Vadeline looked up blearily. The room was in darkness. All she could hear was a soft beeping sound coming from next to her. She twisted her neck to see what it was. It was just a heartbeat monitor. She glanced down at herself. She was in a pair of silk pyjamas. She could only vague remember what happened. she had collapsed after absorbing the energy that she had charged up the deck of cards with. I could have killed the X-men, she thought. I have no control, at least not very much over them. Pushing those thoughts away, she remembered Gambit.

It was so comical now that she thought back. That look of surprise on his face when he saw that her mutant powers were similar to his. Except, she thought wryly, I still can absorb that power. She could not stop thinking about Gambit. although she had only known him for one day, she found herself liking more and more as the minutes went by.

Don't be silly, she chided herself. He's got Rogue, and how am I going to compete with her? Vadeline thought of Rogue, her perfect figure, the warm smile, her sunny disposition, that charming southern accent, her full rosy lips and those emerald green eyes. Who am I compared to her? Vadeline knew she wasn't exactly the prettiest or the slimmest or the friendliest or in fact of anything, when compared to all the x-women. She wasn't exactly slim, in fact she was a little plump as she still had puppy fat, she wasn't exactly beautiful when all the x-women seemed so exotic and unusual with their styles. Jean, with the flaming red hair, Psylocke with the purple hair and mysterious personality, Storm in her regal splendour and unusual white hair..... she sighed.

Actually Vadeline was quite pretty. She had the delicate Oriental looks inherited from her mother, big innocent sky blue eyes, the long straight silky jet-black hair and flawless skin. However she never really thought herself pretty as no one had ever told her and she was too modest to think that she was attractive in any sense.

The door creaked open. In the darkness, Vadeline could see a pair of red on black eyes peeking around the door to look at her. "Gamine y' awake?" Gamine, she thought. What's that?

"Gambit?" she asked in a low whisper, her throat being too dry to try for a louder voice.

"Oui Gamine. Y' be ok now?" He asked, opening the door fully silently and sliding inside the room noiselessly. He grabbed a chair in the darkness and sat down, his trenchcoat draping nicely over the armrest of the chair.

"Yeah, I'm ok. What's Gamine??" she enquired.

"Well Gambit t'oug't it won' be nice t' call y' 'p'tite' 'cause dat's wat' I call Jubilee an' it her name f'r her f'r me. So Gambit call y' Gamine. Meanin' a girl wh' run de streets, a bit small-sized an' all. Dat 'k?"

"Yeah sure Gambit, It's ok."

"Well 'k den Gamine, go get some sleep 'k? I'll be back later t' see y'."

Before she could even say goodbye, he had slipped out quickly like a shadow, silent, efficient. Thief of the night who had stolen her heart as well as Rogue's. She pulled the covers over her head and shut her eyes, a smile spreading over her face.

"It appears she has great potential. Vadeline's mutant abilities are rather like Gambit, in other words, charging objects up with kinetic energy. However she also has another mutant power which is to absorb any form of energy and convert it into kinetic energy. However, the conversion of the energy is limited to converting it into kinetic energy only. Also she being young, has little control over her powers due to lack of use." Beast concluded his speech.

"Is there any reason to show that she is exposed to weakness after using her mutant powers?" Professor Xavier asked, referring to the collapse of Vadeline earlier on.

"No Charles. she was merely exhausted after her long trip."

"So I see." Professor Xavier turned to face the rest of his assembled X-men. "Cyclops, could you please arrange for her training to start as soon as possible?"

Upon seeing Gambit descending from the staircase, he added, " Also since her mutant powers are similar to Gambit's, I would like you to assign her to Gambit. Gambit shall be her instructor in training."

"But sir, Gambit is so irresponsible and he might lead her astray. Afterall, she's only fifteen, rather influential age", Cyclops objected.

"Scott, let Gambit have a try. After, he has shown an interest in training the girl. Besides she seems to only trust Gambit, Rogue and Beast, and Rogue and Beast are hardly suitable training instructors looking at their mutant abilities," Phoenix persuaded.

"Bonjour mes amis. Y'all doubtin' Gambit be able t' teach someone wit' my kind of powers how t' use dem? Don' forget Cyclops, y' de one who can' control y' powers," Gambit interrupted, getting fed-up of Cyclops' superior attitude. He stalked off angrily.

"Look at his attitude! How can he train her?" Cyclops stormed, face becoming an angry red, almost the same colour as his visor.

"Cyclops, do let Gambit have a try. Afterall, if you are not satisfied, you can always reassign someone for the job," Storm backed her friend.

Cyclops, seeing he was outnumbered, gave in. "All right. But he leads her astray, I'll reassign someone else to the job.

Storm and Jean smiled at each other over Cyclops' back.

Gambit sat on the rooftop, staring at the sky. He was furious with Cyclops. I jus' wan' t' prove dat I c'n be responsible but he says I ain't responsible. Wat' he mean by dat? I try t' be good f'r a change an' he doubts me. Dis is a matter o' trust an' Cyclops don' trust me.

Gambit felt rather strong about this subject. He did want rather badly to train Vadeline in her powers. Her powers were so similar to his and he recalled how difficult it was for him to control his own powers before. He took out a playing card and looked at it.

She could be my sid'kick, he thought, smiling to himself at the image he conjured up of Vadeline and him, both in trenchcoats and the trademark cards of his in their hands, glowing with kinetic energy. Cyclops would be mad, he mused. Thinking about Cyclops, he felt mad. Cyclops wasn't the only man who could be responsible. Gambit could be responsible if he wanted to be.

He felt something, his instincts and spatial awareness warning him of a moving figure behind him. A cool gust of wind caressed him. Gambit smiled. It was Storm. She moved quietly to where he was sitting and sat down beside him.

"Cyclops has decided that you may train Vadeline," Storm spoke in her low husky voice.

"T'ank y' Storm f'r defendin' me." Gambit replied, his mind ecstatic over the permission to train Vadeline.

"Just remember Remy, she is just a child. Do not lead her astray."

"Moi???" came the innocent reply and the mischievous twinkle in the red on black eyes. Storm just laughed.

To be continued in Gambit My Love Chapter Four...