Thank you everyone for the great reviews. I really appreciate all the time you take out to review and the awesome advice you all give me. Sorry my updates have been so delayed but now that it's summer I plan to write a lot more so I hope I keep you all happy! Thanks a lot and without further a due the next chapter.

Constellations

Chapter 7: Andromeda

Logan took a deep breath, "Sorry Kitty that's not an option."

Kitty gave him a very unpleasant look.

Kurt spoke under his breath, "He vanted me to tell her. I said I'd rather face a zousand of zese sentinels."

As if Kitty hadn't been mad enough at him, Logan had actually asked him to break the news that they wanted her to stay with the younger girl. There was no way he wanted to be the one to ignite that fire. She hadn't spoken a word to him since the little tiff they had a few days ago and he could just imagine her reaction if he had been telling her the news now.

"Good move," Beast nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean I'm not going?" Kitty continued.

"Pryde will you calm down. Someone has to stay here with the kid."

"But why me? I'm an X-man not a babysitter."

Logan tried to explain to the best of his ability, "One, you can defender her and two, if things go bad you can get her out of here. The last thing we need is Tildy getting upset, if you know what I mean."

Kitty did know what he meant, "You should have trashed that place when you had the chance."

Logan couldn't agree more, but looked away now that she had conceited. He turned to the rest of the team and they all started to go on the Blackbird. Nightcrawler glanced at Kitty as he walked up the platform. Seemed like a big mistake because she crossed her hands over her chest, glared at him, then turned on her heel and headed off. Kurt sighed, that was exactly what he didn't need. She'd probably be even angrier at him for being able to go on the mission while she had babysitting duty.

Shadowcat huffed off and walked to the control room where Tildy was waiting for her. What was this crap? She had been one of the first few to return to help Logan and this was the thanks she got, being the babysitter. Yeah someone had to stay with the girl and Forge needed to go on this mission with the virus but it still wasn't fair. Even though she could defend and escape if need be, practically all of them could. The teenager felt like Andromeda, the chained lady in the sky, named after the princess who was chained to a rock for the sea monster Cetus to eat. Kitty shuddered slightly; she hoped no monsters would be eating her anytime soon. Shadowcat took a deep breath to calm her nerves and relaxed. No point on dwelling on all that now. She would just have to enjoy her night off.

"Okay Tildy, so what do you want to do?"

Tildy looked up at her with a small smile and all the anger Kitty had felt melted away.

Kurt positioned himself comfortably in the chair and looked out the Blackbird window to watch Kitty reach the control room and smile comfortingly to Tildy. That's why she had been specifically chosen to stay home. Yeah she could escape if it got too bad and she had a mean temper if anyone tried to attack them, but more than that she was kind. If someone was in pain or hurting, she was most definitely there for them. So even though she was upset about being left behind, in the end she would be able to stay calm and comfort Tildy better than any of the others could. He saw Kitty smile reassuringly to the younger girl and that sealed the deal. Kurt closed his eyes slowly and decided that when they got back he was most definitely going to apologize and continue apologizing until she accepted and things started to go back to the way they were. How could Kurt have been so stupid for all that time? He had been wanting a girl, that wanted him back (which wasn't exactly super common when you were blue and had a tail) and he had ruined it within moments of coming back to the mansion. Why was he so blindsided to everything that she showed him; because it was Kitty and you could never see the good things even when they were right in front of your face.

"When are you and Kitty going to make up?" Forge wondered plopping down into the seat next to Kurt and buckling up the seatbelt.

Kurt let a sideways grin cross his face and shrugged slightly, "After your date vith Master Mold I suppose."

Forge returned the smile, "That's what I was hoping for."

._._._._.

"Where have you guys been?" Kitty yelled as they entered the mansion. Actually the group didn't look to be in a better state than the mansion was. Especially Logan with his uniform totally trashed while everyone else was just full of dirt and scratches. Maybe it wasn't such bad luck that she hadn't been involved in this fight.

Logan barked out some orders for Emma to erase their memory and for the sentinels lining the hallway to be cleaned up. After a momentary pause Emma bent over and started her task of erasing the memories of the X-men and the location of the mansion from the men's minds.

Kitty looked at Forge, "How did it go?"

"Well I didn't exactly get to use the virus," he said sheepishly, "but in the end Logan destroyed the mainframe computer system."

Kitty crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave him a look, "Why does that not surprise me."

"Looks like you had some action here too."

"Yeah I totally thought Tildy was going to blow up into you know what and destroy the whole mansion again. That wouldn't have been good."

Emma finished erasing all the memories of the men. She looked around to see that Logan, Scott, Angel, Storm, and the others had already disappeared from the hallway. Forge and Kitty were just finishing up their conversation and when Forge started to walk towards the mechanic wing, Emma called out to Kitty.

"Would you help me move them into the van so I can get rid of them?" she asked.

Kitty stared at Emma like she didn't believe the older female was asking her to help, but by the way she was slumped and tugging at the bodies cued Kitty in to how tired the other woman probably was. The brown haired teenager shrugged and grabbed the feet of the first man while Emma held the shoulders. It wasn't exactly the way Kitty wanted to spend the rest of her night, but when a fellow X-men was asking for help it was impossible for her to refuse, no matter the member.

After they finished putting the load of bodies into the car both women were practically pouring sweat. Emma wiped her forehead and thanked Kitty, "I appreciate you helping me."

"It's no problem. That's what you're supposed to do when you're part of a team."

Kitty unconsciously glanced up to the window that belonged to Kurt. She could see a shadow moving about in the window and wished they weren't mad at each other anymore. You can't change the past, so why do people cling to it like a lifeline? Shadowcat couldn't answer that question and she highly doubted anyone else could answer it for her either. She glanced up at the stars searching for her favorite constellations and recalling that that was the one connection she still had to Kurt. Who knew how late it had gotten, she could already see the sun peeking over the horizon, ready for a new day to begin.

"Why don't you join me for the car ride, if you're not too tired," Emma brought Kitty out of her thoughts with that knowledgeable English voice.

She tore her eyes from the stars and rested them on Emma. If this was her way at trying to make amens and apologize, Kitty wouldn't deny the woman the chance.

They hopped into the car and rode in silence for quite a bit of time. Finally Kitty spoke, "So where are we dropping them off?"

"In front of one of the MRD stations."

Kitty sighed and flicked the radio on. If Emma wasn't going to talk to her, and she wasn't exactly sure she wanted the woman to, then she didn't want to sit in awkward silence the whole time. Seemed that the music cutting into the quiet was exactly the opening Emma had been waiting for to start her conversation.

"I see that you and Kurt haven't been spending as much time together."

"Thank you captain obvious," Kitty rolled her eyes.

"I just meant that I heard from Scott and Logan that you two used to be really close and spent almost all your time together, so I was wondering what happened."

"I'm surprised you didn't hear or sense the huge fight Kurt and I had. Wait Logan and Scott said that?"

Emma nodded, keeping her eyes focused on the road and ignoring the accusation pointed at her, "Yeah they both said you two used to be inseparable and loved to play pranks all around the mansion."

"Yeah we had some great ideas plus we're really awesome with secrecy and the get away," Kitty laughed slightly, then her expression changed soberly, "But I don't think he feels that way anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Well we had that huge argument when he came back and we didn't keep in touch the year apart and I don't think he has any feelings for me."

"Kitty, take it from someone with a little more experience in the ways of men. The way he looks at you, talks to you, and talks about you is pretty obvious in the fact that he definitely isn't over you," Emma stated matter-of-factly.

"You really think so?"

"I really think so Kitty and I'm sure it would be more reassuring if I said I know so, as well."

Kitty blushed, "Well that would help."

They reached their destination just then. The pair of girls dumped their cargo, got back into the car and didn't say another word until they reached the mansion once again. Emma thanked Kitty for her help and then they went their separate ways with their own separate thoughts.

Kurt moved into the hallway rubbing his shoulder. It had been a long day and one of the sentinels had knocked him down pretty hard. His shoulder was definitely going to bother him for a while. The blue mutant walked into the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the fridge. It was late or early depending on your idea of time and he was tired; but first he just wanted to have something that was bubbly and bad for him. As he exited the kitchen he nearly bumped into Kitty and they stared at each other for a long time.

"Guten tag," Kurt greeted after a momentarily pause, "Vhere have you been?"

Kitty brushed off the bits of dirt from her little escapade and replied, "I was helping Emma dump the MRD soldiers."

Kurt nodded and shifted the soda into his other hand and watched her eyes follow his movement like a hawk's.

"You okay?"

Kurt couldn't believe she could notice that something was paining him from just looking at him. But then they had been so close that he would have felt disappointed if she hadn't noticed. He missed the fun stupid pointless conversations they used to have. He missed the way they would sit up on the roof for hours at night just talking and sitting under the stars. Most of all he missed the way they could talk about anything, confess their feelings, wants, and needs without being looked down upon. Kurt wanted things to go back to the way they had been a year ago before every good thing about his life had been blown away.

"Ja, mein neck und shoulders are just a bit stiff," Kurt replied. He didn't want her to run off. He wanted her to stay and talk to him. He wanted to apologize for the fight they just had and for the whole year that she had obviously been hurting over.

Kitty turned away. The conversation she had just had with Emma and all her pent up feelings were telling her that they just needed to talk and work everything out. She called to him as she started up the stairs, "Why don't you come to my room, I'll give you a massage to help your shoulders and we can talk."

If he had been surprised by the invitation Kurt didn't show it as he eagerly followed Kitty to her room and sat down were she indicated. Before she moved around behind him, he grabbed her hands in his, "I'm sorry Kitty. I'm sorry for not being zere for zee past year. I'm sorry for not staying in touch vith you und I'm sorry for the fight ve just had. Und most of all I'm sorry for making you hurt at all Katchzen."

Kitty breathed in deeply at the nickname. She hadn't heard it in a long time and didn't realize she missed it until he called her that. It just proved that Kurt really did miss her and Emma's conversation rang in the back of her mind. The brunette smiled and tightened her fingers around Kurt's before letting go. She continued on her path around the other side of her bed and started the massage. Kurt let out a deep sigh as she started to work on his tight and sore muscles. They couldn't pretend that nothing happened, but the apology was definitely a start.

"I forgive you."