A.N.: Hey guys! Clodagh here, back with another update! Sorry this one is up quite late- moving is so stressful and time consuming. Plus- I got a new baby! I had to get a laptop for university so I had to set her up and this is my first update on her- she's called Sydney. (Sorry, Betty. We had good times, but you were a big girl.) So all the magic will be happening on Sydney from now on, but let us not forget that all of 'Love Like Fools' was crafted, thought of, edited and ignored (Sorry) on Betty. She was a beast.

You can tell I'm sleep deprived, can't you?

So this update and Wednesday's updates should be up as normal- Wednesday's will be up later in the day as I have my Theory Test that day! But- reminder- Sunday's might not be up as I'm not sure if my internet will be set up in my new place. If it isn't, I'll try to get to a coffee shop and steal their wifi.

So- I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

We're lost

(baby come again don't let me fall)

We're lost

(Baby come again despite it all)

We're lost

(Baby come)

(Baby come)

-'Lost' Annie Lennox

CHAPTER SEVEN

X.x.X

"Kid. Stop pacing, you're wearing a hole in the floor," Logan sighs as he leans against the wall.

"Sorry," Peter mutters and sits, tapping his foot.

"They've been in there for over an hour," Bobby pipes up. "Surely we should know something by now?" Peter and Logan share a look. Things were complicated enough without Bobby knowing the truth, so he'd simply been told Kitty had collapsed and something was wrong. It was easier to just keep Bobby out of it, it was bad enough so many people knowing already. "Jean's working on her," Logan replies shortly, and the three men are interrupted by clacking heels. They all look up, but it's Rogue rushing into the small hallway outside medical. "What happened?" she puffed, "I just got back and heard. Is Kitty alright?"

Bobby shakes his head. "We don't know. A student found her screaming her head off in a hallway, collapsed in a pool of her own blood." Peter shifts again and Rogue blanches. Bobby shifts his gaze to Peter and says apologetically "sorry."

"Jean and Charles are in there with her. She's in the best place she can be. We just need to wait." Peter states like it's rehearsed- something that was repeatedly said by Logan and Bobby.

It's not long after that Jean appears in the doorway and beckons Peter and Logan, and politely asks Bobby and Rogue to stay outside with her and she'll update them as best she can.

"How is she?" Peter asks as soon as he's in the room, heading straight for the bed Kitty is lying on. She looks so small lying there, her dark hair a stark contrast to her pale face.

The Professor looks drawn and ragged. "Stable. We have her sedated for the time being to give her time to heal, so she doesn't rupture her stitches."

"What the hell happened?" Peter demands and Logan grimaces.

"Me."

Peter looks at his fellow teammate and Logan explains. "At one point during being sent back, I started to slip from the past to the future. Kitty got….caught in crossfire," and Peter's eyes narrow. The Professor provides more depth to Logan's answer.

"From what I can gather from both Logan and Kitty's mind, Logan started to slip in the timelines, and Kitty was injured by his claws, here, here, and here," Charles states, pointing to Kitty's side and what Peter assumes would be three deep, large gashes.

"Fatally?" he asks tightly, and the Professor intervenes.

"Possibly, in that future, yes, it would have been. However there wasn't medical assistance in that future, and here we have Jean. Her physical state will be fine, Peter."

The implication of Charles' words weren't lost on Peter.

"Her physical state? What of her mental state? Where is she?" he interrogates.

Charles' eyes lock on Peter's intently. "Listen to me, Peter. Due to the physical pain happening because of the other future, Kitty's mind is flitting between both, unsure of where it lies. It's like-"

"A war inside your head," Logan finishes for him, "It's like a war in your god damn head."

"Well what can we do?" Peter asks desperately, "how can we fix it?"

The Professor hesitates. "There are two options. The first one is I can place a block in her mind, blocking her access to the other future's memories-"

"No," Logan says firmly. "The last time you did that didn't work out so well Charles."

"At least not when we don't have their consent," Peter agrees. "It's an option, but one she would have to choose for herself, if she's ever ready. I'm not taking that choice away from her."

"What's the second option?" Logan asks.

Charles sighs. "We wait and let Kitty…take her course. Heal. And eventually decide for herself how she wishes to stay. But first we have to help her mind, soothe it so she doesn't go into some sort of cardiac arrest over the strain."

"You mean-" Logan starts

"Bobby," Peter says flatly. He nods at the Professor. "I understand. If it will help her. What do we tell him?"

"The truth. Or part of it, anyway," Charles says grimly.

X.x.X

"You want me to do what?" Bobby exclaims.

"You heard what, Bub," Logan grunts and Bobby shakes his head in misunderstanding.

"Yeah, I heard you, but I don't get it. Kitty's in love with me?" he asks and Peter stiffens.

"Not really," Peter grits out while Logan attempts to explain.

"Look, kid, there's not really a lot of time to explain and frankly it would be better for you if you didn't know the full story. All you need to know is that she's not well and we need you to go in there and go along with whatever she's saying. Just go in there and talk to her."

"I want to help, I do, but I don't know what help I'll be," Bobby admits and Rogue speaks up for the first time.

"Bobby," she says firmly.

"But-" Bobby protests, and she cuts him off.

"Bobby Drake that girl needs your help, so you will go in there and listen to whatever she's spouting or so help me God," she threatens and Bobby nods.

"Okay, as long as you're okay with it," he concedes and glances back at the group as he heads towards the door that leads to Kitty. "I'm not sure how much I'll help her," he admits and Peter lifts his head to look at his team mate from where he sits.

"Trust me," Peter resigns, "you'll help. You may be the only thing that does."

X.x.X

It's cold.

The first thing you remember noticing is that it's cold.

And then there is pain, so much pain but it's dulled, nowhere near as sharp as it was. Something tells you to open your eyes, you need to open your eyes, but you're just so tired and you can't.

You have to- it's important, you know it's important, you have something to do- save Logan.

Get him back.

But the sharp pain is back also and you want to cry out but you feel trapped and you still don't know what's wrong.

Then you hear it, you hear his voice and you feel him take your hand and say 'hey, Kitty.'

You feel your panic subside when you hear Bobby's voice, but you're still on edge.

You struggle to speak to him so he fills the silence, but it's not as easy as it used to be, he sounds stressed and anxious as he talks to you, talking about their younger years as students- they're the only memories you're sure you share. It's nice talking about the good memories you shared, but bittersweet. He speaks of them with affection, but there's nothing extra in his voice.

Something twists in your gut when he talks like that, unaware of the history- or future, should you say- that you share. He doesn't remember what you've been through together- the last stand, your first battle as X Men. Fighting Sentinels and mutant hunters and even fellow mutants at times. He doesn't remember the wars or bear the battle scars or know the losses. And in a way you're glad, so glad that he hasn't had to face that type of loss.

Losing Rogue did something to Bobby, and eventually love blossomed out of the comfort that followed her death. But Bobby was never himself after that- war had taken him too. You had a crush on Bobby for as long as you could remember, he was slightly older, cool and friendly, he made you feel like you had a home and a reason to stay after the Institute hadn't felt like home. But Bobby the boy was now Bobby a man- and Bobby the man in your future came to fruition out of necessity, to survive. This Bobby didn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders- he turned out how your Bobby should have. And that was all you wanted, really. For Bobby to be happy.

Occasionally as he speaks the pain shoots through you and you get an agonising pain in your head and he's Bobby, your Bobby and you're in a Chinese vault and you're losing Logan, he's slipping, but as you always have you focus on Bobby, on his voice and his words and the difference in this Bobby and yours astounds you and brings you back.

Bobby, as always, brings you home.