*Sniff* I didn't get any reviews for my last chapter!! But you know what, I'm okay with that, really I am. I just really, really hope to get reviews for this one!
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When he awoke some indiscriminate time later, he felt marginally better, well enough to sit up anyway, though the movement exhausted him and he had to lay limp against his pillow. He was alone in the room. Well, no, he was not. Janella was still in her chair, fast asleep. Her legs were crossed beneath her, and her hands were resting in her lap. Her head was slumped against her chest, and her tail tip trailed gracefully on the floor. One of her wings was held closed by the bandages, so was still folded against her back, but the other was limp and open, spread down the side of the chair and partially across the floor.
He watched her for a moment. She appeared to be dreaming. He could tell by the small movements of the muscles in her arms and legs, and the fleeting expressions that crossed her face from time to time. He watched her for a moment and sighed wistfully. She really was very pretty, and the fact the she spent so much time in here with him made him feel, well, honored. The thought that maybe she was doing it because if he died it would cause unbelievable pain to her crossed his mind, but he shook the thought away. She wasn't like that. She seemed truly worried about him
He considered waking her up, but remembered that the Professor said she hadn't been getting much sleep lately, and he couldn't bring himself to disturb whatever she got. So he simply sat in silence for a while, eventually drifting off to near-sleep himself. He shifted his shoulders from side to side in an attempt to get more comfortable.
This was a mistake.
A wave of pain started from a hot point between his shoulder blades and swept out wards, seeming to light the ends of every nerve on fire as it went. Janella jerked awake, nearly tipping over her chair, with an anguished cry of "Kurt!" though whether this was a vestige of a dream or a reaction to his movement he couldn't tell. She tensed for a moment, panting heavily, before relaxing.
"Oh…oh my…"
"Vhat is wrong?" he asked quietly, watching her. Already the pain was fading, leaving nothing behind but a slight ache. She looked up.
"Kurt? Oh, I didn't wake you up, did I?" she asked with some concern.
"Oh, nein, I vas already avake," he assured her. "Now, vhat's wrong? " She shook her head.
"It's nothing," she said. "Just a nightmare. I can hardly even remember it now." She glanced down at the floor, and Kurt did not press any farther, though he suspected she could remember it.
"So," he said eventually. "I heard you banged yourself up trying to…"
"Yeah," she said with a wry laugh. "I think I sprained every muscle in my wing, as well as some of the ones in my shoulder and side too! Mr. McCoy kindly provided me with this numbing cream to put on it, though, so the pain wouldn't bother you any." She kept on talking, but that last bit of what she had said kept bouncing around in Kurt's head.
So it wouldn't bother you any. Not, "so it wouldn't hurt me," but "so it wouldn't bother you any." The way she had said that made her sound as if she did not care if she were in pain, but if it affected him, then she did care. He dropped his gaze to his knees, thinking about the implications of that.
"Kurt? Kurt!" Janella's voice broke into his contemplation. He looked up.
"Ja?"
"I asked if you were feeling better," Janella said.
"Oh. Vell, a little. I'm really, really-" He yawned widely at this point.
"Enervated?" Janella supplied with a grin. He nodded slightly.
"Ja."
"Well, don't worry about it," Janella said. "I felt the same after the wing incident. It's just your body trying to recover. When you start to get your energy back is when you know you're feeling better."
"Okay," he said, through another yawn. Janella smiled warmly at him.
"Get some rest, Fuzzy," she ordered him. "The mansion misses you." He nodded, and was only too happy to comply.
The next time he awoke, he felt much better. Once again, there was only Janella in the room with him, head bent over her laptop and fingers flying over the keys. He yawned and stretched, and found he was able to move without too much pain.
"Morning, sleepyhead," Janella said without looking up.
"Is it?" She nodded.
"Sure is," she informed him. "You've been asleep for at least eighteen hours. How do you feel now?"
"A lot better!" he informed her happily.
"Good enough to eat something?" she asked him, which caused him to realize that he was ravenous.
"Of course!" he said amiably, with a grin. She stood up.
"Thought ya would be," she said with a wink. "I'll be right back!" With that, she passed out the door, letting it close softly behind her. He stared at it, trying to sort out the thoughts in his head. He thought he would have long enough to order them at least, and maybe even to come to some conclusions, but the door swung open again, and she backed in, carrying a tray. She turned about and shut the door behind her.
The tray was very heavily laden; the most noticeable feature a bowl big enough to hold the contents of three cans of soup. There was also a pile of rolls, and what looked like a very appetizing sandwich. Using a deft combination of wingtip, tail, and foot, she managed to extract a table-stand-thingy and set it up on the bed, keeping up a steady stream of chatter as she did so.
"Man, did you know all they wanted to give was this broth stuff? I vetoed that. Said you'd be insulted, like Robinton is if you dare not give him wine. They would not allow you to have solid food yet, but I did manage to get some soup with good solid stuff in it. Chikarina, my friend, Italian wedding soup. 'S got chicken meatballs in it! It's good. And I snuck in the rolls too, but don't tell them. In case you were wondering, we've had this stuff ready almost all day, because we figured you'd be hungry when you woke up, and-Hey! That's for me!" She batted his hand away from the sandwich, and lifted it from the tray. "First time I get a good Honey Ham and Swiss from Panera in over a month and I'll be damned if I let you have it!"
"Aw, and it looked so good too," he said imploringly. She pointed at the bowl.
"That's for you, Fuzzy. This is for me." She sat back down in her chair, tugging it closer to the bed, and picked up her sandwich with a look that dared him to say otherwise. He shrugged, and was pleased that he only felt the barest twinge of pain. All that sleeping really had done him good. Obediently, he picked up his spoon and dipped it into the soup, which was at the perfect temperature for consumption.
The soup was good, and even though there were at least three cans' worth in there, he finished it off quickly, as well as most of the rolls, with very little unnecessary talk. Janella had polished off her sandwich at a rate which amazed him, considering she was usually one of the slowest eaters at the table, which indicated that the place it had come from was either better than he assumed or she was starving as well, and when she was done seemed content to just watch him eat. They split the last pair of rolls, which had been fresh and inordinately delicious, in silence as well. Only when she stood and bent over him to collect the things did he speak.
"Vhy are you doing this?" he asked softly. She didn't look at him, concentrating instead on the bottom of the empty soup bowl.
"Doing what?" she asked cautiously.
"This," he said, gesturing at the tray, and the room, the chair, and her.
"I-because I…I," she stammered. He placed one finger under her chin and tilted her head up, forcing her to meet his gaze, and was surprised to see tears in her eyes. She looked away quickly, a blush coloring her cheeks, and picked up the tray, turning to go. "Because you deserve it," she said very softly. She would have fled then, embarrassed beyond belief, had she not found his tail about her waist, holding her back. He spun her to face him again, pulling her down on the bed and grasping both of her forearms to keep her there. He picked the tray up with his tail from its place on his bed and transferred it to the chair, pushing that away.
"I deserve your attentions," he said gently. "But do I deserve you?" She blushed furiously at this and half-heartedly tried to pull away, but when he transferred one hand to the back of her head and pulled her into his embrace, his heart leapt to see that she did not resist.
"Okay," Kitty said, looking around at the others assembled by her. "Do we, like, have everything?" They all nodded. Bobby had one of those giant get-well cards, which had been passed around the Institute for everyone to sign, which everyone had. Rahne held a small bouquet of flowers, but instead of being regular, flowery flowers, they were chocolate ones, wrapped in foil to make them look more realistic. Amara carried a bright blue teddy bear that someone had cleverly altered to have pointy ears and a tail, and Kitty was keeping a handful of balloons from floating away, including one that said 'Get well soon!' and one that had a picture of a car on it. She looked around again, nodded at her little contingent, and they set off down into the infirmary quadrant.
They all chattered to each other on the way down, but fell silent one by one as they reached the door to Kurt's infirmary room. Ororo had assured them that as soon as he felt good enough to eat, it would be all right to begin visiting him, but the quartet was still a bit apprehensive. The younger three looked to Kitty who sighed, smiled encouragingly, and opened the door.
That was as far as she got, because what she saw inside stopped her in her tracks, and the other three had to peer around her to see what shocked her so, but when they saw, their reactions were the same as hers.
Janella was sitting on Kurt's bed, balanced finely on one folded leg, her other draped over both of his. Her arms were splayed, palms pressing into the pillow on either side of his head. He had one arm about her back, under the wings, and one on the back of her head, holding her close to him. His tail was wrapped about her shin, and hers was about his thigh. They were kissing, very lightly.
"Uh, Kitty? I think this is a bad time…" Amara said. Kitty nodded, and all four of them backed out.
"Did we just see that?" Rahne asked.
"Yep, I think we did," Bobby replied. They all fell silent for a moment, before someone said, "Bet I can tell more people than you!" and the three younger ones scattered off. Kitty stared at the door for a minute, before shrugging and turning to go upstairs. No stopping them now.
Janella pulled away, shaking her head. "Kurt, I…this is wrong," she said sadly.
"Vhy, liebe?" he asked, worried.
"Kurt," she said slowly. "What about you and Amanda? Aren't you two-?" He cut her off with a rueful laugh.
"Ve vere," he said. She looked at him with in unspoken question, and he answered it. "I ran into her at ze movies, and she…she told me she vanted to break it off. She said she vas going on vacation, and vanted to be able to pursue any…any…" He broke off and looked away.
"Oh Kurt, I'm so sorry," Janella said, sitting back and biting her lip.
"Don't be, Janella. I'm sure it vas something I-" She shook her head to silence him, and laid a hand sympathetically on his arm.
"If she can go and do something like that to you, she doesn't deserve a sweet and caring guy like you," Janella said, a hint of anger on his behalf hardening her voice. He couldn't help but notice that she seemed more attractive when she was angry. There was an aura about her, as if anger were her element, though he knew by now that this was not the case. She smoothed a few strands of her hair out of her face and looked away, suddenly quite self-conscious. Kurt sat up a little straighter, reaching for her hand.
"Vhat about you?" he asked. She looked up sharply.
"What about me?"
"Vell…do you deserve a sweet and caring guy like me?" he asked. His voice was mocking and playful, but he meant the question in earnest. He could almost feel the waves of self-doubt emanating from her as she considered the question. She offered him no answer, though, so after a moment he spoke again.
"Vould you like my opinion?" he asked. She nodded mutely. "I think you do." A slow, soft smile spread across her face, and turned to regard him, to look him in the eyes. They say a skilled person can read the truth or lies of a person through their eyes, but Janella didn't need the skills. She could tell that he was telling her the truth, so when he opened his arms to her, she willingly settled back into his embrace.
He kissed her, but was annoyed to find that the combination of being awake so long and a stomach full of food was sapping his energy, fast. So, despite his unwillingness, he was soon asleep again, Janella still cradled in his arms.
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Awwww! I like this chapter so much! I don't know why. Oh, and remember what I said in the beginning about there maybe being vague hints of Kurt/Janella in here? I lied! ^.^
Disclaimer: No. Just no. I don't own…anything. Really. I don't. You have to believe me!