Constant Craving

CONSTANT CRAVING CHAPTER FORTY-TWO (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Mad Queen of Plotbunnies, tell Ted it's okay to come out now. Joaquin got Billy to stop it and everything should be fine now...Kristen and Lucas have been trying to get Dodo to wear reindeer antlers, though, so you might want to check that out... Vampyre: what's a masonite? InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink, I am sending a cadre of worshipping elves your way for archiving. They come bearing pretty shiny things. ;) Readers/Reviewers: Now that the Killer Kitties (tm) are taking a breather, the platypi are seizing control. It's a bit disturbing. They've abandoned all idea of finishing West Side Story and are massing an attack on all waterfowl. The ducks are hiding in my underwear drawer. Ew.



"At least they just gave you a citation," Kitty said helpfully.
Lance balled up the ticket and threw it, beaning Todd on the side of the head. "Fucking fantastic. I still have to go to court."
"Maybe we can get the same court date and car pool," she said darkly, a gentle reminder that she, too, was going to have to deal with the aftermath of Tabby's activities.
Todd snorted. "If we get the same judge, maybe we'll get a group rate for the fines."
Kitty made a face. "You never told me you were funny1," she sighed. "Where's Tabby?"
Lance sprawled out on the rec room couchI haI have no idea...last I saw of her, she was bolting over the fence on the Euclid Street alley...the only reason we didn't get arrested after all was because the cop couldn't find evidence on us...all all he knew, we were just out for a run."
"Yeah, a run in street clothes, jackets and boots," Todd grumbled, shoving Lance's legs aside to sit at the end of the couch. "Where's everyone?"
"Storm and Beast are in the lab going over Rogue's blood work, Kurt and his sisters are out on the lake in that old rowboat of Logan's and I'm not sure about any one else." Kitty settled into the armchair across from the boys and asked the question that had been preying on her mind all day. "Did she tell you anything?"
They exchanged wary looks and Lance nodded, taking control of the story. "She's got a bad jones for Pietro it seems. She thinks he loves her all of a sudden and now that she's knocked up, he wants nothing to do with her. She thinks he's just scared but he's gonna come around...Pietro ain't gonna come around."
Todd shook his head. "Tabby ain't gonna see the truth even if it her her in the face with a two by four."
"She's not dumb, Todd," Kitty put in. "She's scared. I'd be freaking out too if I were in her shoes."
"If you were in her shoes," Lance said roughly, "Kurt wouldn't run you off like Pietro did her. He wouldn't call you a whore and say the baby isn't his. Pietro told her the only way he's letting her back in the Boardinghouse is if she has an abortion or gets rid of the kid somehow. That's why Kurt couldn't get her to go back that night. Pietro told her he'd call the cops on her, turn her in for all the stolen shit in her room." Lance felt mildly ill. He had been in Pietro's shoes before, first with Tabitha and then with Amara. Both times, he had been scared. But while with Tabby he had been merely supportive of her decision and angered by her delay in telling him, he had been wounded when Amara lost the baby, feeling her pain keenly as if it were his own. No thoughts of abandonment had ever entered his mind but with Amara, he knew responsibility for his actions was not the only reason he wanted to stay.
Todd looked a little ashamed. "Whenever we ran out of money," he said to Kitty in an explanatory tone, "we'd kind of steal stuff to make ends meet...Take it to the pawn shop down at the corner of Forth and Mason. They don't ask questions there, ya know."
Lance gave him a dirty look but did not censor his friend. Instead, he continued to Kitty, "Tabby's gonna come back here tonight, I'm sure of it. She's got no where else to go and she thinks me an' Todd are on her side. We kind of had to play up the anti-X Men thing..."
Kitty nodded and shrugged. "I understand...don't worry about the others. I mean, we all know what's going on so we won't be really offended." She did not think it was the right time to tell anyone of the plan the Wagner sisters had come up with. In fact, she thought that maybe they should just keep it between the four of them, execute it without anyone being the wiser. _Less drama that way...make it easier on all involved. _ "Does the Professor know about your ticket?"
"Not yet...think we can hide it from him?" Todd asked hopefully.
"Not likely...you're still minors. If the Professor is listed as your legal guardian, he'll be contacted." Kitty quirked a brow, "Is he listed?"
Lance nodded glumly. "When we first came here, he did some fancy footwork with the state and had Mystique's name removed from our guardianship papers and his put on."
"Did Mystique care?"
"Dunno," Lance shrugged. "She ever call you and beg you to come home, Todd?"
"Nope...I'm so heartbroken!" He clutched at his chest and fell over, mock-sobbing. "Whatever shall I do? She's abandoned us!"
"Smart ass," Kitty snapped good-naturedly. "I'm going to go make sure Kurt didn't drown or something. See you guys at dinner." She made a hasty exit, seeing Logan stalking down the hall with murder in his eyes. _Guess he knows...hate to be Lance and Todd right now. _ Even as she cleared the back door, she heard Logan's low growl drifting down the hall. _Oy. Not so good... _

"Katzchen!" Kurt called, waving madly. "We didn't sink!"
"Good to know!" she called back, her hand over her eyes to block out the rays of the lowering sun. Kurt and his sisters were crowded into the rowboat in the middle of the lake. "You guys gonna be the there long?"
There seemed to be a deep discussion on the matter before four voices called as one. "Nein!"
Kitty giggled and sat on the shore to wait for their return. The light threw them into silhouette, rendering the scene a timeless one that Kitty could easily imagine being a future scene, Kurt's distinct profile ageless and his sisters easily the shadows of children not yet born. Unconsciously, Kitty's hand drifted to her abdomen and she pressed there lightly, feeling the gentle swell that so bothered her but bore no trace of maternity yet. An unexpected pang of sympathy for Tabby shot through her breast and Kitty bit back a gasp at the near-pain of it. _I can't hate her...Lance is right. I'm luckier than she is. Kurt loves me and he wouldn't abandon me like Pietro did her. Sure, he's scared but still...Lance didn't ditch Amara when she got pregnant. He stuck by her even after the miscarriage. Pietro has no idea what it means to be responsible. I don't blame him, really, but he could so be handling this better. _ Splashing alerted her to the presence of people on shore and she opened her eyes to see Katja trudging towards her suddenly.
"Put in at the pier, I said. No, Kitty's over _there _ , he says..." The German girl sat heavily on the ground next to Kitty, her legs wet from mid-shin down. "Hi."
Kitty stifled a giggle at the look on Katja's face. "Hi. Um, nice day?"
"Until I had to walk through the water, ja, a very nice day." She sighed and flopped back onto the grass as Erika and Anja helped Kurt drag the boat to shore. "Did Erika tell you?"
"Yeah, while you guys were eating. I have to say I'm all for it...but I have a minor modification to make."
"Well, it's your money after all..." Katja peered up at Kitty. "You sure you don't mind?" atjaatja, I'm in a position to do this. In a weird way, Yaya's death gave me many blessings and they are meant e she shared." Casting a glance at Kurt and his sisters, Kitty lowered her voice sai said, "Tabby isn't my favorite person in the world, but not even she deserves to be lost like this. This is the best thing we can do for her."
Katja nodded seriously. "What's your modification?"
Kurt, drawing closer, called out, "Avast, land lubbers!" and Kitty mouthed _later _ to Katja before turning a bright smile to Kurt. "Is this a siren I see before me?" he said, sitting next to Kitty before pulling her into a loving but relatively chaste kiss.
"If you'd ever heard me sing," she said over Erika and Anja's giggles, "you wouldn't be saying that." She kissed him on the tip of his nose before saying to all assembled, "I have to go into town for a bit, but I'll be back tonight after sundown." The implied, _we'll talk later _ , hung in the air between her and the girls.
"Oh, it's Friday isn't it?" Kurt sighed. "Guess a movie's out then..."
"Well," Kitty stood, "we can watch a tape or DVD after dinner...Oh, geez! I've gotta run and get ready! I didn't think it was this late!" Kitty gave him another kiss and waved quickly to his sisters before turning and sprinting towards the house.
"What is that all about?" Erika asked.
"She's Jewish, silly," Katja said. "Why do you think Jean was wrapping those presents earlier? It's the first night of Chanukah _and _ the Sabbath for Kitty."
"Chanukah?" Kurt asked in a strangled voice.
"Ja...Scott explained it to us earlier. We don't know any Jewish people back home so we had no idea..." Anja shrugged. "It sounds very interesting. Do you think Kitty will tell us about it later?"
"Ja, after she's done throttling me!" Kurt groaned. He had completely forgotten to get Kitty anything for the holidays, completely unlike himself. He had planned on going into town the previous weekend but events conspired against him and then finally slipped his mind entirely as things rolled down hill. "I didn't get her anything!"
"Ooooh....Kurti's in trouble, Kurti's in trouble..." Erika cried, dancing away from him and towards the house. "Neener neener neener!"
Anja rolled her eyes. "She'll forgive you...Kitty's nice and she loves you
"
"Ja, and I'm sure she'll understand..." Katja furrowed her brow. "I think."
"I know she'll understand but it's not like me to forget...I always give her things for holidays!" Kurt wailed. _Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, Tuedays, wash days... _ In truth, he tended to give Kitty something every chance he got. A trinket here, a book there-always something he thought that she would like and always something that made him think of her when he saw it.
"I'm sure it's nhat hat bad..." Katja offered. "We can see what we have from our trip into town and decide if you can at least give her something tonight out of what we have."
"Okay," Kurt sighed. "We'll see..."

A menorah was already burning in the window when they made it into the house and Kitty was long gone, Scott doing chauffer duty into town. "Who lit that?" Kurt asked, pointing to the one candle in the brass tree.
Jean said with some conspiracy in her voice, "The Professor did, but we're not supposed to know...he didn't think I saw hnd Ind I've been shielding for the past hour..." Jean had a blue-wrapped present in her hands, the silver ribbon suspending a tag that read "Kitty." "What'd you get her?"
"Nothing," Kurt sighed. "We're about to go look through what the girls bought in town and see if there's anything I can give her..."
Jean bit her lip and held in a giggle at the pathetic picture Kurt was making, his tail drooping behind him and his lower lip jutting out. "Kurt, you don't have to give her something...the whole point of presents at Chanukah is that they're supposed to be useful. You know, like a stationary set or socks or something..." An idea struck her. "Why don't you make her dinner tonight, for her first present? Then each night do something that she'd appreciate. I bet you anything she'd like that more than the box of chocolates I'm giving her tonight or the barrettes Jubilee is giving her. Do something to let her know you're thinking of her without spending money on her..."
Kurt brightened somewhat. "I think you're onto something Jean!" With a happy grin, he grabbed her by the shoulders and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you!" He 'ported away even as Jean stood, looking mildly stunned.
_He gets stranger by the day... _

Kitty waited until the Congregation emptied before approaching Rabbi Gould. "Sir? Can I talk to you about something?" she asked demurely, unfamiliar with the man but still needing guidance from someone outside the Institute.
"Sure! Kitty Pryde, right? The last rabbi told me about you-says you're the only teenager she ever saw in here every Friday and High Holy Day...I'm glad to finally meet you!"
"Um, nice to meet you too," she tittered nervously before shaking herself. "I need to talk about this problem going on where I live and I was hoping you could give me guidance..."
"Is it with your parents?"
"No...I live at the Xavier Institute, just on the edge of town," she said, seeing the understanding looking come over the rabbi's face. Most people assumed that Institute residents were either head cases or orphans. "It's about a girl there who's in some trouble..."
"Is it you?"
"No! But I want to help her..." Kitty, aware of the pressing night and the festive occasion surely awaiting Rabbi Gould at home, told him the bare bones of the tale and the gist of the plan to help Tabby.
"It sounds to be as if you have given this deep thought. I can't say I actually condone your plane, but it's a viable one..." he said kindly. "I can't tell you that you are right or wrong here, but I can certainly tell you that your heart is in the right place. What you do is purely your decision. You're an adult in the eyes of God and this Congregation and will be held accountable to the world for whatever you decide to do...remember that before making any hasty decisions."
Kitty nodded glumly. That was not the answer she wanted. She wanted him to tell her it was a fantastic idea, sure to work and would be great for all ived.ved. "Yom Tov, Rabbi," she murmured, turning to walk out.
"Kitty! Don't be so sad...it is a time of miracles, after all..."2
1 Sixth Sense moment
2 Yom Tov-good day. Time of Miracles-Chanukah is the miracle of the oil and is often seen as a time for good happenings.