Forever

FOREVER—CHAPTER 26 (NC-17)

 

A/N Standard disclaimers apply…. Foxfeather is the queen of betas…Go read her fic and worship
properly. Mille Grazie to InterNutter
for letting me use her springboard—check her out at http://cat.devil.com

 

 

Thanks to all who reviewed—good, bad and indifferent. J

 

 

 

Kitty
thumped the back of Scott’s seat with a closed fist. “Why didn’t any of us see her leave this morning?”

“We were
all doing other things…We still don’t know what happened—she may have just been
out for a run. The guy who called from
the hospital didn’t tell Jean anything other than Amara was there and was in
some bad shape.” Scott eyed Kitty in
the rearview mirror and noted the pinched expression on her face. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay. This is Amara we’re talking about. She probably sprained her ankle and is
making a scene so bad that they need us to come get her.”

“Um, they
didn’t say anything about her…injuries or whatever?” Kitty was kneeling behind Scott’s seat now, leaning between him
and Jean. The car behind them carried
the Professor, Logan, and Storm.
Everyone else remained behind at the Institute, waiting for word from
the hospital party.

“No…do you
know something we don’t?” Kitty was
acting shifty, never a good sign.

Jean broke herself out of her quiet
reverie and shifted to look Kitty in the eyes.
“Amara still sick as far as you know?”

“Um, I wouldn’t say sick…” Kitty chewed worriedly on her lower
lip. “It’s perfectly normal, really.”

“Kitty Pryde, spill it.” Jean fought the urge to reach into Kitty’s
mind and divest her of the secret she was obviously hiding, opting instead to
turn a stare-of-doom on the girl.

“I can’t. It’s not my secret to tell.”
Kitty ducked her head to avoid Jean’s gaze. “Besides, I don’t think she wants anyone to know, anyway.”

“Know what?” A little moth of suspicion was flitting
around Scott’s brain now. “What would
Amara know or have that she wouldn’t want anyone to know about? She’s always angling for attention—the
littlest hangnail is cause for high alarm.”
Kitty was sitting back on her heels now, wedged firmly between the
seats. “Kitty, is it something big?”

“I wouldn’t call it big, really…”

“How big?” Jean was scanning for a way to make Kitty
tell without actually telling.

“Can’t say.”

“If I guess, will you let me
know?” They were less than two blocks
from the hospital now and Jean was anxious to know what was going on.

“The Professor aly kny knows her
secret…” Kitty offered.

“Yeah, but we don’t.” Scott gave her another look in the rear view
mirror. “C’mon Kitty.”

“Fine. You guess, I’ll let you know.”
They’ll never guess.

“Athlete’s foot?” Scott guessed.

“Why would she be in the hospital
for that?” both girls said at once.

“It’s Amara!”

“Keep guessing.”

“Um…female problems?” Jean queried.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? Like cramps or bloating or something?”

“Shut up, Scott,” the answered in
stereo again. Kitty sighed with
relief. Half a block and they would be
there.

“So,” Jean said carefully, “it’s
not big, it might be a female thing…”
Her eyes lit with knowledge then shuttered. “Kitty, is she expecting?”

“I don’t know.” I honestly
don’t. Not if she’s at the hospital.

“Last you knew, was she?” Scott’s hands tightened on the wheel and his
voice seemed reedy.

“Um…are you guessing?”

“Yeah, we are.”

‘Then yes.” Kitty tipped to one side as Scott swung the
car into a parking space. “Hey!”

“Sorry—freaking out here. Who?
When?” Scott shut off the car
and waited until Logan parked before opening his door.

“Don’t know, don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me.” Kitty and Jean exchanged a look that females
the world over seemed to share when talking of pregnancy. Scott felt lost at sea.

“Kitty and Jean, I feel that it would be best if you
went to see Amara first. Logan, Scott, please come with me. We will find the physician on call and…see
what we can see.” The Professor bore an
expression of deep sadness and anger, his hands flexing on the arms of his
wheelchair. It was one of the few times
any of the assembled mutants had seen him so close to losing self control and
yelling. Kitty huddled near Jean
unconsciously and, in turn, Jean shifted near Storm.

The Professor closed his eyes for a
moment and Jean knew he was scanning for anything to do with Amara. Kitty says he knows…Does he know why
she’s here, too? No matter how
strong he is, he can’t scan this many people for long…Sure enough, the
Professor’s eyes opened after a moment and his face had a fleeting statement of
pain. “Professor, how do we know where
to go?”

“Ask the nurses, Jean…ask the
nurses.” The Professor motioned for
Logan and Scott to follow, rolling down the hall in the direction of the arrow
marked “E/R Admissions.”

Jean, Kitty, and Storm asked
several nurses and aides before finally being directed to a small room at the
end of a very long hall. “Only one
visitor at a time, people,” the duty nurse had mumbled, shooting them all a
glare, defying them to break the rules.
It was decided that Kitty go in first, mainly because she demanded to
the loudest.

The room was dim, lit only by the
LCD screens on the equipment and whatever sunlight could seep in through closed
shutters. A form snored lightly on the
small couch beneath the window but Kitty could not make out who it was. Amara stirred then, distracting Kitty from
further exploration on the sleeper’s identity.
“Kitty? Is that you?” Her voice sounded thick. “Can I have some water?”

“Sure, Amara…” Kitty searched the room visually and saw a
pitcher resting near a small sink along with a plastic cup. “It’s warm…”

“I don’t care.” Amara gulped the water down in one go,
clutching her stomach in the nausea it produced. “Ugh. Shouldn’t have done
that.”

“Amara, why are you here?”

“Someone beat her up.” The figure on the couch was sitting up now,
fiddling with the blinds. The figure
resolved itself into Lance and Kitty stumbled bac sur surprise.

“Lance! What the Hell are you doing here?”

“Not so loud…migraine!” He put a hand over his eyes to block out the
light and peered at Kitty through parted fingers. Amara whimpered a little and
he moved to her, adjusting her pillows so that the sun would not be in her
face.

“Did you use your powers?” Kitty was not trusting him,notenoted. She still stood by Amara but her arms were
crossed and tense, as if she expected to have to defend herself at any
moment.

“Yeah…had to.” Lance dug a small, sample-size packet of
Aleve out of his pocket and dry swallowed the contents. Kitty saw several similar packets on the
tray near Amara’s bed and winced in sympathy for the stomach ache he was sure
to have later. “She, um…she’s kind of
bad.”

“How bad?” Truce, I guess. He’s not hitting on me and he seems concerned.

“Two broken ribs, a skull fracture,
a ruptured vessel in her lung, and she…she…”
Lance choked on a sob. “She had
a miscarriage.”

“Yours?” Kitty barely recognized her own voice.

“Yeah…mine.” Lance turned his back on the girls and Kitty
saw his shoulders shake. “I didn’t
know…she was coming to tell me and…and...damn it!”

“Lance, be quiet!”
Amara was drifting in and out of a haze induced by powerful
painkillers.

Briefly, Kitty saw
Amara’s fingers flame up but then die quickly.
Have to tell the Professor…most of the time, we react with our
mutation when we’re in pain. A very
awkward memory of phasing through the couch in the rec room during a violent
round of menstrual cramps came to mind.
Kitty gingerly took Amara’s hand and let Lance cry by himself. “Amara, Storm and Jean are outside. The Professor and Scott and Logan are down
the hall, talking to the doctor. You
scared us, you know.” Amara murmured
something and Kitty cast for something else to say. “Amara, whatever is wrong, whatever happened, I’ll be here for
you. You may hate me, but I’ll be
here.”

“Why?” Amara swam up through the meds and opened
bleary eyes on Kitty. Lance turned to
see the exchange, sniffing once before Kitty formed an answer.

“Because…because I
know what it’s like to feel alone, to be without a family to love you and help
you. I know what it feels like to be
scared and want to hold on to something of yourself so badly that you twist it,
make it into a shield of false faces that you wear all the time, forgetting who
you really are.”

Amara managed a
snort and rolled her head to one side. “Do not.”

“Maybe not as much
as you do, but I still have experience in the field…” Kitty squeezed Amara’s
hand and straightened, looking Lance dead in the eyes. “I have no idea what you’re up to with her,
but if you think you can get me back by…”

“It was me.” Both Lance and Kitty turned to look at the
prone girl. “I got Lance into
this. He just wanted me to spy, to see
if you and Kurt were messing around. It
was me that started this whole….thing.”
Amara’s voice was still muffled by medication and she was gasping for
air against the pain in her lung, but she soldiered onward. “I hurt him, Kitty. Not the other way around. I don’t think he’s thought of you for a
while…” Amara fell silent again,
slipping back into a haze.

“Lance,
hallway. Now.”

“I don’t want to
leave her alone! I promised her…”

“Storm or Jean
will come in. Amara, I’m borrowing
him. Okay?” Amara made a sound that
could have been yes, no, or platypus so Kitty led Lance from the room. Jean and Storm started in surprise upon
seeing who Kitty was leading. “Could one of you go in? He told her he wouldn’t leave her
alone.” Jean shoved away from the wall
and disappeared inside the room with a backwards glance that Kitty chose to
ignore. Brushing past Storm, Kitty took
Lance around the corner to a small waiting area replete with plastic chairs in
an unnatural shade of puce and several cold cups of coffee littering the
tables. “Sit. Talk.” She pushed him
towards one of the chairs but he caught himself before he fell.

“Damn, Kit! Calm down!”
Lance tossed his hair out of his face, straightening to his full height
and towering over Kitty. The effect was
somewhat ruined by his apparel—baggy jeans, too-small scrub top hitting him
about an inch above the waistband, and hospital slippers too wide for his
narrow feet.

“Calm down! Amara’s in the hospital and you have
something to do with it, and you’re not telling me anything!” She flailed as she spoke, narrowly missing
Lance’s nose more than once. He grabbed
her upper arms and forced her to sit down.

“Listen to me
carefully, Kitty. Just…breathe…and
listen.” Lance had found his center
sometime in the three hours he had been waiting with Amara and his panic had
given way to eerie stillness. Now he
was just sad and ashamed, desperate to set things to right. He related the story of the plans to Kitty,
then the fight, leaving out the conversation with Tabitha. When he got to the part about Tabitha
disappearing when they got Amara into the hospital, Kitty growled.

“I’ll find her and
kill her.” Kitty jumped to her feet and
began pacing the worn floor, “Then what?”
She listened intently as Lance told her about all the tests and the
waiting, ending with his descent into headache induced-sleep. “That’s all?”

“Yeah, that’s
all.” Lance’s story had been curiously
devoid of feeling, just a dry recital of facts. Kitty raised an expectant eyebrow and he responded, “That’s all
you’re getting from me.”

“F Fi Fine.
To be honest Lance, I want to hurt you both, badly, for the shit you two
pulled with the tape. I may do it
later, when Amara’s feeling better. I
just can’t process this all right now.”

“How do you think
I feel?”

“Tell me.” Kitty stood directly in front of him, arms
akimbo. Her eyes snapped with a fire
Lance recognized as anger and he suddenly envied Kurt for one brief, shining
moment.

“Kit, we’ve known
each other since we were kids, really.
Went to the same school. Knew the same people. Hell, we even knew each other before we were mutants.”

“We’ve always been
mutants…”
“Before we knew we were
mutants.” Lance ran his hands through
his hair distractedly, wishing he could make the floor open up beneath his feet
and put him out of his misery. “I
always thought I loved you because of that.
You’re pretty and smart and so nice…and you always seemed to make time
for me. You never told me to fuck
off. Not until we got here and Kurt
came along. It was like he replaced me
and I hated it. You were mine to
love, damn it.” Kitty sucked in a sharp
breath, remembered annoyance and fear coming to the surface. “It took Amara to make me see that you were
just an idea. I mean, the idea of you
is what I wanted. Someone to love me,
who was nice and sweet and willing…”

“Is Amara like
that?” Kitty was not sure that she
actually wanted to know.

“No. And that’s what made me realize it. She’s everything you’re not and it makes me feel. I want to be a better person to make her
love me. I want to show her that I can
be special and whatever she wants…” And
she’s wonderful in bed, but Kitty doesn’t need to know that.

“Wowza. Did not see that coming.” Kitty felt strangely bereft. Lance’s
affection was a given in her life, like scrambled eggs on Sunday morning or the
fact the trash was always picked up on Tuesdays. It was there, something she expected but dit ret really
feel strongly about. Now that it was
gone, she felt a hole in her life.

“Are you…I mean,
you have Kurt and all.”

“Yeah, but it’s
just weird. I mean, you’re always there
and now you’re her there.” Kitty
smiled ruefully. “I’m still mad at you,
but I think I can hold off on killing you until Amara is better.”

“Can you keep
Logan off of me?”

“Er, I’ll
try.” Kitty rose and offered Lance her
hand. “C’mon. Let’s see what’s going on.”
A new, tentative relationship was evolving in the waiting room of
Bayville General: friendship.

 

Kurt had ‘ported
to his room soon after Scott knocked on Kitty’s door. They had both exchanged panicked, confused looks and Kitty kissed
him hard on the mouth, signaling that he should leave before they got
caught. “I’ll tell you everything!” she
murmured, rushing to the door as he left.
Kurt had heard two cars pull out and waited for several long moments
before letting out a tense breath. The
sticky mess under his close was making his fur mat and he knew he needed to
clean up before rushing off to find out what was going on. Carefully, he peeled his jeans and boxers
off, wincing as some of the dried fluid pulled fur. Next time, I tell Kitty it’s naked or nothing…No, I know I’d
touch her anyway we could. But this
is…icky. He shed the rest of his
clothes and went into his half-bath, turning the shower on as hot as he could
stand it. The family-size shampoo
bottle was nearly empty, but he thought it would last for one more wash, Even
with all the scrubbing I need to do.
Kurt set to work, trying hard not to think of Kitty. He forced himself to consider just what
Amara was doing in the hospital, how she could have gotten there when no one
saw her leave that morning. A sudden
thought of his mother crossed his mind, still waiting for him downstairs. Mama!
I didn’t mean to forget! She’s
probably not asleep down there anymore!
Kurt hurriedly rinsed off, shutting off the shower and toweling himself
furiously. Wrapping one towel around his waist, he darted out of the
bathroom and into the bedroom proper, careening headfirst into his mother.

“Kurti! I woke up when everyone was running out the
door! I thought maybe you had forgotten
about your old mother and went with them!”
She took in his undressed state and averted her eyes. “Sorry—I forget that you’re no longer a
little boy who doesn’t need his Mama running after him…”

“Mama! I’ll always need you. And you’re not old.” Kurt did feel slightly embarrassed
though. “Um, would you mind…”

“Sure, sure… I’ll
be right outside.” Kurt threw on some
clean clothes, not paying attention to whether or not they matched, and met his
mother in the hall. “Feeling better?”

“Ja…Just got a
little…dirty.” He blushed under his
fur, insanely happy that his mother could not see through the blue. “There was an emergency with Amara—I don’t
think you met her—and some of the people went to see her in the hospital.”

“I know Amara by
reputation, from your letters…I don’t think I want to meet her.” They were walking down the hall towards the
stairs when Kurt suddenly stopped. “Vas?”

“Kitty was showing
me something earlier, something that might help out with the arbitration. I don’t understand it all, though…. Would
you mind if I ran and got it real quick?”
His mother nodded and Kurt ‘ported.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. After a moment or two,
he appeared again, clutching a sheaf of papers to his chest. “Now, I’m hungry. Let’s go eat!”

“Kurti, you know
‘porting takes so much out of you!
Don’t do it unless you have to!”
They were in the kitchen and Kurt was rummaging through the fridge,
looking for a quick snack.

“Mama, it’s so
much easier to get places. Besides, I
don’t think about most of the time. I
just sort of…do it.” Pushing Kitty’s
papers carefully to one side, he laid out the ingredients for two peanut
butter, banana and strawberry sandwiches on the counter.

“Kurt! You’re not serious!”

“Why not? It’s all healthy…”

“That’s not a
proper meal!” She quickly replaced all
the ingredients in the fridge and pushed him towards the chair. “I’ll make lunch. You sit and talk to me.” Astrid assessed the contents of the fridge
and pantry, making “tsk” noises at the disorder of both. “Who’s potatoes?”

“Vas? Um, no one’s. Community property.”

“Hmm. Who’s bratwurst?”

“That would be
Logan’s. I think he’s been through
enough with you, ja?”

“Belike. I think I have enough here to make potato
salad and maybe strudel…How hungry are you?”

“I think I can
wait long enough for strudel…” Kurt beamed—if there was one thing he missed
about home, it was his mother’s cooking.


“Now, just stay
out of my way and talk to me while I cook.”
She acclimated herself to the kitchen quickly, finding the pots and pans
and baking utensils before gathering her ingredients.

“Kitty came to me
and told me that she may have found a way out of this mess we’re in but we
were…interrupted before she could explain it to me.”

“Ah. The Amara thing?” She glanced at him as she peeled potatoes.

“Um, yeah…the
Amara thing.” Kurt ducked his head to
look at his folded hands. “I want this
to work out so much, Mama…”

His mother fell silent, making Kurt look up
to see her staring at him with a new, confusing look on her face. “Also liebst
du sie wirklich?”[1]

“Ja.” Kurt found that he could not meet his
mother’s eyes. This was a new level of
their relationship—admitting he loved Kitty, really loved her, actually saying
the words, would mean that he was no longer a child. His mother seemed to sense that and waited expectantly,
half-fearful of the shift. “I love
Kitty, Mama.”

She let out a sigh
and picked up her potato again. “I
thought so. Well, if she is everything
that you have told me she is, then you can do no better. Now that I hear you say it with your own
voice, so sincerely, I have no doubt left in my mind. I’ll support you, Kurt.
No matter what happens, you can count on your father and I to stand
behind you.”

“Mama…” Kurt felt his throat close with tears and
shook his head to clear the emotions welling in his brain. Kitty’s papers caught his eye, white as snow
against the dark table. His mother was
peeling potatoes again, the tender moment passed. He shuffled through the documents before laying them out on the
table, side by side. Some of them were
difficult to translate mentally and he had to concentrate until his head ached,
especially the one marked “Change of Name Request”—all the legalese was
baffling. Kurt did not realize how much
time had passed until his mother nudged him with her elbow.

“I thought you
were going to talk to me!” He smelled
potato salad and his stomach rumbled.
“I’ll feed you, I’ll feed you!” Astrid said laughingly.

“I just got lost
in this…whatever this is Kitty has. I don’t
understand any of it.” Kurt stacked the papers again, making room for the plate
his mother set before him. She had
opted to cook some of Logan’s bratwurst after all and muttered something about
buying him some more before she left when Kurt looked askance at her. “So long as you run interference…”

“Tell me what the
papers are; maybe I can help.” Astrid
took the papers when Kurt handed them out and shuffled through, barely glancing
up when Evan and Jamie tumbled into the room.
“Have some food!” she said automatically, always the mother figure.

“What is it?” Evan sniffed suspiciously at the bowl of
potatoes.

“Just eat it,
Evan—Mama made it so it’s good.” Kurt
stuffed more bratwurst into his mouth and motioned for Jamie to get a
plate. The younger boy complied and
piled food on while Evan poked at the sausage with a fork. “Don’t play with it—you’ll make it
angry.”

Jamie slid into
the seat next to Kurt as Evan reluctantly put some food on a plate. Remy sauntered in, saw what was going on, and
put the last of the potatoes and sausage on a plate of his own. Kurt snaffled down his food while the other
mutants tasted it hesitantly, then fell to with enthusiasm. Astrid looked up sharply, her nose
wrinkling. “Strudel’s done.” She set the papers aside and hustled to the
oven, pulling out the pan. The boys’
eyes widened and Kurt made a yummy-noise.
Shoving their plates aside, the gathered residents of the Institute accepted
small plates of the dessert from Astrid and fell silent save for the scraping
of forks over plates. Kurt’s mother
nibbled at hers, returning her attention to Kitty’s papers.

Several minutes
passed before Evan broke the silence. “Mrs. Wagner, with all due respect, will
you adopt me?” Kurt nearly sprayed milk
all over the table, fighting the laugh that bubbled up in his chest.

“Ja, as soon as my
Kurti stops being blue. I’d love another son, then.” She winked at Evan and he grinned back. “Now, you go do whatever it is you do and let me clean this
kitchen!”

“Nein, Mama! Let me do it—you’re a guest here!”

“But I dirtied it…” She was already stacking plates in the
sink. Evan and Remy stood as one and
Remy stilled her hands.

“Madame Wagner, we
insist on cleaning this kitchen. It is
the least we can do in thank for that wonderful meal.” He was oozing charm from his pores and
Astrid was quite susceptible.

“Oh, well, I
suppose so…” Her hand fluttered
unconsciously to her throat before she flushed and caught Kurt’s eye.

“Watch it, Gambit!”
Kurt murmured. The Cajun touched his
forehead in a lazy salaam and begin sorting plates from silverwa Jam Jamie joined Evan and Remy, leaving Kurt to
sit with his mother in the rec room.

“Have
you figured out anything yet?” Kurt was
anxious to see if maybe his mother could make sense of Kitty’s papers.

“Well,
I think I might have. Look.” She laid the whole kit out on the low coffee
table and point to each one in turn. “Change
of Name Request, birth certificate fotty’tty’s father, at least I think that’s
her father, and a birth certificate for some girl…The key is in the names, I
think.”

Kurt
stared hard at the papers, feeling the wheels turn in his brain. Something Kitty said earlier snapped him
into realization. I don’t exist. “Sie ist wirklich clever, nicht wahr?”[2]

 

 

A/N Figure it out yet?
If you did, shhhhhhhh!

 

 

 

 

 

 



[1] So you
really love her? (thanks, Foxy!)

[2] She is
clever, isn’t she? (again, thanks Foxy!)