The doctor did not appreciate being roused from his sleep by the hammering at his door. And when faced by two men, faces chiseled and hard, he was even more reluctant to listen to them. Until he saw the woman cradled in the shorter man's arms.

"Is that ... oh my. Come in, come in." He opened his door wider, and ushered them into his home. "Just follow this hall down to the door on your right. It leads into an examining room." The doctor left them alone to rush up his stairs.

Gambit and Logan stared at his retreating back, and then at each other. Hardly the professional place to bring the woman, but they did not have many options at the moment. They found the examining room just as the doctor said they would. There was another door that led from the room, and Gambit opened it to reveal a hallway and what looked to be the main body of a clinic.

He shut the door just as the doctor returned, Logan gently laying the woman down on the examining table. Her dark eyes were open, flickering from Gambit to Logan to the doctor with an indefinable expression. He could not imagine how she was coping with the pain, and he felt a surge of admiration for her.

The doctor hovered over her leg, unwrapping the strips of blanket that Gambit had used as a bandage. The woman stiffened more than once, and Logan reached out a steadying hand which Gambit noted she clutched gratefully.

"Do you know what caused this?" the doctor asked after a long moment of staring at the torn and bloody flesh.

"Hunter's trap." Logan replied curtly.

"I see, I see. This is quite a mess."

Logan growled, and Gambit felt his own irritation. Before they could speak, the woman's weak voice brought the doctor's head up.

"Can you fix my leg, Doctor Pierce? And please...don't lecture me." her voice was filled with pain, but there was no mistaking the dry humor that touched her words.

The three men stared at her dumbly for a moment, and she stared back, the faint light of a challenge mustering itself in her eyes. Logan snorted, whether from amusement, admiration or both, Gambit could not tell.

"You heard the woman, bub. Get your ass in gear."

Spots of color appeared on the doctor's cheeks and his eyes hardened. Gambit reached into his pocket to finger his deck of cards.

"Now, now, Anne." Doctor Pierce looked down at the woman. "I was just getting to that."

"You two know each o'der?" Gambit asked. Anne remained silent, her eyes closed in pain as the doctor began to clean her wound. None too gently, it seemed. Didn't the man have pain killers?

"Oh yes, every one knows Anne." The doctor responded absently, though the tone of his voice seemed faintly disapproving.

Logan and Gambit looked at each other, eyes troubled.

"Why is that?" Logan asked.

"Hmmm? Oh, Anne goes up into the woods for weeks at a time. Been arrested twice for harassing hunters, disturbing traps. Comes back looking like a wild thing, only half human."

Gambit began to truly dislike the man before him. There was a cold absentmindedness to the way he spoke of Anne, and the patronizing tone of his voice hinted at a wayward child, rather than the brave young woman he and Logan had rescued.

"I shouldn't have to explain myself to any of you." Anne gasped suddenly.

"So you've said." The doctor brushed her off, and Anne shut her jaw with an audible snap.

Gambit scowled, and glanced at Logan, whose blue eyes hardened noticeably.

The rest of the examination was conducted in tense silence. Anne had a broken ankle, which the doctor set before stitching up her leg. Logan insisted that Anne be given pain killers, and soon she was in a light slumber. After injecting a heavy dose of penicillin into her arm, the doctor declared her fit to go.

Logan gave him the address of the Mansion as a place where he could send the bill. With extra penicillin in a little white bag, and other instructions for Anne once she woke, the three were hurriedly ushered from the doctor's home.

Once they were in the jeep, Anne sleeping in the back seat, Gambit spoke up.

"I don' know 'bout you, mon ami, but Gambit don' like dis place much."

"Same here, Gumbo. Somethin' don't smell right."

"So, what now?" Gambit spread his hands. "We didn't ask where her place is, an' Gambit not goin back up to de doctor. Gambit don' trust him."

"I saw a motel down the street a ways. Let's get some shut-eye an' we can talk tomorrow when Annie wakes up. I want ta' ask her a few questions."

"Yeah, like how her pretty ankle got caught in a trap, and why she was in de woods sixty miles from de nearest town."

"Somethin' like that."

They rented only one room for the night, a double. Anne got one of the beds, Logan gently laying the sleeping woman on the mattress while Gambit pulled back the covers. Gambit took the other bed at Logan's insistence.

"I'll be thinkin' too much ta' sleep. 'Sides, you get in a lousy mood when ya' don't get enough shut-eye."

"Well, you ain't so sweet yourself, Logan."

"Yeah, but I've got an image ta' uphold."

Gambit chuckled, and fell back against the pillows.

When Gambit awoke the next morning, he was the only one in the room. Sunlight was creeping in through the bottom of the curtain, and the sound of the shower filled the murky air of the room. Gambit glanced over at Anne's bed and found her missing. He leapt to his feet just as the door to the room opened. Logan stepped in, and Gambit heard the sound of the water being turned off.

His friend carried several bundles under his arms, and he stepped past the confused Cajun without barely a glance, just as the bathroom door opened. Anne peered out, face and hair damp, a towel wrapped around her slim body. Her large eyes studied the men intently, features thin and pointed. Gambit was not sure if she was beautiful, though the word 'striking' came to mind.

A wry smile pulled at her lips, and she gestured towards the packages that Logan held.

"Those for me?"

Logan grinned, and Gambit watched as he pulled out jeans, a red flannel shirt, and some underwear and socks.

"Not the height o' fashion, Annie, but it'll get ya' through the day."

She laughed, the effect on her features startling. Beautiful indeed, Gambit's mind declared.

Anne came forward to take the clothes, and Gambit noticed with a start that she had removed her air cast. Black and purple bruises marred her flesh and there were still scars, but she walked without a limp. Only a healing factor could explain why she was up and moving, and that posed new questions for Gambit to ponder.

Anne stood before them, and though she was wrapped only in a towel, quiet dignity emanated from her. Gambit was surprised that she could be in the presence of two strange men and not exude the slightest trace of nervousness.

"I want to thank you two. You took an awful burden on yourselves last night, and I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along. No one would have come looking for me." The last was spoken quietly, without self pity. For Anne, it was merely a statement of fact. Gifting them once again with her steady gaze and wry smile, she disappeared back into the bathroom with the clothing.

"Dat's some woman." Gambit commented, still not quite sure what to make of her or the events of the previous night. Logan merely grunted his assent, but Gambit had seen the sure and gentle way he had cared for her, and the look on his face when he called her Annie. The Cajun smiled smugly to himself.

Logan sat down on one of the beds, and leaned back on his elbows. "Well, she's definitely a mutant, but no one in this town seems ta' know it. They just think she's strange—a little crazy. Apparently, Annie owns a cabin up on the mountain—inherited it from her folks when they died. No one knows much about her."

"No one cares, dat's de problem."

Logan shrugged, but Gambit could see the wheels turning behind his friend's eyes.

The door to the bathroom reopened, and Anne stepped out. The clothes were a little large on her petite frame, and her hair was still damp, but she carried herself with an undeniable presence that filled the room. For a moment, Gambit felt shy, and that feeling shocked him. He hadn't felt shy around a woman since he was fourteen years old. Logan cleared his throat gruffly, and Gambit wondered if she was having the same effect on him.

Anne smiled at the two men, as though she could sense their discomfort. She pulled on the bloodstained boots she had been wearing the night before, and straightened.

"Um, do you mind if we get out of here? I could use some fresh air."

"Lead the way, chere." Gambit bowed, sweeping an arm towards the door with a grand flourish. Logan glared at him.

Anne smiled, a true smile and not her wry grin, and she curtseyed. Without another word, she passed the two men and exited the small motel room.

"Hungry?" Logan asked, once they were outside.

She snorted.

"When you found me, I'd already been in the trap for almost two days. I had some trail mix in my pack, but that didn't last too long." For the first time, Gambit realized that the gaunt lines of her body were due to starvation.

"And you still standing? Chere, you shoulda told us!"

"Trust me, I'm stronger than I look. Besides, I really didn't feel like eating last night."

Logan shook his head.

"Come on, darlin'. Let's get some food into ya'. If I were in your shoes, I'd claw my way through a steel wall ta' get some grub. And I bet ya' have an accelerated metabolism ta' top it off, don't ya', what with your fast healin' an' all." It was a statement and not a question. Anne's face paled, and her eyes flickered to her leg and then back to their faces.

"Ya' don't have to worry around us, Annie." Logan reassured her gruffly. "We're mutants, too."

Anne froze, her eyes slowly taking in both men. Gambit felt startled by the intensity of her gaze, and he wondered if Anne had a mutant gift beyond her healing factor. She emanated power, despite her easy going manner and slight frame. Logan did not seem at all unnerved by her scrutiny and finally, Anne began to relax.

"I wasn't sure if you were trying to trick me into revealing myself. Though I was careless enough to let it happen anyway." She looked at them ruefully. "No one in this town knows I'm a mutant, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Logan opened his mouth to speak, but stopped as Anne forcefully shook her head.

"We can talk about this later. Maybe it's because of last night, but for some reason I trust you two. You've been nothing but goodness to me, and my warning bells haven't so much as clinked. Besides," she motioned with her head towards the jeep parked beside them, "I'm starving and I don't really feel like walking to the closest restaurant."

Logan grunted and stared at Anne intently for a brief moment. She stared back defiantly, one dark eyebrow arched expectantly.

"Well, come on then." He said finally, as though nothing had happened.

The three of them piled into Logan's jeep, Anne sitting up front. She shook her head at the first restaurant, a clean, newer looking establishment called Pete's Diner. They did not argue, and followed her directions until they reached a small brick building. A battered, weather beaten sign had the letters, 'Faye's' written on it. The parking lot was packed.

"Best steaks in town." Anne grinned, and lithely jumped out of her seat, landing on her uninjured leg.

"Darlin', you just made my day." Logan said, following her into restaurant, Gambit close on his heels.