Author's Note: Okay. This is my first Evo fanfic. It's set three years after Ascension. Since Gambit's age was never really mentioned and all the profiles I could find of him put him somewhere in his early 20s, I'm going to guess that he was about 22 or so and go from there.

Ages of original characters:

Gambit-26

St. John-24

Scott, Jean, Lance, Piotr-23

Fred, Pietro, Wanda, Rogue-22

Todd, Kitty, Kurt-21

Bobby, Tabitha, Ray, Sam-20

Amara, Roberto-19

X-23 (Laura), Jubilee-18

Rahne, Jamie-17

All of my OC's will have their age mentioned when they are introduced in the story. Oh, and they do belong to me. Yay, I own something.

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or anything in it. Marvel does.

Rogue recruited Tabby, Amara, Wanda, and Jubilee to help her. They had hung up the streamers and set up the tables for the food. Rogue set out the plates, napkins, and paper cups. She had Ororo, Rahne, and Laura in charge of the food, ensuring that it would be edible.

Rogue jumped and turned around when the door opened. She was afraid that it would be Kitty. She was relieved to see Remy and Etienne. All the other girls dropped what they were doing to admire the cute baby. Wanda took him from Remy and went to sit on the couch.

"Ya scared me, Swamp Rat. Ah thought ya were Kitty."

"Sorry, chére."

"Ah'll forgive ya this tahme." Rogue smiled and kissed Remy then turned to her friends. "Why are ya'll abductin my baby?"

Wanda grinned at her friend. "I figured that you and Remy wanted some discussion time without worrying about little Et here."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Thanks for yah concern. But we've got to get this done

before Kitty comes looking for anyone."

"Slave driver." Wanda handed Etienne back to Remy.

The thought seemed to help the girls finish everything within half an hour. They finished by ten. The other girls went off to do their own thing before the party at one thirty. Rogue went off to track down her husband and baby. She found Remy talking with Scott in the rec room while Jean played with Etienne. Well, more like talked to Etienne.

"Hey, ya'll." They all looked toward the doorway and smiled when they saw Rogue.

"Hey," Jean said from her position on the couch next Scott. She looked back at the baby. "He is so cute." Rogue smiled proudly and glanced at Remy in time to catch his wink. She settled on the arm of the sofa next to Remy only to get pulled down into his lap.

"It's weird that you two are parents." Scott glanced form Etienne to them.

"Ah know. It's weird that yah are gonna be parents in less than two months."

Jean glanced up at her. "Actually, Rogue, you just reminded me of something. I wanted to ask you a few questions."

Rogue settled back against Remy's chest. "Go for it."

Jean bit her lip and glanced down at her swollen stomach. "Does it hurt really bad?"

Rogue laughed. "Sugah, Ah was so filled with drugs that Ah couldn't feel anything. The contractions weren't too bad before Dr. McCoy pumped me full of pain killers."

Jean visibly relaxed after hearing that. "Thank God. I was worried that he would only go for natural births. You know, no drugs or anything like that."

"Nope. It makes it easier for him when you're not freaking out from the pain."

"What was it like when you first saw him?"

"Indescribable. Ah can't even put it into words." Their conversation was interrupted by Etienne's whimpering. Rogue took him before it could turn into full out crying. "Ah hate to cut this short, but somebody needs to be changed. Ah'll be back."

Rogue took advantage of the next two hours to relax. Her and Wanda sat in the rec room and talked with Jean and Kitty. They went over the wedding plans and dates for the final fittings. They talked about the nursery that Jean and Scott were getting ready. They had thrown Jean a baby shower the week before so she had everything she needed. They went over the beginnings of Wanda's wedding plans. Her and Todd planned on getting married at Christmas.

At one, Rogue picked up Etienne from where he had lying next her on a blanket on the floor. "Ah'm gonna put him down for his nap." She put Etienne down for his nap and told Remy. He went upstairs to relax in their room for awhile. Rogue came back downstairs and checked on the last minute preparations for the shower.

When she was sure that everything was ready, she went to get Kitty. "Hey, Kit, can ya come help me with something?"

"Like, no problem, Rogue." Kitty got up from her spot on the couch to follow her. Rogue led her to the study and opened the door.

"Surprise!" everyone yelled when they say Kitty.

"What is this?"

"Yah wedding shower." Rogue put the fake veil over her friend's head. She led Kitty to a large armchair near the fireplace.

"Wow. Thanks. All of you."

They all took their time eating and talking. When everyone was done, Rogue stood up. "Okay. Now tahme for the games. Let's do trivia first. Kit, ya can't answer these since they're all about ya. Ah can't answer them either, since Ah have the answers."

Rogue passed out a piece of paper to each of the guests. "Ah'm gonna ask ya'll questions bout Kitty or Lance. Write yah answer down on this. Whoever gets the most right wins a prize. First question. Where did Kitty and Lance meet?" She waited until everyone quit writing. "Anyone wanna guess at the answer?"

"Northbrook High School."

"Right. Next question…" The game continued for half an hour or so before Tabitha was declared the winner. Of course, she had the advantage of being the only girl besides Rogue that had lived with both teams, so she knew Lance and Kitty pretty well.

"Okay. Next game." Rogue grabbed a big bowl full of uncooked rice from a table nearby. "Ya have thirty seconds to get as many safety pins as ya can out of this bowl."

"That sounds easy," Amara said.

"Yah gonna be blindfolded."

"Never mind."

"Kitty, since yah the bride, ya get to go first."

"Great." Rogue put the pink blindfold over her eyes.

"When Ah say go." Rogue waited until her watch got to the 12. "Go." Kitty started digging through the bowl, pulling out safety pins and setting them aside. "Time."

Kitty took off her blindfold and started counting. "Fifteen."

"Amara, you're next." The game finished with Jean winning after finding twenty five safety pins.

"Okay, Kit. Time to open yah gifts."

The girls built a large stack of gifts in front of her. Kitty grabbed the nearest one and opened it. She grinned at Tabitha as she pulled out her gift, a corset and matching thing.

"Thanks, Tabs. Were you shopping for me or Lance?"

"Both."

Kitty opened several more boxes, most of them containing lingerie. Since Lance and Kitty planned on living in the Institute, they really didn't have a need for much as far as home furnishings went. It made it all the more fun when everyone shopped for Kitty's presents.

When she was done opening presents, Kitty grinned at her friends. "Lance is going to love all of you after this."

"Damn straight, K-girl."

"Thanks again, everyone. This was great."

"Don't mention it, sugah. We told ya that you were getting a weddin shower." Rogue glanced down at her watch. "Ah'm gonna go check on Remy and Et. Ah'll be back." She left the study and headed upstairs.

She went into the room she shared with Remy first, not wanting to wake the baby if he wasn't up. She smiled when she saw Remy flopped across the bed, sleeping. There was no noise coming from the baby monitor, so she sat down on the bed next to Remy. He didn't even open his eyes.

Rogue smiled as a thought crossed her mind. She leaned over and nuzzled into Remy's neck to see if she could get a reaction out of him. When he didn't react, Rogue figured that he must be pretty worn out and left him alone to check on Etienne. She carefully opened the door that joined the two rooms and walked over to the crib. He looked like an angel. Rogue quietly went back into her room, not wanting to wake him up.

She went back downstairs to help clean up the mess from the party. They moved all the furniture back and put the tables up. The streamers all came down and any extra food got put away for later. Rogue thanked everyone for their help and went upstairs to relax for the half hour before all the school age kids came home.

Rogue went into the nursery to find Etienne wide awake but quiet. He didn't do much unnecessary crying. Rogue picked him up and took him with her into the bedroom. Remy rolled over and looked at her through half open eyes when she came in the door.

"Hi, chére." He sat up and motioned for Rogue to sit in front of him. "Y' have fun?"

"Ya know yah accent is always thicker when yah tired?" Remy leaned against the headboard and looked at her.

"Non. Didn't know that." Rogue carefully climbed onto the bed and settled herself in front of the Cajun. His arms found their way around her and pulled her close. He rested his chin on her shoulder as he looked down at their son.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Logan knocked on the door. "It's open," Gambit called from his position on the bed, not even bothering to get up.

Logan came in and looked at the happy family on the bed. "Ya know that the kids will be home in a few minutes, right?"

"Yeah. That's why we're up here. We haven't gotten much time to ourselves today."

"You've been up here sleepin for the last two hours, Gumbo."

"I was keeping an eye on Et. We can't exactly leave him up here by himself."

"I know that. I just wanted to make sure that you were awake for the danger room session we have scheduled. You too, Stripes."

"Ah know. Five o' clock. All the staff and the original X-Men. Except Jean. She's playing babysitter since she can't train."

"Yep. Before I forget, Charles gave me a message for ya. There's a new recruit coming in today and, Stripes, you're supposed to show him around."

"Thanks for telling me. What do we know about him?"

"Here's his file. He's supposed to get here around four. Anything else, you'll have to take up with Chuck." He tossed a file on the bed.

"Thanks, Logan."

"Yeah. See you later." He shut the door behind him on the way out. Rogue scooted over so that she could give Etienne to Remy. She grabbed the file and opened it to read up on the new pupil.

"What's it say bout him, chére?"

"His name is Jake Thompson. Nineteen, telepath, mild empath. He has control of his powers, but his parents are worried about him stickin around. Coming in from Los Angeles. And of course the picture." Rogue set the file down. "Wonder why the Prof. wants me to show him around?"

"Ya are staff."

"Exactly. Usually he has students show newbies around." Remy shrugged.

"Maybe he wants to see how y' handle it."

"Maybe." Rogue glanced at the clock. "So much for relaxation tahme. The kids will be home any minute." Rogue reluctantly climbed out of the bed and took Etienne so that Remy could get up. "We'd better go get ready for the rush."

"Lead the way, chére." Remy followed Rogue out of the room and downstairs. The kids were just coming in the door. They were followed by Scott and Ororo. Scott was issuing punishment for something two of the boys had done. Scott ran a hand through his hair as the boys ran off.

"Hard day?"

"Hey, Rogue. You have no idea."

"What'd they do?"

"What didn't they do is more like it. Trying to show off powers in the x-van is never a good thing to try." Rogue frowned at the statement. The newer students would try just about anything. "I can't wait until Jean is back to full time."

"Ya ain't kiddin. Oh, ya gonna love this. There's another new recruit comin in today."

"We can't take many more without it driving us crazy."

"Little late to worry bout goin crazy, ain't it?"

"You know what I mean. What's the background?"

"His name's Jake. Telepath/mild empath. Nineteen. Coming in from L.A."

"Great. Who's his roommate?"

"That's the part that worried me. He's supposed to be with Bobby."

"I hope that he doesn't mind jokes."

"If he does, it won't be too long fore we know bout it." Rogue looked across the foyer as Remy led a large group of teens outside. "Looks lahke it's no powers sports today."

"Yeah. Logan and Remy decided that the kids needed a break from running away from robots. So they're going to have them play no powers baseball."

"Ya mean mutant ball?"

"This group doesn't include anybody Bobby was when that happened. They're more laid back. Hopefully they'll stick to the no powers rule. Then again, Bobby and Tabby are playing."

"Ah'm gonna go watch for a few minutes." Rogue grabbed a baby seat from the nursery and went out to watch the game. She sat under a tree a good distance from the field in case the game got out of hand. She out Etienne in the seat and relaxed against the tree to watch the game.

Logan was chosen to be umpire, so Remy wandered over to Rogue. He sat next to her, watching the young mutants for any signs of using their powers. They had been told that any power usage would result in a one hour training session with Logan the next day. He glanced over at Rogue with a smile. "Enjoyin the show, chére?"

"If it can last one innin without someone usin their powers, Ah'll be amazed."

Remy glanced over at Etienne. "One day, he'll be out here doin this."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Ya sound sure bout that Cajun."

"Course I am. We're both mutants. Obviously he'll be one."

"Ah know. Ah was talkin bout the fact that he'll play baseball." Rogue glanced down at her watch. "Ah should get goin soon. Jake might be early."

"What time is it?"

"3:45."

"We been out here that long?"

"Ya'll didn't get out here until 3:30."

"Never mind then." Remy gave Rogue a kiss. "Have fun showin the new kid around, chére."

"Have fun watchin while the kids play." Rogue grinned and kissed him before picking up Etienne and heading back inside. She put the baby seat back in the nursery and carried Etienne back downstairs to wait for Ororo to get back with Jake.

Rogue had only been waiting about five minutes before Ororo came in. Since Logan was training, she had been sent to pick Jake up at the airport. The weather witch smiled as she came through the door. A tall dark-haired boy followed her. "Rogue, this is Jake. Jake this is Rogue, one of the instructors here."

Rogue offered the younger boy a smile. "Nice to meet you, Jake." Rogue motioned to the baby she was holding. "And this is Etienne."

"How could I forget Etienne." Ororo smiled at the baby. "Would you like me to watch him while you show Jake around?"

"That would be a big help." She handed her son to the older woman. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Ororo was already walking off with the infant.

"So back to the tour. As Ororo said, my name is Rogue LeBeau. I'm an assistant trainer and guardian here. Feel free to ask any questions you might have." Rogue started to lead the boy through the first floor of the mansion.

"How many people live here?"

"We've got about fifty right now. That's the dinin room and the kitchen is right next door. Yah more than welcome to help yourself anytime you get hungry." Rogue kept walking, pointing things out as she talked.

Jake walked along with her, paying some attention to what she was saying. The rest of his attention was on the beautiful girl next to him. "So is that kid yours?"

"Etienne?" Rogue looked at him.

"Yeah."

"Yeah. He's my month old son."

"You don't look old enough to have a kid."

"Ah'm twenty two. This is the study. We never use it, unless it's around Christmas. Library is next door. The Professor's office is the door at the end of the hall. Next we go upstairs."

"You're seriously twenty two?"

"Yeah. Here's the girl's rooms. Well, some of them. The others are in the sublevels."

"They have the boys and girls separated?"

"Yah allowed over here. We don't keep ya'll separate or anything. The instructors all live down this hall."

"Where's your room?"

"Mine and Remy's is on the end. Then there's the nursery, Logan's, Piotr's, and Hank's. On the other side of the hall is Ororo's, a room that's bein converted to a nursery for Scott and Jean, then their room, Magneto's, and the Profs is across from Hank's."

"That's a lot of staff, isn't it?"

"Well, the Prof owns and runs the school. Magneto is an old enemy that switched sides after Apocalypse. Piotr and Remy used to work for him, but they both switched sides while their old teammate, John, joined up with the Brotherhood. Hank, Ororo, and Logan have been here for longer than Ah've lived here. Scott and Jean are old students turned instructor, lahke me."

"Who's Remy and Piotr?"

"Remy is my husband and one of the trainers. Piotr is an assistant lahke me and a tutor."

"Okay."

"This is the boy's hall. Yah room is the third one down on the left. Yah roommate is Bobby. Ah'll introduce ya to him when we go outside. Their playin baseball right now. Ah think."

Jake followed Rogue outside and around back of the mansion. There was group of mutants watching the game. Rogue recognized Kitty and Lance immediately. She also picked out Wanda, Pyro, and Remy in the crowd.

"Ya'll workin hard?" The older mutants turned to see Rogue smiling at them with her hands on her hips. A tall boy stood next to her.

"Like, hey, Rogue." Kitty was sitting in Lance's lap on a blanket on the ground.

"Hey," Wanda said from her spot on the metal bleachers set up behind Lance and Kitty. Pyro was sitting a row down form her, flipping the lid of his lighter open and closed.

"Hello, chére." Remy moved from where he was leaning against the bleachers to wrap an arm around Rogue. He smiled at the slightly shorter boy and held out a hand. "I'm Remy. You must be Jake."

"I am." He looked at Remy's red on black eyes uncertainly. Remy chose to ignore it.

"Have a seat. Watch the game." He motioned to the bleachers. Jake followed his instructions and sat down on the bottom level.

"Scoot over, Kit." Rogue pulled Remy over to the blanket on the ground and sat down, only to get pulled into Remy's lap. Rogue attempted to give him a disapproving look. She failed and ended up smiling instead. "One of theses days, ya gonna get it, Swamp Rat." .

"Chére, ya tryin to intimidate me into listnin?"

"Nope." Rogue squirmed around, trying to find a comfortable position.

"Rogue, quit movin."

"'Why, sugah? It botherin ya?"

"Chére, ya makin hard to concentrate on the game." Kitty started laughing at Remy's comment. Rogue grinned and settled back against his chest.

"Hey, Rogue, where's Et?" Rogue looked at the younger girl with wide eyes.

"O my gawd, ya mean he's not here?"

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"Remy, do ya know where Etienne is?"

"What?!" Remy chuckled softly at the joke he knew his wife was pulling.

"That ain't funny, petit. Don't tease Kitty like that." Rogue grinned at the brunette.

"Relax, Kit. Storm's got him."

"Rogue!" Kitty made an attempt to dive at the other girls, but was stopped when Lance wrapped his arms tighter around her. "That was so not funny. Lance let me go."

"Yeah, Lance, let her go." Rogue grinned. "We all know who'd win that one."

"She's got a point, pretty Kitty." Kitty stopped fighting to glare at him. "What? Everyone knows that Rogue is better at hand to hand than anyone short of Logan or Remy."

"He's right, sugah."

"Fine." Kitty settled down to watch the game. They were playing the ninth inning, so it wouldn't last much longer. Sure enough, Bobby swung the bat and sent the ball flying, but it was caught by Kurt, ending the game. The younger mutants headed inside while the older mutants came over to the group

"Where's my nephew?"

"Stormy has him. Hey, Bobby, come here."

"Yeah, Rogue?"

Rogue motioned to Jake, who had joined the group. "This is yah new roommate, Jake."

Bobby eyed the younger boy before sticking out the hand that wasn't wrapped around Amara. "Hey. I'm Bobby."

"Popsicle."

Bobby turned when he heard Wolverine use his nickname. "Yeah, Logan?"

"You're gonna be joining us in the danger room in the morning."

"I didn't use my powers!"

Wolverine chuckled. "No, but ya did pull that stunt the other day."

"What stunt?" Boby was genuinely confused. He didn't remember doing anything.

"Replacin Scott's shaving cream with whipped cream."

"Oh that one. You have to admit, it was a pretty good one."

"Doesn't matter, kid. You're still getting punished." Logan started to walk back toward the house.

"Bobby let go of Amara to follow him. "Come on, can't we talk about this?"

"Nope."

"But…" Bobby's voice trailed of as he got further from the group. They all just looked at each other and started laughing. Jake looked back and forth between them.

"I'm guessing that this is a regular thing?"

"With Bobby, yeah. He's been doing stuff like that since he got here. But he really has gotten better," Amara made an attempt to defend her boyfriend.

"Great. I get to live with the practical joker."

"It'll be okay. He's usually not in his room anyway."

Kitty grinned at Amara. "Oh really, where is he usually."

"Shut up, Kitty." Amara blushed and the others laughed.

"Oh yeah. Everyone this is Jake. He's the new recruit. Jake, ya already know who Ah am. This is Remy. The tall guy is Piotr. The girl ext to him is Tabitha. That's Kitty. The guy she's sittin on is Lance, her fiancé. That's Amara, Jubilee, John, Wanda, Rahne, Jamie, Roberto, Ray, Sam, Laura, and the blue guy is my brother, Kurt." Rogue pointed to each of them in turn.

"Wow, that's a lot to remember. I'm Jake."

"Ya'll are welcome to stay out here," Rogue said to the New Recruits. She looked at the other X-Men. "We've got a training session in fifteen minutes." The others jumped up and headed inside to change.

Not much really going on in this chapter. The next chapter wil be the last. It'll be the bachelor/bachelorette parties and wedding day. It might be a little shorter than the rest of the chapters, I'm not sure yet. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. The next chapter should be up by the end of the week. I'll try to have it up a soon as I can. Then I can start working on the sequel. I think it'll take place when Etienne is 18, but I'm still thinking about ot. Let me know what you think. Thanks. Oh and R&R!