The institute had been quiet since the team had returned. Of course it had, nobody was quite sure what was happening anymore. What had started off as a routine 'pick 'em up' with Jean, Kitty, Kurt and Logan had ended up a confusing catastrophe. Two previous acolytes were now rooming upstairs in the mansion and Logan was now rooming downstairs in the infirmary…Nobody had excepted little leech to freak and nullify Wolverine's powers by accident, especially not wolverine who'd just been hit with a metal girder curtsey of Sabertooth. Needless to say that kind of force with no healing factor left him very out of it and if it wasn't for Colossus turning turn coat, and somehow dragging Gambit along, the X-men would have lost. Badly.
Of course if that hadn't caused enough confusion, when the team finally managed to return home they had to bring the two ex-acolytes with them which left everyone on edge. Scott refused, point-blank, to stop guarding the corridor to the students. And even Storm seemed to be hovering about the room leading to Cerebo; just in case, of course. There was only Jean and Kitty who seemed to be handling anything sanely. Of course Jean because she was the Medic of the X-men and Kitty because she was just plain numb to it all. After all It wasn't right to her young, 19 year old mind, that Logan, THE Logan, of the X-men could still be knocked out cold 5 hours later and for all intents and purposes looking like death himself.
No matter how Kitty tried to wrap her mind around it she couldn't make her day make sense. Since she was 15 she'd lived at the institute, she trained with the now prone from laid on the bed barely a few feet away from her. Heck she'd followed him to the snowy wilds when he went crazy, even confronted him and saw the bounds of his mental strength. And now one knock, one too strong hit, had knocked him down. Wolverine was like stone, he didn't fall…Did he?
'Oh Lord, what if he didn't get back up this time?' Kitty couldn't even stop the traitorous thought from passing through her mind and she fretfully bit her lip in worry. Despite her fear she couldn't bring herself to move, to find comfort in the others and wait elsewhere; instead she continued to watch, through the glass window, as her mentor breathed slowly whilst Jean worked on him. Kitty stepped further towards the glass, hoping to catch the sign of some improvement, but nearly phased herself through the wall due to distraction and eager hope. A distant part of her mind realised she was in shock and it was almost like a quiet inner voice forced her small figure further away from the window and into a nearby waiting room chair.
Kitty ended up curled, into the smallest form possible, on the large stuffed chair. Head resting on her knees as silent tears dropped down her cheeks, her loose hair only just hiding them from view. The feeling of utter loss sat firmly in her breast and although Shadowcat tried to pretend it was just because Logan was her personal mentor, the man that took her under his wing and taught her real strength and fight, she knew it went deeper than that. Logan was one of her best friends, and like the other x-men she was irrevocably close to him too, perhaps more so. They were her family, and they were supposed to be invulnerable. Him especially.
His silent injury left Shadowcat just as shaken and only Jeans loud exit from the room managed to drag Kitty from her thoughts; a welcome distraction since the tears still wouldn't stop. One look at Kitty's faced instantly told Jean the girl needed comfort and within moments the red head was at Kitty's side, hand resting upon her shoulder after gently tucking the mane of loose brown hair behind the other girls ear.
"He'll be fine Kitty, just a little sore…" Jean's voice was careful and calm, the picture of confidence and it helped to sooth Kitty's tears. Some of the pressure finally lifting from the small girls chest.
"Like, you promise?" the replying voice was cautious, hopeful and just a tad sniffling. She had been crying after all.
"You have my word, now off to bed with you… You must be exhausted. I hear you phased Colossus through 7 feet of steel!" The light hearted reply was meant to make the younger girl feel proud of herself and more at ease. However if anything Shadowcat suddenly looked more panicked, the fight now fresh in her mind again.
Jean quickly seeing the tears beginning to well squeezed Kitty's shoulder to draw her attention. "You can sit with him a little while if you like, I need to stop Scott from going all macho on Gambit anyway…" Jean gave Kitty one last reassuring pat before winking and heading towards the elevator. Leaving Kitty to ponder her next move...
With very little mental persuasion Shadowcat was up out of her seat and phasing through the door in seconds. Tears finally beginning to dry now she could see the steady beat of Wolverines heart monitor up close. She stood awkwardly at the side of his bed, not quite knowing what to do with herself but reluctant to leave her mentors side.
"You gave me a fright Logan, In fact you're silly git really... You know I could have phased through that easily, Leech wasn't anywhere near me after all…But I suppose I'll still thank you; when you get up that is. But don't expect me to be the normal little half pint in training, you really did a number on the team moral back there. How could we ever function without your Cocky 'I know best' attitude huh? Though Gambit's sticking around now so I suppose we can have twice the fun on team outings…" Kitty's voice despite humorous was filled with underlining concern and a few small tear fuelled hiccups broke her speech in spite of her best effort to be cheery. Nevertheless she still managed to find a giggle to give him, after all who knew if he could actually hear her or not.
Shuffling awkwardly throughout her speech, Shadowcat finally decided to sit down on the edge of Wolverine's bed; perched lightly on the bottom end near his feet and a safe distance away so that he wouldn't wake up and yell 'you're in my space Bub' or something similar. She laughed at the mental image, suddenly feeling much more reassured now she could see him alive and slowly getting better. It a moment of instinct she reached forward and gently ran her hand over a large black bruise on Wolverine's arm. It was a comforting gesture to her, making him real, tangible.
Kitty continued to talk to the resting figure for some time, her words switching between scolding and caring almost randomly. It wasn't long however until the rhythmic beat of his heart monitor lulled her further into exhaustion, causing her to thoughtlessly shift into comfier position on the bed; minding her own cuts and bruises of course. Eventually the lowered sense of worry she now felt and body heat coming from Logan drifted Shadowcat off sleep. Her body curled into a ball at the bottom of his bed and her head resting lightly on his Leg; her expresion content even though Kitty's subconscious mind still keept a silent watch as they slept…
Both figures would continue to sleep for another 4 hours, happily healing and resting without worry. It wouldn't be until the early morning that one Logan, or Wolverine, would awake immediately tearing the iv from his left hand out of habit before realising there was an unknown weight resting on his leg. With a grunt Logan allowed his sleep blurred vision to focus on the brown mass of hair lent on his leg, his nose instantly identified the persona as Shadowcat. Her scent and the uniform she was still wearing gave it away despite the dodgy visual angle. A small grim smile twitched at his lips as he sighed heavily, amused at his prodigies obvious concern for him. With a surprising gentleness for a man of Wolverine's nature he brushed the hair from Kitty's face, his tone low as always but quiet this time too:
"Morning Half Pint…"
Authors Notes: Usual Fan Fiction disclaimer here, thank you! Also no I haven't beta-ed this fully because I wrote it on a whim at 3am. And since I haven't wrote for over a year I kinda find this whole thing a bit rambling but here you go anyway; A Shadowcat and Wolverine piece. Can be romantic or not, though I kind pictured it as a romance or at least her realising she cares for him a lot. So sue me I like odd pairings (KittyxLogan, KittyxColossus and KittyxGambit.) I haven't wrote X-men before (despite being raised on the original TV series) and this Kitty leans more towards the comic Kitty, but I hope I did the canon justice and hopefully some practise will get me back into writing my other stories. Thanks for reading, hope you liked it and feel free to review if you like!