AN: Here we have a bit of Kitty musing over Lance and his promise to call her. I really hope you all enjoy this part! Thanks so much for the nice reviews :) Also, if you're wondering why the Brotherhood kids are back at school after being expelled in Season Three, all shall be explained in upcoming chapters. Thanks for reading! Sionnain

Chapter 3

Kitty sighed as she sat on her bed, staring at the phone. Of course he wouldn't call. He said he would, which meant he'd forget. He'd play video games with Pietro and then he'd totally forget he'd said he'd call, and then tomorrow they'd have a dumb fight about it and he'd apologize and call for two days, and then—

Kitty forced herself to take a deep, calming breath. She knew how he was, and she'd agreed to go out with him again anyway. Maybe she had some sort of disorder that made her want to go out with guys who were just really bad for her.

She looked up as Rogue came in their room, tossing her backpack down on the floor disgustedly, as if it had offended her merely by existing "Why am I sick of school and it just started?"

"Because you're a senior?" Kitty smiled briefly at her roommate. She adored Rogue, even though the two of them couldn't be more different. Kitty didn't think she'd ever use that much eyeliner in her life, and their academic interests were at odds with each other, but she still counted Rogue as one of her best friends. Despite all the fights over Rogue being a slob, she wouldn't want to room with anyone else.

Rogue collapsed on her bed, the gesture a bit overdramatic. "I do not want to go to practice. Please tell me I ain't gotta go."

"Sure, don't go. And then the Professor will give you a lecture about responsibility and stuff." Kitty smiled sweetly at her. "I know how much you like those."

"That will be boring," Rogue pronounced with a groan.

"Yup," Kitty agreed, but her smile faded as she looked forlornly over at the phone. Scowling, she went over to her closet to find her uniform. She yanked it out almost violently and tossed it on the bed.

"So you and Lance are dating again?" Rogue was also searching through her—much messier—closet, looking for her uniform.

"I guess," Kitty said with a sigh, finding a ponytail holder on her desk. "I mean, he wants to. I want to, but…" her gaze slid to Rogue, wondering what her friend thought about the situation with her and Lance. She grabbed a brush and began running it through her hair to pull it back into a ponytail.

Rogue probably thought the same thing everyone else thought. That she was crazy for trusting him again, after everything that had happened between them, and that she was just going to end up dumping Lance once he did something stupid.

Which he probably would do. Kitty had never seen anyone manage to self-destruct like Lance when he put his mind to it. Oh, he'd get out of it with his cute smile and that stupid charm, just like him not calling now when he was supposed to, and—

"Gonna rip all that hair out of your head?" Rogue drawled, and Kitty blushed and put the brush down, twisting the elastic around her hair and securing it tightly.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" She turned an anxious look to her roommate. "For trusting him again?"

There was an odd look on Rogue's face as she pulled her gloves off. "You're the one that's good with that stuff, Kitty. Not me. I don't forgive or forget very easy, remember?"

"So that's a yes?"

Rogue made a face before answering. "Do you think this time he's serious?"

Kitty looked at the phone; mocking her with its silence. "I hope so, but I just don't know. He was so different after what happened with Apocalypse, but how do I know that since school's started he won't just become the same old Lance?" The same old Lance who blew her off for his stupid reprobate friends….

"You don't," Rogue said pragmatically, heading towards their bathroom with her uniform in hand. "Just have to trust him, I guess." She disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Kitty changed into her uniform, neatly folding her clothes and putting them away. "Do you think I should?"

"You're asking me? I don't trust nobody," Rogue called from the bathroom. A few moments later, dressed, she opened the door. She threw her clothes carelessly on the floor. Kitty sighed. "That's just me, though. You're gonna do it anyway, ain't you? Might as well be happy about it."

That was the strangest advice anyone had ever given her. "You mean, like, if I'm going to do it anyway, I may as well enjoy myself?"

"Why not? I mean, you like him, or you wouldn't give him fifty million chances to be with you. You wouldn't talk yourself out of being mad at him when he doesn't call."

Kitty played with her hair for a moment, looking at the phone and then at her roommate. She was really annoyed with herself for being so worked up over all of this, again, but apparently she didn't think rationally when it came to Lance.

"Rogue, do you think he likes me?" Kitty winced, feeling ridiculous, but she needed some reassurance that she wasn't insane for giving him another chance, that this time it might actually last.

"Yeah, I do. But that ain't the only thing that matters, you know. I mean, look at Scott and Jean. They're nutso about each other, and they can't manage to hook up, either. There's got to be something else that makes a relationship work."

Kitty waited for her to finish, a little surprised at Rogue's words. She had no idea her roommate had thought this much about relationships. After her rather disastrous flirtation with that Cajun henchman of Magneto's, she seemed rather uninterested in boys altogether. "Yeah? What is it?"

Rogue smiled wryly. "Don't know. Guess that's why I'm still single. But whatever that is? Seems like that's what y'all need." Rogue finished lacing her boots. "You ready? If we're late, we have to do laps, and I'm still sore from hittin' the ground this morning."

"Yeah," Kitty mumbled, giving one last glance at the phone. "I'm ready."

Immediately after they left, the phone rang. The noise was sharp and loud in the quiet hush of the room.

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo

Kitty tried not to think about Lance while she trained with the others. She did a very poor job of that, though, and ended up losing her balance and went sprawling back into Kurt, phasing at the last minute right as he teleported away.

"That's a bit redundant," Bobby joked, sending an ice spray towards the ceiling. "Only one of you really needed to move."

"Bobby. Don't do that when we're not training," Jean said firmly, her voice authoritative but only just. She was still feeling her way around being a leader, unlike Scott, who had probably been bossy when he was an infant.

"Yeah. Okay." Bobby ambled off to talk to Jubilee. Kitty stood up, rubbing her sore elbows where she'd caught herself when she'd fallen. She looked worriedly at Jean, who was focusing very intently on one of the laser canons mounted to the ceiling, her eyes tear-bright.

"Is something the matter, Jean?" Kitty asked, concerned. She hesitantly placed a hand on Jean's arm. The older girl smiled down at her, though to Kitty, the expression looked forced.

"No, Kitty. I'm fine. Hey, good work today. You're really getting better."

"You need to watch where you're going. Phasing at the last minute can be dangerous," a voice interjected, and Kitty saw Jean tense as Magneto approached.

It was still so weird to treat him like a teacher and not an enemy. "I guess you're right," Kitty said slowly, thinking about what he'd said. Magneto was a tactical genius; even Scott admitted it. "Is there—"

"You know, maybe if she thought too much about it, it wouldn't work. Maybe she should just follow her instincts," Rogue interjected, coming up to stand next to her. Her roommate crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Magneto.

"Maybe you should be quiet and let her finish speaking," Magneto said, and his voice sounded slightly irritated. It was one of the few times Kitty had heard him sound anything other than pleasantly banal.

"Maybe you--" Rogue began hotly, stepping forward as if she were going to launch herself at him. Kitty tried not to giggle at the image of her diminutive roommate glaring up at the much-taller Magneto.

"I think we should all shower and change for dinner," Jean said firmly, and fixed Kitty with a bright smile. "I don't know about everyone else, but I'm starving!"

"Placating them or changing the subject is not a good way to lead," Magneto informed her stiffly.

"Oh, you're such an expert. Where's your team at, again?" Rogue shot back, and Kitty was surprised to see Rogue was actually trembling. "Oh, right. They let you get eaten by an alien and camped out in your fortress."

Magneto smiled at her, though Kitty didn't think it was a very nice smile. "Why, silly girl, I'm on your team now," he drawled. "So none of that matters anymore." With that, he turned his back on them and left, opening the door with a rather imperious wave of his hand.

"I don't trust him," Rogue said, turning her ire towards Jean. "And I don't see how you can."

"I know what he's thinking," Jean started, but Rogue shook her head and cut her off.

"Not in that helmet, you don't. He could be plannin' on killin' us all, and y'all ain't got the sense to see it." Her accent was thick, heavy with her anger. "Don't say I didn't warn ya."

"Let's go, Rogue. They'll be no hot water for the showers if we don't get there first," Kitty said soothingly, grabbing her roommate's arm. Luckily, Rogue didn't protest and they moved out of the Danger Room towards the elevator.

Rogue continued to mutter about Magneto under her breath, and Kitty made soft noises of assent to placate her as she thought about what she would do if there were no voice messages on the phone. Call him and argue? About how he didn't call her? It made her brain hurt to think about it.

When they returned to their room, Kitty walked over and looked down at their white cordless phone. She didn't pick it up to see if they had messages, just stared down at it as if she was expecting it to leap into her hands and answer the question for her.

"Well, just check already. I can't take you moping about it," Rogue said, moving to the bathroom. "Either dump him and save me the time I'll spend outside, pretendin' I don't see Logan smokin' cigars on the deck while y'all fight, or call him and make up. While I'm in the shower so I ain't gotta hear it." She must still be upset—her accent was still more pronounced than Kitty was used to hearing—but she was right.

Kitty snatched up the phone as Rogue disappeared into the bathroom, pressing the button to get the dial tone. At the tell-tale beep that announced a message, she took a deep breath and called the voice mail.

A few moments later, she heard the message.

"Hey Kitty, it's…uh, it's Lance. So, I figured you'd think I'd forget to call, but see, I didn't! So, um, if you want, you could call me back. You know. If not, then I guess I'll see you at school or whatever. Um. Bye." Click.

Kitty smiled despite herself. He'd remembered. It was the worst phone message in the history of the universe, but he'd actually remembered. It was a start.

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(I am blatantly stealing this review-response idea from Miss Information. Go read her fic "Inappropriate Conduct", by the way)

Nercia: Ha, yes, if you think variety is spicy then I hope you like what I'm doing here! It will definitely be different. I'm a rare-pair writer in whatever fandom I end up in, it seems! I suppose Rogue would be their stepmother, if Magneto were the marrying kind. :) Thanks so much for the review; so glad you are enjoying the story!

Miss Information: I replied via the response-device thing, so hopefully you got that. I do have to apologize for any Pietro/Wanda--like I said, just blame it all on VC Andrews and the impression that left on my delicate, impressionable psyche when I was younger! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing.

W.C. Reaf: I hope you mean that, about the unusual pairings. I'm afraid this might get a bit twisted and wrong before it's all said and done! And yes, I figure the whole Apocalypse thing was pretty earth-shattering (er, no cheesy superhero pun intended) so they have to cope with the ramifications in a variety of ways--some healthy, some not. One of my favorite things to write about is "normal" behavior when you least expect it, so I'm really glad the talk at lunch worked for you. And I don't know that you can call Magneto and Rogue's involvement a romance, haha, as it's based on a lot of hate, tension, and some other darker things. Thanks so much for reading and leaving a review!