Moment

Three years later:

Kitty Pryde was walking out of the library at The University of Illinois Chicago when she first saw the silver Bentley parked in the handicapped space near the bottom of the steps. She bid her friend to go to lunch without her and approached. She didn't need to guess who was inside. The back window was open and a familiar face was smiling at her.

"Hello Kitty." Xavier smiled at her from inside the dark interior.

"You know you're the only one who has ever been able to say that without breaking into laughter or jokes about the stupid 'Hello Kitty' toys," she said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

"It's good to see you, my dear." He said warmly. He clasped her hand through the window and she leaned in, planting a kiss on his cheek. "May we take you to dinner?"

"Best offer I've had all week," she replied, as Logan got out of the driver's seat with a big smile and walked around to embrace her in an adamantium-laced hug. He opened the front passenger door for her and offered her a hand. She took it formally, chuckling at his suit and driver's cap. She guessed that they must have been traveling incognito. She buckled her seatbelt and Logan drove the large car off campus and into the city. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected, yet completely welcome visit?"

"I'm afraid that I must ask your help on a very delicate matter." The Professor was always proper and polite.

"I always told you that I'd help you if you needed me," Kitty replied, turning in her seat to look at her former teacher and mentor. "How can I be of assistance?"

"College life too tame for ya, half-pint?" Logan growled from under his cap. "Lookin' for a little action?"

"Things have been very…normal here," Kitty answered truthfully. "I have to say I'm really glad you came to ask." She looked out the car window and noticed their location. "We're in my neighborhood."

"I know," Xavier said. "We needed a place to speak privately and I'm afraid that if you do choose to help us on this assignment that you'll both need to leave tonight."

"Logan and me?"

"Nope," the Canadian answered. "You and the suddenly silent elf." Kifeltfelt herself break into a cold sweat. Her eyes scanned the backseat more slowly. The specially tinted windows allowed little light to penetrate, and she hadn't even noticed. Now Xavier turned on the overhead light and revealed Kurt Wagner seated beside him, one ankle resting casually on tppospposite knee.

"Hello," he said with a polite smile.

"I didn't see you there," Kitty said quietly. "My instincts must be way off."

"Too much easy living," Logan piped in. "Betcha haven't been keepin' up with your workouts either."

"For your information I go to the gym a couple of times every week, but I have to go when it's not very crowded. People tend to get curious when someone has an unusually aggressive fighting style and works in Physics."

"Does anyone know you're a mutant?" Xavier asked. Kitty nodded.

"My roommate does, but she doesn't care. She's got one in her family."

"James Porter." Xavier said, nodding. “Breathes underwater.” Kitty wasn't surprised that he knew of tof this already. He was nothing if he wasn't a thorough researcher. Logan parked near her building and she got out. She went to the trunk with Logan and got out the Professor's wheelchair. They went up the elevator to Kitty's apartment. She was on a full scholarship but had opted to live off-campus with a roommate instead of in the dorms where she was in much more danger of discovery.

Sherry, Kitty's roommate, was still at class so they had the place to themselves. She eyed the dirty dishes that were piled up in the sink self-consciously. She didn't look at Kurt directly but invited the group to relax in her living room. Logan sprawled in the most comfortable chair immediately and lit up a cigar. Once out of the car, Kurt had turned on his image inducer and now looked fairly normal.

"So how can this humble college student assist Charles Xavier and his team?" Kitty tried to sound light-hearted but Kurt's presence unnerved her. Xavier, for all his wisdom and perception, misread her signals.

"I know that this is short notice and that leaving school right now would be an inconvenience for you, but there is a mission that requires a bit of precision and your particular talents." He indicated Kurt and Kitty both with the statement. Kurt just nodded from the back of the couch where he was currently perched.

"Think yer up to the challenge?" Logan asked with a smirk. "Or have you gotten too soft on pizza and beer?" He poked at her side teasingly and she swatted at him.

"Take you on any day, old man," she said smugly. "I've been coming up with my own stuff."

"Kitty, don't take Logan's comments as a challenge. I don't want you to take this mission as a need to prove anything." Xavier gave the Canadian a stern look. "You've more than proven yourself on countless occasions to be bright, strong, capable and trustworthy." Kurt made an almost imperceptible movement Just the tiniest arch of an eyebrow and twist of the mouth. She saw it out of the corner of her eye. He didn't want her along. He was hoping she'd turn it down. He didn't know her very well.

Kitty waited patiently while Xavier explained what he needed from them both and then waited for her answer. It was a mission to enter a military compound in Nevada, free the mutants who were being held, steal the research material that they had in their computers and trash the place on the way out. He needn't have bothered. She would have walked into certain death if he'd asked her. She owed him everything that was good in her life because he'd made it bearable for her to be Kitty Pride, teenager, woman, Jew, Mutant.

"I'm in." She said. "I'll just need to arrange a suitable excuse to get out of classes."

"Allow me to handle that." Xavier said, politely. "I'll just insert a few conversations with your professors about a relative who has recently passed away and that you need to leave town for a few days. Hopefully this will be resolved soon."

"What should I pack?"

"Just bring your uniform, a change of comfortable clothes, and whatever personal items you might need," Xavier answered. "But I did promise you dinner so we'll go out and have a bite to eat before flying to Nevada."

He turned to Kurt. "Logan and I will return to the car, to make arrangements for travel and lodging," he said. "Would you fill Kitty in on the finer points and bring her down when she's packed?"

"Certainly." Kurt didn't move from his perch on the couch until Logan and the Professor had left. Then he climbed down from the back of the couch. “Long time,” he said, standing in front of her.

“Still hate me?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Just so we’re on the same page.” She turned and went into the bedroom and picked up her suitcase. “So fill me in.”

“We’re staying at a hotel just outside of Las Vegas and we’ll be waiting for Logan to give us the word on when to move on the compound.”

“Can you manage to work with me?”

“Am I walking into an ambush?”

“Ouch.”

“It’s a worthy question,” Kurt said with a shrug. Kitty stepped into the bathroom to change into a skirt and blouse. She emerged a few tes tes later. “Well?”

“No, and you don’t even have to tell me where it is before we go in case you’re afraid I’ll have Alvers waiting for you.”

“What did he have on you?” Kurt asked, folding his arms across his chest. “Toad said he had something on you to make you set me up.”

“It would make it easier on me if he did,” she replied. “How would you feel?” Kurt frowned. “Just leave things as they are. We were friends, I betrayed you, we parted ways on my bedroom floor and I left.” She continued to pack but her defensive tone didn't match the flash of pain he caught in her eye.

“I went to see Alvers the next day at the hospital.” Kitty didn’t even blink. “He wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“No kidding?” Kitty didn’t look surprised. “You actually put him in the hospital?”

“I know you saw Alvers before you left town. And he actually seemed afraid. Why don’t you just tell me?”

“Because there’s nothing to tell." She looked very uncomfortable. "Just go on hating me, I’m used to it by now and I can work wiou iou in spite of it. Can you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then.” She shut her suitcase and carried it out the front door. He followed and she locked it behind them. “Do you snore?”

“I guess you’ll find out.”

Logan sat next to Kitty on the flight to Nevada and spared her a couple of glances. She didn't say much, she just read over the dossiers on some of the scientists the Professor believed were in the compound. She didn't look at Kurt if she could avoid it.

"What happened with you and the elf?" Logan asked. Kitty had been waiting for the question. She glanced up from the file she had.

"Nothing, why?" She returned her gaze to the papers.

"Because you took off in the middle of the night with nothing but an email to Hank and the Professor to explain that you'd gone home." A small flash of hurt showed on his face. "Nothing to me."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Logan," Kitty said. "Things just happen sometimes and I needed to be at home." She paused. "And why would it have anything to do with Kurt?"

"Because you two were inseperable one minute and not speaking the next." He put a finger under her chin and turned her face to his. "He was in some serious pain and wouldn't talk to anyone. Ynow now Chuck wouldn't read any minds without permission so no one ever knew what had happened. When you realized he was in the car you started sweating."

"Leave the past where it is," Kitty said. "Please."

"For now."

The Blackbird landed at a small, private airport and a rental car was waiting for Kitty and Kurt. They drove to their hotel in virtual silence. Kitty asked a few questions about the mission which Kurt answered if he could.

They arrived at the hotel and Kurt checked them in with his image inducer on. Once they were settled in a room that had ample workspace, but only one bed, Kitty went out to pick up some sandwiches from a shop down the street. She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the dry, suffocating air. She hated the desert, even at night. When she returned with the sandwiches and cold sodas, Kurt thanked her politely and devoured his without another glance at her then she opened her suitcase and pulled out her toiletries. She went into the bathroom, telling Kurt she was going to wash up and go to bed.

Kitty checked all possible hiding places for the giant spiders that she'd heard lived in the desert and, satisfied that there were none, undressed and turned on the shower. She soaped herself all over, then went through her nightly regime of shaving, shampooing, conditioning followed by drying and lotioning. She clipped her nails, filed them and buffed them. When she emerged from the bathroom, Kurt didn't glance up from where he was looking over the files, he just teleported directly into the bathroom and shut the doorsoonsoon as she'd cleared the threshold.

"Took your verdamdt time," he grumped through the door. Kitty just took the opportunity to drop her soggy towel over the back of one of the chairs and dig through her suitcase for her nightgown. As she slipped it over her head, she had an odd sense of deja-vu. She hadn't realized when she'd bought this gown that it was very similar to the one her mother had given her. It was a little longer and made of silk, not satin. Now she was freshly showered, wearing the pink nightie again and waiting with an anticipatory flutter in her stomach for Kurt. They were going to fight at some point. It was only a matter of time. She pulled back the covers and slid under the sheets, propping herself up on some pillows in order to study the files.

Kurt came out of the bathroom and went back to the spot he'd been before. He wore a t-shirt and shorts and the steam that billowed out behind him indicated that he'd had a shower too. They'd beeadinading in silence for a few minutes when Kitty's communicator beeped. She slipped out of bed and picked it up from the coffee table.

"Yes?"

"Shadowcat, it's Wolverine."

"We're here," she said. "What's up?"

"We've been watching the place and it looks like it'll be a while before we can get in, probably hours if not a whole day. You two might as well get some rest while you can."

"Thanks, I'll pass it on," Kitty said, breaking the connection. "Wolverine says we're to get some rest since it'll be a while before--" she stopped when she saw his expression. He was staring at her with some surprise and anger in his expression. "Nightcrawler?"

"Is this some kind of joke?" His voice was icy. "Why did you bring that?" He gestured vaguely at the front of her.

"For sleeping," Kitty replied, annoyed at having to explain herself. "That's the general idea."

"No it isn't," Kurt snapped. "Women don't actually wear pink silky things to sleep in. They wear them for…other reasons."

"Oh, so now you're a telepath?"

"Cut it out."

"Kiss my ass, Fuzzy," she snapped back. "I wear this all the time because I happen to like the feeling of silk while I sleep." She started walking toward him slowly, anger radiating off her with each step. "I also like the color pink, I always have, and that hasn't changed in three years. I didn't buy it for this mission, and I didn’t buy it for you; I just packed it so don't go getting any ideas." She was in front of him now and swept him with a blistering look. "I'd like to keep this one intact." She clenched her jaw to try and keep back more angry words. She understood why he was upset and after a few deep breaths she looked him in the eye. "I wear what I wear for me now, not for your benefit anymore."

"Are you saying that you wore the other one for me?"

"I'm not saying anything at all to you. If you want the truth, it really doesn't matter if I was being blackmailed or not. I still made the choices I did." She turned on her heel and walked back to the bed, slipping under the covers and tossing her file on the bedside table.

Kitty picked up the remote control. Kurt went to the other side of the bed and took it away from her.
"Survivor is on," she said.

"We're working together now and we need to get this cleared up before we go into a dangerous situation."

"You mean because you don’t trust me?"

"You let me walk into a trap before."

"I won't do it this time."

"Why should I believe you?"

"If you didn't believe me, you wouldn't be here. You'd have told the Professor about it long ago." Kitty sat up and faced him. "I'm surprised that you didn't tell him about it when I left."

"What would have been the point?" he asked. "You weren't there to be a possible threat to anyone. Besides, we…settled things afterward."

"Is that what it's called these days?" Kitty whispered.

"What label would you have put on it?" Kurt asked, brushing her cheek with a fingertip. "It wasn't making love." He caught her chin with his. "That night, on the floor, why didn't you fight me?"

"Maybe I wanted you." He held her chin but she kept her eyes downcast.

"You never wanted me."

"Keep telling yourself that if it gives you some Catholic guilt." She turned her face away. "For the record, I only lied to you on that one day."

"I don't believe you."

"I-I guess I didn't expect you to."

"Then why say it?"

"Beats me. Maybe I like hearing myself talk." She threw her hands up, getting frustrated. "Either way, this isn't ever going to be resolved to either person's satisfaction because you can't bring yourself to accept the truth."

"That sounds stupid," Kurt said. "Chastising me for not believing the truth about a lie." He shook his head. "I know you lied about the meeting at the field, so why shouldn't I doubt every word you've ever said to me."

"Xavier lied to you once and you still trust him."

"He had his reasons."

"So did I." She ran her hands through her hair. "But I didn't say they were good."

"What were they?"

"My reasons remain mine. That night cost me more than you will ever understand." She started to turn away and roll off the bed but Kurt caught her shoulders and hauled her back. He kissed her without thinking. He didn't say it out loud, but he should have kissed her on the mouth when he went to her room. He'd been as insensitive as possible, denying her his lips. Now he ravished her mouth with kisses that she responded to. She didn't push him away or try to leave his embrace.

"Tell me to stop, this time," he rasped. "Fight me, phase away, anything. Just stop me from doing this again." He was already pulling her nightgown over her head. She lifted her arms and said nothing in protest. She rested her hands on his shoulders and allowed him to tilt her head back and rain kisses on her neck and shoulders. He moved his callused hands over her breasts, feeling her nipples hard against his palm. "Please," he whispered against her lips.

"Please what?" Kitty asked. Kurt's answer was to pull his own shirt off and push her backwards. She didn't protest as he dragged her panties down her legs and discarded them. Her hair was spread out on the pillow behind her. Her arms lay at her sides and she watched him with expressionless eyes. She was flushed and her breathing was a little fast but when he covered her body with his and brought a hand between her legs, she made no sound of protest or welcome.

"Please don't let me do it." He pressed a thick finger inside her and heard a sharp intake of breath.

"I won't stop you, Kurt."

"But you don't want it." She was moist around his finger and he felt a tremor go through her. She remained silent. With a curse, he pushed himself up and away from her, disgusted with himself. "Go to sleep, I'll take the chair."

Kitty observed him for a moment before turning over on her side, not bothering with blankets, her skin was heated from their actions and she liked the air-conditioned coolness that washed over her. She tucked an arm under her head and stared at the wall. She couldn't have answered him. He thought she was a liar and wouldn't believe her words. For just a moment, they'd been touching and he'd let down his guard enough for her to see how much he'd cared for her before and how much pain he was in now.

It was three in the morning when the communicator beeped again. Kitty answered it in the dark. She didn't hear him but she could feel the warmth of Kurt's body behind her as he waited for her to finish her conversation. It was time to move. The compound was as empty as it was going to get and it looked as if preparations were being made for the facility to move.

Kitty slipped silently into her black pants and shirt. She laced up knee-high boots and braided her hair tightly. Kurt was dressed before her and waiting. When she had tucked a couple of mini discs into one of the cargo pockets and pulled on her gloves she nodded to Kurt. He placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezed briefly and teleported them to the rendez-vous point that he and Logan had agreed upon earlier. He made it in a couple of teleports, landing outside a chain-link fence.

"Welcome to the party." Logan's voice came out of the darkness behind them. He stepped out of the bushes and beckoned. He handed them their ear pieces to stay in contact with each other if necessary, but they each had their assignments and it would be unlikely that they w nee need to speak aloud since Xavier was there, in their minds. Kitty focused on the mission and put her personal feelings aside for the moment. She would need to phase them five hundred feet to the first level and she would need to focus. She couldn’t breathe when she was phasing through a solid object because there was no air. Her timing would need to be perfect.

Logan showed them the spot Kurt and Kitty had studied on the map of the underground facility. They would end up in one of the outer store rooms and she would go to the computer mainframe while he went for the prisoners. Xavier had the jet waiting for the rescued mutants. It was far enough away that he doubted anyone would be able to find it without help.
Kitty stepped into Kurt’s arms and took a deep breath. He did the same and they began to fall at a rapid pace through the earth. There wasn’t anything to see so he didn’t keep his eyes open. When

Kitty brought them out of their phased state they were in the storage room surrounded by dusty boxes. She took Kurt’s hand and brought him through the door with her. They went to find the imprisoned mutants first. There was a large room that Logan had pointed out to them that had cells lining the sides. Kitty ran along the rows, dragging her hand through all of the locks, disabling them and then she waved jauntily as she went though the door where they'd entered. There were few people guarding the halls and she felt a little uneasy about it. She knocked one man out and took his radio to listen for any sign of detection. The fact that no alarms had been set off by the release of the prisoners made her uncomfortable. She sprinted down the west corridor and her apprehension grew when there was no sign of anyone to stop her.

Kurt reached the first bed in the first cell and reached out a tentative hand. The still form under the blanket wasn't moving. But it wasn't relaxed either, it was tense, waiting.

"Trap!" Kurt shouted, both out loud to Kitty through their comlink, and mentally, to the Professor.

"I know." Came the reply. Kurt leapt out of the cell and into the center of the room when all of the lights turned on in the room. There were at least twenty men, all armed, surrounding him. There was no sign of the mutants, but he was definitely in a lab of some kind. "Get out, I'm still going for the computers."

"I'm not leaving you here," Kurt snarled in reply. "Where are you?" All of the weapons were pointed at him now and a man in a white lab coat stepped out of an office on the balcony that ran the length of the room. Probably for observing from a safe distance. He recognized the man. Trask.

Kitty had immobilized several guards and was now at the main computer. Xavier fed her the password from the mind of one of the techs and she inserted the disk, despite his protests for her retreat.

~I'm castrating these pricks~ She snapped back, mentally. ~Getting really tired of the whole Joseph Mengele act going on again~ The contents of the disk were a simple program that she'd spent over six months completing. It was one that was essentially designed to rape and pillage the hard drives of any system it entered. Hacking would have taken more time, but with the password it was going to be easy. She opened a link and began feeding the data to the computer on the black bird.

~Kurt may need help~

~On my way~ She knocked out the man she'd been holding ran through the door, stopping briefly at one of the guard's unconscious bodies. She smiled to herself as a new plan entered her head.

"I'm coming to you, Kurt."

Kurt teleported to the top of the balcony where he reached for Trask. He knew that as long as he was close to the scientist, no one would shoot. He attacked the soldiers guarding the man at close range. More would be there shortly, but for now he focused his energy on getting to Trask. The man shrank back from him and he teleported behind him, wrapping an arm around the man's neck. A shock went through him, making his fur stand on end and forcing a shout from his lips. Trask leapt away from him and three soldiers siezed Kurt's arms, bringing them painfully up behind his back.

"Where are the mutants?" Kurt asked, his muscles trembling from the voltage that had shot through him.

"They've been moved." Trask said, removing Kurt's ear piece and delivering another shock. Kurt would be unable to touch him without receiving another painful burst of energy. "Now why don't you tell me where your young lady friend is." Just as he asked, an alarm went off above his head.

"I'm guessing she's close."

"Don't tell me that skinny little bitch got past your guards!" Trask roared at the head of security, denoted by more medals. Kurt waited, he wouldn't leave without Kitty, but since she knew where he was and he wasn't in any danger he couldn't handle at the moment he stayed put. Trask shrieked with rage when the lights flickered and the screens of every monitor within sight went blank before popping back on with the image of a horned helmet, much like the Vikings wore, and white letterppedpped up on the screen.

"You've been pillaged." In spite of himself, Kurt smiled. Definitely not one of the Professor's programs. "Lock this place down!" He snarled at the security man who began barking orders into his radio.

"What do you want me to do with this one?" The soldier asked, shoving Kurt forward onto his knees. Trask gave him a scathing look and Kurt prepared to teleport down to the floor.

"Let him go." The words came from Kitty's mouth. She was standing behind Trask. The man's face was a mask of white. She’d melted out of the wall and was now whispering in his ear. "Your men can't shoot me because I'm intangible. And if they don't release my friend right now I'm going to let go of the grenade I'm holding in your stomach. There's just enough empty space here."

"Let him go." Trask's voice was barely above a whisper. Kurt felt the hand on his shoulders move away and he stood as the soldiers backed off per Kitty's orders. "Okay, he's free." The scientist was sweating. "Now take it out."

"Give me one good reason to not drop it," she hissed at him. "Men like you make me sorry that humans don’t eat their young." Her lips were close to his ear. "I know that as soon as we leave you'll be even more determined to hunt down and kill or maim mutants for your little experiments. Why should I let you do that when I have a fine opporunity right here? All I have to do is let go."

"Kitty, we need to leave," Kurt said, walking forward.

"Coming," she said, pleasantly. "Take us to the mutants." She demanded.
The little box he wore on his belt that gave him the force field that had repelled Kurt was gone so the young mutant took Trask's arm. She'd phased through the device, before putting her hand into him. He took them down the stairs and to a plain, unmarked door. Kitty shoved him through it, phasing him briefly. Inside the room behind the door were a dozen people, ranging in age from early adolescence to mid thirties. They were all lying, limp on the floor, drugged in a stupor. Kurt immediately grabbed the nearest three people and disappeared in a puff of smoke. In less than a minute he had the room evacuated. Kitty kept her hand in Trask's stomach e she she waited.
When Kurt returned, she removed her hand and the grenade before hitting him on the back of the neck, knocking him to his knees.

"Don't kill me," he begged.

"I'm not going to kill you just now," she said when Kurt placed and arm on her shoulder. "I will kidnap you, though." Kurt teleported them directly to the small, holding cell in the back of the plane where they dropped the scientist. He looked a little sick from the ride and the feeling of having a hand in his stomach. Kurt stepped back while Kitty approached him.

“Just so we understand each other Trask, if you should end up free again, find another way to spend your time or I’ll come for you. Your walls can be as thick as you want, but I’ll still get to you. And I will kill you next time.” She turned around and walked out of the cell. Kurt fell into step beside her and without looking at him she spoke. "When I saw Lance in the hospital I told him i do to him wI saI said I'd do to Trask if he ever gave up any information on me." She walked past him and buckled into her seat beside Logan who was flying. Xavier went into the back with Kurt to see to the former prisoners.

“You okay, half-pint?” he asked. She nodded. “Pretty tough words for Trask.”

“I don’t have claws to brandish,” she replied, putting on the headset and going through pre-flight checks. “Someone had to say something.”

“Why did you threaten Lance and when did the Elf put him in the hospital?”

“You and your fucking ears.” She mumbled.

“I get that a lot.”

“It was a long time ago and I’m not going to talk about it.” She glared at him. “I know you value your privacy so I’ll ask you o respect mine.”

“Fine,” he said, bringing the jet into the air. “So tell me about this program of yours that pillages with the enthusiasm and subtlety of a group of marauding Vikings.”