"Well? You coming or not?" I asked, slight irritation in my voice. I needed him to come with me. I wasn't sure why, but I couldn't leave him here alone. Something was just pulling me towards him.

"Je ne comprends pas cette femme…" he whispered to himself, shaking his head.

"Why you want Gambit to come with you? After everythin' that's happened, one would think you would want to get as far away from this homme as you could."

"One would think." I replied, turning my back to him again. I only had to take a few steps before he started to follow me. Good boy. I weaved in and out of buildings, guiding him through back streets and unknown shortcuts until we reached our destination.

"You live here?" he asked, the shock apparent in his voice. He stared at the 15 story building in front of us, mouth open, eyes wide. I just smiled.

"Yup. Welcome to The Hilton. A home away from home for the rich, famous, and me." I smirked, taking one look at the place and smiling softly. He continued to stare in amazement.

"Come on street rat. If you think this is great, wait till you see the inside." I chuckled, taking his hand and leading through the revolving doors. I watched as he gazed at all that surrounded us; the elaborate furniture that decorated the room, the many halls and corridors that took you all over the hotel, the several crystal chandeliers that were hung throughout the room to provide lighting. Everything seemed to amaze him, but I found myself smiling and shaking my head when I noticed that the many customers also grabbed his attention. Looking for a pocket to pick I presumed. He probably didn't even know that I noticed his hand slip into several coat pockets and purses that were in his audience on the corner. He wasn't the only one with tricks up his sleeve.

"Chère , how is it that you can stay here? Gambit knows people come visit but you say you live here?"

I smiled at his question, and at the expression on his face after the words had left his mouth. I could tell that he was worried he had offended me. He didn't. It was a very valid question. Nobody truly called this place "home", they just came here to stay for a while when they were on trips or otherwise away from their houses. I turned to him and grinned.

"Let's just say the owner owed me a favor." I said with a sly smile and a wink. Gambit just blinked and grinned back.

"Now let's go, this way." I giggled, pulling him towards a nearby elevator. We entered and I quickly pressed the button for the top floor. We rode in silence. There really wasn't anything to say; after all, I was just bringing a total stranger to my place after we nearly killed two thugs that were after him for one reason or another; nothing unusual about that. I was dragged from my thoughts by the dinging of the elevator and the mechanical sigh of the doors opening.

"This way, to your left." I said, no longer leading him by his hand. He just followed behind me, glancing side to side at the paintings on the hallway walls. When we reached my room I quickly snatched the card key I kept hidden in a small nook in between my doorframe and the wall. I never carried it on my person; too afraid to lose it. He raised an eyebrow at me, not asking the question he was thinking. I answered it anyway.

"I don't like bringing it with me. It would really suck if I dropped it or something and someone find it and break in to my place, you know?"

He just nodded. I opened the door quickly and ushered him inside, hoping to get him in as quick as possible without anyone noticing. People here were already suspicious of me for some reason, I didn't need them to see me bringing a street performer into my room.

He looked stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he entered. I just sighed and shut the door behind us.

"Mon dieu chère …You live here?" he murmured.

"Yeah. Pretty nice huh?"

I guess the new place charm had worn off for me. After a while, a penthouse suite at the Hilton lost its' brilliance. At least for me it did. It was really more like an apartment than a hotel room. The owner had made sure it suited me just fine. He proceeded to walk around the room, running his fingers along every surface and stopping to admire things he really liked. I noticed that he paused the longest when he spotted the king sized bed in my room. I bit my lip. I told myself that it probably grabbed his attention because he hadn't slept in a bed like that before, but my heighted senses told me otherwise. I heard a change in the rhythm of his heart beat, a slight increase in the speed, but it only lasted a minute or two.

I was determined to wash away the awkwardness that was slowly building between us and walked into the small kitchen like area within the suite. I opened the fridge and poked my head in, searching for a specific item. I smiled and sighed when my fingers finally wrapped themselves around the long necked bottles. I took a step back from the fridge and closed it with my foot before calling Gambit's name. He came sauntering in, I assume he thought it was something somewhat urgent because when he saw me with the alcohol in hand he let out a breath he had apparently been holding in.

"Want one?" I asked, offering him one of the cold Miller Lights in my hand. He looked at it and smiled, gladly accepting my offer. He turned and plopped down on one of the couches in the living room and opened the beer with ease before taking a long drink of it. I did the same, sitting down next to him and curling my feet up on the couch. He put an arm over the top of the couch to where his finger tips grazed one of my shoulders and he turned his head to face me.

"So chère , looks like we've got some talkin' to do, no?"

I shrugged.

"What's there to talk about? You're a mutant who, apparently got in some trouble with some sort of gang. I'm a mutant who saved your ass. And now we are both at my place sipping cold beer from bottles." He chuckled. I smiled, taking another drink. Half of the bottle was already gone. When did that happen?

"Vous êtes une femme très étrange, que vous savez." He mumbled as he brought the rim of his bottle back to his lips. Once he took another drink he looked at me again. I rose an eyebrow at him. I wasn't sure I even wanted to know what he said. He just smiled again.

"What did you say your name was chère?" he asked, taking yet another drink from his now nearly empty bottle.

"Jasmine. Jasmine LeFey. And you? I know your name can't be Gambit. That's just a stage name right?"

"Oui. Remy LeBeau, at your service mademoiselle." He replied, taking my hand and placing a small kiss on the surface. I tried hard to fight the blush that had began to creep up my cheeks.

"Well, Remy, it's nice to meet you, although I wish it had been under better circumstances."

He grinned.

"But, now that you are here, and seeing as they are still out there, how about you stay for the night? I'd hate for you to run into trouble again and me not be there to bail your ass out." I grinned, playfully nudging his shoulder. He smiled back.

"Are you asking Remy to stay the night? Hmmm…not sure…well…Remy suppose one night wouldn't be so bad, but Remy wish you'd ask me to stay longer." His voice turned into a husky whisper at the last comment. Once again a blush began to show itself, but I managed to fight it off. A part of me desperately wanted him to stay more than a night. More than two. More than three. But, that didn't make any sense. I hardly knew him for Christ's sake! There was no reason for me to even want him to stay tonight! And yet, there was nothing I wanted more.

"Ok Casanova, pump the breaks. Don't you have a place of your own?"

He dropped his eyes and smiled weakly. Shit.

"Well, Remy's more of a drifter. One night he stay in the bus station, one night in the park. It all depends on where the wind blows him."

My heart sank with pity. Me and my big mouth.

"Well, we'll see how tonight goes, alright? Maybe if you aren't too big a pain in the ass, I'll let you stay a little longer."

His eyes brightened and a smile returned to his lips.

"Merci mademoiselle LeFey! Merci!" he replied, a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Ok, if you call me 'mademoiselle' one more time I'm going to have to kick you out. Jasmine. Call me Jasmine.

"Oui, Jasmine." He answered, bowing his head slightly. I could tell it was more of a sarcastic gesture, but it still made me giggle. The way my name sounded coming from his mouth made me shiver. I bit my lip again. I tried to distract myself by taking another drink of my beer, only to find that it was empty. I hoped he didn't notice. I pretended that I had gotten at least one more drop out of the bottle before I placed it on the glass coffee table, only to notice that his was already there as well.

"You can sure hold your own can't you, Jasmine." He pointed to my empty bottle and I grinned.

"You could say that." I replied. I turned away from him and looked out of one of the many windows that surrounded the room. It was dark, the only light coming from dim street lamps and the pale moon.

"Well, I had better get you some blankets so you can sleep out here on the couch." I said, getting up to look in the closet. He chuckled.

"What, you mean Remy's not sleeping with you?"

I turned to look at him, my mouth open, lips turned slightly up threatening to reveal a smile.

"Are you kidding? You have to take me out to dinner first Rem." I laughed, turning back around to hunt for the blankets. I managed to find a spare sheet and some throw blankets and hurried back to my guest, only to drop everything I was carrying when I found him. He was in the process of taking off his shirt, his coat was already on the floor, and his pants were unbuckled. I watched as he tugged the white fabric over his head, revealing a perfectly sculpted torso and chest, bar except for the small, light trail of hair that disappeared past his waistband. I couldn't fight the heat rising to my face this time. I stood in silence as he turned to face me, tossing his shirt casually to where his coat was.

"Did you find some chère? Remy be fine if you didn't."

He seemed to be unaware of my expression, thankfully the lighting in the room was too dim for him to notice the crimson hue that had consumed my face.

"Umm, yeah. I got'em right here." I pointed to the heap of blankets on the floor.

"Fantastique." He replied as he resumed his previous task. He finished undoing his belt and shimmied out of his pants shamelessly, then approached me as if he were fully clothed. He looked at me, I was still frozen in place, and tilted his head.

"You alright chère?" he asked. He tried to reach out to touch my face. I stumbled back. Then it hit him. A devious grin spread across his face.

"Oh, you see somthin' you like chère?" he asked, gesturing to his body. I couldn't find a voice to respond with. My legs wouldn't move. My mind wouldn't think. All I could do was stand there. He took a step towards me, closing the distance I had made between us and reached for my face again. This time I didn't pull away. I couldn't. His smile didn't fade as he stroked my cheek with his thumb.

"Vous êtes vraiment une belle femme…" His voice was husky and his face was close enough to mine for me to feel his hot breath against my lips. For some reason my body was screaming for me to close the remaining distance between us, to throw my arms around his neck and press my mouth against his inviting lips. My hands trembled at my sides. He took one of them in his own and brought it up to rest against his chest. I could feel his heart beat beneath my fingertips.

"Remy may be a mutant chère, but he's still a man." He whispered as he grazed his lips across mine. My eyes closed involuntarily, and before I knew it, the heat I had felt radiating from his body was gone. I opened my eyes to see him spreading out the blankets on the couch as if nothing had happened. I blinked and finally found the voice that had been gone for the last few minutes.

"You uh…you don't have to sleep on the couch Remy…" I whispered. He turned his head to look at me and smiled.

"No?"

"No."

Oh my God! What was I doing? I mentally slapped myself in the face and forced a smile on my lips.

"I will."

His eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh, well, ok. If that's what you want, Remy don't wanna put you out or anything…" he stammered, reaching a hand behind his neck. He looked up at me, flashed an awkward smile, then slowly made his way into the bedroom. Once he was out of earshot I let out the breath I had been holding. I walked over to the couch and finished setting it up. I was finally ready to crawl into my make-shift bed when I realized that I had forgotten to change. I looked towards my room and heard soft snores coming from inside. I carefully crept towards the door and snuck past the sleeping form of Remy tucked in the bed.

He didn't even react to the sounds made by dresser as I rummaged around for something to sleep in. I finally decided on a tank top and a pair of basketball shorts. I ran out of the room without making a sound and quickly changed in the living room. When I was done, I listened again for any sign of Remy having woken up. What had once been soft snores were now quiet groans. I could hear him tossing and turning in the bed, mumbling in his sleep. I crept back into the room and watched as he dug his nails into the sheets and gritted his teeth. His body tensed and a cold sweat had covered his body.

Something burned within me. I had to help him. I couldn't just stand here and let him suffer in his own dreams. I walked over to the other side of the bed crawled on top of the down comforter. I inched my way towards him and slowly laid down next to his shaking body. I curled myself up against him and gently draped my arm around his waist, pulling him closer to me. I pushed myself higher up the bed so that I could nestle my face into the crook of his heated neck. I found myself whispering in his ear;

"Shhh…you're ok, you're alright…shhh…."

His body started to relax and his breathing began to return to normal. I sighed, relieved that his fit was subsiding. I curled myself even tighter against him, happy and content. His groaning had stopped, and he was almost completely silent, aside from his peaceful, quiet, snores. I raised my head slightly when I heard actual words escape his lips.

"Dieu enfin a répondu à mes prières…" he mumbled. I sat up a little farther.

"J'ai attendu si longtemps pour vous…mon amour…"

The only thing I understood was mon amour, and that was all that mattered to me. I buried my face back into his neck and placed a soft kiss on the flesh that touched my lips. I silently prayed that I was the one he was calling 'his love'. I felt my eyes grow heavy and my breathing began to match Remy's. I released my grip on consciousness and allowed sleep to consume me. It felt like I had just fallen asleep when I felt a shift in the bed. I managed to open my eyes slightly but my vision was still blurry. I felt something warm drape across my waist and a sweet smelling breeze fill my senses. I sighed contently and rolled over, and as I moved I realized that my legs were uncovered and cold. I groaned and slid them under the satin sheets and took a deep breath as I snuggled into the soft embrace of the fabric. I could feel a new source of heat behind me and I snuggled myself up against it. Whatever it was somehow hugged my body perfectly, providing and distributing a pleasant heat.

I sighed as I felt whatever was against my waist tighten its' grip and pull me tighter against the heat. My body had never been so relaxed. My mind had just started to lose all sense of itself when I began to wonder just what was the cause of the wonderful sensations, and then I remembered. My eyes snapped open and I took in a sharp breath. Remy. That was what I was pressed up against. His bare chest was what was heating my back, and his strong arm is what was wrapped around me. My heart began to race, but suddenly, it relaxed once again. Something just seemed to wash over me. An overwhelming calmness. I realized that I didn't care that I was being held against this man's nearly naked body. I didn't care that I was slowly drifting off to sleep in the arms of a stranger. I felt safe. Warm. Content. I felt like I was finally at home, for the first time since I left my family.

I inhaled deeply and let him fill my senses. The feel of the heat of his body against me, his own sweet scent, the way his calloused hand looked around my waist. It was all so perfect. I closed my eyes again and allowed thoughts to flow freely through my mind, but was surprised when I heard my thoughts aloud.

"I love you…"

I brought a hand to my mouth and felt the familiar sting of unshed tears. I couldn't love him. That was impossible, but here I was, laying with a man I just met, telling him that I loved him; albeit he was unconscious at the time, but still. Then it hit me. A flood of memories infiltrated my mind. Legends and stories my father used to tell me and my brother. Stories of bravery, and courage, and love. He told us once that with people like us, once we saw the person we were meant for, that was it. We had no say in the matter. We were made for them, and they for us. That was exactly what had happened today. I found him. I found my missing half. My love. My soul mate.