Chapter 5: Saving Grace
The snow was falling even more heavily when Kurt glanced outside on his way to dinner with the rest of the mansion's inhabitants. From the second-floor window of his room he couldn't even see the driveway. Visibility had been reduced to just past the window.
"What has the weatherman been saying?" He asked as he sat down to the table. Charles, disregarding his own rule about mealtimes being television-free, had switched on the one in the informal breakfast room. From where he sat in the dining room, he could just see the TV screen.
"Gonna be bad," Logan predicted as he sat down with his own plate. "Looks like a Canadian black storm out there." The others shushed him as the weatherman came on.
The snow was already piling up to five and six feet deep in places, and it was only going to get worse. There was no sign of the snow lessening or stopping anytime soon. Kurt looked at the meteorologist's map when the station broadcast it, and although he knew next to nothing about meteorology, even he could tell that all that red all over New England (from Maine to Maryland) couldn't be a good sign. The screen switched to show cars stopped in place in lines on the highways; snowplows even became stuck. And then there were the usual warnings; if your car gets stuck, don't leave it; make sure you have plenty of food and water; if you live in an old house, turn the hot water on a trickle so your pipes wouldn't freeze. Xavier asked Ororo and Jean something about the state of the pantry and the refrigerator. Both women assured him that they had gone out earlier to get what they needed, and in any case, when the storm let up they could go buy whatever they needed without having to wait for the road to be plowed. Kurt lost track of what else they were saying when the weatherman flashed current temperatures. Fourteen degrees, and it was still dropping! Water froze at thirty-two degrees! Grace would freeze to death in that shed. He had to go get her.
"I have to go get her," he said, staring at the TV screen. Everyone stopped talking and looked at him, and then at the TV screen. Most of them didn't know what he was talking about, but Hank and Charles looked alarmed when they saw the temperature displayed. "She has no heat?" Xavier asked him.
"No, she's living in a gardeners' shed out by the deserted Angel Hill cemetery," Kurt's words tumbled out in a rush as he quickly swallowed the last of his tea. "She doesn't have anything for heat except the clothes I gave her and the camp lantern Logan left in the garage."
Hank rose immediately from the table. "I shall go and prepare the medlabs for her incipient arrival," he said.
Ororo stood too. "I shall clear the storm long enough to get here. From which direction will you be coming?"
"I can teleport her from the shed directly here…" he started, then shook his head. He couldn't. If Ororo didn't clear the storm over the mansion, even for a little while, he could teleport into the graveyard and walk right past the shed. With visibility the way it was, he'd never see it. "I would be grateful for the help," he said to her.
Jean stood up quickly too. "I'll grab some thermal blankets and meet you at the door with a biobed," she said, hurrying off. Kurt said a quiet prayer of thanks to God that he had friends who would drop everything they were doing to help him.
He ran up to his room and bundled himself into a full set of thermal underwear, and then pulled over it sweatpants, a thick sweatshirt, a woolen sweater, and a coat, then met Ororo outside. She too had dressed warmly, although cold didn't affect her and Bobby the way tit did everyone else. He took a moment to orient himself, then pointed toward the graveyard. She rose into the sky, holding firm even though the winds tried to buffet her the way they were hitting the trees, and commanded the storm to clear. It did, and Kurt was struck all over again, by how magical it seemed. It wasn't the first time he'd seen her do it, nor would it be the last, but it still reminded him of Moses parting the Red Sea, and that in itself seemed heaven-sent.
The wind howled in anger at being told to direct its force elsewhere, and the snow complained, but Ororo's will was stronger than they were, and she forced them to her will. "Go now," She finally called to Kurt, and he went.
Because the corridor of clear air was so narrow, he didn't make a straight teleport. Instead, he kept himself to short hops, popping out of the shadow dimension twice on his way to the graveyard to check his direction. By the time he reached the shed, he could see Ororo's struggle to hold the storm back. Grimly promising her silently that he wouldn't be long, he ducked into the shed.
It was the same temperature inside as it was outside. Kurt swore and dropped to his knees in the small, cramped space beside the camp mattress. "Grace?" he touched the bump under the covers. "Grace, it's Kurt. It's getting colder. You cannot stay here. Come with me." When there was no answer, he pushed the wool blanket aside.
She had put on every stitch of clothing he had given her, trying to stave off the cold. It hadn't worked well, though. Her lips were blue. Kurt shook her gently, trying to rouse her. When she didn't respond, he became alarmed, and rolled her over.
Her cheek was smeared with blood.
"Grace!" He shook her again, terrified.
Her eyelids fluttered gently, opened for a moment. "Kurt?" she whispered. Her voice was weak and thready. "What…are you doing…here…" she was interrupted by a fit of coughing. Kurt gasped in shock as the hands covering her mouth came away streaked with blood. "I have to get you home," he said, sliding an arm across her back and trying to pull her up to a sitting position. She seemed too weak to sit up on her own.
He gave her an experimental lift. She weighed next to nothing; the weight came from the clothes she'd pulled on. She had tucked her legs and arms close to her body to warm them, but he could see her fingers were blue. Her toes were probably no better.
He shoved open the door to the shed after extinguishing the camp lantern. Pushing the door closed, he took a moment to find the mansion through the haze of snow, and started to teleport in slightly longer hops toward the mansion.
Ororo saw him coming, and gradually shrank the sphere of her influence as he made his way back. Finally, when he popped back into existence in front of the mansion's back door, she released the winds and snow altogether and opened the door for him to walk in.
Jean was waiting right in front of the door, accompanied by half the mansion. In the bright light, he could now see that the wool blanket was stained dark around her head by what looked like a great quantity of blood. He lowered Grace onto the biobed Jean was holding steady for him, and said, "Jean…she's bleeding when she coughs…that is not good…"
"No," Jean shook her head, carefully controlling the fear in her voice, "It's not. Here, Rogue, Ororo…somebody…grab this bloody blanket off her." She quickly replaced the blanket with the thermal one she held, and then set off for the elevator that would take her to the medlabs, as fast as she could go. Kurt took a moment to shed his coat and extra clothes, then ran off after her.
The elevator was full with Jean and the biobed, so Kurt did a last teleport (he was exhausted, but fear for Grace kept him going) to the medlab doors. He met Jean at the door, and helped her guide the bed into the room. Hank positioned the bed and locked it easily, then said, "Kurt, I want you to remain outside, please." He was about to protest, but the sight of both Hank and Jean pulling on surgical gowns and Jean grabbing a pair of scissors to cut the clothing off the prone figure convinced him that his presence wasn't needed. He left, closing the door, and joined the growing crowd of people standing in front of the observation window.
"Kurt.." Logan said as Jean got the jeans off Grace and he saw the extreme thinness and the scarring of her legs and feet, "Is this yer girl?"
"Ja," Kurt said tensely.
Logan turned to stare at him as he said accusingly, "Why the hell didn't ya just bring her here when ya saw her first, damn it? It ain't like Chuck'd turn her out; hell, we've all brought waifs here from time to time. Didn't ya see what kind o' physical condition she was in?"
Kurt sighed. "I saw, Logan, I saw," he said wearily. "She's on the run from mutant haters. She made me promise not to tell anyone where and who she was."
"And ya didn't trust us enough ta tell us?"
"Logan, Kurt did what he thought was best,' Xavier's soft voice cut through the thick silence in the hall. "He was sworn to secrecy, he kept that secret. At least he knew when secrecy should be damned." He stopped by the window, and the others made room for him so he could see in. His eyes got that blank look that meant he was reaching out telepathically.
Jean sensed him reaching, and she answered his mental inquiry without turning around. She's in terrible condition. Kurt was right to bring her here; she wouldn't have lasted another hour out there.
What is wrong with her?
Jean sighed telepathically. What isn't wrong, you mean. Her body's a mess, Charles. Hank says nothing she endured was ever attended to, he wants you to tell Kurt that. She's got two broken ribs that never healed properly; one of the bone fragments finally worked its way out of her side and pierced her lung; that's why she's coughing blood. We're going to have to put her on a ventilator to re-inflate her lung, after we do surgery to remove the bone fragments. Hank says the ribs are irreparably shattered; he's just going to remove them. She's got a lot of internal scar tissue. Her organs are half the size their supposed to be, her stomach's shrunken, her blood pressure's too low, and Hank's putting an IV in her chest vein because the veins in her arms collapsed. She's also beyond starvation; she's emaciated, malnourished, hypothermic, and anemic. She's a mess, Charles. We'll do what we can; but Hank says he's not sure she's going to make it.
Hank isn't sure? That was worrying. Hank was the best doctor they'd be able to find for her anywhere; if Hank wasn't sure she was going to make it, it was pretty much a guarantee that no one else would be able to do anything either, even if they managed to get her to a hospital. Keep us apprised of her condition, Jean. I'll alert the others. He broke contact, and met Kurt's worried eyes. "Hank's not sure she's going to make it," he said softly.
"Mein Gott," Kurt swore. He knew what that meant. His back hit the wall and he slid down it to a sitting position, burying his face in his hands. After a moment his shoulders started to shake.
Xvaier paused, uncertain. He'd never seen Kurt cry before; Kurt seemed to have a well of serenity in him, due probably to his deep faith and close relationship to God; but that wasn't helping him now. Xavier wondered how Kurt had gotten to care for this girl so much in such a short time; but questions could wait.
Ororo gently took Kurt's shoulders and drew him up, wrapping an arm around him as she took him into the conference room across the hall. She closed the door firmly, and Xavier sighed. Perhaps She could help Kurt. For right now, however… "Come. There is nothing else to be done here now, my X-Men; if you wish to return to the dining room, I'll fill you in. Kurt will not mind." They all turned and silently headed upstairs, leaving Kurt and Ororo behind.