Disclaimer: My name is Indy. Or Ash. Or something that I would tell ya'll, except this is the internet. Maybe later. The point is, my name ain't Stan Lee, or whoever created the X-Men.

A/N: You know how when I posted my first fic I had this great gonna-keep-ontrack-by-not-writing-any-fics-I-haven't-already-handwritten-until-the-big-one's-done plan? Yeah, that went flying out the window headfirst when a little something called inspiration came up and smacked me in the face. I'm talkin' plot, characters, dialogue, title, chapters, the whole shebang. The thing's practically already written itself, so I just have to type it up.

It's a ROMY t'ough, so y' can' be too upset 'bout it.

I'm not upset about it. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty darn proud of this story. I just wish I was done with Social Status. But, then again, I don't want the idea to fade, so I guess it's better if I just get it up now while it's still fresh.

Tha's roight, Sheila, gotta keep it fresh.

Ash.

Ooooo, lemme guess. "Ash, Shut up.

How'd y' know?

It's a ratha prevailin' theme from ya, luv.

Hush you two, and lemme get on with the fic.

Prologue: May I Present...

"Chere?"

She turned her head and said, "Yeah, sugah?" rather absentmindedly.

"Can I ask y' a question?"

Now he had her full attention. He never used first person unless he was completely serious. Her heart started beating a little faster. Was he-? Maybe he was gonna…

Carefully keeping her facial expression under control she answered, "Yee-esss."

He took a deep breath and her heart rate climbed again.

"What's y'r name?"

Okay, she wasn't expecting that one. She let out a breath she never would've guessed she was holding and tried to keep the disappointment from both her face and her voice as she answered, "Why do ya wanna know, sugah?"

"Do I need a reason t' know, chere?"

She studied him. He looked absolutely serious, and then there was the first person thing. And of course, the fact that they'd known each other for six years and been dating for four and she still had yet to tell him her real name was a factor…

Thinking she wasn't going to answer, he sighed and looked away. They were sitting in the rec-room with the Institute's other inhabitants, watching a movie. Well, some of them were watching a movie. Remy himself was watching her, and he could see Kurt's tail tracing patterns on Kitty's stomach, while she ran her fingers through the fur on his neck. Jubilee and Bobby were holding hands, and mostly watching the movie. Sort of.

"Marie," she said quietly.

He turned to look at her, his red and black eyes lighting up as he processed the fact that she'd actually answered his question.

"Marie?"

She nodded. "Yeah. My name is Marie."

He gave her a bright, exuberant smile. She smiled back tentatively, and he took advantage of her uncertainty to reach out and lift her onto his lap. Ignoring her quiet protests, he cuddled her against him and simply held her until she relaxed with a sigh of contentment. They didn't exactly watch the movie, but they enjoyed each other's presence and basked in the love they shared as the evening drew to a close.

"Hey, chere?"

"What?"

"Y' wanna go out later?"

Shooting him an exasperated glare as she dove out of the way of a flying robot arm, severed compliments of Remy's charged three of clubs, Rogue answered sarcastically.

"Sure, thang, sugah. Let's go out latah. Although, if ya don' getcha mind offa latah an' inta now, we might be spendin' 'latah' in the Med-Bay!"

Smirking at his fiery Southern belle, Remy charged up three more cards and let them fly into the metal arm about to catch her in its grasp. The explosion knocked her flying, and he offered his hand to her as he passed by.

"Chere, chere, chere," he teased in mock disapproval. "Y' really should getcha mind on now instead o' later!"

Scowling at him, she ignored his hand and shot into the air. Using her super-strength, she punched straight through the eye of one of the robots and it promptly short-circuited.

Floating down to join her boyfriend, she rolled her eyes as the simulation shut down. Apparently, the session was over.

"So, chere," Remy said easily as they left the Danger Room with the group. "How 'bout we go somewhere where we can get some good, Southern food-"

"Forget it, Swamp Rat!" She yelled. "Ah changed mah mahnd. We ain't goin' out t'naght afta ya went an' ticked me off!"

A few students watched, some shocked and others slightly amused as Rogue laid into Remy with a fierce scolding. He bore it patiently, quietly shuffling his cards as she ranted. When she finally ran out of breath, he said, just to clarify: "So, y' don' wanna go out t'nigh'?"

Rolling her eyes she snapped, "No, Ah jus' yelled at ya for ten minutes fo' the fun o' it. O' course Ah still wanna go out."

An amused light entered his eyes and he said, "Well? Which is it? 'Cause y're sendin' Remy mixed mess'ges, chere, an' he's no' sure if he be interpretin' dem right."

Fuming, she stared at him, willing herself not to punch the love of her life through the metal doors behind him. Why is it that he could always get her riled up? He knew the exact thing that would set her off, and if he set his mind to it, he would have her so angry she could hardly see straight in a matter of minutes.

Realizing that the teasing had run its course, Remy dropped his smirk and grabbed her hands, tugging her to him and whispering for her ears only.

"Desole, ma cherie. Shouldn' have teased y'. Remy understan's if y' wan' him t' leave y' 'lone righ' now, but y' should know dat y' tres belle when y' mad."

She stared at him, relaxing despite herself as he rubbed the backs of her hands with his thumbs. He really did look sincerely apologetic, and she was aware that Remy seemed to think that she was beautiful when angry. He'd told her so many times.

His voice dropped even lower as he said, "De trut' is, I wanted t' ask y' somet'in. Alone. Privately."

First person. Her heartbeat quickened. Why did he have this much affect on her circulatory system? Surely that wasn't natural.

His eyes were pleading. Dang those eyes. Stupid, horrible, lovely, sexy puppy dog eyes. How did he pull that off?

"Sil vous plait?"

He heard her breathing quicken. Pleased that he could have this kind of effect on her without using his hypnotic charm at all, he pulled his trump card.

"Marie?"

She closed her eyes and he knew he'd won.

"Ya said ya wanted to ask me somethin'," she reminded him as they left the restaurant. He smiled at her.

"So, I did, chere." Glancing around, he pulled her a little to the side and stood with her underneath a nearby tree.

Watching him, she was amused to see him take a deep breath before turning to face her. Was he nervous?

"I love y', chere," he informed her suddenly. She blinked. Okay. She knew that already.

"I love y'," he continued, "An' I want t' ask y' a very importan' question."

He knelt, and Rogue felt her face heat up slightly as several passers-by stopped to watch.

"Marie." He said her name carefully, as if to be sure he'd get it right. "Will you marry me, Marie?"

For a moment, she could only stare at him speechless as he pulled out a ring from somewhere in that Mary Poppins trench coat of his and held it up to her. The watching strangers held their breath as she gazed at him. He shifted a little, the ground hard against his knees.

Rogue snapped out of whatever trance she had been in and let out a whoop. "Heck, yeah!" Tackling him to the ground and placing a decisive kiss on his willing lips, she laughed in sheer delight.

Chuckling, he rolled over and helped her to her feet. "Well, dat went well," he observed cheekily. She mock glared at him. "Took ya long enough, sugah."

He grinned. "Yeah, well. Remy wanted t' know 'xac'ly who he was pledgin' t' spend de res' of his life wit' before he proposed."

Her eyes widened in realization. "Ohhh, so that's why you wanted to know my name the other day!"

He kissed her again. The watchers were looking at them a little strangely now. What kind of guy proposes to a girl he just learned the name of?

"Oh, Rogue, you look so gorgeous!" Kitty squealed as she adjusted Rogue's skirt for the final time.

Rogue snorted and watched with a raised eyebrow as Kitty skipped around the room happily. In thirty minutes, she was going to marry the most wonderful man in the world, and she just couldn't help but find it hilarious that Kitty seemed more excited about it than she was. Seriously, aside from the fact that getting married meant that Remy was hers, and hers alone, getting married was just the next step in their relationship. Mostly, it meant that she and Remy could share a room now.

"Do you, Remy Etienne LeBeau, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? To love and to cherish, to honor and protect, to have and to hold, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"Do you, Marie Howlett, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To love and to cherish, to honor and protect, to have and to hold, for as long as you both shall live?"

"Ah do."

"I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

He raised her veil and kissed her forehead. The crowd was stunned and she raised an eyebrow. He kissed that too, and grinned at her. Gently kissing each eyebrow, each eye, both cheeks and her nose twice just because he could, he finally turned his attention to her lips and gave them their due.

"May I present, Mr. and Mrs. LeBeau."

At the reception, Kitty approached curiously.

"Your name is Marie?"

Marie gave her a look. "Mah name is Rogue."

Remy stifled the urge to gloat as Kitty backed off quickly. Only he was allowed to call her by her name. It was special. They might all know it now, but heaven help them if they ever used it without her permission. Except him. He could use it whenever he wanted.

"Can we go, chere?" he whined quietly. She chuckled and patted his arm.

"Don' worry, sugah. It won't be long now."

"Bon." His voice became husky. "'Cause y' know how much I wanna show y' 'roun' Louisiana. N' Awlin's is real pretty dis time a year."

She shivered. "C'mon, Kit, where are ya when Ah need ya?" Searching the crowd, and finally finding her friend, she waved her over.

Kitty came up with Kurt in tow. Wanda and John came bounding up a second later. The couple's official send off was about to begin.

Logan kissed his adopted daughter's forehead and slapped Remy on the back. Professor Xavier smiled and wished them a happy honeymoon. Tabby made a few innuendos that failed to ruffle Rogue and caused a thoughtful smirk to appear on Remy's face. Kurt hugged his sister and playfully slugged his friend in the shoulder.

"Take care of mein schwester, you hear?"

Remy grinned. "I will, mon ami."

Rogue groaned good naturedly as Kitty positioned her in front of the crowd of girls. Holding her bouquet of… some kind of flower she didn't really know the name of, she turned her back to them and narrowed her eyes. Remy stood in front of her and through a series of complicated eye twitches, communicated to her the location of exactly the right person. She tossed.

It dropped right into Wanda's hands, to her chagrin.

"You did that on purpose, Rogue!" She protested. "And Remy, you helped her!"

They grinned, unrepentant.

John sidled up and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Awww, anyone would think ya don' want ta get married, luv."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Johnny."

"Make me, luv," he replied cheekily.

She shot him an amused glance before hexing his mouth shut. He pouted.

Rogue and Remy were trying not to fidget as they finally made it out to the car waiting to take them to the airport. They climbed into the backseat with sighs of relief, and promptly fell asleep during the ride, holding each other.

The house, their house, was lovely. A gift from his family, settled in a very cozy spot in Louisiana, it was the perfect place. They weren't quite sure what they were planning on doing about living arrangements, but they figured that if they split their time between Louisiana and New York, everyone would be happy, and they could have the best of both.

He kissed her. Softly, slowly, gently. Taking her hand, he led her to the bedroom. Spinning her around, letting her dress flare out to compliment her every angle, he kissed her again. She drank him in, his scent, his taste, every bit of him. She was married. He was hers. She was his. She smiled against his mouth.

The sound of breaking glass drew their attention then. Frowning, they moved by unspoken agreement to investigate. Venturing out to the living room, they never even saw the shadows until it was too late.

Rogue came to alone. She was completely uninjured, but Remy was gone. Panic set in momentarily, then she came to her senses and scrambled for her phone. Explaining the situation to Logan, she hurriedly gave him directions to the house, then hung up and went to change her clothes. Her X-Men uniform was at the mansion; neither she nor Remy had thought that they would be needing their suits on their honeymoon.

Dressed in jeans and a shirt of Remy's, she paced back and forth until the Blackbird touched down.

Logan scowled as he tried and failed to pick up a scent. Charles frowned in concerned frustration as he tried (and failed) to track Remy through Cerebro. Rogue stretched the empathic link she'd made with Remy from absorbing him so much back when she couldn't touch him. She couldn't find a trace of him anywhere near the vicinity. He was gone.

She didn't return to the Institute with them. Instead, she stayed by herself in her little honeymoon house in Louisiana. She kept to herself. Got a job to pass the time, called the Institute every few weeks. Wanda and John and Kitty and Kurt came down twice, but when she asked them not to come again for awhile, they respected her wishes and let her be, themselves dealing with their friend's disappearance.

They tried and tried. Every time Rogue made contact, Jean and the Professor tried to find Remy on Cerebro, but it was no use. He wasn't using his powers, and he wasn't attempting to make contact psychically. There was simply no trace of Remy LeBeau.

A/N: In this, Rogue can touch only Remy. I don't care how, Make up an explanation. She just can. And she used to not be able to. I hope that made sense to you, 'cause most of it was total gibberish to me.

And also, Rogue has Ms. Marvel's powers if that wasn't obvious. And her "uniform" looks like the one from the 90's show, 'cause I like it better than the Evo version.