Part 13 – Ten Seconds

Two hours later, when it was almost six in the morning, Kari was pretty much chugging coffee to keep herself awake. Every once in a while, Storm, Jean, or one of the adults would poke their head in and ask how her progress was coming. She would always reply with an "I'm working on it" or "Fine".

And just as she expected, some one poked their head in and asked how she was doing. Again she replied with, "I'm working on it" except it was almost in a snapping tone. After around two minutes, she realized the person was still standing there. She turned and looked at him, then back at the computer, then did a double take.

"John, hi." She said, startled. He gave her a small smile and walked into the room almost in a sneaky way.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked again.

"I'm just…working." She sighed and exited out of a document, then had a small code bar come up, where she typed what John thought to be random numbers and letters, but something popped up and said "ACCESS TO FILE 1506DR9" made him raised his eyebrows.

"That's not what I meant. I meant how are you doing?" he corrected himself. She glanced at him and dropped her hands from the keyboard.

"I honestly don't know. All of the sudden I feel like the spotlight's on me and everyone wants me to find stuff for them, they all act like I'M the one with all of the answers!"

"You're pressured?"

"YES!" Kari said in a frustrated sigh, sinking into her chair.

"I mean, I don't mind helping, I just feel used." She rubbed her tired eyes and looked at him. He was standing and looking down at her. He seemed too tall, almost menacing, but his face didn't show it. Kari suddenly realized it at that moment. It was something odd. Was it the fact John had come to see her? No. It was the way he was looking at her. And that led to her second realization.

He had become her most trusted friend in less than forty-eight hours.

He knelt down until he was pretty much eye level with her.

"Can I help at all?" he asked. Kari looked to the side, then gave an exhausted smile.

"You can find me some food," she said, half joking, half serious.

"Like what?" he asked, smiling.

"I don't know, something to just eat, I'm starving."

"How about this? Let's get Kitty and Rogue, and we all go to breakfast."

"Because the teachers will totally let us do that," Kari mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"I'll make them. Come on, get up." John stood up with a smile.

"Too tired to get up," Kari mumbled with a tired laugh. John sighed and grabbed her hands. She was surprised as he pulled her to her feet. It was the first time he had ever touched her and not meant to hit her in the process. She was so close to him at this point that she finally realized how tall he really was. He wasn't too tall, and he wasn't the same height as her, as she always thought. They had never been this close, so she could never really tell.

Not realizing that he was still holding onto both of her hands, he stared at her. Both of their expressions were of surprise and somehow, comfort. There was a long silence, where they both just stood there, seeming to be at a loss of what to do next.

Kari's mind seemed to leave her body, until she felt one tiny bit of feeling come back. And it all rushed to feeling of her hands. She thought it strange, that her mind would focus on such a thing. But when she subconsciously described it, it somehow made her feel…indescribable. The way she noticed how his hands were one hers, the way they seemed to comfort her. She could somehow feel a smile through his fingers, like he was smiling and she could tell just by the feeling of his hands. She was being sent a rush of emotions, most she had never felt before, and the rest she least expected to be revealed by him. Then all at once, she wanted time to freeze. That was her only thought suddenly. She wanted time to freeze, and she never wanted him to let go. She also felt like that had happened. The silence between them lasted for what felt like hours, and for a moment, she considered the possibility that it had.

All through the time she was pondering this, in John's mind, he was almost panicking. Half of him kept telling him in an almost deafening alarm "Awkward, awkward, let go, let go, LET GO!" while the other half of him was calmly saying nothing. Though the alarm in his head was becoming a logical solution, he wanted to follow the silence. Without saying anything at all, it was telling him to stay there, to keep that eye contact, to let them fall into each other's eyes as they were. Then another third part of him simply asked, "What are you doing?" while he panicked. While these three parts continued to ask him, and command, and mock him, he somehow managed to silence them, until he was left with a blank mind, and just like Kari, he was left with only the feeling of his hands, and hers in contact with them. He acted as though they were the most delicate treasure in the world. In a rush, he wanted to hold them as tight as he could and never let them leave his grip, and he wanted to carefully handle them and make sure they were never harmed. He felt confused, and for the first time in his life, protective. For one reason or another, he did not know, but he felt a strong care for her now, and a sudden hidden anger towards anyone that hurt her.

So blatantly, they were both struggling about whether to break this connection, or to leave it as it was, confusing and almost enchanting them both. Kari swallowed, not realizing any motion she did. All that was on her mind was what the consequences would be if she so much as twitched her hands. She was unaware of whether she was breathing or not, she had forgotten she was standing, and she was completely oblivious to where she was. Every nerve she had had been transferred to her fingers. She was beginning to forget if she even knew how to speak. The fact that all of this was being caused by a simple touch was only becoming a subconscious realization. But she wasn't comprehending that. And now, she was focusing on how John's eyes seemed to beckon her.

Though this seemed to both of them to practically last hours, in reality it was only near ten seconds, and it was now interrupted by Logan walking in to check on how Kari's errand was going. John nearly jumped out of his skin, immediately letting go of Kari's hands as though they were now as hot as fire. Kari then jumped herself from the sudden movement, and swallowed again, taking in a deep breath and looking at Logan, who now had a raised eyebrow and a suspicious gleam in his eye.

"How's your uh — research coming?" Logan asked, raising both eyebrows now.

"Fine," Kari said in a rushed tone, "Fine, I was just — taking a break."

"Oh, really?" Logan questioned with a sardonic tone peppered into his voice, "Well, before you go back to work, Dr. McCoy would like to talk to you."

"Okay," Kari answered, swallowing again in a nervous manner. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she couldn't seem to calm herself down.

"Actually, I was going to ask you about a break, um," John stepped over to Logan and asked him about the breakfast idea.

"No. Absolutely not." Logan started walking out of the room.

"Aw, come on, PLEASE?"

Kari watched John practically chase the man out of the room and disappear. She let out a nervous and unsteady breath, collapsing into her chair.

"What…the hell…just happened…?" she said to herself, putting a hand to her forehead and staring at the ground. What had she just done? And what was that feeling? Why did she think all of those things? Her heart was beginning to beat faster and her breathing was going off key. She kept trying to tell herself to calm down, but it wasn't working. She sat there alone for another five minutes, trying to command herself to quite freaking out. When John finally walked in with another one of his bored looks, she felt like her heart was going to break from her chest.

"Okay, I convinced them to let us go, but we have to be back by noon." He stopped and stared at her. "Are you okay?"

Kari nodded quickly, not wanting to make him think she was scared because of that. Such a stupid incident, and she was having a panic attack about it. She almost hit herself.

"So, are you going to come or what?" He was acting like that ten seconds had never happened. Easy for him, she thought in the back of her head. He had no idea what was happening to her, and now that she mentioned it, neither did she.

"Just…give me like, ten minutes, okay?" She swallowed once again, noticing her mouth was becoming dry. He gave her a small nod, and then walked out of the room calmly. What Kari didn't notice was that once he left the room, he went right down the hallway and started having one of his own panic attacks, mentally screaming "Oh crap!" over and over again. He gave himself a cooling breath and told himself to just be calm and go tell Kitty and Rogue they were going out for breakfast. Okay. Nothing weird is going to happen, everything's fine.

Everything is SO not fine, he snapped in his head.

So you like her, big deal, answered another voice.

I DO NOT, he argued instantly.

Then what was that back there? he asked himself.

Nothing, that's what. It never happened, now just shut up and go get the others.

He took a long breath through his nose, and went down another hallway. He would get the others, but first he wanted a talk with Professor Xavier.

Back in McCoy's office, Kari was beginning to think she would never relax. "Why is this happening to me?" she whispered, completely panicking.

"She has a rare DNA deformity, which has been created mostly by her mutant gene intruding," Charles explained to Hank. It was only them meeting, the others were securing things on the jet and making sure everything was settled before they situated things inside.

"Her emotion pattern," he continued, "Has been greatly increased, which can allow certain complications, so to speak. When introduced with a common emotion, her reaction can be greatly intensified. For example, anger. She can feel frustration with a certain incident, and suddenly be overcome with rage, which can cause her to be a danger to others around her. Another example of that is her attack on John back at her house. I believe she was recalling the accident the caused her parents to send her away. Her anger towards this accident could have excelled at that moment, without her realizing it. She told me herself she recalled none of it. She simply said that she remembered talking to John, then suddenly waking up in her bed nearly four hours later."

"So during the emergence of an emotion, her tolerance can excel?" Hank questioned.

"At an amazing rate, yes. Within seconds, she can become, if you don't mind, a potential demon. What I obtained from John's mind was she was telling the story of her accident, and not ten seconds later was she holding him by the throat in an attempt to choke him to death."

"Incredible," Hank commented to mostly himself.

"And because of her, if you please, hidden lifestyle, where she had no friends, there are some emotions she has yet to experience. And with her powers at this age, there's no telling what could happen. When she feels happiness, she seems like the most normal child I have ever seen. She's overcome with excitement and joy. When overcome with anger, she becomes filled with rage and soon becomes what I believe to be her mutant form."

"Mutant form?" McCoy repeated.

"John's description of her when she attacked him was incredible. The image of her was unbelievable. Her eyes were black, her nails had grown to the length of tiger claws, she practically had fangs!"

"So, what do you think her full form is?"

"According to John's nickname of her," Xavier said with raised eyebrows, "a fox."