A/N: Thanks to Laceylou76 and RogueNya for giving me my first two reviews.

One hour and ten shops later Rogue was seriously regretting her decision to follow Kitty. The girl was relentless when it came to shopping. Rogue's mind whirled with all the souvenirs she had been asked to give an opinion on. Kurt had declared that Kitty was using an unusual form of torture and teleported himself to the parade. Rogue couldn't see very much of Piotr behind all the boxes and bags he was carrying but his eyes gave the impression that he would like nothing better than to disappear. Even Remy looked strained though he still offered polite comments like "Oui, dat color is very nice chaton," or, " Non, Remy wouldn' suggest gettin dat pieced, less y' want Piotr to have a heart attack." After this comment Rogue had finally decided she'd had enough.

"Kitty ah'm headed outside for some air," she yelled already making a beeline for the door before her friend could voice a protest.

"Remy t'ink he'll join y', chere," Remy said as he shot a sympathetic smile and wave to Piotr, who was staring after the two wistfully.

It felt much better to be outside even with all the noise and traffic. Closing her eyes for a moment she inhaled a deep breath that was filled with the scent of cigarettes, bourbon and Cajun spices. Smiling to herself she knew that the scents hadn't come from the night air but rather from the man who was now standing silently beside her. Opening her eyes she saw him staring at her with an amused expression on his face.

"Something funny, Swamp Rat?"

"Non, just enjoyin' de view."

"Well ya aint doin' a great job at it, considerin' it's over there," she smiled and indicated the busy street in front of them.

"Now dat depends on what Remy wants to see don't it," his cocky grin leaped onto his face, " Care to take a walk, cherie?" he inquired and offered her his arm.

"If it keeps Kitty from draggin' meh to another shop, gladly," she reached up and laid her hand on the sleeve of his coat.

They walked together for a short time in silence. Rogue couldn't quite help the content felling that washed over her as her steps fell in perfect sync with Remy's. She hated to admit it to herself but the natural happiness she was feeling now only seemed to come when she was around Remy. She knew she couldn't offer him anything, a man like Remy needed a girl he could touch, someone he could hold without fear for his life. That didn't stop her from wondering though what it would feel like to touch him, especially now when she could feel the muscles in his arm through the material of her gloves and the fabric of his trench coat.

She turned her head, pushing the idea from her mind. She was only torturing herself. There was no use in spending her time wondering about something and someone she could never really have.

"Chere."

They had been quite so long that the sound of his voice startled her out of her thoughts. Turning her head towards him her eyes were meet by red-on-black eyes staring intently down into hers.

"Remy knows, chere, y' like him more den y'r lettin' on, he can feel it comin' off y' in waves.

Damn she forgot about his empathetic abilities.

"Remy also knows dat y'r scared, dere ain't nothin' to be scared of. Remy is more den willin' to take any risk if it means gettin to be with y', Roguey." He was smiling and using one of his playful names for her but she could see in his eyes he was being perfectly serious.

"Sugah, ya know it ain't that simple and it would never work. Ah could never risk hurtin' ya and ah couldn' live with mahself if ah did."

He had tried to have this conversation with her before, many times, and she knew it would always end the same. She had known for a long time Remy wanted more then friendship, he had tried so hard to show how serious he was about her even going so far as to sneak a kiss once, but she knew she had to keep pushing him away if only for his own safety. Rogue wouldn't tie him to a girl that could kill him with a touch, because eventually they would only just hurt each other, either emotionally or physically. He would need to be with some one someone in a physical sense eventually, they both knew it.

Remy had stayed silent, but the little piece of him in her head that she'd gotten from absorbing him once kept telling her to give him a chance that they could do it.

"No ah can't," she hadn't meant to speak out loud and she could see Remy was going to start to say something. She needed a distraction from this conversation and glancing desperately around her she found it in the form of a fortuneteller's shop across the street.

"Hey look a fortune-teller, a've always wanted to have mine told," she said with a maybe a little too much enthusiasm, her eyes quietly begging him to not try to continue with what he was going to say.

He appeared to understand and with a sigh he lead the two of them across the street through the crowd. Once they reached the door Rogue immediately started to go in but paused when she noticed that Remy wasn't going to follow her.

"Ain't ya comin'?"

"Non, Remy just wait here."

"Are ya scared, Swamp Rat"

She got her answer as he began to shuffle his feet and she couldn't help the smile that lit up her face. The great Remy Lebeau, who prided himself of not being afraid of anything, was afraid of a fortune-teller. The seriousness of their conversation before was completely lost as she began to laugh.

"Look chere," he said his red eyes flashing, " Remy was raised on de bayou, and he learned dat dere are just some t'ings y' just don't go messin' with."

Seeing the angry hurt look on his face, Rogue searched around for a way to soothe his feelings, since she knew many people could be superstitious. Still smiling she touched his covered arm.

"Look sugh, ah understand. Ah don't really believe it but Ah think it would be fun. Ah think ah see a bar over there though," she said pointing to a building a little ways down the street where she could see men drinking and playing poker through one of the windows, " Why don't ya go over there and play a hand and ah meet ya right back here in about thirty minutes when ah'm done."

"Y' sure?" he seemed to brighten and visibly relax at the prospect of showing off his poker skills.

"Ah'm sure."

"Only on one condition," he said.

"And what's that, Swamp Rat?"

"Dat moi cherie let's Remy buy her somet'ing with all his winnin's, since she such a tres belle femme."

"Whatever Swamp Rat, ya ain't won anything yet."

"Remy will, see y' in a bit," and with a wink and a slight mocking bow he set off, while Rogue turned and headed into the shop.

A/N: There we go chapter two. I hope the accents aren't to bad they are really hard to write.