Carne Vale

CARNE VALE CHAPTER FORTY (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, the bunnies are massing...Is there some trick to keeping them at bay until I'm ready for them? InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are supercalifragiliciousexpealidocious for archiving. ;) Readers/Reviewers: The Killer Kitties(tm) and their Killer Minions (tm) are now sending me death threats for writing about them...they say I compromised their security...if I disappear, you know who did it! Tell the others! Fear the Killer Kitties (tm)! And I still love you for reading and reviewing. You make me feel shiny. :)



"Why should I know where he is?" Kitty snapped, nearly dropping the plate in her hand at Scott's question. "I am not my boyfriend's keeper!"
"First of all, nice mauling of the Bible there, second, I just asked because I haven't seen him since...well, last night and I figured you'd know as well as anyone..." Scott leaned against the counter and took up the fork Kitty had abandoned, idly playing with it in an attempt to look casual. "So, you haven't seen him, Rogue hasn't seen him...no one has seen him. I think we need to tell the Professor."
"No!" Kitty did drop the plate then and winced at the cracking noise it made when it hit the empty sink. "No, not the Professor!"
"Frankly, Kitty," Scott said, tossing the fork onto the drain board, "I'm surprised at you...you're not worried that you haven't seen or heard from Kurt, the guy you are insanely in love with, for almost twenty four hours? This is serious...what if he's in trouble?" Scott had been watching Kitty since he arrived home from school and noticed several things-she was acting skittish, she did not seem tense anymore, and she was crying a lot. He suspected that Kurt's missing status had a great deal to do with at least one of those things, if not all three. "Kitty, I have to talk to the Professor. We can't just act like Kurt's not in trouble!"
"Wait!" she said, her voice cracking slightly. "I haven't seen him...but I've heard from him. I was with him earlier..." She pressed her knuckles against the counter, relishing the pain her weight on them caused, making her think clearly in the midst of mild panic. Scott had not said anything more, just stared at her, waiting, making her choose her words carefully. "He's safe...I know where he is, and I know why he's there. Leave him alone."
"What happened?"
"None of your business really..." she sniffed, picking up the pieces of the broken plate and shoving them into the trashcan. "It's just something that happened between us and he's not taking it well..."
_Must've slipped up and had a go then, _ Scott thought. "Well, he can't keep missing school. He'll get held back if he loses another day like this!"
Kitty turned to him and offered up a chagrined look. "I don't think he'll miss anymore school. He's just going to be weird for a while."
"Oh?"
"Be nice. He just needs to take care of something alone, without me," she added sadly. "I think being with me is hard on him sometimes."
Kitty looked so sad that Scott felt moved to apologize. "It's my fault you two are in this mess, you know..."
"Pardon?"
"Didn't Kurt tell you about this? I...sort of implied that you two had sex an abnormal amount of the time and he wanted to prove that the two of you could have a relationship without the physical part and..." Scott trailed off. "I'm sorry."
Kitty closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "I knew you had suggested something to him and then told him later that you were joking...that kind of pissed us both off, but Kurt was okay with it...Lent and all..." They both shrugged, neither being really well versed in Catholicism and finding the whole situation to be a bit to the left of odd. "You know, for a little while today I thought I had found a loophole," she admitted after a moment. "I was counting the days on my calendar and saw that there were too many days between Ash Wednesday and Easter to count for Lent, but I looked it up and Lent doesn't start until the Sunday after Ash Wednesday1."
"So Kurt wasted three days when he could've been...um..."
"Stocking up against a drought?" she asked dryly. "Apparently, it's a common misconception..."
"I still feel kinda bad for staring him on this whole thing," Scott sighed. "Um, can you do me a favor and not tell Jean? She'd kill me if she knew..."
Kitty pursed her lips and said after a moment, "I will do this thing you ask of me, but there will come a day when I may ask of you a favor..."2
"What would that be, Don Pryde?" Scott smirked, feeling marginally better.
"Actually," she said, pushing away from the counter and stepping close to him as if afraid of being overheard, "this favor has two parts."
"Why do I feel like Ethel Mertz3 all of a sudden?" Scott groaned, but leaned down to hear her better anyway.
"I need for you to find out who all knows about the rumors going around about me and Kurt-who started it, who's spreading it, who believes it."
"Rumors?"
"You'll find out soon enough, I guess. Ask any of Duncan's friends." An expression of distaste crossed Kitty's face before she added, "When you find out, let me know everything and then I'll tell you the second part..."
"Kitty, you're looking evil. What're you planning?"
"It all depends on what you tell me." She patted Scott on the arm and smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go see a man about a horse."
"You know that means you have to pee, right?"
"I do now..." Kitty shook her head in vague embarrassment. "In that case, I have to go see a mutant about painful things to do to bastards who try to ruin your life..."
Scott was not sure whether to laugh or worry. Kitty's voice ringing out as she crossed the rec room, calling for Logan, made him decide on the latter. _I don't know if the Professor has any friends who can get someone off a murder rap. _


Kurt knew it was well past midnight, despite his lack of a watch or clock. His stomach was driving him forward when his mind protested, crying that there might still be someone awake. His metabolism was a cruel mistress, though, and Kurt found himself in the kitchen, his ears keen for any sound that could be construed as life while he rummaged through the fridge in search of a decent meal. He had succeeded in compiling a supper of cheese, most of Logan's sausage, something questionable that had, in one life, been pea salad, a liter of milk and several brownies that had made it thus far unscathed. His stomach groaning in anticipatory satisfaction, Kurt turned and promptly dropped his armload of food. "Shit!"
"Evenin', Elf...or should I say mornin'?" Logan lounged negligently against the doorframe, still fully dressed and apparently wide awake, one eyebrow quirked in what seemed to be a permanent expression these days.
"Herr Logan," Kurt said, keeping the squeak of shock in his voice to a minimum. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to wake you! I'll just be going now!" He bent to gather his purloined goods but paused when Logan's boots stepped into view, mere feet from his face. "Um..."
"I'm up because your girlfriend can't sleep..." He knew he sounded annoyed and was not sorry for it. "Seems she's had some trouble at school."
"What happened?" Kurt managed to move his food to the table and tried to hide the sausage under the cheese and brownies with little success.
Logan rolled his eyes and decided to pretend he did not see his own food before Kurt. "Someone's spreadin' rumors that she's free with her favors."
"Was?"
"Easy..."
"Oh. Oh!" Kurt was on his feet, a slight wash of dizziness ordering him to eat something, anything, _now. _ Stuffing a brownie in his mouth, he growled, "Who's saying that? Tell me!"
"Got me, Elf. She doesn't know who started the rumors but she said she's got someone finding out for her...she was askin' me all sorts of things about fighting, though, and that's got me worried. Kitty doesn't fight unless she has to and, for some reason, she thinks she's going to have to."
"Duncan. It has to be him. That's the only person at school who hates her enough to say things like that!" Kurt was only have listening to Logan, shoving another brownie in his mouth as he muttered to himself.
"She says someone's tellin' folks that Duncan caught you and her under the bleachers not too long back...doing things best left in the bedroom." Logan shifted uncomfortably at this, always hating the idea of Kitty being in any way a sexual being.
This caught Kurt's attention. "Was? Unglaublich!" He descended rapidly into a litany of Romany and German, cursing and invoking every single torture he could think of against Duncan and his friends. Logan only caught every fourth or fifth word.
"Slow down, Kid..."
"Nein! Kitty doesn't need things like this! She's a sweet, wonderful girl and she's already had so much...shit thrown at her this year! Can't we just have _normal _ lives?
"Hate to break it to ya, but this is as close to normal as you're gonna have, Kurt." Logan leaned forward, his use of Kurt's given name startling the teenager into silence. "As much as I'd like to pound Matthews or whoever it is saying these things into the ground, you know as well as I do that that's not an option... We still don't know what the Hell that kid's problem is and the Professor thinks that this new principal might somehow be tied to the Matthews..."
Kurt scowled. "I don't give a damn about the new principal! I want to make all this stop!"
"Hiding in the basement isn't helping her, you know."
"What makes you think I'm doing that?"
"I'm not stupid, kid. You forgot to cover the camera in the basement and I saw you on the tapes when I erased 'em earlier." Logan stood and went to the fridge, emerging from his search with a beer. "I'm not one to advocate drinking in kids, but you look like you could use one."
Kurt considered it for a moment but shook his head. "Nein...I'll get sick on an empty stomach..." Logan nodded towards the food pile and Kurt took it as permission to eat. Around another mouthful of food, he said, "I'm down there because I need to be."
"I know all about the Lent thing, Elf." Logan took a long swig of the beer before saying "You've got to get your priorities in order."
"What do you mean?"
"You care about Kitty." It was a statement rather than a question, so Kurt just nodded, waiting for the rest. "You care about her, but you're dragging her through your own little Hell. You didn't know that, did ya?"
"I knew she was upset but I thought it was because I was making her...you know. Frustrated. Like she felt like I didn't want her or something." Kurt fiddled with the milk bottle, not wanting to meet Logan's gaze while they discussed his sex life with the man's foster daughter.
"She blames herself when you go all mortifying.4" He finished the beer in another gulp and sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this to you..."
Kurt took a large bite out of the cheese and tried to brace himself for a lecture on not touching Kitty or something similar. "Ja?"
Logan frowned and began peeling the label off his beer bottle, appearing distracted until he spoke. "I'm not the most religious guy. I'm not even really spiritual, I guess, but I got respect for that sort of thing. I mean..." He looked around vaguely and seemed to find inspiration with the microwave for he stared at it as he spoke. "I ain't got a lot of faith for lots of reasons, but I figure there must be something out there, ya know? Otherwise how would stuff like babies happen?" Kurt was confused, to say the least, but he just nodded in agreement. Logan's focus shifted to the silverware caddy as he continued, "But sometimes, I notice theopleople who really have a strong faith in something, a particular way of believing in whatever it is they call God, sometimes that faith can blind 'em. They see that they have to do something a certain way, show their faith. They don't know that they're hurting someone else because they're so intent on hurting themselves."
"What do you mean by that?" Kurt asked, a bit defensive.
"You're punishing yourself for liking sex. For wanting to be with the...woman...you love," Logan wished he had grabbed another beer but forced himself to continue. "That, to me, ain't penance for sins. That's a sin in and of itself. She feels pain for you because she sees how upset you are. She's tearing herself up inside and she's blaming herself for your discomfort right now. And I don't mean just the physical part."
Kurt reached for the milk and noticed abruptly that he was out of food and drink. "Logan, Lent isn't some sort of punishment..."
"Exactly," he said sharply. "It's supposed to be asking for forgiveness, right? A sacrifice for sins you committed. Well, Kurt, let me tell ya...no sin you thing you committed could be so bad that you have to drag Kitty down with you."
"What are you saying? I should give in and...and...you know?" Kurt shook his head adamantly. "Nein. This is my penance and I'm not going to violate my promise!"
Logan stood, glower in place. "Suit yourself, Kid, but let me tell ya one thing...hiding in the basement is only gonna make things worse. Think about going back to your room, for her sake if not your own. Because if I have to stay up one more night with Kitty crying all over my shirt," he leaned in close then, close enough that Kurt was sure he could count every pore on the man's face, "you're not gonna be around for another one of these Lent things."
1 From Paschale Solemnitatis - "On Preparing and Celebrating the Paschal Feasts". Someone pointed out about the Sunday thing to me and I really did double check to be sure...You think they'd teach ya that in Catholic school, lol.

2 Paraphrased from "The Godfather"
3 I Love Lucy... Ethel was her best friend and always getting the brunt of the trouble when Lucy had a plan.
4 Mortifying in this case means the practice of punishing the self to expiate sins