Y'all know the dilly yo, that I don't own these characters, marvel or anything else. Sometimes I wish I did, but wishing ain't having… oh well. Y'all know the drill.. blah blah blah.

This story is going to be my version of what happens when Gambit joins the team. Obviously, it will be an A/U though, there are certain facts that will remain such as Evan joining the morlocks, Tabby returning to the X-Men, Magneto disappearing though not by the means of Apocalypse, and I'm cutting Amanda out of the story as much as I enjoy Amanda. Okie dokie, so that's it for the stuff you need to know. Enjoy!

Author's Note: First and foremost, I did not abandon all you wonderful readers voluntarily. It was not of my doing and I basically cried when I realized that ff.net had deleted my account. I wasn't even going to continue with writing anymore, but then I thought it was unfair to my loyal readers and to myself since I do love writing so much. Thus, I've set up another account temporarily while I continue to e-mail ff.net for an explanation (which they still haven't provided me with), until I know why my account was deleted and if it can be recovered. I doubt it will ever be recovered though and I'm upset about it. But I still am looking for that explanation because it's been a week and they have not replied to my six e-mails. If you like, you could join in this little war with me and help me e-mail them and asked why they deleted Remy's Ange's account which was my previous name obviously. Until I receive a reply, I'm not going to write anything new but instead, take this as an opportunity to revise my old chapters and re-write the lost ones and post them up. So, it'll be a while before you all will get to read anything that is completely new. I wholeheartedly apologize for this, but I'm sure you can understand how disheartened and hurt I am over this whole pathetic matter. Thank you.

Somewhere I Belong

"Anot'er shot, homme." The mutant known as Gambit or to the ladies as Remy LeBeau requested to the bartender.

"Kid, don't you think you've had enough." The bartender asked while looking at the young man with some concern. The bartender knew the next shot would be his eighth and he wasn't sure how high his tolerance level was considering he had gulped down a few pints of beer along with the multiples of shots he had taken.

"Look, Remy does de paying, you do de pouring. Like I said, anot'er shot, homme." The young man with the unusual eyes replied with dead seriousness all over his face.

"Whatever. Your funeral." The bartended mumbled as he poured him another shot.

Remy downed the shot in a swift gulp and allowed the burning sensation from the alcohol to sink in for a bit before he reached for the lemon slice. When he was done biting into the lemon slice, he quickly looked up at the bartender again. "Anot'er shot, homme." He requested again.

"Don't ya think you've had enough, bub?" A gruff voice asked from his left. Immediately, Remy turned to his side and found himself staring into the hard brown eyes of the mutant known as Wolverine.

"What's it to you?" Gambit snorted as he stared into the stockier man's eyes.

Feeling the uneasiness from the acolyte's stare especially since he had the most unusual red on black eyes, Wolverine adverted his attention back to his beer. "Frankly, I really couldn't give a fuck, Cajun. Just don't want to be here when you die from alcohol poisoning. Don't want those damn government agents trying to pin it on me."

Gambit simply laughed with sarcasm. "If I could be dead right now, I'd be happy." He stated and turned back to the bartender to signal for another shot.

The bartender reluctantly poured him another one, which Remy gulped down faster than the last.

"Where's your acolyte buddies?" Wolverine asked in a tone of nonchalance, but was internally rather curious about the answer.

"Hmm.. funny y'asked. Don't know. Don't really give a fuck." Gambit slurred as he began to notice how hard it was to remain sitting upright.

"Seriously, Gumbo. Since Magneto's disappearance, where the rest of you acolytes been hiding?" Wolverine asked more aggressively and he turned to look at the drowsy eyed Cajun.

"If y'must know, John gone home, Piotr gone home, and Victor well, who really gives a fuck about Victor." He responded as he tried to hold his head from collapsing on the table.

Wolverine chuckled at his Sabretooth comment. "Good point, Cajun."

Then, the two men sat in silence for a while. Gambit was trying extremely hard to keep his head up and his eyes open, but found it a tremendously difficult task to do. Wolverine, on the other hand, continued to drink his beer while contemplating on whether or not he should bring the Cajun back to the Institute. It was obvious that the Cajun had nowhere to go and he could smell that the Cajun wasn't a bad guy, just somewhat confused. Damn, why can't Storm or Hank or the Professor be here right now? At least they'd know what to do, he thought bitterly and gulped down the rest of his beer.

While Wolverine continued to assess the pros and cons of bringing an acolyte back to the Institute, Gambit slowly closed his eyes. It felt so good to have them closed, he thought as he felt his head get heavier.

All of a sudden, his head dropped down and hit the bar counter hard. Upon hearing the large thump, Wolverine looked over at the fallen acolyte once more. Do I really want to bring home a shit-faced acolyte? He wondered but he knew what he had to do.

He lifted Remy up and dragged him out of the bar. He plopped young man in the backseat of the Professor's SUV and headed to the front to start the car.

"At least he won't be puking on my bike." The grumpy man growled as he drove away from the bar, and what seemingly would be the new home of the red-eyed Cajun.

-xoxo-

The sun shone violently on his face, which caused him to immediately turn over and smother his face into the pillow.

Pillow? With the realization that he was actually sleeping on an actual bed with a soft pillow for a change, he shot right up. As his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he struggled scan the huge barren room. Then, he looked down at himself and a breath of relief escaped him as he realized that he was still dressed in the clothes from the night before. Where the hell am I, he wondered.

'Mr. Lebeau. Now that you're awake, will you please join us in my office? It's the third door on the left, one level below you.'

Upon hearing the unexpected voice, he jumped up on his bed and got into defense mode while scanning the room intensively to figure out where the voice was coming from.

'One more thing, Mr. Lebeau, I am communicating with you telepathically. I apologize for the sudden intrusion, but please join us when you're ready.' The voice requested again.

Realizing who owned the voice, he immediately knew where he was. He was at the Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. He fell back on to the big soft bed. The memories of the night before slowly came back to mind. Not that he could remember much since he was so wasted, but he remembered talking to the one named Wolverine. "Must have been him who brought me here." He mumbled to himself.

His hangover began to take its toll on him as he attempted to close his eyes and relieve some of the pain. After a few minutes and with not much luck, he decided to get up and go see what the bald one wanted with him.

On his way towards the door, he glanced at himself in the mirror and it stopped him dead in his tracks. He looked at his reflection and saw a disheveled hair man with two blood shot eyes accompanied by big puffy bags. He also noticed that his goatee was joined by stubbles of misplaced hair around his jaw line. When he took a whiff of his shirt and instinctively scrunched up his nose at the pungent smell. It didn't take him long to come to the decision of showering before he met with Xavier. Frankly, Gambit couldn't remember a time when he smelled so bad and looked so disgusting.

He turned around to see if he was lucky enough to have his own private bathroom. He noticed that there were three doors in the room. He knew the one directly in front of him led to the outside hallway, thus, he tried his luck with the door on the left side of the room. When he opened it, instead of finding a bathroom, he found that it was a small walk-in closet. Fortunately, there were a few pairs of sweatpants and t-shirts with the Institute's logo, "X", on it. He grabbed a shirt and a pair of pants before closing the door. At least I won't have to change back into these rancid clothing, he thought.

With a change of clothes in hand, he went to try his luck with the other door. He opened it and found a very small private bathroom consisting of a toilet, a small sink, and a small shower. He sighed with relief. He noticed on the sink counter there was a tube of toothpaste, a toothbrush and a razor ready for him to use.

"Might as well clean up fast. Don't want t'keep 'em waiting." He muttered as he began to brush his teeth.

-xoxo-

"What's this all about, Professor?" Scott asked as he entered the Professor's office with Jean on his arm.

"Yeah, Professor? Is it serious?" She asked with some concern.

All of a sudden, Kitty joined the three by phasing through the wall and Kurt had managed to teleport into the room. "Like, what's going on? By the way, Rogue's still in the shower. She said she'd be here in just a bit." Kitty said as she joined Kurt by the Professor's desk where Ororo and Logan were standing also.

Kurt let out a loud yawn and stretched. "Yeah, Professor. Is zis serious?"

"I will explain shortly." The Professor replied and as if right on cue, a very clean Gambit walked through the door.

"What are you doing here?!?" Scott yelled and got into offense mode at the sight of the acolyte.

Gambit lifted both hands up and said in a half-jokingly manner, "Remy comes in peace."

"Scott, it's alright. Mr. Lebeau is a guest at the Institute." Professor Xavier said.

Scott resumed his upright and somewhat uptight stance again, and wrapped an arm around Jean's waist, suddenly feeling rather possessive. He did not like how the acolyte was looking at her with his red on black eyes. Remy, on the other hand, merely scoffed at Scott's sudden display of masculinity and blatant jealousy. He met the X-leader a few times in battle, but he remembered the first glance he had of the snotty mutant, he knew he didn't like him. To entice his anger even more, Remy allowed his eyes to linger a bit more on Jean's chest, and of course Scott noticed. That's why he stood in front of Jean to block her from Remy's eyes, which only made Remy chuckle softly.

"Umm.. like am I missing something here, Professor? Since when did he become a guest?" Kitty asked with confusion.

"Yah, Professor. Vas I missing sometime yesterday vhen zis happen?" Kurt asked as he scratched his head, trying to recall what he had done the day before.

"Actually, I brought the Cajun here last night." Wolverine finally spoke up.

"Since when did you hang out with Magneto's henchmen?" Scott half-asked and half-scoffed.

"Remy don't work for buckethead anymore." Gambit spoke up on his own behalf.

"Right. That's just because Magneto vanished. If he hadn't, you wouldn't be here right now and we would still be on opposing sides. How do we know that you're not here under Magneto's orders? Perhaps you're just trying to infiltrate into the Institute. Destroy us from within." Scott accused heatedly.

"Look, one-eye, Remy doesn't need t'defend himself t'you or anyone. But if y' really want to know, I left Magnus before he vanished. All us acolytes did." Gambit snapped back. He was beginning to get tired of Scott Summers' power trip.

"Right… I'm sure Magneto didn't train you to lie through your teeth." Scott retorted.

"Magneto never trained us. We weren't like you X-Men where we needed training. We were actually that good at what we did." Remy responded cattily.

"Good at taking orders and killin…"

"Stop it, both of you!" Professor Xavier interrupted Scott. He, then, looked at Scott and scolded, "Scott, I would have thought you would have more manners and leadership skills when it comes to accepting a new member into the Institute." His comment only made Scott blush with embarrassment and shame.

"Excusez-moi? When did Remy become a member? De only t'ing I remember is drinking too much last night, talking too much, and waking up here. Did I do somet'ing while I was passed out?" He asked with bewilderment.

"I apologize, Mr. Lebeau.."

"Call me, Remy, Professor."

"Right, Remy. Well, I think I jumped a little ahead of myself. Have you got a home to get back to?" Professor Xavier asked.

Remy flinched at the question and he turned his head away, almost in shame. "Non, Remy don' got no home."

"Boo hoo hoo hoo. Go cry me a river." Scott mumbled beneath his breath, though Gambit still heard it.

Remy snapped his head to face the X-leader. His eyes burned with fury. "Fuck you, homme."

As soon as his registered what the Cajun had just said to him, Scott immediately prepared himself to blast the Cajun but the Professor had managed to freeze Scott's voluntary actions through the way of the mind.

"Scott, I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour in my office. If you do not feel you are mature enough to handle a simple situation like this, I suggest you should leave the room and perhaps, reassess why you are even the leader of the X-Men in the first place." Professor Xavier said sternly and released his mental hold he had on Scott.

Instead of leaving the room, Scott straightened himself up and stood with his head held high. "I'm sorry, Professor. I'll try to control my emotions." He apologized mechanically.

"Good. Do you have anywhere to stay, Remy? Perhaps with one of the other acolytes?" Professor Xavier asked him.

"Non, dey all went home." Remy replied hastily.

"Let's just cut to the point. Cajun, you in or you out?" Wolverine asked him bluntly.

Remy looked around at the X-Men. He really didn't want to jump from working for one man to another, but what other choice did he have? He was sick of wandering from place to place. He might as well try to make use of his abilities and not to mention his life. At least, they seemed more sane then Magneto. And if he didn't like it, he could always leave. Plus, there were some pretty hot girls in this Institute and it was a free place to eat and sleep. It didn't take him long to come to his decision.

"Remy's in, if dat's okay." He responded, still a rather unsure of his decision though his voice didn't convey it.

"That would definitely be okay. Are you comfortable in the room you're in right now?" Professor Xavier asked.

"Most comfortable, sir." He replied simply.

"Good. That will remain your room then." The Professor told him with a reassuring smile on his face.

"T'anks for the opportunity, Professor." Remy expressed his gratitude.

"Okay, if there is like nothing else. I'm going to go get ready for the like danger room session." Kitty said and began to skip off. She stopped in front of Gambit and said, "Welcome to the Institute, Remy."

He took her hand and brought it up to his lips. "Merci, chere."

Kitty blushed from the new attention she received from the former acolyte who was undeniably handsome.

"Child, go get ready. We meet for a session in approximately ten minutes." Ororo said to break the trance that Kitty was in. She ushered Kitty out of the room and followed her. Before they both left, however, Ororo turned to Gambit, "Welcome to the team, Remy." He gave her a wink and said, "Merci."

"Whatever, I'm out of here." Scott declared and with Jean still on his arm, he stomped out of the room. When they passed the new X-Man, Jean mouthed, "Welcome." With which Remy mouthed back, "Merci."

Kurt had already teleported out of the room before the meeting was done and the only ones left in the room were Wolverine, Gambit, and the Professor.

"I hope you find your stay here comfortable and enjoyable, but I must run some rules about the Institute by you." The Professor said.

"Basically, bub, no smoking, drinking, bringing any girls home for sleepovers, and try to be smart with the words you choose to use." Wolverine snorted.

Suddenly, a girl with wet hair dressed in a black skirt, black boots, black gloves, and a long sleeved red shirt rushed into the room.

"Ah'm sorry ah'm late, Professor. Ah was just showering, and ya know how when one's the last in the shower, there ain't much hot water left especially when one goes after that fuzzy… What the hell are ya doing here?!?" She questioned when she finally looked up and saw the new addition to the team. She pointed her finger in an accusatory manner at the new X-Man while the memories of him hypnotizing her with those (as much as she hated to admit it) gorgeous ruby eyes, and then giving her a card that almost blew up her hand. Oh yes, she remembered him perfectly.

Gambit just observed the girl with a self-assured smirk on his face. He remembered her quite nicely. How could one forget a girl like her, he thought. The two distinctive white streaks in her hair were what distinguished her from most girls, not to mention the gothic look and the overuse of make-up. But the most striking thing about her was her eyes. He remembered that he almost lost his senses in their first battle together. If he had allowed himself to stare into those fiery green eyes any longer then, he would have most likely blown up his own hand with that charged card he gave her. Upon recalling that first encounter, he quickly looked at her hands and a small breath of relief escaped him as he realized that her hands were still very much there.

"This is the newest member to our team, Rogue." Professor Xavier calmly explained.

"HIM? Are ya sure about it, Professor? He's an acolyte! He's the enemy!" She pointed out while not taking her eyes off of the Cajun, partly because she didn't want Gambit to pull a fast one on her, and the other part was simply because she couldn't.

"Actually, chere, Remy's not an acolyte anymore." Remy cut in and stated in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Don't call me, 'chere.'" Rogue responded through gritted teeth. A soft growl followed her demand, and Wolverine chuckled proudly at his favorite student.

"He is, indeed, right. Remy is now a member of the X-Men, so please welcome him warmly." Professor Xavier requested ever so calmly and kindly. Rogue only scowled at his request and narrowed her eyes at the Cajun.

Remy ignored the look she was giving him and confidently walked up to her. He reached for her gloved hand, but as soon as their fingers touched, she yanked it back fast. "Don't ever touch me! Ya understand, swamp rat?"

Before he could even answer, she had already turned and left the room. He only stood there and watched her walk away from him, but a part of him already decided that she would not be walking away from him anymore, if he had any say in it.

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