Disclaimer: Patent pending, no guarantees, no refunds or exchanges. The product is experimental, beta tested, limited in supply, open to revision…
Author's note: If you missed the actual wedding, go read the latest chapter of Best Laid Plans to play catch up!
Chance and Circumstance
Kitty sat in a chair and watched the wedding guests. The party, commonly called a wedding reception, was in full swing. People danced and cavorted wildly despite their wedding finery…and she was sitting.
…here.
…alone.
It wasn't unexpected. She was, after all, an invalid. She would be the first to admit that she was having trouble staying solid…and that she hurt…badly. The pain killers had worn off some time ago.
For safety's sake she was floating about an inch above the chair, the wide skirt of her bride's maid dress sweeping elegantly through the cushions of the folding chair and gently drifting along the ground.
So many of these people will be gone soon…she realized, watching them all swing before her Remy and Rogue to New Orleans…Jubilee and Logan to Wisconsin…Hank to the University…Warren and Betsy, well, they're never here anyway…she couldn't help but think that all of this was a good thing.
Something terrible was going to happen, and she didn't want any of her friends to be hurt. Her gut told her that a horrid event was advancing, centered on the mansion, and on Jean…Jean Grey-Summers.
Her eyes sought out the woman she was beginning to fear and a grim expression, so out of place during the smiling festivities, settled on her face.
* * * * *
Kurt watched Kitty as he spoke with several guests…she was isolating herself, he could feel it. She wasn't speaking, wasn't smiling…wasn't even bothering to move in the least…
He nodded absently to whatever the person before him said and gently nibbled his lower lip in worry.
Even as he watched, her face wrinkled in lines of pain and worry…he followed her gaze to see a stunning, flame-haired teammate…and understood his beloved katzchen's worry. For here, was a puzzle. Jean Grey was smiling…and it may simply have been his imagination, but her eyes had a steely glint, and her smile showed too much fang…
Yes, Jean Grey bore further watching…but for now, now he could do his best to see even the ghost of a smile on Kitty Pryde's lips.
He set his drink down and made his way towards the woman who drifted in the cascade of champagne silk like some fey creature of legend…Or like a phantom, forever trapped…his mind whispered. "Ach, I watch too many movies…" he whispered to himself.
* * * * *
Kitty felt a shiver going down her spine as she locked gazes with Jean Grey…they were a room apart, and yet, they managed to see only each other…
Jean's gaze was not promising nice things, and her body remembered what it was like to anger the Pheonix. She couldn't help it…she felt the blood drain from her face, making the bruises seem to float right above her pale skin like a macabre mask.
Her hands clenched, contorting about thin air and she fought hard not to shake…and still Jean Grey stared at her…
…and smiled…
Just when Kitty felt that she had to either turn away or lose complete control, someone else intervened. She had to blink and refocus her eyes, and when she did, she caught her breath. Kurt.
It was always Kurt nowadays… patient, caring, gentle Kurt.
If she hadn't already loved him, she would by now.
She looked at her savior gladly, gaining control of herself and quirking an eyebrow in question.
* * * * *
She's so cute when she does that…he simply watched her for a moment, then began to register her shaking, her weariness…She shouldn't be out here…she should be resting…
Let it never be said that Kurt Wagner had ever ruined a lady's day. Even as he knew she needed to rest…he couldn't resist "Would the fraeulein care to dance?"
What could one little dance hurt anyway?
* * * * *
Kitty nearly let her jaw drop to the ground as he bowed slightly and held out his hand to her "A dance?' she echoed numbly then shook her head, accepting the hand he held out.
Why let such a chance pass by?
* * * * *
The world slows sometimes; marking each instant in perfect clarity, minute detail…it slowed now.
She slid stiffly into his arms, unsure…luckily for their dance, Kurt was an expert. He wrapped one arm about her waist and held out her hand in his other…a waltz.
Altogether perfect for the occasion.
After a few heartbeats Kitty relaxed into the music, letting it wash away the fear, the tension…all that mattered was Kurt's arms about her and the swaying, twirling rhythm of the dance.
The world outside the couple blurred, stilled…they didn't matter. The laughing voices, the other dancers…none of them existed.
Kurt tightened his arms imperceptivity...holding her closer. The clean, herbal scent of her hair wafted up through the perfumed folds of the dress like a breath of cool air after a rain. The bruises on her face were as livid as ever, but under them, she was recovering…she was Kitty Pryde. His katzchen…and she was wondrous.
He had always been one to appreciate beauty…but young, plain, vitally alive Kitty outshone even the most exotic person he had ever dated, Cerise. Her skin wasn't the pale ivory of an eastern bride, but the sun kissed bronze, be-freckled skin of someone who had journeyed in the world...who had lived. Here, was beauty.
* * * * *
She had almost forgotten…how much she loved to dance. It had always been her passion. Before the X-men, before her mutation…way before saving the world and becoming a ripe, old twenty two…she had dreamed of dancing.
And this dance…was a dream.
How else could she describe it? Prince charming, in his full, fur-clad self had singled her out for a dance.
The music slowed and drew to a final, lingering close…and she felt weariness come as the music left. She sagged slightly, but Kurt's arm about her waist held her upright and she gladly cradled her cheek on his shoulder, looking at him and gently smiling.
* * * * *
Kurt felt the music leave like a physical blow shattering the distant world that he and Kitty had shared. He looked down into her eyes and sighed. She needed to rest, she was barely standing…and yet, what he had desired…he had achieved.
She was smiling.
Wars could be fought because of that smile…and he was surprised that no one else had ever realized it.
It was that smile that made him lose the battle. She was so close…so trusting…and so perfect, leaning on his shoulder…he could think of only one action suited to the moment.
Hesitantly, almost fearfully, he tilted his head and brushed his lips, ever so gently, against hers.
* * * * *
Kitty felt her eyes widen in shock for a moment…and then she was lost in the brief kiss. It was chaste…and so like Kurt. She quivered, and not from fear this time…but it also had it's ill-effects.
Her hard won concentration was shattered.
She felt her hand and then the rest of her slowly phase through him…and she couldn't stop.
Like a movie playing in slow motion she fell, silk dress fluttering, through the ground…and down, far below the mansion complex, into the tunnels beneath.
Then her rogue body decided to solidify and let her sit against he rough hewn walls…and cry.
* * * * *
Kurt barely dared to look at her as he kissed her…so it was the sliding sensation that alerted him. She was phasing…
No…running…away from him.
He stood still, barely breathing, as she left. He stood long after she had gone, only two tears managing to track down through his fur as he committed the entire encounter to memory.
He had scared her off…and that hurt more than he wanted to admit…but at least, at the very least…they had danced…and she had smiled.
Finally stirring himself from his self-imposed paralysis he brushed his own lips gently…savoring even that brief touch. Around him, the wedding reception was still in full swing, but he, the consummate partier of the team…had lost the heart for it.
* * * * *
The couple's dance did not go unnoticed by the X-men…
Several were saddened by the out come; others crossed their fingers and hoped…
One, smiled.
Across the room, Jean lifted a champagne glass and tilted the liquid into her mouth, knowing full well how much attention she drew with such a simple action. Beside her, Scott bristled at the intruding males, and that amused her as well…but the highlight of the whole, wretched day was discovering yet another way to exact vengeance upon one Kitty Pryde of the X-men.