"So, you're going out already?" Teri Pryde asked.
"Yeah, mummy. Before Daddy gets home from work that is." Kitty slipped her hand into Lance's with a smile. Theresa noticed that.
This whole morning and afternoon, they haven't even left the house. They both slept till late in the afternoon and they spent their time playing with the snow outside, watching the TV or were in each other's rooms. It was ALWAYS with each other, no matter what they did.
"Please! Daddy would never let me out of the house once he gets home from work and you know it." She and Lance were already dressed to go out and "no" would be a really stupid answer.
"I'm not sure but alright. Just make sure you get home early, ok?"
Kitty grinned, "Oh thanks mom! You're the best!"
Kitty pulled Lance by the arm and phased them both through the wooden door.
"Do you have to?" Theresa Pryde questioned.
Kitty heard and phased her head back through, "Sorry. Got used to doing that in the Institute."
Once she and Lance were out of the house and hearing distance, Lance smirked, "Ok, where do you wanna go, Kitty-kat?"
"Lance!" Kitty giggled lightly at the nickname Lance gave her. "I was thinking about that pretty good ice-cream Shoppe down the street. Up for it?"
"My treat, then!" Lance said. He played around in his pocket. He didn't have enough money for some huge lobster meal, and he was sure Kitty knew that too. She didn't mind that. All she wants is to be with Lance.
"Hey-" Lance grabbed some snow from the top of a snowed bench.
"Lance, don't even think about that!" Kitty said. Splat! The snowball hit Kitty's pink and white double-breasted jacket.
"Lance, you're so in trouble!" Kitty grabbed some snow off the sidewalk and tossed it towards Lance without much aiming.
Lance laughed as he dodged it without any trouble. "Here comes another!"
He threw the white and cold stuff towards Kitty. However, she phased through it instead without any trouble.
Lance shouted, "Hey, no fair!"
Kitty shrugged as she said, "No one said you can't use your powers, Lance." The place was cold and empty, except for the both of them.
Lance looked around and said, "Fine, I will."
He started an avalanche through the ground. It started to shake. "Lance!" Kitty grabbed hold of a bench with a laugh.
Lance didn't even see the tree he was standing next to. Before he realized what was going on, snow tumbled on top of him and buried half of him in the white stuff.
Kitty laughed even harder as she ran forward towards Lance with a snowball in her hand. "So, guess the snow defeated the great one, huh?" She spotted Lance spitting out snow from his mouth as she chuckled.
Lance's lower part of his body was still covered with snow and Kitty dropped the snowball on the ground and then threw herself on top of Lance.
"Hey!" Lance felt Kitty's weight on him. Kitty phased them both through the snow and in the end, they landed in a complete mess on the snowy ground.
Kitty opened her eyes and saw Lance's eyes meeting her own. "Hey…" Kitty mouthed slowly, "Guess we both snowed out…"
"Yeah…"
Kitty gave Lance a slow, yet wonderful kiss and then stood up. "You lost, Mister."
"Not my fault that I wasn't born with corporal intangibility." Lance said as he dusted some snow off his black shirt.
They started to walk to the ice cream Shoppe. "Lance…I…are we a…couple now?"
Lance became quiet. "What do you think?"
Kitty blushed slightly, "I'd…like us to be, Lance."
"Really? You think so?"
"Yes."
"Then let's be…"
Kitty looked up at Lance as he passed her a smile. It looked almost like they could connect telepathy or something.
Are we a couple?
Yes…The ice cream was delicious. Everything was perfect. The Shoppe wasn't crowded but it wasn't exactly empty either. Lance and Kitty were right at the end and the most deserted part of the Shoppe, enjoying their dinner.
"It's snowing all over again." Kitty said, licking the ice cream off her spoon with delight.
"Yeah." Lance ran his hand across his hair with a grin.
"How do you think everyone's holding up? I bet Jean's picking out the perfect tree right now, and Kurt's having fun…"
"You worry way too much, Kitty. They'll be OK, trust me."
"You're so right. I'm crazy I guess." Kitty said, as she looked up. She broke into a laugh. Lance had certainly cleaned his glass bowl out but there was ice cream on the left side of his mouth.
"Lance, there's, like, some chocolate ice cream on your side of your month."
Lance wiped the wrong side and so, the ice cream stayed on.
Kitty laughed, "Lance, just forget it. I'll help you."
She leaned forward and kissed Lance, licking the ice cream away from his lips.
It really took Lance by surprise, but he didn't care 2 cents about that. He returned the kiss. The old lady at the counter shook her head, "kids…they can make out anywhere."
Kitty and Lance watched the snow fall on each other slowly as they cruised home. Lance had really little clothes on him. Just the old usual, except for the extra long-sleeved black shirt instead and nothing else. Still, he felt so warm. A feeling which Kitty couldn't describe herself.
"Lance, let's go that way. It's shorter and it cuts through the CD shop down the road too." Kitty said, pointing to a dimly lit alleyway.
"Um…you sure bout that?"
"Positive, Lance. You chicken or what?"
The ground was mucky and the place totally sucked. But as Kitty said, cross the alley and you rest home 10 minutes earlier. Now, that isn't so bad…
Lance pointed to the end. "Hey, you're right. We're at 3rd street already in less than three minutes."
"Told ya'" Kitty said.
Suddenly, shadows seemed to surround them. Closer, closer and closer…
Eight huge men gathered themselves around Lance and Kitty. All of them had weapons too. Either it's bats, metal poles or knives. "Oh great, just what we need." Lance rolled his eyes with much anger, pushing Kitty to his back.
"Oh look, boys, lovebirds. Uh, listen; this street has a toll fee. Toss us your wallets, you two, and we'll go. Don't do that, and you mess with us. Got that?" The guy was rugged and had a knife in his hand. When he smirked, it was scary.
"Look, we don't want trouble. Just let us go, OK?" Kitty said.
"You know what? The airhead just told us to let her go. I think not, girly, on the account you're pretty cute…" Two guys jump out from behind Kitty and grabbed her arms, pining her on the cold, hard wall.
"Kitty!" Lance gritted his teeth with invisible flames shooting out from him. "Let her go! And I mean now!" His voice was dangerous.
"And the boyfriend, the knight in the rotten armor, is telling Slash? Me, what to do? I think not. Either it's the money or the girl. You pick." Slash took a step forward.
"Fine! You let her go and you'll take the money. Ok?" Lance didn't want any trouble tonight. It was meant to be a beautiful night for him and Kitty. Just the two of them together. No madness, no crazy screaming and no fights…
"Like it'd be all that simple for you…"
Lance felt a sharp pain down his back as one of the guys threw a powerful blow from the metal pole at him. Then another…and another…
"Lance! No!" Kitty cried. Her tears raced down her face as she phased through the grip of the two guys.
Slash thundered, "Why did you let the girl go you two idiots?"
One of them bit his bottom lip, "We didn't, boss. She…she went through us…"
"Shut your gap, you. I'm not wasting my time listening to all your shit." Slash gripped harder at the knife and hissed under his breath, "cos' here comes some trouble."
No matter how many blows were thrown at the both of them, it simply went through. Kitty gripped at Lance's arm as he helped himself up.
All of them were speechless. How did it…why…it all went through them…but how?
Lance remembered his powers. What was he thinking? He was a mutant for god's sake, what was he doing the whole damn time, dreaming?
Lance spread a huge tremor through the ground as everyone ran away.
They're all freaks…Man, I'm getting outta here!
Go home, you freaks! We don't need you here.
Lance stopped just as he felt everyone left. Kitty stopped using her powers too and breathed a sigh of relieve.
"Lance…" Kitty said softly. "You OK?"
Then she screamed louder than she ever did in her life.
Blood was streaming out like crazy from Lance's leg. The knife was still stuck there.
Slash backed away as he noticed Lance's eyes turned horrid white. The ground under his feet was being thrown up and he fell back into a garbage bin. His world blacked out then.
The same could not be said for Lance. He felt pain; anger and more all merged and mixed in one. Only the tight yet soft grip was there to encourage him, to give him the strength to go on.
Lance fell on the hard concrete beneath his feet and he…he simply…fainted…
"Lance!" Kitty closed her eyes and did the first thing she knew she had to do.
She phased her hand through Lance's leg and pulled the knife out. It was painless for her but not her heart. It must be the toughest thing for her then.
Kitty reopened her teary eyes as she dropped the disgusting, bloody thing on the ground next to her and removed the jacket from her. Kitty wrapped it around Lance's leg, hoping the oozing blood would stop and Lance would open his eyes to look at her, just like she wanted.
Why? Why had this…all this crap have to happen? Kitty lifted Lance's head away from the ground and let it lie on her lap instead. She dialed silently with tears on her mobile phone and placed it next to her ear.
Like, please pick it up…The fire at the Pryde residence was burning merrily away and a delicious aroma filled the room.
"This is one of my best dishes, honey. I'm sure Kitty will love it. Oh, I just hope she and Lance haven't eaten anything…"Theresa Pryde said, removing the mug off the counter.
"Well, I'm not very sure as long as she's hanging out with that boy…"Carmen Pryde looked away.
The phone started ringing uncontrollably. "Now, who can that be?"
Carmen Pryde picked the phone up with his wife staring after him, "Hello? Carmen Pryde speaking."
Kitty poured everything out on her father with tears. "Daddy, hurry down now. I don't know how Lance is…he's so…so cold."
Carmen asked Kitty to stop crying and slammed the phone down in a huge hurry.
"Well, what's going on now? Something about Kitty and Lance?"
Wearing his coat, Carmen Pryde said, "I just hope Kitty's alright. If that bastard Lance Alvers ever hurt a hair on Kitty, I…I'll kill him…and I mean it."
Kitty touched Lance's face. It was usually warm. Lance always smiled whenever he saw her. She loved him for who he is. Why wasn't he smiling now? Why was he so quiet? This wasn't the Lance Alvers she knew. She wanted the old Lance, the Lance she knew, back. And she wanted him back now…
A car pulled up at a distance. She couldn't see properly. It seems like her Father's old brown car. Was it?
A figure…no, two, stepped out and came running towards them.
"Kitty! Kitty, is that you?" The familiar voice of her mother rang in her.
"Yea…yeah. Mommy, Lance is hurt…I…"
"Don't worry, Kitty. We will get him to the nearest hospital immediately." Carmen Pryde said. He did it not because he liked Lance. He did it because he loved his daughter and that he was a father.
"Daddy, will he be OK?"
"I don't know. The doctors are already checking on him. We can only hope and pray, dear. Now tell me, what really happened?"
Kitty sniffed as she hugged herself. "Lance and I were heading back through the short-cut. I didn't know that there was a gang of…of thieves or something there, daddy. Lance, he tried…he tried to protect me. He wanted to help me. I was the one who got us both into this. Why did…did I go suggest we go that way? If I didn't, none…of all this would have happened. We'll all be OK now. Oh Lance…" Kitty burst into more tears.
Teri hugged her daughter, "there there dear. Lance will be just fine."
Kitty wiped her tears with the back of her hand. They just kept flowing out.
Lance, I don't want to lose you. Please be alright…for me…