Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kitty awoke several hours later. Kurt was there, as promised. He was asleep, however. Professor X had pulled some strings, and the hospital set up another bed right beside Kitty's for Kurt. It was almost like being at home, except with morphine.
Kitty stared at Kurt for a few minutes. Someone had brought him some food. There was an empty bag beside him and about five burger wrappers sticking out of it. She smiled faintly. She knew he probably didn't even notice that he'd eaten them all. His appetite never went away, even when he was worried. He'd still eat the way he normally did, he just wouldn't notice it.
She thought about what Scott had told her. Would being Kurt's wife really be such a bad thing? At an early age, that is. She knew her parents wouldn't like it if she got married when she was 18. But she was an adult and could do what she wanted, with or without their approval. She really wanted their approval, though. She also considered Jean and Scott. They'd put a lot of years into their relationship. It really wasn't fair for her and Kurt to get married before they did. In her eyes, anyway.
When did her life get so complicated? She was an eighteen-year-old girl who just got out of high school. She was supposed to be enjoying her youth, getting ready for college. Not worrying about marriage. Not sleeping with men twice (or possibly three times) her age. Not lying in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound.
The boyfriend thing made the most sense to her. That should have been the most complicated thing in her life: the fact that she had Kurt, and that her ex still loved her. That was a normal teenager problem.
Everyone had always told her not to get mixed up with Lance. They all told her about how horrible he was, how he'd break her heart, how he only cared about himself, how he wouldn't care if he hurt her.
When that shot was fired at her, Lance did the one thing Kitty was afraid to do: use his powers. He immediately avalanched the room. Frankie tripped, and the gun fell out of his hand. Frankie and his boys hurried out. Lance called the hospital and told them he was on his way. He pulled the ribbon out of Kitty's hair and tied it around her arm, hoping to stop some of the bleeding. He picked her up and carried her out to his jeep, and drove her to the hospital. He told the doctors that she was shot, and while he didn't know any of her information (other than her name, address, age and birth date), he knew how to reach people who did. They let him use the phone, and he called the institute.
He didn't leave her lying on the floor in his house. He refused to let her bleed to death. He took care of the situation immediately, and then called the closest family she had so they could be with her and help take care of her.
He never once thought about himself.
The fact that the X-Men would blame him never crossed his mind. That wasn't important. What was important was making sure Kitty got the help she needed. And if he had to put up with them yelling at him, then fine. He'd suffer through it.
Once Kitty was in the ER, that was when he realized that Kurt and Rogue (and Logan and Summers if they came along, too) would go off on him. He considered leaving, but he knew he wouldn't. He couldn't. He couldn't leave Kitty there without anyone. For the time being, he was all she had. Once everyone else showed up and he was threatened and blamed, he knew it was okay to leave. Kitty was surrounded by people who loved her.
Lance just wished he could be welcome in that group of people.
Kitty looked over at Kurt. She reached over and took his hand in hers. She wanted to turn off his image inducer, but she knew that wasn't a good idea. She was already lucky that no one noticed she was a mutant. She'd needed a blood transfusion and everything. Or maybe they did notice, and the Professor wiped it from their minds, and in the process, Jean could've changed her chart. She made a mental note to ask later.
She squeezed Kurt's hand, grateful that she had such a loyal boyfriend who stuck to his word. If he said he wouldn't leave her, he meant it. She was fairly certain he wouldn't even go to the bathroom unless clearing it with her first, or leaving her a note if it was an emergency. She giggled to herself.
'I'm so incredibly lucky,' she thought to herself for about the millionth time since she and Kurt began dating years ago. Then her arm was overcome by an enormous amount of pain, and she came crashing back to Earth. 'Lucky with a side of reality.' She pushed the button on a machine, and within minutes, the morphine had taken the pain away.

Lance pounded his fist on the door. It cracked slightly, and Eddie, the guy who had groped Kitty, stuck his head out.
"What d'you want, Alvers? You got the money?"
"I don't have time for this crap," Lance snapped. He avalanched the door open, and he and Logan walked in.
"Oh, Wolves, that one right there had his hands on her," Lance said with a nod at Eddie. Logan growled at him, and Eddie looked genuinely scared.
Lance walked up to Frankie, lifted him up by his shirt and slammed him against the wall, the same way Logan had done to him earlier.
"We've got a problem, Frankie," Lance said angrily.
"So your chick got shot," Frankie said simply. "She shouldn't have been in the way."
"You shouldn't have been around her at all!" Lance shouted. The house began shaking, and bits of the walls and ceiling started to fall. "You should have walked out the second you saw her."
"You have my money, Alvers," Frankie said. "You have it, I want it, and someone got hurt. That's the way of the world. Now are you here to apologize and give me what's mine?"
Logan grabbed Frankie then and pushed Lance aside. His claws shot out of his hands.
"I think maybe you owe the girl an apology first, bub," he snapped. He could smell someone coming up to him, so he stuck out his other arm behind him, his claws drawn. He turned his head back slightly, and saw Eddie. "Don't worry, pal, you're next." He turned back to Frankie. "You shot the girl, and now you'll pay the consequences."
"Who the hell are you? Her father?"
"What if I am?"
"Then I think you should know who your slutty daughter's been sleeping with." Logan twitched. He didn't want to think about that.
"Yeah, it's true," Eddie piped up. "She was coming on to me, not the other way around."
"Eddie, shut the hell up," Lance said irritated.
"You should know better than to let pretty girls hang around guys like Alvers," Frankie said. "You never know what's going to happen to her. A snort here, a shot there...I wouldn't be surprised if she were coked up when she showed up over there. Or maybe she'd been there all night and was getting ready to leave." He smiled evilly. "Pretty girls don't keep their legs closed."
That was it.
Logan stabbed Frankie in the shoulder with his claws. He wanted to kill him. It took everything he had *not* to kill him. So he had to settle for messing the kid up.
Lance turned and swung. He hit Eddie in the jaw. Eddie, being severely messed up on God knows what, fell over right away. He tried to get up and fight back, but he kept losing his balance. Well, Lance was helping him out in that department.
Shortly after, when there was enough blood shed, Logan and Lance began to retreat. At the door, Lance turned back.
"Here, Frankie," he said. He three $500 on the floor. "I'd give you the rest of it, but I'm $300 short. Besides, after shooting an innocent girl, I think you contributing $500 towards her medical bills is the least you can do. And by the way, I'm out. Don't contact me again."
Lance slammed the door behind him. He ran to catch up with Logan.
"You put up a good fight, kid," Logan said.
"Well, I couldn't let them do what they did to Kitty and get away with it. Aren't you worried about them saying anything to the cops? About your little knives, there?"
"First off, they ain't little. Second, they were all full of drugs. No one would believe them. And what would they say, anyway? 'Officer, because I shot a girl over money another guy owed me for drugs, two guys kicked my ass, one who could make earthquakes and one who had claws'? Get real."
"Yeah, I guess."
"And while we're on the topic..." Logan stopped and turned to Lance. "Stay away from her."
"What?"
"You heard me, bub. Stay away from Kitty."
"Why? They're not going after her. Not after what we just did to them."
"Because if you're on drugs, I don't want her around you. She won't want to be around you, either. Charles wouldn't let her anyway. And I'm pretty sure you don't want to upset me, Summers and the Elf."
"I'm not doing drugs." Logan stared, and Lance let out a sigh. "I was selling them. Was. Not anymore. That was enough to make me get out."
"How do I know you're not lying?"
"Because I'm not. Go ahead. Test me. Send Jean or the bald guy into my head. Do whatever you want to do. But I'm telling you the truth." Lance started to walk away. "But I'm going to see her. Right now."