DISCLAIMER: I'm not making any money off of this, Marvel owns those who angst. Little Texas sings this song.

Even in the seventh month of her pregnancy, Ororo Munroe was able to turn men's heads. The woman beside her, Auburn Rose McClinton, also known as Rogue, found it funny, but hoped it would be like that for her in a couple of months. Quickly, they loaded up the rental car at the airport with gifts.

When they were done, they climbed in the car with Storm taking the wheel. Storm turned to Rogue and said, "I can't believe how insistent you were to come with me."

"Ya know Forge, with that little one due, he didn't want you to be left alone. Since Mary and Steve have a daddy-daughter day planned, Ah thought Ah'll ride with ya. Ah've done gone stir-crazy with being a full time mom. Where are we going, anyways?" Rogue asked.

"Today is Hannah's and Hunter's third birthday," Storm's explained. "I can't believe you went along with me, my friend."

"Why not?" Rogue asked as they drove down a country lane.

"They are Remy's children."

"Sure I think about you now and then,
But it's been a long, long time"

Suddenly, Rogue remembered the day that Gambit left the team. The sky was blue, the birds were singing. There was nothing to say that this was the day her life would change. The team had just finished a run in the danger room before they ate lunch. It was Bobby's turn to cook, so they had peanut butter sandwiches. After lunch that day in March ten years ago, Remy announced, "I'm moving on."

The team was surprised, to say the least. Bishop was the first to speak, "Remy, there is no reason-"

To which, Gambit said, "I don' know how to explain it, bu' Gambit time wi' de X-men is done."

Hank spoke next. "Gambit, we may have had our differences, but there is no reason for you to leave."

Remy just smiled at that, "De differences isn't why I'm leaving. Gambit got debts to pay, t'ings to do dat migh' not be good for de X- men."

Scott spoke next, "We are a team, and we stick together. How could you do this to the dream?"

Gambit sighed at that remark. "It's not Gambit's dream anymore, mebbe never was. Gambit knows when to fold his cards." With that he got up from the table and Storm followed.

Rogue was shocked. She always thought that they would get a second chance to get together. Joseph turned to hug her, but she froze in his arms. She didn't want Joseph, she wanted Gambit.

She ran up the stairs, to find Gambit standing in his doorway. He was carrying just a duffle bag. "Gambit, Ah have t'know, are you leavin' ‘cause of me?"

Gambit stood there, as if weighing two options. "Oui et non." He stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. "Gambit's past is coming back, and I want to spare you the pain of de tru'. Non, ‘cause Gambit tired of dis game you need to play." His mind was made up, there was nothing she could do to stop him.

Rogue stood at the door watching as Gambit drove off. The look in Storm's eyes told her that he wasn't coming back. The two women stood there and cried. Rogue felt that her life was coming to an end.

"I have a good life now and I've moved on..."

Rogue had been surprised to find out that life did go on. After Gambit disappeared, she found her old, devil may care attitude. She found the old pleasure in fighting, in being an action junkie.

Before it she knew it, one year had passed, then two. Joseph left, then Logan, and finally Betsy and Warren. Jubilee came back, then Alex, and finally Logan. Bobby and Emma started dating, Hank announced he was engaged, Jean gave birth, Peter died.

One day after her therapy session, Rogue climbed into a taxi and met Steve. Sparks flew, and thanks to her facing up to her past, she could control her powers and they planned a future together. It was three years after Remy left that Rogue got married and left the X-men.

"So when you cross my mind..
I try not to think
What might have been

To her surprise, her second anniversary was marked by the birth of a beautiful baby girl, Mary, quickly followed by a little boy, Tommy. It was a cold autumn day when they buried little Tommy, born with a heart defect. Still she was able to take comfort in knowing that his death allowed three other mothers the chance to see their children grow.

It was hard work but, in being a wife and a mother, Rogue had found her idea of a good life.

So try not to think what might have been
We can't go back again
There's no use giving in
And there's no way to know
What might have been."

"Do you ever wonder?" Storm asked.

Rogue smiled, and shook her head. "Ah wouldn't change my life for the world." She was very happy, even though her new life meant the end of her old one. She couldn't be a super hero and a mother.

"We can sit and talk about this all night long
Wonder why we didn't last
Yes they might be the best day we will ever know
But we'll have to leave them in the past"

After a moment of revisiting old ghosts, Rogue asked, "Did Remy ever tell ya why he left?"

Storm nodded, "He just knew that his time with us was up, staying around would endanger us. A man of his connections.... He had a marker he didn't want to pay."

"Ah guess Ah lied. Sometimes, when I look at Mary, Ah wonder what Gambit and my young'uns would look like. And Ah wonder what kind of husband he'd make. But then Ah see the life Ah have and Ah'm happy. Ah loved, and still do love the man Gambit was, but my life is great."

"Ever miss those day? Being an X-Man, I mean." Storm asked her friend.

Rogue nodded, "Ah loved my life then but Ah love the life Ah have now. Ah'll help Bobby with the books and all, but Ah have young'uns t'think about."

"So try not to think what might have been
Cause that was then"

They pulled up to a large house built in the same manner as the church across the street. In the yard of the house, there were three bikes, skates, and other children's toys, and several swings hanging off the trees. The whole yard reminded Rogue of hers. On the mailbox, there were several hilum balloons sparkling in the wind. It was clear that a party was getting ready to start.

As Storm stepped out of the car, a little red headed boy ran up and attached himself to her leg. A little girl literally flew from the stairs and ran into Storm's arms. Reaching up, she kissed Storm's check three times.

"Auntie Stormy! What ya bring me?" The little girl asked.

Storm laughed as she put the child down, and bent down to hug the boy at her knee. "Rogue, these are Hannah and Hunter. Gambit's biological children." Turning her attention to the little boy, she said "You've gotten more freckles Hunter."

Hunter smiled at the attention from his favorite aunt. "Angels love kissing me."

Hannah groaned at that statement, "You don't wear sun block sos ya get freckles. Dat's what Mandy says, and Mandy is never wrong."

Storm started to explain to Rogue that Mandy was one of the kids living at the house, when Hunter answered briefly. "We gots ten big brothers and sisters that Daddy adopted. Dey use to live on the streets, but now they live with us."

Storm clarified that statement, "This is one of the ‘Precious Angels Foster Homes for Children of the Streets.' It was started by the church across the street."

"And we have taken different roads
We can't go back again"

Remy saw Rogue standing in his front yard. There was no way that he would have not remembered her. Some small part of him was still in love with her.

But the part of him that still loved her was outweighed by the parts of him that loved the life that he led now. One filled with the love of his wife, all of the children he took care of, his church, and more importantly, God. He was in no way the same man that he had been. His life started to change the day he left the X-men, and hadn't stopped to this day.

He was laying low on the streets of Tampa, when he happened to bump into a man named John, a former convict and full time preacher. John had taken Remy into his own home, and helped him get a respectable job and a new start on life. Then one day, he re-introduced Remy to Jesus, and later helped mentor him into the ministry.

From the day that Remy became a Christian, he had a passion to help street children. That passion teamed him with a church in rural Georgia that shared the same desire. The church saw past his eyes into his heart. There he met his wife, Angie. Six months later, John married them, and they started the foster home. Angie had died eight months ago of cancer.

"There's no use giving in
And there's no way to know
What might have been"

Three years ago, when some bigots tried to attack the church and the parsonage for taking in mutant children, the X-men came back into his life. They could hardly recognize him, and he could hardly recognize the man that they had known.

He was happy to get to back in touch with Stormy, the twin's Godmother. When Stormy had told him that Rogue was married, he was ...taken back. Now they were here in his front yard, and he didn't know what to do. They were too acquainted to shake hands, too much of strangers to hug, and kissing was out of the question.

"That same old look in your eyes
It's a beautiful sight
I'm so tempted to stay"

Rogue first saw Remy as he walked out the door, and quickly lost her breath. The old feelings were still there, as true and fresh as the day he walked away. "Hi," She ventured as he stood before her.

Remy was surprised to find out that a larger part of him had feelings for Rogue then he thought before. He had missed her and at times allowed himself to dream about their children. Why had he thought that he could get over her?

"Too much time has gone by
We should just say goodbye
And turn and walk away...."

"Daddy, Daddy, lookie what Auntie Stormy got us." Hannah and Hunter came running out, loaded down with gifts.

Storm explained, "The other X-men sent some gifts, and I couldn't bring my God-children a gift and not their brothers and sisters. I've got a whole trunk full of gifts." Scott had been very generous in his support of the home, and it went without saying that Storm had a soft spot in her heart for the kids that lived there.

The gleeful squeals reminded Remy that he had a reason that he was at this house. Rogue smiled at the growing crowd of kids. "She sounds like Mary at her age." Her smile was different, more serene and jubilant.

"How many kids ya have, Rogue?" Rogue saw a strange peace in Gambit's face. He was happier here with these kids then he had ever been with the X-men. What ever happened to change him? He was no longer the man that she knew.

"2 and a 1/3, one in heaven, one on earth, one on the way." Rogue's hands slid to her stomach as a grin flickered across her face. She wouldn't change her life for anything.

Hunter started to climb up in Remy's arms and whispered in his ear. "I love you too," he told his young son before he kissed Hunter's cheek.

"Let's eat cake!" Hunter then told his father. Hannah grabbed Storm's and Rogue's hands and pulled them into the house.

"And I try not to think about
What might have been
Cause that was then
And we have taken different roads"

After the party, Remy started the long process of cleaning up after twenty kids, while Storm helped the older children with homework. "Sometimes, I t'ink dat I'm too nice."

Rogue nodded at that. "You were always very kind. Ah always thought that ya had a heart of gold under that swamp rat skin." She stood up and helped him clean.

Hannah walked out in her pajamas. "Ah want Rogue to tell me a night-night story." Rogue got up and followed her upstairs to her bedroom. "Tell me about Daddy. Tell me about him being nice." She never knew her daddy not to be kind and loving and happy.

Rogue sat down on the bed and put her arm around Hannah. The child wanted happy thoughts, so she would give them to her. "One day, Ah couldn't see for a bit. Ah was mad and hurt. So Ah climbed up on the roof of the mansion, jus' to think for a bit. Ya daddy found me there and ...." Rogue told Hannah some of her favorite memories of Gambit.

"Ah think the reason Ah liked him the best was he made me feel beautiful and wanted. Not too many men could see beyond my troubles and see that part of me."

"We can't go back again
There's no use giving in...
There's no way to know
What might have been"

Looking down, she saw that Hannah had finally drifted off to sleep. Carefully, she tucked the blanket around the child's chin and walked out, dreaming of what have happened if ten years Gambit hadn't left, if she had just taken his hand when he offered it to her in that theater so long ago.

Storm was waiting downstairs. "We have to leave if we are to catch the plane back home."

Rogue agreed, "Ah'd like to get home soon. Ah've got a young'un' and a big'un to kiss goodnight." After a few words with Remy, they drove away.

Remy stood on the porch and watched them pull away. He couldn't say that he wasn't happy with the way that his life had turned out. Just sometimes, he wondered just what would have happened if he and Rogue had wanted to work their problems out, if Joseph hadn't come between them, if Sinister hadn't wanted him to betray the X-Men.

(Soft music gradual fades in the background as Remy walks back into his home. The last two melancholy lines are heard faintly as he turns out the lights.)

"No, we'll never know...
What might have been...."

(The last chords fade away as the camera pans from the house to the sky, where the lights of an airplane fly across the stars.)