Combusting Hearts

Chapter 19

Part 2

Christmas and a Night to Remember

When I woke back up, it was around 4 o'clock.

I opened my eyes to find Gambit laying there, his arms still wrapped around me, staring at the fire. He had a serene look on his face, along with a small smile as well.

"Remy?"

This caused him to look down at me.

"Awake are we?" he chuckled, rolling his shoulder a bit.

I laughed for a moment as I sat up, making him let go of me.

"Alright mister, turn around," I said, causing him to give me a questionable look.

I just looked at him, opening and closing my hands.

"Ah…I see," he chuckled, before turning around as he was told, then removed his flannel shirt.

"That wasn't necessary you know," I said as I rose an eyebrow at him.

He just gave me a sly look.

"I know, cheri, I just like feelin' your hands on me skin," he said, causing my face to go about 3 shades of red.

He laughed at this, before I slapped his back. Not hard though, just enough to get my point across.

"Hey, at least Gambit honest," he said as he rolled his shoulders again, leaning forward slightly.

"Alright Mr. Honest, behave and hush," I order with a small laugh.

He did as he was told, letting me work on his shoulders with my hands, massaging the muscles. He gave a slight moan as it no doubt felt good, soon leaning into my touch.

"Oh, you got d'e magic touch, cheri," he said.

I just smiled at him.

"Why thank you Remy, I'll take that as a compliment," I chuckled, pressing my hands into his skin.

Eventually, after about 10 minutes, I ended up with his back laying against me and my arms wrapped around him from behind.

"You are a goof, you know that Remy?"

He grinned at me.

"Nah, Gambit just lazy," he said.

This made me laugh, shaking my head at him as I laid my head on his shoulder.

"Lazy butt," I muttered with amusement.

"Hey, d'at's Mr. Lazy Butt to you, cheri," he said with a chuckle.

I smacked his arm playfully.

"Ok, Mr. Lazy Butt," I laughed, closing my eyes lightly.

I swear, he really was a silly man, that was for sure. I still liked him though, regardless of how goofy he was at times. Although, I think that he did it on purpose, it wouldn't surprise me if he did though.

"Hey, guys," Scott called as he came walking into the living room. "Dinner is about ready, so get up and get to the table," Scott said, before leaving the room again.

We both laughed for a moment before getting up.

"And to t'ink, Gambit was gettin' comfortable," he whined, making me laugh.

"Oh come on, if it makes you feel better, you can go back to laying on me after dinner, okay?" I proposed, making him grin happily.

"Really, cheri, you do d'at for Gambit?" he asked.

I nodded my head.

"As long as you behave, yes," I agreed, holding up his shirt for him, watching as he slipped it back on over his head. "Hold still," I said, making him pause.

"What is it, cheri?" he asked, trying to look behind him.

"Your tag is sticking out," I told him, before fixing it for him.

"T'anks, cheri," he smiled, pulling me up with him. "Now, let's go eat."

For nearly 2 hours, the sound of laughter was heard. Jokes and other things being said around the table, and stories shared. Some had more to say than others of course, and others…well some just didn't say much at all. Elaine and Kurt rarely ever said anything, save for adding a laugh here or there. Gambit caught on to this though and made to change it, nudging her every now and then to say something. He smiled whenever he got her to speak, enjoying the sound of her soft, gentle voice.

The Professor himself had watched her a great deal as they all ate at the table, her subtle quietness slightly unnerving on a day such as this, but he knew it was to be expected. He had smiled though when Gambit had managed to get her to loosen up a bit. Charles had even been the one to send Scott to retrieve them for dinner, knowing that they were lying together quietly on the couch. He already knew that something grand was developing between the two mutants in question.

It didn't take very long before we were done, heading back to sit on the couch. I was surprised when Gambit stopped me by grabbing my hand.

"I got somet'in' better, cheri," he said, smiling at me.

I gave him a questionable look, before allowing to help me put my new fleece jacket on. I could feel a faint blush creep up onto my cheeks when he placed my hat on my head, hurrying to put his own coat on.

"Come on, cheri," he said, pulling me along.

I couldn't help but to laugh at this as he looked so excited, tugging my hand for me to keep up. Though, I soon found out why once we were outside.

"R-Remy?" I looked over at him, my eyes starting to water as I saw Bobby standing on the newly iced over fountain with two pairs of ice skates in his hands.

"What? You not like it, cheri?" he questioned, hoping that he didn't do something wrong.

At this point, Bobby came over to us, holding out the skates. I swallowed for a moment before taking the smaller pair from him, carefully running a hand over them, a few tears falling.

"It…it's not that Remy. It's just…I…I haven't been ice skating since I was a little girl," I whispered, remembering when my mother had taken me a few times.

"You're happy though, right?" he asked, giving me a worried look.

I just whipped away the tears and smiled.

"Yes, yes I am. Thank you so much Remy…this…this means a lot to me," I said, hugging him tightly as I tried not to cry again.

I felt his arms wrap around me as he hugged me back, before pulling me away a bit.

"Now, why don' we go and skate?" he suggested with a goofy smile on his face.

Once I was on the ice, it was the most amazing thing ever. I could feel the air brushing against my face gently as I slid across the smooth ice. I laughed though when Gambit tried to skate over to me, slipping before he reached me.

"Merde," he whispered under his breath.

"Are you alright, Remy?" I asked as I went over to him, holding out my gloved hand for him to take.

I made sure to dig one of my skates into the ice so that I wouldn't slip trying to help him up, but even with that, I nearly slipped.

"Man, d'at hurt," he whined as he rubbed his back.

"Let me guess, you'll be wanting a nice long back rub once we get back inside?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He just gave me a hopeful look, causing me to roll on eyes and sigh.

"Fine," I said, agreeing to it.

"T'ank you, cheri," he cheered.

This made me laugh as I skated backwards away from him, twirling around a bit. I smiled as I closed my eyes, just skating forward gracefully, not a care in the world. I jumped though when heard Gambit's voice beside me. He actually had to grab my arm so that I wouldn't fall, pulling me against him.

I blushed a bit as I looked up at him, embarrassment written all over my face.

"Um, thanks, Remy," I said, pulling away after a moment.

When I did this, I heard something click, before Christmas lights started turning on all over the place. This time, I had to stop so that I wouldn't fall from astonishment, but let out a small laugh shortly after.

"A little late on that one, huh?" I asked, turning my head to look at him.

He just shrugged.

"Gambit tried, but d'e blasted lights wouldn' work," he said, throwing his hands up in mock annoyance.

This made me laugh and shake my head.

"You're something else, Remy," I said, skating over to him, "But at least it's something," I smiled.

"Speaking of somet'in'," he started, pulling something from his coat pocket.

I all but dropped the lid when I opened the box, gazing at a rose bracelet. It was beautiful with red, white, and peach colored roses.

"Remy, you…wow," I whispered at a loss for words.

He just smiled at me, pulling out some mistletoe from his coat pocket and holding it above our heads, making my face go redder than the streaks in my hair.

"Now, what say you give Gambit a proper kiss d'is time?" he winked at me, gently pulling me against him as he kept an arm around my waist.

"Remy…" I whispered as I tried to control my breathing as I looked carefully into his eyes.

As I looked into his eyes, I was searching for something. There was no foul play, no joke, no deception. Nothing, but pure honesty and caring. He gave me no reason why not to kiss him. There was nothing there to hurt me. So, without much further thought on the matter, I closed my eyes and kissed him on the lips.

I could feel him smile as he pulled me just a bit closer with his other arm, kissing me back as we stood there together on the ice. It was amazing for my first kiss and it wasn't demanding at all like I thought it might be. No, it was soft and gentle; heartfelt.

When we finally pulled away, my face was red hot from embarrassment, but I liked it. Apparently, Gambit did too because he let out a chuckle when he saw my face and placed his hand on my cheek.

"You're face is red, cheri," he said, pointing out the obvious.

"Well, it's your fault, Remy," I told him, trying to hide my face a bit, but he wouldn't let me.

No, instead, he leaned down and placed a light kiss on my lips.

"I t'ink it cute, cheri, you're cute," he grinned slyly, making my face go even more red.

"Stop that," I said, swatting his hand away.

I then moved away and skated toward the center of the fountain so that I could sit down, rubbing my face incessantly to try and get rid of the redness, but it didn't seem to work that well. I then watched as he came over to me, gently taking the bracelet from my hand.

"Here, let Gambit help," he smiled, taking my hand and placing the bracelet around it, hooking it together for me.

"Thank you," I whispered, still a bit embarrassed.

Sensing my embarrassment, he sat down with me, placing his hand on mine. At that moment, I couldn't look him in the eye in fear of embarrassing myself further. Although, he made it worse when he brought my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles lightly.

"Okay, okay, stop it!" I cried, laughing at the situation.

This made him grin to no end.

"Ready to go back inside, cheri?" he asked, tugging me up with him.

I nodded my head, finally noticing how dark it was, and how cold it was. My fingers were actually starting to go numb at this point.

"D'en let's go," he said, pulling me gently toward the edge of the fountain where we took our skates off.

"Last one in is a rotten egg!" I called before racing toward the mansion.

"Oi! No fair, cheri, you got a head start!" he exclaimed, quickly picking up the skates and running after me.

All that I could do was laugh at him as I got within feet of the door before he caught me in his arms, holding me close.

"Gotcha, cheri," he whispered in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Stop it," I laughed, nudging him. "I'm cold, I wanna get back inside," I told him.

He pouted for a moment, before looking down at me.

"Fine, but when we get inside you mine, cheri," he proclaimed, scooping me up in his arms, causing me to squeal.

"Remy!" I cried, "Put me down!"

He didn't listen though. Instead, he carried me inside and into the living room, only placing me down so that we could take everything off. It was way too hot in here to keep out coats, shoes, gloves, and hats on.

"Now, you mine, cheri," he said, scooping me back up into his arms and plopping down on the couch with me.

I just laughed at him, already tired as it was.

"You ain't goin' nowhere tonight, cheri. Just thought Gambit'd warn ya," he said, keeping his arms around me.

"Fine, but that means that you're my pillow for tonight then, Remy," I told him, getting a bit more comfortable.

"Oh, Gambit don' mind, cheri. In fact, Gambit be pleased ta be your pillow," he grinned, intertwining his right hand with my left and resting them on my stomach lightly.

"If I didn't know better, Remy, I'd say that you were addicted to me," I said quietly with a yawn.

It didn't take long though for the flames in the fireplace to slowly lull me to sleep, making it impossible for me to keep my eyes open. I just know that before I completely fell asleep, I felt Gambit's lips on my cheek, kissing it softly.

"Bonne nuit, cheri," he whispered softly into my ear as he got comfortable himself, before falling asleep too.

Ok everyone, I hope that you liked this. I'm sure that a lot of you probably liked part 2 better than part 1, but hey, that's just how I wanted to break it up. Please remember to REVIEW? I'd LOVE to see what everyone has to say about this one, and I'm sure everyone knows why. Lol. Oh, and I'm glad I could help you to remember to feed your sisters hamster Bite. :) Anyway, hope everyone liked this.