Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 10

Arguments in the night

Lance didn't sleep that night, and he stubbornly sat outside the med. lab, refusing to move. He had gotten up around three to go to the bathroom, and when he came back he heard noises coming from Kitty's room. He thought that maybe someone was in there with her, but Mr. McCoy was the only one with a key; seeing as how he had locked the door so Kitty would not be disturbed.

Lance moved closer to the door, trying to figure out what the noises were. After a few minutes, it came to him; crying. Crying? That means…

"Kitty," Lance whispered, lightly knocking on the door. He moved closer to listen again, but the crying had stopped. "Kitty?" he knocked again, a little louder this time.

He gave up and turned around to take his seat in the chair across from the room. But he had only taken three steps when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He tensed up, then relaxed once he realized whose hand it was.

He turned around and pulled Kitty into a hug. She hugged him back, fresh tears falling freely. He kissed her forehead and then looked her in the eyes.

"Kitty, will you please tell me what's going on?" Lance asked, almost pleadingly.

Kitty looked away. She knew she had to tell him, he needed to know. She took a deep breath, and determinedly looked him in the eyes.

"Lance, I'm sick." She said, never taking her eyes off his.

"Well, I figured as much." Lance said, rolling his eyes, trying to lighten the mood a little. It didn't work.

"No, Lance. I have leukemia." Kitty said, holding his hand and staring into his eyes.

Lance just stared at her. All sorts of thoughts were running through his mind. There were so many questions he wanted to ask her, but he didn't know where to start.

"How long have you known?" he whispered.

That definitely was not the reaction Kitty had expected. She looked down at her feet, not wanting to say.

"Kitty, how long have you known." Lance asked, hurt evident in his voice.

"A month." Kitty said, still looking at her feet.

"A month?" Lance said quietly. "A month? Damn it Kitty, did you tell anyone? Have you been going to a doctor? Have you done anything?" Lance yelled, running a hand through his hair.

Kitty was silent. Lance had never yelled at her before. He was actually starting to scare her a little. But she knew that it was because he cared for her…a lot, and he was scared.

"I told Kurt." Kitty said, softly.

Lance closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, the ground was shaking slightly. He ran his hand through his hair again, and moved away from her a little.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, sounding even more hurt than before.

"I almost did, that first night when I found out." Kitty said, looking at him.

Lance was silent, thinking back. He was trying to remember when she was talking about. Then it struck him. That day he picked her up and took her over to his house. That evening she told him her dad was dying and she ran away. That night Wolverine tried to kill him.

"You lied to me." Lance said, barely above a whisper.

"What?" Kitty asked, trying not to cry.

"You lied to me, you told me your dad was sick. Was that the day you found out?" Lance asked.

"Yes." She said in a small voice. "I…I almost told you I was sick. I didn't know what to think then."

"And you do now?" Lance asked, outraged.

"Well, I've come to like, except it."

"How? You've only known about it for a month. Damn it Kitty use your head. You haven't excepted it; you were running from it. You still are. You don't want to face the fact that you could be dying, and you probably are because you were too stubborn to tell anyone." Lance yelled at her, the ground shaking harder by the minute.

"Lance, please, calm down." Kitty begged, her voice trembling.

"Calm down? Kitty you're dying. Dying! You could have been on your way to getting over it by now if you had only told someone, other than Kurt who obviously doesn't care if you die, and they could have taken you to a doctor. Do you not want to get better?" Lance asked her, still shouting.

"Kurt does care. He was only doing what I like, asked him to do. I made him promise me he wouldn't tell anyone Lance. I didn't want anyone to know." Kitty said, starting to feel angry herself, but the tears were still falling.

"Why not? Why didn't you want anyone to know…me to know?" Lance asked, lowering his voice a little on that last part.

"I was scared okay?" Kitty yelled, turning away from him.

"Kitty," Lance said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You have every right to be scared. I'm scared."

"I don't want to lose you." Kitty said softly, crying into Lance's chest.

"I believe I made you a promise that same day a month ago. Do you not remember?" Lance said, rubbing her back compassionately.

"You promised me everything would be alright. Does everything seem alright to you, Lance?" Kitty said, breaking away from him. "You like, broke your promise."

"But I also promised you that I'd always be there for you." Lance said.

"I didn't know that was like, a promise." Kitty said, wiping her eyes.

"Well, it is, and I intend to keep that promise." He said, putting his arms around her once more.

Kitty smiled, but only half-heartedly. She didn't believe him; as much as she wanted to, she couldn't. She knew that he meant well, but Kitty now hated the word promise; because promises are impossible to keep.

Lance let go of her and sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. Kitty laid down and rested her head in his lap. He put his arm around her and held her hand.

She decided though, that Lance would never intentionally hurt her. She knew that, she had always known that. But there was a part of her that believed that he would leave her; that he would break her heart. She hated that part of her.

She fell asleep, wondering about what was going to happen to them. She knew she'd have to get help, and she was pretty sure that Mr. McCoy now knew the truth. And that was probably for the best.

Lance still refused to sleep. For one, he was afraid that if he closed his eyes, and then opened them later, Kitty would be gone. Plus, he felt horrible for the way he had reacted to what Kitty had told him. I can't believe I yelled at her like that. She must hate me. Lance looked down at her face. The tears that she had cried not so long ago were still present. He ran his fingers through her hair, never wanting to let her go.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, as a tear fell from his eye onto her already tear-stained cheek.

A/N: Hmm, emotional-like…. Oh dear, what will I do with those two?