Disclaimer: Any characters you recognise come from X-Men: Evolution, which I don't own. Any dialogue you recognise comes from Blackadder (which is one of the best damn comedies to ever grace our screens), which I also don't own. I do own Detectives Michael Wood and Emma Black.

Chapter Thirty Eight – Evidence

January 1999

As the celebrations continued, Lance searched Kitty's eyes for any sign she was joking. She gave him none and he nodded slowly, sliding her hand down to hers and taking it gently. Stopping only to make their excuses to Sara, he led her upstairs to their room and shut the door quietly.

"Say it again?"

Kitty bit her bottom lip, for once unable to read his reaction. She supposed she could have read his mind, but she refused to invade like that. "I'm pregnant." She still didn't get a response and continued, well aware she was starting to babble, but somewhat afraid of the silence that threatened to consume them otherwise. "I mean, I haven't had a scan or anything, but I took, like, three tests and they were all positive. And I kinda lied Christmas morning; I've never heard that song before in my life and I keep catching myself humming it. And …"

She was cut off abruptly by his mouth landing on hers, kissing her hard. His arm snaked around her waist and pulled her closer.

After a few minutes, he pulled away. "How?" He asked, the grin on his face contradicting his query. "I thought you were on …"

"I am." Kitty sighed. "Apparently, it's only 99% effective. You know, they should put that on the box."

"They probably do." Lance pointed out, releasing her so she could change out of her dress.

"Then they should put it in huge letters." Kitty rolled her eyes, undoing the clasp and letting her dress drop to the floor. "This isn't supposed to happen to me."

Any other man might have panicked at this point, but, luckily, this was exactly how Jean had reacted to her own impending motherhood, so he had some previous experience to draw on. "It is happening though, Kitten." He said calmly. "And we can freak out or we can deal with it."

Kitty pulled her nightgown over her head and stilled, not turning to meet his gaze. "What if I'm not cut out to be a mother?" She asked quietly.

Lance's hands touched her waist, leading her over to the bed and sitting her down. When he knelt in front of her, she assumed it was some way of making sure she listened to him, but rather than meeting her eyes and addressing her, he pushed her nightdress up and pressed a soft kiss to her stomach.

"Hey, kid. Let me tell you something about your mom: She's the smartest, bravest, most beautiful woman I know and I've never known her to fail at anything, except having faith in herself. Because she's an amazing godmother and a wonderful aunt, and she still doesn't think she'll be a good mother."

He looked up into her face and wiped away the tear that trickled down her cheek. "I don't know what happened with Jamie, but I do know he doesn't have his parents anymore for whatever reason. You're only two years older than him, but you act like his mother."

"But Jamie's a teenager." Kitty whispered. "Not a baby."

Lance sighed. "Kitten, you forget who I live with. There's no way a baby can be more chaotic and exhausting than that lot."

Kitty giggled. "That's true."

Lance grinned at her and straightened up, undoing his shirt. "Who are we telling?"

Kitty sighed. "Well, I'd rather this be as stress-free as possible … so I'll tell Professor X and Bella … and let the others figure it out."

Lance sniggered. "Sounds good to me."

"Unless you wanna tell your mom." Kitty added.

Lance shook his head. "No, wait until we have to. That way when your parents start yelling, we can say we didn't tell mine either."

Kitty sighed. "They're gonna kill me, aren't they?"

"Not if you're holding a baby." Lance grinned, crawling into bed beside her.

Pulling the covers over them, Kitty raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting I use our child as a shield?"

"Absolutely." Lance tugged on her arm, until she was using his chest as a pillow, one leg hooked over his. "We can handle this, Kitten. We're gonna be fine."

Kitty's hand drifted down to rest on her abdomen, feeling his cover it protectively. A soft smile crossed her face and she closed her eyes. "Yeah. I think we are."

February 1999

Despite Kitty's news, things continued in very much the same way. True to her decision, Professor Xavier and Belladonna were the only people who knew about her impending motherhood and, with Jubilee's common knowledge, no one paid any attention to any odd behaviour she might be exhibiting.

"Of course," she commented to Lance one day, "I'm only a month or so along. They've got to notice soon enough."

Kitty and Lance weren't the only ones keeping secrets; Lexa and Pietro had been dating since the New Year's party. Aside from Kitty, Lance, Jean and possibly Scott – although he was hard to read and didn't give any indication one way or the other – no one else knew and they hadn't told anyone, although Lexa had a feeling Wanda knew.

HYDRA, thankfully, had disappeared from their radar completely.

One morning in early February, the intercom rang, bringing with it an interesting development.

Lorna answered, being closest to the button. "Good morning, Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters."

"NYPD; can we come in?"

"Can I ask you to show your badges to the screen please?" Lorna asked, glancing at the monitor. "Come in." She pressed the button for the gates to swing open and abandoned the intercom in favour of opening the front door.

The two detectives were an interesting partnership. They were both fairly young, late twenties – maybe early thirties at a push – and both were in shape – no donut-stuffed cop stereotypes here.

But that was where the similarities ended.

Detective Michael Wood was tall, over 6', with tanned skin and dark hair. Detective Emma Black, on the other hand, was just over 5', with very pale skin and blonde hair.

"Hi." Lorna held her hand out. "Lorna Dane, how can I help?"

They both shook her hand and Wood checked his notepad. "We need to speak with a Miss Lexa Howlett?"

"Of course." Lorna nodded. "Come in." She led them inside and down the hall towards the rec room, where Lexa was talking to Alex in the corner, both of them ignoring the movie playing on the big screen. "Lex!"

Lexa glanced up, said something to Alex, who sniggered, and jogged over to them. "What's up?"

"Detectives Wood and Black." Lorna indicated them. "Want to talk to you."

"Thanks, Lorna." Lexa shook their hands. "What's this about?"

"We took a call from this address last November, saying a young man had been shot." Wood told her. "We've got Duncan Matthews in custody …"

"Really?" Lexa interrupted. "I wasn't expecting anything to come of it."

"A young man had been shot." Black reminded her with a frown.

"Young mutant." Lexa corrected. "Given the run-ins mutants have had with the police before, we weren't expecting anything, but go on."

"Mr. Matthews is denying everything." Wood sighed. "We really want to get him; we got the bullet you sent over, but without a weapon … I don't suppose you've got any proof other than your word, have you?"

"As a matter of fact, I have." Lexa smirked. "Follow me." She led them back into the hallway. "I was raised by a renegade government agency as a mercenary." She explained without hesitation. "Clearly, I don't work for them anymore, but they weren't happy about me leaving and sent an agent to … retrieve me." Without missing a step, she threw an arm back, causing the two detectives to step back against the wall as Sam went barrelling past them, Wolfsbane chasing after him in her animal form.

"Is that normal?" Black asked faintly.

Lexa smiled. "You get used to it. Where was I?"

"They sent an agent to retrieve you." Wood reminded her, falling into step beside her again.

"Right." Lexa nodded. "There were shots fired, but HYDRA is practically untouchable; you're better of leaving them to the … well, the more informed."

Black nodded understandingly. "Why are you telling us this?"

"Because it explains why Pietro and I were standing on a cliff-top, incredibly distracted, and that led to him being shot." Lexa told her.

"Did either of you use your powers against him?" Black asked.

"Erm …" Lexa struggled to remember. "I don't think so. I may have threatened him after it happened, but, unless, you count Pietro moving very fast, no."

Wood frowned. "If his power is super-speed, then how did he get shot?"

Lexa smiled sadly and pressed the button for the elevator. "It wasn't aimed at him. Come on."

One of the panels in the wall slid to the side and the three stepped into the elevator.

"I guess this is the part you usually leave off the tour?" Black commented as the small room began moving slowly downwards.

"Unless you're planning on joining." Lexa laughed. "You could say that. There's nothing bad down here or anything; it can just be a bit dangerous if you don't know where you're going." She noticed that both detectives looked faintly nervous. "Don't worry; we're just going to the security centre. Nothing dangerous in there, unless you count the fact that Bobby insists on leaving old pizza slices in there."

The comment had the desired effect and both cops laughed as she opened the door.

Lexa turned the lights on, hearing the hum from the main computer as it jumped to life again, jolted out of hibernation by the movement. She pulled the chair away from the surveillance camera monitors and ducked under the desk, where they kept all the tapes. "Right, where are we? 1998, here it is … September … October … November …" She emerged again with the box, accepting Detective Wood's hand. "Thanks. Now what day was it?" Setting the box on the desk, she closed her eyes, doing the math. "Kitty had been in the infirmary a week … they got back on the 27th … 31 days in October … It was the 3rd, right?"

"It was." Black confirmed.

Lexa selected the right tape, checking it came from the cliff-top camera, and inserted it into the VCR. "Let's see." She ran through the tape until she saw herself and Pietro ducking bullets, slowing the tape to average speed again. "That was the HYDRA assassin … that's Lance and Kitty flying to the rescue …" She trailed as they watched the Pietro on-screen wrap his arms around her. He glanced up, saw Duncan and spun around in quick succession, stiffening as the bullet hit him, before slumping into her arms.

Closing her eyes, unwilling to watch, Lexa turned the sound up, glad that Professor Xavier had invested in surveillance cameras with audio.

"You bastard. What did he ever do to you?"

"He was born. Him and the rest of you mutant freaks."

"He's been trouble for a while." Lexa sighed, stopping the tape. "From what I know, he and Jean used to date, but she dumped him when he cheated on her. When their powers were discovered, he offered to take her back – seemed to think her telepathy would be useful when it came to exams. She refused and he seemed to take it personally."

"What I don't understand," Black said, "is why you didn't think we'd take a shooting seriously."

"Last February," Kitty stated from the doorway, "he and a group of friends formed a lynch mob and went after a group of mutants called the Morlocks. They live in the sewers, because they feel unable to live 'top-side' as they call it. He was ready to kill a six-year-old child because he was mutant – no, I tell a lie; he looked mutant, wondered into the middle of the fight, wrong place, wrong time; fired a laser gun at him."

"Where did he get that?" Black asked, sounding appalled.

Kitty shrugged. "God only knows. If it weren't for a former member of our team who intercepted the blast, that child would be dead. Actually, so would both of you, because Dorian turned out to be mutant and his powers are the only reason we won."

Wood's face was pale and he looked slightly sick. "We can't have had any proof …" He murmured.

Kitty laughed derisively. "Detective, NYPD watched him do it. They arrested him for disturbing the peace and released him the next day. Of course, this was about 18 months after you sent out every available officer, both choppers and still called for more back-up to deal with a group of teenagers whose home had just been blown up and were scared out of their minds."

Feeling the ground beginning to shudder beneath them, Lexa quickly took note that Lance wasn't there and put a hand on Kitty's shoulder. "Deep breath, Shadowcat. It's over."

Kitty breathed in and let it out slowly, nodding. "I know. Sorry; it was a bad time. For all of us."

The two detectives simply nodded as Lexa pulled the tape from the VCR and handed it to them. "Was there anything else you needed?" She asked politely.

"No, I think that's everything." Black tucked it away in a folder. "We do need to speak with Mr. Maximoff though."

"He doesn't live here." Kitty told her. "He lives at the Boarding House."

"It's about five miles down the road." Lexa elaborated. "Do you have your car with you?"

Wood shook his head. "We left it in town and walked through the woods."

Lexa smiled. "Kitty, could you give us a lift then?"

"Sure." Kitty zipped her jacket up. "I'm heading that way anyway." She linked arms with Lexa and offered her hand to the two detectives.

After a moment's hesitation, Wood took hold of his partner's arm and took her hand.

In a split-second, they were standing outside the Boarding House. Lexa and Kitty had arrived with their backs to the door, which explained why their companions reacted before they did.

"What the hell happened?" Wood asked, hand moving to his holster.

Lexa turned around and gasped in horror. The front door was hanging off its hinges, revealing just a hint of the chaos inside. "Oh God …"

Kitty swallowed hard, her face ashen, and turned to face the two detectives. "I'm afraid we may need to postpone that interview. How can we get hold of you?"

Lexa didn't hear the rest of the exchange. She ran into the house, coming to a halt in the kitchen. Breakfast had clearly been interrupted in a very sudden and very violent way; the table was overturned and food was scattered across the floor.

Her eyes strayed to a bloodstain on the floor in front of the fridge and she crouched down, sniffing tentatively. The scent was unfamiliar, but it had a familiar tinge and she couldn't help a victorious smirk.

Even HYDRA had come back – which she hadn't expected but now suspected – at least someone had managed to get a blow in before they were taken.

"Lexa, what are you doing?" Kitty hissed, appearing at her side. "Anyone could have been in here. Come on; it's best we stick together."

Together, they made their way through the house, ready to attack if the worst should happen.

Nothing did.

No attackers, no victims …

Just an empty house.

"This can't be happening." Lexa whispered.

"Lex?" Kitty called, trying to keep her attention. "Can you smell anyone you recognise?"

Lexa shook her head. "No. But all HYDRA agents have an underlying scent; it's in their uniforms. We have to get them back."

"Lexa!" Kitty caught her arm. "This isn't Magneto we're talking about! We'll be outnumbered by a good hundred, even if we can convince Cyke to lead a rescue mission."

"Do you think we will?" Lexa asked hopefully.

Kitty shook his head. "Not a chance. There's too much of a risk and Iceman and Havoc will listen to him."

"Then what?" Lexa demanded, frustrated. "They want me, Kitty!"

"So what, you go and hand yourself in?" Kitty snapped. "We need to be sensible about this Lexa! What are the chances they'll be easy to find?"

Lexa bit her lip. "Pietro probably will be, because he'll be the bait to get me there. The others are just collateral." She winced at the thought and offered up a silent prayer, though she'd never had the slightest religious inclination. "Why?"

Kitty sighed. "Well, if you thought they'd be easy to find, I could go."

Lexa shook her head. "No; they'd be split up. I know how they think, remember?"

"I'll call General Fury." Kitty murmured, pulling her cell-phone out. "We call Wolverine and we'll both be locked in the Danger Room until it's over."

"Wait." Lexa stopped her. "We need to think of a plan first. Call on the way." She narrowed her eyes. "You've got a plan, haven't you?"

"Maybe." Kitty admitted. "Yes. And I'm fairly sure it'll work."

"Really?" Lexa asked. "A cunning and subtle one?"

"Yep." Kitty confirmed.

Lexa raised an eyebrow. "As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Yale University?"

"I'd say so." Kitty answered.

Lexa sighed. "Alright. Let's hear it."

AN: Obviously Bayville is a made-up place and I have to confess that I don't know New York all that well, having never ventured further afield that France. So for the sake of this story, I'm putting Bayville to the East of Queens, which would just about put it in NYPD's jurisdiction and still keep them on the coast, just below Connecticut.

But, hey, these kids can fly and walk through walls and stuff – are we really going to dispute geography because it's 'not realistic'?

Review please!