A/N: Life brings migraines sometimes, that's why we have fanfiction.

Disclaimer: Nope, like totally not mine.

Good grief she was having it rough. And on this auspicious day of her sophomore life it was her birthday. Her sweet sixteen no less. Most girls got to celebrate with a huge party with all of their friends and maybe a new car, but not her. Oh no! Mr. Logan had personally come up to her room to remind her of practice in the danger room that night. And it wasn't like anyone but her parents remembered this day. Sadly, only Kitty's mother had bestowed a cheerful birthday song over the phone with an off pitch voice that made Kitty giggle no matter what age she was.

Kitty's home life wasn't going so great. Her parents had been arguing ever since her little surprising gene had surfaced. Mr. Pryde had taken to drinking and in some weak moments he'd begun blaming himself or worse... her mother. Was it really so bad being a mutant? Her mother was fine with it, said she was still her beautiful little girl, but it had put a strain on their marriage. Her daddy was fickle, sometimes he would call her up just to tell her how much he loved his 'little girl' and other times he called Kitty to ask if they'd found a way to fix her. It was like she was broken and he no longer saw her as his perfect little angel. Now she was something lesser deserving of his love. This morning had been none different. He'd casually said 'Happy Birthday,' like it was something trite and simple like remarking about the weather. He'd asked her if she wanted to give up her life at the institute and come back home permanently. It was his idea of a birthday gift, bringing her right back home away from teenagers who understood her and were going through the same thing as she was.

Kitty had flat out hung up on her father while her mother had called not three minutes later to apologize to Kitty for what her daddy had said. She heard him arguing in the back not to apologize. "It's okay mom, I understand," she'd said.

So now Kitty was left to roaming the Institute, deciding that today she would skip the danger zone practice. If Mr. Logan got mad she didn't really care. She plopped down by her favorite tree where her and Kurt had so many discussions and happy memories. She just needed somewhere to sit that gave her that happy feeling of belonging, especially on this the day she'd come into the world.

"Keety! There's an emergency," yelled Kurt, suddenly poofing in front of her in his human form. She should've known something was iffy about the situation since he wasn't all furry and blue, but her mind was elsewhere. Kurt grabbed Kitty by the arm and they were surrounded in a cloud of sulfur and ash. Kitty clutched onto him like a viper hanging onto Kurt for dear life with her eyes snapped tightly shut waiting for him to give her the okay to open them. She didn't really mind considering being around Kurt had a calming affect on her.

Two poofs later his hands covered her eyes. When the dark smoke had cleared up and Kurt made sure no one would know they'd gotten there any way other than walking, he pushed her through the doors in the den. His eyes gave away and Kitty caught sight of sixteen candles dotting a perfect pink cake littered with flowers of icing. Her friends surrounded the cake all wearing smiles as they shouted out, "SURPRISE!" Even her friends from school were there, which meant that someone had ordered everyone to keep their powers nonexistent today. Kitty never noticed Storm and Professor Xavier were missing...

"Oh! You guys!" Kitty couldn't stop herself as her eyes welled up with tears and her heart filled with love. This was exactly what she needed today. "This is so totally awesome!"

Words: 660