the comics too, and I was a little nervous taking him on at first. And I was never too sure about how the dialogue was supposed to be, because when I started writing I pretty much copied other people's technical style. Thanks for clearing that up.

William Wolvenheart - Why thank you.

Klutzspaz - Of course he would, but he's just in shock right now. He needs to warm up to the idea first.

Cerrenous - Glad you liked it.

Hope Hannigan – I'll try but no promises. And thanks for the offer, I may take that up.

Kiren – Isn't it. And he has to warm up to the idea first.

ChamberlineofMusic – Hullabaloo, funny word. Anyways thanks for the review, and glad you liked it.

Raven34link – Yes he did, and I like Emma more than Jean also too. Thanks for the reviews.

Get Rogue,

Chapter Ten

"Le Diable Blanc, haven't seen y' around in a while," were the first words Rogue heard as she stepped into the shady looking club. There were no windows, and the place was dimly lit with smoke filtering through making it even harder to see.

"For good reason too with that hit Belladonna took on his head for skipping out on the weddin'," another strongly Cajun accented voice added with a derisive snort.

There was a small group of them over by a corner table, four in all. They were all about Gambit's height, only a little shorter with the exception of one. The one closest to the depowered mutants had a mop of shaggy blond hair and had his complete attention on Gambit. Two were red heads and though they were stone faced, Rogue could see the amusement flashing in their eyes. The fourth guy was the one who stood out the most. He wasn't white like the others but dark skinned and very broad shouldered. He had an M branded over his right eye.

Subconsciously Rogue grabbed her uninjured arm, wrapping her other hand around her wrist. He was a mutant who must have been caught by the MRD at one point.

One of the red heads broke out into a big grin and wolf whistled, while the other one spoke, "Belladonna also ain't got nothing on that pretty cher y' got there on your arm."

Rogue glared at them, not particularly liking what they were insinuating.

"As if ah would want anything to do with him," she snapped with venom in her voice as she showed off their gleaming handcuffs. "You guys can have him back, as soon as these things are gone. Ah cannot stand another second of this wannabe Casanova's presence."

That started off the round of laughter. Hastily Gambit brought their handcuffed hands back down and out of site. A scowl marred his face and he glared at the others who were mocking him.

"Not funny."

"Of course it is Remy. The Prince of Thieves finally got caught. And he's stuck next to a bella femme who wants nothing to do with him," one of the red heads chuckled.

"The Ragin Cajun has finally lost his touch," another one howled.

Rolling his eyes, Gambit scowl turned upwards into a cheeky smirk as he pulled Rogue even closer to him. "Don't listen to mon river rat. She's just shy about her feelings towards moi."

Rogue elbowed him in his side.

"Oh yea, she's in denial alright," the dark skinned mutant spoke, a wry look on his face.

"Anyways," Gambit spoke, finally getting on to the introductions, "Rogue, the blond is mon older frére, Henri, the red heads mon cousins Emil and Lapin, and lastly Lucas, a co-worker and friend of ours."

Rogue nodded her head in acknowledgement but otherwise did not say a word. They were all thieves, and probably part of the Thieves Guild. She was wary about being in their presence.

"So how did you two get stuck together," Henri asked, meeting Remy's gaze. He had lost his smile as he stared his younger brother down.

Gambit shrugged nonchalantly, as if he really did not know how the handcuffs suddenly appeared on the two mutants wrists. But Rogue caught the slight movement of his eyes, as they briefly looked in her direction, and as Henri gave a slight nod in understanding.

"So Emil, do y' think y' can get these off?"

"Possibly," he answered thoughtfully as he stepped closer to the duo and started to examine the uniquely made handcuffs. "I would have to go and get my tools. Not enought time though, I have a job to start in an hour. But I will be back by noon."

"Why don't y' two get some rest, and take the guest room here then. Y' will be safe from Assassins here, and pére won't have to know y' are in town Remy," Henri suggested.

Gambit nodded his head in response. With a quick goodbye to his fellow guild members, Rogue followed him as he led her up a set of stairs that she had not noticed coming in. They climbed only a single flight of narrow steps. There was a single hallway with only four doors, and they went through the one farthest from the stairs.

Inside, it looked like any old guest room, too plain to belong to thieves. But it was a regular square room, with light cream walls, a small corner desk and a plain brown chair. Across from it sat a full sized bed, with two white pillows and a green comforter. Besides the bed was a small nightstand with a lamp on top of it.

She was so not going to like the sleeping arrangements.

Gambit smiled wickedly at her, his teeth gleaming like fangs. But before he could say a word, Rogue beat him to it.

"Can it Cajun. Ah hate this more than you'd ever imagine, but I'm tired, and ah bet you are too. So shut up, get in the bed, and go to sleep. If ah hear one peep out of yah, it's your head."

Rolling his eyes, he decided it was best to just do as she said. He actually was pretty tired, and he did not feel like arguing with her right now no matter how fun it actually was. Plus she was trained by the Wolverine and he did not know if she would live up to her threats.

Remy fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, surprising Rogue. She really did not think he would listen to her, but she was glad he did. She knew he had been tired, but she had failed to see just how much. She herself felt like pretty much dropping dead too, but her mind was stubborn. She could not fall asleep just yet. It did not help that she knew next to nothing about where she was. All she knew was that she was in some dive of a club in New Orleans, and the X-Men were who knows where. She wondered how the battle had gone against the others, and she hoped they were okay. But instead of being with them, she was stuck in this swamp infested place, sharing a bed with Gambit.

Yea, that last one was probably the real reason she had yet to manage to fall asleep. She just couldn't fathom her current position. She, the untouchable mutant was sharing a bed with a man, and not just any man. He was the same mutant who Logan would practically give his right arm for just to be in a locked room for five minutes. It didn't help that she knew what kind of male Remy LeBeau was.

Lorna was still nursing a broken heart.

Sighing, Rogue glanced at the sleeping thief besides her. He looked so much different when he was slumbering.

But he was still no one she wanted to ever get close to, would be crazy to ever want to. With those thoughts floating around, Rogue found herself slowly being lulled to sleep by the power of exhaustion.

Hank had seen a great many things in his time at the mansion, and it had gotten to the point where nothing really shocked him anymore. But even he had been totally caught off guard by the results.

Since he was mutant manor's residential doctor, he did know more about the allusive and aptly named Rogue, than most. It had taken a lot of effort on Charles's part but after getting Rogue' real name, he had given Hank Rogue's full medical data. Well as much as the foster home she had run away from still had. There was never any real birth certificate, and Rogue's birth parents had always been a mystery.

Until now apparently.

Sighing, the furry blue mutant with a strong resemblance to big foot looked up from his computer screen to face Kurt. To think he had a sister this whole time, especially one so close. The odds of that happening were nearly impossible.

"Kurt," he called out, concern etched heavily into that one syllable name.

"Rogue is my sister," was Kurt's hallow reply. These last few years he had been at the mansion with Rogue, this whole time, Mystique had known. And when he had confronted her about his own parentage…she should have told him then.

For the first time in a really long time, Kurt Wagner was angry. Before Beast had a chance to question the younger mutant more, Nightcrawler was gone in a flash of smoke and brimstone, leaving behind a coughing Beast. No matter how many times he had done that in Hank's presence, the doctor was still not used to the smoke.

Placing his glasses back on his face, Beast started to wonder just who Rogue's father was. She and Kurt only shared half of the same chromosomes, meaning they had different fathers. Maybe that was one of the factors concerning her recent kidnapping. Rubbing his furry chin thoughtfully, Hank decided on a little experiment. He had many samples of different mutants, and maybe just maybe one could be a match.

Beast set to work, seeing if he could find out the truth. He highly doubted Raven would just share the information they sought.

Mystique and Wolverine were still glaring at one another. Not really much of a surprise as Kurt doubted either would suddenly back down. But he did not care at the moment. He normally was not one for direct confrontation, but he was willing to make an exception that day.

"Kurt," Mystique coolly acknowledged his presence with a small nod of her head. Wolverine did not bother to turn around to face him.

"I have a sister," he bluntly spoke, wasting no time in getting straight to the point.

Her green eyes widened, but she did not respond to his accusation.

"For the last six years, I have been living under the same roof as my younger sister. And you knew this," Kurt heatedly spoke; though his voice was harsh his yellow eyes were filled with anguish. He was confused and hurt over this whole thing, and he was not sure what he was supposed to be feeling.

She still hadn't spoken a word, and Logan had gone eerily quiet. And if Kurt had been playing closer attention, he would have been concerned by the Wolverine's silence.

"Does she even know?"

Mystique still did not say a word. She merely glared at her son.

Kurt glared right on back. He could not believe this woman. Was she really this heartless?

"Did you throw her in a river also? But I guess that would have been too kind if she had gotten lucky like me, and was raised by a family who actually loved her. No, she went from foster home to foster home, to the streets, and finally and MRD cell where Logan found her!"

"You know nothing," Mystique finally spat out, banging her fists against the wall of her prison.

Neither blue mutant had paid much attention to Logan anymore. Someone Mystique should not have taken her attention off of, and normally she would not have. Neither heard when the pass code was entered into the cell door, or when the door slide open. It was not until Logan had Mystique pinned against the wall, his hand clenched tightly around her throat. He was growling low in his throat, and the noise scared both Kurt and Raven. Though she did not let it show. She knew he wasn't as dumb as most people assumed, and no doubt he had figured it out by now.

"Logan, what are you doing," Kurt asked, rushing into the cell room. He may be angry at his birth mother, but violence was not the answer. A small part of him did not want to see her hurt.

"You weren't the only one she's been keeping secrets from elf," Logan snarled, his blue eyes searing deep into Mystique's yellow ones. "Damn it Raven, I'm only going to ask you this once, and you damned well better tell me the truth. Is. She. Mine?"

"No. She is the daughter of James Howlett. And I've already told you once Logan, you are not him."

Bobby smiled shyly at Loran as both mutants watched the nonverbal fight between Shiro and Scott. Both mutants were glaring intently at one another, and Bobby knew it was only a matter of time before fists started to fly, and then fire and optic beams.

"Shiro," Jean calmly spoke in a firm voice, one she was used to using when addressing the younger students. "Do you really want to keep going on like this? That picture is something you don't remember taking. There could be more, worse things you did that you don't remember."

He turned his sharp look to her, but reluctantly he relented. He hated the fact that there was a piece of his past that he shared with Mystique, especially one that he could not remember. But he hated the idea of the telepath invading his mind even more.

His body stiffened as Jean approached him. Begrudgingly, he lowered his head as she placed her delicate hands at his temples. He felt her presence immediately, and he hated it. She shifted through his memories at a fast pace, only briefing stopping when she thought she found what she was looking for. Five minutes passed before she found something peculiar. A set of events played out, and to a less experienced telepath nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But something was off, and Jean noticed that the memories were artificially constructed.

Slowly, Jean pulled out of Sunfire's mind.

"Someone deliberately messed with your memories Shiro," Jean thoughtfully stated, her mind whirling with possibilities about what was going on.

Sunfire rolled his eyes. "I figured that much out already."

"Someone," Jean continued as if he hadn't spoken, "Who is not a telepath. They way it was done differs from how a normal telepath would have done it. This was done too neatly, too precise."

"What do you mean Jean," Bobby asked, smiling to himself as he realized his unintentional rhyming.

"I mean that someone with a specific mutation intentionally scrambled with his memories. And I'm not sure I can fix them alone. Maybe with another telepath's help," Jean answered, still studying the Japanese mutant intently as if the answer would suddenly come to her if she kept staring.

There had to be something she was missing.

"We should go look for my sister then. Wanda may know someone who can help," Lorna suggested.

Nodding their heads, the X-Men followed Magneto's youngest daughter. Shiro grudgingly trailed behind them.

Wanda was in Magneto's former lab, which had been one of the only places to remain intact after the Sentinel invasion. She was staring up at a huge computer screen that had Kitty in awe, and probably would've even turned Hank green in envy. The Scarlet Witch was standing beside a younger blond looking teen, who was reading a bunch of weird characters on the screen.

He read the foreign code at a startling rate.

"I think I might have something," he murmured, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Neither mutant had bothered to look up, and acknowledge the X-Men or Sunfire's presence. "There are pieces missing still and some of it's too jumbled to unscramble, but I believe that I've found another one of their bases. According to my readings, they regularly meet at some place around New York."

This time, the young blond did look up, only to see a familiar face. Eyes wide in surprise, a boyish grin soon spread across his face as he called out, "Kitty, Kitty is that you?"

"Doug," Kitty squealed in surprise, as she ran up to her old childhood friend. She had never known that her fellow computer hacker had been a mutant also. "I haven't seen you in forever."

He met her halfway, returning the hug she had for him. This really was a welcome surprise. Scott cleared his throat in that stern manner of his that immediately had them separating. Kitty grinned sheepishly at their former leader.

"Perhaps one of you should call Wolverine, and update him on this news," Wanda advised, her blues coolly taking in their company. She was still wary of them, and for now she would only trust Kurt.

"I think it's about time we head back to the mansion anyways," Jean spoke, clearly seeing the message from the Scarlet Witch. Though they were no longer enemies, it would take time for trust to build between them. "Maybe the professor had some sort of archive of mutants he had detected, and what their powers might be. And then we'd be one step closer to solving this mystery."

Hank had squashed any doubts he had. Rogue was his daughter, or rather James Howlett's. For the last twenty years, he had, had a daughter out there. And she had been right under his nose for the last five of them. He had helped honed her fighting skills, taught her to drive a motorcycle, and been there as a shoulder to lean on when her powers got too much for her to handle. He had also been constantly leaving her behind while he dealt with his own demons, and generally chose to keep her at arm's length away.

He had missed so much of her life, even the years he had been a part of. She had been through a lot in her short twenty years of life, could he have been there for her the way she needed someone. He liked to think so, that if Mystique had tracked him down and told him the truth he could have been there for his daughter. But truth was he wasn't sure. He was a loner by nature, and a kid was never in his plans.

Logan took another gulp of his beer. It was times like these that he really hated his advanced healing abilities. Right now all he wanted to do was get drunk, but because of his mutation he couldn't even do that.

Growling, Logan looked up just to see the beginning of a new sunrise. Maybe after all this was over, he could sort things out. But first things first, he still needed to find Rogue and get her back safely.

The sound of soft footprints on the early morning dewy grass caused Logan's ears to twitch. He lifted his head up, and sniffed twice into the air. There were two of them.

When Rogue woke up, she felt groggy and a bit disoriented. For a moment, she felt her heart race begin to pick up, and an invisible force start to clog up her lungs as she took in the unfamiliar surroundings. But when the events of the last few days all came rushing back, she found her breath again. She still felt like she was on the verge of a major panic attack. Rogue did her best to suppress the feeling though, she was an X-Man and she was trained not to let those kind of things overwhelm her.

Slowly, almost hesitantly she turned to the man she was unwillingly sharing a bed with. The bastard was awake, and grinning down at her with that smug look on his face. Glowering, she met his smirk with a frown.

"Just what is so amusing Cajun," she growled out.

Gambit laughed, enticing Rogue's ire. "Why y' of course mon river rat, didn't take y' for a snorer."

Rogue felt her face flush. Indignantly she denied his claims, "Ah do not!"

"Don't worry cherie, it was cute coming from y'," he assured her with a lopsided grin.

"Stupid swamp rat."

Before Gambit had a chance to reply, a cell phone suddenly buzzed. Rogue's attention turned to the small nightstand that had been conveniently placed next to the bed. Since she was closer, Rogue grabbed the small phone first. There was a single text message for Remy saying that Emil was ready to try and take the handcuffs off.

Rogue turned to him to show him the message, only to find that he had been reading it over her shoulder. Rolling her eyes, she pushed the thief farther away from her before getting out of bed. Gambit was by her side in seconds.

"C'mon Rogue, they be waiting for us in the basement," he spoke. With that he gave a slight tug on their handcuffed hands, before leading her out the room, and back down the stairs. There had been another flight that Rogue had missed earlier, and down they descended.

They ended up in what was essentially a basement. A basement that had been renovated into your ordinary, run of the mill work shop. There were various tools hanging on the walls some of which she had never seen before, a work bench, and several half-completed projects. It vaguely reminded Rogue of Forge's workshop, only not as advanced.

Only one of the red heads was there, and so she assumed him to be Emil. He was sitting on a work bench, and towering over him was Gambit's older brother Henri.

They didn't bother with any pleasantries this time, and neither thief said a word to the other. Merely, they nodded once and Rogue took it for some sort of code that she was not supposed to be privy too.

Refraining from rolling her eyes, Rogue and Gambit brought their handcuffed hands closer to the red head. Skillfully, his large hands set to work examining, prodding, and tinkering with the unique, metal handcuffs Sinister had created himself. The tools he used looked so small and delicate in his rough hands, and Rogue was partially impressed. He really seemed to know what he was doing, unlike Forge half the time. She knew the Native American mutant was a brilliant inventor albeit a bit scatterbrained, but he lacked the confidence with some of his work. Especially when he was working under pressure.

Maybe Gambit knew what he was talking about after all.

She heard a faint click with the handcuffs, and a jolt of electricity suddenly shot through from her arm, to the rest of her body. Rogue gave a small yelp in surprise. She had not been expecting that. Her foul mood retuning, she looked at Gambit who looked as smug as ever. A few choice words rushed to mind, but she refrained from unleashing them all at the smarmy swamp rat.

"Sorry 'bout that petite," Emil quickly apologized, flashing an earnest grin her way.

Rogue mutely accepted his apology. A few more seconds later, and she heard another click. This time there was no shock of electricity, and Rogue felt her hand become significantly lighter.

TBC