Authors Note: I really don't have anything to say other than this chapter was a lot of fun to write! I have to give a lot of this story credit to my wonderful girlfriend who is almost always giving me ideas to fuel my fire to this story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my idea behind this story, The X-Men belong to Marvel, and the movie verse from which this came belongs to 20th Century Fox.

Chapter 11

Snow Globes and Fire

It seemed as though the moment the four of them entered the mall they split up in twos. Kitty went with her mom and John with her dad. The two boys searched nearly every store of the building, and while it didn't seem to take long to find Theresa the perfect gift, John was struggling,

"I don't know about this Mr. P. I mean, it took you no time at all!" John sighed as they exited Buckle.

Carmen laughed as he squeezed John's shoulder. "You'll find it, don't worry. I just so happened to get lucky with this little find." He gestured holding up the little navy blue bag.

With a defeated sigh, John continued his march through the store. He glanced in every window, looked in almost every section inside Barnes and Nobel, didn't give Spencer's a double look and even checked out Hot Topic. Every once in a while Carmen would "Hum" or "Nuh-huh." but nothing more than that. John was strongly considering a Build-a-Bear when the one shop he over looked caught his eye.

Snow Globes and More.

John walked into the store, and was instantly fascinated by all the different and wonderful designs and creations. When the shop-keep asked him if he needed any help, he declined, but the bright red color of the shop-keeps eyes didn't go over looked by John. The teen shrugged it off as he continued his browsing.

He came to a basket with medium sized items that said "All scenes $5.00." and began mindlessly pawed through the trinkets. It wasn't until a plastic mold of a pond caught his eye, did he know what the perfect gift would be. He then moved to the basket that held different types of homes, not expecting to find what he was looking for.

But to his surprise and delight there it was, sitting there in all its small little glory, just under the first house he moved aside. He carefully picked it up, examining it before sticking it in the crook of his arm.

"I think this might work for the type of snow globe you're wanting to build." Carmen said handing him a beautiful golden stand. The base about 3 and a half inches tall with beautiful flower and vines wrapping around it. The ball, a 6 inch radius with the 3 inch circumference and 4 golden ice sickles going from the base, and stopping just before the top. John accepted it with a smirk, before bringing the three items to the craftsman.

"How do ya want em set up?"

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Kitty walked with her mother around the mall for nearly a half an hour, not because Kitty didn't know what John wanted, but simply because she wanted to make sure he had no idea. That and her mother couldn't figure out what exactly her father would want.

"Mom, why don't you get him another gadget?" Kitty whined as her mother dragged her through the Cowboy Shop.

"Because he has enough of those! He doesn't need another one!"

Kitty rolled her eyes before she pointed to the Sears across the way. "Mom! He has been wanting a new grill since last year! Why not get him one of those new high-tech fancy ones?"

"Hmm." Theresa made her way toward the store, her daughter had a good point. After that it was the "Goldilocks" routine. "This ones too big." Or "This ones too small" and "This one doesn't have this, this one doesn't have that."

After nearly an hour of listening to her mother ask the poor sales person a million and one questions she finally told her mother she was heading to get Johns present. With a smile and a nod, she let her daughter go her own way, saying she would meet up with in a few minuets.

Cautiously she exited Sears and began making her way toward the Zippo shop. She was trying to be very diligent, and would have failed if not for her ability to Phase, for as she left the store, her father and John were coming right at her. With some quick thinking she took a deep breath and phased into the wall beside her and waited until she could no longer hold her breath.

The Zippo shop was a small corner store, tucked away on the far side of the building. She started her lap around the store when a sales associate dressed in black pants, a belt with some sort of red symbol on the buckle, a cross around her neck and a dark brown leather jacked cladding her shoulders approached her.

"You look like a girl looking for something in particular."

Kitty smiled and nodded her head.

"My names Liz, I'm the sales associate here. Maybe there's something I could help you with." Her voice was soft; clearly this woman was a gentle hearted person.

"Well, there is something." Kitty said looking back at the case of lighters. "I'm shopping for a Zippo for my friend. He recently broke his, and let's just say he's a bit of a Pyro."

The other woman laughed. "Well, you've come to the right place. What are a few of his personality traits?"

The question caught Kitty off guard. It wasn't something she expected to hear in a Zippo store. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I feel that certain colors in lighters can really reflect someone's personality."

This made sense to the teen and Kitty thought for a moment. "Well, he has a fiery temper and he's very bold. And while it's extremely rare, he can be wholesome and sweet."

"So you're going to want something red, black, and white." Liz nodded thoughtfully before a smile broke across her lips. "And I think I have just the thing."

Authors Note: How many of you caught my reference to HellBoy? It's just a small one, but I remember watching the movie while writing this chapter. Anyway Lemmie know what ya think? And if you caught it! XD