A/N: Hey everybody! Merry Christmas!
And since it's Christmas I've decided to upload not one but two new chapters... Just to let you all know, I've lost all of my documents and had them restored and still worked on some silly stuff for school so I didn't really have much time for either, though I did my best at both, school and this story. If there are some grammatical errors I sincerely apologize for them, but I'm just a human.
Reviews are appreciated!
Oh, and if there's something wrong with the french phrases I didn't write those, I don't know a word in French. So if anything about the French ask Ruth (.net/u/1828192/Ruthe-La) she's the one responsible XD. I'm sorry, she's awesome, she's beta-reading all this and... did I mention her being awesome? Because every beta I had gave up on me after five chapters and now we're nearly 7th and she's still willing to do it.
Ok, Merry Christmas once again and here we go...

Chapter 5

The things we've lost

After a short meeting, where the only discovery was that Bobby had a low-alcohol tolerance, Rogue approached Jean.

"Ehm, can Ah ask for ya help with somethin'?" Rogue was biting her lower lip tensely.

"Sure, Rogue, what is it?"

"Ya know, this Friday it's Gambit's birthday an' Ah kinda forgot, so could ya help me with some present?"

"Well I'm sure he would appreciate if you gave him a key to room full of naked women –"

"Forget Ah asked." Rogue cut in crossly. She knew that little miss perfect wouldn't bother thinking of something useful. The Southern girl ran her hand though her hair and walked away from her red-haired teammate alone.

"Hang on Rogue, I was just joking. I'm sorry it was inappropriate." for some reason, Jean avoided Rogue's eyes. Rogue sighed, but waited to hear what she wanted to say.

"Damn raght." Rogue murmured more to herself than to Jean.

"I'll help you, we can pretend we met as two couples on honeymoons and we can go to the mall." Yeah, Jean was still thinking of their mission, which Rogue totally forgot about.

X

Back in the hotel room Rogue took a quick shower and headed for the bed.

"Remy's waiting f' y', ma belle." He was already lying in the bed, covered by crimson red blanket, revealing his bare chest. Rogue was half enjoying the view half cursing him under her breath.

"Ya want to spend a year in a coma, or what, Swamp Rat? Ah'll take the bed, ya got the couch." She was standing in front of the bed, her hands folded over her chest. Restlessly she was tapping her feet, "Listen, Ah don't wanna hurt ya. So move ya ass from the bed, now!"

The initial honesty in her voice was swapped with anger.

Remy, however, wasn't moving an inch.

"Oh mah Gawd, ya are one crazy rat! Do whatevah ya want, Ah take the couch then." Rogue threw up her hands and with a quick move she stole the blanket from Gambit. Then she turned on her heel and lied on the small white sofa in the back of their room. She was asleep the moment she laid her head on the pillow. It was only after that Remy got out of the bed.

"Like Remy would ever let such a belle femme sleep on the uncomfortable couch, chérie." he whispered softly as he carried her bridal-style into the bed. With last look at her, he gently brushed her white locks from her peaceful face, "Sucre rêves." (sweet dreams)

X

The next morning Rogue woke up on a cold, hostile floor. It certainly wasn't the hotel room. So, where was she? When her eyes adjust to the darkness she looked around herself. It was a small cell with a simple bed.

Rogue jumped from the corner she was lying in. "Hey! Somebody! What the hell is this place? Why am Ah here?" No matter how loud she was shouting, nobody answered. The bars were some kind of an electric shield. She only had to touch them to be thrown across her cell. Rogue shook her head and stood up.

Meanwhile, Gambit woke up, and with still closed eyes walked towards the balcony. The light sold breeze helped him to open his eyes.

"Rogue? Cherie, what do y' want f' breakfast?" He asked as he walked back in the room. Only then he realized that the bed was empty. With a puzzled look he knocked on the bathroom doors, to find out nobody was there. A bit scared Gambit called Rogue's phone but immediately he heard it ring on the nightstand. He decided to wait a while before alarming everyone; there was a change she just went to the lobby.

However, when after half an hour there was still no sigh of Rogue, Gambit panicked. He found his communicator that called simultaneously the Jet and all the X-Men. "Amis, Rogue's disappeared!"

It took only ten minutes for the team to gather in the hotel room.

"So, stolen right from under the thief's nose?" Cyclops asked, with raised eyebrows; laughing on his joke.

Gambit didn't get a chance to react, when Logan jumped to Scott and growled: "Having fun, bub?" The indestructible metal claws rose slowly from his knuckles. The team leader swallowed hard and raised his hands in surrender.

"I smell some faint traces of chloroform and few other sedatives. That's why our sleeping beauty didn't wake up when Stripes was being kidnapped. And the only reason ya still alive." Logan addressed the last comment to the Cajun. Despite his words, Logan did punch him. Remy took few steps back, trying to keep his balance.

"Je mérité que." (I deserved that) Remy whispered, looking on the floor. He deserved much more than a punch. Gambit decided that being beaten to a pulp might just lessen his guilt.

"Storm, you looked at profiles of each abducted, right? Are there any similar features or common friends? Bars they visited?" First reasonable thinking came from Jean. She was uneasily squeezing Scott's hand.

"I'm sorry. They didn't know each other. Different races, ages, men, women, various abilities. My guess is the abductor doesn't follow some kind of a scheme."

While others were discussing, Remy was leaning against the wall, ignoring them, "Putain de merde, mais c'est foute!" (f***ing sh!t, but it's f***ed up!)

Few turned their heads to Remy as he cursed, but he was deaf and blind to the world. Covering his eyes with his hands, he slid down on the floor.

"What can they want from Rogue?" Bobby asked naively. The three older men glared at him. Remy didn't react.

"Rogue's ability is one of the most valuable to any villain," Logan reminded the group, "she can possess infinite power."

"Fous le camps et mange d'la merde!" (f*** off and eat sh!t!)

This time, only Storm paid attention to Remy. Logan began sniffing again, trying to catch any scent. However, he couldn't spot anything other than the chemicals. Scott and Jean were holding hands in the corner and discussing further steps in their mission with Colossus and Storm.

"Do you think it's safe to stay at this hotel?" Bobby addressed his question to Storm; but Cyclops was quicker to answer.

"We have to continue the mission. We have to keep searching for the abducted mutants and Rogue." With the mention of Rogue's name, Gambit once again swore. He stood up and sat on the bed. He reached for the lamp on the nightstand and it began to glow a bright magenta.

Storm once again turned her head as she heard Gambit's voice and her eyes widened from fear. Carefully she ran to the Cajun thief.

"Remy, we'll find her. Don't worry, now, however, we have to focus on searching for all of the abducted. When we find one, we find them all."

He didn't show any reaction to her words, yet he switched off the lamp and it faded back to its original colour. Scott was discussing something with Piotr and Jean. Bobby, who noticed the charged lamp backed as far as possible from Gambit, who swore again.

"Would ya quit that?!" Annoyed Logan shouted as he came closer to the Cajun and once again unsheathed his claws.

"Sorry, mon ami. Can we move now t' search f' Rogue? Or are y' all stayin' 'ere talkin' crap?" Remy jumped to his feet and walked to the door.

X

Rogue was lying on the cold bed, when a dark figure appeared on the other side of the bars. She immediately jumped up.

"Who are ya? What do ya what from me?!" She shouted as she unconsciously touched the bars and was thrown into the back wall of her cell. "Again," Rogue whispered as she shook her head and got up. "Who are ya? Where am Ah?"

The figure silently went closer to her. It was still covered in the shadows, but Rogue noticed it was a male. He was wearing some kind of purple overall with countless purple-blue stripes coming out of it, looking like a coat that went through shredding machine. His cold red eyes were looking straight at her. Their unusual colour reminded her of Remy. Was he in a similar cell to hers?

"Calm down, my dear. You'll soon understand the honour by being chosen by me. You see, mutants are incomplete, imperfect creatures. And just as humans have to be destroyed, mutants have to be upgraded. Take her." The man turned his head to the doors. Another man entered the room. As the bars disappeared a large hand grabbed her from her cell. Rogue struggled, but was thrown on a big cold table. Her hands and legs were shackled.

"Let me go, ya stupid ape!" She screamed at the man, who threw her on the as he tightened the shackles.

"Don't try to break those, my dear. It's made from adamantium, which I borrowed from an old friend," his voice was full of sarcasm. There was something that could be described as laugh however it was cold and it gave her goose bumps.

"Let's not waste any more time." Sinister said as he took a needle from a near table. The needle broke the minute he pushed it against Rogue's skin;

"Oh, the power of durability I assume. It would seem like I'll have to update my information. I knew only about your absorbing powers. Will you tell me about any more powers I should know about?" He asked with his cold voice.

Instead of answering, Rogue spit in his face. Without a word the scientist took another needle and once again tried to penetrate her skin. This time he succeeded and a red liquid ran down into a test tube.

"Ya lunatic! What do ya think ya doin'?!"

"Taking samples. Don't worry, I won't need much," he said, picking up an empty tube.

After a while Rogue stopped resisting and few seconds later she passed out. She woke up once again in her cell, not knowing how long she had been out for. Time wasn't important anymore. She noticed that instead of her nightgown she was wearing short pants and matching shirt. It was a dark blue prisoners uniform with a number on it. She was number 439. That meant there were other four hundred thirty-eight mutants held just like she was. She had to escape and take them with her.

"Damn it!" She shouted into darkness, sinking down the wall. She buried her head in her knees.

"Ya a big gal, ya ain't gonna cry," she muttered to herself, "ya got people watchin' over ya, they are gonna find ya." She remembered Gambit's words and felt her eyes water. For the millionth time she tried to reach the professor, however she wasn't a telepath, so her chances were close to zero. When he was close, they could always speak to him but she didn't know how far she was, let alone, where she was.

"Hey boss, the girl is up." She heard a distance yell.

"What ya doin' here, ya ovahgrown furball?" She screamed. "Ah thought that when ya such great friends with Logan, ya might help me out of this shit."

Sabretooth's bitter laugh echoed around Rogue's cell.

In the meantime, the X-Men were for the second time that day discussing their situation.

"I think we should return. The Prof might know a way to help." Bobby suggested, but the glares from coming from Gambit and Logan shut him up before he could say anything more.

"We stay for a week, if we can't find a single trace of Rogue or anybody else, we return home."

"Yeah? So ya can be with ya family during the special sooner-Christmas thing?" Logan was right what Scott said sounded like he counted it on days, though he did not.

"I care about Rogue, too, Logan. And I want to spend those Christmas with her around, however I don't think that staying here any longer than necessary would help!" it was the end to the discussion. Cyclops was the leader and he had the final word.

"The professor agrees with Scott's plan." Jean, who just entered the room, said in low voice. She called Charles Xavier as soon as they got into the jet.

"Non!" from dark corner emerged Gambit. He looked ten years older. "Y' all can return, but Gambit's stayin'. He won't return until he finds Rogue!" Even though he was speaking in third person, Gambit was dead serious.

"I won't argue about it, Remy –" Scott was cut off by Logan before he could say something stupid.

"Save it, Scout-boy. The Cajun ain't gonna listen to ya."

Storm and Colossus were just listening sighed. They knew it wasn't wise to go against an angry Wolverine, but angry Gambit? It was a side of him, they never witnessed.

"No Logan. I won't 'save it'. We are a team. Believe me or not, I care about Rogue just as you do. I spent with her Christmas once and I promised her we'll repeat it. And now that she returned I was planning on fulfilling that promise. I know how it feels not spending Christmas with your family! I know how she feels!" After Scott started shouting, he received a punch from Remy. The Southerner's rage was causing his eyes to glow bright magenta.

"Y' know not'in'. Rogue has family! She has Bleu, y' remember her petite frère? And she has Wolvie. And everybody else at the fucking mansion! She be never alone as long as 'M alive!" Gambit's voice was shaking. He knew Scott wasn't in love with Rogue, yet the jealous green monster inside him was growing every second.

He left the jet in hurry. Gambit's first idea was to find the first pub and get drunk, but the last bits of reason left in him told him it was the stupidest thing he could do at the moment.

X

As Gambit was walking though the empty streets, looking for something that would lead him to Rogue, she once again found herself on the cold surgery table.

This time she didn't shout; didn't struggle. She was lying there as dead, refusing to show any sign of fear or pain.

"It's nice to see you're cooperating, my dear Rogue." She turned her head away. No, she wasn't cooperating, she never would. She was still weak from whatever he did before and learned that fighting won't help her. If she wanted to escape, she had to do it while she was being taken to or from her cell. Anywhere else she didn't have a chance.

"My, my, what are these bruises from?" Sinister said as he examined her arm. "Looks like I'll have to remind them how to treat the first of the Three Mothers of the new evolutionary step."