Disclaimer: Don't own X-Men Evolution
Whenever
It was early one summer afternoon in the Xavier Institute, and Scott was in the living room watching television when he heard the door open and ease shut as if someone were trying to come in without anyone hearing them. It was a wasted effort but he had to give him or her points for trying. He turned to watch for whoever was trying to sneak in and was stunned to see who it was. He knew that she would be coming in some time that summer as that was the plan but given the fact that she had been denied the privilege to come home for Christmas due to the training schedule he wasn't sure the coach wouldn't try to keep her over the summer as well. He didn't like this coach she had and he really couldn't explain why.
"Kathy… when did you get back into town?" he asked in shock. She had been attending a boarding school in the United Kingdom that had a praised gymnastics program along with programs in several other Olympic sports.
"A couple of hours ago…" she said not looking up at him.
Scott felt the worry eat at the pit of his stomach as he watched Kathy shuffle nervously in front of him. What had happened to her? Did her dad know she was home? Did he know how much weight she had lost? He hated the way she was looking now, she was way too thin. She had been healthy before she left to train in gymnastics at a boarding school where her gymnastics would be part of the curriculum but she came back painfully thin looking. Her face was full and cute when she left looked too skinny and her cheeks had almost a hollow appearance. He was extremely worried about what must have happened to her in that school to cause that change in her.
Scott embraced her and was shocked when she pushed away from him. This wasn't like her at all and it had him scared for her.
Kathy slipped away with her suitcase and he went to Professor Xavier's office to see if he was aware of his daughter's arrival and the changes she suffered at that school.
"Professor… I think something is wrong with Kathy." He said.
"She's been gone all year, Scott, people change." Charles replied "I'm sure she just needs to rest."
"Professor… she's lost weight… quite a bit of it. By the look of her at least 6 kilograms if I had to guess likely more, likely closer to 8 to 10 and you know at this point she didn't need to lose that much weight. She's withdrawn, I tried to hug her and… and she pushed away from me." (6kg= approx. 13 pounds or 0.9 stone) Scott seemed extremely worried and by this point it was something Charles couldn't ignore; not that he would want to due to the fact that it was his daughter they were talking about.
"What… she… oh dear…"
Scott could see Charles Xavier getting really worried about his daughter.
"I must go speak with her." Charles said urgently and started out of his office towards her bedroom.
Charles was extremely worried about Kathy, she and Scott had always been as close as real siblings, to hear that she was pushing him away sat wrong with him.
Kathy sighed as she entered her bedroom, she was home, safe, it was all over. With her powers coming in it was likely she would just remain home for the coming school term. She leaned on her bedpost and began to sob, dropping to her knees by her bed. She had felt so conflicted when Scott embraced her, he was her brother in every way that mattered so she shouldn't have been bothered by his embrace but she was so scared that he would realize something was wrong with her. The school doctors had begun to express concerns about the amount of weight she had lost even though her coach still stuck to the claim that she was overweight and refused to budge from her strict diet.
She didn't hear her door open or her father's wheelchair as he entered the room. She was too caught up in her emotional turmoil to hear it.
"Kathy… oh dear God…" she heard her father's voice as he came close enough to see the condition she was in. She looked away in shame.
"Hi dad…" she said trying, and failing to hide that she had been crying.
"What… what happened?"
"Nothing..." She lied.
"Kathy…" he said in a warning tone.
"Dad… do you want the truth… I'm ugly… I'm fat, and… apparently someone built like me could never be an Olympian in gymnastics so I should give up even trying."
"Kathy, where… where on Earth did you get an idea like that…?"
"Where… those coaches, apparently no matter how much weight I lost I was still too big for their liking." She was angry and upset and it showed and soon she broke down and began to sob again.
Charles felt his heart shatter in his chest as he embraced her and began to speak softly to her in an attempt to comfort her.
"They were wrong; you're beautiful… just like your mother." He assured her softly.
Rogue looked into the room where Charles and Kathy were then headed downstairs.
"Who is the new girl?" she asked Scott.
"That… that's the professor's daughter, Kathy."
"I didn't know the prof had a kid."
"She's been away at a school that focuses heavily on athletics in hopes of making it to the Olympics." Scott explained. "I think some bad things are going on in that school she's lost way too much weight over the past year."
Scott figured she hadn't lost the weight really quickly but the fact that she lost it at all was bad, she was gaunt compared to what she had been before she went to the school and seemed strangely skittish.
"Yeah, she looked pretty skinny."
"This is what she looked like before she left." Scott said handing Rogue a picture from his wallet. In that image her face was square shaped and her cheeks filled out to give her a nice look.
"She's pretty… you can kinda tell she's related to the prof… though I can't figure out where she got those freckles… probably her momma."
"Professor Xavier always says she looks more like her mom than she does him, but she does kind of look like him in that picture. Yeah from what I've heard her mother did have freckles I never got the privilege of meeting her myself."
"Where is Kathy's momma?"
Scott let out a heavy sigh.
"She's dead." He replied simply "She was murdered when Kathy was a small child."
"Aw man… that's rough."
"It is…"
Charles wiped the tears from his daughter's cheeks.
"You know you can talk to me about anything."
"I know, dad… right now I'm just… I'm exhausted and… and starving… and I really don't want to go back to that school."
"You aren't going back there… ever again… not after how they have treated you… this is where you belong."
He placed a gentle kiss on her temple "Let's get you something to eat then you can take a nice warm bath and get some sleep."
"That sounds great," she replied wiping her own cheeks "Scott went to you, didn't he?"
"Yes, but you shouldn't be angry with him, he was worried about you… he might not be related to us but… to him, you are his sister and seeing you like this distresses him greatly." Charles said gently.
"I know." She smiled slightly "It makes me feel good that he feels that way… that I know I can count on him when the chips are down."
They got downstairs and Kathy went to Scott.
"Scott, I'm sorry I reacted like I did…"
"Hey don't be… I caught you off guard with that hug."
"No, Scott it's not that… I've been through a lot since I went to that school and you know me there are some kinds of stress I just don't take very well." She sighed and embraced Scott who returned it.
"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad to have you home." He assured her.
"I'm glad to be home." She agreed.
After a few moments they broke the embrace and she went to the kitchen to get some food.
Scott turned to Professor Xavier to see him looking furious.
"I cannot believe those coaches work with such high caliber athletes but still resort to bullying and body shaming!" Xavier muttered in anger.
"Professor…"
"My daughter went there a healthy happy girl she came back underweight and insecure!" he ranted in anger.
"Professor, she's back now, we can make things right now for her and do what we can to make sure she never has to face this again." Scott assured him.
"You… you are right, Scott," Charles sighed "I will let Storm and Logan know Kathy is home, they will want to see her as soon as possible."
Rogue followed Kathy into the kitchen.
"Oh… hi… I'm sorry I've been so rude, I'm Kathy Xavier."
"It's okay, they call me Rogue… I just recently came to this place… but then you could probably tell that."
"Yeah when I left it was just Scott and Jean, I've heard dad took in a few new students this year."
"Yeah," Rogue shrugged "So are you a mutant too?"
"Yes, though I'm surprised I've controlled it as well as I have." Kathy admitted "I'm a telepath like my father and Jean, I'm also telekinetic, don't know the extent of what I can do yet I haven't really let loose with my powers. What about you, what can you do?"
"I absorb the powers of other mutants through skin contact, when I touch a non-mutant I get their talents and memories, mutant I get memories and mutant powers… but it's only temporary."
"I've never heard of that power before but I guess really anything is possible…" Kathy admitted "Though I have to say it sounds like a really bad double edged sword."
"You have no idea…"
To Be Continued…
