Forever

FOREVER—CHAPTER 20 (NC-17)

 

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

A/N Mille grazie to Foxfeather for reading this and all her
wonderful support and input. Go read
her fic—lovely, wonderful, greatness. And
thanks also to InterNutter for letting me use and abuse her springboard—go
check her out at http://cat.devil.com

 

 

 

Kitty felt
as if she were swimming upwards through hot, wet cotton. Her eyes did not want to open, sensing the
harsh glow of lights beyond the barrier of lids. Kitty sighed a little and willed herself to sink into the soft
sheets swaddling her. Maybe Yaya
will make me some hot chocolate…I’d like that very much… She fell into a fitful doze only to be
awakened by the sound of voices, sometimes harsh, sometimes soft, talking
nearby. She found that she could not
make out what the people were saying, sending a sliver of panic into her
chest. Great. I’ve died and gone to Germany. Kitty tried to keep her breathing level but
somehow Kurt knew when she had awoken.
He was at her side in a second, taking her hand in his own and brushing
her hair back from her face. Without
opening her eyes, she sensed someone had taken up a position near her head on
the other side of the bed but it was not someone she knew. So tired…maybe Kurt will lay with
me. He’s so warm and I feel so cold… Kitty tried to tug him into bed but found
that she was too tired even for that.
Whoever was on her left side was staring, she thought. Kitty drifted off into a fuzzy doze again,
still clutching Kurt’s hand. When she
came to for the final time, Kurt was still grasping her hand but now he was
sitting on the bed next to her. Whoever
was on her left side had moved but Kitty could still feel their eyes on
her. I wonder where Yaya went? She was just here…I never did get cocoa. As she bubbled into coherence, several
thoughts occurred at once, the first and foremost being the painful reminder
that her gmothmother was dead and would never bring her cocoa or anything else
again. Quickly, she tamped down the
urge to wail out in pain and anger and took stock of what her senses were
telling her. She was in a hospital or
something similar, Kurt was with her, someone was staring at her, and Kurt was
speaking German to someone nearby, who in turn responded. Curiouser and curiouser…and which side of
the mushroom will make me taller?[1] Finally, Kitty let her eyes flutter open,
instantly regretting it in the glare of the infirmary’s lights. “Kurt?
What happened?” Kurt’s hand
tightened on hers and he bent low to kiss her tenderly on the forehead.

“Mein
Engel…I thought…oh, Liebes…” He sounded
close to tears, disturbing Kitty no end.
She struggled to sit up but regretted it instantly; her head felt as if
it swelled up and popped all in one breath before being inflated again. Kitty moaned and fell back onto the pillows,
squeezing her eyes shut against the outside world. “Don’t move, Kitty. Dr.
McCoy gave you some drugs to make you sleep and relax. He said they’d make you feel bad, like a
hangover.”

“If this is
what a hangover feels like, I’m never drinking.” Kitty pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and struggled to
sit up again. “Kurt, I’m gonna be sick!” Hurriedly, he grabbed a kidney-shaped dish
resting on the near sink and held it under her chin with one hand while
scooping her hair back with his other hand.
Embarrassed, Kitty retched into the basinstlystly heaving on her empty
stomach. Kurt rubbed her back with his
tail and waited until she fell back, shamefaced and coughing, before he emptied
the basin. He returned to her side with
a damp washcloth, a tumbler of water and the basin, now empty.

“Here, wash
your mouth out…” Kitty complied, glad
to have direction to follow. He passed
her the clothwipewipe her face off with while he emptied the basin again. “Feeling better?”

“Not
really, but I think I’m done being ill.”
Kitty took several deep breaths before turning to face Kurt. “Are we in trouble?”

“I think,
but not as badly as we could be.”

“Depends on
who you ask, really…” The new voice
startled Kitty. Kurt’s eyes moved to a
spot somewhere behind her head and Kitty followed his gaze, turning slowly onto
her back.

“Oh.” Kitty suddenly felt ill again. “You’re, um…”

“And you’re
Kitty.” The woman did not seem upset,
Kitty noted dimly. Rather, just tired
and sad.

Kurt
squeezed her hand gently. “It’s okay,
Katzchen. She’s not mad at you. Or me, for that matter.”

“I’m just
mad at the situation, Kitty. I think…I
think I know everything that’s happened.”
She sounded maternally worried.

“I had to
apologize to her for not saying anything sooner…” Kurt stroked Kitty’s cheek
with his thumb, giving her a reprise of everything that he had told his mother
since she had been at the mansion, with Mrs. Wagner interjecting details
provided by Beast and Storm. “Anything
you want to add, Katzchen?”

“Yes. I’d like to die now, please.” Heat made her face glow. This is not how I wanted to meet Kurt’s
family. Mrs. Wagner laughed softly
while Kurt turned pained eyes to Kitty’s face.

“Katzchen,
it’s all okay. Mama doesn’t…she isn’t
going to be like the others…” Kitty
knew that by “the others,” Kurt meant the adults of the mansion.

“Ja, Kurt
is a mature person—always has been. His
father and I trust his judgment and choices completely.” The older woman moved into Kitty’s line of
vision and the girl found herself staring into Mrs. Wagner’s face. “Kurt,” the woman did not even look at her son,
so intent was she on Kitty’s face, “why don’t you go find that nice blue doctor
and tell him that Kitty is awake? Take
your time…”

‘Mama, I’d
like to stay here… I can call him on the intercom.” Kurt tightened his grip on Kitty’s hand.

“Kurt, please.”


Kitty
gulped. Oh, God. She wants me alone to yell at me for getting
Kurt in trouble. She says she doesn’t
care but she does. I’m not good enough
for her son, I get him almost-killed, I can’t even get to Chicago without
fucking it up! Kitty was aware her
ghtsghts were taking a chaotic turn but she could not stop them. Kurt and his mother were talking over her
head but Kitty was so intent on focusing herself that she did not notice when
Kurt slipped his hand out of her grip.
“Katzchen, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” A soft kiss in the chin and he was gone, leaving Kitty alone with
his mother.

“Um, hi,”
she said after several tense seconds.
Kitty stared at the IV in her right hand, pumping in saline solution to
keep her veins open. “How did I get
here?”

“You don’t
remember the robbery?” Mrs. Wagner
sounded very concerned.

“No, I
mean…sorry. I don’t want to dump this
on you. I’m just very…ashamed right
now. I don’t know how my life got like
this and I am so sorry dragdragging Kurt into it.” Kitty felt hot tears spill down her cheeks and knew that she was
a hair’s breadth from a full-on sobbing fit.

“Kitty, you
can not stop Kurt from doing anything Kurt wants to do. Haven’t you realized that by now?” The woman smiled and reached out a tentative
hand, pressin sof softly to Kitty’s cheek.
“Kurt loves you very much. He
tells us all about you every time he writes or calls home. It’s Kitty said…or Kitty did…”

“Oh…I think
I should be embarrassed…”

“Don’t be—Kurt
is a very open person and he’s never ashamed of his feelings, especially when
it comes to those he loves. May I sit
down?” She gestured to the space on the
bed that Kurt had just vacated. Kitty
nodded and his mother moved around to sit next to her, almost but not quite
touching the prone girl. “Kitty, I know
your life has been more difficult than Kurt realizes. And the doctor and the
Storm (that’s her real name?) told me about the…well, the lawsuit and that the
two of you had been caught sneaking around.”

“Sink me…”
Kitty pulled the sheets up over her face.


Mrs. Wagner
laughed a little and tugged the sheets down from the girl’s face. “I can’t say that I was not concerned about
the sex part. You two are awfully
young, but so long as you are being safe…you are safe?”

“Um, we
were. I had to stop…oh,. Lord. I had to stop taking the pill because my
parents wanted proof that we weren’t sneaking around. If I’m off the pill, no sex because I am also allergic to
latex. Can’t use condoms, really. Not most kinds.” Kitty felt radioactive.
She was sure her skin would burn to touch, she was so red. Mrs.Wagner, to her credit, merely nodded in
understanding.

“Like I
said, we trust Kurt implicitly. I think
I can move past the shock about him having sex. I knew that he would eventually, but I was just hoping it would
never be so complicated.” Mrs. Wagner
sighed and leaned back against the pillows with Kitty. “I came here to surprise him, you know.”

“He hadn’t
said anything about you coming so I guess…yeah.” Kitty still could not look at the woman.

“Kitty,
don’t be embarrassed around me. I’m
going to be here for several days and it will be awfully hard for both of us to
be around Kurt if you’re so skittish and I am wondering what I did to make you
afraid!”

“But you
know I had sex with your son!” Kitty
wailed. There was a long pause as Mrs.
Wagner stared at her, one corner of her mouth twitching. Finally, she burst into giggles. It was Kitty’s turn to stare, feeling a
strange elation bubbling in her chest. She
doesn’t hate me. Kurt’s mom doesn’t
hate me. I nearly died today and she
doesn’t hate me. Things are looking up…

“Ah,
Kitty. Time to check your vitals,
dear.” Beast lumbered into the room,
followed closely by Kurt who was holding a portable phone. “Someone needs to talk to you, by the bye.”

Mrs. Wagner
slid from the bed, smiling at her son’s mildly confused gaze; Kurt shook
himself and handed the phone to Kitty. “It’s, um, the police. They want a
statement about what happened.”

Kitty,
thermometer in her mouth, took the phone and muffled it against her
breast. “Did you give a statement
yet?”

“Yeah, told
them how the bullets missed us and everything…bad aim.”

“Ah…bad
aim…” Kitty shifted the thermometer to
the other side of her mouth, “Hello?
This is Kitty.” The man on the
other end asked her several questions and, by careful examination of Kurt’s
gestures as she answered, gave them a story similar to Kurt’s. The man thanked her for her time, telling
her that she may or may not be called as a witness should this come to
trial. Hanging up, Kitty let out a
shaky breath. “Wish I were a teep. I could have just read your mind to find out
what you said.”

“You’re
already in my head most of the time, Liebes.”
Kurt smiled wanly at her, leaning against his mother.

“Kurt, go
to bed. You’re dead on your feet.”

“Young
Mister Wagner hasn’t been to bed since late last night, nearest I can
figure. He refused to leave your side
almost the entire time you were asleep.”
Beast moved to take her blood pressure, giving both kids a disproving
glance.

“How long
was I out?” Kitty felt very disoriented
all of a sudden.

“About….six
hours. You still need to rest,
though. Dr. McCoy says you’re suffering
from exhaustion.” Mrs. Wagner gave her
son an affectionate hug before pushing him gently towards the door. “Go! I’ll still be here when you wake up.” With a mumbled good night/good morning to
Kitty, Kurt shuffled out of the door, leaving her alone with his mother and
Beast.

“When are
the Professor and Logan going to be back?”

“Late
tonight, supposedly. I had to tell them
what went on.” Beast removed the blood
pressure cuff with a snap.

“Of
course…” Kitty sighed in
frustration. “Maybe you should just
lock me in a room until my seventeenth birthday.”

‘I think
Logan suggested something similar.”
Going over her chart quickly, Beast turned sad, kind eyes to Kitty. “You’re free to go as soon as I take your IV
out. However, try and rest for the rest
of Spring Break. No cavorting to
Chicago, no sneaking around for…activities. st rst rest. You’re body is trying
to make you take it slow and any upset is likely to send you into a collapse.” At Kitty’s scared statement, Beast sighed
and closed her chart, staring at her earnestly. “Kitty, you’re under a great deal of stress right now and it
would be best if, for once, you listened to what I am telling you. Rest, stay calm, and for the love of Mike,
don’t phase for a while. If that’s too
hard for you, I can keep you down here until school starts again…”

“No,
no. I’ll…I’ll be good.” Kitty’s voice was so soft that the adults
had to strain to hear it. “Can you take
this out then?” She held out her
IV-stabbed hand to Beast, hissing as he slid the needle out of her vein and
skin.

“I’ll leave
you to get dressed. Mrs. Wagner, she
might be a little weak…do you think you could stay with her for a few minutes
in case she falls…?”

“Oh, she
doesn’t have to do that!” Kitty had
swung her legs over the edge of the bed and was swaying a little dizzily,
trying to look like she felt fine. Please
don’t stay. I’d have to talk then!

“I’ll wait
outside the door…if Kitty falls, I’ll hear her.” Bless you, Mrs. Wagner.
The adults left and Kitty stood shakily. Pants, pants, where are my pants? On the chair near the door, a small stack of
clothes awaited her. She guessed that
Kurt had chosen them since they were things he said he liked at one time or
another. Kitty was only slightly
dismayed to see that there was no underwear in the pile Fuck it. I’m going from here to my own bed. I’ll deal. Stepping into her shorts and tank top, Kitty passed a hand over
hospital-dry lips and grimaced. I
feel like the undead. Mrs. Wagner
waited for her just outside the door, eyeing her worriedly as Kitty stumbled
into the hall, gripping the doorway to balance. “Guess I’m a little weak…”
she offered shakily.

“Hmmm. That does it. I’m going to make sure you get to your room in one piece. No complaints, Kitty! Put your arm around my shoulders…one step,
two step, one step, two step…slowly!”
Mrs. Wagner led her down the hall to the elevator doors in this manner,
then down the hall to Kitty’s room.

“Um, before
we go in, I just want you to know that my room is never usually this
messy…” Kitty pushed the door open only
to find Kurt collapsed on her bed.
“Oh!” Her room was in relative
order, broken glass in one pile, clothes in another. Her nightstand had been righted and the bed pushed back to
order. Kurt had apparently collapsed on
it out of sheer exhaustion. “I’ve got
to start paying him for his—it’s the second time in a week he’s cleaned my room
for me.”

Mrs.
Wagner’s voice came out as a sigh.
“I’ll get him…he always did wear his heart on his sleeve.”

 

 

Lance stood
outside the mansion door somewhat nervously.
He had been staring at the doorknocker for ten minutes, berating himself
for the butterflies in his stomach. It’s
fuckin’ Amara, dude. Amara of the
candle wax and bondage…what’s to be nervous about? Okay, the candle wax and bondage are kind of nerve wracking ,but
that’s a good kind of nervous, not like this.
Damn. I’m turning into a pussy.
Lance raised his hand to knock again but was saved from doing so by the
door flying open, Jubilee standing defiant before him. “What the Hell are you doing here?”

“Blow,
Sparky.” Recovering his shell, Lance
shoved past Jubilee and into the front hall.


“Look,
assh I d I don’t know what the Brotherhood is trying to pull, but I don’t mean
to let ya do it here!” She flexed her
hands, energy crackling in the air around them.

“It’s none
of your business why I’m here.” Lance
willed his mutation into submission, fighting the urge to let the ground open
under Jubilee’s feet. “Where’s Amara?”

“Probably
still puking her guts out.” Remy had
executed an experiment that morning, preparing coffee, bacon, eggs, waffles and
sausage, making sure to put a huge dish of each food and a large cup of coffee
down right near Amara as she nibbled on her dry cereal. Within moments, the girl leapt to hert
at
and ran to the downstairs bathroom.
Remy had given Jubilee a “see, told ya so!” look before chowing down on
the breakfast himself. Jubilee had looked it up on the internet—pregnant women
were often made ill by smells such as the foods Remy had prepared. Reminder: Ask Remy just how he knows all
this about morning sickness…

“She’s
still sick?” A faint trace of worry
danced across Lance’s face, somewhat surprising Jubilee before his expression
settled back into unconcerned lines. “Must
be breathing all this geek-soaked air.”

“Or I’m
allergic to you.” Amara was walking slowly down the stairs, bracing herself
against the railing. Jubilee took two
steps as if to help her but a sharp glance from both Lance and Amara stopped
her.

“Okay—it’s
your funeral…” The Nova Roman seemed
weak and Jubilee guessed that even she herself would be after not having had a
decent meal in several days. “So…what’s
going on here?”

“Date.”
They both answered at once. Jubilee
raised her eyebrows and mouthed “date?” to herself. Amara glared at her, finally reaching the landing. “Yes, a date. You know, two people with at least a faint attraction to each
other going out to enjoy the other’s company?
A date.”

“I don’t
trust the two of you…”

“Good. Move.”
Lance seized Amara’s upper arm and dragged her past an agog
Jubilee. He led Amara to his car,
parked on the front lawn with disregard for the lines of the driveway. “What happened
to the pillar?”

“Long
story…” Amara herself had heard the
story third hand from eavesdropping on Remy who had talked to Scott earlier
that day. “Where we going?”

“Out.”

“Out?” A distinct roiling in her stomach made Amara
tremble. “Not too far, huh? May be ill again.”

Lance had
turned onto the main road outside the mansion’s gates and was heading towards
the remote area on the north end of Bayville where teenagers were known to go
and neck. At Amara’s statement, he
slammed on the brakes mid-turn and whipped to face the girl. “You on the rag yet?”

“Excuse
me?!?” Amara leaned back as far as she
could, demanding through body language that he not come any closer.

“Since the
first time we…were together, you been on the rag?”

“First of
all, thank you for putting it so crudely.
Second, it’s barely been two weeks.
If you must know, my monthly is not due for another week.” Through sheer will, Amara avoided
blushing.

Lance sat
back shakily and put the car into gear. “We’re going into town. You’re getting one of those pee-tests.”

“What?”

“The pee on
a stick things. Make sure you’re
not.”

“I cannot
begin to tell you how offended I am.”

“Fuck it,
Amara. If you’re knocked up, we’re
gonna have to take care of it.” Lance
was speeding into town proper, blowing past stop signs and traffic lights to
park in the Wal Mart parking lot.

Amara glared at him with acid in
her eyes. “I am not going in
there. I have never set foot in Wal
Mart in my life and I do not intend to start now.”

Lance beat his fist gently against
the steering wheel before letting out a pent-up breath. When he spoke, his voice bore none of the
cocky self assurance as was his usual tone.
“Amara, I’m not asking you to buy an outfit or makeup or something. I’m honestly freaking out here and I just
can’t see how you’re not.” He dug in
his wallet for a handful of bills.
“Here. The pharmacy is on the
right when you go in. Past the pet
section and next to the auto parts. Just get one and come back out. I’ll wait here.”

“Why
do you get to wait here? What if I see
someone I know?”

“What
if I see someone I know? Or we
both know? Besides, your uterus. You get the test.” Lance shoved the money at her and backed away hastily as Amara’s
eyes flashed fire.

“Fine. I get the test but I’m not taking it in front of you.” Amara flung herself from the car, slamming
the door on whatever Lance had been about to say. Her steps slowed as she
reached the pharmacy section, the array of personal products somewhat
startling. How does Storm know what
to get us? Why would anyone want wings
on those things? She counted the
money Lance had shoved at her and found the pregnancy tests, choosing the
cheapest one out of necessity rather than go with her first impulse to choose
the most expensive (that must mean it’s the best one) test. The rack of birth control stood nearby,
ironic in its positioning. Calculating
quickly how much change she would have from the purchase of the test, Amara
grabbed a small box of condoms without reading thckagckage, her face suffusing
with unbearable heat. She could not look
at the clerk as she checked out, so sure was she that a light would suddenly
come on and klaxons would sound, pointing out the potentially pregnant teenager
with the rubbers. Lance was hunched
over the wheel when she returned to the car.
“I’m never going in there again.”

“You get it?”

“Yes. And
these.” She tossed the condoms onto his
lap, along with his change. He picked
them up and laughed aloud.

“Ribbed?”

“Shut up and
drive.”

 

Kitty dropped yet
another dish and watched it disappear into the soapy depths of the sink. Damn.
Kurt’s voice drifted to her from the table where he sat with his
mother. “Liebes? Do you need help?” Kitty shook her head at him, too tired to speak clearly. “You sure? I don’t mind…”

“You’ve already done enough for me
Kurt—you didn’t have to clean up my room earlier, you know.” Kitty leaned heavily against the counter and
fished out the errant plate. “Besides,
this is the last one. I think I may go
lay down, if that’s okay with everyone.”


“Do you need help getting upstairs? Kurt…”
Mrs. Wagner was prodding her son to stand, but Kitty waved her politely
down.

“I think I’m just going to crash in
the rec room for a while. Sort of a nap
before I go to bed…” It was just past
seven thirty and the other mutants in the mansion could be heard coming and
going, somewhat more subdued than usual due to the guest in the house. Kitty put the plate into the drain board and
accepted a quick peck on the cheek from Kurt before blushing madly and trudging
to the rec room. She could hear Kurt
and his mother talking softly in the kitchen and wondered to herself what it
would be like to have a family that was not trying to self-destruct. Kitty rolled to face the back of the couch,
curling into a fetal position. This is so surreal. Here we are, coming and going like nothing is
wrong and I watched a man die less than twenty four hours ago. We’re probably going to have yet another
legal tangle to deal with and Logan and the Professor are going to eviscerate
Kurt, if not me, too. A door
slammed down the hall, making Kitty jump in startlement. I’m so tired…will I ever get enough
sleep? I don’t think that relaxant wore
off yet… Kitty tried to curl
tighter into her position but found she had an uncomfortable full bladder. Can I get to sleep anyway? Hell.
Guess not. Even my own body
won’t let me rest today. She rolled
off the couch and onto her feel, forcing herself to walk straight, and headed
towards the downstairs bathroom. Locked. Shit.
Rapping softly on the door, Kitty called out “Hey, who’s in there?” No response, so she knocked again. “Hello?
Like, I have to pee something fierce here!” A long moment passed and Kitty’s bladder sounded an alarm. ”Look, I’m coming in!” What Beast doesn’t know, he can’t yell at
me for…She closed her eyes against rising nausea and phased into the
bathroom. When she opened her eyes
again, silently swearing that she would never disobey doctor’s orders again,
the sight that greeted her stopped Kitty in her tracks. Amara sat huddled by the toilet, clutching a
white stick in her hands. What the…

“Does it say what I think it
does?” Amara’s voice was creaking and
Kitty’s heart swelled in painful sympathy as she took the test stick from
Amara, searching for the direction sheet.
Finding it, Kitty eyed the pictographs (One line for negative, two
for positive. What if there are no lines?) and compared them to the test
stick. Amara rose to her knees and
strained to see what Kitty was doing.
“Well?”

“Amara, you’re pregnant.”

 

 

 

 

 

 



[1] Shameless
Alice in Wonderland reference. Trip and
a half, those books are…