008.

"So rumor has it that you completely blew up in Gambit's face last night," Rogue said as the two girls headed back upstairs to their room after breakfast.

Hayley raised an eyebrow. "Who said that?"

"Kitty," Rogue said plainly.

She muttered curses under her breath. The guy hadn't been here for more than 24 hours and already Kitty Pryde was making her advances onto him. She would be the one to spy on him, especially since he had been out with Hayley. "Well for once, it's true."

"Why'd you yell at the poor guy?"

"Cause he was talking about things that he doesn't know anything about," Hayley said stiffly.

Rogue could tell what she was talking about and sighed. "Well, I guess you did have the right to do so." She opened the door to their room. "Who's class are you TA-ing for?"

"Logan's PE class," Hayley said with a grin.

"Lucky you. I've got Storm's science class," Rogue groaned. "I don't get why Professor keeps giving me her class. I hate science! I don't get it! And then I feel bad when the kids ask me questions and I have no idea what the answers are."

"Well it helps when you go over the material, Roguey," Hayley teased.

The Southern girl rolled her eyes. "God, I can't wait for this day to be over."

The two girls went their separate ways. Hayley headed down to the backyard where Logan and the students were already. The students greeted her warmly and she returned the greeting. "What are we playing today, pup?" she asked Logan.

He glared at her. "Soccer."

Logan split up the students into two teams. Hayley was the goalie for one team while Logan was the goalie for the other. The kids growled and catcalled one another, proclaiming their team to be number one. It was always amusing to watch the kids get fired up for these games.

Out from the corner of her eye, she saw Professor in his wheelchair and by his side was Gambit, twirling a stick in his hands. They seemed to be in deep conversation as they made their way around the backyard. She drew her attention away from the two figures and turned back to the game. The kids were her focus right now.

The game started and the kids ran up and down the field. Logan had stated that they were not allowed to use their powers but some of them couldn't help but cheat. After kicking the ball far down the field, Phil teleported himself to where the ball would land and tried to score a goal on Logan. Hayley giggled but after one death glare from Logan, she told the kids that their powers would not be allowed and she blocked their powers. The kids groaned.

"Good job kids. See you tomorrow," Logan said, patting them on the heads. He picked up the ball and tossed it to Hayley. "Kids getting too much to handle? Some of those were some easy blocks."

Hayley raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? You did not just call me out about being a goalie." She dropped the ball to the ground and gave Logan a challenging stare.

He grinned.

Almost immediately, Hayley ran down the field, kicking the ball towards Logan's end of the field. She laughed, pushing him away whenever he approached her and did a few tricks to keep the ball out of Logan's feet. She drew her leg back and kicked the ball hard, sending the ball flying into the goal.

"GOOOOAL!" Hayley shouted. She laughed. "C'mon, am I getting too much for you to handle?"

Logan growled.

"You two always do this after every single class." Professor Xavier wheeled before them with an amused look on his face. "Doesn't it ever tire you?"

"Nope," Hayley said. She looked at Gambit who had chuckled softly. She gave him a nod and he gave her one back. She looked at Xavier. "Is there anything you need, Professor?"

"Actually there is," Professor said. "I was hoping that later, after classes are done, that you two would show Gambit the Danger Room and maybe get in some practice for him there."

Logan snorted. "Is he even ready for the Danger Room?"

Gambit raised an eyebrow. "Well, boss, we can go find out."

Professor and Hayley exchanged amused looks. "We'll do it," she spoke up, standing before the two macho men. "It's fine."

"Thank you Hayley. Come Gambit."

Logan looked down at Hayley once they left. "You are disgusting."

"What?"

"Agreeing to help him train?"

"Well you knew Professor would ask you anyway," Hayley retorted. She grinned. "Afraid he might show you up?"

"No one is going to show me up," Logan growled.

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

Logan had told Hayley to get Gambit from his room and to meet him down at the Danger Room. She reluctantly went to his room. She didn't really want to face him after her blowing up at him. He had taken it all with ease, surprisingly. She had expected some smartass one-liner from him.

Hayley knocked on his door.

His door opened and Gambit stood wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. His hair was wet and drops of water landed on his chest. He had a smile on his face. "Cherie! To what do I owe this special visit?" He winked. "Somebody missin Remy?"

Hayley kept her eyes on his face and nowhere else. "Danger Room session."

"Is that your codename for-,"

"Don't even try that with me."

Gambit smirked. "Aight, cherie. Lemme just change. Unless you wanna come-,"

"DON'T."

He raised his hands in surrender. "Okay okay."

"I'll wait out here."

The door closed again and Hayley let out a breath of relief. She touched her face, finding it to be hot. She hoped that she wasn't red, she hoped that in his eyes, she looked calm and not red and flustered. She leaned against the wall.

Gambit came out, fully dressed and the same stick in his hands. Hayley was rather curious about it but didn't ask. She was still angry with him about the incident minutes earlier. He had a rather amused smirk on his face. "I'm all yours," he said.

"Great," she muttered.

They walked towards the elevator as he whistled a small tune to himself. Hayley pressed the button for the elevator and waited impatiently. She hoped that he wouldn't say anything about earlier but she highly doubted her chances.

"So how does your boyfriend compare?"

"Excuse me?" she asked.

Gambit gave his stomach a pat. "You know what I mean." He smirked. "Guess I win this round."

"Do you really want an ass-kicking?"

"Sounds like someone likes things rough." Gambit stepped up closer to her, forcing her to back up against the wall. "Remy likes things a bit wild himself."

He found himself falling to the ground hard on his ass after taking a hit to the gut and he groaned. "Damn, girl." He got up and received a harsh slap to the face.

"Just shut up," she snapped.

The elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. She could hear Gambit chuckling to himself and then whistling once again. At least he wasn't talking anymore.

The elevator doors opened again and they walked down the hallway and into the Danger Room where Logan was already setting things up. He looked amused and curious at the pissed off look on Hayley's face. "Cajun pissin you off?" he asked.

"Nothing I can't handle," she snapped.

Logan chuckled. He turned to Gambit. "Alright, Cajun. This is the Danger Room. We do all our training here."

Gambit looked around at the rather small empty room and chuckled. "In here?"

"Yep." Logan pressed a button for the Danger Room to begin its session.

Hayley was pleased to see a look of fear pass Gambit's face as the room transformed into a jungle setting. The tall trees looked like they reached the sky as they towered over them. It was slightly humid. Hayley could feel the drops of rain splatter on her face. She looked up and saw that it was unusually dark. The clouds were especially darker, black as coal and she could hear a rumble coming from within the clouds. A storm was coming.

The moon was up but not emitting enough light to be aware of their surroundings.

It was quiet, too quiet.

She giggled when she heard Gambit cursing.

"Shit! Where are we?" he asked.

"Danger Room session. We'll be taking down Sentinels," Logan explained gruffly.

"What the fuck are Sentinels?"

"Robots."

"What the fuck.."

"Just keep quiet," Logan ordered. He nodded at Hayley. "Give us some light."

Hayley opened a palm and a small fireball appeared, giving a little bit of light. She led the way on the trail with the other two men following behind.

"So what are we supposed to be doing?" Gambit asked.

"You can take over now, Hayley," Logan groaned.

Hayley scowled. "Professor wants to see what level your powers are," she hissed. "We all know what you can do against humans. Let's see what you can do against mutants and Sentinels."

"Baby, Remy can take on anything."

Hayley and Logan merely looked at each other with smiles. She looked at Gambit.

"Alright. Let's see." She shot her hand up in the air and let out a fireball into the air.

Out from the tall jungle trees, were two red glowing lights. There were loud screechings of metal clashing against each other. From out of the darkness were orbs of lights and they were all pointing down at the three. The four giant robots towered over them and Hayley could hear one of them charging up.

"Hayley and I will take out one each- let's see how you do with taking out two of them, Cajun," Logan commanded with a grin.

Gambit grinned back. "Don't worry about me, boss."

"Here we go!" she cried and jumped out of the way when the Sentinel launched a missile towards them.

She hit the ground hard and turned around immediately to make sure Gambit was fine. He had leaped out of the way in time and was already in a fighting stance. There was a look of confidence and confusion on his face and he looked up at the robots as if he had nothing to fear.

A Sentinel had spotted Hayley on the ground and lifted its foot to crush her. She rolled out of the way and raised her hand at a huge tree. The tree, ripping its roots apart, flew towards the Sentinel's head. The Sentinel stumbled in its steps but didn't fall over. She focused her power on another, much bigger tree. The tree flew at the Sentinel and this time, caused the Sentinel to fall on the ground with a thud.

Hayley ran towards a tree and hid behind it. She wanted to see Gambit in action so she could report back to Professor.

Logan took out the Sentinel with ease. He was agile and quick, able to climb up the metal plates of the Sentinel and thanks to the adamantium, claw its head off. A Danger Room session to Logan was like breathing.

Gambit was having a longer time taking out one Sentinel but he was looking quite impressive. He was quick, much quicker than Logan. It hit her that he not only could use his kinetic ability on inanimate objects but within himself as well. He was moving rather quickly around, making the Sentinel dance in circles.

She saw him pull a card out from his pocket and throw it hard towards the Sentinel's head. The card exploded once it made contact with the metal. The debri scattered all over the place.

Hayley saw him looking her way with a grin on his face and she found herself smiling back at him. As mad as she was at him, he had been rather impressive.

But then his smile turned upside down and his eyes widened. "Hayley!" he yelled out.

Hayley turned around to find the last Sentinel hiding right behind her. She had been so stupid for not paying attention to her surroundings! The Sentinel must've scouted her and hid right behind her till the very end. She leaped out of the way when its metal foot came crashing down. She tripped over something and fell hard onto the ground.

"Shit!" she cursed and got up to her feet. But the Sentinel knocked down a couple of trees and she did her best to dodge the falling tree trunks. One of the branches hit her in the back and she fell down again. The blow had knocked the wind out of her and she groaned loudly, rolling onto her back.

"Hayley!" she heard Logan call out.

The Sentinel held out its arm and she heard it charging up. Get up, get up! But she couldn't. She had no energy left in her.

The missile hurled towards her but something else collided with the missile, causing it to blow up before it hit her or the ground. She shielded her face as the missile pieces scattered around her.

The Sentinel diverted its attention to Gambit who had thrown another set of cards at the missile. Hayley watched him climb up on the robot, using his stick for leverage. Even from way on top of the robot's shoulder, she could see the red glow from his eyes, his hand and the stick. He hurled the stick straight through the Sentinel's head. He pulled the stick out and jumped down with ease as the Sentinel toppled over.

"Session complete."

The dark jungle slowly disappeared and they were back in the silver blue room. Hayley was still laying down in pain and she did her best to sit up. Logan rushed to her side. "You alright, kid?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she mumbled. Pain shot up through her back.

Logan moved behind her and lifted up her shirt slightly. "You're bleeding, kid. We're gonna take you to the infirmary."

"I don't need to go to the damn infirmary," she hissed.

"Well, kid, I'm not gonna let you bleed to death."

With the help of Logan, Hayley slowly got up and limped out of the Danger Room. Gambit trailed behind them as they walked into the infirmary where Dr. Hank McCoy was. Hayley managed to laugh when Gambit was taken aback by Hank's appearance but she couldn't blame him. No one would ever expect to see a big blue hairy creature playing the role of a doctor.

"Hayley! What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" Hank chuckled, shaking his head.

"Well someone's gotta do something to keep yourself busy. Must be boring to be down here all the time," she joked.

Hank took notice of Gambit and extended his hand. "Dr. Hank McCoy. And you are?"

"Remy LeBeau's the name," he replied with a cool voice.

"We had a Danger Room session," Logan explained. "Sentinels."

"Ah I see," Hank mused.

Logan helped her on the bed, flat on her stomach. She winced when her shirt started to get stuck onto her skin, thanks to the dried blood. "That was my favorite shirt," she pouted.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you're going to need stitches, my dear," Hank said.

"Wait, no. Please don't-," Hayley hated needles. "Can't you just wrap bandages? Please?"

"I'm sorry but these wounds are quite deep. It'll be fine."

"No, please don't," she pleaded, starting to freak out. She hated needles and the idea of a needle going in and out of her body with a string attached did not appeal to her one bit. Her chest tightened and she was starting to sweat.

"Hayley, calm down. It'll be okay," Logan coaxed her. He knelt down before the bed and placed a hand through her hair. "It'll be fine. Stitches aren't anything bad."

"And how would you know?! You heal!" Hayley shrieked. She struggled to get off the bed but Hank wouldn't allow her to move. She looked at Logan with desperation in her eyes."C'mon, please don't give me stitches. I promise I'll never call you pup again."

"Tempting but I can't."

Tears slid down her face as she tried to plead with Hank and Logan. There had to be some other way to fix her back.

"Logan, she needs to calm down. Go hand me that shot."

"A SHOT?!" Hayley shrieked again.

Logan got up and went over to the drawers to retrieve the shot. Hank held her down, trying to console her and let her know that it would be okay. She refused to listen to them.

"Hey belle."

Hayley looked up and saw Gambit standing before. He pulled up a chair beside her bed and smiled. The smile was not of arrogance and flirtation. It was a simple, genuine smile of care. He patted her hand. "It's gon be alright, joli," he soothed.

"I hate needles," she blurted out.

Gambit made a face. "Oui, needles ain't really Remy's thing either. But like the doc said, there ain't any other way to help you. Getting stitches is the only way, belle."

Hayley whimpered. She hated feeling so vulnerable and weak. John and needles were the only two to make her feel this low.

"It's alright, beautiful. No need to cry," Gambit said softly. "I'm here. It'll be okay. You'll be as good as new once Doc gets you fixed up."

Hayley started to feel relaxed. She saw his red eyes glowing and she knew that he was using his charm on her. She wanted to fight it but maybe this time around, it'd be best to let him use it on her. She really needed to calm down her.

"Will you hold my hand?" she whispered. Good God, she sounded pathetic.

He smiled. "Course, belle."

She gripped his hand and shut her eyes. During the entire procedure, Gambit had sang her songs to calm her down. She didn't know any of the songs but there was something so soothing about the songs, the melodies. He had a rather nice voice. It brought her heart rate down to normal. With his other hand, he gently ran it through her hair, pushing back to the loose hair out of her face and behind her ear.

"Done," Hank finally said.

It had seemed like forever but it had only been about 15 minutes. Gambit stood up and helped Hayley sit up right. She winced. Every movement seemed to bring her pain.

"You'll be in pain for a few days, I'm afraid," Hank explained. "You'll need to come back in a week or so to remove the stitches."

Hayley shuddered at the thought of the strings coming out of her. She thanked Hank and Logan for putting up with her stubbornness. She leaned onto Logan for support as they made their way slowly towards the elevator.

The elevator doors opened to the second floor. Logan and Hayley walked out but Hayley stopped. "Wait." She turned around slowly to face Gambit. "Thanks," she said, giving him a grateful smile.

Gambit nodded. "Don't worry about it. Just take care of yourself, belle."

Hayley nodded with a smile. The elevator doors shut and they made their way to Hayley's room. "You really are disgusting you know that?" Logan commented.

"What?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

He helped her lay down on her bed. She laid carefully on her stomach, wincing every second when the pain shot up and down her back whichever way she moved. She sighed in disgust. She hated being put on lockdown because of some stupid injury that could've been avoided had she been paying attention.

"I'll get Rogue to bring you your dinner," Logan said. "You need to just stay put in your bed."

"Great," she muttered.

"It'll be alright kid." He patted her head and walked out of the room.

Hayley sighed and looked at the clock. It read 4:01 PM. Dinner wouldn't be served until 6.

"Fuck my life."

Still getting so many emails about how people are adding this story to their alerts. Thanks everyone, definitely didn't expect this to happen. :)