Written for the Lyrics over Melody challege in the X Men Evo Fanfiction Challenges forum. Song: "Mercy" by Duffy. I tried really hard to make this story fit the song; I don't know that I completely succeeded, though. Ah well. Enjoy. :)

Stay

He could imagine the look on her face as something clicked inside of her and the weariness from the past few relentless days of breaking down mental barriers was replaced with cautious optimism. She reached out tentatively and took the Professor's hands with her own gloveless ones, and he remained wide awake, smiling at her. "There you are, my dear. Congratulations."

She must've stared at her hands then, turning them over and back again, laughing and blinking away tears. She threw her arms around the Professor, and then Warren came into the room looking for Hank, and she took Warren's face in her hands and kissed him hard.

That was the exact moment that Gambit stuck his head in the door to check on her, and it stung a little bit, even after she breathlessly explained her breakthrough to him.

He was just jealous, was all (why didn't she come find him first?). Now wasn't the time to worry about it, though. They were friends, at least, at this point, which was almost enough. Gambit swung her around and said, "Let's go, Rogue. Grab your jacket. I'm taking you out to celebrate." Because that was what friends did.

"Where are we going?" Her breath blew smoke into the autumn air.

"I thought somewhere special." He held out a train ticket to her. "Grand Central Station?"

The train ride from Bayville to New York City was long. Rogue was too busy tugging the stitches out of the fingers on her gloves ("So they'll be fingerless, like yours, Remy!") to talk to him about anything vaguely important.

For quite a while now he had been living for the moments each day when he would run into her after Danger Room practice and tease her about this or that, or find her reading outside and he would sit beside her and read over her shoulder. She hated it. But it was a distraction from the way his stomach dropped all the way to his toes at the sight of her, and the way everything inside him ached when she wasn't there. He couldn't help but feel that she was the earth and he was the moon, helplessly drawn to her wherever she turned.

He knew she knew how he felt, and maybe it scared her. Maybe that was why she would sit next to Joseph at dinner, would catch Angel as he was heading out on a walk and ask if she could go with him, would avoid Remy's eyes and dither her way out answering when he asked if she trusted him.

Just yesterday he had mentioned in passing that he didn't know whether or not he would stay the rest of the year at the mansion. He was a wanderer by nature, after all, and was itching to run away from the things that were unbalancing his usually steady nature (her, mainly), and adventuring across the globe in the process. Her eyes had widened and he asked if she would rather he stayed or maybe she could come with.

Her response was that she didn't know. "I'd miss you," she said hopefully. And then she ran off to compliment Joseph on his haircut.

Well, Gambit didn't know either. Stop playing games, Rogue, he thought.

But enough of that. She was happy now. Happier than he'd seen her in ages. So he was happy too.

After a while the train pulled to a halt, the speakers announcing that they were in New York City, which was the final stop.

"You ever been to the City before?" Gambit asked Rogue, helping her down from the train to the landing.

She shook her head, gazing up at the station's high ceiling and then all around her at the dozens of people crowding everywhere.

"Hope you like walking. I have a coupla different places I wanna take you."

"Sure. Walking's fine." She swung her arms at her sides as they located the exit. "I can't believe...I finally have...my powers under control." She was stopping every few seconds to take in as many sights of the city as she could. She smiled up at him. "This is the best day of my life."

"I'm glad, cherie."

The went to the Rockefeller Center. Gambit was wearing sunglasses to hide his abnormal eye color, but even so, the pair got strange looks. Probably owing to the fact that Rogue jostled against as many people as she could, exulting each time she made skin contact and experienced no absorption. Gambit laughed and put an arm around her shoulders.

They stepped from a crowded elevator to find themselves facing tall windows and a spectacular view. Remy drew Rogue along behind him outside to the observation decks, climbing up the flights of stairs, nearly all the way to the top. Rogue pressed her hands against the Plexiglas. "Wow," she said.

It was indeed cause for a "wow." New York City swept out in all directions around them; Gambit pointed out Central Park (which was obvious, as it was one giant mass of trees in the midst of the urban sprawl); the Statue of Liberty, which could be seen faintly in the distance; the Brooklyn Bridge, a thread strung among buildings; and the Empire State Building, which, like Central Park, was pretty hard to miss; among other various landmarks that for Rogue went in one ear and promptly out the other.

When her hair was sufficiently scattered from the wind and another group of tourists—a really tall guy, a pale teenager who was arguing with a slight red-haired girl, and a muscular blond girl who was taking pictures of absolutely everything and snickering over them with an awfully short bearded man—was attempting to press into their place against the rails, Rogue headed back inside with Remy at her heels.

They sat on the benches down the stairs, eating ice cream from the Ben & Jerry's stand stationed in the corner. (It was a little too cold for ice cream, but they had never let that stop them.) To Remy's surprise, Rogue was the first of them to speak, scraping her spoon along the side of her bowl. "The day you came to the mansion," she said, "ever since then, it's been like a little piece of home, having you here. You've helped me find myself. Thank you." And then she was silent again, leaving the natural conclusion hanging in the air.

Now that she had found herself, she had no further need of him.

Rogue seemed oblivious to this revelation, however, and offered to finish off his ice cream if he wasn't going to. He let her.

It was whether or not she wanted him with her. If she desired him gone, gone he would be, and he would frequent the bars and kiss pretty girls but it would never be the same. He would never be the same. Something she did not know was that she had helped him find himself, too, and now he would be utterly lost without her.

As long as she was undecided, though, there was nothing he could do to force himself away from her, which was nearly as bad, because she was just that—undecided. This was tearing him apart.

He stood, dusted himself off, offered her a hand, and they retraced their steps down the elevator and back out into the dingy streets of New York City.

Rogue loved seeing the spot where the giant Christmas tree and skating rink are set up each winter, even though it wasn't quite the right time of year; and they visited the Empire State Building, and St. Patrick's Cathedral, and made a really fast trip past the picturesque Public Library building. After this they walked another few blocks, Rogue admiring each street corner and shop window as they went, and occasionally popping in and out of a store or two, and took the subway to Times Square, from whence they continued on to an offshoot theater of Broadway.

A few hours later and having emerged from the theater to find themselves in the middle of a downpour of warm rain, they reached the subway system again; but not until they had been soaked up to their knees and their shoes could practically be rung out. They stood on the subway platform, which was less crowded than it had been earlier in the day. Rogue, too, seemed to have mellowed out from her previous state of excitement, or maybe she was just exhausted. A street performer was playing the drums a little farther down on their side of the track, and Rogue dropped a few dollars into his tips basket. Several more minutes of waiting, then, and the subway train sped to a stop before them with a woosh that sent Rogue's hair flying back from her face. Remy watched her, focusing on her tiny smile at the sudden gust of air, on the wisps of hair that settled back over her shoulders.

She dozed against him on the subway, and then on the train ride back home it was his turn to feel his eyelids growing heavy. He closed his eyes, leaned his head on the back of his seat. Rogue knew that he wasn't completely asleep yet, only getting close. She very slowly reached her hand towards his, until their fingers were touching, and she twined them together. Holding his gloveless hand in hers. "Remy," she whispered, "I think…I think I have it figured out now. It occurred to me just a moment ago… You are the only person I would have wanted to spend today with." She paused.

His eyes were still closed, but his eyelids flickered faintly, and he gave her hand the smallest squeeze.

"I don't want you to go," she continued at last, even more softly than before. "If you leave just to see if I would follow you, yes, yes I would. I haven't been a good friend to you lately, and I'm sorry. I want you to stay, I need you to stay."

He opened his eyes. "Does that mean we can do this again?" he asked sleepily, happily. "We have yet to see the Statue of Liberty up close, or the Bronx zoo, or the Museum of Modern Art."

She smiled, keeping his hand tightly wrapped in hers. "Maybe sometime," she said.

RoguexWarren. ^ ^ Lol.
Also...cameos from other fandoms? Me? ...Well, yes. Brownie points if you can tell me which fandom. :)
God bless you guys!