"So, also das ist die Stewardeß über die du immer sprichst."
"Kassi-"
"Mir ist's recht, Kurt," interrupted the strange blonde woman Kurt was trying to introduce. "Ich spreche auch Deutsch. Und du," she said to Kassandra, "mußt Kurts guter Freund Kassandra sein."
"Well, aren't you just full of surprises!"said Kurt.
"I could show you more," the girl practically purred with a wicked glint in her blue eyes.
"Um…" Kurt cast a slightly embarrassed glance Kassandra's way. Her politeness notwithstanding, she could not help looking the way she felt. Awkward. Most awkward. And perhaps a bit nauseated.
"What, lover?"
"It's all right," said Kassandra, "but if you want to tell Kurt something in my presence that I won't understand, try a language I don't know. Like maybe Romany."
"Was?" said Kurt, dismayed by the flurry of invisible daggers that suddenly flew between his best girl friend and his new girlfriend- two people that, despite their differences, he desperately wanted to get along.
Kassandra glanced over to Kurt, then cast her eyes downward. "Macht nichts, Kurt. It's nice to meet you, 'Amanda.'"
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"Was ist los, Kurt?"
"You just had your arm broken, and you're asking me what's wrong?"
"Tell me. You obviously feel some need, and I need the distraction."
"Well, if it will help get your mind of things now, when Amanda and I were seeing each other, I recall you and she being quite testy with each other."
"Oh, we were. I hated her persistent and flagrant dishonesty, and she hated my hypocrisy. We had only two things in common. We both care about you in our- shall we say- different ways, and we both were right to feel the way we did. So for your sake, we ended up agreeing to keep our mutual dislike amicable."
"Even so, I remember this managed to strain our friendship. But I can't remember you being the jealous type."
"And I wasn't. Should I have been?" Kassandra tried to smile. And only barely managed to succeed.
"Hank, have you given Kassandra anything for the pain?" Kurt asked.
"Hang on, Adimu." Dr. Henry McCoy and nurse Annie Ghazakhanian were in video conference with Kassandra's mother, Dr. Adimu Altheim. "I just did, Kurt, right before you bamfed in here."
"It looks like it already wore off."
"I don't think it ever took," said Kassandra.
"Oh, dear."
"Kurt," said Kassandra, "I know what you've been thinking. How on earth we manage to get along with each other when I have trouble getting along with others dear to you."
Just then, Professor Xavier, Logan, and Jubilee all walked into the infirmary. Kurt glanced uneasily from Kassandra to Logan.
"Sei unbesorgt, Kurt," Kassandra whispered.
"I ain't gonna kill her, Elf, even if she deserves it."
"And she doesn't," Jubilee retorted. "You wouldn't let me tell you it was my own fault I didn't follow her escape plan."
"Jubes, I put you at risk even offering you that assignment, and you know it," said Kassandra. "I'm responsible. And the only one left alive who is, for that matter."
"Besides me."
"I'm not the one recovering from a crucifixion. And I didn't tell anyone you were involved. Considering how Logan sees it, venting his anger on me may not be an appropriate response, but it is perfectly understandable. And I knew he wouldn't kill me anyway. Too sensitive."
"Well, thanks kid," said Logan, scratching his head, "I think."
Jubilee threw her still bandaged hands in the air in frustration. "What kind of drug do they have you on, Kassi?"
"Nothin' strong enough for her kind of hurt," said Logan. "And I ain't just talkin' about for her broken arm."
"Which already needs rebreaking, in several places," interrupted the Beast.
"Was?" Kurt was feeling a little overwhelmed. Seeing his best friend try to kill the girl he was beginning to remember he loved was disturbing enough. For her to basically admit she had it coming, after she had predicted to Kurt something about grand jury investigations and prison time, to then see that Logan and Kassandra understood each other possibly in a way he never could, well, that just boggled his mind. Forgiveness from either of them tended to be hard earned. Of course, it was for different reasons. Wolverine, in his rage, would forget everything but the sheer burning rawness of whatever he felt at that moment. Zeitgeist, on the other hand, never forgot a thing, good or bad. She couldn't even if she wanted. Regardless, here they were. The berserker, and… and exactly what kind of person was this girl with whom Kurt was very happily lip-locked only less than an hour ago?
"And it's because you're all so sensitive that I'm afraid none of you can stay," said Beast. "We'll have to operate."
"Sorry, Logan, Jubes," said Kassandra. "Es tut mir leid, Kurt."
"Sorry, too, kid, Elf. By the way," said Logan, indicating her sword. "Adamantium or not, I just couldn't let you leave this lying around outside."
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Logan passed a haggard-looking Annie on his way back to the infirmary. He'd just spent he couldn't guess how long splitting a few cords of firewood. Finally, he decided he'd had it with waiting. He was going to look in on the Little Elf, regardless of what was going on. Seeing Annie leaving was a good sign that at least she was out of surgery.
"How did it go?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah, you'd like to know how we fixed your handiwork!" Annie said with pardonable sharpness. "She'll be fine, no thanks to you. But so help me, the next time we have to operate on an accelerated healer…." She then flounced down the hallway, muttering something about declawing and other… veterinary procedures.
Logan supposed he deserved that. He stepped into the infirmary to see Kurt and Xavier already there, sitting at Kassandra's bedside. They both looked about as worn as the rosary Kurt clutched. Kassandra, on the other hand, looked relatively peaceful, despite the fact that one arm was cast from shoulder to fingers and in traction.
Dr. McCoy was again on the line with Dr. Altheim. "Setting the shoulder was the easy part. Resetting the bones proved to be nothing short of nightmarish, however. I had to give her anticoagulants to prevent inopportune clotting, and the incisions acted like they had minds of their own, trying to close up before I was even done. Furthermore, I gave her as much anesthesia as I dared for someone her size. It didn't help at all that she woke up ten minutes into the procedure, delirious, throwing off the inhibitors, and losing all control over her time warping. I suppose she was trying subconsciously to speed up the procedure and recovery time. But of course I could not proceed when I couldn't see her properly. So my only choice was to call in Charles."
"Good thing for my sake," said Xavier, "that Kassandra's convinced this will never happen again. I hope, Logan, you share her resolve. Otherwise, you may have to take it upon yourself to track down Stacy and persuade her to return. I don't look forward to ever again serving in the place of an anesthesiologist."
Of all the people to leave the X-Men for something as stupid as a simple misunderstanding, it had to be the one person who could have handled this better than the Professor. Logan glanced over to Kurt. The Elf could not mask the expression on his face. The broodiness Logan had seen far too much of lately was back and more concentrated than ever. He then remembered that there was a reason he called the girl Little Elf. If it were this bad now, there was no telling how Kurt would have reacted if his best friend wasted the kid. Hell, Logan was pretty sure it would be about as bad as he'd end up feeling. Likely worse than how he felt when he found Jubilee out there, for all intents and purposes, dead.
"Anyway," Beast continued, "because she can't help but block telepathy when she's outside of time, I had to take a calculated risk, sedate her again and put her in restraints before Charles could get into her mind and convince her to stay out, and stop pulling off and destroying the inhibitors. Highly difficult. It's a good thing the healing factor means fewer visits to the infirmary, because true to form, nothing personal Adimu, but that same healing factor has made your daughter a terrible patient."
Logan tried, and almost succeeded, to suppress a smile. That was a universal characteristic among accelerated healers, and the fact that Kassandra got her healing factor from his stem cell donation rather than from her own genes did not make the least bit of difference. Except that he began to feel almost proud of her for becoming the latest thorn in the furball's side.
"Nothing new about that, Henry," said Dr. Altheim, with a warm smile. This was a woman who'd known poverty, wealth, oppression, pandemics, and war from a number of perspectives, tried against the odds to give her four children a normal life, and still insisted she owed all the worry lines in her forehead exclusively to her youngest daughter. "She always was the most difficult of my children anyway. Is she still under sedation?"
"No, Adimu," said Charles. "That has long since run its short course. It was not easy working with someone who can resist drugs and telepathy. But now, she's only asleep. I managed to convince her to enjoy a deep, painless sleep for the next ten hours."
"And," said Dr. McCoy, "Based on my observations, with the inhibitors now off, that should be more than enough time to put her well on the mend."
Both Kurt and Logan heaved enormous sighs of relief.
"Well, at least that's good to hear," said Dr. Altheim. "Now let's just hope she never has to use that healing factor that way again."
"Never again on my account, Elf," Logan said to Kurt. "I won't let it happen."
Kurt finally looked Logan in the eye. "I wouldn't be so sure, mein Freund. Not if you put it that way. I may not understand the way she shows it, but she does care about you."
And Logan remembered the conference Zeitgeist called with him, Jean, and Archangel before she had taken off on her last assignment. She'd take on far worse than his anger for him, Kurt, and the rest. In fact, she counted on it. But he just wished she could be a little more forthcoming about who and what all that involved.
"And, Charles," continued Dr. Altheim, "it seems you have the right idea. I'm going to prescribe a good night's rest for all of you. You've all had far too eventful a night."
Her recommendation was eagerly accepted by all but Kurt. After all said their good nights, Logan turned to him. "You especially, Elf. I can't blame you for taking this hard and for wanting to watch over her, but she will still be here in the morning."
"And Jean will look in on her until then," added Charles.
But before Kurt could leave, he looked back on Kassandra. It would be hard to rest when the image of her fighting with Logan was still so fresh on his mind. And what did Logan mean about her "kind of hurt"? But it seemed to be water under the bridge at the moment. For some reason, Kassandra looked quite placid now. What was she dreaming? He tabled his fears and kissed her smooth brown cheek. A small smile graced her sleeping face, and she breathed a contented sigh.
"Dort wollen wir niedersinken unter dem Palmenbaum, und Lieb und Ruhe trinken, und träume seligen Traum." Kurt wondered about that snippet of Heinrich Heine poetry that found itself in his head. No matter. He had a better idea of why this sort of thing had been happening lately. And it was rather appropriate. Whatever she was dreaming about, he could try to dream about the same thing. There would be no more nightmares, at least not tonight.
