006.

Hayley woke up to a loud groan and metal rattling against metal. She cursed loudly herself, hating to be woken up in such a manner. She could hear the handcuffs rattling from the bedpost and she tried her best to ignore it. She grabbed the phone next to her. It was only 7:04 AM. She hated early mornings.

"Would you quit it?!" she snapped, throwing off the blanket in frustration.

"Where the hell am I?" he asked angrily.

Hayley groaned and stood up, stretching out her back. She had slept on the floor and gave the bed to Gambit. She had felt too bad for tricking him and thought it was the least she could do for the poor guy. But now she was second-guessing her decision.

"You're here in a motel room."

Gambit's lips formed a smile as he looked up at the handcuffs. "The kinky type, cheri?"

Hayley couldn't believe that even in the wee hours of the morning, he'd hit on her. "No, so you won't escape from us."

Gambit's red eyes grew cold. "Where the fuck are you two taking me?"

She sighed. She had reacted the same way when Scott Summers and the professor had shown up in the alleyway. She sat on the bed next to him, running her hands through her hair. She needed to be patient.

"Look, please trust me," she said softly. "We're not here to harm you unless you don't do exactly what we say." She chose to ignore the snort. "We're taking you to a school. A man named Professor Xavier found you here in New Orleans. He's a telepath, you see so he's able to control the minds of almost everyone."

"Yeah? And what does this Xavier want with me?"

Hayley shrugged. "I don't know. The only thing he told us was that you had potential and you reminded him of Logan." She looked over at the other bed which was empty. "And I have no idea where he is but I must say, you two are quite alike in mind."

Gambit snorted again. "Yeah well, Remy don't work with other people. He works alone." He struggled to get out of the handcuffs but failed.

"Please, Remy-,"

"Gambit."

"Please Gambit," Hayley started over. "Xavier is a very good man. This isn't a trick or a hoax. We're really here to help you." She patted his shoulder. "You don't want to be a thief the rest of your life, do you?"

"Maybe I do," he shot back. "C'mon, joli, lemme go."

"I can't."

Gambit sighed. "If I promise not to run, then will you get the handcuffs off?"

"And if I take the handcuffs off will you not lie and run away like yesterday?"

He chuckled. "And if I do run away, are you going to kiss me again and have Logan knock me out?"

It was her turn to laugh. "I don't know. How do you know if I'm even gonna kiss you back? Maybe I didn't like your kiss," she said with a sneer.

"All the ladies love my kisses."

"Do they love your kisses because it's good or because you're using your hypnotic ability on them?"

"The ladies love Remy for a reason, cheri."

"Now see? I don't like players."

"Nah, I ain't a player. It ain't my fault that the ladies come flocking to me."

"I also don't like arrogance. But then again, I suppose arrogance comes with the hypnotic charm that you posess," she said.

Gambit grinned. "What else you know about me, belle?"

Hayley drew her legs up on the bed. "Well, that you're here in New Orleans, have kinetic abilities with hypnotic abilities as well."

He smiled. "Well you did your homework. What sorta powers you got? Just the telekinetic power?"

She held out her hand and snapped her fingers. Instantly a small fireball ignited and she played with it between her fingers. She watched Gambit in amusement who had a look of fascination and shock. She turned her hand into a fist, making the flame disappear.

"Well damn, Hayley. Just when I didn't think you could get any better you do."

Hayley rolled her eyes. "Flattery ain't gonna get you out of those cuffs."

"I didn't say it to get out. I just said it cause it's true."

She just stared at him. He merely stared back.

There was something about Gambit that intrigued Hayley. She had never met a man so wild and arrogant, charming and seductive, attentive and caring in her life. His red eyes didn't glow brightly when he said those words.

Maybe he wasn't using his charm this time to lure her in.

Hayley got up from the bed and peeked through the curtains. She shivered slightly, not realizing till then that she was only in a tanktop and sweats.

"Cold? Remy can change that for ya," he said with a laugh.

Hayley turned around, rolling her eyes at him again. "I'll tell you what," she said. "I'll let you out of these handcuffs and you have to promise, please promise to behave yourself, okay? To give us a chance." She towered over him. "Can you do that? Please?"

Gambit nodded. "No problem, beautiful."

Hayley decided to take his word. If not, she could always toss him around the hotel room.

She leaned over to uncuff the handcuffs, using a key to unlock it. She stood up from the bed and smiled as Gambit sighed in relief, rubbing his wrists. "Those really do hurt," he commented, sitting up straight. He looked at Hayley and smiled. "Thanks, doll."

"You're welcome."

Gambit patted the area next to him and she hesitated. She chose to sit on the window sill however. "I ain't gon bite."

"I'm sure you won't," she said.

He smiled. "C'mon, sit right here, cheri. Scared that you might like sitting next to me? Hell, you danced with me last night."

Hayley rolled her eyes. "In case you had a severe head trauma, you forget that I was trying to bring you back here."

"Ah so I ain't the only one with a hypnotic charm."

The motel room door swung open and Logan came in, an annoyed expression on his face. He had a bag full of food and tossed it on the floor. Hayley giggled. He probably had heard the conversation.

"Get cleaned up, get dressed, we're outta here in 15."

Gambit scowled. "Y'all really think that I'm going with you guys?"

"What happened to the trust thing?" Hayley asked.

"Remy don't trust no one."

Despite how charming he may be, Gambit was starting to get on her last nerve with his promises and his good word. Hayley hated people who went back on their word. She forced him up against the wall and held up her hand. A large fireball hovered above her palm and she held her hand close to Gambit's face. Even for a suave, smooth-talking man, fire was enough to get them scared.

"Look, I've had a long night fighting for you," she hissed. "And I absolutely hate it when people don't keep their promises." She glared up at him. "We'll get you back to Xavier's one way or another. Absolutely spotless or burnt to a crisp. Your choice."

Gambit chuckled and held his hands up in defense. He knew he was outnumbered. She was a Level Five mutant and Logan was indestructible. He couldn't win. "Alright, alright cherie. Easy." He threw up his hands. "I'll go with y'all."

Hayley made the fireball disappear, satisfied with his answer. She could tell in his eyes that he would really do as he was told. For the most part.

When she had a weapon in hand.

The three of them got ready in the bathroom one by one. Logan pushed Gambit out the door first, his hand on his shoulder as an escort. Hayley followed by his side, suppressing his powers.

"Nice ride," Gambit commented.

"Get in the back."

Hayley sat in the front passenger seat and Logan sat in the driver's seat. He started the engine and soon they were on their way towards the highway. It was only a matter of seconds when Gambit started to snore softly.

Logan smirked. "Sleepin' already."

Hayley turned around and chuckled. "Well, poor baby's probably pooped out from fighting."

And after she said those words, she ended up falling asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Kid. Hey kid. Get up."

Hayley groaned. She glared at Logan and looked out the window, seeing that they had stopped on the side of the road. She yawned and stretched out her arms. "What are we doing?"

"Switching." Logan got out of the car and walked over to her side but opened the passenger seat. He shoved Gambit hard which jolted him awake. He woke up with a start. Hayley didn't know how he did it but he managed to chuckle. "Mornin."

"Get up and get in the passenger seat."

"Easy easy there," Gambit said, getting out of the car. He walked over to where Hayley is and chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "What, you want me to sit on her?"

"No, Hayley's gonna be driving and you're going to be up on the front seat," Longa said sternly. "And don't try to pull off any funny business, Cajun or I will fucking kick your ass."

Gambit laughed. "Don't worry about it, boss." He held the door open for Hayley with a wink.

She rolled her eyes and got out of the car. She got into the driver's seat and buckled her seatbelt. The car rode back onto the highway. Hayley looked through her rear view mirror to find Logan fast asleep.

"So do you sing?" Gambit asked, flipping through the stations.

"Not well," she replied.

"Ah, I'm sure a pretty face like yours has a nice singing voice to go along with it," Gambit said. "C'mon, sing a little something."

"I said no."

Gambit stopped pushing her but the smile didn't leave his face. "So, how long have you been at this.. school place?"

"Years."

"Why?"

Hayley looked at him. "What do you mean why? It's a good place. A safe place for us."

"Who do we have to hide from, belle?" he asked. "Look at us! We're mutants, stronger than those humans. Why do we have to run?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Some of us don't have anywhere us to go, Gambit. Some of us have been left out when we're only kids. Some of our powers aren't exactly strong like yours."

"You one of those kids?"

She tightened the grip on the steering wheel. "That's personal," she said stiffly.

"Well, we have a long drive."

Hayley chose to ignore him. She didn't want to get into that with someone that she knew that she couldn't trust. Last night and this morning's events proved him to be untrustworthy.

"Fine, fine." Gambit sighed and fidgeted in his seat. "How much longer will we be in this damn car?"

"A lot longer if you don't keep your mouth shut," she snapped.

He laughed. "You sure are something. One minute, you showing love to Remy and the next, you're ready to rip my eyes out." He chuckled softly. "Looks like you really got my charming power suppressed."

"Yeah and you're still difficult to deal with," she muttered. As handsome as Gambit was, he sure thought a lot of himself. Maybe to compensate for other things and that she let out a giggle.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Oh nothing," she said quickly.

"So mon cherie, got a man at this school?"

Her knuckles turned white. She held back her tears and waited a few seconds before answering his question. How would she answer it? It wasn't as if they had broken things off but he wasn't there anymore.

"It's complicated," she finally said.

Gambit raised an eyebrow. "What you mean?"

"I said it's complicated and we're just gonna leave it at that."

Gambit stayed quiet for a minute but spoke again. "Well, joli, I'll tell you something. If a guy makes things complicated with a beautiful girl like you, then you don't deserve him. You deserve better."

Professor was right. This guy was exactly like Logan in almost every single way. She couldn't help but be touched with his words and the fact that he wasn't pushing her on this.

"He left."

The words slipped out of her. For some reason, she let it out.

"Left? Broke up with you?"

She shook her head. "No no, he just.. left the school. Left without giving an explanation. He just told me he was leaving." She smiled wistfully. "He's always been the kind of guy to go off on his own. A traveler, just trying to find answers to his life. He's done it once but came back. I thought he would, this time around." Her voice trailed off.

"How long has it been, cheri?"

"Couple months." Two long months.

"You love this guy?"

She paused. "I do. I did." She sighed. "I don't know."

"I don't see why you're moping over this guy. Seems like he don't care much about you if he's left you twice."

She wanted to glare at him but hearing that for the second time from another person made her feel pathetic.

"Sounds to me Hayley, you need to move on with your life. And if this guy comes back, well, Remy can take care of him for breaking your heart," Gambit said with a wink.

Hayley had to laugh. Gambit was a nice guy when he wanted to be. "Thanks." She looked at the GPS. "We'll be home soon," she said. "We'll be home soon."

So I didn't expect to get an email, telling me that people have added this story to story alerts for themselves.

I got about 7 emails the past three days.

Thanks guys. I appreciate it.