Important Notice: I am currently re-writing all of the chapters in this story, because, looking back, I have a lot of plot holes and my writing is pretty weak at some parts. Please bear with me I would still appreciate feedback on if you like the new version of the chapters and if it makes more sense. It would suck to rewrite everything and then have it be worse than before. Thanks! You guys are awesome

I also want to apologize for the lack of updates. I have no excuse. I'm just an awful person I hope I haven't lost too many of you. For those of you still reading, you are the BEST and I love you to pieces!

A/U: Lance Alvers was orphaned when he was 7 and sent to an orphanage. There he met Katherine Pryde, a fellow orphan at only 5 years old. Ten years later, they meet again, but this time on opposing teams.

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men, and I am not making any money off of this.

A/N: I think I may have fixed my timeline by having Lance arriving in Bayville a week earlier than Kitty. Let us hope everything works out…

Obligation

The 2nd period bell had rung and Lance was still in the hall, rushing to his next class. He had been so distracted by that girl that he had lost track of time and now he was late to Chemistry.

Ah… the joys of Science. Not.

"Ah, Mr. Alvers, nice of you to join us," the teacher said from the head of the class.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders. How was it that every single teacher he'd ever had had used that line at least once? Was there some sort of Teacher Handbook telling them what to say for every situation? Whatever…

"If you'll sit down-"

Lance took the hint.

"-I'll introduce our newest student. This is Katherine-"

"Kitty," the girl corrected.

Mrs. Bramer smiled. "This is Kitty Pryde, who has transferred into this class from Biology. I'm sure you'll help her out with using the equipment and such. Kitty, you can take a seat at this table in front, next to Lance."

Lance and Kitty's eyes locked briefly but she looked away as she gathered up her binder and sat down next to him.

With that Mrs. Bramer began her lesson. Something about balancing chemical equations and the like, but Lance wasn't paying attention. He was busy thinking.

Pryde. I could have sworn that was their name. Mr. and Mrs. Pryde. It all fits-Kitty Pryde! What more proof do I need?

Yes, but she's shown no signs of recognizing me now, has she? That little voice taunted in the back of his mind.

Yes she has! When our eyes locked in the hall and just now! That's gotta be something.

He decided to try and talk to her.

"Hey," he whispered to her, nudging her elbow.

She looked over to him, obviously irritated. "What?" she hissed between her teeth.

Okay. You've got her attention-now what to say?

"Where'd you come up with Kitty as a nickname for Katherine?" he asked, figuring a direct approach was as good as any.

Kitty, who had mistaken his tone as mocking, snapped at him. "Are you always such a jerk?"

Great going, Alvers-you've barely talked to her and she's already pissed off at you.

"No-I really want to know," he said quickly.

Kitty's face clouded momentarily, and she looked at him uncertainly. Then she smiled as if in some far away dream land as she remembered her first day at that Chicago orphanage.

"When I was little, a friend of mine at the orphanage started calling me that." She trailed off. What was his name? She could barely even picture him anymore!

Lance's heart leapt when he heard this. An orphanage! "You-you were adopted?" he whispered excitedly.

"Yeah."

What is with this guy?

"What city were you-"

Lance was interrupted by Mrs. Bramer. "Lance, Kitty-is there something you would like to share with me?" she waited expectantly.

Again with the lines…

Kitty threw Lance a glare. "No, sorry," she said apologetically, but Mrs. Bramer shook her head disapprovingly.

"That will be your only warning-both of you."

"Yes ma'am," they grumbled simultaneously.

Satisfied, she turned her back on them and continued her lesson.

At once Lance elbowed Kitty, who turned to face him, annoyance and dislike showing on her face.

"What orphanage did you stay at?" he persisted.

"What is wrong with you? She just told us to be quiet! Just leave me alone!" she hissed.

"No-please. Just tell me and I swear I won't bother you again!" Lance pleaded.

"Why do you even care?"

"Mr. Alvers! Ms. Pryde! I just asked you to stop talking-you both have detention after school."

"What! But I-" Kitty fell quiet, knowing arguing would do her no good, if not make her plight worse. She grumbled to herself a little and settled back into her chair.

Lance, on the other hand, could care less. He was used to getting in trouble-detention, suspension, whatever. It was all the same.

He looked at this as an opportunity to ask Kitty what orphanage she had been adopted from. Had it been St. Charles' in Chicago?

Both of them lapsed into silence and when the bell rang, they gathered their things and left, all the while, Kitty avoided eye contact.

During lunch Kitty went to sit with Scott, Jean, Kurt, Evan, and Rogue. She abjectly plopped into her chair and proceeded to stare at Jean's lunch tray.

"Are you gonna eat anythin'?" Rogue asked her.

"No. I'm not hungry," she replied, her voice monotone.

"Hey-you okay?" Scott questioned.

"Just fine," she snapped back, sarcasm dripping in her voice.

"Right," he replied, looking slightly put out.

"What's wrong?" Rogue asked her, tired of her just sitting there.

"I've got detention after school," she said pouting, still slouching in her chair.

"Detention!" Kurt asked in disbelief. "You got detention!"

"Yeah," she replied angrily with her arms crossed.

"Why?" Evan asked, trying to contain laughter. Kitty just didn't seem the type to wind up in detention.

"Because this stupid guy next to me wouldn't shut up so the teacher gave us both detention."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. So I'll be needing a ride home afterwards," she told them, Scott in particular.

"Sure, what time should I pick you up?"

"I think Mrs. Bramer said until 4:30, so that would be good."

"'Kay."

Meanwhile, in a far corner of the cafeteria, the Brotherhood of Mutants was sitting at a table eating lunch. Fred had just finished his seventh tray of questionable looking cafeteria food including the oh-so-classic mystery meat, a scoop of watery looking mashed potatoes, some diced apples with entirely too much cinnamon on them, and a carton of expired milk.

"Yo, do you have to eat the mashed potatoes? They're just plain sick looking!" Todd told his friend.

"This coming from the guy who bathes once a month and enjoys eating flies for midday snacks," Pietro supplied from his seat. He looked very restless. "Alright, that's it," he said after Fred's not-so-bright response to Todd's comment (Whaddaya mean? They look fine to me.) "I'm gonna go see what Debbie and Sarah are doing. Catch ya later." And with that he sped off.

Lance had been strangely quiet, as he normally had some sarcastic or degrading comment to add when Pietro mentioned his 'lady friends,' but now he sat in a contemplative silence.

"Lance, what's up, yo?" called Todd waving his hand around in front of Lance's face.

"Wha-huh?" Lance came back to reality.

"You've been really quiet, yo. It's kind of creepy."

"Oh, I was just thinking," he replied nonchalantly.

"Okay," Freddy answered, happily munching on what Lance thought was a brownie.

"Oh-hey-guys, I just remembered. You're gonna have to get your own ride back to the Boarding House. I've got detention till 4:00."

"So do we-but till 4:30. Fred an' me got caught getting change from a vending machine."

"Huh?" Lance asked, giving a great impression of Fred.

"The coke machine, yo. If you punch it in the right spot, it'll spit change out."

"Right. I'll have to remember that." Lance said.

"Well, I'd better go, considering I don't wanna be late for my next class, too."

"But, yo-the bell hasn't-"

Cue the bells.

"Oh. Alright then. Let's go Fred." Todd began to walk off. "Fred?" he turned around. Fred was taking one last bite of the watery mashed potatoes and then stood sadly, looking heartbroken when he threw the rest of the uneaten cafeteria food on his tray away.

"Comin,'" he said, and lumbered off to follow Todd.

That afternoon, after the final bell had rung, Lance made his way to the Chemistry lab where Mrs. Bramer would keep himself and Kitty company for the next hour. He sighed. Well, maybe-if he was lucky-Mrs. Bramer wouldn't sit and watch them like a hawk, and he might be able to pass a note to Kitty, asking her about her orphanage. At this point, he knew Kitty probably thought he was a lunatic, but it would all be worth it if he could just find out if she was Kitty Hail—his Kitty.

Oh, god! I must be going soft. He shuddered at the possibility. Lance Alvers does NOT go gaga over some little girl he used to know, he reminded himself, but then again, this wasn't just some ordinary little girl.

This was Kitty, who had given him a purpose at the orphanage when he had lost everything that had ever been considered normal to him. Kitty, who had been afraid of the late night thunderstorms in the Windy City.

Damn, I didn't realize how good I had it, getting such pretty girls to crawl into my bed. He chuckled lightly at the thought, and went to sit down at a table.

He sat there, bored already, for ten minutes, tapping his pencil, until Kitty appeared in the door way.

Mrs. Bramer nodded her head to acknowledge her presence, and Kitty sat down at a table on the opposite side of the room from Lance, glaring at him. He merely grinned sheepishly in return and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "What can ya do?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and pulled out a math book from her backpack and began working.

Lance went back to tapping his pencil.

Tap, tap, tap.

Tap, tap, tap.

Tap, tap, tap, tap-

Kitty slammed her book shut. "Will you please stop tapping!"

"Sorry," Lance grinned.

He would have said more but at the moment, Mrs. Bramer shushed them and told them that this was detention. They were NOT supposed to talk. Yet again, Kitty threw Lance a dirty look. Mrs. Bramer went back to grading papers.

Lance sat in his seat like a good boy for a while, but it didn't suit him well. He grabbed his pencil and hastily scrawled out something on a piece of paper from his notebook. He silently ripped it out, crumpled it up, and, after checking that Mrs. Bramer wasn't watching, chucked the note across the room. It landed right on top of the worksheet Kitty was working on.

He grinned to himself. Perfect aim.

Kitty looked at the wad of paper, then at him and rolled her eyes, exasperated. Some people just don't know when to quit! She was about to open her mouth to yell at him, but her shot her a pleading look, silently begging her to just open the piece of paper.

"Fine!" she muttered to herself, thoroughly annoyed at him.

She smoothed out the paper and read it. She immediately looked at him as though he were mental.

What is this guy's deal

"Just answer me, please!" he mouthed.

Kitty finally gave in, hoping that if she told him this he would leave her alone! She scribbled something down, wadded the paper up again and threw it at Lance. She smirked with satisfaction when the paper hit him square on the jaw before he could move.

Lance opened the piece of paper in trembling hands under the table. Under his note-What orphanage?-Kitty had written: St. Charles Orphanage in Chicago. I told you, now please leave me alone!

Lance dropped the note.

That was it! It was her! He had finally found Kitty again, after all those years. He was in shock.

I guess I wasn't really expecting it was possible for it to really be her.

He was filled with emotion, with happiness. And yet he couldn't bring himself to speak. Kitty had gone to work again, satisfied that he would no long bother her.

Oh well, it doesn't matter, I'm gonna talk to her after detention whether she wants to listen or not.

About fifteen minutes later, the clock hit 4:00. "Okay," said Mrs. Bramer. "You may both leave, but from now on, please do NOT talk while I am teaching class."

They both muttered some incoherent sign of comprehension and hurried out of the classroom.

"Hey Kitty," Lance said, trying to keep from sounding so excited that he might wet himself.

"What?" she moaned. "I told you already-leave me alone!"

"No it's not that. It's just-when you were at the orphanage, that boy, the one who gave you your nickname… What was his name?" he said timidly.

"His name?" Kitty asked, surprised by this question. "I-I don't remember…It started with an L, I think."

"Like Lance?" he said, smiling. Her face adopted a look of disbelief.

"Yeah! That was it! Lance! Lance-"

"Lance Alvers?"

"Lance Alvers! Lance Alvers. Oh my god! Lance! Is it really you!"

"The one and only," he smiled, but it was nothing compared to what he felt inside. He had never been so happy. He felt so fulfilled, as though he had regained a missing arm or leg.

"Oh my god!" she screamed as she threw her arms around him and stood on her tip toes to pull him into a hug. "I missed you so much!" she whispered, her eyes becoming watery.

"I missed you too," Lance replied, at first a little shocked by Kitty's sudden actions, but now hugging her back just as tightly. "I thought I was never gonna see you again. At the orphanage, they told me that I should be happy for you because you had a family, but I couldn't. I was so depressed. And when I saw you in the hall it was like seeing a ghost, and I had to find out if it was you," he finished.

"I know! You looked so familiar, too. But I couldn't remember who it was you looked like," she said. "I'm sorry I was so rude. I guess the things you were asking me…I didn't want to remember the answers, 'cause then I would remember the day I left…and that—that was awful. There was even an earthquake right after I left! It was as if we weren't supposed to be separated." Kitty released him and smiled, and Lance started laughing lightly.

"What?" Kitty said playfully, thinking he was laughing at her.

"That earthquake—I caused it. It was me...I'm a mutant. When you left, my abilities surfaced." Lance hoped she wouldn't care he was a mutant—he hadn't meant to say that, but it had just slipped out before he could think about what he was saying.

She stared at him in awe. "Really? You—you caused it? How'd it happen?"

"Well, I was in the dormitory all alone and very depressed, thinking, and then…I don't know." Lance got a far away look on his face. "Things started shaking and falling off dressers, and my eyes had rolled to the back of my head and then all of a sudden I had this weird feeling… like that everything was fine. That everything would be okay. The next thing I knew, Greg had run into the room, yelling at me to take cover—that there was an earthquake, and then everything just stopped. That peaceful feeling vanished, and I felt dizzy, and I had a searing pain right behind my eyes and in the back of my head, and then everything just sort of…went black," he concluded his tale.

"Wow..." she trailed off, and there was an awkward silence.

"Does it…bother you that I'm a mutant?" he said, mistaking her silence for disgust.

"No—no! Not at all! I was just thinking how odd this is…I'm a mutant too, and we both met before we were mutants, and we both sort of triggered each others mutation," she told him.

"What? You're a mutant, too! What's you're power...and how did I trigger it?" Lance asked her, now slightly confused.

"Yeah—I can walk through walls and stuff. The Professor calls it corporal intangibility, or something. I was asleep one night and I had this weird dream about someone that I couldn't remember—turns out it was you—and then I felt like I was falling and falling and when I opened my eyes I was in the basement and I started screaming. It was pretty freaky."

"Whoa. That's really weird." he said.

The Professor?

They finally reached the parking lot where Lance's faithful jeep was parked. Kitty scanned the lot and then frowned.

Oh, great! I told Scott to pick me up at 4:30 instead of 4:00! Now I get to just sit here all alone for half an hour! Ugh!

"What's wrong?" Lance asked her as she sat down on the curb.

"Nothing, really, I just told Scott to pick me up at 4:30 because I thought that's when Mrs. Bramer said we'd get out of detention."

"Oh…Well if you want I could give you a ride home. You just tell me where you live and we'll be good to go."

Kitty perked right up at his words. "Seriously! That would be SO great! I just hope we get there before Scott comes to get me—he probably wouldn't enjoy having to drive up here for nothing," she smiled and stood up as Lance unlooked his jeep. He opened the passenger seat door and gestured her in.

"After you, mademoiselle," he mocked. Once they were both in, Lance started the car and they drove out of the parking lot, Kitty instructing him on where the Institute was.

Scott and Jean were in the kitchen talking and doing their homework. Scott was disappointed when Jean reminded him at 4:15 that he had to go pick up Kitty. Of all the days to get detention… He headed outside and got in his car and headed to Bayville High.

When he got there about five minutes later he found that the parking lot where Kitty had said she would be was completely empty. He waited patiently. I guess she's just running late.

Ten minutes later the doors opened. Finally!

But instead of Kitty stepping through the doors, he saw two members of the Brotherhood: Fred, also known as the Blob, and Todd, also known as Toad.

Great! Just great! Now I'm going to have to ask them if they know where
she is! Well, here goes nothing.

"Hey! Todd! Fred!"

They looked over in his direction and recognized him at once. "What do you want X-Geek?" Todd called back, using Pietro's term of endearment.

"Look can you just help me out real quick—have you seen a friend of mine—Kitty?"

"Uh...I don't think so… Right Todd?"

"Yeah—we haven't seen anyone for the past hour and a half. We're the last students here."

"Oh." Then where was she? Scott drove away from them, not wanting to talk to them any longer than he had to. Hopefully Lance wasn't around or else he'd seriously get irritated. When he found Kitty he was going to give her a long, long lecture…

A/N: Review!