I would like to dedicate this chapter/story-its future has yet to be decided-to FireShifter who asked for a sequel to Elf. I'm telling everyone right off the bat, I never had any intention of actually writing a sequel so these stories don't really have a whole lot do with each other except for the underlying concept of Kurt's relationship with Kitty. It takes place after Kurt and Logan have safely returned Wanda to Genosha. I hit the fast foreword button.
As I said before, I lack the familiarity with the show and its characters to do what I feel to be a satisfactory job of keeping everything in character and realistic according to the show's parameters. This will continue to be the case as I have recently moved to a college housing complex, and believe it or not, we don't have a TV. I would look up episodes online, but we also have on again/off again internet access that is not even pretending to reliable. As I no longer have access to the show, I hope everyone can just bare with me and nudge me the right direction.
Now that you have all wasted he last 30 or so seconds of your lives listening…reading to me whine, please enjoy the story.
Kurt took a deep mental breath and steeled himself as he approached the massive doors of the newly rebuilt Xavier Institute, discreetly at the rear of the band of returning X-men. His sharp fangs continued chewing carefully on the inside of his lip as they had been for the majority of the flight back home.
At first his unease had been easily diagnosed and perfectly understandable. The X-jet, had been full the cheerful welcoming faces of friends-family-overjoyed to have him returned unharmed back into his rightful place among them. But through the resulting barrage of welcoming words, warm smiles, handshakes from the less emotional men, though neither Logan nor Bobby had managed to repress relieved grins when it was established he would indeed be returning home with them, and tight hugs from the motherly Ororo and uncharacteristically soft Rogue, one face, the face he most longed/dreaded to see, had not among them.
He asked, in quiet casual tones, why Kitty had not been included in Logan's first, as far as Kurt was aware, search and rescue mission. He knew how much she despised being left behind, and her skills in both combat and situation assessment, not to mention her phasing ability, made doing so often highly impractical. It was…concerning that she was not there.
"Head-cold," Bobby had answered, offhandedly. "Nothing to worry about really, she'll be back on her feet by tomorrow most likely, but it was enough to keep her outta the X-jet today, though God knows it'll be days before we hear the end of that. Don't worry about it; Forge and Emma are looking after her." He chuckled lightly, "Though I think they may have gotten the short end of the deal, Kitty doesn't strike me as an easy patient."
The comfortable chatter and teasing of his teammates continued for the entirety of the flight, but Kurt had not been paying it much attention. He nodded and 'hmm'ed in all the right places, but he honestly couldn't have repeated back a word that had just been said to him. The only thing that had really occupied his mind for the majority of the trip was that Kitty was sick. Not fatally so, obviously, and Bobby had said she was mostly fine. But she had been sick enough to keep her at home while the rest of the team left to rescue Logan. And that had had Kurt worried.
Now, outside of the mansion that looked so much like the one he'd been sure he'd already said his goodbyes to, he found his nervousness had shifted from honest, if irrational, concern, to genuine, almost crippling apprehension about seeing her.
He remembered how she'd literally jumped into his arms back on the ship on it's course to Genosha. She had seemed to harbor no hurt feelings and was at least as eager as anyone else to bring him back. But that had been months ago, and Kurt knew from experience that while Kitty was prone to the whole rainbow of emotions, she was also known for two extremes: absolute elation, and a temper that surly made Logan proud. And the speed at which she could shift from one to the other would have Quicksilver taking notes.
In addition to the emotional limbo where Kitty was currently waiting in his mental files, were Kurt's own uncertain feelings. He knew that he loved her, that he would forever love her, but where those feelings were once sharp and clear, they were now muted and murky, buried beneath his own need to repress them when he made the decision to leave the mangled and tattered remains of the X-men-and Kitty-behind, as well as time and distances easing the raw, gaping wound her absence had left him. In addition, he could also not deny the attraction he had felt toward Genosha's Scarlet Witch. Nothing like the powerful and comforting pull he'd always felt for Kitty, but present and real just the same.
He loved her, would always love her, but he was no longer certain if it was the honest irrevocable love he'd once been so sure of and comfortable in, or just the bittersweet shadow of first love that would forever hold a piece of his heart.
He didn't even understand his own doubts and fears and could hardly expect that she would. He didn't even know where she stood on the situation, didn't even know that there wasn't someone else in her life now, and really he had no reason to expect there wouldn't be. Kitty was a beautiful, talented, intelligent women; any man would be lucky to be at her side. An irrational wave of jealousy crashed over him, though he knew he really had no right or reason to indulge in the darker emotion.
For a moment he wondered if it would have been wiser to put off returning for a while, give himself time to think, to get himself together before he faced her. She still deserved explanations, explanations he still could not give her, and if she asked he didn't know what he could say.
But he was here now, and it was too late for second thoughts.
So, as confidently as he could, he strode through the new/old doors and found himself in a common room that was similar, but not a copy of, the one he remembered. He glanced around but the room was empty, save the group that had just entered. Then his golden eyes lit on the elaborate spiral staircase that most definitely had not been in the original plans of the mansion, and he froze in he tracks.
She was halfway down the red carpeted stairs, still in her pajamas, her long chocolaty brown hair twisted into a messy knot at the back of her head. Her eyes held light purple bruises, but were clear, and her poor nose was rubbed raw. Her face was pale, but color was quickly returning to her cheeks. Kurt couldn't imagine a more beautiful sight.
And just like that, his doubts and fears evaporated, as if they'd never burdened him at all. The barely begun feelings he'd carried for Genosha's princesses faded away like smoke after the candle burned out. He wondered how he'd ever thought they could compete with the feelings just seeing her invoked within him.
Before he had even fully processed the situation, Kitty had descended the remaining stairs and crossed the threshold of the room. And then she was falling into his arms, just like when she and Logan had found him on the ship destined for Genosha. She smelled of cough medicine and antiseptics, sweat, mouthwash, and vanilla shower gel, but he buried his sensitive nose in her hair and inhaled as deeply as he could. He crushed her against him until he could feel her heartbeat against his own and nearly wept in joy when she squeezed him back just as tightly.
"I missed you, Elf," she whispered into his neck, voice hoarse from coughing. Her breath gently ruffled the soft fur as she punctuated the statement the with an intimately chaste kiss brushed across the area where shoulder met his collar bone.
His grip on her tightened, if that were even possible, as he softly pressed an answering kiss against her temple just above her ear, vowing in that moment never to be far from her again.