Persistence of Memory
folder
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
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Category:
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
7,451
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own X-Men Evolution, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story.
30
Persistence of Memory Chapter Thirty (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… Billy is hiding under
the bed, muttering something about letting sleeping dragons lie… Know anything
about that? InterNutter, TC and Maxwell
Pink are superwonderfulhappybunnies for archiving. J ProPhile is a busy smutmuse but he gets muse
kibble nonetheless. Readers/Reviewers: *duck kisses * Thank you!!!!
“Owowowowowowowowowow!”
“So it
hurts there then?”
“Beast,
stop it!” Kurt cried, batting at the older man’s hand. “Don’t do that to her!”
“Kurt nee need to palpate her abdomen in order to rule out certain things that might be
causing her illness. Now, if I don’t do
this because seeing her in pain upsets you, I might miss something and she
could get very, very sick. Do you want that?”
Kitty shot
Beast a look that said, That’s a dumb question. “Fuzzy, it’s okay. It just surprised me,” she lied.
Kurt nodded
grimly and squeezed her hand. “If you
say so, Liebes.”
Beast blew
out a breath of frustration and tried again, pushing Kitty’s exposed abdomen
gently and firmly, feeling for obstructions.
She did not cry out again but one look at her face told him all he
needed to know. “How bad is the pain, on a scale of one to ten?”
“Oh…thirteen.”
“I need you
to take a urine test so we can rule out a UTI, Kitty.” Beast trundled over to the cabinet above the
sink and produced a standard issue sample cup with lid.
“A
test? I haven’t even studied,” she
joked, trying to lighten Kurt’s mood.
“Katzchen,”
he sighed. “Be serious!”
“It’s
probably just a bug, Kurt. Stress or
something.” Carefully, trying not to
wince, she pulled her shirt back down over her stomach and stood slowly,
refastening her pants with slow ease.
“I’ll be right back,” she muttered, taking the cup from Beast and
walking stiffly towards the small bathroom in the lab.
Kurt
fretted, pacing and twisting his tail in his hand before Beast could grab him
and hold him still. “She’ll be fine,”
he said gently. “It’s probably a simple
UTI.”
“How can
you be so sure?”
“Well, I
need to run her blood sample to rule out other infections, and it doesn’t seem
to be her gall bladder even though she’s been on birth control pills for a long
time[1],
so I feel it’s her urinary tract.”
Kurt
frowned. “Are you sure?”
“I can’t be
sure of anything until I get the tests back, and I really should not be
discussing any sort of diagnosis with you, Mister Wagner. Kitty’s privacy is still covered by
doctor-patient confidentiality, no matter how close you two are.”
Kurt sighed
and wilted slightly, only to brighten a little when Kitty slid out of the
bathroom in sock feet, bent slightly forward as if trying to keep the pain
inside. Blushing as she passed Kurt, she tried to keep the cup in her hand
covered from his eyes. “Um…that’s it.”
“I usually
don’t recommend antibiotics without first ascertaining the nature of the infection,
but I’m going to give you these,” he said, procuring a bottle of Cipro[2]
from the locked medicine cabinet and signing it out. “And I’ll have these tests done within the next hour and a
half. Take one of those with a light
meal and some water, okay?”
Kitty
nodded glumly. “Okay. I guess.”
“Is it
still thirteen?”
“Um,” she
thought fast. “No. More like a five.”
Beast
nodded with some satisfaction, taking this as a sign he was right and she did
have a UTI. “If you feel up to it, both
of you have been requested to attend the meeting in the downstairs
library. I believe they’re holding it
for you…”
Kurt
wordlessly picked Kitty up, though she protested, and twerewere gone. Outside the doors to the library, he set her
carefully on her feet. “Are you sure
you’re up to this?”
“Not
really,” she sighed. “I feel woozy.”
“Are you
going to be sick again?”
She gave it
a little thought. “Not any time
soon. There’s nothing left.”
“Poor
Schatz,” he sighed, rubbing her back.
“I can take you back to your room and take notes on the meeting.”
She laughed
weakly. “Your handwriting is terrible.
Let’s just go in. I promise that if I
feel even a tiny bit worse, you can take me up to my room.”
“Okay,”
Kurt said cautiously, trying to memorize the lines of pain around her eyes and
mouth so he could keep track of them during the meeting. He ushered her into the nearly full room and
found an empty seat near the reference books.
“Move,” he said to St John.
“I’m saving
that seat for Bobby,” the blond protested.
“Move!”
Kurt growled, baring his fangs.
“Movingnowthankyou!” St John hopped to his feet and wedged
himself between Jean and Amara, leaning against the wall.
“I’m
sorry,” Kitty called to him. “He’s
overprotective…”
Kurt
frowned. “Shhh…Do you need a drink or
anything?”
“Nothing…Let’s
just sit.” She could feel Logan’s hard
stare on the back of her neck and did her best to look well. Bright smile, nod a lot…okay, not so
much. I look like a bobble head
doll. Now frown… Kitty hoped no one could see the sweat
standing out on her brow, her hands shaking.
One quick glance at Kurt told her he was not missing anything.
“You
listenin’, Elf? Half Pint?”
“Yes, sir,”
they said as one.
“Kitty,”
Kurt began urgently, “let me take you back to Beast.”
“Shhh,” she
urged. “I’m fine.”
Logan
glared at them once more and continued, “Storm’s gonna hand out some sample
questions the news folks are gonna be allowed to ask. No matter what, do not use your powers, even as a
joke. Do not be goaded into showing
you’re a mutant. The tour we’re taking
them on tomorrow will only be through certain areas of the Institute and
grounds. Do not let them get you
to take them anywhere else. Storm and I will be the one conducting the
tour. No students. Got it?”
There was a
murmur of ascent and a rustle of paper as everyone received their sample
questions. Kitty tried to focus on hers
but could not, so great was the pain in her belly. “Kurt,” she said softly, “I want to go now.”
“Not so
fast,” Storm said as Kurt made to stand.
“We have to go over these questions.”
Kitty
sighed and tugged on Kurt’s hand, pulling him back down. “Okay,” she said quietly.
“Katzchen,”
he hissed, “no!”
“I’m fine,”
she said through gritted teeth. To
Storm, who was beginning to frown with concern, she said, “Cramps.”
“Ah…Are you
sure you would not like to go lay down then?”
“I’m
fine. Just…fine.” Kitty exhaled slowly,
trying to concentrate on anything other than the pain. As Storm and Logan went over who would be
allowed to answer which question, Kitty tried to focus using her yoga breathing
exercises and take her mind off the
pain, but she found it was like a toothache, always there, gnawing at her
consciousness even when it abated somewhat.
After about ten minutes of instruction from Logan and Storm, they were
allowed to break into groups and discuss possible responses.
Amara sat
down unceremoniously next to Kitty in the seat vacated by Ray. “This,” she said succinctly, “is stupid.”
Kitty
smiled tightly. “If it’ll get the media
to back off, it’s worth it.”
“It occur
to you yet that you ain’t going back to Bayville High?” Lance asked from behind
Amara, towering over them all.
Kitty, Kurt
and Amara glared up at him with varying degrees of intensity. Finally, Kurt said, “No, it hadn’t exactly occurred
to us.”
Lance
shrugged, stifling a yawn. “Whatever. I can take it or leave it. I’m goin’ to bed.”
“Lance,” Amara
said sharply. “Sit down.”
He raised a
sardonic brow but sat down in an empty chair.
The buzz of conversation was all around them as people abandoned the
question sheets and delved into discussion over what might be to come for them. “Jamie woke us up. I want to go back to sleep, damn it,” he groused, but otherwise became
pliable to Amara’s glare.
The Nova
Roman said in tones best suited to freezing water, “This is ridiculous. Why should we lie to these people? They fear us and that is a good thing.”
“How is
fear good?” Kitty demanded, wincing at a pang in her side. “If they know us and fear us, they’ll drive
us out or…or worse.” She fingered her
necklace unobtrusively, shifting her gaze to her feet. “It’s happened before with people who were…different.”
“Different
from those in charge,” Kurt amended.
Amara
frowned. “On Nova Roma, I was one of
those in charge. Or would have been, when I was older. We did not drive people away…” She trailed
off. “Oh. Stupid Amara,” she sighed.[3]
“You’re not
stupid,” Lance murmured, leaning closer to her, “just naïve.”
“I’ll show
you naïve,” she mock-threatened. “Kitty, you look terrible…”
“I’m fine,”
she said, aware that several more people were looking at her oddlyJustJust…tired.”
Amara
nodded sympathetically. “I was sleeping
quite well before Jamie woke us up.”
Kurt rolled
his eyes. “She’s not fine, damn
it! She’s sick!”
Logan was
at their side immediately. “Half Pint,
you’re sick?”
“No, I’m
fine.”
“You’re
lying,” her foster father assessed. “Damn
it…you smell like antibiotics and…something.”
She rattled
the pills in her pocket. “Beast gave me
some. I haven’t taken any yet.”
Logan
looked over his shoulder at Storm, some unspoken communication passing between
them. “You’re going to bed. Now.
Kurt, go get her some water and crackers to take those pills with. I’ll take her upstairs.”
“But,”
Kitty b.
.
“But
nothing. You’re not gonna be able to
answer any questions tomorrow if you’re sick as a dog.” He lifted Kitty carefully, as if she were a
baby, and glared at Lance. “Are you
just gonna sit there or you opening the door for me?”
Amara
sighed as Lance scrambled to his feet and headed towards the door. “It’s probably just cramps.”
Kitty
nodded eagerly. “That’s it. Just cramps. Put me down, please!”
“No way, no
how.” Logan nodded at Kurt. “Meet us upstairs, Elf.”
Kitty
clutched her sheets about her grimly. “I’m
fine.” The antibiotics had gone
down with difficulty, Kitty’s stomach pain seeming to make her throat close
with each attempt at downing the large pills.
“Katzchen,”
Kurt said firmly, wearing an expression nearly identical to Logan’s stern one, “you’re
sweating, you’re shaking, your stomach hurts if I look at you funny, and you’ve
thrown up the crackers I brought you.
You’re sick.”
“He’s
right,” Logan said just as firmly. “Beast
is almost done with those tests and until we know what you’ve got, you’re
staying in bed.”
She huffed
angrily. “But I promised Beast I’d try
and help him retroengineer that powder and that means I’ve got tons of
computer work to do. I already feel a
little better…I think those antibiotics are working!”
Kurt
narrowed his eyes at her. “Katzchen…”
“Well, I
do!” She had the childish urge to stick
her tongue out at them.
Kurt
sighed. “Katzchen, even if it is just
what Beast thinks it is, you still need to rest. We’ve all had a really rough day and you’re sick on top of that
stress. Sleeping won’t kill you.”
Kitty
snapped her mouth shut on a snarky response. “Fine. I’ll sleep.od nod night!”
she said pointedly, carefully laying on her side with her back to them. She knew they could not see the wince on her
features as her lower abdomen clutched in pain.
“Kitty,”
Kurt said with a tinge of apology.
“Leave her
be, Elf. You can check on her in an
hour,” Logan said quietly.
Kurt knew
better than to argue and let Logan lead him from the room. Kitty sighed as the door shut and let a few
tears slide from under her tightly clenched lids. She shifted slowly, rolling onto her back and wishing Kurt had
stayed. A sharp, shocking pain shot
through her stomach and spine, making her gasp aloud, followed by a wash of
nauseating calm. She felt cold all over
and knew something was desperately wrong.
“Beast?” she tried to call out, finding her voice caught in her throat. “Kurt?”
Kitty was shaking so hard her teeth
chattered. “Help…”
A/N Lance and Amara next chapter, the Return of Tabby and
Wanda, Professor Goodness…
[1] There’s been
a spike in young women getting gall stones and having to have their gall
bladders removed over the past several decades and it turns out, birth control
pills contribute to that. If you’re on
the pill, you have an increased risk of having to have your gall bladder
removed. I had it out when I was 21 and
it’s not so bad… You get to sleep a lot
when you come out of anesthesia.
[2] It’s not
just for biological terror anymore… Cipro is commonly used to treat UTI’s.
[3] For some
reason, that sounds like Bridget Jones’ Diary when she finds out Daniel
was engaged. “Oh. Stupid Bridge.”
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… Billy is hiding under
the bed, muttering something about letting sleeping dragons lie… Know anything
about that? InterNutter, TC and Maxwell
Pink are superwonderfulhappybunnies for archiving. J ProPhile is a busy smutmuse but he gets muse
kibble nonetheless. Readers/Reviewers: *duck kisses * Thank you!!!!
“Owowowowowowowowowow!”
“So it
hurts there then?”
“Beast,
stop it!” Kurt cried, batting at the older man’s hand. “Don’t do that to her!”
“Kurt nee need to palpate her abdomen in order to rule out certain things that might be
causing her illness. Now, if I don’t do
this because seeing her in pain upsets you, I might miss something and she
could get very, very sick. Do you want that?”
Kitty shot
Beast a look that said, That’s a dumb question. “Fuzzy, it’s okay. It just surprised me,” she lied.
Kurt nodded
grimly and squeezed her hand. “If you
say so, Liebes.”
Beast blew
out a breath of frustration and tried again, pushing Kitty’s exposed abdomen
gently and firmly, feeling for obstructions.
She did not cry out again but one look at her face told him all he
needed to know. “How bad is the pain, on a scale of one to ten?”
“Oh…thirteen.”
“I need you
to take a urine test so we can rule out a UTI, Kitty.” Beast trundled over to the cabinet above the
sink and produced a standard issue sample cup with lid.
“A
test? I haven’t even studied,” she
joked, trying to lighten Kurt’s mood.
“Katzchen,”
he sighed. “Be serious!”
“It’s
probably just a bug, Kurt. Stress or
something.” Carefully, trying not to
wince, she pulled her shirt back down over her stomach and stood slowly,
refastening her pants with slow ease.
“I’ll be right back,” she muttered, taking the cup from Beast and
walking stiffly towards the small bathroom in the lab.
Kurt
fretted, pacing and twisting his tail in his hand before Beast could grab him
and hold him still. “She’ll be fine,”
he said gently. “It’s probably a simple
UTI.”
“How can
you be so sure?”
“Well, I
need to run her blood sample to rule out other infections, and it doesn’t seem
to be her gall bladder even though she’s been on birth control pills for a long
time[1],
so I feel it’s her urinary tract.”
Kurt
frowned. “Are you sure?”
“I can’t be
sure of anything until I get the tests back, and I really should not be
discussing any sort of diagnosis with you, Mister Wagner. Kitty’s privacy is still covered by
doctor-patient confidentiality, no matter how close you two are.”
Kurt sighed
and wilted slightly, only to brighten a little when Kitty slid out of the
bathroom in sock feet, bent slightly forward as if trying to keep the pain
inside. Blushing as she passed Kurt, she tried to keep the cup in her hand
covered from his eyes. “Um…that’s it.”
“I usually
don’t recommend antibiotics without first ascertaining the nature of the infection,
but I’m going to give you these,” he said, procuring a bottle of Cipro[2]
from the locked medicine cabinet and signing it out. “And I’ll have these tests done within the next hour and a
half. Take one of those with a light
meal and some water, okay?”
Kitty
nodded glumly. “Okay. I guess.”
“Is it
still thirteen?”
“Um,” she
thought fast. “No. More like a five.”
Beast
nodded with some satisfaction, taking this as a sign he was right and she did
have a UTI. “If you feel up to it, both
of you have been requested to attend the meeting in the downstairs
library. I believe they’re holding it
for you…”
Kurt
wordlessly picked Kitty up, though she protested, and twerewere gone. Outside the doors to the library, he set her
carefully on her feet. “Are you sure
you’re up to this?”
“Not
really,” she sighed. “I feel woozy.”
“Are you
going to be sick again?”
She gave it
a little thought. “Not any time
soon. There’s nothing left.”
“Poor
Schatz,” he sighed, rubbing her back.
“I can take you back to your room and take notes on the meeting.”
She laughed
weakly. “Your handwriting is terrible.
Let’s just go in. I promise that if I
feel even a tiny bit worse, you can take me up to my room.”
“Okay,”
Kurt said cautiously, trying to memorize the lines of pain around her eyes and
mouth so he could keep track of them during the meeting. He ushered her into the nearly full room and
found an empty seat near the reference books.
“Move,” he said to St John.
“I’m saving
that seat for Bobby,” the blond protested.
“Move!”
Kurt growled, baring his fangs.
“Movingnowthankyou!” St John hopped to his feet and wedged
himself between Jean and Amara, leaning against the wall.
“I’m
sorry,” Kitty called to him. “He’s
overprotective…”
Kurt
frowned. “Shhh…Do you need a drink or
anything?”
“Nothing…Let’s
just sit.” She could feel Logan’s hard
stare on the back of her neck and did her best to look well. Bright smile, nod a lot…okay, not so
much. I look like a bobble head
doll. Now frown… Kitty hoped no one could see the sweat
standing out on her brow, her hands shaking.
One quick glance at Kurt told her he was not missing anything.
“You
listenin’, Elf? Half Pint?”
“Yes, sir,”
they said as one.
“Kitty,”
Kurt began urgently, “let me take you back to Beast.”
“Shhh,” she
urged. “I’m fine.”
Logan
glared at them once more and continued, “Storm’s gonna hand out some sample
questions the news folks are gonna be allowed to ask. No matter what, do not use your powers, even as a
joke. Do not be goaded into showing
you’re a mutant. The tour we’re taking
them on tomorrow will only be through certain areas of the Institute and
grounds. Do not let them get you
to take them anywhere else. Storm and I will be the one conducting the
tour. No students. Got it?”
There was a
murmur of ascent and a rustle of paper as everyone received their sample
questions. Kitty tried to focus on hers
but could not, so great was the pain in her belly. “Kurt,” she said softly, “I want to go now.”
“Not so
fast,” Storm said as Kurt made to stand.
“We have to go over these questions.”
Kitty
sighed and tugged on Kurt’s hand, pulling him back down. “Okay,” she said quietly.
“Katzchen,”
he hissed, “no!”
“I’m fine,”
she said through gritted teeth. To
Storm, who was beginning to frown with concern, she said, “Cramps.”
“Ah…Are you
sure you would not like to go lay down then?”
“I’m
fine. Just…fine.” Kitty exhaled slowly,
trying to concentrate on anything other than the pain. As Storm and Logan went over who would be
allowed to answer which question, Kitty tried to focus using her yoga breathing
exercises and take her mind off the
pain, but she found it was like a toothache, always there, gnawing at her
consciousness even when it abated somewhat.
After about ten minutes of instruction from Logan and Storm, they were
allowed to break into groups and discuss possible responses.
Amara sat
down unceremoniously next to Kitty in the seat vacated by Ray. “This,” she said succinctly, “is stupid.”
Kitty
smiled tightly. “If it’ll get the media
to back off, it’s worth it.”
“It occur
to you yet that you ain’t going back to Bayville High?” Lance asked from behind
Amara, towering over them all.
Kitty, Kurt
and Amara glared up at him with varying degrees of intensity. Finally, Kurt said, “No, it hadn’t exactly occurred
to us.”
Lance
shrugged, stifling a yawn. “Whatever. I can take it or leave it. I’m goin’ to bed.”
“Lance,” Amara
said sharply. “Sit down.”
He raised a
sardonic brow but sat down in an empty chair.
The buzz of conversation was all around them as people abandoned the
question sheets and delved into discussion over what might be to come for them. “Jamie woke us up. I want to go back to sleep, damn it,” he groused, but otherwise became
pliable to Amara’s glare.
The Nova
Roman said in tones best suited to freezing water, “This is ridiculous. Why should we lie to these people? They fear us and that is a good thing.”
“How is
fear good?” Kitty demanded, wincing at a pang in her side. “If they know us and fear us, they’ll drive
us out or…or worse.” She fingered her
necklace unobtrusively, shifting her gaze to her feet. “It’s happened before with people who were…different.”
“Different
from those in charge,” Kurt amended.
Amara
frowned. “On Nova Roma, I was one of
those in charge. Or would have been, when I was older. We did not drive people away…” She trailed
off. “Oh. Stupid Amara,” she sighed.[3]
“You’re not
stupid,” Lance murmured, leaning closer to her, “just naïve.”
“I’ll show
you naïve,” she mock-threatened. “Kitty, you look terrible…”
“I’m fine,”
she said, aware that several more people were looking at her oddlyJustJust…tired.”
Amara
nodded sympathetically. “I was sleeping
quite well before Jamie woke us up.”
Kurt rolled
his eyes. “She’s not fine, damn
it! She’s sick!”
Logan was
at their side immediately. “Half Pint,
you’re sick?”
“No, I’m
fine.”
“You’re
lying,” her foster father assessed. “Damn
it…you smell like antibiotics and…something.”
She rattled
the pills in her pocket. “Beast gave me
some. I haven’t taken any yet.”
Logan
looked over his shoulder at Storm, some unspoken communication passing between
them. “You’re going to bed. Now.
Kurt, go get her some water and crackers to take those pills with. I’ll take her upstairs.”
“But,”
Kitty b.
.
“But
nothing. You’re not gonna be able to
answer any questions tomorrow if you’re sick as a dog.” He lifted Kitty carefully, as if she were a
baby, and glared at Lance. “Are you
just gonna sit there or you opening the door for me?”
Amara
sighed as Lance scrambled to his feet and headed towards the door. “It’s probably just cramps.”
Kitty
nodded eagerly. “That’s it. Just cramps. Put me down, please!”
“No way, no
how.” Logan nodded at Kurt. “Meet us upstairs, Elf.”
Kitty
clutched her sheets about her grimly. “I’m
fine.” The antibiotics had gone
down with difficulty, Kitty’s stomach pain seeming to make her throat close
with each attempt at downing the large pills.
“Katzchen,”
Kurt said firmly, wearing an expression nearly identical to Logan’s stern one, “you’re
sweating, you’re shaking, your stomach hurts if I look at you funny, and you’ve
thrown up the crackers I brought you.
You’re sick.”
“He’s
right,” Logan said just as firmly. “Beast
is almost done with those tests and until we know what you’ve got, you’re
staying in bed.”
She huffed
angrily. “But I promised Beast I’d try
and help him retroengineer that powder and that means I’ve got tons of
computer work to do. I already feel a
little better…I think those antibiotics are working!”
Kurt
narrowed his eyes at her. “Katzchen…”
“Well, I
do!” She had the childish urge to stick
her tongue out at them.
Kurt
sighed. “Katzchen, even if it is just
what Beast thinks it is, you still need to rest. We’ve all had a really rough day and you’re sick on top of that
stress. Sleeping won’t kill you.”
Kitty
snapped her mouth shut on a snarky response. “Fine. I’ll sleep.od nod night!”
she said pointedly, carefully laying on her side with her back to them. She knew they could not see the wince on her
features as her lower abdomen clutched in pain.
“Kitty,”
Kurt said with a tinge of apology.
“Leave her
be, Elf. You can check on her in an
hour,” Logan said quietly.
Kurt knew
better than to argue and let Logan lead him from the room. Kitty sighed as the door shut and let a few
tears slide from under her tightly clenched lids. She shifted slowly, rolling onto her back and wishing Kurt had
stayed. A sharp, shocking pain shot
through her stomach and spine, making her gasp aloud, followed by a wash of
nauseating calm. She felt cold all over
and knew something was desperately wrong.
“Beast?” she tried to call out, finding her voice caught in her throat. “Kurt?”
Kitty was shaking so hard her teeth
chattered. “Help…”
A/N Lance and Amara next chapter, the Return of Tabby and
Wanda, Professor Goodness…
[1] There’s been
a spike in young women getting gall stones and having to have their gall
bladders removed over the past several decades and it turns out, birth control
pills contribute to that. If you’re on
the pill, you have an increased risk of having to have your gall bladder
removed. I had it out when I was 21 and
it’s not so bad… You get to sleep a lot
when you come out of anesthesia.
[2] It’s not
just for biological terror anymore… Cipro is commonly used to treat UTI’s.
[3] For some
reason, that sounds like Bridget Jones’ Diary when she finds out Daniel
was engaged. “Oh. Stupid Bridge.”