Forever

FOREVER—CHAPTER 31 (NC-17)

 

A/N Well, almost done * sniff *….Foxfeather kicks so much
ass for reading all the stuff I inundate her with and InterNutter gets tons of
thanks for use of her spingboard.
Standard disclaimers apply…

 

Thanks millions to everyone who reviewed…. :J I appreciate it more than you know!

 

 



 

Kitty
nearly fell out of her chair at the sight of her father looming in the kitchen
doorway. His fingers twitched as if he
wanted to hit her or Astrid but otherwise he stood still, staring. Kitty forced herself to stand and face him
down. “She asked you a question. How did you get in here?”

“Walked
right in, Kitty. Just…walked right
in.” Mort Pryde sounded drunk but Kitty
knew better—he was furious, full of rage.
“Kid let me in…”

“Kid?” Kitty heard Astrid stand and move around the
table and silently gave thanks for Kurt’s mother’s presence at that
moment. If anyone can make him stand
down, she can…

“Little
one…what the Hell is a kid that young doing here with you freaks
anyway?”

Jamie.
“Where is he?”

“Ran off
with his twin. Or was he triplets?”

“Did you
happen to shove him, or make him fall in anyway?” Kitty felt the dull throbbing of a tension headache begin behind
her eyes.

“He fell
when I, ah, opened the door.” Mort
looked a little less purple but Kitty knew better than to trust him at this
point.

Astrid
found her voice and it was laced with steel.
“We did not hear the front door open…I will ask you again: How did
you get in?”

Mort
sneered at her, stepping into the kitchen now and filling it with his presence.
Kitty slid in front of Astrid, automatically wanting to protect her since she
was an esionsion of Kurt. Kitty was
much smaller than her father but Astrid had no doubt that the girl would take
the man on if need be; the older woman
laid a placating hand on the girl’s shoulder and moved so that they were side
by side. Mort narrowed his eyes and
said “I came in around back. Is that
what you wanted to know? I wanted to
talk to you, Kitty, without being interrupted.
I think you’re mostly reasonable, aside from your astonishing lack of
judgment over the past few weeks.”

“My
lack of judgment? My lack of
judgment?” Kitty wished for one
brief, wild moment that she had Amara’s abilities because she felt like she
could burst into flames that very moment if given the opportunity. “I’m not the liar, I’m not the thief, I’m
not the one who abandoned my only child!”
Her voice was rising to new heights, causing Astrid to murmur
blandishments to no effect. Kitty stalked towards her father, punctuating her
words with jabs of her finger. “The only lack of judgment I showed was not
letting Wolverine claw you that first night!”


“Are you
threatening me?” He closed the
distance, his hands grasping Kitty’s upper arms so tightly that his knuckles
whitened.

“No more
than you are me…” Kitty passed from his
grasp and pressed against the table, out of arms’ reach now. Mort wiped his hands on his pants as if
Kitty’s phasing had tainted him somehow.
Catching this action, Kitty snarled “You made me. I did not chose this, you made it.”

“You’re a
punishment!”

“Whatever
happened to religion being a lie, huh?”
Kitty jingled her Star of David between her fingers from where it hung
around her neck. “Just one more thing
to make you hate me?”

Astrid was
torn: she wanted to fetch help but did not want to leave Kitty alone with her
father. She was saved from forcing a
decision by her own son. Kurt loped
into the room, skidding to a halt when he saw Mort. Astrid motioned for him to be silent but it was too late: Kitty’s
father whipped around to see who had come in and fairly growled when he saw
Kurt, sans holo. “You! Monster, freak, beast!”

“Beast is
bigger, Dad.” Kitty muttered, purposefully being obtuse. “Kurt, they back yet?”

“Nein…” He kept his back to the wall but moved
around to stand next to his mother.
“The Prsor sor and Storm will be back within the hour with Amara. And Rogue went with Beast, who drove Jubilee
to the dentist to get her work finished.”

“Work?” A bell seemed to be going off in Mort
Pryde’s head.

“Yeah,
remember Jubilee? You decked her and
she had to have massive amounts of dental work done…You hit a kid, Dad.” Kitty seemed to be hitting her stride in
anger. “Kurt, love, please go find
Logan. Let’s get this done now!”

“Vas?”
“What?” three voices in various stages of burgeoning panic chorused as one.

“Where’s
Mother? Go get her and we’ll finish
this now!” Kitty was growing shrill,
making Kurt cringe against the aural assault.
“Kurt!”

Astrid cut
her eyes at Kitty but gave her son a gentle nudge “Go on—it’ll get this over
with sooner!” Kurt nodded and ‘ported
away. Mort looked properly horrified,
coughing on the fumes left in Kurt’s wake.
“Kitty, please don’t get in over your head here…”
“It’s okay Astrid. I know what I’m about.” Kitty pressed a finger dead center to her
father’s chest. “Go get mother. I’ll get the arbitrator and we’ll meet here
in an hour. Go!”

“How dare
you talk to your own father like that?”

“You
forget—you’re my father in the sperm-donor sense only now. Logan is my guardian and more of a father to
me than you ever were!” Kitty’s face
was pale and her hands were obviously shaking, making Astrid feel a strong
maternal urge to beat the Hell out of Mort Pryde herself. Logan’s voice could be heard drifting into
the room, twined with Kurt’s more frantic tones. Kitty drew herself ramrod straight and a strange smile fixed over
her features. “Speak of the devil…”

“Breaking
and entering now? Mentally abusing
children not enough to keep you busy, bub?”
Logan may have been shorter than Mort, but his presence was hundreds of
times more intimidating. Mort’s jaw
worked in mute, terrified frustration as Logan continued, leaning casually
against the doorframe as he was, “Heard what Half-Pint said. I suggest you get hopping. Need help out the door?” A pointed flexing of metalanceanced fingers
got Mort’s attention.

“I’ll be
back in an hour. With Golda.” Refusing to make eye contact with anyone on
the way out, Mort trudged to the front door, followed closely by Logan and
Kurt.

Kitty sank into a chair and rested
her head on the wooden table, oblivious to the shaky breath Astrid let
out. “I don’t believe he did that…yes,
I do…he would so do that…” Kitty muttered over and over. Kurt regained the room while Logan watched
from the front door to make sure Mort really left. “Kurt, is he gone?”

“Ja…Katzchen, what was he doing
here?”

“Wanted to scare me, intimidate
me. It’s what he does.”

“But why did he sneak in?” Astrid
asked.

“He thinks it gives him a
psychological advantage. Like a
commando raid…”

Logan’s harsh bark of laughter
startled them all. “Half-Pint, that man
couldn’t pull off a commando raid if his life depended on it!”

“Heh…Well, he certainly
tries.” Kitty raised her head to look
at the three people across from her.
“We need to get the Professor.
When he said he’d be back in an hour, he meant it. If there is one thing Mort Pryde is, it’s
punctual.”

“I’ll see what I can do about
getting Chuck and Storm back here fast.”
Logan’s eyes drifted to Astrid and seemed to take her measure briefly,
“Think you can handle the kids?”

“Logan, they’re hardly going to do anything
right now, of all times!” Two hours ago, she may have felt differently but now…

“Hmm. Just keep an eye out.
Stress does strange things to people.”


Astrid glared at Logan’s back as he
stalked from the room. “I should let
them go at it like bunnies on the table just to spite you!”

 

An
insistent knocking woke Remy from a very nice dream about a certain
golden-skinned mutant he knew. The
knocking had first incorporated itself into his dream, Jubilee’s soft,
passionate words taking on a strange tone.
When her voice had become the sound of knuckles against wood, Remy knew
what had happened and opened his eyes slowly, willing the images to stay in
place for later perusal. “Who it is?”

“Jamie! Open open open!” Remy
rolled out of bed and tugged pajama pants on over his usual bed-time
nudity. “C’mon Remy! Hurry!”

“Jus a sec!” Glasses hanging from
his fingertips, Remy opened the door to a trio of Jamies. “What de…”

The trio shoved into the room and
spread out, one popping out of existence before Remy’s eyes. One of the Jamies sat on his sleep-warm bed
and the other perched in the window.
The one on his bed had been chattering steadily and it was finally
sinking in to Remy what he was saying.
“…so then Kurt went and got Logan and…”

“Hol’ up…where you hidin’ when all
dis goin’ on?” Desperately wishing for
a cup of chicory,[1] Remy tried
to sort out what was going on below stairs.


“I was four people—I was
everywhere!” Jamie seemed pleased that
his mutation was useful for once.

“I be glad you tellin’ me dis…How
long you say it be ‘fore dey get here?”


“Well, now about thirty
minutes….You take forever to wake up, man…. Hey! Cool eyes!” Jamie-at-the-window popped away
even as he said this.

“Huh. That bothers me a little, seeing that.” Jamie said, the only one
left now. “Sometimes, I wonder if maybe
I’m not a dupe and the original popped away.”

“We all got crosses to bear,
homme. Me, I jus be too good lookin’
pour my own good!” He winked broadly at
the boy and earned a giggle. “Now, we
gonna be seein’ lots of bad tings real soon…tings mebbe a little hard for you
to unerstan… “ Remy moved so that he was eye-level with the young boy. “Sometimes dese tings be hard to deal wit,
especially when we care lots ‘bout de people who involved, non?”

“What’re you saying?” Jamie was a little scared now.

“I be sayin’ dat I don’ tinu
cu
can avoid hearin’ all de down an’ dirty details ‘bout what been goin’ on roun’
here lately mais you mus’ not tink harsh on any yo’ friends, eh?”

“Did someone do something really
bad? Is it Amara?” Jamie leaned forward intently, his
child-soft breath tugging at Remy’s heart a little.

“I not say it bad, really…jus’
misunerstood.” Remy sighed: How much
should Jamie know? Would knowing the
whole story cause some sort of psychological damage, knowing about sex too
soon? “Why don’ you tell me all you
know…”

It turned out that Jamie knew
rumors and innuendo, but the actual story was far beyond him. “And Remy, what’s humping?”

Remy, for the first time in his
life, was at a loss for words. He opened
and closed his mouth like a landed fish while Jamie stared at him
intently. Finally, the best he could
come up with was “Where you hear dat?”

“Jubilee said it to Rogue the other
night, when they stopped fighting. She
said it was cuz Kurt and Kitty were humping that this whole thing started.”

“Ah. Well. Jubilee need to
watch her mouth, non?”

“She didn’t know I was there…” Jamie sucked on his lower lip
worriedly. “You ain’t mad at her now,
are you?”

“Non, non…I jus’….You know, I jus’
don’ know what I
am!” Remy laughed then, startling
Jamie. “Okay, mon ami, I gonna tell you
some home truths, eh? Dis may get a
lil’ awkward for both of us, mais c’est important dat you know dis…” Remy passed a hand over his early morning
stubble and tried to decide just where to start. “Jamie, you know what puberty is?”



Armed with
the facts of life a la Remy LeBeau, and the basic gist of the events of the
past two weeks, Jamie walked glassy-eyed down the stars and right past Jubilee,
not even pausing to appreciate her bruises as he had been wont to do of
late. “Hey, Big Guy! Where you off to?” Jubilee’s voice was only a little blurred from the Novocaine the
dentist had administered in order to finish her dental work.

“Urg…” Jamie took one look at Jubilee, turned
bright red, and all but ran from the room.
Rogue snorted and shook her head, disappearing into the kitchen and
leaving Jubilee alone in the foyer.
“Hello?”

“Jamie be a
little…overloaded…right now, chere.”
Remy leaned over the railing at the top of the stairs, eyes alight with
mischief but face still bearing traces of a blush.

“What’d you
do?” Don’t see his bare chest, don’t
see his bare chest…

“I jus’
tell him a few tings…he need to unerstand what goin’ on roun’ here…” Remy
raised his eyebrow and raked a glance over Jubilee. “You comin’ up or you jus’ gonna stand dere ooglin’ me all day?”

“Fuck you,
LeBeau!”

“Promise?” Remy chuckled as Jubilee stomped past him on
the stairs. He followed her to the door
of her room, stopping her entrance with a hand on her bare elbow. “You angry at me?”

“No! Just…ouchie.” Jubilee was
actually angry at him, but not for anything he did. If you would just tell me how you feel, I’d stop hanging in
Limbo!

“Your mouth be hurtin?” He turned her gently to face him and Jubilee
nodded, child like, her eyes falling to half mast. “Remy can fix dat…” He
leaned over her, fingers skittering over the bruises on her face. His breath teased the whisps of her hair
around her face and Jubilee shuddered at the sensation. “Ma belle fleur,[2]
you been mistreated, non?” His lips
barely brushed her skin and she felt her insides slide to somewhere around her
ankles. “You don’ deserve all dat…you
deserve to be coddled, oui? You need
someone to hold you, to…”he lightly kissed her ear, “kiss you…You need someone
to…”

“Stop!” Jubilee felt the words being torn from her chest. She pressed her hands against Remy’s bare
chest, blocking the feel of his skin from her mind, and held him at bay. “Unless the words ‘I care about you Jubilee’
or a variant thereof are about to leave your lips, I don’t want to hear
anymore!”

“Chere, you know I can’ “

“I know you won’t. Look, sort out what you feel and for who,
then come talk to me. Until then, no
kissy no touchy.” Jubilee felt
strangely befreft when Remy nodded and stepped back, crossing his arms across
his broad chest. “Now,” she sounded
shaky, “what’s going on?”
Looking momentarily confused,
Remy nodded sharply again and said “Kitty’s parents be comin’ early. Dere been some shake up wid her papa and
Kurt be all in a lather…Jamie tell me all ‘bout it. Hien, dey be here widin de hour.”

“What?!? What about the Professor?
What about the lawyer guy?”
Jubilee felt a surge of sympathetic panic for her friends.

“Dey be gotten. I tink Logan be takin’ care o’dat.” Remy gave a Gallic shrug and stepped closer
to Jubilee. “Amara be home from de
hospital soon, chere. What you want to
do ‘bout dat?”

At his sudden closeness, Jubilee
felt all her synapses misfire. “I…um…er…I
don’t know anymore.”

“You want to talk to her ‘bout it
or just pounce?” A feral smile slid
over his features and Jubilee remembered something she read once about vampires
being able to glamour their victims into obedience. He sure looks like he’d love to bite me…

“Back off—you’re close again.”

“Can’ help myself, chere. You like a flame an’ I be de moth…”

Jubilee snorted. “The day you’re a moth to any woman’s flame,
I’ll be sheep dipped.” Forcing herself
to turn her back on him, Jubilee let herself into her room and paused, slowly
turning back to face him, running the risk that his gaze presented. “When Amara gets here, we’ll talk to
her. You and me and Jamie.”

“Jamie?”

“Yeah…he’s been helping me from the
get-go. It wouldn’t be fair to cut him
out now.” Jubilee cocked her head to
one side, saying “What’d you tell him anyway?
He took one look at me, blushed and ran off to the library.”

“He did?” Remy laughed loud then. “I
jus’ tell him de birds an’ de bees, chere!”

“Oh, God! He knows the facts of life from Remy LeBeau! Poor kid’s gonna be scarred for life! Worse!
He’ll be a little you!” Jubilee growled in frustration and
slammed the door in the Cajun’s face, but not muffling his laugh.

 

Kitty sat on the very edge of the
wooden chair in the Professor’s study, watching Kurt pace agitatedly back and
forth before her. Astrid sat nearby,
not working on her lapful of needlework, and Logan guarded the door. “What time...?”

“Any minute, Half Pint.” Logan had reached Professor Xavier and Storm
on their way home and informed them of the developments. Promising to beat the Prydes there, the
Professor had cut the communication.
That was ten minutes ago and Logan had keen ears turned for the sound of
the Jeep on the gravel drive.

“I just hope my parents don’t get here first…”

“They shouldn’t. Not the way Storm drives,” Kurt put in,
albeit under his breath. Astrid
chuckled but stifled it when Logan turned a steely gaze on her---she had
decided that now was not the time to bait him.


Logan suddenly shifted to a posture
of wariness, making Kitty jerk to her feet and cling to Kurt. Logan’s voice rumbled, “Wait for it…[3]”

The knock fell heavily on the front
door, echoing through the mansion.

 

 

A/N I’m really dragging this out,
aren’t I?

 



[1] Cajun
coffee. Strong, bitter stuff but keeps
ya awake…

[2] My beautiful
flower

[3] Robin Hood:
Men In Tights. (“On the count of jump….wait
for it….”)