"So, did you hear?" Elle asked Kitty as they lounged on the bed in Kitty's room. Kitty immediately turned towards her.

"What?" Kitty turned around, interest piqued. Elle wasn't someone who really gossips. She didn't care much for it, so anything she deemed interesting enough to share has to be good.

Then again, she also wasn't big on letting rumors swirl behind someone's back either.

"Well, you might be interested to hear that Bobby and Marie had an argument in plain daylight." Kitty's head snapped up. Oh no. Her mind started whirling. She didn't mean to ruin their relationship. She tried staying away Bobby to prevent this exact thing!

But maybe the argument wasn't about her. Maybe it was about what they were having for lunch or something. Maybe Bobby missed another date. He's done that before, once or twice.

"What were they arguing about?" Elle calmly lifted her deep blue eyes up at Kitty, and Kitty couldn't see through the blank look on Elle's face. She wasn't sure if it was just Elle's normal look or if she was just keeping a neutral face to calm Kitty down.

"Well, it was because Bobby missed a dinner date," Kitty sighed in relief. Good, it wasn't about her.

"-and then she accused him of being distracted by you." Too soon.

Kitty groaned, and plopped her head back onto the her bed. Great. Just great. Fantastic. "If it makes you feel any better, Bobby defended you." Even better.

"No, it doesn't." No. That means Bobby isn't staying away, that means Bobby isn't getting the message. She's staying away for a reason, and he's not seeing it. Maybe the system is just slow. She'll use X-men mail next time instead of Kitty Pryde Express.

Still, Kitty couldn't deny that there was a quick sprig of warmth inside her that she couldn't shoot down. She did try though, oh she tried.

She had to stay away from him. She had to for Marie. It was better for all of them.

(Oh she was always so good at denial.)


"Kitty's been getting better." Jean noted. "Slowly, but definitely better." They were back in Xavier's office, with a certain Rogue missing. Bobby snorted.

"If you consider just talking to one person with no other difference to her behavior 'improvement' then yes, she is getting better." Scott frowned at Bobby but even he couldn't really deny the facts. Other than talking to Elle, she acted the exact same as before. Less screams, but no less hostile.

"Indeed." Charles Xavier nodded to Bobby. "However, one person will hopefully lead to many more. Besides, she has been notably less... depressed."

"Hopefully she will snap back soon because there has been word of movement within Magneto's little group." Wolverine inserted in. All eyes shifted over him and he shrugged. "What? You all haven't heard yet? There have been several claims over the past few days that mutants have been recruited into his cause. There have been multiple sightings of mutants walking into homes, and several parents have reported that their children have gone missing." Their faces all looked troubled. How could they have missed this? Better question, how did Wolverine out of all people know before them? He's not one of the people who really watches the news.

But he does hear the random tidbits of information on the streets fastest.

"Although I don't believe it's actually Magneto, maybe just some stragglers, leftovers of his group." Wolverine added in, as an afterthought.

"No one tell the kids about this. We can't have them more alarmed than they already are. They believe they are safe here." Charles decided.

"What about Kitty?"Ororo cut in. "Do we tell her?" Everyone paused. This was a hard choice. Kitty was an X men, she deserved to know. Yet, she already has so much on her mind that no one wanted to burden her anymore.

"We should tell her. She'd think the wrong way if we don't." Scott immediately said.

"But this might bring her down even more." Storm argued back. Storm was always very protective of Kitty and along with Wolverine, had became a set of very concerned faux parents to her.

"Yet, Kitty isn't one to shy away from duty. This interaction may be the excuse we need for her to talk to us. If push comes to shove, we'll talk to her about how she has to talk to us, at least during training." Bobby couldn't help but to hope that maybe Scott was right, and Kitty would open up to them. To him. His mind added on.

Sometimes he wondered who's side his betraying mind was on, being in the presence of not one, but two powerful telepaths, both liable to read his mind at anytime. He wondered when was the last time he really checked up on his mental barriers and hoped they were still secure.

Jean's wink sent towards him didn't exactly help.

A/N:

Apologies for not updating earlier. I don't want to make it seem like I'm throwing excuse after excuse after you, but this is serious. My grandma died. My mom is heading back over the ocean to stay with her family, and I have never truly realized how much she does. It's a lot. I taken to picking up her duties, and it takes a while.

On that note, I would like to mention something. It appears that many people do not know what they are asking for when they come onto this website. I am well aware Bobby was only with Kitty because Rogue was indisposed. But if you happened to look at the title of this website, you will find that it's called FANFICTION. Not, play by play of reality, not summary, but fanfiction. This is my story and I can make there be unicorns popping out of humans if I want to.