About 1/2 way down, you'll find the story changed. I felt that I was being lazy and not exploring all of the possibilities. So, it's changed for the most part- and I think for the better. Chapter 16 should be coming soon, maybe this week. New jobs and all are destroying my creative ability.
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Kurt was waiting in the hanger when they got back and Kate had almost wanted to go hug him and tell him about the big, bad, scary man – almost. She was the second to last to get off the jet; Scott and Jean, who were both disgustingly inseparable, lollygagged behind her.
Beast had intercepted her on her way to Kurt; which may have been a godsend in and of itself. He put a heavy hand on her shoulder; a friendly gesture, and steered her to her second home- the exam room.
She dutifully sat herself on the bed and quietly stared at her feet dangling above the floor.
“You’re very quiet,” Beast sent the observation out there hoping to get something back – perhaps a reason why. But he didn’t receive anything. Not even a snarky remark. “Do you want to talk about it?” He gave her a quick glance and moved his eyes onto something else; the same book from before, and found a small metal chair to sit in.
He broke the silence after more than a couple minutes had passed, “Scott had said over the radio that he found you alone, in a lab.” She began to shake, she was nervous and not in the mood for twenty questions. “He said you weren’t hurt. I guess you were lucky he was able to break-free and get you out of there.”
“Hmm, oh yeah, lucky.” She had known it was anything but luck. Sinister had let him go and she would not have been surprised if he had spray-painted “Kate’s in here” on the doors. “Can I go?”
“I’d like to run some tests on you to be sure-“
“Be sure of what? He didn’t do anything. I got put in a room and Scott blew the door down.” She got up off the bed and settled for leaning against it.
“I’m more concerned about your immune system, unless there’s something else you’d like to share.”
She sighed, “No…” She volunteered her left arm and Beast withdrew what he needed, all the meanwhile watching nervous ticks and twitches come and go. “What are you staring at?” She had caught him.
“You- You seem tense.” He moved away from her and gestured to the door that she was free to go, “Then again, being kidnapped and all – your life, immune system, security; off and on; I’d be tense too “
She was at the door when her head snapped up at the sound, “System ac-”
She impulsively screamed as loudly as she could and stopped when she was sure the device had stopped chatting. She was left with a rather concerned beast and a young girl in the hall whom she had not met before- pretty plain looking if you minus the white bangs. Kate had felt a little out of her element- especially with the quiet stares she received and the silence that followed.
“I’m sorry; I just don’t want to hear it.” She was telling the truth no matter how you sliced it. “I’m going to bed,” She pointed up at the ceiling and stiffly moved down the corridor.
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By the time she made it upstairs, she had prayed to every god imaginable that she didn’t run into anyone else; this went especially for Kurt. But as luck and every smiting god would have it, Kurt was camped outside of the room that was deemed ‘hers’. He unfolded his legs from under his chin and rose to meet her.
“Liebling,” he circled his arms around her and pulled her into his chest, “I’m glad you are alright. ”
She had gotten over her sensation of wanting to hug Kurt and be BFF’s, and found herself prying him off. “Back off,” she warned, “I’m not in the mood.”
“Are you implying you were always in the mood, before?”
She walked past Kurt and slammed the door in his face. The elf’s spirits sank momentarily, but then he had been use to the cold shoulder by now.
Kate wasted no time taking off her shirt; she needed to inspect her new accessory, when the familiar BAMF noise caught her ears. She turned around quickly, having just dropped her shirt on the floor, and hid her back towards the wall, “Out Demon!!!”
“Out Demon?” he scoffed, “What am I a dog?” He shook his finger at her, “How about lay down, fraulein.”
No sooner did he speak the words did the device sound off, “Comm-“ and Kate had to rush and cover it with a blood curdling scream. It had caught the attention of more than a handful of people this time; Logan had been the first to bust open the door to catch a glimpse of her topless right before she collapsed on the ground.
Others had filtered behind him, but Logan had sent them back to their rooms- having had chalked it up to her screaming over Kurt catching her naked and the dive to the carpet was to avoid wandering eyes. “Damn kids.”
Left alone again, except this time with a door that wasn’t ever going to close properly, Kurt took it upon himself to speak, “What was that?”
“I-“ she couldn’t get herself up to recover and she was feeling slightly slower than usual, “I saw a bug.”
Kurt hopped up on her bed and crawled over to between the mattress and the wall; where she was laying. “Are you going to sleep down there?”
She thought about it for a moment – perhaps it was best, “Yeah, I am.”
Kurt gave her a concerned look, his ‘spidey-sense’ was tingling, but wasn’t sure what was off, “What were you trying to say before you screamed?”
“Huh?”
“You said something.”’
“No,” she was sure by this point it was the robotic female voice of the device, but how was she going to explain that, “Oh, I was going to say ‘come on’”
“Come on?” He rested his chin on his knuckles and stared down at her, studying the mixed state of panic and, “Ach” he bonked himself on the forehead before rolling over onto the floor with her. She met him with wide eyes, unsure if she could fend him off if he tried anything. “You’re scared, finally.”
“No! I’m pretty use to your freakishly blue fur by now.” She tried to scootch herself backward but her body felt heavier in response.
With a sense of unease, he slowly leaned-in to kiss her and paused once his lips had met hers. The anticipation of being hit was met with nothing – no form of resistance. He unfroze himself, and moved his hand to cup her breast. Once another moment of not being battered had passed, he closed his eyes and let his guard down. Meanwhile, Kate was panicking in her mind. She couldn’t get up and her arms were heavy as lead, so she couldn’t beat the snot out of him. If she had said something in the realm of how she was going to castrate him, he’d likely grow concerned when she did so lying still as a vegetable.
She moaned against his mouth and pulled away, his tongue moving onto greener pastures and flicking her nipple which had been warmed by his hand. “We can’t do this.” It came out a lot more breathy than she had thought.
“Why not?” he spoke with his mouth full.
“We’re on the floor betw-“
“Get up.” He tugged on her soft skin one last time.
She had felt pins and needles prick her body and had braced for the next part, when her little hitchhiker would act up. She paused for it, and was surprised when nothing came of it. Kate sat up slowly, and Kurt returned to the top of the bed. “System acknowle-“ Kate screamed over the sound and raced into the bathroom- slamming the door behind her.
“You need to go,” she meekly said through the door.
Kurt had found himself laying on her bed, frozen in confusion as to what had just happened. He stared at the door for a moment, as if he maybe looked long enough, he’d be able to see through it. Truth was, he didn’t need to see through it- he could just teleport in. But, at the risk of traumatizing her further – he felt maybe he would give her space – for once.
He got himself up and leaned near the door, “Kate, are you alright?” -Dumb question. She didn’t respond, but he could hear her crying echo off the bathroom walls and filter through the door. He left her room and once she was sure he was gone, she opened the door and put on as many top layers as possible.
Kate settled for barricading her door closed since Logan had been so kind to break it open. Her dresser would suffice- it’d have to because it was the only piece of furniture she could move. She knew it wasn’t going to do much in the way of keeping Kurt out…. Or Logan… perhaps it would just serve for peace-of-mind. Whatever the case, she had to keep herself away. It’d seem that now anytime someone said something that didn’t have a question mark at the end of it- she was going to comply; one way or the other.
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Kate had awoken in the tub with a comforter wrapped around it. This, despite many things that had, did not come as a shock. She’d crawled in their last night once Kurt had left and she secured the room. The bathroom was the only room left at her disposal with a locking door and she’d hoped that her hosts would think twice before barging in there.
A pang of pain radiated in her head as she had set up and it left a nauseating sensation tingling up her throat. “Telepathic activity detected – security protocol activated.” The sound was muffled by the layers of clothes and blankets.
“Security protocol? This feels like food-poisoning,” She muttered and tried to pull herself up all the way, feeling like vomiting was imminent. She less than gracefully slid out of the tub on her face and crawled her way to the toilet and laid her cheek on the seat, trying to breathe through the pain.
A knock on the bathroom door couldn’t sway her from her new-found pillow. “Kate, are you alright in there?” It was the familiar inquiries of Beast.
“Uh, good in here. Are you ok out there?” Perhaps sarcasm would send him the other way?
Quiet commotion was heard on the other side of the door followed by, “I believe we need to have a discussion about your detour yesterday,” it was Xavier now speaking through the door. How did they get through her well thought out security system of furniture stacking?
“I can’t talk now.” She pleaded through the door as whatever was in her stomach threatened to surface.
“Open the door, Kid, or I’m kicking it in.” Logan’s inability to suppress the need for instant gratification translated just as well behind the door as it would in person.
“Please, I” she felt her stomach go, “can’t.” Her head slid further over the toilet and she caught herself with a hand on the rim. She choked through the vomit and gasped for air in-between the heaving. The door opened, forcefully but nowhere near as dramatically as she’d imagined it would have been, but her attention was focused on keeping her face out of the bowl.
“Shit, she’s just sick,” Logan threw his hands up and winced at the smell, “a few more false alarms and none of the doors are going to work around here.”
Beast had sat on the tub ledge behind her and placed a hand on her back, “Do you have enough shirts on?”
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and sat backwards against Beast’s leg. “No, nowhere near enough.”
Xavier waited somewhat anxiously near the door and Kate had wondered if he was the psychic activity she’d been warned about. Kate made eye contact with him and had a feeling as to what was coming, “I need to know what happened to you when you were taken.”
“Nothing happened.” She answered plainly, nausea still creeping up. “I was left in a room and Scott blew down the door.” Xavier looked at her for a moment, trying to analyze her face – looking for something.
“Are you sure?” Xavier sounded unsure of himself and her answer.
“I can’t do this right now.” She swallowed hard, trying to refrain from lunging back to the toilet.
“To be frank; I think you are lying to me, Ms Leander. I know something has… changed.”
It had taken her a moment to wrap her head around it, but he was bothered by something and he had no choice to ask, “You can’t read my mind.” it was a ‘eureka’ moment.
“No,” he seemed deeply troubled by this, “I cannot.” He rested his back against his chair, clearly debating what his next move would be.
As if a switch had been flicked, the nausea had gone. Perhaps Xavier had stopped trying to pry into her mind. She stood up quickly and pressed her back against the wall and gaining some distance between herself and Beast. “What do you plan on doing?”
“We’re going to be more thorough, Sinister is a dangerous man and he is not above-“
“Telepathic activity has ceased- damage report; dehydration, heart rate reaching critical – possible seizure risk- defibrillation on stand-by.” It couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
She received questioning glances and the panic of what may happen next sent adrenaline flooding through her system; she needed an out. “Adrenaline present, Tachycardia detected, emergen-“ She had BAMFed before her little monitor could react and ended up less than a mile from the mansion on the road she had walked down before. “-cy defibrillation in process, stand by in-“ Kate heard another BAMF nearby and it was clear who it was. She turned to look and caught a glimpse of him, “3,2,1 – clear.” Kate fell to the ground, briefly convulsing. Her body laid still and a loud beep had sounded out.
“Kate!” Kurt had moved to touch her and was stopped by “pulse not detected, 3,2,1 – clear.” Her body twitched again and the beeping sounds were now intermittent. “Pulse detected –“ a long pause followed with, “Pulse stable. Report: minimal damage.”
He lifted the limp body onto his lap and rolled her onto her stomach. Bewildered by what he had witnessed, he peeled back the plethora of shirts she had piled on until her back had been exposed. Nestled in the middle was a device that seemed jointed- to flex with her back, and the skin around it looked like raised veins. “What did he do to you, libeling?” He pulled her into his chest and listened sentimentally to her breathing.
