Need

Kurt sat at Kitty's bedside in the mansion's medlab. The professor said she was going to be fine. She'd suffered mild asphyxiation underground, but she had mainly overtaxed herself and needed to recover from the physical exhaustion. She had inhaled a lot of dust and fumes so Hank McCoy insisted on her staying here for the night where he could watch her. She was sleeping soundly right now, and had been since he'd returned to the mansion. She had been mildly sedated so that she would sleep off her exhaustin pin peace. He'd been reading to her from his poetry book. It wasn't till he was partway through his collection of Shakespeare that she began to stir.

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:"

Kitty's eyes fluttered and she moved her head.

"If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head."

She opened her eyes and gazed at him fuzzily. He ren.
n.

"I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak,-yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;"

Kurt closed the book and set it down. He moved to the side of the bed and took her hand in his. He recited the rest of the sonnet by memory.

"I grant I never saw a Goddess go,-
My mistress when she walks, treon ton the ground;
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare."

Kitty smiled at him and with a croaking voice spoke.
"So, he's calling his girlfriend an Elizabethan tire chaser, or what?"

"You know the sonnet?" Kurt asked. She nodded.
"Shakespeare." She looked around her at the med lab. She didn't rest her gaze on him but continued to s abo about the sonnet.

"I think he may be worshipping a lady who is less worthy of parise." She looked at her hands. "Some people can't live up to the pedestal."

"I think he's well aware that his lady is fully human." Kurt said. He ran a hand over her hair, smoothing the sleep-ruffled cowlicks. "But he just wants to say that there is no point in comparing her to inhuman objects like flowers, coral, and perfume. They are only put on this earth for a single purpose. His lady is much more." He sipped a finger under her chin aifteifted her face till she met his gaze. "And besides," he added, "there's nothing on this earth that compares to her." He sat, staring at Kitty's pale face. A single tear slipped out of the corner of her eye and he brushed it away with his thumb.

"Kurt, I owe you an explanation an apo apology." She said. He shook his head.

"No, Katzchen, I should apoplogize for getting so angry over something unimportant."

"Please, Kurt." She slid over and he settled himself on the bed beside her. She leaned up against his shoulder and started talking. "In the diner, I pulled away from you because I didn't want Bobby to know about us. It was just an instantaneous reaction, but I didn't do it because I was ashamed of you, or because I wanted to keep our relationship a secret." She sighed and thought for a moment. "I wasn't ready to give a big explanation about how I felt in the middle of a diner." She shrugged. "I was a little afraid that people were going to start saying that I was just on the rebound from Lance, and that I ddn't really care for you. I wanted to figure out how to tell Rogue and my other friends before the grapevine got ahold of the story and all the pressure came up."

Kurt felt an odd tightness in his chest. It was unlike the pain he'd experienced when Kitty had pulled away and the following days.
"But you don't really care about what people think about us, do you?" He asked.
"Not really, Kurt, but I've seen how teasing hurts you and I didn't have confidence that you'd stick around if you thought that I was using you and your feeling for comfort." She hesitated a little. "And I was kinda scared that maybe it was a rebound for you and when tongues started to wag, you'd come to your senses. I just wanted a little more time to keep our private lives private." She turned her head and looked him in the eye. "Maybe the day in the Danger room was about how much pain I was feeling, but not what happened afterward." Her shoulders slumped like she'd dumped a load from them. Kurt waited a few heartbeats and then spoke.

"I understand now." He said. "And I'm sorry for not staying to fight it out in the car." He felt her smile against his chest. "And I can't tell you how sorry I am for shouting at you so crudely in front of the family." Kitty tensed.

"I'm sorry I slapped you, Kurt. I'd been so upset I didn't realize when you needed space. I just kept after you like a snappy little terrier." Kurt chuckled at this analogy.

"Katzchen, I don't know why I was so out of control. I don't think you'll ever realize how much of a mess I was after that. I was really losing it."

"I was in a lot of pain too, and Rogue brought up the move cause she knew I was close to exploding."

"I had no idea."

"Me neither."