Tender Embrace 

by Ami E. Bowen

Note: Rogue, Gambit aka Remy LeBeau and Jean Grey belong to Marvel

Comics and all that. This story contains sexual situations between consenting adults.  If you

are too young to read this kind of stuff...go 'way!

There was a time...very long ago when she could touch people.  She

remembers her

father's kiss goodnight feather soft upon her cheek, the feel of her

mother's hand as she

held it on their way to her first day in kindergarten.   Playing rough

and tumble games with

the children of her neighborhood and the one fist-fight she got into at

the age of nine.

The memories were still fresh in her mind, making it that much harder to

bear the fact that

she is unable to caress a lover without the protective barrier of gloves

of clothing between

them.  She had only kissed one boy...and the act itself had been so

wonderful, delicious

sensations had coursed through her for a second before her mutant power

had chosen that

moment to awaken and dash to pieces all her young girl hopes and dreams

of love and

romance.

In that one moment she'd had a taste of what passion could bring and

desired more.  In

that same moment she'd been so cruelly denied, as if the fates laughed

at her and taunted

her, screaming; "We shall let you have a nibble only, but no more! No

more! No matter

how you ache you shall not be sated!"

As she stood staring in horror down at the boy who had been sacrificed

for the sake of her

power, Rogue's mind exploded still with images and emotions not her

own...her own

feelings shoved into dark alcove of her mind, waiting to be summoned and

analyzed.  She

had felt the boy's departure from the world of the living with a mixture

of sorrow, guilt

and terror.

Now, now...it was years later and she was still that same young girl who

had felt betrayed

by the fates...inside...if only older and more experienced...she still

longed to hold someone,

to feel kisses upon her lips and feel other hands but her own caress her

wanting flesh.

Rogue stood in the bathroom, the mist from the shower shrouding her

shapely body as she

gazed at herself through a fogged over mirror.  Her hair, deep brown

with a flash of white

near the top, had grown long.  She moved a bit and felt it sway across

her back, the ends

touching her hips.  She pulled her hair forwards and ran her fingers

through the still-damp

tresses as they fell across one luscious, round breast.

Running her fingers gently across the peaked nipple of her other breast,

Rogue gasped

inwardly as the tiny pink nib became erect and sensitive to her

self-exploration.  Running

her tongue across sudden dry lips, she watched as her emerald-hued eyes

closed ever so

slightly in the mirror.

Slowly, as if in a dream...for she felt as if she were engulfed in the

mists of fantasy, she

turned about, presenting her firm buttocks towards the mirror and faced

the door.  The

handle was turning, she waited, her breath caught, as the door swung

open on silent

hinges.

Without touching her, without saying a word, he slid past her into the

room.

"Ya can't touch me, Remy."  She whispered, regret and longing in her

tone as she turned

back towards the mirror, watching him through the glass, "But I want you

so much..."

He wore a pair of grey sweat pants and a dark blue long-sleeved shirt,

his feet in the grey

socks someone, possibly Jean, had bought him for Christmas one year.

"I want you as much, chere."  His voice was rough, telling her of his

desire...how difficult

it was for him to keep in control.  "Touch yourself, Rogue...Let me feel

with your

hands..."

Her head titled back, hair falling back again, Rogue languidly moved her

hands across her

breasts, pausing over each to savor the feel of each hard nub as it

responded to her caress.

She felt Gambit's breath on her shoulder, his body inches from hers' and

she felt the deep

throbbing begin in that hidden, secret place betwixt her thighs.

"Slower, ma petite."  Gambit said as she brought her fingers across her

belly and sighed as

she felt his breathing quicken,  "Ah, Rogue...Chéri, vous êtes si

beau."

"What does that mean...?"  She asked, her soft southern drawl husky with

her hunger,  his

words like an endearment to her ears, though she could not fathom their

meaning.  She

titled her head to one side, gazing at him through the mirror.

"You are so beautiful."  He said as she lowered her eyes, a blush

creeping across her

cheeks and enveloping her body in a warmth he could almost feel.  He

chuckled lightly at

her school-girlish behavior and added,  "Do not blush in embarrassment

now, Rogue,

we've come too far..."

"Yet not far enough, Remy..." She said, wanting more...needing more, yet

afraid to go on.

"Remy..."

"There is a way, chere..."  He said to her, as she felt the moisture

seep within her.  He

reached into a pocket of his sweats and drew a pair of dark satin

gloves, the material so

fine as to be nearly non-existent, yet, she knew...it would protect him

from her mutant

absorbing power should he touch her with them on.

She closed her eyes as she felt him touch her, drawing her backwards

into his arms as his

hands played across the swollen fullness of her breasts.  Even though he

now wore the

gloves, Rogue pretended, in her own mind, that he did not...That nothing

was between

them...

Nothing but the love they shared...would always share...

~ End ~