Need

When Kitty woke, she'd hoped to find Kurt by her bedsite. Instead, Rogue was reading a magazine and eating her roommate's breakfast. When Kitty protested, she just shrugged, munching on some bacon.

"You were sleepin' and it was goin' to waste." She tossed Kitty a bathrobe. "Come on, Amara said she'd lend you some clothes till we can get you some new ones." Rogue, herself, was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a gray Bayville sweatshirt. She looked oddly normal without her trademark black clothing and gothic makeup. Kitty felt a twinge of guilt since all of her friend's belongings were probably lying in a heap of rubble where their apartment used to be.

"Just as well you ate my breakfast." She said, donning the bathrobe. Her IV had been removed while she'd slept. "I feel nauseous thinking about all our stuff that was lost." Rogue nodded, frowning slightly.

"Ah'll just say this once, sister, you have shitty taste when it comes to picking who you do and don't want for a boyfriend."

"Thanks." She accepted a strong cup of coffee before heading for the elevators. She felt a little silly running around in hospital scrubs and a bathrobe. Amara met them in the kitchen and led them up to her room. She was roughly the same size as Kitty, and the jeans, sweater, and jacket she loaned her were a pretty close fit. After a shower a s a second cup of coffee, she felt a little more normal. She was planning to slip away to Kurt's room when Rogue pulled her to the Professor's office.

"He wanted to talk to you and debrief you about last night." She said, leaving her outside the door. "Then come and meet me at the old apartment, your boyfriend's going to be there and he said he'd give us an advance on our settlements so we can get immediate supplies." She cracked a smile, but Kitty had already guessed that she wasn't talking about Kurt. "Okay, I'll be there." She promised. She raised her hand to knock but Xavier's voice rang out before she could.

"Come in, Kitty." It was just one of the joys one tolerated with when one lived with mind readers. He was sitting behind his desk and he greeted her with a warm smile.

"You wanted to see me?" She asked. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk and offered her a muffin. She accepted it, finding herself now hungry.

"I wanted a chance to talk to you about what happened last night." Kitty nodded. She wasn't afraid of being in trouble. She knew, despite her comments to Worthington, that what happened wasn't her fault. "Lance Alvers is currently being held pending charges of attempted murder, public mayhem and destruction of private property." Kitty blinked suddenly. Surviving the attack that Avalanche had waged on her building was one thing. Having someone state outright that it had been an attempt on her life was a little different. "Kitty are you alright?"
I-I I-I guess I wasn't prepared to hear the words 'attempted murder' in conjunction with someone I cared about." Tears came suddenly and she swallowed a lump in her throat along with the last of her muffin. She accepted the cup of tea that the older man offered her. ~Decaf~ He inserted, mentally.

"Kitty, I know how it feels to have a friend turn into an enemy." He said, moving his chair around the desk and over to where she sat. He reached out and placed his hand over hers. "It's not like when you've faced other opponents, or the sentinels." He was right. She'd faced people who'd tried to kill her before. More than a few times, but it didn't feel the same now. She replaced the cup on the saucer with trembling hands. The china rattled slightly.

"I was handling the breakup fine, Professor." She said, placing her other hand over his. He grasped it firmly. Odd that she felt more comfortable talking to him about this than she did to Jean. Probably because he wasn't as close a friend. Or maybe because he had a way about him that made people want to talk. He waited patiently for her to open up. "I really didn't even miss him. He was the one who brought up the idea of us needing space. I was more insulted than anything else; mainly because I felt like I'd made sacrifices for him and if anybody should be backing off, it should be me."

"So you were feeling cheated out of your efforts?" He inquired politely. She nodded. He handed her a handkerchief and she dabbed her eyes. "Go on."

"I wasn't missing him, like I said, and I..." she paused, "got involved with someone else right afterward." She looked at her hands in embarassment. "I hope you're not embarrased by my talking to you about my personal life."

"Kitty, I just want you to know that it can't be any worse than some of the things 've heard from Logan and the others." His dry comment had her smiling through her tears. In the grand scheme of things, her life was probably pretty tame compared to the stocky Canadian's.

"Okay, here goes." Kitty was aware that the professor probably already knew all or part of what she was about to tell him. He was the strongest telepath she knew, afterall. "I got involved with Kurt on the rebound. But it turned into something unexpected and I felt like a piece of me that was missing had just fallen into place." He nodded. She blushed a little. "Um, things happened quickly with Kurt, but it felt really right. Then I went and screwed the whole thing up."

"When people jump into things quickly it happens a lot. Even between friends, so don't go worrying that you made a huge mistake." He patted her hand. "You just have to learn different communication skills." When he noted Kitty's startled expression he laughed. "I may be a bit older than you, Kitty, but believe it or not, I do date from time to time and I have been in serious relationships in the past."

"Now you mention it," she said, tilting her head, "I'm kinda surprised that you're single. I'd think that your communication skills would make dating a breeze, not to mention mind reading." He laughed again and she continued. "You could really write a book for men about what women really want."

"My dear, it is never that easy."

Kitty sobered up and lost her smile. "I really had no idea that Lance was hurting." She shrugged. \be hbe he wasn't, maybe he was just angry. He came to see me to give me a picture frame he'd made as a gift. I was so moved by it, and I accepted his appology and told him that we might be able to patch things up in the future." Her brow creased. "But he took it the wrong way and tried to kiss me and grope me like we were in the backseat of his Jeep again." She stopped short and blushed furiously. Xavier said nothing and kept his expression solemn. Kitty told herself repeatedly that what she might have done in the back of a Jeep was probably nothing compared to the rumors she'd heard about some of Logan's romantic exploits.

"You asked him to leave?"

"Actually, I just told him that we weren't just going to fall back to where we were before because we'd had problems that still needed resolving. He got mad and slammed out of there on his own. I didn't have to ask."

"Sounds like you made your feelings pretty clear and Lance took it upon himself to misunderstand and then react poorly to rejection, however gentle you may have tried to be."

"I didn't hear from him again. I just went to bed later on; shortly thereafter the room started to shake. The rest, as they say, is history." Kitty felt a little better after talking to Xavier. "It's just still so unbelieveable that Lance would try to kill me just because of a little fight."

"Kitty, I want to tell you something, and I don't want you to feel like it makes you responsible in any way for his behavior." He patted her hand comfortingly. "I probed his mind and looked after his memories for that night. He'd been drinking and Quicksilver was egging him on to violence. He told Lance about your relationship with Kurt and I think that's what drove him over the edge."

"So Lance might not have done anything if he hadn't been pushed?"

"I won't go that far, Kitty. Young men can be unpredicatble. Lance bottled his feelings up so much that I believe it was only a matter of time before he became violent." She saw the concern in his face. "I know that even the kindest person can lose control sometimes, Kitty. I'm sure you've lost your temper on occasion. But the difference is how we handle our anger. Lance was never a man who handled anger or frustration very well, if it hadn't been you, it would have been someone else." Charles watched the young woman absorb his words quietly. He wasn't going to tell her about his conversation with Kurt, or how close Kurt himself had been to losing his own control. Kurt was a very different man than Lance Alvers, and that difference brought them worlds apart.

"Thanks, Professor." She said.

"You're welcome to come and talk to me anytime, about anything." She hugged him impulsively and he patted her back. "I'd offer you your old room back, but I think your Mr. Worthington has made other arrangements his his diplaced tennants." Kitty pushed his shoulder playfully.

"I'm never going to live that one down am I?" She said, heading for the door.

"Not if he and Hank have anything to say about it." He laughed at her retreating back.