Institutionalized

INSTITUTIONALIZED CHAPTER FIFTEEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies and BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), I'm about to faint...they've announced they go...well, sans underthings. A bit...titillating and disturbing at once, I think. I hope the mermaid doesn't hear of this. InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are wonderful people for archiving. :) Readers/Reviewers: Bear with me...it's going somewhere. The armadillos mock my stories, but surprisingly, the Killer Kitties(tm) don't. Not surprisingly, the Minions (tm) do....



Kitty woke before dawn, but not much. The sky was still dark, though it held the promise of light on the eastern edge as she slipped from Kurt's room, dog in tow, and tip-toed down the hall to her room. Baby did not like phasing, she found, the tiny whimpers as they passed through her door being a sure indicator. "Shhh," she hissed softly. "They're sleeping..." Two lumps in the middle of her bed proved themselves to be Tabby and Wanda while a figure on the floor, sleeping bag forgotten several feet away, seemed to be Jubilee. _ Oh, yeah...we're sharing a room for now...damn..._ Kitty set the dog carrier down and opened it, sternly placing her finger over her lips as if the puppy could understand the gesture. "Just gotta get some things..." She padded silently, her canine doppelganger, snuffling behind her. She fully intended et het her shampoo and soap and some clean clothes before going back to Kurt's room to shower without waking the other girls, but Baby had other plans. The dog sat outside the bathroom door, watching Kitty intently. "Just shampoo, Baby...You don't want to smell like strawberries. You'll smell like flea powder soon enough."
The dog took offense. He began yapping loudly, turning in circles and jumping occasionally. "What the fuck..." someone grumbled.
"Rahne!" Jubilee snapped. "Wait a sec...That's an actual dog sound."
"Baby, hush!" Kitty said frantically, dropping her shower supplies and grabbing for the dog.
The bedside lamp came on and a very disgruntled Tabby sat up, blonde hair sticking out in every which direction, a handful of charges ready to go. "Kitty?" she asked, somewhere between wakefulness and sleep.
Wanda, not bothering to sit up, said, "Was that 'baby' directed at Jubilee or Rahne?"
"Neither," Kitty sighed. "Baby is a dog."
"Well, we've all done our share of coyote ugly1," Wanda yawned. "What time is it?"
"Baby is an actual dog," Kitty said firmly, cradling the squirming pup. "And it's five-ish. Go back to sleep."
"No problem here," Jubilee sighed. "Night again..."
The charges in Tabby's hand disappeared. "What are you doing up?"
"Need to see about the computers," Kitty replied, setting the dog down and gathering her shampoo and soap then reaching for clean underwear in the nearby dresser. "Incubus came, I heard."
Wanda sat up and grasped Tabby around the shoulders, pulling her firmly back down to the bed. "We'll tell you about it later. Tabby, you know that you're supposed to be resting! Go back to sleep!"
Kitty raised an eyebrow. _Wow. Protective Wanda...somehow, it creeps me out... _ "Tell me later then...I'm going to go see if I can undo what's been done. Are there any ideas on how it happened or who did it? Logan didn't say much to me last night."
Jubilee, eyes closed and body curled into a fetal position in an attempt to regain sleep, said muzzily, "I think it's one of the new ones. They squick me out."
Wanda turned off the lamp and said, "Bye, Kitty!"
"That's nice-kicked out of my own room!" she snapped back, but did not really mind since she was beginning to feel anxious. Taking the dog and letting him loose in the hall to careen down the stairs, Kitty went back to Kurt's room for a hasty shower. Kurt, she knew, would sleep like the dead, so she did not try to be completely silent. Kitty found herself halfway wishing that he would awaken and come join her before the more rational part of her mind sternly warned her of the time constraints, of just how serious the situation was. _Damn it. I hate being mature. It's not nearly as fun. _

Logan found her several hours later, eyes turning red from continual focus on the computer screen as she rapidly went through reams and reams of information. "Kurt said you left your shampoo in his shower...I think it made him go all goofy."
"Goofy?" Kitty murmured, not really paying attention. "Goofy the dog or goofy weak in the knees?"
"Uh, the latter...what're you doing Half-Pint?" Logan knew very well what she was doing but wanted to break her away from the tedium of the computer for a bit, give her a break before she wore herself out.
"Setting up a dictatorship in a third world nation where I will be referred to as El Presidente and wear khaki, with a snappy black beret," she said, glaring at the screen.
"And they say adopted kids don't take on the traits of their adoptive parents...you seem to have inherited my smart ass gene." He settled into the chair next to her, staring over her shoulder. "That's Greek to me..."
"I'm trying to reconstruct the files...whoever wiped them did a sloppy job. I mean, to most people it would look totally scary and like, gone, but if you know what to look for..he the tapped a few keys and leaned back, threenreen changed to something even more incomprehensible. "They left a trail, big time."
"Any clues, Velma?"2
"Not a one," Kitty sighed. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose again and frowned. "Damn fingerprints..." she sighed, pulling them off her face. "Wait a sec..."
"What is it, Half Pint?"
"Fingerprints...shit...Logan, we can fingerprint the keyboards and computers...we're all on the paper files in Beast's office..."
"Except the new recruits." Logan was already on his feet and moving. "I'll take care of that, though..."
Kitty eyed the keyboard in front of her warily, debating whether or not she should continue. _Damn it...all this work...shit. _ She sighed again. _I'll just have to use the one in my room... _Carefully, she unplugged the hard drive from the rest of the equipment and began lugging it up the stairs, unaware of the tall blonde glaring at her from the confines of the rec room.


Sam seemed to be warming to Amara, much to Lance's ire. The couple (and he shuddered to use that word-Lance kthatthat Amara and Sam were not together in the conventional sense of the word, but KentKentucky-bred youth seemed to be taking quite an interest in the Nova Roman and she seemed not to mind, leading to them spending far too much time together for Lance's liking), were sitting across from each other at one of the tables scattered around the pool. The residents of the mansion, aside from a very few, were trying to act as if it were a normal, early summer day and they were not currently under a great deal of collective stress because of the attack on the computer system. Jubilee lounged nearby, well aware that Remy was staring at her barely-there swimsuit as she tried and failed to get a tan through SPF 45 while Rogue, clad in far too much black, lay on her stomach, reading Kant in what Lance considered to be an extreme act of faux existentialism. _I used to think nice normal things, like whether or not I should spend my ten dollars on pizza or porn. Now I know who Kant is. Why? _ Amara laughed loudly and Lance sighed. _Damn it. She's why. Damn damn damn damn. _ He tried to look nonchalant, interested in what Toad was saying but ly sly straining his ears to hear the conversation between his girlfriend and Sam.
"No," she was saying, "I've never been there...is it nice?"
"Well, it ain't bad," Sam allowed. "Nothin' like what I've seen of New York... What's your home like?"
Amara wilted visibly. Her smile became frozen as she seemed to cast for words. Lance decided to exert what minimal influence he seeto hto have over her anymore and step in. "Amara, I need to talk to you," he said loudly, not rising from his spot next to Toad.
"Come talk to me then," she replied, looking a mixture of relieved and annoyed. "Sam and I were having a conversation before you interrupted."
Lance heard Toad snort softly in amusement and made a mental note to give him a purple nurple later. "It's private."
"Is it an apology?"
"Maybe."
Amara looked from Sam to Lance and back again. "Sam, would you excuse me for a moment? This won't take long."
Sam chuckled. "Sure, Princess. Go ahead. I'll wait for ya."
Lance could not help the slight rumble that shook the ground beneath their feet. "You do that, Hayseed," he bit out. "Don't expect much conversation when she comes back, though...she might be worn out."
The various mutants on the lawn were silent, listening to the soap opera playing out around the pool. Sam rose to his feet and scowled at Lance. "Ain't no way to talk about Amara."
"You just keep your distance, Sam," Lance said loudly. "Keep your fucking hick hands off her."
Amara was seconds away from singing some of their favorite body parts when Rogue spoke up. "Y'all better hurry up if you want privacy. Here comes Logan, lookin' for trouble." Sure eh, th, the older man was charging from the mansion at full stride.
The Nova Roman stormed past Lance, snagging his arm as she did so and dragging him behind her. "Greenhouse. Now."

Lance stared at her in the shadow of Storm's beloved tropical plants. "Now that I've got you here, I don't know what to say..."
"Start by saying you're sorry and go from there."
"Sorry for what? For not quitting cold turkey? For scaring you by nearly getting arrested? For being pissed that you're drooling all over that farmer kid and he's trying to get in your pants? Which one should I be sorry for?"
Amara threw her head back in exasperation. "Lance, you lied to me! You told me that you quit!"
"I said I was going to quit!" he snapped back, advancing on her slowly but surely. "Amara, I don't lie to you. Ever. I know that's hard for you to grasp, but I can't lie to you. You know me too well and damn it, that fucking scares me."
Amara glowered. "You promised..."
"Stop fucking trying to control me!" he said sharply, reaching out and grabbing her arms.
She stiffened. He had been closer than she thought and now she was off balance mentally. "I don't..."
"Amara," he sighed, exasperated.
"I know," she finally allowed, her voice small, leaning forward to rest her head against his chest. "I feel like...like..."
"Like we're part of something huge, bigger than we know?" he suggested, loosening his grip somewhat and running his hands up and down her arms.
Amara no. ". "A lot bigger..."
"Do you still want to be on a break from us?"
She sniffled slightly. "I don't know. I love you and don't want to be with Sam!" she finally wailed.
"But you want to breathe?" he asked softly.
"Yes."
"I love you, Amara. I would kill for you if you asked me to..."
To Amara's strange sense of morality, that was the most romantic thing he could have said to her at that point. "A week. A week from today and I'll be fine."
"A week?"
"A week." She nodded firmly, then looked up at him with watery eyes. "Can I kiss you?"
Lance felt the urge to laugh. "You never asked before..." He lowered his head to hers, kissing the corner of her mouth lightly, nibbling her lower lip as she stretched on her toes, lessening the height difference minimally.
"A kiss, Lance," she said throatily. "Not teasing...a kiss." She held onto his face with her fingertips, not letting him pull away as she pressed her lips firmly over his, then darted her tongue out to lave his lower lip, begging entrance. She sighed softly as his lips parted for her, her tongue gliding over his and drawing him deeper into the embrace, his arousal obvious and titillating against her abdomen. Before she got carried away, Amara forced herself to break the kiss. "A week," she said softly, pushing past him to leave. Lance nodded, staring at the potted fern before him in a vague haze.
1 So ugly when you wake up the next morning that you'd rather gnaw your own arm off to get away then wake them.
2 Scooby Doo reference