We Can Explain...

We Can Explain...Chapter Six (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta...*glomp * Because I can. InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena rock my socks for archiving/hosting. ProPhile gets sex slave smutmuses for what he said. *G * Readers/Reviewers: Thanks. Really.

"Tucson?" The mental whirr was obvious as Kurt hastily reviewed United States geography.
Kitty frowned at the black plastic phone receiver and picked it up again, punching zero for the front desk. "Hello? Yeah, can I speak to the manager please?"
Kurt muttered to himself as he paced the worn tri-colored shag carpet. "Tucson? Nevada? Nein...it's not that far.t itt it's in the desert I think..."
"Arizona," Kitty said on a shaky sigh.
"Was? Arizona?" Kurt paused mid-step and frowned. "What did the manager say?"
"We're in Tucson, the Lullaby Inn, and the room is thirty dollars a night." She hitched a breath, covering a sob, and fell back on the suspect plaid comforter, sending up a cloud of dust. "What're we going to do?"
"Money," he groaned. "How're we going to " H" He joined Kitty on the bed, tying himself into a human knot. "We can't stay here without paying..."
"I think I can take care of that," she sighed. "I have my bank card. I can go to the front desk and pay as soon as we figure out how long we're going to be here."
"We should call home..." His tail thumped dully on the bed. "How the Hell did we get so far?"
Kitty shook her head mutely. Her stomach was lead and full of acid, a burning knot under her ribs, as she tried to form a coherent thought. "Okay. You got sick, right?"
"Right," he nodded furiously, glad to have something certain.
"And you don't remember anything after getting to the car."
"Also right." He unknotted slowly, his tail laying limply between them as he worked into something like a normal posture. "And somehow..."
"Here we are," she sighed. "Kurt, tell me the truth...has Forge been messing with your holo again." She shifted to face him, her fingers closing around his tail in a mute sign of nervous desperation. "I mean, I can't help but think of what happened the last time he tried to make you port farther..."
"Katzchen, I promise on my grandfather's grave I've learned my lesson from that." He took up her hands in his and kissed their backs. "I have no idea how we got so far..."
Kitty, her eyes fixated on her hands-pale, slender fingers meshed with thicker blue ones-only nodded. "I believe you," she said finally. "Is this...a new part of your mutation?"
"I don't think so," he replied after a long pause. Fine blue fur drifted to land on the bed, his tension and the stress of the port making him shed. "I've never...I don't know."
Kitty touched his cheek and rubbed the soft down there gently, capturing the strands that fell away in her palm. "A teleport this distance should have drained you nearly to death, if not all the way," she stated mater of factly, swallowing her fear under logic. "How're you feeling?"
"Tired," he sighed. "Like I haven't slept in days. Hungry, but not starving."
Kitty looked around the room, releasing her grasp on him so she could pace. "This place doesn't have an honor bar, surprise, surprise..." She raked her fingers through her ponytail and vented a wail of frustration. "Damn it to Hell!" she shouted, her eyes squeezed tight. "Why do things like this always happen to us?"
Kurt was on his feet in an instant, trying to keep the tremor out of his hands as he turned her to face him. "Liebes, listen to me." He took a deep breath and mustered his courage, staring her right in her tear filled eyes. "I'm scared to death, too."
"Great way to build my confidence," she said, trying a laugh and finding it to sound more like a sob. Her face crumpled and she slumped against him. "Seriously," she asked brokenly, "why always us?"
"Fate is cruel," he said as airily as possible, rubbing his hand in slow circles on her back. "Come on, let's call home and we can figure out what to do from there."
Kitty nodded, not noticing how fast Kurt's heart was racing or the slight tremble in his hands and speech. He wpentpent, through no fault of his own, and on the edge of collapse. "How do we call long distance from here?" she asked thickly after a moment's contemplation.
"Dial the front desk," he sighed, at a loss. The phone lacked dialing directions and he highly suspected the smears of gook on the black base were not pizza grease. Gingerly, he pulled her onto his lap to spare her the bed, and nearly groaned under her weight, slight as it was with most of it braced on her legs. He suddenly felt very, very weak, sucked dry from the inside out. His vision blurred, Kitty swimming in heat wave like ribbons of cream and cherry and maroon before re-forming into her usual self. "Katzchen," he breathed, not able to raise his voice any louder than a whisper.
"No answer," she swore, dropping the receiver back onto its cradle. "Ah! Jean! How dumb can we be? I'll call Jean on her phone!" She dropped to her knees next to the bedside table, relieving him of weigweight. She rubbed his knee absently as he let out a whoosh of breath. "We'll be home in no time!"
Kurt murmured noncommittally, painfully arranging his suddenly aching bones on the bed in a semblance of the fetal position. He closed his eyes, grateful for the overactive air conditioner on his hot skin. He ached for something to eat, his stomach cramping and muscles burning from exertion. "Liebes..."
"She's not answering. Damn it." Kitty slammed the receiver this time, turning to face him. "Kurt, oh my God...you look worse than in the car!" She tried to roll him onto his back but he resisted, albeit weakly.
"I just need to eat," he finally managed as she fretted over him, arranging pillows and murmuring panicked endearments.
"Of course," she agreed. "Okay. I'll go to the front desk and pay for at least two nights, okay?"
"Ja, ja..."
"And I'll see about a vending machine or something while I'm there..."
"Gut."
"Will you..."
"I'll be fine," he sighed.

Professor Xavier raised a brow. "And I can see that you did not lie..."
Kurt smirked faintly. He reached across the table to fold his hand with Kitty's, murmuring thanks for letting him help her tell the story. "I think Jean had better pick up from here."
"Oh?" the Professor's eyebrow arched delicately.
"Well, ja..."
Jean sighed and nodded. "I guess so. It's kind of my fault the next part happened anyway."