I Want You Back
Disclaimer: Why does she even bother? She owns nothing.
A/N: Might suck. Like I said, my writing sometimes suck. Especially when you're writing it at 11.37pm on a school night. I did that for my Biology paper once. Didn't do so well, as expected. This chapter is a bit off from the story. I think.
Chapter 6: Family Matters the Most
After a very long kiss goodnight, to which Bobby had fake gagged in the background, Kitty retreated to her room. She was rooming alone now, now that Rogue had moved out of the room. It felt quite empty without the Goth there. When Rogue finally accepted the fact that Kitty saw her as a best friend, she started opening up to her. They'd talk at night about everything. One of Rogue's pet peeves of Kitty would definitely be her phone calls with Lance in the middle of the night.
But now, no more phone calls, no more whining. She should be happy, right? She was happy, she convinced herself. But sometimes, she couldn't help but feel that there was something missing. Like a void.
She had yet to tell Piotr that she loved him. After all, she did like him a lot. She knew loads about him and he the same with her. He also knew for a fact that she and Lance had dated. Piotr felt slightly threatened by him. After all, after the break up, she had literally shut herself in her room for two weeks straight, until finally, after Logan practically begged her, she came out. Piotr helped her to mend her wounds. It was how she went out with him in the first place.
Sometimes she questioned herself if she was just rebounding from Lance with Piotr. She thought back to when Piotr had first asked her out.
"The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?" Kitty asked, as she stood out in the backyard. Piotr was with her.
"Yes, they are," he said, but he was looking at her.
"So," Kitty said, turning back to her companion, "What do you wanna talk about?"
He jumped, startled. "Have I told you how I came to be one of the Acolytes?"
"No," Kitty stood straighter, genuine interest in her eyes. "Tell me. I mean, that is, if you don't mind."
"No, no, of course not," Piotr said. He proceeded to tell her how Magneto threatened his sister's, Illyana's, life unless he joined him. To protect her and his family, he left Russia with Magneto.
They stood in silence. Kitty looked away for a moment before turning her gaze back to the stars where she then tried to absorb everything he told her. What if Magneto had gotten to her parents and threatened their life unless she joined them? She shuddered at the thought. Her parents, although were going through a tough time at the moment, were the most important people to her. Other than everyone at the Institute of course.
"Katya," Piotr said. There was a slight blush on his cheeks. "Would you, I mean, would like to – um – go out to dinner with me? Some time?"
"Sure, Piotr," Kitty said, a gentle smile on her face.
She sighed. She turned on her side and opened a drawer, her hands fishing for a photo that she knew was in there. It had been a while since she looked at it. It was one of three pictures that Lance had left of his family. And he had given it to her.
She finally found it. She recognized the bent edge of the photo. She took it out and examined it, holding it above her head. Lance was about eight years old or so, holding a little girl with the same shade of brown as Lance's and the same warm puppy-dog brown eyes. Lance was sitting on the edge of the sink with the little girl sitting in it. They both had soap suds all over them with the innocent smiles of youth.
"Do you ever wonder where your parents are?" Kitty asked softly. She was nestled against him on his bed at the Brotherhood Boarding House. She had invited herself over after they had fought at the Institute. It was the first time that they had fought with her starting it. And over a really stupid thing, too.
Both their clothes were slightly damp as it had rained when Lance left. It hadn't stopped when Kitty ran over. It wasn't the most comfortable things to be in, but at least they were clothes. Kitty wasn't ready to move on to the next level.
"Not really," Lance mumbled into her hair. Family meant everything to her. She could sense a little sadness behind the phrase.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked tentatively.
"My parents were alcoholics," he started after a heavy sigh. "I have a little sister, Leanne, who was four years younger than me. Our parents, my dad especially, used to beat us when I was around nine. But more on me because I always tried to defend Lee. One day in school during gym, my coach noticed I had quite the collection of bruises on my leg. So he reported it to the school. Who then reported it to social services. A pair of social workers came to the house unexpectedly, saw the condition the house was in, and took us away. The house hadn't always been like that. It had been much, much nicer. And liveable. Leanne was luckier than me. She got adopted about a couple of days after. Me, I wasn't so lucky.
"I moved from foster home to foster home once I turned thirteen. Everywhere I went, no one wanted me. I tried finding my sister in hopes that I could maybe join her and her family. But I couldn't find her. Not a trace. Apparently the family had moved away from Northbrook. So I was pretty much alone. My foster parents didn't want me, the teachers didn't want anything to do with me… none of them. Even my so-called friends. Griff and Pete? Well, they're idiots. They didn't care, much less, gave a thought about me."
"So you've always been alone?" Kitty asked, reaching up to cover his cheek with her own hand, feeling moisture slide between her fingers.
"The point is, Kitty, I'm not alone anymore," he said, turning to her. "I've got you. You and the Brotherhood. You're my family now, Kitty." Kitty felt the tears sting her eyes. "I love you so much," he whispered, looking at her tenderly as he covered her hand with his own.
"I love you, too," she whispered back before his mouth closed down on hers.
"Lance and Leanne," Kitty whispered, staring at the innocent faces. They would never have thought that their seemingly perfect life would come crashing down around them when their parents started drinking frequently.
She was lucky that she was born into a family that cared about her. She had always been surrounded by people who loved her. Except when she had started high school. Her friends from middle school had practically ditched her on their first day to be with a more popular group. Popularity meant nothing if you didn't have any real friends.
Which was why she was glad she had everyone at the Institute. Scott, Jean, Logan, Ororo, Kurt, the Professor, to name a few. If anything happened to them, she would practically be the first one there to help. When she had discovered that Evan had gone missing after his skating competition, she had become immensely worried. They weren't even that close at all. But they did have their moments.
Even when she knew she was one of the few people that he considered family, she had still broken up with him and took away the one thing that mattered most to him. Her.
She had broken up with him because she couldn't take the pressure anymore of Scott, Logan and Kurt hounding on her about him all the time. She knew it was a stupid reason to break up with someone you loved so much. She reasoned that if she had told him that this was the reason why she was doing it, he would have been a lot more angrier. Was he angry when they had broken up?
Yeah, she remembered something about not being faithful to him. It had hurt her so much to hear him say those words.
But now, no matter how much she wanted to love Piotr, she knew that a part of her heart still belonged to Lance.
After all, they were family.
Right?
One thing was for sure, she needed time to love Piotr the way she loved Lance.
A/N: How di dee. Chyah. So, as usual (I seem to always type this out), tell me if it sucked and if it needed any adjustments. I'll redo the whole thing over again. Like I said, I was doing this in the middle of the night. Every time I write a good scene of Kitty/Piotr, it leaves a bad feeling in my fingers. And my mom just walked in on me and told me to go to sleep. Sigh Parents, can't live with 'em, and will never be able to live with 'em.