Only back a week and she was going on a date with her best friend and high school crush. Kitty felt like she was in one of her favorite fanfics or a cheesy gay movie. She just needed one of those dress up song numbers to make everything perfect while she figured out what the hell she was going to wear.
She settled on a nice long skirt and a blue blouse. The color suited her and it wasn't one of the outfits Emma had insisted on buying for her. Rachel and Emma didn't really get along and Kitty didn't want to make Rachel feel uncomfortable by wearing one of those for this date.
Fidgeting with the Star of David around her neck and then with her hair in a vain attempt to tame it, Kitty decided she was almost ready.
You ready? Rachel's mental telegram startled her.
Just let me touch up my make-up, and I will be!
Grinning, Rachel leaned against the wall outside Kitty's room and folded her arms. She was nervous, but she hoped she'd knock Kitty's socks off. Choosing the right dress hadn't been easy, and she'd eventually asked for help. Rogue had made her try on at least thirty things before they'd settled on this one, while simultaneously giving her the shovel talk. Rachel was pretty sure that Rogue would bury her somewhere on the grounds if she hurt Kitty.
After a final check of her face for errant stubble, Kitty bounced to the door and swung it open. Giddy nervousness gave way to outright staring. Rachel was in a red dress with a v neckline, and was the kind of slinky-with-a-slit-up-one-thigh that seemed lifted right from Kitty's fantasies. Mouth dry, she rasped. "I suddenly feel underdressed."
"You look beautiful," Rachel assured her. Satisfied that Kitty's socks had indeed been knocked off, she held out her hand. "Come on, I get to show off my car. It's a convertible!"
"You're the beautiful one, with your perfect body and your slinky dresses." Kitty had always felt jealous, which had been really confusing. Had she wanted to be Rachel or be on Rachel? It turned out the answer had kind of been both.
"Do you know how hard it is to find a complimentary dress that doesn't expose my back?" Rachel laced her fingers through Kitty's as they walked. People were going to talk. Let them talk. It wasn't like they'd be the first professors to go on a date together.
"Why would you want to hide your back?"
There was no easy way to talk about it. Rachel squeezed Kitty's hand. "A lot's happened since you've been gone. I'll tell you in the car, okay? I don't really want to talk about it in the hallway."
"If it's not easy to talk about you don't have to at all." Kitty grabbed the door to the garage, holding it open for Rachel. Her eyes darted to the way that dress shaped around her rear as Rachel passed her before she caught herself.
"I don't mind sharing with you." Rachel's car was a cherry red corvette with white upholstery. She unlocked it and put the top down. A corvette might be a little much on her salary but she lacked many other expenses and it had been an impulse purchase she hadn't regretted.
"I'm picturing you riding around in this thing and pretending to look cool," Kitty teased, buckling up.
"Hey, I don't need to pretend to look cool!" Rachel didn't really have enough hair to toss, but she pretended to. "I am cool." She reached over into the glove box and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. With dramatic flair, she popped them open and put them on her face.
"Rachel, it's after dark." Rachel was being a dork, and Kitty thought it was cute.
"Cool people don't need to see in the dark."
The garage opened out onto a long driveway that led to the road, and from there the freeway. Rachel had told her she'd pick the place, leading Kitty to some consternation since she'd asked Rachel, not the other way around. But some arguments weren't worth having and Kitty planned to pick the next place. If there was another date, anyway. She really hoped there was.
With the hood down and the wind in her hair, Kitty felt more at peace than she had in a long time. The view in the direction of the driver seat was nice too. Surreptitiously, she edged her hand towards Rachel's arm.
"So, uhm." Rachel's skin burned a little when Kitty's finger brushed it, sparking heat that spread through her like a wildfire. "A few years back, the Shi'ar came knocking. They were still upset about the whole thing with my mom and the Phoenix."
It was a grudge Kitty was familiar with. She nodded, waiting for Ray to continue.
"They… they attacked my grandparents. They wanted to wipe the Grey family line from existence. They burned a brand into my back, a death mark so they could always track me." Rachel's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "Between that and some other things, me and a few others pretty much went to war with the Shi'ar Empire."
"I'm so sorry." It sounded weak, but Kitty wanted to say something and not leave it to silence.
"A lot of bad things happened. Some good things. I met a guy. There was this whole Civil War. He belonged in space, I didn't." Rachel made it sound like it was just another day with the X-men, and it really was. Life didn't slow down for them. It was one crisis to another with no rest in between. Kitty had managed to escape that for a time, a fact that Rachel was perpetually jealous of. "Are you absolutely sure you want to come back? It might seem peaceful now but..."
"A bit late for that. But i'm very familiar with the trauma llama that's the X-Men." Kitty put her hand fully on Rachel's arm. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. Not again. "
"You might regret it."
Moving her hand to Rachel's cheek, Kitty replied, "Maybe, but I don't regret coming back to you."
"You know just what to say to a girl." It was a joking line, but Rachel really meant it. Korvus had made her feel safe, and the way Kitty was looking at her sparked that same feeling in her chest. Rachel didn't exactly need people to protect her, not physically anymore. But Kitty could protect her where it counted, in her heart.
"Do I need to be jealous of your space-man?" Kitty turned towards her, head cocked. "Honestly, I should be the one with a space boyfriend."
A short barking laugh erupted from Rachel. "You just want to hook up with Han Solo. Korvus was nothing like that though. A bit intense and intoxicating, among other adjectives. The Phoenix linked us in a way, at least until I lost the connection. But no, you don't need to be jealous. He isn't the only intoxicating person in my life."
The Han Solo factor was real. Hopefully Korvus's loss would be Kitty's gain. Her stomach burst into butterflies at the look in Rachel's eyes. "Okay. Any girls I should be jealous of?"
"Not really." Rachel's face grew flushed. "There've been a couple but nothing really lasting." Including a sordid and drunken encounter with someone she'd never live down if Kitty ever knew. Smirking at her, Rachel added. "Maybe I've just been waiting for the right brunette."
"Eheh…" Kitty leaned her face on her chin and looked out at the passing scenery to keep Rachel from seeing the color on her cheeks.
You're blushing.
I'm not.
"You are." Rachel poked her in the leg. "What makes you think I'm even talking about you?"
"The fact that you're on a date with me and not some random girl from the faculty?" Kitty grabbed Rachel's hand, trailing her thumb over her knuckles. The way Rachel kept reacting when Kitty touched her made heat burn in her gut. She'd always been a passionate and physical person but all her senses seemed heightened in Rachel's presence.
"Lucky guess." Rachel's voice was shaky, and she rescued her hand before Kitty somehow got them into an accident. Her love life was a disaster and Korvus had been the only serious relationship she'd ever really had. It dawned on her that she wanted that level of intimacy with Kitty. But how to get that without ruining the friendship they were rebuilding?
Touching her again, Kitty smiled. She was glad to get the subject off of whatever had happened with Rachel's back. It was clearly a traumatic experience and that was the last thing she wanted Ray to focus on tonight. The countryside was awash in moonlight, and before long they were in the city with it's bright lights and crowds of people. As much as she loved Chicago and London, New York had it's own appeal.
The restaurant was kind of fancy. Kitty ordered some wine to go with their meal, and maybe help settle her nerves. Rachel supported the idea too and Kitty realized she was just as nervous, so Kitty launched into a story. "Okay, so you told me about your space man, I'm going to tell you about who I hooked up with in London after my transition."
"Is this the man who corrupted you into scotch?"
"The one and only." Kitty lifted her wine glass, looking into the liquid for a moment. "We didn't get along at first. It was one of those really argumentative relationships that turned into really passionate making-out. But he accepted me for who I was readily enough and he's a very caring person with a very prickly exterior. I ended up hurting him more than he hurt me and we've only recently started talking again."
There was playful banter and then there was actual arguing and Rachel knew what Kitty ultimately preferred. "Any girls?"
"Xi'an."
Rachel leaned back abruptly. "Xi'an? As in our Xi'an? New Mutants Xi'an." Xi'an had been one of the New Mutants and last Rachel had heard had gotten a job in Los Angeles and was dating some actress.
Kitty smiled again. "Yeah."
"What happened?"
"We had our differences. She got a good job on the West Coast too, and I wasn't going to make her miss out on that if I could help it." It felt like they were airing their dirty relationship laundry, which made Kitty's stomach twist. It was like an unspoken dance around what they could be to each other. Sure, she'd only been back a week. But she had missed Rachel for a long time before that. Maybe her thing with Xi'an had tanked because she was still hung up on Rachel.
Conversation turned to the school and students. Kitty told Rachel who she'd caught kissing in the Danger Room and Rachel shared a story about the time Hank's fur had clogged up the intakes on the Blackbird. "The fur was everywhere. We eventually figured out some students had spiked his tea with something to make him shed."
"Did you ever find out who?"
"They were good enough to stay out of sight of the cameras, but not good enough to block their thoughts." Rachel tapped her head. "They spent the rest of the school year on gym cleaning duty."
"I want to say they deserved that but I also want to find them and congratulate them." Kitty was not above a prank war. She was the kind of person to escalate said prank war from a mere skirmish to outright battle. That prank on Hank was horrible. It was also wonderful. Kitty filed it away for future thought.
"Remind me to never tell you who they were." Rachel was sure that Kitty would drag her into it and then she'd never be able to escape. She was also sure she wouldn't mind but they'd probably be on some kind of report for eternity.
"I'll find out. After all." Kitty nudged Rachel's foot with her own. "No one ever did find out what happened to the whiskey Logan used to keep hidden in that grandfather clock in the main foyer.".
"...That was you?" Rachel trailed her toes along Kitty's ankle in response. "Logan spent a month trying to sniff it out.
"I'll bet it's still where I hid it." Kitty shivered, foot stroking the top of Rachel's.
"The school has exploded three times since you were last here." Their feet were making it hard for Rachel to focus on the conversation. She felt like she was sixteen again, and casually covered her mouth to hide her smile.
"Trust me, it's still there."
Rachel wasn't going to rest until Kitty proved that this bottle had somehow survived the chaos of the school without being discovered. "So we're going to have some tonight?"
"If you behave, maybe." Kitty felt Rachel's toes go up to her knee and inhaled her wine down the wrong pipe. She started coughing. "That's not behaving!"