Combusting Hearts

Chapter 26

Waking Up

The following day, Elaine finally woke up around noon to Gambit sitting beside her, a warm smile on his face.

I slowly opened my eyes to find Gambit staring right at me with those red and black eyes of his. At this, I nearly jumped out of my skin, scooting back and pulling on the cords that were on me. I winced as they pulled my sensitive skin, a few of the cords coming loose in the process.

"Whoa d'ere, Cheri, calm down darlin', it be alright," Gambit said, carefully taking hold of my arm.

All I did was shake, making him frown. At the sight of his saddened face though, I stopped, staring at him carefully.

Biting my lip, I scooted a bit closer to him, watching as his frown slowly turned into a smile.

"Remy…" I whispered, my hand curling and uncurling around the sheet beneath me, not knowing what to do.

"Oui, cheri?" he asked, letting his hand move down to mine, turning it over with his own so that our fingers were intertwined for a moment.

"I…" I started, but I just couldn't seem to get the words out of my mouth properly or think for that matter even.

Instead, he hushed me with a gentle kiss on the lips, making me cry a bit from past memories.

His brows knitted tightly together as he saw this, not understanding why I was crying.

"Cheri, what's wrong? Please don' cry darlin'," he said, flipping my hand over and kissing my palm gently.

For some reason, that small and simple gesture seemed to put me at ease a bit, allowing me to calm down. My only problem was that I still had my mind set on what happened that night that I ran off. As a result, I pulled my hand away from him.

"Cheri, what's wrong?" he asked a bit firmer this time, but I didn't say anything. "Cheri, why don' ya want Gambit touchin' ya?" he questioned.

"Why ask when you already know the answer?" I said bitterly, trying to hide my face.

He seemed speechless at the mention of my question, not knowing what to say.

"Cheri, what are you talkin' 'bout?" he pushed further as though oblivious to the problem.

I was getting ready to yell at him when Scott walked in, saving me from doing it.

"What's going on in here?" he asked as he walked towards us, noticing the look of distress on my face.

I took this opportunity to relieve myself of dealing with this by asking him to escort Gambit out of the room. It almost hurt seeing the look on Gambit's face as Scott kicked him out of the room, but it had to be done.

For the whole week that I was back, I didn't really say anything to anyone. Yes, I went to my classes and did my homework, but I didn't say anything to anyone.

It seemed to be one question after another though and Gambit still wouldn't leave me alone. I just couldn't understand why it was that he kept acting as if he had no idea what happened, it was like he had absolutely no clue at all, and it was really starting to bug me. He knows what he did, so why even continue with this delusion?

I got even more annoyed when I had Logan asking me what happened and why I had run off. I told him the same thing every time. I'd tell him to ask Gambit and he did every single time, but Gambit was adamant that he knew nothing about it and was trying to find out the same thing that Logan and everyone else was.

I sighed as I thought about all of it, thinking of how annoying and upsetting all of it is.

I looked up from my homework when I heard a knock on my door, telling me that someone was there. I didn't really expect anyone to bother me right now, but I guess I was wrong.

"What is it?" I asked, glancing back down at my homework for a moment.

My door opened a moment later, revealing Logan. He didn't say anything as he closed my door. He just walked over to my desk and took me by the shoulders, turning me around in my chair.

"What?" I asked, a bit startled.

"Look, I'm gonna ask you one more time kid, what happened? You keep telling me to ask Gumbo, but he doesn't know a damn thing," he told me.

All it did was make me mad.

I pushed away from him with an angry look on my face.

"Fine, you want to know what happened? You want to know why I ran off? He tried to force himself on me Logan! That's why, that's why I left!" I yelled, tears starting to pour from my eyes in anger.

He just stood there for a moment, staring at me in disbelief.

"He what!"

Uh-oh…maybe I shouldn't have said anything. The next I know, he stomped out of the room and straight for Gambit's.

"Logan, wait!" I yelled, running after him, but it was too late.

Logan had already burst into Gambit's room and had him by the collar of his shirt.

"You've got to the count of 3 to start talking bub," Logan said, his claws already out and poised at Gambit's neck.

"C-come on Wolverine, what's goin' on?" Gambit stuttered as he tried to get away from Logan.

"You tried to force yourself on her and you think that's nothing?" Logan growled, a murderous glint in his eyes.

The moment he said that, Gambit looked outraged. In fact, he was livid.

"I did no such t'ing! Gambit neva do somethin' like d'at!" he cried.

It was my turn to yell this time though.

"Then who the hell was it Gambit because it sure as hell looked like you," I yelled, coming to stand in front of him, my hands clenched tightly.

He just looked down at me with disbelief.

"Cheri, you know d'at I would never do somethin' like d'at to you, never. It be against Gambit ethics to do such a t'ing," he said, finally pulling loose of Logan's hold.

Although the moment he did that, I pushed him hard against the wall, tears in my eyes.

"Then who was it! Who was it Remy? If it wasn't you, then who?" I cried, gripping his shirt tightly in my hands.

He just looked down at my with a sullen look in his eyes. In those eyes, I could see that he was telling the truth, but even with that…what was I supposed to believe? I knew what I saw, I knew who had been in front of my, my eyes couldn't have lied to me. It just wasn't possible. Who else could it have been if not Gambit? Even then, I knew that something wasn't right when it had happened. Gambit was right, it was completely against his ethics and morals. Although the question still remained, who else could it have been then.

It was then that I thought about my dream, those yellow eyes that had stared down at me, an evil look resonating from them.

So, placing my head down, I paused for a moment.

"Yellow eyes…does that mean anything to either of you?" I asked quietly with tear-filled eyes.

At the mere mention of that, both of them seemed to freeze.

"Mystic?" Logan nearly choked as he said this.

"Who's Mystic?" I asked with a sniffle.

"She be a shape shifter," Gambit told me, "Why ya ask?"

When I heard him say that, my face went pale, and suddenly I felt sick to my stomach. My hand quickly went to my mouth, bile slowly coming up my throat.

"T-t-trashcan," I shuttered, throwing up the moment that he had it in front of me.

"Ya alright Cheri?" he asked carefully, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I just shook my head spitting into the trashcan.

"Ew…that means…that I…I...oh god!" I spit into the trashcan once more. "A woman kissed me!" I yelled, wrapping my arms around myself.

I then realized something. It had all been a ploy to get me to leave. Someone wanted me to leave and that was why I ended up getting into that accident as a result of blind judgment.

"Attendez une minute. What?" he asked, placing his hands together and praying that he had heard me wrong. "S-she…kissed you? Cheri, please tell ol' Remy ya jokin'?" he asked, taking my hands in his.

The look in his eye was pleading, begging me to tell him different, but I could not. Not to mention the look on Logan's face.

"Remy…I wish I was…Lord, I wish I was!" I hung my head as I sat there, disgusted with myself as my head set against his shoulder.

All Logan could do was growl as he quickly left the room, likely in search of the Professor to tell him what he found out.

Gambit seemed to notice the problem and pulled me back, gently taking my face in his hands.

"Cheri, don' put ya self down. It wasn' ya fault," he whispered, brushing the water from my eyes and trailing his thumb over my lips. "Now, was it anyt'ing like d'is?" he asked as he pressed his lips against mine.

I could feel the heat rising in my face as he did this, his lips pressing softly against mine with a soft loving passion. He then pulled back for a moment, letting me speak.

"No…it wasn't," I told him, looking back into his eyes, before hesitantly pulling his head back down toward mine.

It was then that my lips met his, it was me kissing him instead of the other way around. I could feel the corner of his lips pulling into a smile as I kissed him.

"Oh, Cheri, you don' know how long I been waitin' for d'at," he said, resting his forehead against mine.

"And how long have you been waitin' Mr. LeBeau?" I asked.

He chuckled at this.

"Remy been waitin' a long time for it," he said with a smile as kissed me again and pulling me into his arms.

I couldn't help but laugh at this. I had spent so much time in fear of this, only to find out that it was all for nothing. As I stood there, I saw a tear fall from his eye, which caught me off guard. I then brought a tentative hand up to his face, gently whipping it away.

"You've always told me not to cry, but what about you Remy?" I asked staring at the tear on my finger.

He merely let out a light laugh, wrapping his arms around me.

"Cheri, d'ere be somethin' I been wantin' ta ask ya," he announced, pulling back just a bit.

"And what's that Remy?" I asked, watching his smiling face.

"Cheri…Elaine…would ya officially be Gambit girlfriend?" he asked.

I smiled at this.

"No," I said, watching his face fall, I then placed my finger to his lips, "but I will be Remy's girlfriend," I told him, watching the newfound joy in his eyes as he bent down and captured my lips with his own.

"Oh, Cheri, I love you," he whispered softly, a few more tears falling.

I could only smile as I saw this, gently kissing away his tears.

"And…I love you too," I whispered into his ear and wrapping my arms around his neck.

I had never thought that in a million years that something like this would happen, but I guess it did. Finally, something was going right for me. I had Gambit by my side, someone that loved me for me and would always be there for me. I finally had someone to call my own…Gambit.

Ok everyone, that was chapter 26. I hope that everyone liked it. Please remember to REVIEW? I would really like to see what everyone thought of this chapter because I wasn't completely sure when writing it.