Chapter Five
Charles woke me by asking, "Have you seen Kurt? He's not in David's room, and Erik is looking for him." All telepathically, of course.
"He's with me," I replied, cuddling the little boy closer without even opening my eyes. It had been a very long night, and I was anything but pleased that Erik and Charles had interrupted what little sleep I'd managed to get.
Charles knew better than to respond, so I happily sank back into my pillows and let myself fall back to sleep. But, apparently, sleep and I were destined to be in a long-distance relationship, as a quick knock sounded on my door. Kurt woke with a sharp "Va!"
He didn't move, just stared at the door, like he knew exactly who was on the other side. In all fairness, the probability was rather high. "Go see Va, Kurt," I encouraged. After all, I was the one who'd slept with tiny feet burrowing themselves in my ribs all night long. It was far past Erik's turn to deal with him.
But Kurt refused to go. I knew for a fact that he could teleport the distance, since he'd made his way to my room from David's the night before, and that was across the house. "Go, scimmietta," I yawned, just as Erik knocked again.
"Va, Ama," Kurt told me instead. "Va."
"Yes, that's probably Va," I agreed, wincing as Erik knocked once more, rather harder than the first two times.
"Va, Ama!" the little boy insisted. "Va!"
"Alright, I'm going." I rolled out of bed, taking him with me, and stalked toward the door. Opening it, I caught sight of Erik's relieved look, just as I thrust Kurt into his arms. "It's your turn," I told him, pausing only to press a quick kiss to Kurt's cheek before heading back into my room.
A sad "Ama!" stopped me from shutting my door. "Ama, no!"
My eyes clenched shut, as did my heart. I breathed deeply once, before turning back to them. Kurt, really. "You've got Va now, Kurt. Can't Ama have a moment to herself?" I cajoled, forcing a cheery smile onto my lips.
"Let's let Ama get some more sleep, Kurt," Erik added, but only got a sharp glare from the boy in return.
"Nein," he replied emphatically. "Ama stay."
I sighed, but Erik looked shocked. "You learned a new word, mein Kleiner! You are so smart!"
"Ama stay," Kurt repeated, happily swinging his tail and looking incredibly pleased with himself. "Ama stay."
Sighing, I opened the door further, gesturing for Erik to come in. "Can Ama sleep?" I asked, teasingly hopeful.
"No Ama, no sleep!" he giggled.
"I was afraid of that."
"I'm sorry, Bianca, I didn't mean to wake you," Erik said as he passed me. "I'm just not used to Kurt not being where I put him down to sleep."
"He's also not used to this house," I yawned. "He popped in here shortly after I left you last night."
"He slept with you all night?" he asked, eyebrows flying up as he turned to the little boy in his arms. "Did you keep Ama up with your toes in her ribs all night long, mein Kleiner?"
Kurt giggled again, wiggling one foot up in Erik's face. Who immediately grabbed it and pretended to eat it, gaining more giggles from the boy. "Va, no eat!" he squealed, though Erik ignored the protest.
The happy scene caused my heart to clench rather painfully. "Why does he call you Va?" I asked, desperate to distract myself from the sharp pangs.
Erik instantly straightened, a pained look on his face. "He already had a papa," he said softly. "I couldn't take that away from Azazel."
"And Va was the closest to Vati that he could pronounce," I filled in the rest, closing my eyes. "What happened to him, Erik? What happened to Azazel, and Janos? What happened to my friends?"
He cuddled the little boy closer, pressing kisses to his hair. "I was ill, caught pneumonia," he laughed, with absolutely no mirth. "We'd been following Stryker, actually managed to get a few people free from him, but it turns out that he was following us, as well. He completely surrounded our safehouse with his men, in the dead of night, right after one of our raids. I was ill, and exhausted, and clearly Kurt can't defend himself just yet, so before I could even think to argue, Azazel had scooped the two of us up and taken us to another safehouse, across the country. He went back, after promising to bring the others to us, but we never heard from him again. It wasn't until two months ago when I broke into Trask's office that I knew for certain, but I knew it already. Azazel loved Kurt, was happier than I'd ever seen him. If he was alive, there would have been nothing that could have stopped him from coming back to him."
A sudden poof! and my arms were filled with the little boy again. "Ama sad?" he asked, wiping away a tear I hadn't even known had slipped out.
"Yes, scimmieta, Ama is sad," I replied, cuddling him closer.
"Ama no cry," he informed me as he wrapped his tiny arms around my neck. "No cry." He petted my hair, somewhat frantically, as he tried to soothe me.
"Oh, piccolo," I sighed wetly. "You're so sweet."
"Bianca, Moira and David will be home within the hour. Are you ready to leave when they arrive?" Charles's voice in my head brought my thoughts around.
"I will be," I told him, then turned to Kurt. "Can Ama get dressed, Kurt? Would that be alright?"
He brushed away a few more tears, then nodded seriously. Erik came to take him, but just before we transferred his weight, the boy kissed my cheek. "Love."
"I love you, too," I told him, surprising myself with the truth of the statement. Alex was right, I am a sucker for little kids, I thought, pushing aside the pang that thinking of him brought.
AN: I'm sorry this is so late. I'm fairly certain my muse has utterly died, either that, or she's partying somewhere far away from me. I promise I will finish this story, though, even if I can't promise speedy updates. Thanks to those of you who have stuck with me, and a big thanks to brigid1318 for her lovely reviews.
As for the translations, both Bianca and Erik call Kurt any variation of my little monkey, like little one, little monkey, things like that. Ciao!
