Note: This is the fifth chapter of my X-Men story. Christmas time is here, and Lance bumps into some of his old friends. I hope you like it.
Christmas time was getting nearer and nearer by the minute. The mansion was covered in red and green. Every wall was now equipped with nauseatingly cute angels and elfs. When you entered the main door, a huge Christmas tree, standing in the hall, met you. Wolverine had insisted on getting the Christmas tree, and it seemed as if the challenge, provided by Scott and Kurt, had gotten to his head since the tree barely fit into the relatively large hall.
Whenever the subject was brought up, Wolverine would insist on the tree's perfection. My weeks of unfamiliarity and insecurity at the mansion seemed at an end. I could finally enjoy the happy mood, floating around the house. I had never really celebrated Christmas. This could probably be blamed on my lacking of a family. Kitty had decided that this was going to be the perfect Christmas. It was only later that I realized, she didn't even celebrate Christmas. She was celebrating Hanukkah, which I had absolutely no idea what was. Except for Christmas, Jewish edition. I told her not to make a big deal out of it, but she insisted on planning everything.
Christmas coming meant the holidays were coming too. This provided the house with an extra amount of positive mood. There was only a couple of weeks left of school before the studying would be at an end, and the holidays could be enjoyed. The teachers saw these weeks as be-quick-to-throw-loads-of-homework-at-the-poor-souls-since-they'll-be-off-the-hook-in-five-days-weeks.
For me it wasn't really that much of a problem. I had been doing better and better since I started showing up at school, and I had now earned average grades in all subjects. Except for physics were I was surprised to see an A on the paper containing my otherwise average grades.
Beast had insisted that I really had a talent for it, but I didn't believe him because of my incapability in every other subject. He hadn't been able to keep the "I told you so" in, when I received the paper.
Now I spent a lot of time in the lab with him.
Kitty was even more relieved about me finally fitting in. Our love was no longer a secret. Not at Bayville High either. I had seen Pietro, Fred and Toad's angry faces, one day when they showed up at school. I was now officially a traitor, and I had this thought about the guys throwing darts at a picture of me on the wall. I hadn't seen them at school since that day.
Homework not really being a big problem, the pressing matter of finding Kitty a present had suddenly appeared. I wanted to get her something really special because I knew she was going to get me something perfect. I didn't need anything other than her love, which I in some miraculous way seemed to have already, so a present was not necessary.
I had almost given up, figuring I would have to ask Jean for advice, when I passed it. The perfect gift for Kitty. A pair of earrings. It was as if they were mesmerizing me. Without thinking about the fact that they were probably way to expensive, I entered the shop.
I was not completely surprised to hear the price. It still managed to drop down my jaw. The earrings had turned out to be made of diamonds. But there was no question. I had to get them for Kitty. Walking down the street I realized that my brilliant gift was actually really unoriginal. I comforted myself by thinking it wasn't a ring at least.
The first thing I did when I reached home, as I now called the institute, was going to my room and counting my money. I was a little short. I would have to find a work and earn a little cash before the earrings could be bought. I immediately ran downstairs to look for the newspaper. I was sure I could find some work, now being Christmas time and all.
I ended up applying for a job at a nearby café. It was only later I started to worry about my lack of service-mind. I had never been really good with servicing people. I often felt that people were just mocking me, and looking down upon me. Usually, I was a loner. But Kitty seemed to have changed this somehow. There I thought about it, the more I realized that I was actually friendlier and happier.
I urged the employer to hire me as quickly as possible. I didn't have a lot of time to earn the rest of the money, and I soon realized that I was going to have to ask for an advance in my first week of employment. In order to get this advance, I figured I would have to work twice as well.
I got the job two days later, and from here on, every day no longer seemed effortless to overcome at all. I stayed at school after the classes had ended, doing all of my homework, because it was closer to my new found work. Then I worked, often taking some extra hours, and returned to home, only just in time for dinner. All this time I had to simulate a calm attitude because I wanted the job to be a secret. If Kitty found out that I had taken on a new job, she might get suspicious.
One day, walking towards work, I stumbled in to an unwanted situation. Pietro, Fred and Toad were standing outside the school grounds.
"Well, if it isn't Lance "The X-Man" Alvers", Pietro said, with a sarcasm so excessive, I almost wanted to laugh. My smiling grimace was quickly interrupted, as a massive wall, or so it seemed, hit the breath out of me. It turned out to be Blob's right hook. Before I could get to my feet, Quicksilver had sprinted to me. He kicked me in the stomach, while I was still trying to catch my breath. My head started to hurt, though I had not received any hits there, at the same time, I could taste that uncomfortable taste of blood in my mouth. The situation became more and more hazy as consciousness slipped out of reach. I couldn't see anything, but I could still feel the continuing kicks in my stomach. I could also hear, though it was hard to determine who the voices belonged to.
"Scott! Get over here now!" a scared voice called. Could it be Evan? The kicks stopped and wasn't it the well-known sound of Scott's optic blast?
I tried to open my eyes but with no success. The next time I opened my eyes, I was starring at the ceiling of the small hospital facility at the institute. I immediately tried to sit up, resulting in an indescribably pain. "Lance! Don't try to move!" said a worried voice. I could, though, trace a sense of relief in it. I looked down along my legs and saw Kitty sitting on a chair, pulled all the way over to my bed. She rushed to my head and kissed me. It was so powerful, I almost blacked out again.
"Kitty", I said, and realized my voice was almost gone. "Kitty I can't really breath", I managed to utter through the passionate kiss. Kitty broke it off, realizing what I was saying. "Sorry, I was just so worried", she said and I was sure I saw a tear, running down her chin, but she dried it away quickly. I suddenly felt like continuing our previously interrupted activity, and I signaled her to come close again.
This kiss was, if possible, even more passionate than the previous one. My head was no longer confused and I knew exactly what was going on. The physical pains were unfortunately still present in my entire body. Kitty suddenly got up on the side of my bed. I wrapped my right arm around her waist and pulled her closer. I caught a glimpse of the window at the end of my bed. It was dark outside.
"Wait, what time is it?" I asked. Kitty looked at her watch.
"Almost midnight", she said, not looking surprised at all.
"Midnight! Have I slept for ten hours?" I asked with exaggerated pronunciation on the last of the words.
"Well, you've been sleeping for a bit more than that", she said, finally realizing that I didn't really have a sense of time.
"What do you mean?" I asked, counting the hours again to check for miscalculations.
"It's Friday", Kitty said.
"Friday! I've been sleeping for two and a half day", I said and I was just about to mention work, but quickly stopped myself. I had not shown up for work, and I hadn't had a chance to mention it to my boss of course. I was quickly distracted from these thoughts, as Kitty moved the last inches up on the bed.
We began kissing again. Kitty, now lying on top of me, constantly trying not to apply pressure on my broken ribs.
"Have you been sitting here for all that time?", I asked, as it had just crossed my mind.
"Of course", Kitty said, and she actually seemed a bit annoyed to be interrupted yet again.
"For all that time? You shouldn't have done that", I said.
"Yes of course I should", she said, rejecting the apologetic look on my face. As I wondered what I could have done to deserve this bright angel, the kissing began again. A couple of low voices suddenly appeared just outside the door. I heard Jean's voice. "You shouldn't go in there right now. Eh, Lance is probably still asleep, he needs to rest", she said, and I realized she was covering for us. She could read our minds and she probably knew what was going on.
Before Kitty had a chance to get off of the bed, the door knob turned. Scott, Evan, Kurt, Bobby and Jean stepped in the room. Kurt was interrupted in the middle of his sentence. "He has slept enough for a…", he said before his jaw literally dropped. Silence filled the room, and if it wasn't because my life was complete, with Kitty here by my side, it would have been very awkward. Evan made the cliché whistle, and I wondered if anyone had done that since the 1950's.
No one said anything for a long time, and finally the awkwardness was getting to me.
"We'll just come back later. Right guys?" Jean said while pulling Bobby and Kurt back out of the room. Scott and Evan stayed behind.
"You okay?" Scott asked, with a surprising amount of sympathy in his voice.
"Sure. Thanks to you guys, I guess".
"Next time those Brotherhood idiots try anything, we'll hit them fool power", Evan said, spikes appearing on his right arm.
"See you later Lance", Scott said and headed for the door.
"See you", Evan said and followed.
"Thanks guys", I said, and I could see that they really understood the seriousness of my words. They both nodded before they closed the door.
I managed to move myself a couple of inches to the side, making room for Kitty to lie down. We were both tired, and Kitty quickly fell asleep with her arms around me. I had probably lost my job, I was sure to be behind with the homework in school, I didn't have enough money for the desired present for Kitty and most of my ribs were broken. Still, this moment seemed perfect.
I was really tired, but I couldn't close my eyes with Kitty lying besides me. I felt like I had to enjoy every second, this beauty was inside reach. I spent some time, figuring out how to get the money for Kitty's present. Finally, I must have fallen asleep.
