Ya know, after living day after day for years in what could possibly be the loudest place ever, something occurs to me. The key to inner peace. I don't know why I've never thought of it before. I mean, I could have sat in quiet serenity every morning at breakfast while all of the other students around me talked and argued extremely loud in my poor ear.

All the arguments over the bathroom in the mornings, the fights for the shower after a danger room session, getting pissed because someone finished off the milk and didn't bother telling me before I poured myself a nice, giant bowl full of cereal…All of that could have been avoided if I had just thought of it sooner. Ok, maybe not the whole milk deal. I mean, how hard is a simple: sorry, no more milk?

But anyway, what I found out is that if I spend a few hours alone, it just makes my mind...clearer somehow just to get a few hours of peace and quiet when I can just think to myself.

Go ahead; call it stupid, but it WORKS. Of course, finding a few hours to myself can be hard. Around the mansion there always seems to be someone (most of the time several people) around. The only time I could possibly get any time alone during the day is to sit in my room, but even then, it's so loud with everyone talking and music blasting I can't think at all.

But of course, this idea didn't just pop into my head. It came to me accidentally.

Ok, so one night it was storming very loudly outside. Now I hate thunderstorms so of course I couldn't sleep. It was still dark outside (I think it was around five). But I got up anyway and went downstairs. I just sat down there for the next few hours all by myself, eating breakfast, watching the news, reading a book. And it was so QUIET. And for some reason, through the rest of the day, I was so...calm.

Everything that would usually irritate me didn't anymore. Jean's obsessive hair brushing, Kitty's constant use of the word 'like', Logan's annoyed growl (I mean, come ON, someone else besides you can be grumpy in the morning ya know.), Scott's bossiness, Kurt being naive, and Tabatha's soooo unappealing flirtation with every freakin person are just a few things that bug me.

But that day, nothing bothered me. I was like, hey, things could be worse, this is nothing and it's stupid to get mad at such small things.

So yeah, after that day, I rearranged my schedule. I started going to bed at ten (yes, TEN) and waking up at five (yes, FIVE). Somehow, getting a few hours a day alone gave me inner peace.

I got to control the remote and watch whatever I wanted on the TV (something I had never gotten to do in the mansion) and I got first dibs on the orange juice. These were just a few plusses to my alone time.

OH. And did I tell you the best part? It's my favorite part. When I'm up the morning all alone, I don't have to wear my gloves. Sometimes I decide to be bold and go with short sleeves. For a few hours everyday I can be free.

Lately I've been going outside and taking a walk around the block. It's cold, being February and all, but there aren't any people out there either and it's quiet.

I think about, in the two weeks that I've been walking, I've seen maybe two cars drive by. That is why it's such a shock to me today when I'm walkin' down my usual path on the sidewalk and I see someone standin' up ahead leaning against a lamp post. They're leaning up against it in a way that prevents me from being able to see his or her face.

But I can at least tell that it's a guy. Or a woman with a masculine figure maybe.

I start to walk slower and wonder if I should just turn around and go back to the institute. I mean, at this time in the morning-or night-whatever you call it-it could be a rapist or murderer or some creepy mutant hunter. Not that I've ran into a mutant hunter before, but I have heard of them. But anyway, back to the strange man.

I finally decide that hey, I've got poison skin, if the guy tries to attack me, I'll just drain him.

My hands are ungloved, but I've got my jacket on. It's cold and I want to wrap it around me more securely but I decide that it would probably be safer while I'm passing this guy to let my arms hang at my sides, just in case.

I'm walkin' up to him and he doesn't move. I don't even think he sees me coming. He's leanin up against the lamp post and facing away from the road, out of the light.

As I draw closer, I notice that certain things about his figure seem somehow familiar. But that's a stupid thing to say and the lighting really sucks anyway, so what do I know? I get closer and he still doesn't move.

Finally, I jerk my eyes away from him and pass him. For some reason, I feel relieved. I suppose because he didn't try to attack me, but of course, I've only just passed him so he's still got a perfect chance to do it.

Oh what a lovely thought that was, not creepin myself out at all.

Anyway, I've just walked past him when I notice that he's moving. I almost flip out before I remember that the whole mutant hunter thing was all in my head. And besides, he's not moving quickly towards me, he's just lazily standing up straight. That's when I hear his footsteps on the pavement behind me.

I almost flip out again. And by almost, I mean I'm stupid, and I flung my body around and threw my bare hands up in front of me in defense.

I blink a few times at the familiar face that greets me.

From the familiar face comes a familiar voice. "What's a matter, Rogue? You ain't gonna say hello to your old friend, Gambit?"

He tilts his head at me and sends me a grin.

I of course didn't expect this appearance of his, so I'm silent for a moment. He's probably thinkin' right about now that I'm a little brain damaged.

I finally shake myself out of it and relax a little, dropping my hands back to my sides.

"My old friend? The last time I saw you, you kidnapped me!"

"Aw, you know you liked it." He sends me wink and continues on with that stupid grin.

I roll my eyes and try to force down the blush I feel trying to come up. What is it about this Cajun that always causes this affect?

To distract myself, I glare at him and he just grins back of course. He looks exactly like I remember him looking. The same outfit, the same long jacket. I can even see the lump in his jacket pocket on his chest where I know his deck of cards is stashed. The only difference in his appearance that I can tell was that his hair looks to be about half an inch longer.

That and his accent seems to be stronger, but that could be because I haven't heard it in so long.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I blurt out, finally speakin' my mind.

His eyes light up mischievously. Yes, I know that they're red, but I'm tellin you, they got brighter.

"That's for Gambit to know and you to find out, yeah?"

He just gives me that look; that cocky all-knowing look that bugs the hell out of me.

I mean, what does he think he knows anyway? Does he think that even with every rejection, that I really do like all the flirtin? Cause I don't.

"Gambit should be askin you the same thing, you check your watch? Or do you even sleep at all?"

I cross my arms. My hands are startin to itch with the effort I'm making of holdin myself back to keep from hitting him. But of course, in my case, all I'd really have to do is touch him and he'd be on the ground.

But I ain't gonna give him the satisfaction of knowin that he had gotten to me. That was all he was after and I knew it. I had gotten a look into his mind more than once and I knew that that was how he was. Not only that, but I was very reluctant to drain him again since the last time all I got in my head were dirty thoughts. Dirty thoughts that refused to go away for months, longer than anyone's thoughts had stayed with me before. Seriously, he was the most dirty-minded person I have ever drained, hands down.

But back to what I was saying—I'm not going to let him see that he's gettin' to me.

"Say, Rogue, what's goin on in that head of your's, hm?"

He takes a step closer to me and my first instinct is to take a step away. But then I remember that I have to seem unnerved by him and I stay rooted to my spot.

"Nothing, Gambit…but I think I should be getting back to the mansion now."

He makes a face that on anyone else, I would have described as a pout, but the words, 'pout' and 'Gambit' just don't seem to go together very well to me for some reason.

He sighs. "Alright then, if that's what you want…" He takes another step closer to me. We're only about two feet apart now.

I'm going to stand my ground, I'm going to stand my ground, I'm going to stand my ground…

He continues in a low voice. "But before you go," Stand my ground! "You think ol' Gambit could get a kiss?"

I'm going to stand my—WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?

I broke. My whole cool, uncaring demeanor broke. And he could tell. My glare was enough to tell him that. He didn't have to see the brilliant blush that I felt light up—no, excuse me, BURN up my face, or see me take a few steps back and then nearly slip on some loose gravel before balancing myself just in time. No, my glare alone was what told him that he had won.

"Shutup, swamp rat, go crawl back under whatever rock you came from."

A lopsided grin broke out across his face and he looks quite proud of himself. Dumbass. He smirks at me and tilts his head to the side. "But seriously now, chéri," He purrs, "You're not really gonna leave Gambit heartbroken with no sugar are ya'?"

I breathe out loudly through my nose and continue to glare at him. "That wouldn't even work-" I said angrily before cutting it off with another thought, "And I don't like you-"

"Oh, now that's not true."

I completely ignore him and go on. "And you have this special way of annoying me more than anyone else can."

"That's just proof." He muttered.

"Proof of WHAT?"

"You know…"

I just stare at him, expecting him to say somethin to explain himself further but he just stands there and stares at me. Oh it's too much. He is so annoying. No one could get me irritated like this, I was sure. This was why I'd never liked him in the first place. That, and the fact that he was one of Magneto's followers of course.

I sigh. "Ok, if you're not going to tell me why you're here and just stand there and annoy me, I'm going to leave."

I walk around him and back down the street towards the mansion.

"I'll see you tomorrow then.." He says from behind me.

I turn to look at him but am met with the sight of an empty sidewalk. Oooooookaaay…yeah, that's not creepy at all. Weirdo Cajun…

Why was he here, anyway? And more importantly, why was here at this time of all times, bugging me? It seemed like he just showed up for that sole purpose, just to bug me. Or flirt with me sounded more like the proper term. My annoyance was just my natural reaction to his personality.

By the time I got back to the mansion, it was six forty five and I didn't have that satisfied feeling that I usually get after I've had one of my beloved mornings alone.

Gambit had made me annoyed at him, and taken away some of my alone time. I tried not to let it get to me, but I'm not the best person at controlling my feelings sometimes, and I ended up being grumpy all day. All because of that damned swamp rat.

All day I was cranky and I could tell everyone noticed. I mostly tried to stay in my own room. It was actually going ok and I was starting to get a little less grumpy when a very strange thing happened. My phone rang.

Now, pretty much all of the bedrooms in this place have separate phone lines, and they are frequently used. Except for mine. About 97% of the people that I know live here and the three percent of the people that I know that don't live here; I just don't talk to them on the phone very much. So that's why it was strange when my phone rang.

After I stare at it for a moment, I answer. "Hello?"

"Bonjour ma belle," a low purring voice answers back.

"Uh, what?" I ask rudely.

"It means hello beautiful." Gambit.

"Oh God." I slap my hand to my forehead.

"Ain't you happy to hear from Gambit? It took me forever to get this number by the way."

"How did you get this number?" I ask incredulously. "And why did you go to all the trouble? And why are you calling me in the first place?"

Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. But at the moment, I really, really, really don't care, I'm having a bad day.

"Well,"

"Don't call me!"

I hear soft laughter on the other end.

"You wanna know somethin strange, Rogue? I really like it when you yell at me."

I feel my mouth drop open. That stupid...right about now I feel like slamming the phone down and maybe (hopefully) bust his eardrum. I almost did. I had my hand poised over the hook ready to slam when I thought better of it, remembering his all too annoying look of triumph earlier this morning when he had gotten to me.

He would sooo love it if I slammed the phone down right now. Well, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"Well, that's just…lovely," I say through gritted teeth.

I could hear the obnoxious grin in his voice. "I thought you would think so…Now tell me, beautiful, when is Gambit gonna get to see you again?"

I reminded myself of Wolverine as I growled into the phone. I heard him chuckling before I slammed the phone down as hard as I could. I felt satisfied with myself hoping that maybe he at least had a bad earache now before I remembered that he had won.

"UGH!" I clench my fists at my sides, ready to swing at the wall before I think better of it. Breaking my hand was not going to help me right now. I just needed to clear my head.

Not only had that swamp rat ruined my day, but it had also been Saturday, which made me feel like my whole weekend had been ruined. And this train of thought quickly led me to wondering why all of this made me so mad…Of course; it was because he had taken my morning alone away from me.

Or, (another corner of my mind told me) it could be that I was remembering the last time I had spent some time alone with Gambit, and that whole thing had just blown up. I am, of course, referring to the time he kidnapped me. Somehow during that little excursion I somehow came to the point where I actually trusted the guy for two seconds. And, well, let's just say that that turned out to be a stupid idea. But I had excused it since all he had been doing was trying to save his dad…

I take a deep breath in an attempt to settle my nerves. Tomorrow I just won't go for a walk. I'll just stay here in the mansion. I'm not sure what Gambit is playing at, but I'm not going to help him.

Damn Cajun…