Constant Craving

CONSTANT CRAVING CHAPTER FORTY (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Mad Queen of Plotbunnies, mille grazie for the loan of Kristen and Lucas for my HD archaeology...lol. You still rock for beta-ing! InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are sparkled. :) Readers/Reviewers: Home stretch, I promise...;) Then more insanity!!!!! LOL. I've sent the ducks to clean off the stage after a huge fight between the Killer Kitties (tm) and the Platypi, so maybe we can get this show on the road...



She hated the night. Night was when she knew herself, the silence of a sleeping house pressing on her ears even as thoughts pressed to escape. Night made her know her sins, know her past. Night was when she hated herself the most. She could hear the scurrying of the others as doors hissed open and thumped shut. A giggle, quickly silenced, and then nothing. The room was cold, the window open to let in the night air against the heat in her face from withheld tears, and she could see the white stars against the night sky. _I always thought stars should have colors...they should be like little rainbows and shining in the dark. The world would be better if they were... _ She rolled onto her stomach and pulled the blanket up to her chin, staring out into the dark. The moon was a mere sliver in the sky, not bright enough to do much more than lend a silvery sheen to the trees and grass. She knew it was too early yet, but part of her mind was sure that she felt a fluttering in her belly, a quickening that both made her ashamed and gave her hope. The cold bit at her nose, making it run a little as she debated shutting the window before deciding to leave it open a little longer, maybe the starlight would do something to make her feel clean again. _It's been so long...I don't know how to be anymore. I don't want to be anything else. _ Her hand pressed against her stomach, just below her navel, and the tears she had been trying for days to hold back finally spilled forth.

"Don't walk away from me!"
"Logan, do not speak to me like that!" Storm snapped over her shoulder, striding down the hall.
"Just because I didn't tell you what you wanted to hear..." he hissed, mindful of the rooms to either side of them, the students behind closed doors.
"You did not tell me _anything! _" Storm stopped in her tracks, poised to walk down the stairs. "Silence is not an answer for what I asked you!"
"Silence can be the perfect answer," he growled.
"And the wrong one! Logan, ignoring it does not make it go away!"
"I'm not ignoring anything!"
"Fine," she said calmly, moving towards him again. "Do you love me?"
" 'Ro...," he sighed, "Isn't that how this whole thing started this evening?"
"No," she said softly, "it started because I wanted to make love with the man I am in love with." She gave him one cool, assessing glance and turned to move silently down the stairs, not looking back at him even though she knew he was looking over the banister at her.
As she disappeared into the dark, just out of his sight, Logan squeezed his eyes shut in mute frustration. He had no idea what he had done wrong. Storm told him that she loved him and he found that he could not answer in all honesty. Love was something he was not sure of, something he had a deep, internal memory of causing pain. Lust, he could handle. He could more than handle lust, he reflected grimly. _Damn it all. She knows me. She knows all the dirty little secrets and still thinks she loves me...no, 'Ro knows she loves me. She wouldn't have said anything if it was just something she thought she felt. She's nothing if not certain. _ Logan blew out a breath he had not been aware he was holding and balled his hands into fists at his side, frustration channeling into anger. _Hitting something would be good...Fuck it. I'm getting as bad as these kids. _ Forcing himself to walk back down the hall, he paused outside Kitty's door out of secret habit, straining his ears to hear her breathe and reassure his paternal urge that she was okay in the dark. _The fuck? _
He had been so distracted moments before that he missed the bubbling cauldron of whispers behind his foster-daughter's door. Voices layered and mixed, some sleepy but most excited or angry. He could clearly hear Kitty tell Remy to pay attention, get his hands off Jubilee for a few minutes, and Logan knew that they were up to no good. Pressing closer to the door, he listened.

"So how long were you planning on acting like jackasses?" Amara asked sullenly. She was not amused at being made to get out of bed just as she had gotten comfortable next to Lance.
Scott shrugged. "As long as it took to trap Tabby..." He narrowed his gaze at her. "You don't seem surprised to find out we were playing at fighting...did you know?"
Jean blushed. "Um, that'd be my bad...sorry."
Kurt sighed. "Whatever, look...let's just get this settled. I'm tired..." his eyes drifted to Kitty, sitting between his sisters while he sat at her feet. "I'd like to go back to bed."
Kitty had the grace to flush a pale pink, knowing full and well what Kurt wanted to do in bed. "Remy, what did I just say?"
He lifted his head from the crook of Jubilee's neck, grinning faintly at the sight of his lover's bright red face. "P'tite, you got appallin' timin'...we was jus' getting' to da good part...you can't 'spect Remy to turn off de engine mid-drive, eh?"
Jubilee nudged him in the ribs. "Later, Gumbo..." she muttered with an embarrassed glance at the assembled teenagers. "Kitty's gonna skin me alive if we keep this up."
"No, I'll just put salt peter in his food tomorrow..." she gave Remy a look that made him wonder if she was really kidding before she contin "Ka "Katja, Anja and Erika have found out some information that we might all find very useful."
"And I would still like to know just what you were thinking, doing that...Tabby's not a nice person and if she caught you..."
"Kurti," Erika sighed, "she did not catch us. Get over yourself and just listen!"
"If I didn't love you so much," Kurt sighed, "I'd slap you silly sometimes."
"Okay, sibling rivalries later!" Jean cut in. "Kitty, what is this thing you want us to hear?"
"Okay...Katja, you go."
Katja straightened, producing the mini-recorder from a fold in the blanket. "By tricking Tabby into thinking we did not speak English, we were able to record her phone call..."
"You know," Scott sighed, "that's kind of illegal..."
"Only if you want to it iit in court, yo," Todd put in. At the incredulous looks that were shot his way, he responded, "What? I watch _ Law and Order..." _
"Well, we're not going to use it in court, now are we?" Anja sighed. "Just listen..." She reached across Kitty and pressed play on the recorder.
Tabby's voice came out tinny but otherwise clear. "Don't hang up on me, Pietro...just listen. I don't think I can do this anymore. I'm tired of it. I'm sick every time I turn around, my feet won't stop swelling, I can't think straight...just call your dad for money." There was a pause and the Wagner girls could be heard in the background. Kurt snorted and mouthed "monkeys?" to Erika but she only grinned and pointed to the recorder, indicating that he should listen. Tabby spoke again, "I don't care what you think. Who's else's could it be? Don't be such a prick, Pietro. Listen, I'll try again but I really don't think these brats will pony up, no matter what I do. No, I am not going to do that... Fuck all, Pietro!" she exploded, the words taking on a harsh resonance in the still room, "It's almost too late...I'm two months gone as it is!" The tape cut off there with the slamming of a phone and the rustle of fabric as Katja pressed the "stop" button.
Silence reigned for several long moments as everyone digested what they had just heard. Jamie, brow furrowed, spoke first. "She's two months gone?"
"She's pregnant, love," Rahne murmured, twisting the hem of the overlong shirt she was wearing between her fingers,
Amara looked stricken, the situation hitting a little too close to home for her to be entirely comfortable. Lance, sitting behind her, slid his arm around her waind pnd pulled her to lean against his chest, a haunted expression on his face, knowing what Pietro must be feeling. Kurt broke the new silence. "So what do we do?"
"Tabby's wreaking havoc because she wants something from us, sounds like money. So we can either just give it to her or kick her out." Scott sounded like he favored the latter option.
"We can't kick her out!" Jean said, sounding mildly horrified. "Yes, she terrible, but if she's pregnant...Scott, we can't just send her out to the street."
"Didn't she come from there?" Jubilee asked. "I knew plenty of girls who were pregnant and on the streets back in California."
Kitty shook her head. "For one, it's going to get real cold real soon here-it would just be cruel for that alone."
Todd nodded. "And I know Tabby...she won't go to a shelter unless she absolutely had to. She's too proud."
"And by the time she decided she had to, " Lance put in, "it'd probably be too late."
"So what do we do?" Kurt repeated.
Anja, biting her lip for a moment, spoke softly, "If you don't mind me saying so, it sounds like she wanted this Pietro to find money for her to...to end the pregnancy."
Kitty nodded. "Sounds like. When she said she was running out of time...most states won't allow abortion after the third month.1" Turning to Kurt, she murmured, "YaYa's money..."
"Nein," he snapped. "You're not going to use your inheritence for that!"
"Kitty, Tabby is in a bad way but giving her money will only encourage her to keep taking. She'll never learn to be responsible if we just hand her money." Jean passed a tired hand over her eyes. "Maybe we need to talk to the Professor."
The door creaked open. "Yeah, I'd think you do." Logan looked tired and had a trace of anger in his features, but mostly he looked sad. "Kids, it's after midnight. What're you still doing up?"
Erika piped up before his charges could. "We're finding out what that Tabby girl is up to. We got her on tape..."
"I know, I heard..."
Kitty rose to her feet, looking indignant. "You were eavesdropping on us?"
"Half-Pint..."
"You were _eavesdropping on us _ ?" she repeated at a slightly high volume. Remy batted at her legs and shushed her from his spot on the floor but Kitty merely glared and moved closer to Logan. "Why?"
"I was in the hall and heard whispering...Sounded suspicious." Logan shrugged. "Young lady, what are you doing questioning me anyway? I'm still your legal guardian," part of his mind said _Father _ even as Kitty's eyes narrowed, "and your welfare is my concern."
"So you spied on us?"
"No, I checked up on you. And a good thing, too," he said, addressing the room at large. "This situation is bigger than you all can handle. In the morning, the Professor will want to speak with all of you. For now, go to bed. I'll be checking..." Logan spared a squeeze for Kitty's arm and a stern look that told her to watch her mouth before exiting to the hall.
Scott sighed. "Well, the Master has spoken..."
"What about the ruse?" Kurt murmured, knowing full well that Logan could probably hear him anyway but feeling that whispering was warranted.
Scott held up one finger and grabbed Kitty's notebook off her dresser. Kurt clapped a hand over her mouth to stop the forthcoming squeak and accepted the hastily scribbled note Scott passed him, reading it before he passed it on to Todd. The note made it's way to all the males in the room before they nodded to each other and trickled out, leaving the females staring at each other.
"What," Amara sighed, "was that?"
Rogue rolled her eyes. "They're gonna keep it up, try and get her to open up to Lance or Todd...try and get her to ask for help so we can give it to her."
From the bed, Katja intoned the word that summed up their feelings about the whole situation, "Unglaublich."

1 I'm not too sure about New York but that's the case in most states. Before the end of the trimester you can have an abortion in prochoice states. After that, you've got to maintain the pregnancy.