Remy couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had just been out strolling around after a successful jewel heist when he happened to come across none other than Rogue, his favorite little X-Man.

Though at the moment, she wasn't exactly portraying the role model image the mutant do-gooders tended to boast. Right now she was past out on a bus stop bench in the heart of New York City. And if the smell of alcohol was any indication she was drunk to boot.

Apparently she had been out partying with her friends and had somehow gotten separated. Why she choose to wear a dress with such a short skirt with her powers was beyond him. Though now that he got a closer look he could see that she was wearing pantyhose.

He looked down each end of the street to see if he could spot any of her friends. He didn't see a familiar face anywhere which meant that they had left without her or she had wandered too far from the group.

She moaned in her sleep and snuggled into her arm a little more. Damn she was cute.

Shaking his head because he knew he couldn't very well leave her there he leant over the back of the bench and tried to shake her awake.

"Cherie." He said and smirked when she peeked an eye open. "Rogue?"

She made a small whimper and rolled her head to look up at him through lidded eyes. She looked confused for a moment before turning over and closing her eyes again.

This wasn't going to be easy. Walking around the bench he squatted down in front of her and shook her shoulder again. "Its time to wake up, chere." He said.

Her eyes fluttered open again and they focused on him. "Gambit?" She asked, the confusion evident in her slurred voice.

"That's right, chere." He said with a smirk.

And then she surprised him by smiling. "Hi there Gambit, what are you doin' here?"

He raised an eyebrow at her out of character response. "Ah think the better question is, what are you doin' here?"

She rolled on to her back and threw her hands into the air. "It's my birthday!" She claimed and then fell into a fit of giggles.

Remy smiled at her. "Well happy birthday, chere." He said and helped her to sit up.

Rogue frowned and looked up at him through the white stands of hair that had fallen in her face. Her frown turned into an adorable pout and she turned her head from him, folding her arms over her chest. "Ah bet ya say that ta all the girls."

He took a seat next to her and slung his arm around the back of the bench. "Happy birthday?" He asked uncertainly. He wondered what exactly was going on in that booze addled head of hers.

"No, Ah bet ya call all the girls chere." She snapped at him still refusing to look at him.

Trying not to chuckle at her antics he took one of her hands in his causing her to look at him, that adorable pout still in place. "Should Ah have a special name for you?"

Her cheeks colored and she looked down, weakly tugging her hand out of his even though he had no intention of letting it go.

He had always liked Rogue. She was sassy and beautiful and just different from the norm to remain interesting even after all the years he had known her. He wouldn't mind it one bit if she found him just as interesting as he found her.

The blush disappeared from her cheeks and she looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "Yeah, ya should!" She said and snatched her hand out of his to jab him in the chest with her finger. "After all the hell you've put me through I deserve more than some common pet name ya use on everyone."

Remy smirked and took her hand back in his, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles he leaned into her, considering her request. "Alright, how about mon amour?"

Her cheeks colored again ad she shook her head.

"No? Mon ange?"

"You're not takin' this seriously." She accused and that adorable pout was back.

He had realized that this was a serious matter. Smiling the next word's just slipped out. "Sha, don' go gettin' angry with me." He said and her eyes lit up.

Sha was a different form of chere or Cherie and something Jean-Luc had only ever called his wife. The same thing went with Henri and Mercy. In his family when someone referred to another as sha, they were talking to the love of their life.

"Ah like that one." she said and then yawned.

With any luck she would forget this conversation and he could go back to chere. But for now he would have to refer to her as sha. A part of his brain that he choose to ignore wasn't as upset about the slip as it should have been. He decided to ignore that part.

"Where are yer friend's?" He asked her and she looked around her confused.

"Ah dunno." She said, standing up and almost falling into the gutter. What was she doing wearing heels that tall if she was going to drink? "Ah coulda sworn they were right here awhile ago. Or maybe Ah left."

Either way it happened she didn't seem too concerned about it.

"Ya want me ta call ya a cab back ta the mansion, sha?" He better not use that word too much or otherwise that's what he would only call her.

Her eyes got wide and she spun around to him so fast that he had to stand to keep her from falling down. "Rogue?"

"Don't take me back!" She pleaded looking up to him. "Logan'll kill me." she whispered.

He chuckled as he put an arm around her to keep her steady. "An' why would he go an' do that ta a belle like you?"

She bit her lip and looked up to him in shame. "Ah wasn't supposed ta drink so much." She said and sleepily leaned her head on his shoulder and yawned. "But there were these boys at the bar who just kept buying us more an' more drinks. Who were we ta say no?" Another bout of giggles.

"Ah don' think he'll get too mad, sha, after all it is ya birthday." He said trying to reason with her.

She gasped and her eyes flew open. "That'll make it worse! He'll say Ah'm supposed ta be responsible." She moved and grabbed the lapels of his trench coat in her hands and pulled herself closer to him. "You won't let him kill me, right?"

No one could have said no to that face.

He licked his lips and enjoyed the feeling of her pressed up against his body. "Well, Ah suppose ya can crash the night at my place." A humble offer to a goddess.

Her demeanor changed so quickly he would have to be sure to check for whip-lash later. "Alright, but no frisky business, Ah am a lady."

"Cross my heart, sha."

It was clear after only a few minutes of walking that she was in no shape to walk all the way back to his apartment. So he hailed a cab and ushered her in. Except she refused to sit on her side of the bench seat claiming that it was wet. Admittedly there was a suspicious smell permeating from that side of the cab. But that's how he ended up with Rogue sitting in his lap and squirming.

She then started to complain about something hard in his pocket that kept poking her in the rear. Ahead of him he could see the cabby shaking with silent laughter. He tried holding her still but apparently she was ticklish and that only made it worse.

Finally they made it to his apartment building and he threw a wad of bills at the man who was now openly laughing after Rogue had demanded to search his pockets for the offending object.

Slamming the door shut he scooped Rogue up into his arms and carried her into the elevator, thankful that it was empty. Rogue's arms had looped around his neck when he picked her up and she was now twirling a strand of his hair around one of her fingers.

"Ah could'a walked in by myself ya know." She said before yawning.

"Ah'm sure, sha." He humored.

She was quiet all the way up to his apartment and didn't speak until he carried her in. "Wow, you must be a really good thief ta have such a nice place." She commented and looked around.

"Ah am a Master Thief." He said proudly. He hadn't glowed at appraisal like that in years.

He walked her over to the couch and gently set her down. He made to stand up so that he could make her a much-needed cup of coffee when she grabbed his hand.

"Don' leave me." She said with puppy dog eyes.

He chuckled. "Don' worry, sha. Ah'm jus' gonna make us somethin' ta drink."

Her eyes lit up and she threw her hands into the air. "Tequila shots!"

"Non, sha, coffee." that adorable pout was back.

"Oh, alright."

He left her to go start the coffee pot and when he returned he thought that maybe tequila shots weren't such a bad idea. Rogue was on her hands and knees with her rear in the air. He could see the black lace top of her nylons a hint of lace that covered something a bit more forbidden.

"Rogue?" He asked, his voice cracking. It hadn't done that since he was a kid.

She looked over her shoulder at him with such an innocent expression he was sure that she was completely clueless as to what she was doing to him. "Ah dropped an earring."

Of course she did.

He walked over to her and took a seat on the couch by her head. "I'll look for it later, sha. Why don' you sit up here with me." He patted the cushion and gave her a charming smile.

She complied. "Do ya have anything more comfortable Ah can wear?" She asked and leaned her head on the back of the couch her eyelids drooping.

She would be most comfortable in nothing at all. In his bed. Beneath him.

"Gambit?"

He blinked and refocused his attention. "Ah think Ah got a shirt around her somewhere ya can borrow." He muttered still fantasizing about her wrapped up in his sheets.

Standing up he pulled her into his room with him so that she can use his attached bathroom to change. Opening up his top drawer he pulled out an old worn long-sleeved shirt that he had had for years.

When he turned around to give it to her, however, she wasn't standing behind him but was snuggled up in his bed and well on her way to sleep. It was almost like she was seducing him on purpose.

"Sha, what are ya doin'?" He asked in pain.

She lifted her head from his pillow in confusion. "Huh?"

God help him she was adorable. He'd have to be sure to share this night with her when she was sober. She'd be beyond embarrassed.

"Don' ya want ta change?" He held out the shirt for her. Rooted to the spot he refused to come any closer to her while she was on the bed. If he was in tackling distance than he would kill himself kissing her.

It wasn't a wholly unappealing thought to die in her arms.

She lifted herself from the bed and walked over to him. She offered him a drunken smile and swayed off to the bathroom shutting the door behind her.

She was going to come out of that bathroom in nothing but a t-shirt. If he planned on surviving this night then he was going to need a buzz to take the edge off. Going back into the kitchen he opened his liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka.

He thought about pulling a shot glass out for only a second before dismissing the idea and taking several large gulps of the strong liquor. Screwing the top back on he stashed it back in the cabinet just as Rogue came out. That sure was a lot of leg she was showing. Maybe he should get the bottle back out.

Rogue had taken her hair down and it now hung around her shoulders in curls. She wandered around the living room in search of him before finally turning around to spot him in the kitchen.

He had never seen her smile so big before. "Gambit, Ah thought you had left me."

He smiled. "Non, sha, just came in here ta pour the coffee." He turned around to get two mugs and heard a loud crash. When he turned around it was to see his side table knocked over and Rogue's legs hanging over the arm of the couch.

"Rogue?" He called out hoping she hadn't hurt herself.

"Ah tripped an' Ah can't seem ta get back up." was the reply he got.

He grinned and poured them each a cup before walking back into the living room. She looked up at him with those impossibly green eyes and smiled at him. She would no doubt deny this ever happened tomorrow, but for now he would enjoy it.

"Let's sit ya up so you can drink." he said setting the steaming mugs on the table and moving around to help her up.

They sat there sipping on their coffee for a moment before he got tired of the quiet and flipped the TV on. He changed the channels around for a moment before finally landing on some old action movie from the nineties.

"Hey, Gambit?" Rogue asked as she set her half full mug back on the table and leaned back into the couch. She pulled her legs up under her and turned to face him. "What's ya real name?"

Whatever he had thought she would say, that wasn't it. No one ever asked what his name was, they either already knew his name or assumed he only went by Gambit.

"Remy LeBeau." He said and watched her.

"Remy." No name had ever sounded sweeter as she thoughtfully tested it out. "Ah like it." She decided.

"What about you, sha, what's yer name?"

She gave him that big smile again. "Ah'll tell ya only if ya promise ta keep it a secret." She whispered as she leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder. He shuddered and closed his eyes in pleasure.

He liked this Rogue. "My lips are sealed." He promised.

"Anna-Marie Darkholme." Her green eyes twinkling in mischief as though she was up to no good.

He hummed. "Anna-Marie." The name rumbled out of his chest and she closed her eyes. Looping his arm around her shoulder he pulled her closer and leaned his head on the back of the couch. That vodka was starting to work through his system and combined with the fact that he had been up all day it was making him tired.

Any thoughts of sleep were immediately drilled out of his head when a delicate and slender hand rested itself on his thigh. He opened one eye and peeked down at Rogue. She was watching the movie, completely unaware of the fact that her hand was so close to a very important part of his anatomy.

And then a thought struck him. She wasn't wearing those sexy little nylons and she wasn't wearing her ever-present gloves. "Anna-Marie." He said and she looked up to him with drowsy eyes. "Where are yer gloves?"

She looked down at the hand on his thigh. "Ah left 'em in the bathroom."

He figured that much. "But why aren't ya wearin' 'em?"

She yawned and her eyes drooped as she laid her head back on his shoulder. "'Cause Ah don' like ta wear 'em when Ah sleep."

He nodded understanding that. "But what if ya absorb me by accident."

"Oh that won't happen." She yawned again and pulled away from him to lay her head in his lap and stretched out across the couch.

He raised his eyebrows. "An' why's that?" He prodded. Had she gotten control of her powers? If so why had she been wearing gloves earlier?

"Ah have ta try an' use my power's for them ta work on you." she said and snuggled into his lap. "But, shhh, don' tell Gambit." And with that said she finally drifted off to sleep.

That was an interesting bit of information she had just shared with him. He would file it away for tomorrow when she was nice and sober. But first he had to test it out by brushing his thumb across her cheek. There wasn't even a tingle of her powers taking effect on him.

Lifting her head off his lap he stood up and smiled when she whimpered at the loss of his heat. Tonight he would take the couch and she could take the bed. But tomorrow when she was nice and sober, she was fair game.

He scooped her up and carried her into his room, laying her gently on the bed and pulling the covers over her body. It was like she was made just for his bed. With a sigh and an incredible amount of restraint he walked out of the room closing the door behind him.

XxX

Rogue woke up to a nasty taste in her mouth and a pounding in her head. The last thing she could remember was Kitty and Jean dragging her into the club, after that everything went black.

Rolling over in the bed away from the sun she snuggled deeper into the pillow. She hummed at the scent of spices that seemed to be engrained into the fabric of the pillow case. It reminded her of something, but what, she couldn't quite put her finger on.

She mulled it over for another minute when it finally came to her. Her pillow smelled like Gambit. But why? She hadn't seen him in months. He better not be stalking her again.

Peeking an eye open the pounding in her head increased five fold but that had nothing to do with the numbness that suddenly over took her. She didn't recognize one thing about the room she was in. Whose room was she in?

Sitting up suddenly caused her stomach to lurch and her head to spin but she pushed through it. She threw the covers off and noticed right away that she was wearing some strange man's shirt. Had she slept with someone last night? Was he even alive?

Jumping out of bed, she stumbled over to the door and opened it a crack to peek out. But instead of seeing a room or furniture or anything, she came face to face with a bare chest. A very well-built and cut chest.

She gave a squeak of surprise and stumbled back, tripping over her feet in the process and landing on her butt.

She looked up to see that the man had walked in and was standing in the doorway. "What are ya doin' on the floor, chere?" He asked.

Of course she would go and get completely hammered before sleeping with Gambit. She would never live this down. Had they used a condom? She wasn't on birth control, what if his demon seed had already taken root in her womb?

Logan was going to kill her.

Finally mustering the courage to look up at him she saw that he was holding a steaming cup of coffee for her. Taking what little dignity she had she stood back up and pulled at the hem of the shirt.

With a mumbled thanks she took the mug and allowed him to lead her into the living room. "So what exactly happened last night?" She asked refusing to look up.

He chuckled and the overwhelming urge to throttle him took her over. She managed to suppress the urge and forced herself to look up at him. "What do ya think happened last night?"

"Ah don' know that's why Ah'm askin', swamp rat." She snapped.

He chuckled again and she fought the urge to strangle him. He seemed to sense the budding murderer in her and gave her a winning smile that made her melt. But only a little bit.

"Ah found ya passed out drunk on a bench downtown, chere." Her face grew hot with embarrassment and she bowed her head unable to hold his gaze. "Ah offered ta take ya back ta the Institute but ya were adamant that Wolverine would kill ya an' asked me ta protect ya. Who was Ah ta say non?"

Oh God, oh God, oh God. Worst birthday ever!

"An' did we-" she grimaced. "Did we do anything?"

The devilish smile on his face made her stomach flip back and forth. "Jus' talked." He assured. "You had quite a few interestin' things ta say, Anna-Marie."

A gasp ripped from her throat as she looked up in horror at him. Why had she told him her name? "Don't you ever use that name." she snarled.

Her wrath fell short when he laughed. "Ah know, ya made me promise not ta tell." She nodded and looked back down to her coffee.

"Is that all Ah told ya?"

Please say yes, please say yes.

He reached over and took her cup from her, setting it on the coffee table by her knees.

"There was one more thing." He said and reached for her bare hands with his gloveless hands.

She snatched them away and jumped up out of the chair away from him. "Are ya crazy! Ah could have hurt you!"

Gambit looked like a true predator as he stalked over and backed her into a wall. "We both know that's not true." He looked hungry.

Oh God, not that! How could she have told him that? She was never drinking again. Not even alcohol swabs to clean a cut.

"Now Gambit." She tried to reason and put her hands to his well toned chest. Oh my, he was warm.

He wouldn't be swayed and so he leaned in and firmly planted his lips on hers. The warmth she had felt in her finger tips from his chest was nothing compared to the fire he ignited when their lips touched and it spread throughout her body.

His tongue darted forward and licked her bottom lip before slipping into her mouth to explore. At some point one hand had found its way to her hip and the connected thumb began rubbing small, soothing circle on her hip bone.

All too soon it seemed like, he pulled away from her and rested his forehead against hers. She didn't open her eyes, savoring the kiss still on her lips. "Been wantin' ta do that for a long time, chere." He said, his breath smelling like chicory from his coffee.

She couldn't form the words but nodded to let him know she agreed.

After another couple of moments that they used to catch their breath he pulled away from her and took hold of her hand in his. She opened her eyes at last to see him smiling down at her.

"So, chere," He said. "Ya wanna go out tonight?"

A/N

Hope you enjoyed please review!