Constant Craving

CONSTANT CRAVING CHAPTER TWENTY ONE (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather gets extra Ted-kissies for beta-ing despite being one of the busiest people I know! Dolphin, I officially dub thee Dodo. Kristen and Lucas rejoice, go take the critter for a swim. Let Foxfeather rest! InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink get lots of peppermint sticks and chocolate coins for Chanukah for archiving. (Heh-just wait until Yule. I go all out for Yule in terms of sweets...lol. One bakin' witch...that's me...) Vampyre: I think Jean's asleep again. Readers/ Reviewers: Oh, the humanity! Or what not. The ducks are being attacked by killer kitties and there's platypi everywhere! The carnage...the feathers...the stage makeup...waaaaaaaaait a second! They're faking it! Damned attention hogs... That's it! From now on, I pick the musicals! I say they must all perform WestSide Story now. The ducks will be the Sharks and the kitties will be the Jets. The platypi will take all the other parts. So there.


"I don't understand how you can be enrolled in school with so little information," Kitty muttered, fingers flying over the keyboard. Kurt was nervously watching through the small window in the principal's office, Jamie hunched by his side, as Kitty and Rahne sorted through reams of information on the Brotherhood, mainly detention forms and discipline notices, that the school databases held in their clutches.
"Bayville isn't exactly the pinnacle of academia, Schatz," Kurt said softly. Despite all the protective measure they had taken, including Kitty shorting out the security cameras, Kurt still had a bad feeling about the situation. "How's it coming?"
"Slow but sure, lad." Rahne had a pencil clutched between her teeth and was searching the paper files for any records on Todd Tolensky's medical history. "Nothing so far...not even a broken bone, a fever...He's either very healthy or they're very bad at record keeping."
Kitty made a noise of frustration. "This computer is slow! C'mon...hurry it up!" She tapped the monitor futilely. "Maybe we can convince the Professor a donation of computers to Bayville High would be a good tax write-off."
Jamie giggled so. ". "Like he needs the money..." He stiffened then, knocking into Kurt who was already dropping into a crouch. "Hey!"
"Rahne, Katzchen," Kurt said very softly. "Hide."
The girls did not have to be told twice. Kitty flipped the switch on the computer and grabbed Rahne's arm, pulling her under the desk and shoving the chair in front of them. "Phase?" Rahne mouthed.
"No," Kitty whispered. "I'm not leaving Kurt!" Rahne rolled her eyes but otherwise did not respond, making her breathing shallow and her movements cease as they fixed their eyes on the door. Kurt had moved so that he was above the entrance, braced in the corner of the ceiling, holo off and eyes yellow in the dark. Jamie looked on the verge of panicking. He was crouched in the corner opposite Kurt, on the floor and shaking just enough to be noticeable. "It's okay," Kitty whispered, but Jamie seemed not to hear her. Beside her, Rahne sighed softly.
The doorknob rattled and the four teenagers tensed tight as bowstrings, each ready to leap forward if need be. Instead, the rattling ceased and footsteps seemed to move away. Jamie sighed audibly and rose but Kurt hissed "No!"
"Why?" the younger boy asked plaintively. His answer came in the percussive noise of the door being blown off it's hinges. Shards of wood and glass flew everywhere and Jamie fell back, becoming four of himself in the process. Kurt launched himself from the ceiling in the direction of the doorframe and the shadowed figure emerging from the debris as Kitty and Rahne shoved themselves out from under the desk towards Jamie.
"Lemme go, freak!" screeched a female voice from under Kurt's arms, banded like steel around the intruder's face and neck.
"Tabby?" he said, shocked, falling back. Kitty growled low in her throat, unbidden, and stalked the few feet towards the blonde. "What are you doing here?" Kurt asked, somewhat shaken.
"And could you, like, _be _ any louder?" Kitty snapped, scant inches from the otgirlgirl's face.
"Yeah, I could...why do you think they call me Boom Boom?" Tabby chanced a grin but quickly changed tactics when she saw the look of Death on Kitty's face. "You guys doing some B&E1, too?"
"Not that it's any of your business," Kitty hissed, "but we're looking for something. Aren't you supposed to be in jail or dead or something?"
Tabby blanched. Mystique had indeed made her wish she was dead several times over the past few months, but the woman's real interest lay with Magneto. She had let Pietro and Tabby go after a few days, the memories the only real torment left to them. Tabby swallowed convulsively and jerked her chin in defiance. "Aren't you knocked up by now? Seems to be a popular state with the X-sluts."
Kitty did not know quite what came over her. One minute, Tabby's was smirking smugly at her, having just insulted all the women of the Institute, and Kurt was scowling, his mouth moving in words Kitty did not hear. The next minute, Kitty was cradling her fist and Tabby was on the ground, her lips split and a tooth obviously loose. "Ow." Kitty stared at her fist in semi-amazement, then looked up at Kurt with wide, damp eyes. "Ow," she repeated, sounding somewhat offended that her body was actually feeling pain.
"Katzchen," Kurt choked out, somewhere between amazement and reproof. "You just decked Boom Boom.
Rahne let out a low whistle and the four Jamies giggled simultaneously. One he Jhe Jamies, whom Kitty mentally dubbed "Alpha," said "Wow. You shoulda seen the look on your face!"
"Bitch," Tabby gurgled around a mouthful of blood. "I'm gonna kill you!" She flipped neatly to her feet, making Kitty hop backwards. Kurt grabbed a fistful of the blonde's shirt as she leapt at his girlfriend, making Tabby lurch then pitch forward, saved from further damaging her face by Kurt's grip on her clothing. "Lemme go!"
"I'm not stupid, Tabitha. You're coming with us."
"What?" The Jamies chorused.
"I'm with them," Rahne muttered before stiffening. "Company..."
Kitty, fist still cradled in her open hand hissed, "Shit. The security guard finally woke up. Damn it, the one time he has to be on the ball..."
Kurt made an executive decision. "Kitty, can you get the Jamies and Rahne out of here if I take Tabby?"
"Take her where?" Kitty already had two of the Jamies by the wrists, wincing as her hand protested.
Kurt shrugged. "Boardinghouse or home...depends on how much trouble she's going to be. Love you," he said hurriedly, the sound of footsteps closing in on the room. In a blink, he was gone with Tabby in tow, cursing loudly at her rough treatment.
"C'mon..." Kitty tugged the Jamies with her, one popping out of existence. She grabbed another one and nodded to Rahne to herd the last one towards her but the Scottish girl shook her head. "What?"
"Too close...You go!" Rahne shoved Jamie at Kitty and morphed into canine form before Kitty could protest. Jamie made a strangled noise but did not fight Kitty's pull. The last thing they saw as they were phased through the wall was Rahne, hackles up and growling.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck..." Kitty mumbled, the darkness of the room broken only by evening light coming through the slats in the blinds over the window. "My hand hurts!"
"Rahne..." Jamie choked. The walls were thick enough to muffle sound but the rumble of a voice could be heard, and several short sounds Kitty took as barks.
"She'll be fine," Kitty tried to sound reassuring but failed. One Jamie popped out of existence and the other two looked at her with terror in their eyes. "Jamie, trust me...Rahne will be waiting at the mansion when we get there. Let's go now!"
Jamie resisted then but Kitty pulled her hardest, ignoring the pain shooting from her hand. Kitty phased them out the exterior wall, tumbling them into the shrubs lining the outside of the school along the back. "Kitty, we can't leave her here!" From outside, barking was more clear through the window, the glass doing nothing to muffle the sound. The security guard was shouting at the "dog" and sounded angrier by the second.
"Come on...." Kitty knew there was no moving Jamie once he was set on something. "You wait out here. I'll be back." Kitty left Jamie waiting outside the side entrance of the school, a single double door outside the library, near the principal's office. The hall was dark but the light from the security guard's flashlight was cutting a slice of yellow out of the floor. _Fuck this. Okay. Be cool...Officer Wiggum2doesn't know you from Adam's ox3so you can fake this... _ "Rahne! Here girl! Rahne, where are you?" Kitty did not have to fake the concern in her voice. _ If I get busted, I am so kicking Tabby's ass. _
Rahne barked once and Kitty whistled loudly. "Where are you, girl?"
"Young lady," Officer Wiggum wheezed, wheeling around the corner like gravity was working overtime on his girth. "what the Hell are you doing in this school after hours and on a weekend no less?"
Kitty willed tears to come forth. "I'm so sorry, sir! I was walking my dog, Rahne," at this, Rahne loped to Kitty's side and did her best to look like an obedient pet, "and she got away from me! She was chasing a squirrel..." Kitty could have sworn Rahne was laughing beneath that soft chuffing noise. "And I guess she got in through the service entrance or something..."
Officer Wiggum narrowed his pig-like eyes and stepped closer. "She bite?"
Her mind involuntarily leaping to a purple mark she had seen on Jamie's neck a few days before, Kitty said demurely "Only men..."
The officer stepped back. "Well, since you seem to be a good kid, I'll let you go. Just don't let it happen again. She busted up the office there so I'll need to get your dad's name...He'll have to pay for this..."
Silently fuming over sexist assumptions, Kitty gave him Logan's name but the phone number to her direct line at the Institute. "He'll be there tomorrow!" she chirped. "Thanks ever so much for being so nice, sir!" Kitty very nearly curtsied but restrained herself, letting Rahne scamper ahead and out the side door. Jamie was hunkered in the bushes to the left of the door and fell on them in enthusiastic relief. "C'mon, guys...let's go!" Kitty whispered loudly.
Rahne became a girl again and cracked her neck. "Layin' on the Shirley Temple act a bit thick, eh?"
Kitty shrugged, striding off into the night. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do..." She turned and walked backwards for a few feet, addressing her companions. "Do you think we should go to the mansion or the boardinghouse?"
"Home!" Jamie cried softly. "Get us home!"
Rahne slung one arm over Jamie's shoulder and laughed gently. "Babe, you're gonna hafta get over this nerves thing!"
Jamie scowled. "Just don't get me caught and I won't be nervous!"
Kitty sighed and returned to walking forwards rather than backwards. "We'll go home and if Kurt isn't there, I'll take Beast with me to the Boardinghouse."
"Thank you!" Jamie sighed, letting Rahne stroke the back of his neck as they followed Kitty back into the woods and towards the mansion.

"Turn here!"
"Shut up, Summers! I know where I'm going!'
"Both y'all shut it! You givin' Remy a migraine!"
Scott threw the map at the side of Lance's head, scowling daggers at the lanky teenager. "Fine. Miss the damned turn. Remind me to flip you off when we get to Jersey..."
"Fuck you, Summers. I can read signs...we're gonna be in the city in about an hour..." Lance sighed inwardly. His wounds alternately throbbed and ached, his head felt like it was about to split, and the sneaking suspicion he had for months that he might need glasses was coming back full force with each passing road sign.
Remy sighed loudly. "Shoulda let me drive, homme. We be dere by now..."
"Shut up, Remy!" Scott said dangerously. "I'm tired of hearing how slow we're going. If Lance hadn't been such a crybaby about driving, we could've taken my car and been there by now..."
Lance growled "I'm driving because you drive like an old lady. We'd never get to Brooklyn. And," he all but shouted, cutting off Scott's no-doubt angry protest, "your car would be stripped in no time flat parked where Toad's from."
"Brooklyn not all bad, ya know," Remy intoned from the back seat.
"Nah, but where Toad's from...it's rough," Lance sighed. He only knew what Todd had told him about growing up with Irma Tolensky4 and what life was like before Bayville, and Todd was not fond of talking about it. "We're better off in this beater and with me driving."
Scott took several slow, deep breaths. "Whatever." He turned to scowl out the window into the night and caught a glimpse of his expression. _Fuck. Jean's right. I'm acting like a kid. Look at me...I look like a three year old who had his cookie taken away. _ "Lance," he said after a long silence. "I'm sorry for being a prick."
"Excuse me?"
Remy leaned forward between the seats. "Yeah...quoi?"
Scott gritted his teeth and repeated, "I'm sorry for being a prick."
Lance and Remy exchanged glances in the rear view mirror. Remy raised a brow as if to ask "Do you believe this?" Lance shook his head roughly and said "Too little, too late Summers. You hate us and we aren't that fond of you at the moment...let's just do this and get back to Bayville without getting jac oka okay?"
Scott pursed his lips as if about to launch into a speech but let out a harsh sigh instead. _I'll have to work on this mending fences thing... _ "How much longer?" he asked by way of changing the subject.
Remy said, in tones of great boredom, " 'Bout an hour...give or take."
"Give or take what?" Scott asked.
"Jus'...give or take."
Lance felt a sudden urge to laugh but controlled himself, swinging the ancient car purloined from the Boardinghouse onto the exit ramp. "Just do us all a favor, Summers...try not to look so upper class boarding school while we're here..."
"What about Remy?" Scott snapped, somehow insulted, "He's all dressy and looking upper class..."
"Not like you, homme," Remy grinned. "You all tucked in an' pressed...can almos' see de stick up yo' ass..."
"Remy at least doesn't look like he fell out of one of those fucking Abercrombie and Fitch catalogues Jean gets..." Lance snickered.
"Shut up. Both of you just...shut up..." Scott hunched down in his seat for the remainder of the drive, ignoring the jibes Remy and Lance threw over his head as if he weren't there.
"Here we are..." Lance sounded mildly frightened as he slid into a parking space, clearly marked as a fire lane, before a dilapidated row house. "At least...I think this is it."
Remy made rustling noises as he found the scrap of paper with the address on it. "Yeah..dis be it...wow."
They stood in front of the car, staring at the house with one lit window as if they were expecting it to burst into flames at any second. "So..." Scott finally said. "Now what?"
"We knock..." Lance strode boldly halfway up the walkway but froze as the front door swung open, a short, frumpy woman with frizzy, choppy hair standing, backlit, in the entryway. She swayed dangerously, looking three sheets to the wind. Her left hand hung by her side, the object in it concealed by the shadows. Lance cleared his throat. "Uh..."
"You got three seconds to tell me what you want before I blow your heads off..."
1 Cop parlance for Breaking and Entering.
2 Simpsons anyone?
3 This may be a Southernism....
4 I am just making shit up now. If anyone knows anything different about Toad's background, let me know and I'll make corrections as need be.