Galatea

Galatea Chapter Twenty Eight (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch, and Uberbeta...One chapter down! Whooo! InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are lovely coconutty goodness for archiving/hosting. *g * ProPhile is a productive smutmuse, lol... Readers/Reviewers: *twirly dance * Thank you!!!

"What's with him?"
_* Who? _ * Jono did not even glance up from his perusal of the DVDs at Paige's question.
"Jamie. He looks...tense..."
Jono managed his equivalent of a snort and picked out a movie he did not object to outright and Paige would watch without calling him twisted and going off to her room to, as she put it, detox. _* Rahne's holding out on him. _ *
"I thought he wanted it that way."
_* I think, _ * Jono said thoughtfully, _* it's a case of not knowing what you missed until you didn't get it. _ *
"Huh?" She tucked her legs up under her chin and frowned. "I thought Jamie was okay with not getting anything from her..."
_* But for however long he's known Rahne was available, ready whenever he said the word. Now, she's not. _ *
"Ah...I see..."
*_ No you don't, _ * he chided, moving to sit next to her on the sofa.
"You're right but I just sort of stopped caring after a minute," she said airily, winking at him. As the movie began, she slid her arms around his neck and tried to kiss him only to have him move just enough for her to kiss the sofa cushion instead. "Hello?"
_* Bad time. _*
"How so?"
"Um, hi..."
"Kitty," Paige sighed, moving back to her side of the couch. "Can you phase louder or something?"
"Sorry," Kitty muttered. "Just trying to get away from everyone. I was sure no one would be down here but I forgot about Jono, King of the Cave People."
He shot her a universal rude gesture and added, _* Not like you're in odd places at odd times anyway, Miss Coat Closet. _ *
Kitty blushed and tightened her ponytail. "I was, um, wondering what you were doing tonight, Paige."
"Why?"
"Well, some of us were going to...um...get together in my room after lights out. All the girls."
Paige bit her lip for a moment, then nodded. "I'll be there."
Jono very nearly sighed. _*You know how Kitty's plans turn out, Sunshine. _ *
Kitty looked outraged at Jono's statement and even more so as Paige agreed. "What the Hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Paige said uneasily, moved to defend Jono. "Just that, well...people always end up kidnapped when you make a plan."
_* Or hospitalized, _ * Jono added.
"They do not!" Kitty cried, realizing they had a point even as she denied it. "For the love of..." She huffed in anger, phasing through the floor to the next level of the basement beneath Jono's ersatz den.
"Do you think she'll still be mad at me tonight?"
_* I have no idea...but I'd hide your electronics if I were you. _ *

Jean was very nearly relieved to see Kitty. "Find anything yet?"
"Huh?" She was still in a lather after leave Jono and Paige and was not paying attention where she was going. Kitty was mildly surprised to see Jean and it took her a moment to realize they were in the garage and the older girl was getting out of the car, returning from her study group. "Oh, no."
"Oh no as in expressing shock and fear or oh...no...?"
"Oh...no..." Kitty shrugged. "Nothing of yours in any of the rooms..." She felt it best not to mention the red panties she found in one of the younger student's dresser drawers that she highly suspected were Jean's. "Not one thing."
"Well, shit," Jean sighed, leaning against the car door. "I don't believe this..."
"Did you check everywhere? Even where you think it would never be?"
"Of course," she snapped. "Sorry...It just bothers me so much that the only two material things I actually give a damn about are missing! And I hate thinking that someone I know stole them!"
Kitty offered her a half-hug in sympathy. "Maybe a pack rat took 'em..."
"We don't have pack rats or magpies here."
"Well, there goes that theory. Hey, a bunch of us are meeting in my room after lights out. Come?"
"Depends on what you're gonna do," she leered jokingly.
"Jean!"
The red head shrugged. "Long morning. Just slipped out. You know," she said with an air of confusion as they walked into the kitchen, "strangest thing...I could've sworn I saw Scott and Storm at Town Center today when I was coming home..."
Kitty laughed faintly. "Scott and Storm...that's a couple you'll never see out on the town."
"Hey, Kit... Phone." Bobby averted his path towards the fridge as he saw theect ect of his search. "One of Kurt's sisters, I think."
"Jean, tonight?" Kitty asked as she walked backwards out of the kitchen.
"Sure...see ya."
Bobby waggled his eyebrows at Jean as she dropped her books on the table. "My, my...it *is * catching!"1

"Hello?'
"Kitty, I love you like a sister already, but I am ready to disown my brother and ."
."
"Hey, Katja," Kitty sighed, sinking into the chair for a long talk. "Guess Kurt's rant got to you, too."
"Ja..." She sighed and sounded like she was shifting around, trying to get comfortable, before continuing. "It's bad enough living with Anja and feeling guilty because of Piotr, but now Kurt..."
"I know," Kitty soothed. "He can be quite...opinionated with people he knows and cares about deeply."
"Anja is crying every time Piotr calls and now that he's coming to visit this summer..." She hissed a curse in German. "Erika, go away!"
Kitty giggle softly, a little envious of the large Wagner brood. She used to wish she had siblings but on days when the mansion seemed too crowded, she found she rather enjoyed the idea of not having to share a room with anyone or sibling rivalry... "Katja, listen... Kurt's calming down a lot and he and I will talk later. But about Anja... I don't have any sisters but I had a cousin I was very close to. We sometimes got crushes on the same guys and would always fight about it."
"This isn't a crush," Katja began.
"Hear me out," Kitty interrupted. "It didn't matter when all was said and done which one of us ended up with or without the guy because as stupid as this sounds, we were more important to each other than any boy."
"What about Kurt?"
"He's not a crush either and you know that. He's my best friend..."
"That's how it is with me and Piotr...when he would call to talk to Anja, he would talk to me first because I always seem to be answering the phone here. One day he just stopped asking for Anja and we talked for ages..." She sighed painfully. "Anja hates me now."
"She doesn't hate you. She's just hurt. She'll get over it, I promise."
"But when?"
"Hopefully before you start rehearsing again..."
"Ha ha."
"Look, I'll talk to Kurt later, okay? Justme ame a favor and try to work things out with Anja."
"You sound like Mama."
"Is that good or bad?"
"I think it's fine until Kurt starts thinking so..."
"Point. Bye, Katja."
"Bye..."
Kitty hung up the phone and pondered for a moment. She still had the Boardinghouse's number from when she dated Lance... Would it hurt to talk to Piotr, warn him against breaking a Wagner girl's heart? _Stay out of it, Pryde, _ she warned herself. _But this isn't a plan...just friendly concern... _ She pondered the phone again. _If this is a bad idea, give me a sign... _ She waited. No thunderbolt, no flaming phone. _Good enough for me..._



1 Some twits think you can "catch" being gay. Bobby is making fun of that presumption.