Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution.

Sorry for the wait! … Again!

Chapter Five – Reunited

November 1999

Immediately, the chaos around them stopped, but Lance paid it no heed; he raced forwards and skidded to a halt beneath her, somehow managing to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Kitty …" Shifting so he could support her with one arm, Lance touched her face, wincing inwardly at how cold her skin was. "Kitten … talk to me … please …"

Oblivious to their worried team-mates clustering around them, he pressed two shaking fingers to her neck, trying desperately to find a pulse.

"Lance …?" Jean called, her voice trembling.

"I can't find anything." Lance answered, his voice barely audible. "She doesn't have a pulse."

Jean let out a soft cry and sank to her knees, clinging to her husband. Amara burst into tears, sobbing into John's shirt.

"Alright, Lance, you're panicking." Lexa stated calmly, kneeling on Kitty's other side. "Your hands shaking like that, you're not gonna feel anything." She took hold of Kitty's wrist, shifting her fingers around slightly. "There. A little slow, but steady."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Scott helped Jean to her feet. "Psylocke, take her to the infirmary. Bella, Avalanche, go with her."

"I've got her, don't worry." Taryn gently loosened Lance's grip and Kitty floated into the air once more, all though much more serenely this time.

"Oh, what now?" Scott groaned, as a buzzing filled the air.

"Relax." Lexa soothed. "It's the intercom. You need to calm down, all of you – you're not thinking straight. I'll go and see who it was; you lot … I dunno, Cyke – your call." Letting herself out of the Danger Room, she took the elevator to the main levels and jogged towards the entrance hall.

It wasn't until she got there that she realised that one of the boys would probably have let their visitor in. Sure enough, there was a young man slightly older than herself standing there, talking to Pietro. He was tall and muscled with dark hair in a buzz cut and a little girl with blonde hair clinging to his hand.

"… piece of good luck …" Pietro trailed off. "Hey, Lex. How's Kitty?"

"Infirmary." Lexa answered grimly. "Bella's taking a look at her; that's really all we know right now."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Lexa, this is Piotr Rasputin and his sister Illyana." Pietro told her. "Piotr, this is my fiancée, Lexa."

Lexa shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. How do you two know each other?"

"Oh, Piotr used to work for my father." Pietro explained. "And he helped the X-Men last October."

"Ah, yes." Lexa nodded, focusing on Illyana. "I remember you now." But without the introduction, she never would have: the energetic child in front of her was a far cry from the slightly weak, pale girl she'd met briefly over a year ago.

Illyana was practically bouncing on the spot. "Guess what I can do! Guess!"

Not as used to dealing with five-year-olds as she was with dealing with toddlers, Lexa knelt down in front of her nonetheless. "Hmm … can you … turn yourself green?"

Illyana giggled. "No!"

Lexa gasped in fake shock. "You can't? Alright … can you … create giant seahorses?"

Illyana giggled even more. "No!"

"Hmm …" Lexa looked thoughtful for a moment. "I give up. What can you do?"

"Watch." Illyana wrinkled her nose and vanished with a soft pop, reappearing a few metres away.

Lexa clapped quietly. "Well done." She glanced up. "She's a teleporter?"

"Da." Piotr nodded, and Lexa remembered that he was originally from Russia. "But she can also walk through shadows."

"Uh huh!" Illyana agreed enthusiastically. "Watch!" She scurried over the wall and seemed to melt into the shadows there. Before anyone could ask, she jumped out of the darkness on the other side of the hall.

"Well, look who learned some new tricks!" Lorna commented, appearing from the hallway. She bent down just in time to catch the ball of energy that flung itself at her. "Hey sweetheart!"

Lexa watched in amusement as Illyana chattered on and on at top speed – faster than even Pietro – until, with another squeal, she launched herself out of Lorna's arms and into John's, who appeared behind her.

"Hey there, Sheila!" John greeted, swinging the girl into the air. "Piotr, mate, what brings you back to New York?"

"I bring Illyana to the Institute." Piotr answered in broken English. "Her sickness seems much improved by her powers."

"Like I said, piece of good luck." Pietro nodded, wrapping an arm around Lexa's waist. "I'm going to tell the prof they're here; you coming?"

"Of course." Lexa allowed him to steer her down the corridor, waiting until they were out of earshot before adding, "You've already told him telepathically. What do you really wanna talk about?"

"Can't fool you, can I?" Pietro chuckled, pulling her into the nearest rooms – one of the classrooms – and sitting her down, before perching on the desk.

"I feel like I've been sent to the principal's office." Lexa joked. "Am I going to get detention?"

Pietro grinned. "No." He sighed. "Look, Lex, this is important. You remember when we had that 'you're not at all maternal' talk a while back?"

"Yeah." Lexa nodded, her smile slipping slightly.

"You said you weren't at all maternal." Pietro reminded her.

"I know." Lexa folded her hands in her lap to keep them still. "I'm not. I'm terrible with kids."

"You're kidding me, right?" Pietro asked. "You're telling me that was terrible with kids?"

"Okay, so maybe I was wrong." Lexa shrugged. "I guess it's an instinctual thing."

"Lex …" Pietro leaned forwards and took her hands in his. "I've seen you with the babies. I know you're good with kids and I know that you knew that when you said you weren't. So what's going on? Is it …?" He hesitated for a second, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. "Is it that you don't want children?"

"No." Lexa answered immediately. "No, Pietro, I'd love children one day, but …"

"Ah, so there is a 'but'." Pietro sighed as she trailed off. He pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her. "Out with it, babe, what is it?"

Lexa was quiet for a second. "My situation isn't exactly normal." She said slowly. "I talked to Bella a few days after they got back from Egypt and … she doesn't think …"

"Lexa …" Pietro whispered, seeing the tears that had appeared in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know …" Lexa admitted, fighting to keep the tears at bay. "I guess I thought … maybe … I mean, you want children one day, right?" She asked quietly, not wanting to vocalise the fact that she had been genuinely afraid of losing him over this.

Pietro kissed her soundly, the sort of kiss that made her feel warm even on the coldest day. "I love you, Lexa. Nothing will ever change that." He whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "I would love kids one day, of course I would, but any children I have, I want it to be with you. No one else. And if it's not to be … well, we'll just have to screw Liam over for life instead. Lord knows someone's gotta do it."

Lexa laughed shakily, despite herself. "Oh, Pietro, we wouldn't screw our kids over for life."

Pietro raised an eyebrow. "Have you met us?"

Lexa shook her head with a fond smile. "Why do I put up with you again?"

"Because you love me." Pietro reminded her, catching her lips in a brief kiss.

"Oh yeah." Lexa murmured. "I was sure there must be a reason."

Once again, Kitty found herself lying in the sterile white environment of the infirmary, staring at the ceiling. As the tiles came into focus, she realised just how boring that was. "We really should repaint this ceiling."

Belladonna's concerned face appeared over her. "Kitty? Do you remember what happened?"

"I had a freakin' great power surge." Kitty groaned, rubbing her eyes. "How could I forget?"

"Well, the fact that you woke up and promptly commented on the paintwork in here …" Belladonna trailed off with a shrug.

Kitty laughed weakly. "It was the first thing that came into my head. It's rather depressing to wake up to plain white."

"Well, you have a point." Belladonna agreed. "But how do you feel?"

"Like someone set off a bomb inside my skull." Kitty answered, sitting up carefully. "But nothing feels broken." She examined her arm, which bore a large bruise. "Just battered by the looks of things. I think most of the powers have gone." Can you hear this?

Belladonna didn't respond, flipping through her chart.

Kitty tried to float the chart over to her, but nothing happened. "Yep, definitely gone."

"I think you took quite a few hits up there." Belladonna told her gently. "The rest of us were too busy ducking for cover to pay attention."

Kitty's face drained of colour. "Did I hurt anyone?"

"No." Lance answered from the doorway. "There're a few headaches from your telepathy, but nothing permanent."

"Thank God." Kitty breathed, reaching for Liam, dimly noticing Belladonna retreating to her desk to give them some privacy. Her son was crying for once, something he never did when his parents were awake. "Hey, sweetie. Did Mommy scare you a bit, huh?"

As she cooed to her son, his tears disappeared and his eyes began darting around the way they did when he was relaxed, taking in his surroundings with alert interest.

"You scared all of us." Lance murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "You lost everything then?"

"Everything but what I started with." Kitty confirmed with a sigh. "Suppose it had to happen sooner or later. Guess I should probably start being careful again."

"Don't joke about things like that, Kitten." Lance said quietly, his voice shaking. "For a minute there, I couldn't feel a pulse. I thought we'd lost you. I thought I'd lost you."

Her gaze sliding from Liam to Lance, Kitty was stunned to see tears in his eyes and wrapped an arm around his neck, careful not to squash their baby between them. "You will never lose me, Lance. Even if something does happen to me, God forbid, I will always be here." She could feel herself getting choked up now and Liam, sensing her distress, was beginning to fuss. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

Her somewhat desperate attempt to lighten the mood worked and Lance couldn't help the chuckle that escaped into her hair, before he tilted her face up to kiss her softly. "I love you, Kitten." He bent to kiss Liam's forehead. "And I love you too, Liam."

Liam grabbed his father's finger in response, only for it to pass straight through him.

Kitty gasped. "Lance, did you see that?"

"Yes, I did." Lance answered in a hushed voice. "Did you …?"

"No, I'm not doing anything." Kitty lifted Liam into the air, kissing his nose. "That's my boy! I was starting to worry he'd be a carbon copy of you."

"I'm glad he's not." Lance admitted. "After all, he's our son. Not just mine."

"Yeah." Kitty agreed with a sigh. "Our son." She grinned up at him. "You know, no matter how many times I say that, I still love hearing it."

"So do I." Lance agreed, holding both of them close.

"I love you so much." Kitty whispered, pressing a kiss to Liam's head. "Both of you. My family."

AN: Review please! And congratulations to the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Catherine.