Combusting Hearts

Chapter 19

Part 1

Christmas and a Night to Remember

The next morning I woke up with a yawn and a smile on my face. It was Christmas day. Today was Christmas! I couldn't believe it, it was actually Christmas.

"Christmas…finally," I whispered quietly to myself, a small smile on my face.

I then looked over at my clock to find that it was around 10 in the morning.

"Oh no! Everyone's probably up already," I cried, running out of my room, but stopped shortly after that.

I looked at Gambit's room, going over to it and knocking. I was surprised when I was met with an answer.

"Oui?" he called.

Wow, he was actually up and awake this time.

"Can I come in?" I asked, waiting for him to respond.

"Actually…" he started, opening the door, "I was just getting ready to come get you," he said, smiling down at me.

"Oh, really?" I inquired.

"Oui, cheri," he said, placing his arm around my shoulders as he closed his door, leading me down the hallway.

It looked like he had something behind his back, but I couldn't tell what it was. I just know that once we got downstairs and into the living room, it disappeared from behind him and went somewhere else that I had no clue about.

"Remy, how long have you been up?" I asked curiously as we stood by the tree.

"For a while now, cheri," he informed me as I moved over to sit on the couch. "Now, Gambit be right back," he said, walking off into the kitchen.

I smiled as he left, pulling my knees up onto the couch. I gazed over at the Christmas tree as it stood there in all its glory. It was decorated so beautifully with garland, lights, bulbs, tinsel, and all sorts of ornate ornaments. From silver to gold, to red and green, blues and purples. Every color rested or hung upon it beautifully. There was even a small mechanical train that continuously made its way around the bottom of the tree, gears moving, and small lights blinking. Everything was placed so neatly and carefully.

"Here ya go, cheri," Gambit said behind me as he held out a cup for me.

I took it, breathing in the scent. Hot chocolate.

"Careful, is hot, cheri," he warned as he came to sit beside me on the couch, a small tray of cookies in his hand.

They looked like they were freshly made.

"Did you…" I started.

"Oui, cheri, Gambit made d'em," he said, a look of satisfaction on his face from his accomplishment. "Try one, cheri," he insisted, holding the tray out to me.

I looked down at it for a moment, before picking up a little tree covered in green and red sprinkles. I took a bite out of it, chewing it slowly. I could feel the corners of my lips pulling as I closed my eyes. It was delicious, absolutely delicious. I gave him a small smile after swallowing.

"Amazing, Remy, absolutely amazing," I said, watching him grin from ear to ear.

"Why t'ank you, cheri, t'ank you," he said.

I swear as I looked at him, I didn't think that he could smile anymore than that, but as everyone else soon started to pile in his smile grew. The first was the Professor, followed short after by Logan, then Scott. Next, was Hank and Storm. A few more students came in to join us for a short while, before leaving with their friends and going somewhere else, probably back to their rooms for a bit.

"Iceman," Logan called, turning as a young man entered the room, following a girl with a white streak in her hair.

"Logan," they both said, the girl running forward and hugging him.

"Merry Christmas," she said.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Rouge," he said, returning the gesture.

I then watched as Rouge and Iceman came over to the couch, standing behind it and looking down at us.

"So, feeling better?" he asked.

I gave him an awkward nod, watching Rouge come around the couch and hold out her hand to me, wanting to shake hands.

"Elaine, right?"

"Um, yeah," I nodded my head, shaking her gloved hand.

It was rather odd the way that they were acting, then I remembered something.

"Hey, where's Kurt?" I asked, looking around at everyone.

They too looked around, but Kurt was nowhere to be found. I then turned to Gambit, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"I ain't seen him, cheri," he said, casting his eyes around for the blue man in question.

I sighed for a moment, before getting up off of the couch. Gambit looked at me with a questionable look as I got up, wanting to know what I was doing.

"I'm going to go find Kurt," I said, walking out of the living room and heading upstairs.

I slowly made my way to Kurt's room, knocking on the door.

"Kurt?" I called, but received no answer, save for the sound of faint movement. "Kurt? I'm coming in," I said, before opening the door.

The room was pitch black, no light coming in at all, save for the bit of light that crept into the room upon opening the door.

I looked around, my hand on the wall as I fumbled for the light switch. When I finally turned it on, I found Kurt sitting in the corner of his room praying.

"Kurt," I sighed in relief, walking over to him.

I knelt down and placed my hands on his shoulders, looking at him.

"Kurt, how come you're not downstairs?" I asked, staring at him, his eyes shining brightly in the bit of darkness that was in the room.

"Vould it not be better if I vaz not zere?" he asked, turning his eyes to glance around the room.

I sighed quietly, holding my breath for a moment.

"Kurt…" I whispered, " we want you down there with us," I told him, catching his attention.

"Vhat?"

I smiled faintly, pulling him up so that he was no longer sitting on the floor.

"Besides, I have a present waiting for you downstairs," I told him, smiling when I caught the spark in his eyes.

"You have a…prezent for me?" he asked slowly, his tail curling with curiosity.

"Yes, there's a present waiting for you downstairs," I assured him, carefully pulling him toward the door and out into the hallway.

It was like he was still scared to be around people, then again, I guess I was still just as scared at time. I was getting better with it though, even if only a little bit at a time, but I was getting somewhere with it. I suppose, I was mainly scared of normal people. Actually…that's a lie. I'm scared of nearly everyone. I'm scared that I'll be turned away the same way I was turned away as a child by so many people, human and mutant alike.

I continued to think about all of this as we walked back downstairs and into the living room. Gambit caught sight of me as we came in, apparently noticing the off look on my face as I thought about everything. I never did come back over to sit on the couch with him, so instead, he came over to me.

"You alright, cheri?" he asked, his voice concerned.

"Oh, um…yeah…yeah, I'm fine," I said, looking elsewhere for a moment.

I heard him sighed, before he took hold of my hand and led me back over to the tree, sitting me down in front of it. He then knelt behind me, placing his arms over my shoulders, his chin resting on top of my head. I felt slightly awkward, but in a way, I didn't.

"So, who's ready for presents?" he asked, looking around at everybody.

Soon, everyone was seated around the tree, pulling out gifts and exchanging them. I couldn't help, but to smile a bit at everyone. I then noticed Gambit pulling his present that had a string of yarn tied around it. He looked at me with a questionable look before laughing and tugging on the string. It fell from the package soon after onto the floor, followed shortly after by the wrapping paper and lid.

I saw the look on his face as he pulled away a bit more paper inside of the box, a smile growing on his face.

"Cheri," he said, turning he eyes to me and smiling.

The corners of my lips pulled as he pulled me into a hug, making my face go slightly red.

"Gambit was runnin' low on cards," he said, looking down at all of them, almost like a kid in a candy store.

He took one deck out, inspecting it, checking the flexibility and texture.

"D'ey're perfect," he said.

I nearly laughed at this, but held it in. It really did make me happy seeing him like this, so happy.

"Oh, Kurt," I said, jumping up from my spot beside Gambit.

I grabbed a present from under the tree and brought it over to the couch where he was sitting, gently placing it into his hands with a smile. He looked at it curiously, examining the square box, before beginning to unwrap it. I stepped back a bit, my back hitting Gambit's now standing chest. I looked at him for a moment, smiling slightly, turning back toward Kurt.

The moment that the lid was lifted off and the paper on the floor, it was like time just stopped for a split second. The look on his face, it was like he didn't know what to do as he took everything out of the box.

I could hear Gambit stifling a laugh which was ended by a faint elbow by me. He gave a quiet laugh at that action and just placed his arms around me so that I was stuck against him, unable to move or go anywhere.

"Vhat iz zis?" Kurt asked curiously, his eyes taking in every detail.

I moved to pull away from Gambit for a moment, but he wouldn't let go.

"Give me one minute of freedom and then I'm all yours, okay?" I asked, watching as he thought about it for one moment, before letting me go.

I then walked over to Kurt, sitting down on the couch with him. I took a glove in my hand, tentatively taking hold of one of his hands and slipping it on. He moved his three fingers around a bit, flexing them as I placed the other one on his other hand. Everyone was watching with mild interest and abundant curiosity as I did all of this. Kurt's tail continued to curl and uncurl as I then placed a handmade hat on his head, pulling it down in the back a bit. I then placed a scarf around his neck, wrapping it around once, before I moved to his tail. I placed a little mitten of sorts on his tail that seemed fitted to it almost.

T

Gambit stood back grinning at the sight in front of him, partially because he had helped make everything that Kurt was wearing, well mainly everything anyway. He mainly just found it funny. The blue-skinned devil in front of him was speechless, absolutely speechless. That was, before he took Elaine by the hands and nearly started dancing around the living room with his new winter attire on.

"Zis iz wunderbar! Zank you, Elaine, zank you," he exclaimed happily, hugging her tightly.

At the sight of this, Gambit became slightly jealous, but only just. He had to remind himself that it was a friendly gesture and nothing more.

He sighed silently, not understanding why he felt like this, then again…he did like her. Gambit liked her more than any other girl that he had ever been around. It would be a lie to say that he was not attracted to her, and he would not deny that fact to anyone if they were to ask. He actually planned to make it a bit more apparent to her tonight.

He smiled at the thought of her gliding across ice.

"She be happy," he said to himself, barely above a whisper.

He was about to grab her from Kurt when he stopped, watching as Kurt pulled out a tiny square box from his coat pocket with his tail, bringing it to rest in his hand.

"Zis iz for you fraulein," he said, handing it to her.

Gambit watched as Elaine gazed at it curiously, undoing the small bow on the box and opening it. He saw her mouth go a bit slack, worrying him.

Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was actually a cross necklace, a rather beautiful one at that. He frowned at this, seeing that her attention was slowly being taken away from him and placed on Kurt.

T

I looked down at the cross in my hand, completely breathless. I hadn't expected this. It was beautiful…

"I…th-thank you, Kurt," I whispered, tracing my finger gently over the metal.

I licked my bottom lip faintly for a moment, the dryness driving me insane. Winter wasn't too kind to my lips at all, leaving them thoroughly chapped.

"I am zorry zat I cannot help you put it on," he apologized motioning to his three fingered hands.

Gambit nearly all but leapt forward at the chance to help, taking the necklace from my hands, and bringing it around my neck. I felt my cheeks heat up a bit when he did this, feeling his fingers brush my neck as he clipped the clasp on the necklace.

"Thank you, Remy," I said, smiling the best that I could.

I could tell that he was holding something back, but I wasn't sure what it was. So, I just put it to the side.

"Any time, cheri," he said with a smile. "Now, ya got some more presents to open, cheri," he said, pulling me back toward the tree.

Almost two hours later we were finally done with presents. The only reason why it took so long was because of all of the talking and stuff, but when we were done, I was rather happy indeed. I was curious though when I didn't receive a present from Gambit, but he assured me that I would receive it tonight. Instead of worrying about it though, I just helped everyone clean things up in the living room.

After a little while, I sat back down on the couch with Gambit, yawning for a moment. Feeling the warmth of the fire was slowly putting me to sleep, and I soon found myself leaning against Gambit, my eyes slowly closing.

"Why don' you take a nap, cheri?" he suggested with a slight chuckle, wrapping his arms around me and moving into a more comfortable position for both of us on the couch.

"Okay…" I whispered, already half asleep.

I could hear Gambit chuckle as he stroked my hair, my head resting on his chest. It was a nice feeling, soothing actually. I let a small smile form on my lips as I laid there in his arms, slowly dozing off into a light sleep.

Ok everyone, there went chapter 19, but that was only part one. I hope that everyone liked it? I'm writing part 2 right now. Please, remember to REVEIW? I love hearing feedback from everyone, it's very inspiring. :) Anyway, sorry about the wait everyone, college has been a pain. Anyway...again, I hope that everyone enjoyed it. -glances around for hamster while typing the rest of part 2-