Note: Hi! This is the tenth chapter of the story. The big 1-0! Once again, thanks for the reviews, and thanks a lot for taking the time to read my story.
I decided make Kitty breakfast on bed, since she had done the same for me a couple of days ago. We stayed in bed for a while, eating and talking about school finally being over. I wasn't exactly on vacation yet, I still had work to do, but I didn't inform Kitty about this.
When she had finished the breakfast, I took the tray to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Kitty took a shower.
I met the professor who looked stressed.
"Lance, do you know anything about the new addition of the Brotherhood?" he asked me, looking hopefully at me.
"Sorry, I hadn't seen her till yesterday", I said. The professor turned around in his wheelchair, driving outside.
Kitty was still in the shower, as I returned to her room. I left a note, telling her how much I loved her, and then took off for work.
I had taken on an extra shift, on this Saturday, to compensate for my absence. It was a very busy day, and I was determined to work until we closed.
Naturally, I was pretty worn out, by the end of the day. For the first time, Kitty asked me where I had been. I wasn't ready for this, and I couldn't lie to her. I didn't know what to say. So, I kissed her instead and hoped it would make her forget her question.
She broke off the kiss, repeating her question.
"It's sort of a secret", I said.
"What kind of secret?" Kitty asked, looking skeptical.
"The kind of secret, which you have to wait until the twenty-fifth to find out what is", I said, hoping she would accept this explanation.
"Hmm… Okay then", she said, still seeming very curious. Then she kissed me.
We went to the movies with Scott and Jean, and Kurt and Amanda. It was a stupid romantic movie, but the girls seemed to like it. Halfway through the movie, tears began to run down the girls' cheeks, and I exchanged a smirk with Scott and Kurt.
On the way home, the girls had an eager discussion about the movie. We stopped at a café to have a cup of coffee.
I slept at Kitty's room again, that night. Wolverine was passing the door, as I entered at late night. He looked like he was trying his best to suppress the urge to kill me. I entered, possibly with a bit more velocity than I would have used, had Wolverine been absent.
I was working late the next couple of days. Christmas Eve was on Wednesday and I still had to ask for the advance, before I could pay for Kitty's present.
I decided that Monday was the day I would ask for the advance. I made sure to tell my boss about my intentions with the money.
He agreed, after I promised to work late for another couple of weeks. I was ecstatic and I thanked him a thousand times.
With the money I headed straight for jeweler. I had had him put the earrings aside for me, and he looked genuinely happy for me when he realized, that I had earned the money. Of course it could also have been genuine happiness over another sale.
I paid him and received a little, dark-blue box with the earrings inside.
"Come again", the jeweler said and waved at me.
"Well, hopefully I'll need a wedding ring in a couple of years. Merry Christmas", I said and waved back.
"Hah… Merry Christmas to you too", he said and smiled.
The street was lit by the cozy Christmas lights, as I walked out from the store. Though the weather was very cold, I enjoyed the walk home.
Wednesday came and a cheering Kurt woke me up. He was wearing a full Santa Claus suit.
"Hoho", he joked, as he made as lot of noise as possible with a bell he carried in his hand.
I would normally have strangled him, but since it was Christmas Eve, I decided not to.
"Merry Christmas Kurt", I moaned and slowly got out of bed.
"And Merry Christmas to you too", he said and went to the next room.
I couldn't hold back a laugh, as I heard Kurt being assaulted by Rogue and Kitty, further down the hall.
I got dressed and went to the kitchen. As I walked through the halls, I realized that even more decorations had been applied to the walls.
I reached the kitchen and had to laugh again. Scott was wearing an apron with a cute little elk shooting out from the stomach of it. I took a picture with my phone and mumbled something about it going straight to the Internet. Luckily, Scott was occupied, carrying a warm tray from the oven. It prevented him from chasing after me.
I came across Hank who was in the middle of decorating the staircase. He was probably the source of the increased amount of decorations.
"Merry Christmas!" I said and helped him decorate the staircase. Then I headed for Kitty's room.
"Merry Christmas!" I said, yet again, as I went inside. She was standing at her window. She turned around to face me. I could see that something was bothering her. She didn't look sad exactly, but something was definitely up. She was still able to smile her beautiful smile.
"What's up?" I asked, and decreased the distance between us.
"Well, I'm going to my parents' tomorrow morning. They told me that they regret their previous words, and that they wanted me to come home during the holidays. I told them, I wanted Christmas Eve here, and agreed to go home for the rest of the holidays", she said, and looked at me with apology in her eyes.
"Well, I'll just go with you", I said.
"No. My parents are scared of mutants. They might be able to handle their own daughter, but introducing a complete stranger wouldn't be smart", she said, and looked as if she braced herself for my accusations. I took in the words and wasn't really angry at all. Of course, I was still unhappy that she wasn't going to be around me for a while.
"I'm glad things worked out between you and your parents", I said, and held her tightly in my arms.
"You know I'd rather be here with you than at my parents'. It's just, I really want to be able to talk to them", she excused herself and looked up at me.
"It's okay Kitty, I want you to go", I said, and kissed her softly.
"Thanks", she said, and let go of me.
"Let's have the best day ever then", she said, and the stress, previously visible on her face, was now gone.
We walked, hand in hand, towards the garden. I was constantly looking over my shoulder, searching for Scott. I knew he was going to get back on me.
We reached the garden, and I realized that the entire place had been covered with a layer of ice. It must have been the work of Bobby.
We grabbed a pair of skates and got onto the ice. I had been oblivious to the fact that I had never tried this before.
I fell after just a second and when I tried to get up again, I slipped and fell down once more, this time face first. Bobby laughed.
I looked up and saw Kitty, elegantly skating around the fountain. She saw me lying on the ice and laughed.
"Take my hand", she said, and reached for mine.
I took it and suddenly it seemed easier. Kitty must have tried it before, because she guided me over the ice with ease.
After skating for a while, she tried to let go of me.
"Don't you care about my life", I joked, and reached for her hand again. I realized that her help wasn't required anymore.
I probably didn't look as good as Kitty, but I wasn't falling at least.
Scott came walking down the staircase. He walked towards me.
"Lance, I declare a snowball fight", he said, building up an atmosphere, which was mostly present in a western movie.
I smiled and accepted his challenge. We split of into two teams. As soon as we had divided into the teams, the match began.
Snowballs flew from everywhere, and I was hit several times. I jumped to cover but quickly realized that two of my opponents, Amara and Evan, stood right next to me. They bombarded me with snow and I had called for backup. Kurt and Sam appeared and fought down the others.
I stood up, but before I could establish a snowball, I was hit right in the head.
"Got you!" Scott called from behind me.
I shook the ground beneath him just enough for the snow, lying on the branches over him, to fall down on him.
I was hit in the head once again. I turned around to identify my enemy, seeing Kitty laughing from behind a tree.
"Couldn't resist", she said, and smiled.
"You're gonna pay", I said, and threw a snowball against her.
After the fight we were all completely covered in snow. We gathered around the fire in the living room, blankets wrapped around us. Kitty put her head on my shoulder. Her body was shaking. I put an arm around, trying to warm her a little.
Logan called everyone to the danger room, when had all dried off.
"You've gotta be kidding. On Christmas Eve?" Amara complained. I was on her side.
We suited up, not wanting to disagree with Logan. As we entered the danger room, we realized that Logan was making a joke.
The danger room was filled with the usual deadly robots, but they were dressed in Santa suits and they all said things like "hoho" and "Merry Christmas". I looked over at Logan, and for the first time ever, I saw him smiling. Everyone laughed.
Ororo interrupted Logan's joke, as she asked for help with the Christmas dinner in the kitchen.
Kitty and I decided to help out in the kitchen. I wasn't much of a cook, but I figured I could help with something.
I smiled as I saw Scott's apron hanging in a chair. I took it on, in an effort to make a joke with Kitty. Suddenly, I heard the sound of picture being taken.
"You are so easy", Scott said, appearing at the door.
We both laughed, agreeing to both delete the evidence. Scott and Jean also helped with the food. Amara and Jubilee followed them.
Amara turned out to be an excellent cook.
Everyone was hungry after the snowball match. The food was delicious and the mood at the table was amazing.
It turned a lot of the students were going home the next morning. Therefore the gift exchanging took place after the dinner.
I hurried to my room to get the earrings.
Kitty was sitting in a chair by the fire. The others were exchanging presents everywhere in the room. I walked over to her and when she saw me coming she smiled and gave me a little package. It was flat, like a piece of paper and wrapped in beautiful paper.
I opened it and found concert tickets to my favorite band.
"Kitty! I thought they were sold out! Thank you so much", I said and kissed her briefly.
"They are now", she said.
I gave her the little package, which wasn't wrapped in any paper. She looked from it to me.
"You didn't have to", she said, but wasn't able to hide all her excitement.
"I wanted to. Just open it", I said, looking impatiently.
She opened the box. She didn't say a word as she saw the earrings.
"They… They are so beautiful", she said, almost whispering the words.
"Do you like them?" I asked, knowing the answer already.
"I love them Lance", she said, and got up from the chair to kiss me.
She tried them on and showed them to Jean and the girls. The girls admired the earrings.
The rest of the night was really great. It was the first time I had ever celebrated Christmas with a family.
Most of the students headed for bed early, since they were visiting their parents the next day. Kitty's parents lived far away, so she was no exception.
"I'll better let you sleep", I said and kissed her. Then I headed back for my room.
"Stay with me please", she said, in a casual way.
I turned around and walked inside her room. She stopped halfway across the room. Then she slowly turned around and kissed me very passionately.
I kissed her back and I could feel her reaching for the bottom of her top. She was about to pull it over her head, but I held her wrists.
She continued kissing me, as her wrists phased through my hands.
"Kitty, you don't have to", I said, as I couldn't stop her physically.
"I'm sixteen, I can decide for myself, and I want to", she said, and sounded tired of this conversation.
"Don't you want to?" she asked, looking at me skeptically.
"You know I do, but I just don't want you to do this for my sake. I can wait for you", I said, every fiber in my body begging me to shut up.
"I don't want to wait anymore, and I'm doing this for my own sake", she said, concluding the conversation.
I didn't know what to say so I let her unbutton my shirt. I lifted her into my arms and carried her to the bed.
I lay her down gently and kissed her. Our eyes met and I was stunned.
"Love you", I said, as I gave in.
