X-Men Evolution is a trademarked product from Marvel, all the characters are owned by Marvel and not me. This is a work of fiction based off of said series. I make no money off this, yadda yadda yah.

"In The Garage" - by Val Shrum (kiyonekatz at yahoo dot com)

Chapter 17

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The downstairs area to the mansion was set up with sandwiches and pizza. A tiny celebration. And not really much of a party, but it was enough for the kids to sit back and enjoy themselves. Music played through the foyer and living rooms.

Kurt helped himself to a section of the sandwich. He walked over to sit down on the couch, near the rest of his bandmates and a few others.

"Anything good over there, Kurt?" Kitty asked.

"Oh, plenty good." Kurt nodded, sitting down. "You should get something."

"I will. I've just gotta get upstairs to check on things."

"What's to check on? Everything's down here." Lance mentioned. He tried to take her hand to pull her back to sit down, but Kitty was fast enough to move out of his reach.

"Naw, I gotta check my e-mail. I'll be back down in a minute, I swear."

"... can I come with?" Lance stood up quickly.

"I guess. It's pretty boring, watching me while I'm on the computer, but okay." Kitty shrugged and headed for the stairs.

Lance did a quick glance back at Kurt and Wanda, then sped up to catch up to Kitty. They went around the corner and down the hall to her room.

Kitty opened the door and went over to her desk. She opened up her laptop and booted up the system. Lance closed the door and looked around.

"Wow, I know I've noticed this before... but sometimes, this place is like night and day compared to the Brotherhood house." Lance took a seat on the edge of Kitty's bed.

"Yeah, you guys gotta invest in like... a maid or something. Pietro too busy to do a few chores?" Kitty concentrated on the computer, typing in a few things.

He looked over, "Pietro? Yeah right. So what's up?"

"Uh... family stuff." Kitty quickly kept typing. "No biggie."

"Oh, right... your family." Lance layed back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"I promised them I'd e-mail every day. Well, I don't... not exactly every day. I try to keep up as much as I can..." Kitty's voice downturned.

"Hey, you don't sound so pleased with that?" He propped himself up with his elbows.

"I'll cope." She closed the laptop. "So... there's like a party downstairs... technically for us. We should get back to it?" Kitty moved from her desk to sit next to Lance.

Lance turned toward Kitty, then pulled her back to lay down next to him. She blushed as he placed his arm on the other side of her, pinning her down in one swift motion. "Feeling better?"

"What do you think?" She looked at him, slight sarcasm.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" Lance told her. His hand ran pushed back a few stray strands of her hair.

"You keep telling me that." Kitty intoned meekly. Her eyes looked into his. Her thoughts derailed. He moved closer.

He didn't speak up. He closed off the gap with a kiss. Lance relaxed against her, kissing softly, warmly.

Kitty returned the kiss. His hand cupped her cheek, getting comfortable with her on the bed. The intensity stepped up until a knock rapped softly on the door. Lance pulled away. Kitty sat up.

"C'min..." Kitty voiced, looking down at Lance.

The teenage girl, known as Amara entered the room. "I thought I'd find you here." She raised an eyebrow, "Oh, uh... hi Lance. I hope I'm not interrupting..."

"It's okay, Amara. We were just about to head back downstairs." Kitty stood up.

"I need to borrow that book for English." Amara smiled, but shifted nervously. She KNEW she interrupted something, but wasn't going to push the issue.

"Oh right! I forgot to give it to you on friday. My bad." She opened her desk drawer and pulled it out, "I hope you can get your report done in time. I'm sorry."

"No problem. It's due on tuesday. I could always bother Sam if something goes wrong." Amara took the book and smiled, "Thanks Kitty."

"You're welcome. Keep me posted." Kitty smiled. Amara headed out of the room.

Lance stood up. "Well, so much for any privacy."

"You expected privacy, in THIS house?" Kitty moved toward the door.

Lance followed, but stopped her as she opened the door. "Well, it was worth a shot." He leaned in and kissed her again, pressing her just softly against the doorframe.

She broke the kiss and pulled him along, "C'mon, it's time to go back downstairs. It's our party. Time to make an appearance."

"Yeah sure.."

They headed down the hall and walked by Logan. Kitty pointed at him and said, "I've got to talk to you later. After the festivities die down, 'kay?"

"Whatever you say, Half-Pint." Logan raised an eyebrow at the two.

"C'mon Lance.." She tugged Lance along back downstairs.

***

Wednesday evening. The phone rang the institute a few times.

"The Xavier Institute." Answered a male voice.

"Uh, is Kitty home?" Asked Lance.

"Isn't this the third time you've called?" The voice replied.

"Oh, it's Summers. Is that all you do around there, answer the phone?" Lance returned with a quick remark.

"Ha-hah. Look, like I told you the last two times, she's not here. She's out of town." Scott sighed.

"I've already tried her cell phone. It's off. What's going on over there? It's not like her to just disappear and miss school for a week." Lance brought up.

"I don't know what to tell you. I'm not hiding anything from you, Alvers. Her phone probably got left behind and is sitting upstairs in her room. It happens. If you don't believe me, maybe you should talk to someone else. Like Jean, Kurt, Amara, Sam, Jamie, Dani..."

"Fine, whatever. Just PLEASE have her call me when she gets home? Is that too much to ask?"

"I'll put it on her desk, next to the last two messages." Scott wrote down the message, "Anything else?"

"Is Kurt around?" Lance asked.

"No, he's out at the bowling center. I think with Wanda." Scott sounded unsure about the last part.

"Thanks. Bye." Lance hung up the phone. He turned around from the payphone to get into his Jeep and head for the location Scott mentioned. The Bayville Bowling Centre.

***

For a wednesday night it was relatively busy. Half the lanes dedicated to bowling leagues, while the other side for those customers who are enjoying the night in.

On lane fifty seven, the boy known as Kurt Wagner stood on the black dotted points on the wooden ground. He held a ten pound bowling ball in his right hand, not putting his fingers in the holes but cupping it.

"I swear I've aged a year waiting for you to take your turn, Kurt." Wanda announced from the chair next to the electronic score board.

"Perfection takes patience, mein fruend! I'm trying to find the zone." Kurt called back.

"Find it quicker, I want to play TOO." Wanda lifted a drink in a straw-cup, taking a sip.

Kurt narrowed his eyes and took his steps forward, throwing the ball down the lane. It curved around, then hit the pins, leaving him with two remaining. "Awww man! Not good enough."

"Something tells me this isn't normal." Came a voice from behind them.

Wanda turned around to notice Lance approach the lane. "What're you doing here?"

"Bored. I could ask the same about you?" Lance looked at them, expecting a good answer.

Kurt stood next to the ball return, waiting for his. "What, we can't be friends? Do I have to sign a petition... times suitable to see Wanda..."

"What the 'crawler means is..." Wanda started, "Working together with the band, it was kinda fun just hanging out. So... why not hang out outside of it? Considering there is no band, anymore."

"Did you guys want to keep the band together?" Lance blinked. "I thought it was an inconvenience for you... and Kurt, well... he was in it for Kitty. No offense, Kurt."

Kurt threw his second ball, missing the final pin to pick up that spare. He shrugged and nodded to Lance, "None taken. I'll admit that I wasn't entirely fond of you before joining... but all this time together... I had fun. It's also nice to have friends outside of the institute. Even if they are former enemies."

"Not so well put." Wanda rolled her eyes. "It's nice to have different friends outside of the main circle. Even though, in retrospect... we're part of the same circle just by association. But we have fun together."

"You're serious? I guess I understand. Sort of." Lance scratched his head.

Wanda stood and went to get her ball. "Last frame. We could head out to somewhere less crowded."

"Great. Let's grab dinner then." Lance said.

They finished off their game and returned the rental shoes. Now the three left the bowling center to get into Lance's Jeep and hit the local diner. They settled into a table.

"So I called the Institute and Scott gave me major attitude. Who pissed in his Wheaties today? All I wanted was to talk to Kitty." Lance leaned back.

"She's out of town, man. Scott just gets impatient with people." Kurt commented.

"How many times have you called?" Wanda asked.

"Only three! You'd think they would have at least told me where she went or how long she'll be." Lance shrugged, then looked at Kurt, "Well?"

"... it's just... we don't know how long she'll be." Kurt said softly.

"What does that mean?"

"All I know is that Logan is there, and it has something to do with her family.." Kurt raised his hands.

"Whoa, you mean you guys don't even know? What kind of team ARE you?" Lance looked suspiciously at Kurt.

Kurt shrugged, "One who leaves private things up to privacy." He left it at that, then somewhat changed the subject, "So you and Kitty are getting pretty close again, ja?"

"You've got a problem with that, Elf-boy?" Lance went on the defensive.

Kurt's eyes widened, "...no."

"Calm down, Lance." Wanda, the rare voice of reason. "He just wants to know what all of us want to know. How serious is it this time?"

"What do you consider serious?" Lance asked.

"Come on, man. You know what she means. What is really going on between you two?" Kurt, less scared now.

"Oh, I guess... I dunno." He paused, "Promise not to tell the guys?" Lance said to Wanda.

"Do I talk to them? No. Fine, I promise." She looked Lance over, not sure where he's going with this.

"I love her. With all my heart. And it bothers me that even her closest friends have no idea where she is, or what's going on with her. Not reassuring."

Kurt was speechless. He pulled himself from shock and said softly, "... she'll be fine. I'll make sure you're the first person who knows when she gets back, okay?"

"You better."

***