Chapter 3: Troubled Paradise

"Are you sure?" Lance asked Kittí for the fifth time that day as they were walking down a silent, narrow street towards her relative's house. "What if your parents were to visit her for Christmas?"

"I don't think so. We're Jewish and don't celebrate Christmas. Normally. And Hanukah is already gone."

"But you weren't here during Hanukah, were you?"

"We always postpone the celebration," she tittered. "And we usually have a Christmas-tree as well." At Lance's surprised look she added. "You know when I was a child I envied my classmates their Christmas-trees and other customs related, so I was begging and begging until I obtained a pine. Thus it'd become the custom from then on."

Sad, tactful silence fell between them and it lasted til Kitty stopped her pace in front of a small, old house. Lance didn't want to ask a new 'what-if' type question, therefore he followed her obediently.

"She's a bit deaf so speak loudly," she whispered to him though judging by her sentence there was no need for this, and knocked on the door.

Lance swallowed. There was no way he'd feel uneasy because of an old, half-deaf lady.

And there was no need to. The small, old woman with bead-grey knot of hair was everything but fearsome.

"I can't believe my eyes," she clapped her hands in glee. "This is my little darling Kitty!"

"Yes, it's me," the young mutant exclaimed joyfully, throwing her arms around the lady. There was a moment of rejoicing while Lance shifted from the left foot to the other and felt terribly forgotten. He'd never been involved in a family life therefore he felt awkward and always thought these scenes were too mushy for his stomach. Then the attention turned to him, heightening his unease.

"This is my friend, Lance Alvers," Kitty introduced him. The lady gave him a thorough once-over and he was blessing himself for putting on his hole-less jeans. He was sure, however, he cut a miserable figure. She then looked severely right into his eyes and cracked.

"You mean, boyfriend, huh?" she didn't even wait for confirmation. In the next second, to his utter surprise he received the second kindest smile in his life. The first, of course, belonged to Kitty. "Welcome here, dear boy."

Ten minutes later he was sitting upstairs in a small, tiny room where he had to share the bed with Kitty, and while Kitty was downstairs with her Auntie Ann to discuss, his doomster side was waiting for a get-out command that never arrived.

xxxxxx

"My parents were indeed going to visit Auntie," Kitty remarked as they were sitting on the bus on the way to the centre of Northbrook. "She, however, cancelled it."

"Won't they form a suspicion?" Lance asked her, fidgeting.

"I don't think so."

She turned her head to the window and sank into silence. The bus was nearly empty as they were jolting through the town.

He knew, he felt she was not alright. Her reserve and sadness was so clear that he could tell she was near to desperation even if he didn't see her face. Her emotions were flowing towards him like a dark muddy flood of silt.

He had woken up at night once to find Kitty's place empty next to him. He couldn't fall asleep til she finally came back and though he didn't reveal he was awake, he could sense she had been crying.

And just as at night he didn't have a clue how to behave in such situations. Despite her intention of disguising her trouble, Kitty obviously needed consolation or at least some soft words but as he'd never gotten any in his life, he didn't even know how to give comfort to someone. It was so exasperating that he was held back by his own past with lack of caress and warmth. It was so exasperating he intended to reach out to hold her close but was frozen. How coward he was when it came to feelings! How many walls and shields did still tower between them?

"Look who is that over there," a whimpering voice split through the air. Lance looked up to see two snickering girls nearby, gazing to their direction. "Isn't this our little lost Kitty-cat?" one of the girls with dark-blonde curly hair pointed a finger.

Next to Lance Kitty tossed her head on hearing her name. As her body stiffened and her hands turned into solid fists, Lance finally recognized the two bullies from Kitty's PE class at Northbrook High.

"Oh, my, how I missed her!" the curly one giggled, much far from the intention to lower her voice so as to gain as much attention as possible.

The other chic with short blonde hair let out an evil chuckle. "She didn't even change, see? The same pinky, fluffy girly-girl, mew." Both of them burst out in a fit of knowing laughter.

"I told you she couldn't be that mutie in the TV," Curly nudged her friend. "She isn't that frightening type. Hey, Kitty, don't you greet your old friends?"

"Okay, I'm gonna hurl them out of here as a decent greeting," Lance snarled but Kitty grasped his wrist, her face blushed, eyes staring at the floor so intensely as if she wanted to phase through it or disappear behind the back-rest. Lance frowned and shot a withering glance at the two idiots before squeezing Kitty's small hand.

"Here we are!" Kitty said suddenly, pushing Lance aside to make him stand up. While they were filing to the rear door they could still hear a stunned, ironic remark from behind.

"No, impossible. He can't be her boyfriend. She simply is a little saint virgin."

"Why didn't you let me kick their pathetic asses?" Lance asked her indignantly once they got off the bus. "And why didn't you even say anything at all?"

Kitty didn't answer. Storming down the streets blindly, she was boiling with a terrific mixture of anger, shame and disappointment. Lance had to jog a bit if he wanted to catch her up.

"Kitty…?" he grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to cease her break-neck pace.

And he became shocked by the sight of her face. Those normally cheerful eyes were now so heart-rendingly forlorn, full of tears and shame and hurt.

"You're crying…" he stammered still dumbfounded and uneasy as Kitty buried her face into her hands to conceal herself. At first it was impossible to understand her words and Lance could only guess.

"I… I thought I've changed. I thought I became stronger and can't be hurt by a bunch of stupid bimbos. But no! I had to sit there with limp tongue, struck and totally dumb," her voice was an essence of fluid irony. Lance was taken aback by this new edge of her soft voice. "I'm so disappointed in myself. They were right I'm exactly what they've been telling me I was; a pathetic, gutless loser who can be locked easily into a locker and laughed at."

"And how easily you can phase through that very locker…" Lance reminded her.

"That doesn't matter… I… feel so dead lost," she hugged herself, sniffing.

Lance pondered whether to mention his thoughts. "It's because of your parents. Why don't you just go back and make it up with them? You shouldn't have quarreled with them. Not for me"

"It wasn't only because of you. I had to do it for me. Can't you see? I had to move on. I thought I was ready for that. I've been pretending to be mature who is aware of responsibility and obligation but I'm just a silly child who cannot live without her mummy holding her hand and telling her what to do."

"You know that's not true. It's just not a flash to break with your past. Tell me where your Mum was when you fought Apocalypse? Where was she when you fought the Sentinel or Juggernaut? Where was she in the past two years?" he stopped speaking, eyes darting to the buildings nearby. His face broke into a grimace. "I know this helluva goddamned filthy town is to blame for this all. It pulls you back like a swamp. We should have never come back." He shook his head earnestly. "Don't ever look back, Kitty, there's no sense in it."

She appeared to be considering it for a moment, slowly taking on a gloomy determination. "No, it's good we're here. Now this is gonna be my hardest battle… 'cause I have to fight none other than myself."

"But not alone, Kitty. I'm here to support you," he insisted, looking right into her eyes. She beamed slightly.

"I'm so happy that I have you," Kitty enfolded him shyly, thankfully. It was an unintentional and spontaneous movement.

She could feel him tense up. Upon intending to draw back she finally felt his arms fold around her waist. He was puzzled with himself. He'd never had any problems treating girls (honestly, the way he acted with girls could barely called a proper 'treating') but at least never had difficulty to enjoy it, mostly selfishly. With Kitty it was something else, however. She was more than a hasty, short fling for him. He wanted to make her pleased and satisfied and it caused him to feel awkward for never experiencing the urge to make a good impression. For her he had feelings, affection, care, a tender bond. It wasn't a mere hug, one among many. Every time he hugged her, he reached out for her through the mass of emotions that melted his bones and gave him the feeling of the weightlessness of soft, fleecy clouds. He knew, though he never felt it before, that it was the closest thing that man called love.

"Me too," he whispered against her soft hair and thought he had never felt a sentence more right than this.

"Ooh, I haven't been to a fun-fair for… uhh, I don't know," Kitty recoiled gleefully, ready to rush to the first fun-vehicle.

They had decided to have some fun together and since that was the last day that year when the Fun-fair of Northbrook was open they agreed to take a visit there. Of course, the park was full of shrieking kids, hauling enormous stuffed animals and wearing colourful funny hats. The two young mutants halted in the middle of the park and eyed the many facilities for having fun. Or for a substantial vomiting, as Lance remarked sarcastically.

"Umm, I wouldn't like to take a ride on the Ferris wheel if you don't mind. You know I don't like feeling plunging," Kitty admitted, recalling her old nightmare on that fateful night.

"Okay. And I'd like to skip the roller-coaster. It wouldn't be a romantic ride…" he said with a half-smirk, running a hand through his perpetually messy hair.

Kitty held his hand lovingly, mischief glistening in her shiny blue eyes. "Then it leaves us nothing but… the ghost-train!"

"Oh, god, that's for kids and twits!" Lance tried to protest but his girlfriend was persistent.

By the afternoon they took a few rides on the ghost train and the carousel much to the amusement of the children around them; got lost in a maze of mirrors so much that in the end when Lance had collected a pile of light bruises by knocking against glasses camouflaged as passageways, Kitty had to phase them through the obstacles. They ate lollipops and a bunch of surely unhealthy products. Lunchtime was long gone when they finally left the fun-fair and dropped in an eating place for a decent lunch. The skies were a bit dull when they arrived at the most popular city park in Northbrook.

"I have a good idea what to do," Kitty suggested happily, winking at him. "You're gonna love it…"

"Why do I have the feeling I'm gonna hate it?" he grumbled but followed the excited girl through the park.

It was a good weather with mild wind; he didn't feel cold despite his light clothing. However he felt cold shiver running down his spine when he observed where Kitty was pulling him.

"Dammit, I told you it's not fun, I already hate this!" he exclaimed, goggling at the joyful people skating around leasurely behind a waist-deep bar fencing off the skating rink. Kitty only giggled and handed him his pairs of hired skating boots.

Standing shakily on his skates and clinging on to the bar like a mad, he was watching Kitty dancing invitingly in front of him. He shook his head, unwilling to stir a single finger. "There's no way I'd ever set a foot on this horrible icy… mmmph," his sentence was left unfinished for good as his lips became busy at a more pleasurable activity than speaking.

Kitty encircled him with her arms tightly and longingly, pressing her slim body to his, driving both of them near to edge. Undetectively for him, they were slowly looping onto the layer of ice.

"God, it's worth a little falling," Lance grinned, pure yearning in his dark eyes.

"You're not gonna fall, I'm holding you tight," she assured him, amused.

He smirked at her. "I'm still worried, would you, please, hold me tighter?"

Kitty chuckled, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. "Now it's time for a little ice dancing." She freed herself from his embrace and started to backing away, pulling him by the hands.

"Whoooaaahhhh, Kittyyy…" he gazed at the icy ground below his feet in pure terror. He'd never been skating before, unless slipping on the smoothed, frozen puddles on the courtyard with other orphan boys could have been called skating. "Not that fast…"

Kitty tittered mercilessly. "You're so adorable when playing the timid guy."

"I'm not playing it. I do fear!" he said in a fake huff but was betrayed by his own faint smile. His courage was rewarded with further kisses as they intertwined in the middle of the skating rink.

"Mmm… excuse me for a minute," Kitty mumbled against his lips, glaring behind him evilly.

"No, don't dare leave me here alone!" But Kitty was away in a flash, ignoring her boyfriends's desperate attempt at finding a stable stance.

Surprised, Lance's eyes followed her rush. She was whisking gracefully but determinedly through the rink, zigzagging among the small, shaky group of people. Her ponytail fluttering behind her, hands outstretched, Kitty cried out rudely upon approaching two haughty skaters parading their talents. "Watch out, bitch!"

And in an instant as the girls looked up, surprised, catching sight of Kitty thundering towards them within a two metres distance she phased ceremoniously through one of them. Though no collision happened, the girl who was none other than Riley the Curly Queen of Bullies fell ingloriously to the ground, her legs pointing to the opposite direction, having bumped her butt apparently badly. Being obviously reluctant to believe their eyes, the girls were watching Kitty absolutely dumbfounded as she broke sharply and made an elegant U-turn, then broke into another chase after the fellow bully-maker Amie. She was obviously out for the two girls. Eying Kitty running towards her, ready to go through her as a ghost and considering her friend's ignominious and not less mysterious end, Amie resolved to make a run for her life, her face in a mere horror. She didn't get too far since in her haste she tried to skate through Riley and the two friends ended up in a pulsating pile on the ice.

Laughing whole-heartedly with a hint of evil, Kitty skated round them and made her way back to her boyfriend who was still miraculously standing on his skates which were persistently willing to part with each other.

"Wow, nice pirouette," Lance praised her.

Kitty's eyes sparkled. "Glad you like it."

"Umm, feeling better?"

Kitty feigned a hard brooding before bursting into giggle. "Totally."

"I'm proud of you, baby," he kissed her, grinning.

"Okay, so much for skating today," was her long-awaited offer and Lance was content to obey her.

They decided to have a cup of hot chocolate in a nearby café. After warming up, the two stepped out of the sweet-smelling shop to find sparkling snowflakes pouring on the streets, covering everything with white blanket.

"Finally, it's snowing!" Kitty opened her arms to the skies, looking as if bathing in white fluffs. "The most beautiful moment in winter."

Lance was simply smiling. Kitty appeared to love all the seasons and the whole world as it was. So unlike him. And still, her enthusiasm and joy seemed to be sticky, melting his ice-shields in a way as nothing else could.

She was so beautiful standing there in the snowfall, with fluffs on her eyelashes and hair. Her smiling blue eyes were reflecting the pure whiteness of the snow. She removed her gloves to catch the snowflakes, watching them melt away as – unknown for her - Lance as well could melt away by touching her skin. Across from her he couldn't move a finger. He did his best to tear his gaze away from her before it was too late but couldn't. He felt his stomach twitch and knew very well it had nothing to do with his lunch. Feeling the heat rising to his cheeks it was a pain not to touch her whether she was real and his.

They threw themselves into building snowmen but soon as it turned out they'd planned to have a huger snowman than the mass of snow around them so they ended up with a giant snowball for body and a really small one for the head. Lance raked about an empty McDonald's hamburger box somewhere, putting it to the snow-heap functioning as hands, and looked down at his work, satisfied. Next to him, Kitty giggled upon recognizing the figure.

"I guess Blob would be very glad on hearing we were thinking of him during a romantic snowman building," Kitty mused.

Lance shot her a mischievous glance. "And before a fierce snowball fight in which, no mistaking, I'm gonna defeat you mercilessly."

"Haha, you wish, loser! Just try it," she challenged, and with that the first snowball of the evening was sent into air, just to phase through her intangible form.

"Hey, that's unfair," Lance complained, and as his concentration slipped he barely could avoid her snowy response. "Oooh, your aim is lame, honey," he teased, causing himself some trouble with a pissed-off girlfriend who latched on to him persistently with her snowballs hailing down on him nonstop.

"Okay, you twit, run for your life," she warned him, bitting back a laughter.

Lance halted, turned towards her, taking a quick glance around. "Geee, after all I am called Avalanche, dammit," he smirked, sending a very slight tremor through the ground and making a bold tree shake its weight down on her.

"Aaaarrggh-" Kitty brushed the snow off her shoulder, hurling herself on him.

Shocked, he looked down. His legs were pretty stuck in their snow-Blob as she had phased them through. He didn't have much time to react as he lost his balance and tumbled down the ground. As his last effort he pulled along his gloating girlfriend and they ended up in an amazing pile with the company of the snowman.

"You see? I said I was going to win," he noted with boyish smile as he hugged her close.

"Don't delude yourself, dumbhead," she pecked him on the nose, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "We're totally drenched. I don't wanna catch a cold. Mmm, what about going home and having a cup of warm drink, wrapping up in a blanket and doing nothing at all?"

"Cool thing." A wild grin spread on his face on this thought.

Indeed, it turned out a wonderful evening. Once home, they pulled the couch to a window, and snuggling up to each other with a blanket around their bodies, with a cup of tea in hands they were watching the snowfall as the world became peaceful and silent. Lance was sure, if there was happiness, sitting with Kitty in his arms, listening to her breath and falling asleep slowly, light-heartedly was sure that.