Constant Craving

CONSTANT CRAVING CHAPTER TWENTY (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather and Ted have an iridescent dolphin that Kristen and Lucas tend to every day. Foxfeather also rocks super much for beta-ing! :) InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are shiny happy people for archiving. Vampyre: A coffin! It is a coffin!!! Readers/Reviewers: The ducks are tired of Gilbert and Sullivan and have resorted to burlesque. A tad disturbing to see a duck in a G-String and pasties, dancing to "Sweet Georgia Brown"... The killer kitties and marauding paltypi have issues with this turn of events however and are massing an attack on the sound booth.


_Folks, here's a story about Minnie the Moocher, she was red hot hoochie coocher. She was the roughest, toughest frail, but Minnie had a heart as big as a whale. Hidey-hidey-hidey-ho...1 Hey....is that Rogue? Pretty Rogue...My Rogue... My chest feels like Blob's standing on it. Why does it hurt so much? _
"Is he going to be okay?" Rogue was desperate to grab Todd's hand but resisted, tucking her hands under her arms. The ambulance had been kyboshed in favor of Logan driving. Beast had a friend at Bayville General who was mutant-friendly and had arranged to meet them there and expedite them through the paperwork, avoiding the hassle of questions from those who might think Todd looked strange or question his state.
Beast sighed and checked Todd's vitals again, feeling his neck for a pulse, counting silently. He merely looked sadly at Rogue, his eyes all the answer she needed.
"What's wrong with him? Was it a heart attack?" Jean was sitting in the front, next to Logan, doing her best to make traffic lights change but finding it did not quite work the way she had hoped.
"I'm not sure, Jean," Beast finally rumbled. "His vitals were fine this morning then out of no where, it's like his heart just....short circuited."
"Did it stop?" Rogue asked bluntly. "Did he die?"
"It did stop, that's why I used the paddles on him. Right now, he's breathing on his own but it's hard for him...he needs to be checked out and have tests run."
"How long will he be at the hospital?" Rogue gave into temptation then, resting her hand on his jean-clad leg.
"There's no tellin', darlin'," Logan said kindly. "We have to wait and see."
Rogue sighed again and bowed her head. So softly that only Logan could hear her, she said "This is all my fault."

Kurt held tight to Kitty's hands, all former worries momentarily forgotten. It had been decided that Jean, Rogue, Beast and Logan would be the only ones accompanying Todd to the hospital. "The fewer people, the better," the Professor had intoned.
"Why Jean?" Scott asked.
"Rogue seems to be leaning on her at the moment," came the answer. Indeed, since she had arrived in Todd's curtained hospital area in time to see Beast using the shock paddles on her boyfriend, Rogue had not let Jean out of her site, even going so far as to cling to her arm when the red head tried to go use the phone.
Scott was not happy with this turn of events but tried his best to let it go. Instead, he flung himself down on the settee in the study, scowling at the world and arms crossed over his chest. Kitty said blandly, "You're acting like a brat, you know."
"Katzc.." .." Kurt squeezed her hands warningly. "Don't pick at him," he murmured.
Scott snorted. "Kitty, anyone else and I'd have some harsh words, but you...you just can't see what's going on."
Kurt tensed. He fully expected an outburst from Kitty but was rather surprised when she chuckled and said with faint humor "Scott, I love you like a brother, you know that? Like an older, dorky, loudmouthed brother..."
"Hey!" Scott was on his feet and towering over Kitty, still scowling but now his hands were on his hips.
"Back off, Summers," Kurt growled, coming around Kitty to push Scott back with one hand to the older boy's chest.
"Sweetie, calm down..." Kitty swept Kurt's hands away from Scott and turned to her ersatz brother. "Scott, listen. I don't know what's going on with you lately but I would really like it if you'd calm down."
"Excuse me?" Scott's brow furrowed. "Calm down?"
Kitty sighed in exasperation. "Look, it's not all your fault, but all this...this mayhem going on lately...you're kind of the catalyst for a lot of it. Think about it." She took hold of Kurt's hand and phased through the floor before Scott could reply, raising her eyebrow at the older boy's startled expression. Kurt 'ported them as soon as they cleared the floor, setting them both in the foyer. "Greck. I'm still not used to that..." Kitty mumbled, one hand pressed to her mouth in an effort to step the nausea.
"Poor Liebes," Kurt sighed, tugging her ponytail. "I make you sick..." He frowned sadly. "You're too good for me."
"Stop being so melodramatic," she sighed theatrically. "You don't make me sick." She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him soundly. "You make me anything but sick..."
"But you're still mad at me," he stated plainly.
"Not mad..." she rolled her shoulders, trying to relieve the sudden tension, "just...hurt."
"Can you think of a way for me to...to get back in your good graces?" He tugged her hand and led her to the low bench near the front door, littered with Bobby and St John's roller blade pads and Rahne's books. He held her hands tightly and said sotto voce, "I'd do anything..."
"Kurt, sweetheart, don't make yourself crazy over this. Don't make yourself a slave to apologizing," Kitty said with a great dof tof tenderness and no small amount of self pity over making him thusly. "Just give me a little while to heal, okay?"
"How long is a little while?"
"I'll let you know..." She smiled beatifically and pulled his head to her shoulder. "I think, in a few days, things will look better."
"Oh?" The hope in his own voice made him cringe. "How do you figure?"
"I know something...well, a few somethings...are coming that will make you happy."
Kurt tilted his chin to look at her. "_You _ make me happy, Schatz."
Kitty felt a wash of giddy pleasure come over her. "Kurt..." she said tremulously. Even when she was hurt, even when she was mad, he could still make her feel like a thousand butterflies were dancing in her stomach. He reached up and pressed one palm to her cheek, drawing her face to his and kissing her softly on the lips. Kitty sighed and returned the embrace, twinning her fingers in his hair in an effort to prolong the kiss. He parted his lips under her ministrations, Kitty's tongue darting into his waiting mouth. He groaned softly, making her hands tighten where they rested against his head and neck. Kurt arched against her convulsively, torso brushing torso as he reached to draw her legs across his lap. Kitty felt her mind dissolving into a pleasant pink mush and knew she had to break away. "I can't..." she whispered into his kiss.
Kurt froze and the pulled away slowly, almost painfully. "I know..." he said in a normal tone, his voice unnaturally loud in the otherwise quiet foyer. "I shouldn't have..."
Kitty pressed her fingers over his mouth, feeling the points of his fangs pressing against her skin. "Don't even say it...This is in no way something you need to beat yourself up for. In fact," she said, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips, "if I hear, see or suspect that you're wallowing in self pity, I'll never dance for you again."
Kurt's eyes widened but he wisely remained silent. After a moment, he nodded and Kitty removed her silencing fingers. "So does that mean you'll dance for me again if I stay good?"
Kitty smiled full-on then. Rising and strolling away with an extra sway in her hips, she tossed back over heruldeulder, "We'll see!"
Kurt groaned to himself then but felt a spark of hope in the bleak sea that had somehow replaced his soul over the past several hours. Things are going to get better, he thought to himself. The front door flew open then, Amara striding purposefully through it and up the stairs without shutting it behind her. "Hey, were you born in a barn?2" Kurt called, reaching out to shut the door.
There was a meaty thud followed by an "Ow!"
"Vas?" Kurt jumped back, startled by both the impact and the shout.
Lance shoved the door back and stepped into the foyer, nose trickling blood and eyes snapping. "What the Hell are you trying to do? Demolish my face? Haven't you done enough?" he whined, pressing one hand to the bridge of his nose.
"I'm sorry, Lance," Kurt said honestly. "I didn't mean to."
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. Turning his back to Kurt, he called "AMARA!!!" from the foot of the stairs. "Amara! Come down here now!"
"Yelling isn't going to help," her voice drifted back down the stairs.
Lance opened his mouth to yell again but the distinct sound of a door slamming made his jaw snap shut. Still pinching the bridge of his nose to stem the flow of blood, he sighed "Shit."
Kurt could not fight the well of sympathy that rose in his breast. _He may be a prick, but he's obviously hurting...damn my friendly nature. _ "What's going on?" he asked as conversationally as possibly, considering he still had residual cold-pricklies3 from that mng. ng.
Lance eyed him with suspicion. "What do you care?" He took his hand away from his nose and was reward with a clot of blood, then a trickle. "Fuck."
Kurt sighed. "I guess I don't care...go get some ice." He turned to walk up the stairs but paused and said, back still to Lance, "Sometimes, everyone needs someone to talk to."

Lance watched as the blue mutant marched up the stairs, sighing in resignation as he disappeared down the hall. _Fuck me. I almost want to talk to him...I mean, how bad can he be if Kitty loves him? I mean, she saw through my act so she'd see through his, if he had one... _ Lance forced himself into the kitchen and procured some ice, wrapping it in a kitchen towel and pressing it to his swollen nose.
"Problems?" Jean's voice was flat, as if all the life had been sucked out of her.
"Thought you were gone," Lance responded, avoiding her question.
Jean sighed and eased into one of the kitchen chairs. "I was. Logan sent me back. He and Rogue are up at the hospital with Toad...Todd. Beast drove me back."
"Why?" Lance hissed as the throbbing in his nose became a constant, dull pain, aided by the ice.
"Not much we could do. Beast's friend, Doctor Schwartz, is handling Todd's case, and Logan is staying because Rogue won't leave the hospital room until she knows Todd's going to be okay."
"Weird."
"How do you figure?" Jean rested her chin on her hands, part of her mind dimly aware that she was having a conversation with Lance that did not revolve around Scott, infighting, or using the words "fuck you."
Lance removed the ice pack, deciding it was not helping as much as he had hoped. "A week ago, Toad was... Toad. Slimy, hopping, suspiciously clean now that I think about it, Toad. Now, he's Rogue's boyfriend. Rogue, for crying out loud!" He tossed the ice pack into the sink without rising from his seat. "Rogue could have any guy at the school if she crooked her finger...well, almost any of us...but she picked Toad!"
"Love is blind," Jean sighed. "He's crazy about her."
"Not hard to believe," Lance snorted.
Jean managed a smirk. "And she's crazy about him. Chalk it up to one of the eternal mysteries of the Universe." Jean pushed her chair back. "I need everyone together in the front hall. Beast needs us to do something for him."
Lance nodded. "I guess I'd better get used to this, huh?"
"What's that?" she asked his retreating back.
"Being part of the Scooby Gang."4 Jean's snort was lost as he disappeared up the stairs.


"No way am I going with _him! _ " Scott said petulantly.
Beast sighed in exasperation. "This is not the time for petty grievances, Scott. I need you to do as I've requested and post haste...Todd's life may depend on the information you gather. Now, everyone has their assignments?"
Jamie piped up "Me, Kurt, Kitty, and Rahne get to check the computer databases for the school to see if we can find Todd's medical history on file there. Beast nodded approvingly. "Yes, yes, very good...And Scott? Remy? Lance?"
Remy sighed. "We be goin' to Brooklyn ta find de mama....mebbe she got some information..."
Amara snorted. "Fat chance. From what Todd's said, she's a lush."
"Amara!" Jean snapped. "Be nice!"
"Which brings me to you two..." Besaidsaid, one brow raised.
Amara snarled. "Jean and I are going to scour the Boardinghouse for...records."
Lance put in glumly, "I can tell you with great certainty that there is nothing there... Besides, why can't I go to the Boardinghouse? I know that place inside and out..."
Beast cleared his throat and made "shooing" motions with his hands, afraid his intent behind the group placement was all too obvious. "Let's get moving...remember...We need records of family medical history, personal medical history-especially anything cardiac-related." The mild chaos of the departing mutants was observed with subsumed humor by Storm. When the last teenager was out the front door, Beast turned to and and said "If this wasn't so serious, it'd be funny."
Storm smiled faintly. "When all this is over, we should make them go on a scavenger hunt inse gse groups. It'll make Logan's year..."

Rogue stared at Todd's face so intently that it blurred into the hospital-white pillow. "Can you hear me?" she whispered.
"Rogue, he's just asleep. They gave him some heavy medications." Logan had watched Rogue the entire time since they had arrived at the hospital. She had never seemed so scared in the entire time he had known her, not even when faced with near death or dismemberment or even Kitty's cooking.
The girl looked up as if surprised to find that she was not alone with her boyfriend. "What did they give him?"
"Not sure...morphine, I think." Logan was in fact faintly nauseated by the onslaught of hospital odors, the intensity such that he could not will the discomfort away.
Rogue sighed deeply and shifted so that she was sitting on the edge of Todd's bed rather than the plastic chair provided by the duty nurse. "Can I be alone with him?"
Logan sighed then, a mimic of Rogue's own. "I raised Hell to get them to let me stay in here...I'd hate to lose that edge..." He was already rising, though, his protest only token to keep up the tough façade before his charge.
Rogue waited a full minute after Logan left before she spoke again. "Todd, if you're asleep, I'm sure you can hear me. I'm sorry you're in here. It's all my faultf I f I hadn't been such a bitch about letting Beast test me, you wouldn't have pulled that stunt and you wouldn't be here. My God, you're only seventeen! Who has a heart attack at seventeen?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry...'coronary event' is what the doctor called it." There was a blip on the monitor and Rogue felt her heart skip a beat in momentary panic.
"Hurts," he whispered, his voice weak and dry, lips barely moving.
Rogue gasped in surprise, then cried out incoherently. She dove to hug him but was stopped but the myriad of wires and monitors emerging from his exposed skin. "Todd..." she whispered after a moment.
"Hurts..."
"I know..." she smoothing one gloved hand down his cheekI'm I'm so sorry..."
"Don't."
"Baby, don't talk..." Rogue damned herself for wanting to cry, then let the tears come. "Just be still. Want me to get a nurse?" He made a noise in the negative and she nodded, knowing that he could not see her because of his closed eyes but needing to respond somehow. "I love you." One corner of Todd's mouth twitched and she knew he was smiling. "I think I can get used to saying that...I love you."
"Love...you..." he husked. "Ow."
"Todd...please be quiet. Just this once, okay?" Tears were still trickling from her eyes as Rogue leaned close. "Logan is right outside. Jean and Beast came up with us...Everyone wanted to come," _Okay, he won't remember this, I bet. A little white lie never hurt. _ "You scared me, damn it. Never do this again!"
"Sor..."
"Shhhh!" she said, pressing a finger to the corner of his mouth. "Let me talk. You rest." Rogue shifted again and managed to half-lay against Todd's sheet-covered side, resting her head on his shoulder, her eyes transfixed by the wires emerging from the collar of the hospital gown, Todd's sallow skin somehow greener against the wires. Ignoring the sudden flash of terror at the idea of losing him, Rogue settled into a story, making up details as she went along, no idea what she was saying only that she was listening to his heart, beating for now, and aware of the fragile state of life.



1 Minnie the Moocher. Fun little song first done by Cab Calloway and is about the fall of Minnie...written in the 40's or so, cocaine, prostitution...done in Blues Brothers, too. Like I said, fun little song in the same vein as Mack the Knife.
2 Why do people say this? I'm sure plenty of people in the history of the world were born in a barn or barn-like structure and shut the doors behind them when they left. What does a barn have to do with it? Okay...back to fic now...
3 Er...opposite of warm-fuzzies.
4 Stolen shamelessly from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER-they refer to the group of do-gooders as the Scoobies.