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He was falling in love all over again Lance decided watching Kitty phase into the side of his jeep to get a better look at the engine. "What does this do?" she asked.
Lance leaned over the engine block hoping he could see what she was point to this time, still amazed that she was interested.
Several hours ago he'd decided it was time he tried doing some routine maintenance on the jeep. Kitty insisting on tagging along hadn't been a huge surprise; everyone was still keeping a pretty close eye on him, especially when he headed anywhere where his practically non-existent sense of balance could conceivably get him into trouble.
So he'd started working on the jeep while Kitty sat beside him handing him tools and talking about the latest snub suffered at school: A substitute had recognized Kitty's name from the news coverage of the Sentinel battle and had stormed hysterically out of the classroom during the middle of roll call.
A few minutes later Kitty had over heard Kelly out in the hall telling the sub he knew he'd promised that she wouldn't have to work with mutants 'but that one wasn't overtly dangerous' and if she'd just ignore Kitty everything would most likely be fine.
Lance offered up a list of Brotherhood classics guaranteed to destroy the mental stability of any teacher and had won a laugh from Kitty, but they both knew that sort of thing would never fix what was wrong.
Then Kitty asked what he was doing, Lance assumed she was just trying to change the subject until Kitty started asking questions.
A short while later Lance took a break from tuning the engine to give his rapt audience of one a more thorough explanation of how the engine worked, loving the opportunity to show off his expertise to Kitty.
Now, several hours later, Lance was trying to estimate whether or not he'd have the perseverance to put the jeep back together if he took it apart for Kitty to look at, not that she needed it in pieces, not with her powers, only he couldn't see what she was pointing to half the time and her questions were getting theoretical enough to tax his practical understanding of mechanics.
Lance couldn't remember having this much fun before. Sure he could talk cars with Logan or Scott, but that paled to utter insignificance when compared with the chance to teach Kitty about something he was good at that, that she gave every appearance of being interested in.
He caught a glimpse of pink before Kitty reached up and caught his arm, phasing him into the jeep as well so he could see what she was asking about. "I see it," Lance said. "Can we talk with our whole bodies outside of the jeep?"
****** ****** ******
"Scott," Xavier called.
"Yes Professor?"
"I heard Alex would be competing professionally for the first time next week."
Forgetting the problems at school, Scott's whole face lit up at the mention of his younger brother and Alex's début as a profession surfer. "Yeah. He says everyone there is looking at mutants as an East Coast thing; it hasn't affected him at all. He saw a chance to do this and his adopted parents backed him all the way."
"It hasn't just been his adopted family supporting him," Xavier said. "I was thinking you might like to go cheer him on in person this time."
"Really? That'd be so great!" Scott exclaimed then looked worried. "But what about the team? With everything going on don't you think I should stay close?"
"I'm certain they can manage on their own for a week," Xavier said.
"I'll go call Alex," Scott said happily.
Xavier sighed with relief, he'd begun to worry about the amount of stress Scott was taking on and it would be good for the other X-Men to take responsibility for themselves at school rather than letting Scott run himself ragged watching out for them.
****** ****** ******
Moira shook her head in amazement watching Lance and Kitty returning from the direction of the garage. Lance's hand was resting on Kitty's shoulder, but even from a distance it was apparent he only needed balance, not support. "I can't believe how far he's come in such a little time," she said to herself.
Outside Fred, Todd and Rahne had joined Kitty and Lance. There was a careful edge in the way the other kids treated Lance that contrasted painfully with the boisterous interaction that been the norm for the Brotherhood in the past and Moira knew it bothered Lance more than he'd ever admit to them. But at least they were treating him like glass rather than eggshell thin china like they had at first.
There was an air of hovering in the group and when Lance moved to sit down both Fred and Todd leapt to offer him a supporting arm. Experience had taught them where Lance was most likely to need help. His strength had come back rapidly after he woke but balance was proving an especially difficult challenge for him to regain.
With a glare Lance disdained both offers. There was more than one wince in the group as he unceremoniously let himself fall backwards into the chair and Fred put a quick hand on the back to keep it from capsizing. A faint redness suffused Lance's face at the evidence that he'd needed help, but the little group of friends gallantly pretended ignorance and the moment passed. Todd and Fred quickly snagged the other two chairs on the patio and Moira shook her head smiling a little. "Not gentlemen are they?" she commented to herself.
Not that Kitty seemed to mind, she happily found a seat in Lance's lap. Rahne hesitated for a moment then, blushing hotly, she nudged Todd to one side and grabbed the corner of his chair. Todd's eyes widened in comical surprise, then he rearranged himself to give Rahne a comfortable amount of seat space while he perched on one arm of the lawn chair. Taking a nervous breath he put an arm on the back of the of the chair to center their weight, obviously very aware of how close that put him to having an arm around her shoulders. Rahne smiled up at him contentedly.
Logan joined Moira at her vantage point, looking down at the group on the patio he groaned. "Not another pair. Why can't they all be like Scott and Jean? Too repressed to realize their attracted, makes chaperoning a lot easier on a guy."
****** ****** ******
Rogue woke to the feel of a gloved hand clamped tightly over her mouth and her assailant's torso leaned across hers keeping her arms pinned to her sides. Demonic eyes glowed in the darkened room. "Hush chere," A voice whispered. "You amour needs yo'. Now yo' goin' to scream or come wit' me?"
Rogue made herself relax and the Cajun stepped back offering her a hand up. Rogue pointedly ignored it and gestured that he should turn around.
With a smirk he complied and Rogue quietly scrambled to change into her clothes without waking Kitty. The pair climbed out the window and hurried to the road where Gambit had left his motorcycle.
"So what happened?" Rogue asked as soon as they were on their way.
"I might have put a bit much fait' in Tante Mattie' 'bilities," Gambit replied yelling over the engine noise. "De whole t'ing got turned into dis grail in Silver's head: She'd fix Lance. Everyone'd forgive him. He'd be able to go home. Life'd be good 'gain. When t'ings didn't go 'ccordin' to de script he didn't handle it s' well. Plus de realization dat his father really be out to kill him ain't doin' his state of mind any good. Got him holed up in a place north of town, hidin' from Magneto an' Chat. T'ought seein' yo' could do him a world of good."
"Holed up was right," Rogue thought staring at the ramshackle motel Gambit pulled up in front of he parked the bike and lead her to the room on the end. A TV blared in the background, both the sound and picture obscured by heavy static, but it provided the only light in the room. Which was probably for the best, even in the dim flickering light Rogue could see that the walls were smoke stained and the carpet was threadbare. A rat's nest of blankets on the bed furthest from the door was the only hint as to Pietro's location.
"Go ahead, wake him up," Gambit said sounding disgusted and worried at the same time. "He'd sleep de whole day 'way given de chance."
Rogue settled on the edge of the bed, delicately she dug through the blankets to find where Pietro had buried himself. "Hey, sugah, how yah feeling?" she asked quietly, brushing the bare skin of his shoulder.
There was a pause as Pietro gradually uncurled himself enough to look at her. For a moment he just blinked in disbelief then he lunged upright to hug her with a desperate strength, seeking to bury his face against the curve of her neck. Rogue's eyes widen fearful as she pushed him away before their skin could make contact, to her horror Pietro's shoulders began shaking with silent sobs at her perceived rejection. Rogue quickly grabbed a sheet off the bed to protect him then held him tightly.
"I'll give yo' a ride back to your school 'fore mornin'," Gambit said, excusing himself.
****** ****** ******
Lance shut the door to the little study. It wasn't even dawn yet, there wasn't much chance of anyone even being up to over hear or interrupt his call, but he still didn't want to take chances. He didn't know what was going to happen, what exactly he intended to say, whether or not he wanted anyone else knowing what he'd done. He hesitated before dialing the number he'd finally found and when his call was answered he took a deep, steadying breath.
"Hello, Rich Alvers speaking."
"Hi Dad, it's Lance. Is Mom there? I kinda wanted to talk to both of you."
He heard the sound of a sharply indrawn breath. "Lance?"
"Yeah, me, Lance, your son. Surprise, I looked you up on the internet."
"How are you?"
"Where's Mom?"
"Lance, we divorced a long time ago. I haven't spoken to your mother in years."
"Why?"
There was a long pause, finally Lance heard his father sigh. "We both did some very stupid things and being together just reminded us of all our mistakes."
"Like sending me away? You were wrong you know. I'm not going to die."
Another pause, a soft, delighted laugh. "You're really cured? That's incredible."
"Yeah, your mistake right. Maybe you should have waited till it was all over to get rid of me."
"It wasn't like that Lance."
"What was it like then?"
Lance waited impatiently while the silence stretched across the line, "I'm gonna hang up," he threatened.
"Wait Lance, this isn't easy."
"Which means you'll be running out huh?"
"You probably don't remember. We tried to keep it from you, but Missy was in a lot of pain the last few months. The doctors all told us they couldn't do anything, then this man approached us. He wasn't a doctor, but he said he could help. It was the only hope we had… Missy died within hours of being treated by him."
"I don't understand."
"It was that so called 'treatment' that killed her Lance. Afterwards we swore, no matter what, we'd only look to conventional treatments to cure you, but there were none. All the doctors could tell us was wait, that there was a chance it would stay dormant in you, or that it wouldn't be so severe. Being helpless makes a person crazy. Six months after Missy died we were sitting in the parking lot outside of some quack's office. The next day we put you in foster-care because we were afraid we'd hurt you."
"Oh…" Lance said. "I don't know… Look, I gotta think. Maybe I'll call back later. What was Mom's maiden name? I want to talk to her too."
"It's Petros, her family was from Joliet, Illinois," Rich replied quickly. "I'd really like to talk with you more. When you're ready. Please call back, whenever you want to talk."
****** ****** ******
Rogue lay back beside Pietro. "We'll both go back to the Institute," she said as she rubbed her gloved hand up and down his arm, trying not to think about the fact he wasn't wearing a shirt or the way his skin might feel against hers.
"But they hate me," Pietro objected cuddling closer.
"They're mad, but they'll get over it," Rogue promised. "Lance is getting better everyday."
"If I couldn't run I'd kill myself," Pietro said pulling away.
"Yeah… Well… Lance is coping," Rogue replied closing the distance between them again. "It's starting to look like he's gonna make a full recovery, powers and all, it'll just take time. Lance is getting more okay with that."
Pietro played distractedly with the edge of Rogue's sleeve. "What about Wanda?" he asked.
Rogue ran her fingers along his collarbone. "You and I can deal with your sister."
Pietro caught her hand. "You make everything better when I'm with you," he said taking off her glove.
"What'd you do that for?" Rogue asked squirming to rearrange them so that her bare hand was kept away from temptation, only to end up laying half way across him as Pietro refused to let her pull away. She propped her chin up on her still gloved hand, using it to keep a barrier between her face and his bare chest.
"I like this," Pietro said brushing her white-streaked bangs out of her face.
Rogue chuckled shaking head. Pietro ran his hands from her shoulders to the small of her back, urging her to kiss him. Rogue complied eagerly. Pietro held her tightly prolonging the contact. Rogue moaned softly leaning into the kiss.
Behind them the door burst open, the frame coming apart in a hail of splinters. "Well ain't this cute," Sabretooth laughed, ducking his head to get through the door.
Rogue jumped to her feet in a heartbeat pulling Pietro along with her. He staggered dizzily as she darted toward the window.
Sabretooth lunged at her his claws tearing through the filmy material of her over-blouse as Rouge dove head first through the window, rolling to her feet on the sidewalk outside, blood streaming from cuts along her arms and shoulders.
Inside the room Pietro backed away from Sabretooth, his breath coming in fearful gasps. His heel caught on a tear in the carpet and he fell heavily, still fighting the effects of Rogue's powers.
As Pietro struggled to back his feet Sabretooth pounced, slamming him violently back to the floor.
"Yah leave him alone!" Rogue shouted jumping on Sabretooth's back and wrapping her arms around his neck. Their skin contacted through the tears in Rogue's shirt, she screamed as the feral's mind poured into hers. The hunt and the prospect of a kill had Sabretooth's bloodlust running high.
Rogue screamed again, sounding like a mountain lion on the hunt as Sabretooth crashed to his knees. Her nails and teeth lengthened, becoming claws and fangs as her eyes took on the amber glow of a cat's.
"Rogue?" Pietro asked uncertainly.
****** ****** ******
"I just woke up and she was gone," Kitty explained gesturing to Rogue's empty bed.
"The Cajun was here," Wolverine said scowling.
"He took Rogue? Vhy?" Kurt asked with concern.
"Rogue's better than that," Scott argued. "There'd be signs of a struggle. She went willingly."
"Or at least without a fight," Logan growled.
"Wait, then was a guy calling for Rogue, I think he was Cajun," Jean said. "He had some sort of a weird accent."
"We better find her," Scott said.
//I am scanning for them, however it's difficult to detect either Rogue or Gambit.// Xavier projected. //With Magneto involved I want the senior team and the instructors ready to go at a moment's notice.//
In the danger room, which was currently set up as a standard gym, McCoy glanced up. "It was fortunate we began your therapy early today," he told Lance then sighed as he caught sight of the teen's unhappy expression. McCoy had come to know him well enough to guess that he was feeling useless.
"Lance," McCoy said after a moment's consideration. "Would you feel up to monitoring the New Mutant's practice session for me?"
"Probably safer just to cancel it," Lance said scowling.
"Yes, but I'm afraid Bobby generally takes such cancellations as an invitation to do mischief. I would appreciate it if you'd keep them occupied."
"Really?"
"Keep Bobby from running amuck and you will have my eternal respect and gratitude."
****** ****** ******
Rogue looked up from Sabretooth's unconscious body, her nostrils flaring at the scent of Pietro's fear laced sweat and the dark thing she'd absorbed into her mind whispered 'prey'.
Moving with a cat-like fluidity she prowled toward where Pietro was scrambling to his feet again. Rogue smiled predatorily showing brand new fangs.
Pietro stood his ground, a hand reached out to her beseechingly, "Come on Rogue shake it off. I don't want to fight you," he said.
Rogue lunged at Pietro, using his own speed against him, claws outstretched. Pietro matched her speed catching her hands and holding them away from his body, but along with Sabretooth's feral nature, Rogue had also absorbed his strength. Pietro gave ground until his back collided with the wall. For a moment he managed to hold her back, but as soon as her hands touched him, he realized the claws were the last thing he needed to worry about.
Rogue paused as Sabretooth's bloodlust was blunted by Pietro's perception of who she was supposed to be. Pietro's mind was familiar and comforting, a lifeline tossed into the sea of rage and predatory instincts she's absorbed from Sabretooth. She clung to it, to Pietro, happily giving in to the impulse to kiss him. The memory of fluttery excitement that characterized their emotions when she'd touched him in the past helped sweep away the red haze. Rogue cuddled closer, easily freeing her hands to run them down his chest.
Lost between the familiar rush of Pietro's mind and soul and the receding tide of Sabretooth's psychosis Rogue hardly noticed as Pietro slumped into unconsciousness against her.
Awareness of what she was doing only returned when Rogue felt her powers subsist. "Pietro?" she asked timidly, pulling back. She caught him as he collapsed. Carefully Rogue lowered him to the floor, her eyes locked on her bare hand against his bare arm. She wondered why her powers weren't activating; trying to think of an answer besides the sense they'd turned off because there was nothing left for her to take.
Rogue snatched a sheet off the bed, using it to shield Pietro from her touch as she shook him. "Come on, wake-up!" she begged tearfully.
Behind her Sabretooth stirred groggily. Unnoticed he pushed himself to his knees taking stock of his surroundings. He saw Rogue, sobbing over Pietro's unconscious body, completely unaware of his recovery. Slowly, silently he rose to his feet, smiling.
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