Mr. Brownstone

Kitty finally woke up again, two days later, and this time she actually felt better. Better enough to fully sit up and eat some of the ridiculous jello that the nurse gave her. Kitty hated to admit, it was quite delicious after not eating for over a week.

She spent most of the day drawing, reading, and feeling bored at being stuck in bed. Kitty took her medications like she was supposed to and tried to not let her mind wander back to the explosion. It was late in the day when Deadpool visited, several comic books clutched in his hands.

He stuck his red and black cloaked head into her room to make sure she was awake, then the rest of his body followed. "Hey, Vixen." He greeted carefully. She didn't look up from her book, so he pulled his mask off and tried again a bit louder. "Vics!"

Kitty Vic's head shot up and she smiled widely. "Oh, hey Sarge!" Kitty sat up a bit more, closing her sketchbook. "You look better."

Deadpool turned around in a circle with his arms out. "Fully healed. Well, I still have a residual pain in my hand, but other than that, not bad. I, uh, brought these for you." He handed the comic books to Kitty, then came to perch on the edge of Kitty's bed rather than the empty chairs. "How about you?"

She stashed the comic books in her bag, placing it back on the floor for later. "I have to stay in here for a bit longer because Evelyn refuses to come into hospitals, which I find completely understandable. She said she'll try to fix me up as soon as I get out of here, but apparently she's not very good with bones, whatever the hell that means. Downside is that she said I won't be running down bad guys for a couple weeks." They had told her the news earlier, and it almost hurt more than the injury itself. Kitty found herself very jealous at Logan and Deadpool, both of whom could heal ridiculously fast.

"So, what will you do if you can't chase down the bad guys?" Deadpool asked.

"I don't know. Sit around, eat, get fat?" She suggested sarcastically.

"Sounds like fun." Deadpool smiled. "Can I join?"

"Not sure if Tony'll want you around the Tower that much." Kitty brushed some of her hair out of her face, careful of the IV line in her arm. "Or did I miss something while I was asleep?"

"Not really. Just the 'Thanks for helping out and being blown up' shit." Deadpool stretched out his legs, resting them on the desk by Kitty's head.

"What about Ashley?" Kitty asked in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner. "Heard anything?"

"We haven't found him." Deadpool admitted.

Kitty tried to stifle the anger she felt for the Southern man. "I know he's rich, but he can't just disappear!" She whined.

"Maybe he can." Deadpool suggested, leaning his back about the railing at the foot of her bed. "I mean, you saw him down there. He would disappear, then show up in across the fucking room. Maybe he's a Mutant." Deadpool raised his burnt-off eyebrows suggestively.

Kitty stared at him, her mind running a thousand miles per hour. "Have you mentioned this to anyone?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"No," Deadpool shook his head. "Just you, me, and Logan know."

"Logan went to the cafeteria." Kitty nodded her head out to the hallway. "When he gets back, I think we should have a meeting on our Ashley LeRoux problem."

"Stark went back to the Tower-"

"No." Kitty cut him off, her eyes filled with a warning. "Just us."

Deadpool gave her an odd look. "Since when do you want to go behind Iron Giant Dick's back?" He asked, sitting up a little straighter.

"Whenever I do naughty things, like kill people." Kitty shot. "Besides, it's more like going around him. Not behind." Kitty stretched with her arms above her head and a shot of pain hit her. She took a deep breath to try to calm herself, but it didn't help. The machine monitoring her heartbeat started beeping louder and louder as her rhythm became unsteady.

"Heard them talking about you going off the morphine." Deadpool hinted. "You could've given it to me, shared with the class."

"Well," Kitty gasped. "How impolite of me." She rolled her eyes and glanced at the open door, wondering when Logan was coming back.

"Vics, I know- probably better than all these fuckwads," Deadpool gestured widely. "That you hate pain medicine, but I also know you're in pain. No, don't give me that fucking look, I know you are."

Kitty mentally weighed her options. "Promise you won't tell the doctors?"

Deadpool made an "X" motion over his heart.

"Fine," Kitty admitted reluctantly. "Yes, I'm in pain. It feels like my body is being ripped apart, my leg is killing me and my head alternates between feelin' like it's being stabbed and feeling like it's being stuffed with cotton. Sometimes, I can't breathe without it feeling like I'm breathin' in needles and every single bloody time I think about Ashley, it gets even worse. It doesn't help that all of this is my fault because I refuse to work for a goddamn psychopath."

Deadpool stared at Kitty for several moments before silently pulling his mask back on, swinging his legs off the bed, and walking out the room.

"Sarge?" Kitty called, craning her head to try to see where Deadpool went. "Sarg-Oh," She gasped upon Logan's entrance in the doorway. She pointed at the door. "Deadpool just left with no explanation."

"Yeah, he's weird like that." Logan acknowledged, moving through the room to his chair. "So, how do you feel?"

Kitty sighed and tried to smile. "I'm just peachy."

"Right." Logan smirked, looking down at Kitty.

"Really, I'm okay." Kitty tried to convince him, to no avail.

Deadpool walked into the room, followed by a male nurse in mint green scrubs. The nurse was holding a syringe filled with a clear liquid and smiling ear to ear in a very disconcerting manner. Kitty's eyes darted back and forth between the two and she became uneasy. Her heart started beating faster as she realized the betrayal at hand.

"What is that?" She looked at Logan, who looked as confused as she felt. "What the fuck is that?"

"Kitty…" Deadpool started but she cut him off.

"No," Kitty shook her head violently. "No, you wouldn't, Sarge, you wouldn't. You promised." Her voice broke and she looked at Logan for help. "Prometiste." The nurse grabbed her IV and pushed the syringe into the line. "No, don't." She sunk back into the pillows in defeat and anger. "You lied to me." Kitty cried before the warmth spread from her IV throughout her body. "Eres un mentiroso." A feeling of calm set over her and Kitty fought off a wave of drowsiness as she struggled to stay awake.

"I think you should leave." Logan growled at Deadpool, his claws sliding out of his knuckles. "Now."

Deadpool silently left the room, his head lowered in shame as Kitty watched him leave.

"Why did he lie?" Kitty's speech slurred and she tried, unsuccessfully, to blink the fogginess settling into her mind. "Sarge...He...He promised he wouldn't tell. He lied to me." She squeaked.

"I don't know why." Logan sat next to her and brushed a strand of hair off her forehead. "Just go to sleep."

She looked up at him with glassy blue eyes with tears that threatened to overflow. "I doan wanna," Kitty cried stubbornly, her voice carrying a Southern tint. "I doan wanna sleep, I want outta here." She tried to get up, but found that her body wasn't responding. "I wanna find Ashley and rip 'em apart."

Logan sighed, softly tracing his thumb over her hand. "Just sleep, Kitty. Please. You'll feel better if you do."

"I feel," Kitty breathed in deeply. "Quite fine now. Very warm, actually." She smiled dopily, her head wavering slightly. She raised her free hand up and softly tousled Logan's hair. "You gotta bit of grey, old man." Kitty giggled, fascinated with his hair. Her nails gently raked across his scalp and Logan's eyes started to slide shut with content.

"I still age, you know. Just not..." Logan's voice trailed off.

"Just not like us borin', fragile, sad, pathetic little humans." Kitty finished bitterly, sighing loudly. Her smile faded and she dropped her hand to her side. Logan opened his eyes and saw a look of confusion cross her face. "Why do you do that?" She asked, suddenly utterly bewildered.

"Do what?"

"That." Kitty gently tapped his knuckles lazily before running her fingers softly over the top of his hand. "I know it's gotta hurt. Your face…" She paused, searching for the right word. "It just barely twitches every time. I don't like to see you in pain, so why do it if it hurts you?"

Luckily, he didn't have to think up an excuse on why because less than a minute later, Kitty was sound asleep with her hand still on his.