A special thanks to Webaholic for agreeing to proof for me!! Salute!
ax - thanks for the review! I'm hoping you're drooling in a good way! :-) ha ha!
For the first night in months, Rachel fell asleep sober. Once or twice, she woke up and looked around in a drowsy slumber, felt Kurt's arms around her, and heard his steady heart beat in his chest. In his sleep, he would rub her arm with his hand and mumble loving whispers till she was lulled back to sleep. And, for the first time in six months, Rachel dreamed of the future, instead of the past.
But the morning light was harsh as it glared off the snow into her windows. She lazily stretched out and sat up suddenly as she found herself alone in the bed. She strained her ears to try to hear her Blue. In the shower or maybe the kitchen? But the entire apartment was silent.
"Kurt?" She called out. But only silence answered. "Blue?....Where are you?..." Her voice trailed off. The fireplace still flickered and gave warmth to the room. But it did not stop the cold that ran through the dark hair gypsy as she realized Kurt was gone.
She looked outside, on her terrace snow piled up three feet deep. There was no way the snow plows could have made all the streets passable yet. But, her Blue was a teleporter. If he really wanted to leave, it wouldn't have been difficult.
But he said....
Said what? She berated herself. That you were a good woman? Obviously his judgment was impaired. He didn't promise you anything last night!
To give into candle light and wine was one thing. To jump headfirst back into the mess she called her life was quite another. While she still couldn't quite believe he'd have just up and left, it was better that he was gone. Better for him.
Biting her lip to fight back useless tears, she drew her knees up to her chin and rested her forehead on them. Wrapped in her lonely sheets, she began to feel a great ache of loneliness and wondered if any of that wine was left. Numb was better than lonely.
"Guten Morgen!"
Rachel suddenly jumped and gave a startled cry as an overly merry Kurt stuck his face in hers, upside down. She craned her neck to see he was clinging to the wall behind the bed, easily contorting himself to greet her, grinning from ear to ear. How long had that prankster been hanging up there just waiting to scare her?!
"Holy Mary! Mother of God!!" she swore, desperately trying to draw air into her lungs before she fainted. "Kurt Wagner!" She swatted at him. "You are going to be the death of me!!" There was a time when that statement would have brought a sobering effect. But, that was a time the two rarely thought on anymore.
He let her hit him. A self appointed penance for scaring her. "I come bearing breakfast." He had already showered, dressed and 'bamfed' his imaged-induced self all the way to the closest restaurant insane enough to be open the day after a blizzard. In his hands, he held breakfast in a sack and a cup of coffee. A second cup of coffee was coiled up in his tail.
In an acrobatic move that made her dizzy just to watch, Kurt twisted and flipped to settle himself next to her, keeping the coffee cups upright at all times. Truly, an amazing feat. Rachel was so relieved to see him, she couldn't even pretend to be irked at his antics. She wrapped her arms around his chest in a tight hug
Kurt was taken back by her sudden embrace, but quickly recovered and hugged her back as best he could without the use of his appendages. What had brought this on?
"Really, it's just bagels and coffee..." he joked as he studied her. The thought didn't even occur to him that she'd have taken his brief absence as abandonment. That he'd have taken his pleasure with her and hit the road.
After a second she broke away, her cheeks tinted with embarrassment. "What kind of bagels?" She peeked in the bag. Kurt handed her the cup in his tail.
"Two creams, no sugar?" He knew how she like her coffee. Just like she knew he liked his coffee black. It gave her a comfortable feeling. She smiled into her cup as she took a sip.
Becoming aware of her lack of clothing, Rachel looked around for her missing night shirt. A wriggling flash of fabric caught her eye as Kurt's tail waved her nightshirt behind him like some sort of victory flag.
"Looking for this?" He teased, sweeping it above her head in an effort to make her let go of the sheet protecting her modesty. She nearly fell for it, reaching with her free hand as the soft white sheet slid down slightly.
"You're in a mood, this morning!" she scolded, yanking the sheet back up to her neck. Half laughing, she tried unsuccessful to snag the shirt again. "Give it back!"
"This?" Kurt studied the shirt in his tail for a moment. "I will be glad to, Leibe." He raised his eyebrows mischievously. "What will you give me in return?
Pursing her lips in mock anger, she narrowed her eyes. "What do you want?" She was already setting her coffee cup down on the nightstand and letting the bed sheet fall to her waist. Her lips curled into a knowing, seductive smile.
The silver tongued devil lost his clever retort as he looked her up and down. All the blood in his head began rushing to other parts of his body. She relieved him of the sack and cup in his hands. Soon the breakfast sat forgotten on the nightstand next to two cooling cups of coffee as she pushed him down on the bed and tossed her nightshirt on the floor.
Afterwards, Rachel stood at the French doors leading out onto her roof top terrace wearing her Blue's button up shirt and little else. The snow drifts piled against the doors came up to her waist. Her hands were only shaking a little as she drank her lukewarm coffee. She smiled as she heard Kurt come up behind her, clad in his pajama bottoms, wrapping them both in a thick, downy comforter. She leaned back against him, able to forget all the pain and hurt of the last six months as the snow left them cocooned against the world.
He nuzzled her neck as he choose his next words carefully. Sex, while it was fantastic, did not heal a marriage as broken as theirs. She might have let him back in her bed, but they had a long way to go. Best to start slow, test the waters.
"What are you doing for Christmas?" he asked, casually, planting a kiss on her shoulder. "Going to Christmas Mass anywhere?" Church was a good, neutral topic for them. He couldn't help but notice there was not a single festive decoration in her home. It was as if anything joyful was banned here.
Rachel shrugged, "Not sure. I'll probably be working. I have a conference in Hong Kong next month. It would be a good idea to get there a little early. You know, size up the competition."
He took the plunge. "Why don't you come out the mansion for a couple of days?"
The words were soft and enticing. She shifted uncertainly. There was absolutely no way Kurt's team members would let her back in that house after the terrific mess she'd left behind. She shook her head. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Blue. We both know the others don't want me back there."
"I want you there." His voice begged no argument as he tightened his hold on her. Then he backed off a little. "Just come out for Christmas. It's only a couple of days." He tried to compromise. "If you want to leave, I'll bring you back here. I promise."
For a long moment, Rachel sat on the fence, unsure. Then she felt herself giving into his gentle hands as they caressed her, encouraging her. Every fiber of her being screamed, "NO!" as she turned to him. She laid her head against his bare chest and smiled, following her heart instead of her senses. "All right..." She'd never been able to say no to him, not really.
Kurt barely had a chance to give her his trademark grin and delicious kiss, when Rachel's temples began to throb in pain. She rubbed them with her fingertips. Where was her purse??
"Shatz??" Kurt's eyes widened in alarm as Rachel drew up in pain. "What's wrong??"
"Just a migraine..." she managed, determined not to let him see that her brain felt like it was exploding inside her cranium. "I'll be fine. I just need the medicine in my purse."
Migraines? She'd never had migraines, before. Kurt looked around. "Did you bring your purse up with you?" The black Prada was nowhere to be found. He tore through the apartment while Rachel's pain worsened.
He was about to 'port to his car to check there, when Rachel collapsed on the floor, clutching her head in a vise with her hands and crying out in agony. Kurt grabbed her up and saw her pupils constrict as she began convulsing. If he'd been thinking clearly, he'd have taken her to the nearest emergency room, but all he could think was that his wife was in trouble, maybe dying... That, and that he was forty miles from what could possibly be the most advanced medical unit on earth. Swinging her up in his arms, he concentrated as hard and as far as he could and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
The Medbay was in a lull. Not even a decent sprain to mend, Hank thought with a wistful sigh. He actually found himself wishing something exciting would happen.
It did.
Without a warning, the enormous blue furred mutant found himself engulfed in smoke as an exhausted Nightcrawler emerged, wearing only a pair of black pajama bottoms and carrying a limp form in his arms.
"Herr McMoy..." he managed, trying to stay conscious himself. "Rachel..."
If Hank was rattled by the sudden emergency, he hid it well. With a swiftness that seemed impossible for someone so large, he took the young woman out of his teammate's arms, laid her on the exam table and pushed a chair at Kurt who collapsed in it.
"What happened?" He was all business with his pen light and stethoscope. Pupils were sluggish to dilate and constrict. Heart was beating so fast, it was almost fluttering.
Pulling air into his burning lungs, Kurt managed "She started to complain of a headache. Then she...she collapsed. I think she started having a seizure." A feather could've knocked him over, he was so weak from so many 'ports so quickly. It wasn't the furthest he'd ever teleported, but it was the fastest.
Working a myriad of medical contraptions - Kurt could only guess their functions - Hank started to work. So much for the lull....
Oversleeping was his vice. There was something wonderfully decadent about sleeping in. He felt he'd earned the right. He'd been very busy over the past few days. Clearing out all Rachel's frumpy pajamas, disconnecting the living room fireplace, cutting power to the building, arranging her car's break down; all that took precise timing and planning. And, he'd been planning this for so long.
Besides, it wasn't as if he had to keep an eye on his two love birds every second. They weren't going anywhere. If the snow wasn't enough to keep them where they belonged, Rachel's directives were. Her subconscious fully understood that they was not to leave her apartment once she got Nightcrawler there. She knew what would happen if she disobeyed or failed. So, when he went to his monitors and found an empty bedroom, he frowned. By the time he checked the bathrooms, kitchen, living room, study, and spare room, he was bewildered and angry beyond words. How had Nightcrawler circumvented her conditioning? Was that mutant's hold over her so powerful, she'd obey it over him??
This was a problem. Where had they gone? Though the streets were passable now, Nightcrawler's car was still in the garage. He scanned back through video logs. He stopped short at the image of the two having sex earlier that morning. He smirked lustfully at the image of Rachel, in all her glory astride that blue furred mutie.
You always did like to be on top.
For a moment, he started to go back and make sure they were using condoms both times. There would be no more using his beautiful Rachel as an incubator for Nightcrawler's subhuman spawn. He could have kissed Rory for his unwitting help. An ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. But, he would hold onto her morning after pills – just in case.
Forcing himself to fast forward to more pressing matters, he stopped again. Nightcrawler was all but ordering her to leave with him and return to Xavier's school. And, at first, he was proud of Rachel. She refused. But, then, his eyes turned dark with ire as that genejoke stroked and fondled her till she was completely unable to say no. Then, the pain began. That should have triggered her conditioning. It should have prompted her to take her pills. Why didn't she take her pills?? As he watched he realized she couldn't find them. That stupid bitch! She'd lose her damn head if it wasn't screwed on.
He forced himself to calm down. It was a small matter. If her body had become acclimated to her current level of discomfort, he'd just turn it up a notch. Her subcommands could be triggered from almost anywhere. With a press of a button, he called her home.
Okey Dokey! Time to hit that review button and let me know what you think!!