MAGNETIC ATTRACTION

Part Two

Remy LeBeau rolled over to find his cigarette packet on Wanda Maximoff's nightstand. He exhaled a long sigh of exhaustion as he put a cigarette to his lips, picked his lighter up and torched it up. He put one arm behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.

Wanda Maximoff, the young woman he'd just spent the last twenty-eight minutes being intimate with, was lying on her stomach, stark naked, ankles up in the air, feet twirling absently. She reached over to take the cigarette from him and she took a long drag from it.

"Your daddy gon' kill me if he finds out 'bout this. He could walk in at any minute, you know," Remy threw a look towards the metal door of Wanda's room; it was a former locker room in the warehouse that Magneto now used as his headquarters. It wasn't much of a conversion. Worn brick walls, cold stone floor, and narrow frosted windows that were barred on the outside. Wanda's posters of popular goth and punk bands, and her meagre pieces of furniture did nothing to make it any more appealing than it been when it'd looked like a locker room.

"He's on the phone," said Wanda, she passed the cigarette back, "with Xavier. Whenever they get on the phone with each other these days, it goes on for hours. They have these long debates that never seem to end. He's not gonna walk in anytime soon..."

"But still..." Remy took another drag of the cigarette, and exhaled a long stream of smoke into the air, "you never know."

"I'm eighteen, he can't do anything to stop me from sleeping with anyone I want to sleep with," Wanda pointed out, she reached to him and trailed her fingers across his chest in a light circling tickle.

He met her gaze, "he'd be shocked at the things you did to me."

"I think you were shocked at the things I did to you that first time," Wanda smirked, her dark blue eyes twinkled with that hint of near-insanity that always slightly unnerved Remy yet at the same time got him harder than granite.

Remy LeBeau had to admit to himself, that yes, she had definitely surprised him. The first time, and the several other times since, had been incredible, explosive and unbelievable. Never before had sex been as intense as it was with Wanda Maximoff, and he'd been with many women so he had plenty of experience for comparison. Perhaps what most surprised him about this whole purely sexual relationship was that it had happened at all. Wanda had always given him the indication that she couldn't stand being around him.

While Remy had been used to women throwing themselves at him frequently – having the gift of looks and charm – he'd never expected Wanda to be one of them. When she'd thrown herself at him (an act he was sure had come out of sheer boredom on her part), he'd only done what any other twenty-one-year old man his age would have done. He wasn't about to turn down a free roll in the hay with a gorgeous young woman.

Occasionally, it occurred to him that perhaps he'd done the wrong thing by entering into this odd casual sexual relationship of theirs. After all, as beautiful as she was, and as good as she was at what she did, she was still as crazy as a bag of rabid ferretts. Unstable people were unpredictable...although to be fair, sometimes it was that unpredictability that was the exciting part.

Taking another drag of the cigarette, he exhaled then asked,"Don't you ever get afraid he'll walk in some day? That door doesn't have a lock...he could just waltz in here and catch us."

"Even if it did have a lock, do you think it'd stop him? He controls metal...he'd still get in regardless," she sat up on her knees, her body highlighted by the flickering flames of the collection of candles on each nightstand. "Besides," she climbed over him, straddling his hips, "you know it's the thought of him catching us that makes this thing so hot," she leaned down and pecked his lips.

He couldn't deny that. While being secretly afraid of what Magneto could do to him should he find out that he was being intimate with Wanda, the thrill of risk of being caught was certainly what made it all so appealing. Nothing ever made sex so appealing as the urgency to get it done before being caught in the act.

"Ready for round two?" she asked with a soft chuckle as she took the cigarette from him and stubbed it out against the wall before tossing it onto the cement floor.

"You have to ask?" he asked. For several minutes, they kissed deeply, wrestling for control of top position, which was always Wanda's favourite type of foreplay. Her low throaty chuckles made him ache, as did the very light but teasing way she swept her tongue against the edge of his ear. They'd barely begun when a loud yell interrupted them both and they both looked at each other, blinking as Magneto's booming voice of authority called for each of them.

"GAMBIT?! WANDA?!"

Remy dismounted quickly, reaching for his pants and yanking them on as quickly as he could, not even bother to look where the underwear he'd been wearing earlier had disappeared to. He swore under his breath, "fuck!"

"Calm down."

"I told you we'd get caught..."

"Relax. He's just calling for us, he won't know," Wanda rolled her eyes at him, she pulled her dark red t-shirt on and then stood up to look for her underwear. "You go out first," she instructed, as she found her panties hanging from the edge of the bed; she pulled them on quickly, and then grabbed her leggings and stepped into them, hopping around a little in the process, "check no one is outside the door first though."

"Maybe we should just stop this," Remy stepped into his boots and made a poor job of tying them. He yanked his t-shirt on quickly and then the shirt he'd worn over that, hoping that nothing was inside out. He glanced in Wanda's old and slightly cracked mirror, his reflection looked decent enough although he looked slightly flushed.

"You don't mean that," Wanda remarked, "now go."

Remy slipped out of her room quietly after checking that no one was around; everyone seemed to be in the living area, which was at the very back of the warehouse right above the office and mess hall. He drew a breath and made his way across the cold warehouse, and then up the metal stairs, the creaking and clanging of each step in protest drew the attention of everyone up there.

Piotr Rasputin was in the way, standing there in his hooded bathrobe (a horrendous fluffy brown thing that sometimes made him look almost like an oversized teddy bear), Remy could see see only a little of Magneto standing behind, and a rather put-out looking Pietro Maximoff. Lance Alvers was nowhere to be seen, but Remy was almost positive he'd heard the boy say something about having a date with one of the X-Men.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" Remy asked casually as he reached the final step and moved into the living area.

Piotr moved out of the way, and Remy saw that there was someone else standing there. Someone he had not expected.

Rogue.

He was in perfect control of his reaction, and he maintained unsurprised as he approached, "Rogue," he said, drinking in her slightly withered expression.

"What is she doing here anyway?" asked Pietro, sounding rather offended by the girl's presence. His tone spoke of his complete disdain, while somehow still maintaining his level of minimal interest.

Magneto spoke up, "Where is Wanda?" he asked irritably.

"I'm here!" yelled Wanda from downstairs, Remy glanced over the edge of the rail to see her arriving, she'd fixed her short black hair so that it looked neat, and she'd even put on lipstick to replace the coat he'd kissed away half an hour earlier. As everyone's attention fell to Wanda as she came up the stairs, he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt just to be sure none of it remained on his lips.

"Where were you?" Magneto frowned.

"I was watching True Blood," Wanda folded her arms. "What's going on? Why's she here?" she gestured to Rogue. "The X-Men kick her out or something?" she asked coldly.

"Where's Avalanche?" Magneto looked around.

"He's out on a date with pretty Kitty from the X-Men," said Pietro coldly. "He's probably gonna be a while, he bought condoms so he might be getting lucky tonight. Or at least...he thinks he's gonna."

Magneto frowned; Remy was always aware of how Magneto didn't like discussions of a personal nature being brought up while he was in the room. He'd made it quite clear that whatever the Acolytes with did in their personal time was their business as long as he didn't have to hear about it, then he was quite willing to let them come and go as he pleased.

Rogue's expression was a little sour at the mention of her friend perhaps having sex tonight. Remy wondered if it was jealousy that she herself would never know that pleasure, or if it was simply that she disliked the way Pietro spoke of her friend in that manner. Remy felt very sorry for her either way, as she stood there with Magneto's arm around her shoulders, her sports bag dangling from both her hands, her face revealing how very self-conscious and out of place she felt.

"So are you going to tell us what's going on?" Wanda asked impatiently, looking between her father and Rogue.

"I guess we will go on without Avalanche. I'd like to announce that we have a new member. Rogue will be joining us, and will be living here from now on."

"Oh come on..." Pietro gaped, "seriously? She's one of the X-Men. She's probably spying for Xavier or some shit."

"Language," warned Magneto, his face turning a little red as it always did when he had words with his son. "Rogue is no longer affiliated with the X-Men. From this day forth, she is an Acolyte, same as the rest of you, and you will treat her like one of us," he explained.

Rogue looked between them all, saying nothing. Her dull green eyes spoke of how truly uncomfortable she felt amongst them all.

"This does not mean pick fights, this does not mean harass her about her reasons for being here, and this does not mean spy on her or cause any trouble regarding her stay. Is that clear? You will respect her, and treat her nicely, or you will have me to answer to."

Pietro and Magneto exchanged glances; Pietro had that slight look of fear he always had when his father gave him that look. Remy could only smirk at this. He just loved when Pietro was put in his place.

"Welcome to the team," said Piotr, his tone genuine and warm. Remy had expected him of course to be the most welcoming; Piotr was a farm boy with a generous nature which had always left Remy wondering why he'd even stayed with the Acolytes at all and hadn't moved on to the X-Men who were more his type of people. He'd always thought of even suggesting it, thinking that the boy would probably be much happier where the people would appreciate his kind of nature much more openly.

"Thanks," Rogue said, her cheeks turning slightly pink. Remy could see she was trying hard to be cool and composed, her dull olive eyes were expressive, even if the rest of her face had stayed hard.

"Now, Pietro," said Magneto, looking down at his son, "I'd like you to show Rogue around, show her where everything is, and where her room is. I've assigned her the old janitor room in the basement."

"You want me to be the welcome wagon?" Pietro asked incredulously.

"Actually..." Remy stepped forward, "let him off the hook, boss. Let me show her around, we're old friends," he reached over and took the bag from her. He glanced up briefly to see Wanda look at him strangely as he did so and he tried to give her the look that said he was just trying to act natural so that her father wouldn't suspect what they'd been doing.

Magneto nodded, and gestured for Rogue to follow him.

"Always the suck up," Pietro muttered, his eyes burning with hatred for the older boy.

"Pietro, a word," Magneto said, grabbing his son by the shoulder and dragging him off. Remy watched with delight as they disappeared downstairs ahead and went into the room marked 'Office' which was Magneto's personal quarters.

Rogue chewed her lip as she followed Remy down the stairs slowly. "Are they always like that?" she asked, her voice somewhat low, as if she were afraid of being overheard.

"Mostly," Remy admitted, he pulled the strap of her bag over his shoulder, his hand grazing the smooth banister of the spiral staircase. "So...you've come over to the dark side, huh?" he teased, as he reached the bottom of the staircase he waited for her, and watched her take each step.

He couldn't deny he was incredibly surprised she'd decided to come here. This wasn't the comfortable mansion she was used to, and the people here weren't the nice friendly and genuine people she was accustomed to (perhaps other than Piotr). It'd be a rather rude awakening for her, even if it was – as far as he had heard – the second time around for her.

"Ah guess," she shrugged.

Remy led the way to a door which led down another spiral staircase into the basement area, he turned on the light before making his way down, "got to say, I'm a bit surprised. Didn't think I'd ever see the day you just ditched your cause and decided to join the wrong side," he admitted.

"I didn't ditch my cause," she responded calmly, still following him. "I just...needed a change."

"Well, you'll find a big change here," he admitted. "First thing I should really go over with you is the basic rules here," he explained as they walked. "Do what you like, come and go as you please, as long as there isn't anything planned..." he continued, "Magneto is cool with you going and doing what you like out there in the big world..."

"That's kind of cool, Ah guess," Rogue admitted.

"There's exceptions," Remy noted, "No alcohol and definitely absolutely no drugs. He has a zero tolerance policy regarding them. You do either...your ass would be out the door so fast, you'd think you'd time travelled."

"Okay then."

"Also, there's a rule about bringing friends in. It's not like there's anything for us to hide here or whatever, but..." Remy paused, "All the same, no friends are allowed in, and definitely no dates. You bring a date in here, it's definitely asking for trouble."

"That won't be a problem," she responded, sounding oddly bitter.

Remy found the door marked 'Janitor' and opened it, stepping in as he flicked the light switch. It was a windowless dingy little room, but it had been set up with a simple metal cot and some clean sheets at least. For now there was no other furniture other than a metal chair.

"I see Magneto had a bed set up for you," he put the sports bag down on the bed. "I know it's probably not what you're used to...it's definitely not the Hilton or Waldorf Astoria..."

Rogue moved to stand next to him, still looking down at the bed, "It's fine. Ah didn't expect anything special-" she stopped, her nose wrinkled and she turned to look at him, "what's that...smell?"

"What smell?" he blinked, he sniffed, wondering if perhaps somehow she'd managed to smell sex on him.

Rogue moved over to the nearest wall, slipping one of her gloves off and reaching out to run her bare fingers against the bricks, she examined them, her fingers glistened with water.

"Oh, the damp," Remy chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully as he looked down at her hand. "It's an old building, some of the rooms are like this," he reached out and touched the wall himself, it definitely felt cold and wet and almost slippery. "There's probably somethin' that can be done. I can look into it..." he offered.

"No...you know what, it's fine," she said resignedly.

"C' mon. Let me show you the rest of the place. On the bright side, it doesn't get much worse..."

Rogue hadn't expected Remy LeBeau to have rejoined with the Acolytes. When Magneto had called his name upon her arrival so that he could announce her joining the team, well...it had come as a shock. She honestly had thought she'd never see the boy again.

As she followed him from place to place in the warehouse, her thoughts were clouded with memories of the last time she had seen him back in Louisiana, when he had essentially tricked her into helping him. She'd never quite forgiven him for doing so, and was finding it hard to try to keep from broaching the subject and asking for a proper apology.

Still, a long time had passed and if they were going to work together on this team then she supposed she should just let it go. There were more important things to worry about...like Magneto's plans to help her. She wasn't sure what he had in store, or if he had already started working out what he'd do, but she was sure in her heart that he'd find a way to do something for her.

Their tour ended in what Remy referred to as the mess hall; Remy was a gentleman, and let her enter the room first, holding the door open for her and switching the light on for her as they went. The room was split between a large dining area, and a kitchen hidden behind hatches which were all closed.

Rogue glanced around; the room was painted with cream emulsion and as far as she could tell, was definitely the brightest and warmest place in the entire warehouse. As she stepped into the middle room, she ran her glove idly along one of the dining tables, which was surprisingly clean. "So...who does the cookin'?"

"We all do our own thing, really. Most of the time the others too lazy to even bother cookin'. They order pizza, or Chinese. Sometimes they bring home a bucket."

"So no one cooks?" Rogue raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think I seen Alvers, or the twins in here actually attempt to do anything that wasn't with the microwave or the toaster," he explained.

"What about the big guy?" Rogue asked, "He didn't get that bulked up by eatin' fried chicken."

"Colossus?" Remy asked, "he cooks every now and then, but nothin' more complicated than an omelet, or bacon," Remy replied as he moved over to the door leading into the kitchen area, he disappeared and then one of the hatches was rolled up with a shuddering, scraping crash.

"Ah know you like to cook," she admitted, she folded her arms casually.

"How you know somethin' like that?" He leaned out of the hatch.

"We've touched," she reminded, "Ah've seen your memories, Ah know about the things you like."

"You might know some of the stuff 'bout me, but chere, you ain't barely scratched the surface," he stated, smirking all the while, "if you like, Gambit will cook for you some time."

"Ah'm not a fan of squirrel gumbo, just so you know," Rogue moved up to the hatch.

Remy let his elbows rest against the counter between them, and he met her eyes, "Tell me what you like, chere, I'll cook it for you," he said, feigning a whimsical and dreamy tone. "Anythin' you want."

"Cut the cute act, it's not workin'," she smirked at him, she pushed a gloved hand against his face and shoved him back a little.

He chuckled but resisted, he leaned up, "okay, just checkin' to see if you still have your wits about you."

"Why wouldn't Ah?" she asked with a nervous laugh.

"Because..." Remy seemed to almost look momentarily concerned, "you're here," he finished the thought. "You're a smart girl, Rogue. You know this place ain't a bed of roses. Either you completely lost your senses and your self-respect..." he commented, "or..."

"Or?" she frowned, feeling slightly antagonised now.

"Or..." he shrugged, "you're gettin' somethin' out of it."

Rogue tried to remain composed, but she was sure he must have seen her face darken. She fought the urge to pick a fight on this. Just keep your mouth shut. The more you tell him, the more he has to use against you later, she reminded herself. It's none of his business why you're here...he's fishing, that's all.

Remy came back around to the dining area to meet with her, and he stood inches away, still looking her in the eye. "I ain't stupid, chere. I know there's only one reason you'd sell your soul to the devil. And that reason...is that he told you he can fix you."

Up until this point, she'd held onto her irritation a fair bit, but now the anger refused to be held back any more, and furious, she pushed her hands against his chest and forced him back a foot away from her. "What the hell does it matter to you? You afraid you won't have my power to fall back on the next time your daddy gets himself kidnapped by the Rippers?"

Remy steadied himself, "C'mon, Rogue. That's ancient history."

"Which you never said sorry for," she pointed out coolly.

"If you'd given me the chance back then, I would have," he promised. "But you interrupted me, you didn't want to hear it back then. So it never got said. But I got no problems sayin' sorry when sorry is due."

"All right," she folded her arms and waited. "Go on then..."

He blinked, and took a moment, he looked around the room, almost as if he were looking for the right words to be painted on the wall for him to repeat.

"Ah'm waiting," she said, she glanced at her watch and tutted.

"How sorry do I need to be? Should I be on my knees to do this?"

"Sure, get on the floor like the dog you are," she gestured.

He gave a strange laugh, but sure enough, he dropped down to his knees, and took her gloved hand within both of his, "I'm so sorry that I dragged you all the way to Louisiana without bein' straight with you that I needed your help to save Jean-Luc."

Rogue yanked her hand away from him, "that's a really pathetic attempt at an apology," she admitted.

Remy paused, thought some more, then added, "I know it wasn't what you needed, I know it was selfish and that I should have been honest..."

"And?" she asked.

"I'll...never do it again?"

"And?"

"And..." he frowned a little, searching for a response, "I'll make it up to you."

"How?" she demanded.

"I'll find a way," he promised. "Can I get up now?"

"Fine," she gestured him to stand, "and you're not off the hook yet."

Remy grinned at her, but then his smile suddenly seemed to fall quickly, and Rogue saw that he was looking beyond her, his face seemed to go from light to sombre in a matter of seconds. She turned to look behind her to see what he was looking at.

Wanda Maximoff was standing there, her expression somewhat dark. Rogue knew from experience that whenever this girl was around, it usually meant trouble. Those kinds of powers – like her own – were not easily controlled, and it usually meant chaos for all involved.

"Remy," said Wanda, her voice eerily cold, "my dad wants to see you."

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute."

"Now," Wanda responded, and with that, she left the room after throwing one last glance in their direction.

Rogue hugged herself, feeling a slight chill suddenly, "she always like that?"

"Not always," Remy responded, his expression thoughtful for a moment. "Do you think you know your way around enough to find your way to your room and stuff?"

"Ah think so," Rogue admitted after a moment.

"Okay. I'll...see you later."

Watching as Remy left her alone in the mess hall, Rogue felt a strange sense of abandonment. When he was gone, she looked around the room and sighed. She'd suddenly never felt so alone.

Remy stepped into Magneto's private quarters. It was a room in the warehouse marked "Office", although it had been extensively altered since the days it'd served as one. It was a large room, lined with sheet metal and there were no windows, giving it that almost prison like feel. On split level flooring (also metal), Magneto's bed was there, partly concealed behind chain curtains, which slightly shimmered in the low light from the lamp on the U-shaped desk on the more 'officious' side of the room. Magneto had many computers there, some laptops, some touch screen computers, and one questionably old desktop computer which Remy thought may be older than he was.

Magneto stepped from behind the curtain, it made a soft delicate chinking sound as he came down the two steps, his feet making a definitive 'clunk' on the metal.

"You wanted to see me?" Remy asked, he straightened his posture and held his hands at his sides, looking the man straight in the eye. Magneto liked direct eye contact, confidence (but not complete oblivious self-assurance) and respect, and Remy had always made sure to show all three in every one-to-one meeting.

"Yes," said Magneto, he moved to the desk and sat down almost lazily in the leather chair, he put his hands together, fingertips touching almost delicately. The two men looked at each other.

He knows. He knows what I've been doing with Wanda and he's going to kill me, thought Remy, seeing a strange all-knowing twinkle in Magneto's pale eyes. Magneto said nothing for a moment, and just continued to gaze at Remy, as if he were weighing him up. He's probably deciding which one of my balls he's going to keep as a souvenir for a keychain, Remy thought uneasily.

Finally, the man spoke, "I've been considering things a great deal, Gambit."

Remy said nothing, he simply listened. He kept his jaw set, his eyes never left Magneto's all the while. Considerin' how you're going to castrate me? He thought at Magneto.

"I'd like you to lead the team. Officially."

Full of relief and somewhat slightly startled, Remy stared down at his boss.

"You seem surprised. What did you think I was going to ask?"

"I don't know," Remy lied, "maybe to set me up with a job or something..." he shrugged.

"So...how do you feel about taking the team over?"

Remy avoided answering the question by asking another, "Aren't you going to be leading us?"

"I'll be preoccupied, I have some things I'll be working on and I will have very little time to ensure any training is given, or any orders will be properly carried out in the field. This is a young man's game," explained Magneto rather matter-of-factly. "You may have noticed, I am not a young man."

"What about Pietro?" Remy queried, avoiding agreeing with the comment about his age. Magneto still had some youthful good looks, despite a few deep lines on his slightly tanned face, his bright eyes were young and full of life, but the sombre moods, and preoccupation seemed to sometimes throw years on the older man.

Since the team had reformed, Remy had always assumed that Pietro would be taking lead of the team. Perhaps it was because he was after all, Magneto's son and it would have been by default, or perhaps it was just that Pietro certainly liked to think he was the leader when it came to the small team of misfits. Remy had been preparing himself for the day he'd have to tell Quicksilver that regardless of authority or who was in charge, he would never take orders from him, and that should it come to it, he'd leave the team in the dust rather than subject himself to being under Quicksilver's rule.

"Pietro is too impetuous. Actions now, ask questions later. I don't need rash decisions and thoughtlessness. Pietro would lead you all to doom, Wanda is too..." Magneto searched for a way to put it without being too cruel.

"Unpredictable," Remy put in, quietly thinking that the things she'd done in bed with him earlier he had definitely not predicted she would do. "With her powers, I mean," Remy added, hoping Magneto wouldn't sense where his mind had momentarily wandered to.

"Yes," Magneto agreed, "Avalanche lets his temper lead him, and Colossus follows orders very well but doesn't seem to be suited to being able to give them. Then I come to you, who led the team before."

"Briefly," replied Remy. He thought to himself it was less 'leading' and more 'bullying'. Not exactly a tactic he enjoyed using, but in certain cases, it proved successful. Especially when those involved were generally the bullies themselves and sometimes sheer pleasure was to be taken from giving a bully a taste of his own medicine.

Magneto continued, "unlike before, these are not acts of terrorism, we are not trying to gain public attention. We are working for a different cause now, and I need someone who is going to be able to control situations, not make them worse. This is why I have chosen you."

"It's not that I'm not up for the job," Remy replied, although in actuality, he really didn't want to be in charge of any team. He'd always been more interested in doing his own thing, not having to be the one to make decisions and be responsible for others. "It's just...the second time around, I'm not sure they'll still follow me."

"They'll have little choice in the matter if they expect to remain here," Magneto explained. "I'll make the announcement tomorrow, of course. Once everyone is here. Tabitha Smith is joining us tomorrow, that should complete the team."

Remy nodded. Inwardly, he swore, already feeling quite defeated, and he had to force himself to remain focused enough to maintain a calm expression that hid how uneasy he felt about this entire situation. Tensions tightened the back of his neck at the thought of having to take over telling the team what to do whenever they went out there to deal with whatever threats Magneto thought they should deal with.

"Did you help Rogue settle in?" Magneto asked, changing the subject.

"I think so," Remy replied, "she's been shown around, I took her bag down for her, let her see where the mess hall is, showed her where to find everything she needs..." he explained.

"And you have explained the rules to her?"

"I made everything clear."

"Thank you. You may go now."

Remy gave a curt nod and turned to leave; he hovered at the door momentarily, fingers lingering against the handle, but not quite twisting it.

"Is something wrong?" asked Magneto after a moment.

"It's just..." Remy paused, "why is Rogue here?" he asked, although he was almost positive he already knew the answer.

"Her reasons for being here are personal. I did advise not to question about it," Magneto reminded.

"You advised us not to ask her." Still hovering, Remy braved the situation and continued speaking. "She's a nice girl, boss..." he said quietly, "real nice. Not like the rest of us, you know."

"I am not going to turn her into a bad person," replied Magneto, his voice cool, like cold steel. "If your concern is that I am going to utilize her powers-"

"Oh, no, no no no," Remy shook his head quickly. "That never crossed my mind," he said truthfully.

"It is not like you to be concerned about anyone else, Gambit," Magneto observed. "Is there something I should know?"

"Well..." pausing, Remy considered how he should word this. How he should make it seem more business like than personal, not that it was really remotely personal at all. He was just interested. He hated not knowing the full story. "My trainin' as a professional Thief always taught me to look for weak spots."

"And you see those weak spots in Rogue?"

"Yes," he stated honestly.

Magneto paused, "if I'm honest with you," he stood up and paced a little, "I see the same things you do. She is very..."

"Fragile," Remy finished, feeling slightly embarrassed about using the word to refer to any girl.

"Yes. Extremely," Magneto nodded, "but I know you will ensure that this fragility does not affect her ability to work as part of the team. I also ask that you do all you can to help her adjust and settle here, and take care of any issues that she needs taking care of."

"Of course. Thanks, boss," Remy replied, and finally, he left the room, breathing a heavy sigh of relief once the door was closed behind him.

When he arrived at his room on the third floor, he found that Wanda was already there waiting for him, lying stretched across his bed, smoking of his cigarettes. "What'd he want?"

"Nothing important," lied Remy quite well. He wanted to avoid the subject of his taking over the team for now, he was sure Wanda would disagree with the decision as much as he expected her brother would. He'd rather avoid an argument for now and let Magneto deal with it in the morning when he made the announcement.

"Oh come on," Wanda sat up, "he must have wanted something."

"To discuss Rogue."

"Did he tell you why she's here?" Wanda raised an eyebrow, her blue eyes quizzical.

"No. He just said we should be nice to her. I think since I've had a few run ins with her in the past, he wanted to make sure I wouldn't fight with her," he shut the door and stepped over.

"Didn't look like you were doing much fighting in the mess hall."

"I can be civil when needs be," Remy shrugged. "Shouldn't you get back to your room before dear ol' Papa catches you?" he took the cigarette from her and inhaled a long, deep drag, he closed his eyes and let the smoke sink in and soothe him. Right now, it was exactly what he needed.

"I thought..." Wanda began as she reached for the buttons of his jeans and began pulling them open one at a time, "we'd pick up where we left off."

"Y'know, I'm tired..." he admitted; his mind was too full of thoughts and questions, and concerns about being leader to really focus on trying to satisfy Wanda Maximoff's insatiable lust. "It's been a long day."

"Isn't like you to turn down this," Wanda observed, she pushed his t-shirt up a little and kissed his stomach, which made him move back a little as he exhaled the smoke.

"I'm serious," he stated, "I'm tired."

"I'm not," she insisted, she stood up, backing him up to the door. "You weren't so tired earlier," she pushed her body against his and brushed a few kisses against his jaw, roughly handling his groin at the same time, which while sore, was something of a turn on.

"Earlier I was in the mood," he moaned.

"Certainly feels like you're in the mood," she pointed out. "Is this whole...hard to get thing..." she kissed his mouth, "an act?"

Remy laughed uncomfortably against her mouth, for the way she said 'hard' had put very heavy emphasis on the 'h' just for him, and it had been just enough for the moment to shift the situation in her favour. Besides, for now, it seemed easier to give in than spend time arguing over this. In defeat, he mumbled, "I do like to roleplay."

"Mmm, me too."

End of Part Two