FYI:
I do not own the X-Men or "2 Become 1" by Jewel

Authors Note:
Also, this is a sequel to one of my other stories "New Beginnings". If you've already read it, welcome back to the ROMYness. If you haven't, may I suggest you do because it'll help to explain some things. Such as why Remy doesn't get zapped by Rogue. Just fyi.

Also, my apologies for taking so long between stories. Thanks to Netflix and being able to watch the series again...and again, I noticed quite a few continuity mistakes that I had to fix. Of course, the worst was in the first chapter. *grumbles and shakes a fist at my sixteen year old self*

Chapter 1: Island In The Sun

In the space of a single month, it seemed as if Rogue's entire world had changed. She had gone from being closed off from the world, to suddenly finding the world to be a refreshing, and even welcoming place. It certainly helped that in that span of time, Rogue had found the only person in the world immune to her mutant abilities. And it was of even greater benefit because he actually liked her enough that he wanted to touch her.

She blushed at the thought as she sat on the bench and watched Remy fooling around. He was having far too much fun stretching his shoulder back out again now that Dr. McCoy had given him a clean bill of health. It was amazing how quickly his shoulder had healed, but probably a good thing too as he'd been going stir crazy in the meantime.

Remy pushed himself up into a one armed hand stand before pushing off into a back flip. Rogue just laughed and shook her head. "If ya ain't careful, yo' gonna get hurt again," she warned him as she did her best to go back to focusing on the book she'd brought outside with her.

He quickly strode behind the bench and leaned over her shoulder to whisper into her ear. "Y' worry t' much, Marie."

She spun around quickly and slammed her book shut as she stared up into his red on black eyes. "Ah told ya ta stop usin' mah real name."

He looked more than a little shocked by her outburst as he pulled back slightly. "What's de big deal about a name, Chere?"

"That name is mah connection ta Mystique. 'S the name she gave meh. Ah'm not entirely sure Ah want ta use it. Especially after what happened. An' we still don' e'en know why she did it."

Remy sighed as he met her gaze evenly and lowered himself to squat so they were of equal height. "Chere, we might ne'er know what goes on in de mind of dat femme fou." Rogue sighed as she squeezed her eyes shut trying to forget how Mystique had appeared the last time they'd seen her. She hadn't looked herself, she hadn't even really acted like herself. "But y' safe now, Chere. Remy won' let nobody hurt y'." Rogue sighed and closed her eyes as he leaned forward again and kissed her cheek.

Rogue was probably among the minority of people not looking forward to being a senior and starting back to school the next day. Aside from herself, the only others from the institute that were in her grade were Remy, Piotr and Kurt. And the last was still not exactly on speaking terms with her. She sighed as she yanked open a dresser drawer and began to paw through it trying to decide what to wear the next morning.

Rogue nearly shouted in surprise when Kitty appeared peering over her shoulder. "You really shouldn't wear that," the petite brunette advised. Rogue spun, grabbing the offensive article in clothing and stared at her roommate in surprise. "Sorry, I keep forgetting that you don't hear me coming if I phase through the door," Kitty said offering an apologetic smile. "Why don't you wear that really cute off the shoulder purple shirt? Or perhaps the green one the laces up at the neckline. Or...I know!" Kitty dove into the dresser with excitement and pulled out a deep green top with a deep cut V-neck and bell sleeves. "Remy won't be able to pay attention in class at all if you wear this!" Rogue held a hand over her mouth in order to hide her smirk knowing that Kitty was completely right. She folded up the shirt in her hands and closed the dresser. "Thanks, Kitty," she said taking the shirt from her and threw it over the back of her desk chair. Rogue ducked inside of the walk in closet and came back out carrying her bomber jacket and it was all Kitty could do to keep the 'Ah, so cute' look off her face. "I can't believe you're graduating this year."

"That makes two of us," Rogue said with a chuckle. "Ah haven't a clue what Ah'm gonna do next."

"Think you'll stay like Scott and Jean?"

"Maybeh," Rogue said noncommittally. She ran her fingers over the leather of the bomber and wondered about that possibility. Scott was attending a community college in Bayville while Jean was attending Cornell and commuting back to spend the weekends at the institute. Going to college, however, meant that she had some kind of clue as to what she wanted to do with her life. She hadn't ever given it much consideration much like she'd never given relationships much consideration before now.

Half an hour later, Rogue and Kitty had pulled together an outfit that managed to cover almost every square inch of Rogue's skin but that wasn't making Rogue look like she was two months early for Halloween. As much as Kitty liked to shop, Rogue wasn't exactly a fan. But it was looking more and more like Rogue would need to spend a long Saturday refitting her wardrobe. As Kitty was drifting off to sleep, Rogue pulled her bomber jacket out and tossed it over the back of her desk chair before exiting the room.

It was still relatively early, so Rogue headed downstairs to the living room and found that it was bursting with activity. Everything was going at once-the radio, the TV, and even a gaming system on a second TV. Yet, the younger students were still able to easily drown out all the background noise with their excited chatter about starting at the high school. Most of them were going to be sophomores this year.

"Bonsoir, Chere." Rogue smiled at Remy's greeting and sat down on the arm of his chair only to be pulled into his lap as he kissed her cheek. Noticing that she didn't seem to be quite as thrilled as everyone else, he playfully tugged at the white strands of hair. "What's de matter? Y' ain't excited like de ot'ers."

"How can Ah be excited 'bout goin' ta a place where Ah'm not wanted?" she asked with a sigh. "You were there at graduation. Ah'm gonna be public enemy number one at that school."

Remy looked thoughtful and nodded. "True, Red still hasn' forgiven y' f' dat one."

"Hey! Ah was under mind control," Rogue said defensively as she gave Remy a playful push. Although the reminder was painful. She knew that she wasn't going to have any friends at Bayville this year after that incident. Not like she'd really had any before though.

"My friends, have you seen Kitty tonight?" Piotr asked as he walked into the room and there was a parting of the sea of freshmen and sophomores to make room for his large presence.

"Ah jus' left her upstairs," Rogue answered. "Ah think she's still tryin' ta decide what ta wear tamorrow."

"Oh, then I will just check on her quickly," Piotr said before walking away in his slow manner. Rogue smiled at his back before looking back down at Remy who winked at her. Piotr and Kitty had officially become a couple less than week ago and now they were barely seen apart. Remy liked to claim that it was his doing but Rogue had a feeling that Piotr just didn't know how to say no to Kitty.

Rogue turned to look back at Remy and he smiled under her attentions. "What y' say t' a walk, Chere? We should enjoy our last night b'fore school, non?" he asked as he took her hand and gently spun her up onto her feet before standing himself. he wrapped an around her waist and led her out of the crowded living room and she could barely hide the color rising in her cheeks from his attentions.

As they walked, she bowed her head and let her mind wander in thought, but Remy was unsatisfied with her silence as he began to tickler her. She let out a peal of laughter before taking off at a run down the hall, glancing back over her shoulder to see that he wasn't far behind her. Suddenly, she hit what felt like a brick wall and fell backwards into Remy who barely caught her as they both fell to the ground. She playfully pushed him away before looking up to see who she'd run into. "Sorry, Logan," she said trying to push herself up to stand.

"You need to pay more attention to where you're going, Stripes. That could have made for a bad day for someone," Logan commented as he offered her a hand and she slowly accepted it.

She blushed furiously knowing that he was right. Unfortunately, having Remy around had made her slightly more lax on what she wore and on the rare occasion, even a little lax on her behavior when she was around others too. "Sorry," she murmured softly and could feel Remy's arm wrap around her waist from behind as he recovered his feet.

"And you, Gumbo, need to try to behave yourself. We can't have you causing trouble at the school," Logan said she crossed his arms over his chest and turned a dark look up at the Cajun boy.

"Remy know how to' b'have, Monsieur," Remy replied coldly. "Ain't gonna go causin' no trouble f' de professor. Remy knows plenty well how sticky t'ings be."

Logan didn't look impressed by Remy's attitude or speech as he flexed his fingers causing the knuckles to crack ominously. "So then maybe you could fill me in as to what happened to my bike," Logan growled.

Rogue glanced upwards at Remy and sighed as Remy's mouth twitched upwards into a smirk. "Remy," she admonished. "Ya promised meh ya'd stop doin' that."

Remy just gave a weak shrug. "Key's in de ignition an' de tank is full. It was jus' a joke, Monsieur."

Logan let out a low snarl as he shook his head. "If you want people to think you've changed, Gumbo, you might want to start joking around a little less."

As Rogue turned her head to look back at Logan, all she saw was his back as he'd turned on his heel to go back the way he'd come. "He really ain't so bad," Rogue said gazing back up at Remy. "He's just overly protective."

Remy sighed before leaning down to kiss Rogue's cheek gently. "Jus' never been used t' someune tellin' moi what t' do, Chere."

"Ya do look like a cat somebody rubbed the wrong way," Rogue teased noting the glint in his eyes and she smiled. She reached up and gently patted his long hair down before tweaking his nose.

"Jus' can't be nobody but Remy, Chere. Ain't everybody gonna like it." He traced her jawline gently with his thumb and she smiled at his touch.

Finally she sighed and reached up to pull his hand back down. "Yo' gonna have ta chill on that a li'l while we're in school. Yo'll give someone a heart attack."

"Heart attack, non. Jealousy seems more like it," he said dipping in to kiss her. She didn't fight him as she silently relished the touch of his warm lips against her own. As they parted, she looked up at him through her eyelashes to see that his gaze had softened. It was no longer playful as normal, but rather a smoldering look that seemed to burn through her. She licked her lips as she bashfully glanced down away from his gaze. "What's de matter, Chere?"

"Ah was jus' thinkin' we're gonna have ta do somethin' 'bout yo' eyes," she said glancing back up to see that Remy had jerked up straight at her suggestion.

"What's de matter wit' ma eyes?"

"Well, mos' people..." her voice trailed off as she sighed realizing how upset he was by the mere suggestion that something was even wrong with his appearance. "They wouldn' understand, Remy. They'd be scared'a ya."

He stepped back from her and frowned. "Den let 'em. Remy ain't gonna hide who he is f' nobody."

Rogue sighed in frustration as she pulled herself up to her full height which seemed like nothing compared to him. "Ah ain't askin' ya ta hide. Ya can still be yo'self, arrogant an' foolhardy as that is, jus' wear some damn sunglasses or somethin'," she snapped crossing her arms over her chest. "Ah'd like ta make it ta first period without havin' ta get an anti-mutant protestor sign swung in mah direction because mah boyfriend insists on showin' off his demon eyes ta the world."

Remy's teeth gritted as he fought the urge to argue back with her. Finally he just shook his head and walked away and Rogue was left to stand in the center of the hallway in shock as she watched his lanky frame disappear around the corner. Finally she rushed forward to catch up to him but found the hallway to be empty aside from a pair of curtains billowing in the breeze. She sighed in defeat as she approached the open window and sat down on the windowsill and looked out into the night. The moon was hanging full in the sky above her and provided plenty of light across the wide open lawn but Remy was either too quick or too sneaky to be seen.

Gambit rolled over restlessly in bed and stared at the alarm clock. The red numbers seemed to taunt him as they spelled out 2:18 AM. He frowned and closed his eyes again allowing himself to get lost in his own thoughts. He couldn't figure out what was even occupying his brain so much that he couldn't sleep. There was the possibility that he was nervous about going back to school, but he was guessing that it had more to do with the early morning training session. Now that he was back up to full steam again, he was 'allowed' to go back to training. He let out a soft sigh. They'd never had anything that even closely resembled training when he'd been under Magneto's roof.

There was also the fact that he had ended his night by storming off on Rogue. He sighed as he rolled over to stare at the ceiling. Finally he sat up and tossed the covers aside as he got up and left the room, silently closing the door behind him. He leaned back against the door and sighed heavily. It had not been his intention to get upset with Rogue. How was she to know that he'd spent his entire life being told to hide who he was? In Faban's Mob, he'd been instructed on how to blend in and disappear. Little boys with bright red eyes tend to stand out. Le Diable Blanc had not been some beloved moniker from his family. It had started out as a ruse to get him to react, to prove that he wasn't worthy of the Guilds. His eyes had always set him apart as being different from them even before he'd discovered his mutant powers. If it hadn't been for adopting his devil-may-care attitude, it might have done him in, but instead, he'd embraced his differences and he'd come out stronger for it. How could she understand?

He sighed again as he rolled to lean on one shoulder and gazed down the hall. It seemed nearly endless as it stretched from one wing of the mansion to the other. Essentially, an invisible line over the main staircase separated the boys' wing from the girls'. Rogue would be long gone to her dreams already by this hour and he would certainly catch hell from one of the instructors if he was caught trying to sneak into her room to apologize. He smirked as the idea rolled around in his head and the longer it stayed there, the more of a challenge it became to him.

He walked quickly, his long strides carrying him down the hall only occasionally making a slightly sideways step, or a longer or shorter one in order to miss a creaky floorboard. It had not taken him long to learn where every loose floorboard in the mansion was. He made another sideways step just outside her bedroom door and leaned out to wrap his hand around the doorknob. It turned easily, not surprising that it would be unlocked and he swung it in to reveal a bedroom cast in the pale blue light of the moon from their open balcony doors. Kitty slept in the bed closest to the door while Rogue lay facing the open balcony. Remy stepped inside, another long step to miss the creaky board just inside their room and swung the door shut behind him. A half dozen more strides and he was standing over Rogue's bed watching her sleep, one hand behind her head, the other gently resting on her chest as it rose and fell with each sleeping breath.

He buried his hands into the pockets of his pajama bottoms and smirked. For some reason, all of his anger and frustration was forgotten and he wanted nothing more than to forget his past and think of nothing but the future. Strange, because he had never before looked forward to his future. It had always been a day-to-day struggle for survival and if a little fun and pleasure presented itself along the way, all the better.

Remy carefully laid down beside Rogue so that he had his head propped up slightly so that he could continue to watch her sleep as the moonlight splashed against her milky white skin. She stirred and started when she saw him lying in her bed. He quickly placed a finger over her lips to silence her as she sat up straight to stare down at him. "What the hell are ya doin' here?" she hissed.

He shrugged nonchalantly and gave her a playful pout. "Remy felt bad 'bout earlier. Came t' apologize t' ma chérie."

Rogue blinked dumbly at him and slowly settled back down to lie beside him. "Do ya know what time it is?"

He stretched his neck slightly so that he could look over her and then eased back down into the pillows. "C'est deux-quarante-sept."

She just groaned as she rested a hand over her eyes. "Yo' lucky Kitty didn' wake up. She coulda roused half the half an' then the adults would have had both our hides fo' yo' li'l stunt."

Remy brushed his fingers through the white streaks in her hair and smiled. "Petite has more sense den dat. An' y' know y' glad Remy came, Chere."

"Why'd ya run off like that, Remy?" she asked lowering her hand as she looked up at him, her hand finding his as she pulled it gently away from her hip.

"Dey always treated moi different 'cause of mes yeux." He frowned slightly as he thought for a moment before continuing. "Jus' hoped dat t'ings would be different here."

"Ah like yo' eyes," Rogue said softly as she gently brushed his long hair away from his eyes so she could see them more clearly as they glowed in the darkness. "Ah like that yo' different."

"Den why y' want Remy t' blend in, hahn?"

Rogue sighed as she snuggled into him a little closer. "Because Ah don' want ya ta get hurt. People are scared. Apocalypse ain't helpin' that none. Our own high school principal is practically leadin' the riots. Ah'm jus' scared, Sugah."

Remy wrapped his arms around her tightly and kissed the top of her head. He closed his eyes and breathed in the scent from her hair and gently stroked her back until he could hear her breathing level off as she fell asleep again. He slowly disentangled himself and went back to his own room where he instantly fell asleep without any problems.