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Gambit walked casually over to the locker at the train station, checked a recent text on his phone, and then tapped in the code. The locker opened obligingly. He reached inside and pulled out the hotel keycard. He slipped the keycard in his pocket and shut the locker, then headed outof the train station.
His next stop was to the local grocery store, where he picked up a box of chocolates. Then he stopped briefly in the nearby park, where he could sit at a picnic table and wrap the box up in a red ribbon. He stashed the box in the travel bag he had with him, and finally continued to the hotel.
Gambit did a cursory check around the hotel before heading in, just to make sure it wasn't being watched. He didn't think it would be, but he'd thought the same thing three or four months ago and they'd ended up being kidnapped by Mr Sinister's Marauders.
He found nothing alarming, and went inside.
He strode past the front desk and headed to the elevator, hotel keycard in hand, and dark sunglasses over his eyes. He swiped the keycard and pressed the button for the relevant floor.
He could feel his heart pounding as he rode the elevator. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He should be used to this by now. He'd been secretly dating his lady love for two years now. Secretly, because if her family found out she was dating him, they'd probably kill him. He kind of enjoyed the sneaking around, that was just his nature, he supposed, but he could tell it was taking its toll on her.
The elevator doors opened and Gambit walked towards the room she had rented earlier. He swiped the keycard once again, and opened up the door.
His ears were immediately assulted by the sound of his lady love cursing and throwing something.
"Roguey?" he inquired tentatively as he stepped inside.
The room that she had rented out was an apartment type with a proper kitchen, and judging by the array of supplies on the bench, she had been planning on returning the favour and cooking for him for a change.
"The stupid carrots keep jumping off the damn board and onto the floor," she practically snarled.
"Ah, yes, hate that," Gambit replied agreeably as he dropped his bag on the floor. "Would you like me to take care of them?"
Rogue took a deep expression softened as her gaze fell on him. "Yeah, that would be appreciated, thanks. Sorry, I wanted to do this myself, but you're here early and this is pissing me off."
Gambit nodded as he took off his coat and slung it over the nearby lounge. "Yeah, I made much better time getting here than I thought. So, what are we having?"
"Chicken parmigiana," she replied. "With vegetables, obviously. Oh! The sauce!"
She quickly turned to look at the pot of sauce she had cooking on the stove. Gambit held back a comment about how she was home making the sauce and not just using a premade jar. He had a feeling she wouldn't appreciate it right now.
"Smells good," he said instead as he stepped up to the bench to take over cutting the rebellious carrots.
She sighed as she stirred the sauce. "Thanks. I really hope it comes out okay, I..."
Gambit looked up from the carrots at her tone. If she was getting teary over this, she must have been having a very stressful week. He made a mental note to do everything to help her relax and said: "Bad day?"
"Bad month."
"Ah. Still not feeling well?" And immediately became alarmed when tears started dripping down her cheeks. "Did you see Beast? Chere? What's wrong?"
Rogue wiped away her tears with one hand while she stirred with the other. She swallowed, shook her head, then stepped away to get a tissue.
"I... I was going to wait until during dinner to tell you..." she said. "I mean, I... food prep is not the time for this discussion!"
Although worried and wanting answers, Gambit replied, "Okay, well, since we can't exactly put the food prep on hold, did you want us to finish this first before talking?"
"Yes, please." Rogue blew her nose, then sighed as she dropped the tissue into the bin. "Sorry, I know you're concerned and want to know, but it's not a five second answer."
"Fair enough."
She washed her hands, and satisfied that the sauce was not in danger of burning, began crumbing the chicken.
"So, um," Gambit said, determined not to start stewing over whatever it was that Rogue wasn't telling him yet, "I spoke to Jean-Luc the other day. It was actually a pretty good talk for the first time in a couple of years."
Rogue smiled up at him. "Well, that's good. That is good, right?"
"Yeah, it's good. Um, he's invited me over for a family thing in a couple of months, when Henri and Mercy come back from overseas." He set the carrots aside and started on the cauliflour.
"Are you going to go?"
"Yeah, I think I will. Be nice to see Henri and Mercy again."
"Not so sure about Jean-Luc?" Rogue asked as she started frying the crumbed chicken.
"Oh, be nice to see him too, but things have been so rocky between us..." He shrugged. "Just hoping that things will go okay and worried things won't. Figure I'll just expect the worst, that way I'll either be vindicated or pleasantly surprised."
Rogue chuckled. "I can get on board with that logic."
"Heh."
Gambit finished cutting vegetables and Rogue finished frying the crumbed chicken in silence.
"Say, um," Gambit said, feeling butterflies start flying around in his stomach, as he started putting the cut vegetables onto a second frying pan with butter and salt, "would you like to come with me? To meet my family?"
Rogue paused in the midst of putting the chicken on a cooking rack to drain. "You want me to meet your family?"
"Well, yeah, I think so," and realising he sounded dubious, quickly went on, "I would like you to meet, I'm just not sure how it would go down. And not just because of... well, actually precisely because of how rocky things have been between me and Jean-Luc." He shifted his feet as he stirred the vegetables, his eyes firmly on his task. "See, uh, remember how when I asked you out on our official first date, you said you'd only agree if I wasn't working for Senator Kelly anymore?"
Rogue nodded. There was a faint smile on her face, and Gambit knew she was remembering their unofficial dating beforehand. They met on a cruise. Rogue was looking for Senator Kelly's agent, and Gambit was that agent. He knew the moment he saw Rogue who she was and what she was doing there, but he couldn't resist the urge to flirt. She maintained that she only flirted back to wheedle information out of him, but Gambit had strong suspicions she had loved the attention.
"Does Jean-Luc support Senator Kelly?" Rogue asked.
"He supports stealing and maintaining the Guild's reputation," Gambit replied blithely. "He hates refusing commisions for 'no good reason' and me turning down Senator Kelly's stuff 'over a girl I'd be sick of in three weeks' was not considered a good enough reason."
"Ah."
"I'm not sure if he believes me when I say we've been together 2 years. I think he thinks I'm just rejecting Senator Kelly's stuff just to spite him."
"And you'd like me to come with to prove otherwise?" Rogue asked.
Gambit gave the vegetables a good shove with the wooden spoon. "I love you, Rogue. You make me feel happier than I have any right to feel—"
"Remy—"
"And I would like it if Jean-Luc could actually see how happy you make me. Then, maybe, he'd finally understand." He offered her a smile. "Plus I think you and Mercy would get on like a house on fire."
Rogue chuckled. She placed her bare hand on his shoulder.
"You make me very happy too," she said. "I love you too."
Gambit smiled at her.
"I'm interested," she said as she dropped her hand. "But I'll need to uh, figure out logistics."
"Right, yeah. I'll text you the details."
"Thanks."
It may have just been wishful thinking on Gambit's part, but he thought Rogue seemed happier after that.
In short order, the chicken was laid out on an oven tray and smothered with the sauce, then put in the oven to bake.
"Hmm, may have put the veggies on a little soon," Gambit said musingly.
"Ah well. We'll find out, won't we?"
"Yeah."
Rogue rapped her fingers on the counter for a moment. "Remy?"
"Yes?"
"I'm... I'm... " She trailed off and closed her eyes.
"We can talk after food's finished cooking, if you'd prefer. I know the chicken need some time to bake but—"
"I can't stand having this hanging over my head," Rogue cut in.
Gambit gave a shrug, part concerned and part relieved. "Fair enough. What's up?"
Rogue was silent for a moment, then made another attempt: "Okay, so, I've been feeling sick, lately, right?"
"Right."
"And I absorbed Logan last week when a mission we went on got a little...nasty. I figured that his healing factor would take care of whatever it was that was making me nauseous all the time," Rogue said, her eyes on the bench rather than him. "Um, but it didn't, which was weird. And freaked me out because it meant that it had to be... I don't know, I'd spontaneously developed an allergy or maybe this was something leftover from whatever Mr Sinister did. Like some implant or something."
Gambit nodded. "Makes sense."
"Hank definitely believes it's Sinister's work. Um, only... See the thing is..." She faltered again.
"Yeah?" Gambit asked softly when the silence dragged out longer than he could stand.
"Just say it, Rogue," she muttered to herself, before raising her voice, her eyes focused on the wall opposite. "I'm pregnant."
Gambit blinked. "Come again?"
"I really don't think I can say it a second time, Remy," Rogue said tersely.
"Right. Okay. Sorry." Gambit stammered, trying to wrap his head around things quickly. "Just uh... wasn't sure if I heard you right. Uh so... I guess the condom broke. Must have only been a little, since I didn't get absorbed. Unless Sinister was involved—"
"I'm only two months along. Sinister was over three months ago," Rogue said. "Hank theorised Sinister might have created some kind of time delay device, but I don't think he was buying his own idea. Of course, he has no idea that I'm dating anyone, let along having sex, so..."
"Sinister has incubators anyway. He hasn't used a real womb in years, maybe even decades," Gambit replied derisively.
"That too."
"Right so..." Gambit took a deep breath. "What do you want to do?"
Rogue immediately burst into tears. Gambit abandoned the vegetables, lifted up the collar of his shirt so it would lay against his neck, and pulled her in for a hug. She wept into his shoulder.
"It's okay, it's okay," he said soothingly as he rubbed her back. "Whatever you want to do, I'm with you."
She made a couple of attempts to talk, but couldn't get out more than a couple of words before she started sobbing again. Gambit quietly held her, giving her the only comfort he could.
The timer went off on the oven.
"Here," Gambit said, and led her to the dining table. "Why don't you sit, and I grab dinner, okay?" He took the box of tissues off the bench and slid them onto the table in front of her.
Rogue's only response was to grab one of the tissues and blow her nose.
Gambit turned off the oven, got out a couple of plates, and served up the chicken parmigiana and vegetables. By the time he'd brought everything to the table, Rogue seemed to have finally cried herself out. Her eyes were red and puffy, and there was a small pile of tissues on the table. Gambit brought over the portable bin and flicked them in there.
"Thanks, sugar," she said softly.
"You're always welcome, ma chere," Gambit replied as he sat down at the table with her.
She took a deep breath and looked down at her food. Gambit decided not to pursue the subject for now, and let her continue when she was ready. They began eating in silence.
"I want to be a mother," Rogue said after a time. "And I can't help but think this may be my only chance. Especially since we're absolutely using two condoms from now on."
Gambit saluted. "Yes ma'am."
"I could never forgive myself if—"
"I know," Gambit said, and before they could fall down that old rabbit hole, returned to the topic at hand: "I've always wanted to be a father too. Just never thought it would happen. Well, not unless I accidentally got my girlfriend pregnant."
Rogue raised her eyebrows.
"Which is exactly what happened, technically..." Gambit went on musingly. "I had always assumed said girlfriend and I would've broken up before the pregnancy was found out. I think that scenario would've resulted in me being more of a donor than a dad though."
"You'd prefer to be involved, huh?"
"Yeah."
Rogue took a deep breath, and tears might have threatened again if she wasn't out of them. "Well, that's good. Because you... you might end up being..." She swallowed. "Sole carer."
Gambit frowned. "What do you mean? You just said you wanted to be a mother?"
"I do but... but how can I possibly do that when I can't even touch my child? To never have skin contact... For them to never know... It's just, it's cruel, Remy. It's just plain cruel."
He took a deep breath as understanding hit. Sure, he could point out that there was more to being a parent than holding the child, but Rogue already knew that. Every tear she had shed since he'd walked in the door, and likely well before, wasn't about the unplanned pregancy. It was all about how her uncontrolled mutation was going to affect everything. Rogue saw everything through that lens first; she had to.
"Okay," Gambit softly and set down his fork. "I'm going to make a suggestion you're going to hate."
Rogue met his eyes warily. "What?"
"Talk to Forge about fixing up that inhibitor collar for long-term use."
She glared at him. "Remy—"
"I know you don't want to use the collar. I know you want to get control on your own, and you don't want to end up dependant on a piece of technology that may get taken away at any moment," Gambit cut in before she could say the words herself. "I think you're completely right to be concerned about the collar. I also think you're right to be concerned about the lack of skin contact between you and our baby. So, I think that you should use the collar, but strictly for the sole purpose of caring for our baby."
Rogue was silent for a moment.
"Sure," she said. "It starts out that way, but then I end up using it for other stuff. Or forget I'm wearing it. Or—"
"We will figure out how to stay on top of it," Gambit said firmly. "Heck, if Forge can't make it better for long term use, then you'd still only be able to use it for short periods of time anyway. And once our baby is old enough to understand that they can't touch your skin, then we stop using the collar. Or wean you off it. Unless, of course, you've gotten control by then—"
Rogue snorted contemptuously.
"You don't have to decide anything now," Gambit said, deciding to ignore Rogue's snort. "This is just a spur of the moment idea. We have seven months to come up with better ideas. As long as we do the right thing by our kid, that's the important thing."
Rogue sighed and poked at her chicken with her fork. "Yeah..."
"So let's table that for now," Gambit went on, deciding he should change the subject before she commited herself one way or another. "I'm thinking that I should probably come home with you this weekend and make myself known to the X-Men."
"Oh... yeah..." Rogue frowned. "Yeah, we should get that done straight away. Man, they're really not going to be happy. Especially not Logan and Kurt."
"I bet Hank will be happy though, or at least relieved," Gambit replied with a grin. "Just think, chere, right now he thinks you're pregnant with one of Sinister's little experiments so—Ooooh!
"What?" Rogue looked up at him from her plate and took in the big bright grin on his face.
"You should call Hank and get him to tell everyone about the pregnancy in advance," Gambit said eagerly. "He'd tell everyone about his Sinister theory, right?"
"If he doesn't, others will draw the same conclusion." A smirk appeared on her face. "You're suggesting we give everyone some time to imagine the worst, and then when I come home with you, and announce you as the father, everyone will be relieved?"
"Exactly!" Gambit grinned at her. "Come on, as much as they don't like me, even they have to prefer me over Sinister. Anyone would be preferable to Sinister."
"This is true," Rogue said with a thoughtful nod. "And I think it might actually work. I mean, it might take some convincing that you're not still working for Sentator Kelly, but—"
"I haven't worked for him for two years. They can't seriously believe I'm still involved."
"They haven't gotten any evidence to the contrary," Rogue said. "I mean, I have tried, subtly, to suggest that maybe the reason why we haven't encountered you doing any Senator Kelly jobs is because you're not doing them any more, but they think it's more likely you've just gotten sneakier."
"Hmm..." Gambut rubbed his chin. "I think I shall take that as a compliment."
Rogue giggled. "You would."
He gave her a wink.
"I think I should save the phone call until we're on our way," Rogue went on musingly. "Otherwise they might decide to pick me up early. And I really, really need this weekend."
Gambit nodded. "Good idea."
They ate in silence for a little while.
"So, I guess the next thing after telling your family is to tell mine," Gambit said thoughfully. "Did you want to tell them when you come join us for our get-together in a couple of months, or would you prefer me to call them ahead of time?"
Rogue shrugged. "They're your family. I'll leave it up to your discretion."
"Hmm..." Gambit tapped his plate wth his fork. "I think I should call in advance. Give Jean-Luc a chance to adjust to the idea that he was completely wrong about me giving up Senator Kelly jobs for no good reason."
Rogue snickered. "You're certain the baby will convince him? He won't just demand to know if you're capitalising on getting your latest 3-week girlfriend pregnant?"
"Reasonably certain, although I guess I can't rule out that possibility." He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "But in this case, if he does, I'd wager Tante Mattie would waste no time setting him straight."
"Ah, Tante Mattie," Rogue said. "Is she going to be at the get-together?"
"Don't know, but I'd say that if she knows you're going to be there, she'll make a point of coming."
"I'd like to meet her. You've told me to smuch about her."
"I know she'd like to meet you too."
Rogue smiled for a moment, then the smile faded. "I wish my family would want to meet you."
"Oh, they definitely want to meet me, they just don't know it yet." He eyed her mischeviously. "And worse case scenario, we can always run away together."
"You've just been waiting for an opportunity all conversation to suggest that."
"I think it's a perfectly satisfactory solution." He grinned at her.
Rogue shook her head and sighed. "And I can't believe I'm saying this, but if there's too much anguish and drama, I might just take you up on that finally."
"Really?" Gambit asked brightly. "Cool. Now I don't know which I want to happen more."
Rogue laughed despite herself.
"At least we don't really have to worry about drama with my family," he went on cheerfully. "The worst we're going to have to deal with is them asking us if we're getting married."
Rogue dropped her fork. "We are not getting married just because I'm pregnant."
Gambit was a little surprised at the seriousness of her response, but shrugged it off.
"Oh, not because you're pregnant, ma chere. Because we've been dating two years and I fully intend on introducing you to them as the love of my life," he said.
Rogue relaxed slightly. "Ah, okay. Probably would do that even if I wasn't pregnant at this get-together then?"
"Yep."
"Okay, okay then." She picked her fork back up and speared some vegetables.
Gambit chewed thoughtfully for a moment.
"You, ah, you wouldn't happen to have a problem with me proposing would you?" he asked.
Rogue didn't bother looking up from her food. "Were you thinking about proposing before you found out I was pregnant?"
"No."
"Then yes, I do have a problem with you proposing right now."
Gambit nodded. "Fair enough. I hereby put all thoughts of proposal on hold until after all the baby drama is over."
"At least the ones not instigated by family."
"My family. I have a feeling your family will be happy for us to continue being not engaged. It almost makes me want to propose just to see them try to digest that as well as me being the father of your child. Almost."
Rogue looked up at him and shook her head. "You are such a trouble maker."
"You wouldn't want me any other way."
"I can't believe how calm you've been about all this. I thought for sure you'd freak out."
Gambit shrugged. "I don't think it's completely registered yet. Don't worry, I'm sure that as soon as it does, I'll completely freak out."
Rogue giggled.
"And let's face it, I spent the first ten years of my life on the street," Gambit went on merrily. "Those years were full of abuse and neglect. I mean, I was potty trained and did learn to talk and walk, so clearly I wasn't completely neglected, but I don't remember that part. I'm pretty sure this means I have good reason to freak out when the time comes. Hmm... I should look up some good parenting books."
"That's probably a good idea. Maybe we can do a parenting course too," Rogue said.
"I bet Tante Mattie will have tonnes of good advice for us too."
"Oh, that's good. We could use a source of good advice. No one at the mansion has any parenting skills."
"Hmm." Gambit frowned, and stabbed his final piece of chicken. "Do you think, maybe, and this is just an idea that we don't have to decide on right now, but do you think we should maybe stay with my family rather than yours?"
Rogue was quiet for a moment, then shook her head.
"I'm not against the idea, but let's not make any decisions one way or another right now."
"Okay."
They finished off their dinner.
"That was quite good, ma chere," Gambit said as he picked up their plates. "Thank you."
Rogue smiled. "You're welcome." She walked over to the freezer and opened it. "I have a chocolate barvarian for dessert. It needs to thaw before we cut it though."
"Sure I..." Gambit snapped his fingers on his free hand. "I forgot your present."
"Aww, you didn't have to get me anything," she said as she pulled the barvarian out of the freezer and set it on the bench.
"Of course I didn't," Gambit replied cheerfully as he set down the plates and headed over to his bag. "If I have to give you a gift it wouldn't be as much fun, now, would it?"
Rogue grinned at him. "We may feel differently about that when I have a baby shower."
"Oh, no, I know the kinds of things that go on in baby showers, and this is definitely more fun," Gambit said, opened up his bag, and pulled out the box of chocolates he'd bought earlier.
"How do you know?" Rogue asked with a smirk as Gambit walked towards her with his present behind his back.
"I've always gotten along better with women than men," he replied, grinned, and pulled out the box of chocolate from behind him. "For you. I love you."
"Thank you," Rogue said with a smile as she accepted the chocolates. "I love you too."