Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High.

After an early dinner everyone, even Gambit, helped to clean up the dishes and bring the few tables back inside the house. The boys changed into the swim shorts the girls had brought for them and they all raced back down to the beach. Gambit didn't believe in swimming, so he alone sat on the beach playing cards and watching the teens have fun in the water. He felt like their babysitter, but then again, that was sort of the point. That was the reason Xavier sent him: to watch over Ivy and her friends because Xavier, like Spencer, knew something was coming and wanted them to be prepared and protected for when it did. Gambit stopped playing to look out at the group. They were just kids. They didn't know what it meant to have the weight of the world riding on their shoulders. They didn't understand that they were chosen and meant to protect humans. They were so fun and alive. Something he hadn't felt in years. Something none of the X-Men remembered. They'd been so busy trying to save a world that didn't accept them that they'd forgotten what it was like to just... Be.

He sat watching Magenta and Dara attack Lash and hold him under, he watched Layla race Speed, who figured out he couldn't swim as fast as he could run, He watched Zach, Ivy, Will and Taylor play a not so effective version of Marco-Polo, and he watched Warren sit with his bare feet brushing the edge of the water, reading. He and Warren were more alike than Gambit would ever admit. Gambit was without a doubt the social butterfly of the X-Men, but there was nothing he enjoyed more than his solitude.

Ivy finally dragged herself out of the water, and she fell beside Warren on the sand. He didn't take his eyes from his book until Ivy took it from him and threw it behind them.

"Earth to Warren." She waved her hands dramatically as he stared at her.

"Can I help you?" He sounded annoyed and tired, and not amused in the least.

Ivy's happy expression faded a little. "What's the matter with you?"

"I was reading." He got up to get his book out of the sand, and Ivy jumped up after him, grabbing his hand and yanking him as hard as she could towards the waves.

Had she been normal, her effort would have failed instantly, but lucky for Warren, she was stronger than human due to her feline genes. Warren went crashing into the waves, and the rest of their friends laughed hysterically when he recovered and stood, smoke rising out of him. Ivy smiled mischievously and jumped back into the waves, throwing herself arms first at Warren, dragging him under again. When they both resurfaced he grabbed her by her waist and threw her off him. He waded back to the shore and stalked out of the water, his jeans heavy and sticking to him. He growled as he took Ivy's towel and pat himself dry. He grabbed his book and headed for the house.

"What's his problem?" Dara scoffed as she let go of Lash.

"I don't have a clue." Ivy followed Warrens example and left the waves, grabbing her wet towel and white sarong and following him up the beach, tying her sarong as she went. She caught up with him and grabbed his hand. "Hey, calm down, Warren. I was just playing around."

"Well don't." He ripped his hand from her grip and continued walking. He passed a watching Gambit and went straight into the house. Ivy stood staring after him, and caught Gambit smiling in pleasure at their dispute. She looked back towards Warren and chased after him again. She found him in the kitchen drinking a soda.

"What's wrong with you? I was just trying to get you involved. You've been cranky since dinner." She stood arrogantly in one of the doorways so he couldn't get passed her. He looked at her and moved to go through the other. "Stop it, Warren. Talk to me."

He whipped around, eyes flaring, reflecting the fire he was trying hard to keep inside. "You think I don't see the way that ass looks at you?" He threw his soda can at the wall, causing in to explode and spray everywhere.

Ivy took a step back in fear at his burst. "What are you talking about, Warren? Who?" She was thoroughly confused.

"Gambit!" As soon as he said it, he regretted it. He watched Ivy's own anger flare into her face, and her hair turned a bright, flaming red.

"What about Dara?" Ivy threw her towel onto the floor. "Making her dinner?" She put her hands on her hips defiantly.

"What about Dara? She's a friend! If Layla or Magenta or, hell, if Taylor asked I'd make them dinner, too!" He screamed at her, his voice rumbling and making Ivy shiver.

"She likes you, Warren! And you're making her dinner!" Warren had a complete look of shock on his face.

He shook his head, "She what?" He really hadn't known.

"She likes you. She's been liking you for months." Ivy's hair faded back to white.

Warren closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, she doesn't. She likes Trent, she told me."

"She was trying to make you jealous." Ivy dropped her hands, and her shoulders hunched a bit, making her tall frame see so much smaller than it really was.

"Well that's too bad for her." Warren crossed the kitchen in two steps and wrapped Ivy in his arms completely, kissing her before she had a chance to think. She enclosed her arms around Warren's neck, and he gently lifted her off the ground, just enough that her head was above him and she had to look down at him. She withdrew from the kiss and watched him watch her. All his anger had been replaced with something else entirely, but she couldn't tell what, exactly. He lowered her to the ground, but didn't release her. She looked up at him and kissed him again softly, before hearing a cat-call from the doorway behind them. They both turned their heads, neither one letting go, and they saw everyone crowding at the door, bright smiles on all, except Dara and Gambit.

"It's about time, man. We were starting to worry it was never gonna happen, yo." Zach beamed from behind Layla.

"Can it, Glow-worm." Warren growled at Zach, who laughed off the threat and went into the kitchen.

"Whoa, whoa there. Talk about hostile." Zach shook his head as he picked up the remnants of the soda can.

"Oh, here. I'll get that." Ivy tore herself away from Warren and took the can from Zach. Layla helped her to clean up the wall, as the rest took quick showers and changed into dry clothes.

Once everyone was changed and dry, they returned to the now dark beach to light their bonfire. The group sat for hours talking and laughing, and deciding that they would all go to prom, including freshman Dara. Gambit had stayed back from the bonfire, a safe distance away so they were still in sight, but so that he couldn't be involved in the conversation; he wasn't feeling too social. Once the conversation had died down, and Lash and Taylor had gone back to the house, Layla tore herself away from the rest to see if Gambit was OK.

"Hey." She stood awkwardly, waiting for him to respond.

"Cher." He smiled as he looked up at the redhead.

"Did you wanna sit by the fire? It's getting cold." She smiled warmly, hoping he'd decide that he wanted to actually spend time with them.

"Gambit like da cold." He continued to watch her.

"Oh. OK, well, um, if you change your mind--" She gestured behind her, "We don't mind if you want to--"

Gambit laughed at the girl. "Gambit is tankful for da offer."

She smiled again and left him. He watched her return to her friends, who hadn't seemed to notice she'd been speaking with him. He hadn't realized his attention had wondered to Ivy, until she and Warren stood and walked hand in hand towards the house. Gambit felt a spark in his hand, and looking down he'd lit the card he was holding with his kinetic energy. He smiled at the Queen of Hearts, and he withdrew the energy funneling it back into his body.

I know, finally, right?

Miser... What do you think? =\