It changes him

John once again found himself very nervously sitting in his office rereading his notes and his how-to books for the appointment that was fast approaching. Though unlike last time he wasn't dealing with a young adult 18 years old with abandonment issues, this time he was dealing with an older adult with betrayal issues who'd probably seen more horrible shit in the last year than John had in his whole life.

John began to move through his textbook rapidly, as if looking to answer questions before they were even asked but knowing that wasn't possible. So John would honestly settle for not screwing the guys head worse than it probably already was. Sadily though, an alarm sounded telling him he only had a few minutes before Gambit would arrive, so he quickly cleared his desk of all his studying materials, not wanting to look like he was trying to prep for Gambit in front of Gambit.

Well, he was preparing; that was the kind of thing a person might take offense to if they found out. So he spent the few minutes he had before Gambit's scheduled arrival making sure that his textbooks and notes were put away, as well as his office and himself being as tidy and presentable as possible to make a good first impression. Eventually he heard a knock on his door, and he rushed to sit back at his desk and take a professional posture.

"Please come in; all are welcome." John said he was trying to sound welcoming and professional at the same time. Gambit, upon hearing he was being granted permission, walked in to the office. He took a quick glance around the room and nodded to himself. John smiled to himself for a brief moment; at least he'd gotten the impression he had his sh*t together by making sure his office was extra tidy for the appointment.

Gambit walked over and sat in the chair that was clearly provided. "While I'm not sure why I'm here, my mind is sound as always. I just got some issues with a southern belle that it seems half America knows about." Gambit was clearly not happy about being ordered to take a therapy session but not willing to take it out on John, who's just trying to do his job at the end of the day.

"Well, since you broke the ice for me and that seems to be the biggest issue for you right now, would you mind if we spoke about your relationship with Rogue?" John asked in a polite and quiet voice, trying to be as nice and diplomatic as he could when he asked the question. Hoping he wouldn't ruin the session and could get to the heart of the issue rather quickly, allowing him to focus the entire session on trying to, if not fix the problem, at least understand what the exact situation is.

"Yes, it's fine because it'll make this session short as there's nothing to talk about; she spent time with another man. End of story." Gambit said, his tone filled with bitterness at what Rogue had done. John took a moment to think about how exactly he should respond as to not offend Gambit before he replied.

"Well then we know what Rogue has done, and I can tell from your tone you're not happy about it. So the only real question is, What do you want to do going forward?" John asked in a quiet and slow voice, trying to be as clear as possible about what he was asking and what he wanted Gambit to think about.

"What exactly are you asking?" Gambit stated a bit shocked, as up to this point he had only gotten two reactions for the situation up to this point. The first was people telling him that the rogue had made a mistake and to stop being an idiot and forgive her. The second response was people telling him to forget about her entirely. No one up to this point had actually asked him how he wanted to handle the situation, not even the one who hurt him, Rogue, who you figured would be most concerned with his response, especially since his power was making things explode.

"Well, it's quite simple, Gambit. Two of the founding pillars of any relationship are trust and respect. Rogue has broken both of those pillars. She has broken your trust by going back behind your back with another man, and she shows she doesn't respect you by not breaking the relationship before getting with another man. So do you want to continue the relationship, hoping she can rebuild the respect and trust you had for her by breaking your heart, or do you want to leave the relationship to hopefully find someone else or swear off relationships for the moment to focus on yourself?" John asked, hoping he had used his knowledge gained from his studies correctly to advise Gambit.

Gambit sat there a moment thinking on the matter, not really having thought on the future of the relationship before just having been stuck in the mess that was rogues betrayal. "I think I'll break it off for now. I used to think I knew Rogue and that she would never betray me, but she did, so why am I dating a woman I don't even know? Maybe as friends and teammates she can prove herself to me and we can try again later, but for now I think I'll just get myself in order rather than getting with anybody else." Gambit said in a slow voice as if he wasn't entirely sure he had come up with such a plan, but he had, and he was going to follow through with it.

"Good Gambit, it's good to see you've made of your mind. Now was there anything else you needed to talk about?" John asked, wondering if he could keep this rather productive session going and help Gambit with any other issues he was having. Gambit just nodded his head and gave a small smile.

"No, Doc, if it's all the same to you, I think I've done enough life-changing decisions. I think I should probably head out and give rogue my decision and then spend some time on the practice-filled exercising to clear my head." Gambit said he was a bit wary of making any more big life decisions.

"Of course, Gambit, I'm happy I was able to help. Please go right ahead and best of luck." John said as Gambit got out of the chair and walked towards the door, opening it but turning around and waving good-bye before walking away. John waved back, and after the door was shut behind Gambit, he relaxed into his chair, mentally exhausted but glad that had worked out.

As John lay back in his chair, his eyes closed, resting for a moment, a psychic was watching him as the eternal had been the whole session. The eye was linked to the Phoenix back in her office watching the entire time, as she was concerned since this time it was an actual session and not one of the ones she and Charlia set up to warp one of the school female members into his whores.

So she had been watching, ready to fry Gambit in an inferno of psychic fire if he took a foot out of place. Luckily for Gambit, the session went well, and they actually made progress with his problems. In fact, the Phoenix thought on the matter. She pressed a button on her office phone and immediately connected to someone. "Charlia schedules Rogue to be my next appointment, then I will have her have a session with Mr. Doe," Phoenix orders Charlia, who responded with a yes, mam.

Yes, with Gambit breaking things off for Rogue being a cheating hoe, it wouldn't be hard to turn her into John's latest plaything. All it would take is a few changes by her, and Rogue would be okay for her master to play with it.