Shiny

Chapter 10 (Revised)
Shoutouts: I'm too tired to write them. You know who you are...
Magneto looked down at the table, over which dozens of papers were scattered like a cheaply made tablecloth. "This will work nicely..." He mused, pointing to a clump of papers.

"You seem to be going to a lot of effort for revenge." Rogue mused, unused to Magneto's tactics.

"No one double crosses me and gets away with it. And I intend to make that point perfectly clear." He gathered up the papers and walked back out into his study.

Rogue moved towards the fridge, and grabbed herself a beer. "Can you hand me one Cherie?" asked Gambit, leaning back in his chair.

She sighed and chucked one to his head, but he caught it. "Many thanks."

Rogue opened hers and sat back down, putting her feet up on the table. She took a swig and realized that Gambit was staring at her, an impish grin on his face. "What?" She glared.

"You drink like a man."

Rogue kicked Gambit.

Kitty opened her eyes drowsily. She wondered sleepily what had awaken her from her slumber. She looked at her clock and groaned. Three A.M. Instinctively she looked down at the foot of her bed and almost jumped back with a start.

Little Illyana was there, clutching a stuffed rabbit, sniffling. When she saw that Kitty was awake, she climbed up on the bed and buried her head in the older girl's arm. Kitty, slightly confused, put a hand on her head. "What's wrong?" she cooed.

"I had a bad dream." was discerned from the sobs.

"I'm sorry Illyana." Kitty hugged the little girl closer. "What was your dream about?"

Illyana sobbed. "I dreamed that there was a big man... and he had a big cape... and he came here and he took everyone away. And I was all alone... and then he was coming to get me... and then I woke up. And now I'm afraid he's really gonna come." She started crying fresh tears and Kitty started rocking her back and forth.

"Why didn't you wake up Mikhail or Peter?" She asked after the girl had stopped crying.

Illyana wiped her eyes. "Mikhail is having a slumber party over at his friend Alice's house."

Kitty both grimaced, but inwardly smiled at the girl's innocence at the same time.

"And," the blonde continued, "I don't know where Piotr is. He wasn't in his bed when I got up."

Kitty shifted uncomfortably. "Lets go get you back into bed." she whispered, taking Illyana's and leading her down the hall.

"Kitty?" Illyana asked, once she was safely tucked away in her bed.

"Yes?"

"Can you go find Piotr after I fall asleep? I don't want him to be lost at night. Please?" she yawned.

"I will, now go to sleep." she sat down at the foot of Illyana's bed, twiddling her thumbs in thought.

After making sure the little blonde was asleep, Kitty phased down through the floor to the kitchen. When she was grounded, she looked around, yawning profusely. He wasn't there, getting a midnight snack, as she had previously thought. Noticing a light creeping through the space between the door and the floor. Kitty opened the door. "Peter?" She called softly. There came no answer

A lamp was on, and an arm was draped over the side of the sofa. She looked over the couch, and saw Piotr asleep in his pajamas, a book in his hand. Kitty smiled softly and picked up a blanket from a nearby chair. She placed it over him and placed a kiss on his cheek. He stirred, but didn't awaken. She turned to go back to bed, but paused. Changing her mind, she lifted up a side of the blanked, and climbed next to him, resting her head on his chest. Piotr's arms tightened around her.

Piotr was the first one of the two to wake up that morning. He breathed in deeply, stretching out his legs. He looked down at his chest, and smiled. He watched Kitty's breathing contentedly for several minutes. She sighed and her eyelids fluttered open slowly. He kissed her on the forehead. "Good morning, Katya."

"Good morning." She stretched her arms out. "Why were you down here last night?" she asked drowsily.

"I couldn't sleep, so I thought I would come down here and read." He glanced down at the book, which, sometime during the night, had fallen on the floor.

Kitty moved upwards, so her face was level with his. She kissed him, and he kissed back. Piotr wrapped his arms around her, and held her close while they lay there, content in each other's company.

"What is Tennessee Tuxedo?" Piotr suddenly asked, abruptly breaking the silence.

Kitty sat up and gave him a strange look. He pointed to her pajama pants, which were covered with the words "Tennessee Tuxedo."

"Oh!" Kitty pulled on the fabric, to better look at it. "Its this, like, old cartoon from the seventies or something. Its about this penguin who keeps trying to break out of the zoo he lives in, or something like that. I remember he had a friend who was a Walrus named... Chunky or Chummy. I used to watch it all the time as a kid."

"I'm glad we didn't have that stuff in Russia. What mush my brain would be now from such things." He smiled goofily and was replied with a playful punch in the arm.

Kitty moved to the opposite end of the couch, so as they were facing each other. "You're a strange one, Peter Rasputin."

Piotr laughed heartily. "If I had a nickle for every time I heard that..."

They sat there quietly, until Kitty got up stretching. "Well, I'm going to go change. I hate wearing my pajamas for a long time in the morning. Do you want to get breakfast after? We can bring the munchkin."

Smiling at the nickname she and Kurt had given his sister, he nodded. "I had promised her waffles this morning, though."

"That's fine. I think IHOP has great waffles. It'll be my treat." And with that, she walked out of the room towards the stairs.

Piotr stared after her, then lay back on the couch with a sigh.

As Kitty passed the door, the doorbell rang, causing her to jump up with surprise. She opened it, suppressing a yawn. To her surprise, the last person she ever expected to see stood on the other side.

(A/N: I really didn't like the last version of this chapter. So I changed it. That was one of the major causes of my writers block.

But now, I will be updating more, since I primarily write this in school. I can write this easily during my Psychology class so... Hopefully in the next few days the next chapter will be up.

Uh... Sorry for the delay.)