Chapter 38

Next Stop Hannover

Just as the sun was cresting the horizon, turning the sky from pale gray to warm yellow, Kurt woke up. For a while he simply lay still against the tree trunk where he'd spent the night. He wondered sleepily why he was on the ground instead of in the tree like he usually was, but he drew a blank. Shrugging his shoulders he figured it probably wasn't important and that he'd remember the reason for the decision later. With a wide yawn and a lazy stretch he prepared to get up and face the day. It was about that time that he ran into some difficulty, namely a girl's head resting in his lap.

He blinked stupidly down at the sleeping girl before his tired brain registered just who exactly it was. Then, once he recognized her he blushed. He swallowed hard and made it his top priority to figure just how Kitty ended up apparently spending the night with him. As mind spun in furious circles he tentatively reached out with one blue furry hand to brush back her hair that had come loose from her hair ribbon. She looked so peaceful and pretty when she slept that he always did his best to let her sleep as long as she could. Well, unless they had something planned for early in the morning, and even then he tried to let her sleep as long as possible. He smiled faintly, but then his good mood vanished as his mind finally recalled the previous day's events.

At the end of yesterday's ride he'd been hanging upside-down and then Lockheed had appeared out of nowhere and pasted himself on Kurt's face. After peeling the purple lizard off his face Kurt had followed it to find Kitty collapsed and crying. He'd gone over to try and comfort her and she had firmly attached herself to him for the remainder of the evening. He waited for her to stop crying, but when she finally did he found that she was asleep. Not wanting to wake her he let her sleep until the sun set and the woods grew dark. Using the darkness as a cover he stealthily carried her back to the camp and settled with her at the base of the tree and promptly fell asleep as well.

With a sad sigh he brushed his furry thumb over her cheek. He'd meant to keep his distance, let her make up her own mind. It was a nice idea, but look how long it lasted. Barely three days and he'd given in, though it would've been horribly cruel if he hadn't. But now she was calm and asleep, should he stay and wait for her to wake up? Or should he leave her be? Torn with indecision he closed his eyes and tilted his head back to rest against the tree trunk. His tail flicked violently for a minute before he coiled it around Kitty's waist to still it. Now what should I do?

"I say you should go, but that's just me." A voice suggested, making Kurt start in surprise. His golden eyes flew open to focus on an irritated looking Jean.

"Who said that you could look into my head?" Kurt frowned.

"No one, but I didn't have to go inside your head, you were thinking more than loud enough for me to hear without even trying to." Jean grumbled sourly.

"I was?" He muttered to himself.

"Yes, you were, please stop." Jean growled. Kurt blinked, what's gotten her in such a nasty mood?

"Why am I in a nasty mood? I'm in a nasty mood because everyone else is and they're all projecting very nasty thoughts that are giving me a constant headache!" Jean hissed, glaring at him.

"Sorry." Kurt squeaked, cringing back into the tree.

"You'd better be." Jean muttered, massaging her temples.

Kurt held his tongue and looked down towards Kitty's sleeping face. Only she wasn't sleeping anymore. When he looked down he was confronted by a pair of sleepy blue eyes squinting back up at him. He sat frozen, wondering what her reaction would be. She blinked several times quite confused as to her location and how she got there. But when she remembered he saw her smile a little. She reached up with one hand and lightly traced the contours of his face and Kurt found himself smiling back at her.

"Guten Morgen." He purred softly.

"Good morning to you too." She murmured back.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked politely, struggling to bury a growing sense of nervousness. He could still vividly recall an incident back before they were married when they had fallen asleep together in a library. They'd been caught by their parents who made a great deal out of it and this had made Kitty so angry she'd avoided him for the whole week until he went back home.

"Yes," she mumbled, her fingertips drifting down the side of his neck.

"Have any nice dreams?" He asked curiously, forcing himself to ignore the sensations her touch was creating. This was neither the time nor the place for such things.

"I think so, can't really remember." She whispered back.

"Well if you don't remember what you dreamed about, how do you know if it was a good dream or not?" Kurt wondered.

"Because I never have bad dreams when I'm with you." She replied with a faint blush. Kurt felt his heart skip a beat.

"You flatter me unfairly Schatz." Kurt whispered. Kitty blinked several times in shock before she blushed a much darker shade of red.

"I seem to recall a time when you swore to me that you would never in a thousand years use that word in reference to me." She replied shyly. Kurt cocked his head slightly to one side.

"I did?" He asked. She nodded mutely.

Kurt frowned and stared off into space as he tried to remember just when exactly he'd said that. While he pondered, Kitty slowly began to rise up out of his lap and stretch. As she stood and wandered off Kurt found he had to restrain himself from pulling her back down to stay with him for a while longer. Instead, he returned to the task of remembering when he said he'd never call her Schatz and why. His tail swished slowly from side to side as he reached down into his memory to find the answer to his question.

Then it came to him. Not long after they were officially married they'd gotten into a heated discussion concerning the nature of their relationship. Over time it had gotten somehow to expressions of affection and how they would never use them. She swore that she would never willingly hold his hand, kiss his cheek, or dance with him. He in turn swore she would never hear him say any term of endearment in any language to her, and he had gone so far as to give her a verbal list of words she would never hear him say to her. Kurt found himself wincing at the memory. The things I did as a child…

Kitty felt light as a feather, ever after the morning's hard ride. Everyone was eager to leave the mountains, and all of the high country, behind so they pressed on riding faster and for longer than they normally would. So the whole group was tired, well, except for her. She still felt giddy from earlier in the morning and even the grueling ride had failed to lessen that feeling. So when they finally stopped just after noon she was still smiling while everyone else was groaning and scowling.

She almost skipped around the clearing that they had stopped in. But even though she didn't skip the others were all aware of her continued good cheer. Logan and Jean seemed to approve of this, and Remy and Piotr appeared to be undecided, but Bobby still did not look happy. Kitty knew that she had to do something about Bobby, but right now she refused to deal with it. Right now she just wanted to hang onto this period of happiness for as long as she could.

"Kitty, could I talk to you?" Bobby suddenly asked just after she'd finished eating her lunch.

"Sure, talk away." She sighed.

"Could I talk to you alone?" He clarified.

"Fine," Kitty mumbled. She stood up to follow him wherever he wanted to go and talk, waving Kurt off as she went. The last thing she needed was to have him follow her and spy on this particular conversation. Once they were a good distance away she stopped and braced herself. "Now speak."

"Can I turn that bastard into an ice cube yet?" Bobby demanded.

"No," Kitty stated flatly.

"Why not?" Bobby whined.

"Because I said so, and if that reason isn't good enough for you here are a few more. Firstly, he is my husband, if he does anything that is deserving of punishment I will take care of it. Secondly, who are you, the guy who has trouble staying out of trouble, to pass any sort of judgment or inflict any sort of punishment on him? And thirdly, if in the highly unlikely event that I need any help whatsoever with him I promise to seek the appropriate help in dealing with things." Kitty replied, poking him in the chest to emphasize every major point.

"Um, okay." Bobby squeaked, now quite intimidated.

"Good, now I expect you to at least leave him alone if not make up with him. He's saved your hide twice after all." She grumbled as she stalked off.

"Did it go well?" Kurt asked quietly when she made it back to his side.

"I hope so." Kitty sighed. "How much longer until we make it to Hannover?"

"Three, maybe four days, why?" Kurt wondered.

"I need a break from him and sleeping in a real bed sounds really nice to me right now." She replied softly. Kurt didn't reply, only slipped an arm around her shoulders and held her closer. Kitty gladly leaned in closer to him and sighed tiredly. Hopefully it'll only take three days; I don't think I can last four…