I don't own the X-Men. They, and any major characters in this story, belong to Marvel, though they don't deserve them. I'm making no money off of this, either - blah, blah, blah, standard disclaimer stuff.
I've had to play with the timing and the story of Pete Wisdom's "death" a bit, as the High Evolutionary arc has (obviously) run longer in this story than the original, and history has changed as a result.
Thanks go out to Luba for the beta read and encouragement, and to everyone who's been so great about providing feedback!
Just a Couple of Kids, After All…
Chapter 21
"We should really get to work," Kitty said sometime later, and felt Bobby's arms wrap around her tighter. They were sitting intertwined on the floor leaning against the wall, her legs resting on his, and the idea of moving wasn't attractive to her either.
"Yeah, I know," he sighed dramatically, then yawned. "Though I'm thinking getting some sleep would be better – aren't you tired? It's almost midnight.
"No, I should be, but I'm really not," she admitted. "If you're going to bed, maybe I'll get caught up on my homework. I've still got that Russian Lit paper to do, and I'll need to get over to the lab tomorrow; they'll forgive me missing class the last couple of days, but not the lab work that goes with it."
"Probably a good idea. Want me to start going through the data from the Neo?" Bobby asked, but she shook her head.
"It'll wait until tomorrow. I don't think anyone's in a huge rush for it, though they should be with them coming at noon. It's just busy work to keep us out of the way," Kitty answered, trying to hide her irritation. Bobby must have realized that, though, because she saw him studying her face.
"You think we should have been included in the meeting," he said.
"Well, yeah. And no. Oh, I understand WHY Jean doesn't want us there; she needs to let Domina know who's in charge, and that it isn't us. I can't fault her logic. But that doesn't mean I agree with her. And I'm pretty sure Domina won't, either."
Bobby laughed, and she looked at him, trying to figure out what she'd said that was funny. "I'd give a lot to see the two of them go at it tomorrow when Jean explains why we're not there," he said by way of explanation.
"Not a problem, watch it from here," she answered, standing up.
"Huh?"
"Oh, there's security cameras in the large meeting room. We can pipe the whole thing in if you want."
"Hey, I never knew there were cameras in there!" Bobby said nervously.
"Don't worry," she said, patting his hand. "They're only turned on when there's a reason for them to be on. The Professor wanted it that way, didn't feel there was a reason to record every meeting held there. But we can turn them on and watch, if you'd like."
"I thought you had to go do your labs," Bobby said, mock seriously.
"Sometime before 11:00 tomorrow night," she reassured him. "Let's face it – the interesting part will be over in the first half hour. After that, either we'll be in the meeting or it really won't matter. Besides, we can always record it and watch it later."
"Ok, then I'm going to bed," Bobby said, yawning again. "Sure you don't want to join me?"
Kitty couldn't decide from his casual tone if he was serious or not, and was tempted to agree, if only to see what he'd do. She also knew she needed to get her paper done, and that sooner or later she would need to get some more sleep. She decided to compromise.
"I'd love to," she answered, and was rewarded by Bobby's eyes lighting up in a way that let her know he had been at least partially serious. "Unfortunately, my Russian lit paper won't write itself…"
She though she heard him mumble something about Russian lit papers being used to ignite the contents of Warren's underwear drawer, but decided to ignore it.
"I'll see you later," she said, standing up. "Go get some sleep; busy work or not, we're going to have a full day tomorrow."
"You too," he countered, scrambling up with a groan. "I think I'm getting old," he said, rubbing his back and wincing. "Don't stay up all night, ok? Hank said you need rest, remember?"
"Yes, dad," she answered mischievously, and gave him a kiss on the check. "See you in the morning, all right?"
"Yeah," he answered, kissing her more thoroughly, and for a moment she reconsidered her decision. But he smiled and walked out of the room.
Kitty dug around on the table until she found her Russian lit book, then sat down at the computer she liked to use to do her homework. Logging in, she saw she had some new mail messages in her school account, and opened her Inbox. There were several that were readily identifiable as jokes; she moved those to the appropriate folder for later reading. Another was from her favorite professor, asking whether or not she planned to return to his class; she quickly replied that she'd had been tied up with an emergency at her place of employment, and that she'd be back on Monday, hoping it was true. Electromagnetic Field Applications was not a course she could afford to fail, not and maintain her standing at the university. Scrolling through those that remained, she caught her breath when she noticed she had one from Seth. Anxiously, she clicked on the message to open it.
To: Kpryde@nyce.edu
From: Sandrosw@nyce.edu
Re: Our recent meeting
Hi Kitty,
I didn't get a chance to speak with you after your meeting with my boss, but wanted to apologize for the part I played in the whole scenario. I had no idea that you were involved with the group we were researching, and certainly no clue that you would be the one sent to represent your organization. Nonetheless, I was very pleased to see you. I only wish we could get together under better circumstances; it would seem we have a lot in common. But maybe we can? Think about it – I'll see you tomorrow at the meeting, I'm sure, and you can let me know then.
Yours,
Seth
Kitty bent her head and rubbed the bridge of her nose, which seemed to be the epicenter of a sudden headache. This was just too much; after everything she'd been through in the past few days, she didn't need Seth asking her out again, especially only hours after having threatened to have him mind-reamed. She scanned the cryptic message again, appreciating his apology for having hacked into the mansion's computer system and agreeing that they did have a lot in common. She'd enjoyed talking with Seth about the Neo's computer system, and appreciated his candor in explaining how he had infiltrated the X-Men's. A week ago, she might have reconsidered her earlier decision not to date him.
But that was before she'd met Bobby.
She leaned back in her chair, her Russian lit paper forgotten, and considered the situation. Seth was nice, yeah, definitely intelligent, and not bad looking, but…Bobby stirred something inside her she hadn't felt since the early days of her relationship with Pete Wisdom. Not that Pete and Bobby were anything alike; in fact, superficially you couldn't find two people less alike than the former Black Air agent and the practical joker. At least, not until you looked a little deeper, and realized that both Pete's surliness and Bobby's antics were defense mechanisms hiding their real personalities.
Disturbed by this realization, Kitty considered whether or not she might be getting into another no-win relationship. Although she'd loved him, she knew she hadn't been ready for the speed at which her relationship with Pete had advanced, nor for the depth of his feelings for her. It had just been too much, too quick, and the insecurities D'Spayre had dug up had only escalated their problems, not caused them.
Bobby was different though, she knew. They had more in common than she and Pete ever had; both of them had grown up in spandex, after all. Sure, Bobby lacked self-confidence, but she suffered from a lot of that herself these days; with everyone still acting as if she was fourteen years old she'd begun to doubt it herself, and could easily understand Bobby's situation. He was doing a good job getting past it, though. She smiled, remembering the look on Warren's face when he'd emerged from the kitchen the other morning. Bobby had a huge amount of potential; he just needed a little reassurance, now and then.
Much like herself, she realized, thinking about how relieved she'd felt when Bobby'd taken her hand during the meeting earlier this evening. She'd been about to break, with Piotr whining about the danger she'd been in, as if she was a china doll who might have been broken, and Warren insinuating that they'd gone looking for trouble just to get attention. But knowing there was someone there who believed in her had gone a long way.
Feeling reassured, she closed the message from Seth, opened her book and set it down on table in front of her, and referencing it occasionally began writing her report on 19th century Russian literature.
Bobby woke up the way he preferred the following morning; slowly. There was no one pounding outside his bedroom window, no one pounding on his door, no alarm blaring obnoxious commercials in his ear, and his pillow was half under his head, half under his arm, and had just the right amount of lumps in it. He wondered briefly if he should take it with him when he left the mansion – perfect pillows were hard to come by, after all. The idea spun around slowly in his brain, and he'd almost made up his mind to stuff it in his suitcase when he left, when he remembered the one thing that was missing from his bed, that would have made waking up slowly in the morning perfect.
Kitty.
She'd had him going for a minute last night when she accepted the proposition he'd thrown out half in jest, half as a test of the waters for future reference. Unfortunately, he'd lost out to Russian lit, which seemed really unfair now, though it had seemed reasonable at the time.
He opened one eye, trying to judge how bright his room was before opening both, and saw another eye directly in front of his own. Not just any eye, though – this one was attached to a purple face with a lot of sharp looking teeth. Both his eyes popped open as he sat up abruptly and realized that there was a small purple dragon sitting on top of his perfectly lumped pillow.
"Oh, good morning, Lockheed," he said sleepily, not questioning how the dragon had gotten into his room, or why it was there. "What's up?"
In response, Lockheed sunk his talons into Bobby's blanket, and pulled it the rest of the way off, then switched his grip to Bobby's boxers.
"Hey!" Bobby yelled, grabbing hold of his shorts as Lockheed nearly gave an especially hard tug. "What're you doing? Trying to pull them off? Sorry – I'd be thrilled if your mistress did that, but you're not my type." Lockheed glared at him in response, then resumed pulling.
"What? You want me to come with you? Why? Is something wrong with Kit?"
Lockheed did something that Bobby interpreted as a shrug, but pulled again.
"Ok, ok, I'm coming already," Bobby said as he got out of bed and grabbed his bathrobe. "Should I take it that you approve of me, then? Kitty told me about you and Pete. Somehow I'm thinking if you didn't I'd be missing some clothing, at the very least." Bobby laughed as Lockheed made a sound that sounded a lot like "pfuii", then began tugging at Bobby's bathrobe as he tied it.
"Hey, not everyone comes with their clothing built in, you know?" he said to the dragon as he opened the door to his room and followed Lockheed out. Unsurprisingly, the dragon led him to the door of the computer room where he hovered, glaring first at Bobby, then at the door.
"What, did Kit lock you out and you want me to intervene or something? What's going on?" Bobby was thoroughly confused, now, until he remembered one of Hank's odd habits when he was really busy. "Don't tell me she slept in there last night?" he asked Lockheed, who nodded in response.
"Damn it, she promised to go to bed," Bobby grumbled while opening the door. "Oh well, at least I can carry her – with Hank I'm pretty much stuck with just waking him up, at which time he just goes back to work. Defeats the whole purpose." He saw Kitty then, asleep in front of her computer, her head pillowed on her arm. Quietly, he walked up behind her, Lockheed hovering in his wake, and was trying to decide how to best pick her up when she raised her head and smiled at him.
"Hi," she said, smiling sleepily, as she brushed her hair back from her face with her hand. He saw the crease her book had left on the side of her face and grinned, though part of him was still seething.
"You," he said between clenched teeth, "promised to go to bed when you were done."
"I did not," she replied indignantly. "I promised to get some sleep. I didn't say anything about where. How'd you know, anyway?"
"Your personal assistant was waiting for me when I woke up," Bobby said, gesturing at Lockheed, who was looking anywhere but at Kitty, as if he knew he'd be in trouble. "I don't know how he got in, but he dragged me out of bed and kept pulling until I followed him."
Kitty glared at Lockheed, who bowed his head. "You naughty dragon! You're not supposed to pester people when they're sleeping!"
"Now, that's not fair, Kit, he was just worried about you," Bobby interceded, not quite believing that he was standing up for a dragon who had just tried to pull of his boxers. "And he was right – why'd you sleep in here, anyway?"
Kitty shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "Just happened. I finished my paper, and was just flipping through my course syllabi to see if I was behind on anything else, when the adrenaline ran out. What time is it, anyway?"
Bobby glanced at his watch-less wrist, then peered at the time on the computer monitor. "Ten o'clock? Wow, we slept late! The Neo'll be here any time now, and we haven't even looked at their data."
"Shit," Kitty replied, jumping up. "One more thing for Warren to gripe about. And I really, really need a shower."
"Want company?" Bobby asked hopefully, but really wasn't surprised when Kitty shook her head.
"No time, but I'll take a rain check if you're a good back washer," she said mischievously.
"The best," he said confidently, pulling her into a quick hug. He saw her raise her eyebrows, and added, shrugging his shoulders, "I've got plenty of experience washing my own, after all."
"Hmm, I'll have to check your credentials," she said, tugging at the belt of his bathrobe.
"Now, who said there wasn't time?" he teased as his bathrobe fell open, and he felt her hands caress his chest as she pulled it down over his shoulders. Gently, he ran his hands down her sides, his fingers lingering briefly at her breasts before making their way down to her hips. He felt his bathrobe fall down to rest at his elbows, and he let go of her briefly to shrug it off the rest of the way.
"I did, and there isn't, but –" Kitty's train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the door. Bobby groaned. He wasn't sure he could handle much more of this.
"Katya, are you there?" Bobby saw Kitty's eyes grow wide her body tense, and wondered why. He was certain she said her relationship with Piotr was long over; why would she care if he walked in on them now?
"Bobby – get your robe on, quick!" she whispered frantically, then said louder, "Yes, Piotr, I'm here – what did you want?"
"I was concerned; it did not look as if your bed had been slept in, and given your injuries, I was afraid something had happened to you. May I come in?"
"No – I'd rather you didn't, I'm in the middle of something. I'm fine. I'll see you later, ok?"
"Are you sure you're alright? You sound as if something is wrong. Is there anything I can do?" Bobby couldn't understand the edge in his voice, and heard his hand begin turning the knob.
"No, I'm fine – I'm just really busy," Kitty answered quickly. "I'm trying to get some stuff ready for Jean for the meeting.
"Oh. I will see you later, then." The hand withdrew from the knob, which Bobby realized Kitty was staring at.
"Fine. Thanks for checking, Piotr – really, I'm fine." As Bobby heard footsteps heading away from the door, Kitty sighed with relief, the tension draining out of her body.
"What was that all about?" Bobby asked, concerned. Kitty was shaking now, and he took her arm and helped her over to the chair she'd been sitting in earlier. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, it's just – look Bobby, I'll tell you about it later, ok? Just do me a favor and avoid Piotr until we get a chance to talk, alright?" Her eyes were clouded with fear, begging him to agree.
Bobby brushed her face with his hand. "Just tell me one thing – you and Piotr aren't…"
"Oh God, no!" she said, shaking her head. "No, it's not that, it's –"
"That's fine then," Bobby said, relaxing. "You can tell me later. In the meantime, I'll avoid the guy; it's not like I'm likely to go looking for him, anyway. Go catch your shower, and I'll meet you back here, ok? Want me to grab some breakfast and bring it up?"
Kitty looked grateful for the reprieve, and Bobby wondered what was going on, but she just said, "That'd be great. Don't forget the coffee, ok? And if you run into Kurt, bring him along."
"Huh?" Bobby asked, more confused than ever, but he just nodded and walked out the door.
"Bring breakfast, coffee, and Kurt, why not? This has got to be the strangest morning of my life," he said, shaking his head. He realized Lockheed had followed him out, and addressed him, "Do you know what this is all about?" Lockheed nodded. "Care to share the story?" Lockheed just shrugged, and Bobby cast him a look of disgust. "Figures. Ok, clothes first, then breakfast, coffee, and Kurt. Are you coming?" Lockheed shook his head, and flew off toward the kitchen; apparently breakfast had a higher priority.
"Damn, even the dragon ditched me," Bobby said to himself as he got back to his room. He pulled a pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of his suitcase, then rummaged through until he found some underwear and matching socks, which were, of course, under everything else, so he had to throw everything back in when he was done. He almost welcomed the opportunity to vent some of his frustration on inanimate objects.
"If one more person knocks – and what was up with Piotr, anyway?" he asked of no one in particular as he pulled on his high tops. "And what happened to Kit? It was like she was scared to death."
"Perhaps I can cast some light on the subject," Kurt said, standing in the doorway, his hand poised as if he'd begun to knock when the door opened, and Bobby realized he'd been so distracted he probably hadn't closed it tight.
"Hope so – I'm lost," Bobby admitted, gesturing Kurt into the room. Kurt pulled up the chair from Bobby's desk and sat down on it.
"I hope you don't mind my coming here; I stopped by the computer lab to see Kitty, and she told me what had happened. It's a sensitive subject with her, so I thought I'd stop by and explain so she wouldn't have to."
"I – Kurt, I've got to admit I'm more confused than I was before," Bobby said dejectedly. "DOES she still have something going on with Piotr? I mean, she said no, but…"
"Nein! Kitty has no interest in Piotr whatsoever; from her perspective, they remain friends only because she feels she owes it to Illyana. Tell me, Bobby, has Kitty mentioned Pete Wisdom at all?"
"Yeah," Bobby answered, puzzled. "She dated him when she was with Excalibur. I got the impression he, umm, died sometime after that?"
"Yes," Kurt answered, nodding. "He assumed leadership of X-Force at some point; I'm not clear on the details myself, our communications with that team are strained at best. I must give him credit; from all accounts, he made the team more effective and focused than it had ever been. Apparently a mission they undertook just after they lost their mutant powers went tragically wrong, and Pete was killed. But the story you need to hear took place when Kitty and Pete began dating. You are aware of Piotr's history, I trust?"
"Well sure, I was at Illyana's funeral when he took off with Magneto, if that's what you mean," Bobby mumbled, wondering just how this all fit in to Kitty trembling in the computer room.
"Right. But after that…" Kurt gave Bobby a brief version of the meeting between Kitty and Piotr at Muir Island, which ended with Piotr returning to the Acolytes.
"Ok, I'm with you so far," Bobby said when Kurt finished. "But I still don't understand what this has to do with me…"
"If you'll be patient?" Kurt interjected, grinning, then sobered. "I'm sorry, I thought it was important that you know the history so that you would understand that Kitty acted only as a friend, trying to ensure that Piotr got the medical attention he needed."
"Sounds like Kit," Bobby admitted. "Go ahead, I'm listening."
"Well, after the destruction of Avalon, Piotr felt he had lost everything. He trekked – oh, I have no idea how far – to find the one thing he though he had left."
"Kitty," Bobby said breathlessly. "What happened?"
Kurt was silent for a moment, then drew in a deep breath. "He found her. We'd just returned from a pub, and the rest of us had gone inside. She'd stayed outside with Wisdom for a minute, kissing, and once she'd gone inside Piotr attacked."
"What?" Bobby asked angrily. "What the hell for?"
"He claimed," and Kurt paused, rolling his eyes, "that he thought Kitty was in danger. In any case, he nearly killed Wisdom; had it not been for the timely arrival of Brian and Meggan, and the fact that Pete managed to fire off some hot knives at Piotr, he would have certainly been dead. I might have been as well," he added, shrugging, "as Piotr attacked me as well when I attempted to intervene."
"Oh my God," Bobby said, as Piotr's comments and Kitty's reaction finally came together and made sense. "So she thinks that he, that I…"
"Could be in very real danger? Yes, that is what she thinks. And, for what it's worth, I agree," Kurt answered solemnly. "After witnessing his behavior at the meeting last night, I had planned to warn you anyway, but this morning's encounter scared Kitty badly. I think you can understand why it would be difficult for her to tell you herself? I assure you she wasn't trying to hide anything from you, it just isn't easy for her to talk about."
"I – I can understand that," Bobby said, his mind racing until he suddenly had a disturbing thought. "But what about her? I mean, if Piotr's crazy enough to nearly kill her boyfriend what's to stop him from hurting Kit? Why isn't anyone doing anything about it?"
"They don't know," Kurt replied, and Bobby saw that he was no longer looking at him, but past him at the wall as if ashamed to meet his eyes.
"What do you mean, they don't know?" Bobby replied with such a wide arm sweep that he knocked the suitcase off his bed. This story had just gone from unbelievable to ridiculous. "Damn it, Kurt, attempted murder isn't exactly something you can keep a secret. How the hell would you keep a secret around here, anyway?"
"It didn't happen here, it happened at Muir. And as for why, well, we promised Piotr we wouldn't say anything about it. He was embarrassed about the whole incident, and we wanted to be able to help him," Kurt answered disjointedly. "Kitty agreed, albeit reluctantly, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. When we disbanded Excalibur, it didn't seem important any more – Pete and Kitty had broken up, and Piotr seemed more himself. Why bring up mistakes of the past?"
"You can't possibly believe that," accused Bobby.
"No, you are quite right, Herr Drake, I don't believe that!" Kurt replied angrily. "Not any more. But I did. It seemed reasonable, at the time. But listening to Piotr last night, and seeing the expression on his face when Warren insulted her; well, Bobby, all I can advise is that you are very, very careful not to be alone with Piotr. And, if you have any influence with Kitty, convince her not to be alone with him, either."
"That's it?" Bobby asked with disbelief. "You're afraid the guy is out of his mind, and you just tell me to keep Kit away from him? Why the hell is he here? Why haven't you told Jean? Or Logan, if you're worried about Kitty?"
"Why haven't I told Jean?" Kurt sighed. "Embarassment, I suppose; it wasn't exactly the brightest spot of Excalibur's history, but you are correct in that she must be told, and I plan to tell her after the meeting with the Neo. Logan? Bobby, the man is possibly my best friend, but he'd kill Piotr if he even thought he would hurt Kitty."
"He's not the only one," Bobby said, his hands forming fists.
"I know," Kurt said. "Which is why I told Katzchen I would tell you before you returned. But you had better be heading back," he said, standing up and walking to the door, a grin on his face. "Or Kat will be wondering if I scared you off. And Katzchen frightened AND coffee-less is not something I'm willing to face in the morning."
"Thanks for the warning," Bobby answered, only partially referring to the image of Kitty suffering from caffeine-deprivation.
"The least I could do," Kurt said, shrugging, and walked out of the room.
"O-kay then," Bobby said, rubbing his head. "Agenda for the day: Woken by dragon? Check. Psychotic ex-boyfriend? Check. Clothes? Check. Coffee – damn, I need coffee!"
"Hey, you're just in time," Kitty said casually as Bobby entered the computer room carrying a tray with two plates, mugs, and a pot of coffee. She'd been sitting at the computer, fiddling with the resolution of the image she was receiving from the camera hidden by the front door of the mansion, and hoping that Bobby would come back. Not that she'd blame him if he didn't.
He had to be thinking the worst, given her reaction when Piotr came to the door, but she'd panicked, her mind immediately running a flashback of his confrontation with Pete at Muir. But instead of Pete lying broken and bloody outside the Muir Island Research Facility, she saw Bobby, who didn't even possess his mutant powers to protect himself. Despite being unable to change into steel, Piotr had a significant size and, she suspected, strength advantage on Bobby. Part of her hadn't really expected him to return, even after Kurt had offered to explain. But no part of her had expected what he did next.
Closing the door behind him, he set the tray down on the desk, and sat down next to her. "I've been thinking," he said casually, taking her hand in his. "Why don't we get out of here for a while? I mean, after you go do your lab; I know you've got that to do. But it's Friday; you don't have any weekend classes, do you?" Confused, she shook her head, no, and he jumped in and continued. "Great. How long would it take you to get your lab done, about an hour? Do you like camping? I know Jean's got a tent – she and Scott went a couple of times. We could go after you finish, get away from it all for a couple of days. Spent some time together where there aren't any interruptions," he said with raised eyebrows and a grin, but Kitty could tell both were forced, as if he were putting on an act.
"What's this all about, Bobby?" Kitty asked, shaking her head with confusion. "I thought we were going to watch the meeting with the Neo while we did our research. Why do you want to go camping all of a sudden?" She looked into Bobby's eyes, and was surprised by the fear and concern she saw there. "Bobby, what's the matter? I can understand you being worried about Piotr, but he'll be at the meeting, he's not going to come here looking for you –"
Bobby studied her face for a few moments before answering. "It's you I'm worried about," he said. "Not me.
"Me? Piotr would never hurt me, Bobby," she argued, silencing the voice inside her that insisted on reminding her she had considered the possibility before. "It'll be ok, Bobby. Do we have to talk about this?" she asked, turning back to the monitor. "Come on – let's watch the meeting. The Neo should be here soon, and you said you wanted to see Domina tie into Jean.
"Damn it, Kit, I don't care about Domina, or Jean, or the meeting," Bobby said irritably, turning her chair back around to face him. "I care about you. And I think we do need to talk about this. Oh, Kurt told me what happened, and I know he's planning to talk to Jean about it after the meeting, but…"
"What?" she asked incredulously. "He promised Piotr we'd keep quiet about it!"
"Kitty, he's worried about you," Bobby answered sharply. "So am I. The guy is obviously not in his right mind, and he's coming up here babbling about how your bed hasn't been slept in? How would he know, unless he went into your room? Most people don't do that when they're looking for someone, they knock at the door…and if it's Piotr you're worried about, maybe revealing his problem would be the best thing for him, too. At least this fixation of his would be out in the open, and he'd be able to get some help, which he obviously needs."
"He was getting help!" she contested. "Rory Campbell was working with him at Muir until he left, and then Moira tried, but she and Piotr don't get along all that well. He was doing better, though…I really hate this," she admitted, resting her head on her hand and her elbow on the desk. "All this damned drama… I can't even start a new relationship without having to worry about how a guy I almost dated at fourteen is going to react."
"So why NOT take a break from it?" Bobby asked again angrily, standing up. "You said it yourself, you don't want to keep being a full-time X-Man even if we do get our powers back. We could get out of here for a while –"
"Bobby, we've got responsibilities!" she yelled. She really had no idea why she was so angry, unless the tensions of the past few days had finally caught up with her. "Damn it, I thought you decided you were going to start taking things seriously!"
"I'm not taking things seriously?" he said with disbelief, turning around and pacing back and forth before turning to answer her. "I can't believe you would say that! Kitty, the guy nearly killed your ex-boyfriend! Believe me, I'm taking this pretty seriously! You're the one blowing it off. I just thought if we left for a couple of days, until Kurt had a chance to talk with Jean –"
"We've got to do that research we promised Jean, the Neo are coming and you KNOW that Domina is going to want us in the meeting, whatever Jean says, and I've got classes, and homework, and…damn it, I HATE camping!" she finished, slamming her hand down on the desk.
"So do I!" he responded in kind, and they both stopped and stared at each other. Finally Kitty started laughing, and was relieved when Bobby joined in.
"Why did you ask if I wanted to go, then?" Kitty asked him, still chuckling.
"It was the best I could think of on short notice," he replied sheepishly. "Seriously, Kitty, I AM worried about this. It's not just that I'm afraid Piotr'll kick my ass, though let's face it, he could probably do that pretty easily – IF he could catch me, which I kind of doubt. And if he can't – well, it's not that you can't take care of yourself, but you'd make a pretty good target as the person for him to go after next."
"I know," she answered as he sat back down next to her, and reached out to brush his hair back from his face. "I'm kind of relieved that Kurt's going to talk to Jean, actually. I was really pissed with him when he promised Piotr he wouldn't tell the Professor. I just – I keep picturing Pete in surgery and the look on Moira's face when I asked her if he was going to be ok, and knowing the same thing could happen to you." Tears filled her eyes, threatening to overflow, and she closed her eyes, trying to hold them in. A warm hand gently wiped them away, and she opened them to see Bobby's face, his eyes and smile warm, only inches from her own.
"It won't," Bobby said confidently. She leaned forward to kiss him, but realized he was looking over her shoulder. "Hey, they're here!" he said, and she spun her chair around just in time to see one of Domina's entourage reach out to ring the doorbell.