On a mission to help Black Tom Cassidy of all people, Storm and Shadowcat were forced to track down and bring back an ill Juggernaut who was rampaging through Seoul. Naturally, he was less than willing to come peacefully with them and began to attack them. Gambit, who had been keeping an eye on them since their arrival in the city, saw that they were in trouble and gallantly came to the rescue. His reasons?
GAMBIT: I jus� saw an old friend in a big mess of trouble, thought I�d lend a hand. More den dat, I wasn�t thinkin�.
As to what he had been doing the past few months,
GAMBIT: Jus� back to business as usual... I�m a t�ief when all else fails an� all else failed.
Hearing that his goal in South Korea was the same gem that she was pursuing to help the Juggernaut, Storm proposed a partnership in which the person who touched the gem first won the prize. After the three braved the temple of Cheju-do, Shadowcat, ironically, was the first to lay fingers on the jewel, but Gambit tricked her out of it and seemed to disappear with it:
SHADOWCAT: He�s... gone? Storm? You don�t think he... I mean, I don�t know him, but he wouldn�t --
STORM: Trick us? I would have hoped body and soul he would not. Despite his dark past, I have never known Gambit to be anything less than honorable. To doublecross us is simply not within him.
SHADOWCAT: He�s gone. The gem is gone. Denial isn�t just a river in Egypt, Ororo.
Lurking in the shadows, Gambit overheard that particular conversation and had a change of heart about betraying their trust. As a result, he returned the gem to Black Tom. Pleased that her expectations of her friend had not been disappointed, Storm asked him to return to the team with them:
GAMBIT: T�de X-Men? Nah. Sometimes you can�t go back. This�s one of those times.
STORM: Come now, Remy. We both know the real reason you resist returning -- Rogue. But issues between people must be resolved. At one point, Charles and Magneto were close, but when they drifted apart it was the distance that made them enemies. You don�t want that with the X-Men. You don�t want that with Rogue. Come back with us at least until you work this out.
Although the team seemed to accept his presence with relatively little difficulty, possibly out of shame for having treated him so appallingly, Gambit chose to live in the boat-house rather than the mansion. Nonetheless, despite the physical isolation, he managed to build bridges with his former team-mates and the members of Excalibur who had rejoined the team. However, he still had problems mending things between Rogue and him, thanks to an entity of green energy who had attached herself to him.