Carne Vale

CARNE VALE CHAPTER FIFTEEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, Kristen and Lucas came over looking for Dodo...is he still out? InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are getting virtual Ostara candles for archiving. :) Readers/Reviewers: ReiMars, she who the Killer Kitties (tm) must pay reverence to, gets cookies for guessing who the extra person on the stairs was. Of course, they're virtual cookies to save me the mess of cleaning up the kitchen... :)


"Katzchen! Beast said you had to stay in the infirmary until tomorrow!" Kurt scolded, nearly running into Kitty as she stumbled down the hall, using the wall as a means of support.
"I know, but I can't miss this! I'll go right back to bed after I see Rogue kill someone...oh, baby, is that for me?" she said softly, as if the sound of her own voice hurt her head.
Kurt looked quickly down at the tray and then back at Kitty, not sure which needed more support. "Ja...you haven't eaten since you stole my fries ear anr and I thought you could do with some food." He stepped sideways to stand in front of her, blocking her progress. "Nein, Katzchen, bed! Now!"
Kitty grimaced and leaned against the wall. "Kurt, come on! Stop being a fuddy duddy. I'll eat dinner when I come back...you can even come with me and make sure I don't drop dead!"
"Kitty," he said firmly, all pleading and teasing gone from his voice. "So help me, I will drag you kicking and screaming back to that infirmary if you don't turn around right now and march your skinny rear in there!"
"First, thanks for the skinny remark, and second..." she managed a smile and wink, "oooh, I like it when you're forceful."
Kurt growled "Aikaterine Esther Prydakos!"
Kitty rolled her eyes. "When the whole name comes out, you know you're in trouble...okay, _Mom _, I'm goinck tck to bed." She turned around and trudged back down the hall, trailing her hand along the wall for support. Kurt followed closely, irritated that Kitty was being so obstinate but still caring enough to realize that his irritation stemmed mostly from concern. Kitty pushed through the door to the white-paneled room and did not hold it for Kurt, wincing as she heard it thump against him. "Sorry," she said lamely.
Kurt shoved through the door himself, glowering. "I'm worried and you abuse me...I see how it is now."
"I said I was sorry," Kitty pouted, settling against the headboard. "I was just thinking and not paying attention..." she sighed.
Kurt's glower turned into a small frown. He set the tray on the nightstand and sat next to Kitty on the edge of the bed. "What were you thinking about?" "Pietro, Tabby, Wanda1...Mystique." A worried look fell over her features and she picked at the nap of the blanket across her legs. "Kurt, there's something I need to run past you and I don't want you to laugh at me..."
"What is it, Schatz? You can tell me anything..." He scooted closer and rested his hand on her leg in a comforting gesture. Out of habit and buried need, he began stroking his fingers over her knee and lower thigh.
Kitty looked up at him, startled for a moment, then settled further back on the bed, trying to casually move his hand off her leg out of deference for his penance. Kurt did not seem to notice, merely sliding his hand further down her leg. "It's about Beast's...friend. Cecilia Reyes." Kurt quirked a brow at her and she rushed to continue. She blurted about Rogue's theory, about snooping in the woman's room and what she had found. "I think Cecilia is Mystique and Logan's not here to catch her and the Professor is gone and we need to stop her!"
"Katzchen!" Kurt cried, pressing his hand over her mouth in an effort to stop her babble. "Cecilia *isn't * Mystique! Trust me-I think I'd be able to tell! The woman is my birth mother!"
"You couldn't' tell when she was Risty," she pointed out petulantly. "In fact, I don't think you've *ever * been able to tell when it was her unless you saw her shift!"
Kurt sighed. "Caught me. I was trying to make you feel better..." He squeezed her leg beneath his hand and said assuredly, "Cecilia isn't Mystique. Why would she be here for so long without doing anything? BeasBeast wouldn't let her so near if she wasn't trustworthy. He's quite keen about good character."
Kitty bit her lip in a manner that made Kurt feel the strong need to focus on the bedside lamp. "Who knows why Mystique does the things she doeMaybMaybe she wants to keep an eye on you and Rogue for some reason, or maybe, like Rogue thinks, she's trying to get Tabby, Lance and Todd back!"
Kurt was growing weary of her insistence and told her so. "Kitty, if Cecilia is Mystique, there's a simple way to find out," he said over her huff if indignation
"Oh?"
"Make her change. Knock her out, startle her, throw something at her...make her shift forms." Kurt ran his hand down to her ankle, rubbing his thumb over the soft skin, making her gasp slightly at the nearly-ticklish sensation.
She was rapt, not wanting to remove her person from his touch but knowing she had to, for he seemed too distracted to be aware that he was close to making her break his promise. Swallowing against the words she wanted to say, Kitty uttered "We can't just knock her out. Beast would kill me."
Kurt thought for a moment. "If she's Mystique, she'll speak German. I'll just throw some in randomly, when I'm talking to her, and if she understands me, that's one step closer to knowing."
"Kurt, she's been to med school. Most colleges require a language and what if she took German?" Kitty shook her head. "I don't know...I need to think..." Her stomach gurgled loudly at that moment. "Oh." She ducked her face in embarrassment. "Guess it _has _ been a while since I ate..."
Kurt finally grinned. "Ah, now you're talking my language! Food! Here..." he reached across to the tray and selected a handful of Storm's coveted strawberries, out of season and hard to find without paying dearly. At Kitty almost shocked expression, Kurt shrugged. "They were going to go bad before she got back. I'll buy her more when I get my allowance from the Professor!"
Kitty still looked dubious. "I can't take her strawberries..."
"You didn't, I did. Here..." He pressed one gently to her lips and Kitty had no choice but to part for the fruit, taking it between her teeth and biting, a trickle of juice running onto her chin. She swallowed and darted her tongue out to lap up the errant liquid, then smiled at Kurt. He swallowed twice before he could offer her the rest of the berry, which she plucked from between his fingers with her mouth, not with her own fingers as he had hoped she would.
She licked the juice off her lips again and sighed. "You'd think Storm would grow her own strawberries, given how much she likes them."
Kurt busied himself with the tray, rearranging it unnecessarily. "Ja, but she's not the only one here who likes them, eh? There would never be any fruit on the vine if we had our way!"
Kitty giggled, putting Mystique out of mind for a short while. "Can I have the juice, please?" Kurt handed her the glass of orange juice and pretended not to watch the play of muscles in her throat as she drank, the slight shift of the skin and the tiny noise she made as the cold juice slid down her throat. 'That's good, thanks!"
Kurt replace the now half-full glass on the tray and smiled at her, masking his rising desire with fussy gestures, rearranging the blanket across her lap, rifling through the bowl of fruit he had put on the tray, ostensibly selecting the best piece to give her. He picked up another strawberry and dipped it in the smaller bowl of sugar he had brought and handed the piece to Kitty, making sure she took it in her hand and not giving her the chance to take it with her lips. "Here...this is the best way to eat them!"
Kitty wrinkled her nose. "That's pure sugar on there! My teeth will rot out of my head!"
"You can brush your teeth afterwards. You've had a very bad day, you have a skull fracture and you're more blue than pink. A sugar-coated strawberry is the least of your worries."
Kitty sighed and looked at the crystalline fruit between her fingers. "Point." She popped it whole into her mouth and made an "mmm"ing noise as she chewed and swallowed. "That is good."
Kurt handed her another one, settling into feeding her though they both knew full and well she could do it herself. "There's also some cherries."
Kitty blinked in surprise. "I haven't had a cherry in _forever _!"
Kurt choked on his own saliva. "Katzchen!" he said, face suffusing with embarrassment.
"What's your deal? All I said was..." Kitty turned pink as she caught her own double entendre. "Oh, my God! Think with the big head, Kurt!"
"Kitty!" He was now fairly sure he was going to die from embarrassment.
Kitty made a face. "I'm missing a perfectly good cat fight because you wanted me to eat dinner, so let me eat!" she said by way of changing topic. Kurt was inwardly grateful, handing her the bowl of fruit and standing hesitantly. "Where are you off to?"
"I thought I'd go see how the fight's going so I could give you a full report later." He winked at her and said, "I know how you girls love a good hair-pulling, face-scratching fight."
"Dork," she said, flinging a cherry stem at him, which, he noted with growing awareness of his own nearly aroused state, was tied into a knot. Kitty's raised brow spoke the words he did not want to hear..._Yes, I tied it with my tongue. _
"Love you, too, Liebes!" he said hastily, porting to the foyer.
Kitty sighed and stared into the depths of her orange juice. _I am so not a good girl. _

Rogue and Wanda were squared off in the foyer and seemed to have been for a while. Amara stood between them, looking mightily bored. "Okay, you two," the Nova Roman sighed, "just get it over with. All this growling is too wolfy for me and it's getting dull."
Rahne offed a growl of her own. "Let 'em fight, Am. Move outta the way or I'll take ye down meself!" She half-lunged at Amara, who made a 'whatever' gesture with her arms and slinked over to join Lance, sitting at the foot of the stairs. "Now," Rahne snapped, "if you two are just gonna growl at each other, tell us now so we kin go on about our lives and let you become a conversation piece in the front hall!"
Rogue snapped first. "What the Hell are you doing back in town?"
Wanda smiled, baring her teeth. "I was lookin' for someone...and looks like you beat me to him."
"Pietro?" Rogue asked, already knowing the answer. "Thought you hated him."
"Wow. This place must be a regular MENSA meeting," Wanda yawned. "Yeah, I hate him, genius. That's why I'm back!"
Todd spoke up, edging forward from his place near the wall. "Um, Rogue? Why don't we just let Wanda go on about her way, huh?"
Wanda grimaced slightly and jerked her thumb at Todd. "He clingin' to you now? I thought I'd never get him offa my back!"
Rogue narrowed her gaze. "What do you mean?"
"Toad here was in love with me forever and a day, it seems. Between me and Tabby, I don't think a day went by at the Boardinghouse without one or both of us finding him peeking in the shower or windows..."
Rogue's face became blank as she fixed her gaze on Todd. "Tolenksy," she said evenly, "I just want you to know that later, you are so going to regret what you pulled on me earlier."
Wanda quirked a brow at Todd's suddenly sick expression. "What's going on with you two?"
"None of your damned business!" Rogue growled, aware of their audience. "As much as we'd love to give him to ya, you can't have Pietro. Logan's gotta deal with him first."
Wanda seemed to consider this a while before nodding. "Fine. What I want with him can wait a few days. So long as there's enough left for me to destroy, I'll leave you alone. Bum nom not going to be far away. I'll be by often until you let me take him."
"What makes you think we'll let you have him? What're you going to do with him?" Scott felt moved to play mature adult and try to defend Pietro from his potentially insane sister.
Wanda, who until now had withheld her powers, raised her hand threateningly towards ScotDon'Don't ask me any questions and you will be left alone." She turned on her heel and strode to the front door. "I assume I am allowed to leave now?"
Rogue nodded. "Go."
Wanda paused, her hand on the knob. "Is Tabby going to be okay? I can't stand her, but she anyone who hates Pietro as much as I do can't be all bad..."
Kurt spoke up. "Beast says they don't know the effect of the drug on the baby, but she should be fine..."
"Baby?" Wanda said sharply. "What baby?"
Rogue sighed. "He got her knocked up."
Wanda fairly glowed with rage. "Tell Logan not to bother with roughing him up...I want to do it myself!"
The resounding slam of the door echoed through the foyer for a long time after Wanda left. The sudden explosion of voices occurred as one sound, everyone chattering about what had happened, who had been involved and all the minutiae of the event. Kurt edged closer to Scott and Jean, brow creased in concern. "Pietro is down in the infirmary, locked in one of the containment rooms. Beast has the monitors on him."
Jean nodded grimly. "He'll stay there until the Professor comes back."
Scott laid his hand on Kurt's shoulder. "How's Kitty?"
"Bored, I think. She wanted to come see this...she'll be sad there was no bloodshed."
Scott laughed aloud. "That's my girl...violent under all that pink froufrou crap!"
Jean elbowed Scott to silence him. "We can't just all stay here on lock down because of Pietro. A bunch of us are going to a movie tomorrow...you think you and Kitty can come with?"
Kurt nodded. "I don't think it'll be a problem...It all depends on how badly her head hurts..." The trio wandered off, not seeing Jamie standing nearby, waiting for someone to notice him.
_ Damn it _, the youngest mutant thought to himself. _I'm not giving this to Remy myself...he'll kill me. I wonder if Rogue'll do it...He likes her... _ In his hands was a note from Belladonna, whose absence had not been noted at all.
1 Did you read correctly? *gasp * Yes! Wanda!