Love of a Family: Chapter 4

An X-Men Evolution fanfic

Todd, Fred, and Wanda joined them in the waiting room a few minutes later. As Wanda sank into a chair, Lance realized how pale she was. She pulled her feet into her chair and hunched over.

She shouldn’t have to be here. She hated hospitals. She hated doctors. He . . . he should help her. Talk to her. Make sure she was okay.

But . . . he couldn’t.

The lump in his throat choked him, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to speak. And even if he could, he couldn’t think of anything to say. His thoughts just kept spiraling around Kitty, just a few rooms away.

What if they hadn’t made it in time? What if the doctors couldn’t help her? What if he hadn’t done enough? What if she–

“Lance!”

He looked up. Tabitha was kneeling in front of him. She put her hands on his knees, grounding him. “Breathe. You’re shaking the whole building, which isn’t going to help. Just breathe. She’ll be okay.”

“How–how do you know?"

Tabby’s calm mask slipped then, and he could see her fear in the tightness around her mouth. “Because she has to.”

He swallowed. “Wanda–”

“Freddie’s got her. She’s okay. You just worry about you. Breathe.”

He did his best to match her slow breathing, but it was hard to focus. He kept replaying the moment Kitty got shot, wondering what he had done wrong. He had made a mistake, he was sure of it. She had been working with the X-Men for years and had never been hurt this badly, and then the first time working with him . . .

The X-Men.

They didn’t know.

They didn’t even know she was in town, and now he had to tell them–

“Tabby, I need your phone.”

She gave him a strange look, but pulled it out. He took it and flipped through her contacts until he found the one he was looking for. He hit call before he could lose his nerve.

“Hey, kid, what’s up?” Wolverine asked when the ringing stopped.

“It’s Lance,” he blurted out. “The hospital at the edge of town–you should come. It’s Kitty. She . . . she . . .” His throat tightened again, and he couldn’t continue.

There was silence on the other side, and Lance wondered if Wolverine was plotting his murder. “I’ll be there.” He hung up. Lance handed Tabby’s phone back.

“It’s not going to be good when he gets here,” she said.

“I know, but he needed to know.”

“Yeah.”

She stood up and found her own chair, leaving Lance alone with his thoughts once more.

He shouldn’t have let Kitty come back to Bayville with him. He should have told her to stay home.

Of course I’m coming with you!

Then again, would he have been able to make her stay? He already knew the answer to that. She had known it would be dangerous to help Evan, and she had decided to go anyway. They all had.

Wait. “Where’s Evan?”

“Waiting outside,” Todd said. “Think he was worried they’d kick us all out. Pietro’s out there too. He didn’t want to have to sit inside so long.”

Lance wanted to hit something. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that Evan, who had been friends with Kitty longer than he had, couldn’t even wait in the hospital with them just because his mutation was more obvious. It made him sick.

Sooner than he expected, Lance heard a familiar voice asking for Kitty Pryde. The nurse told him she was in surgery, and he could take a seat down the hall. Lance braced himself for all the questions Wolverine would throw at him.

The footsteps sounded wrong, but it didn’t really register until hands grabbed the collar of his shirt and hauled him out of his chair. “What did you do?" Summers' voice was hard.

“I didn’t do anything!” Lance protested.

Kurt appeared over Summers' shoulder, wearing his image inducer. “Scott, maybe we shouldn’t–”

Scott pushed him away. “If you didn’t do anything, then why is she here?”

“It was my fault.”

All three boys turned at Wanda’s words. She stared down at her hands. Lance’s stomach twisted as he realized this was why she had been so quiet the entire time.

Summers let go of Lance, who stumbled back into his chair. “What do you mean?” He took a step towards Wanda, who shrank back further, and Lance might have hit him right there and gotten kicked out if Fred hadn’t intervened, standing up between Summers and Wanda.

Sure Fred was a big guy, but when other people called him intimidating, Lance just had to laugh. He’d seen him cry over too many sappy movies. Now, though, he could see it, and he knew that if he were Summers, he’d turn around and leave right then.

Summers was either braver or more stupid than Lance had given him credit for. He faltered a step, then straightened up.

“It wasn’t her fault,” Lance said quickly, before things could escalate. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault. Kitty . . . she knew what she was getting into.”

Summers rounded on him again. “Are you saying it’s Kitty’s fault?”

“That’s not what I said!”

Summers opened his mouth to reply, but a hand clamped down on his shoulder. “Sit down, Slim,” Wolverine said.

“But, Logan–”

“I said sit down."

Summers sat, and, slowly, Fred did as well. Wolverine crossed his arms and surveyed the group. “Now, I don’t care who blames who. I wanna know what happened.”

“She got shot,” Tabby said bluntly. Everyone turned to her.

“Shot?” Kurt shrieked. “How did that happen?”

“We were helping Evan,” Lance said. “One of the Morlocks was kidnapped a few days ago, so he asked us to help free her. They must have known we were coming, though, because she was gone when we got there. We managed to get out, but one of the guards pulled out a gun, and–Kitty, she didn’t see it in time. She–she couldn’t phase . . .”

Summers crossed his arms. “If that’s true, where’s Evan?”

“Outside. With Pietro.”

“Really? Then why isn’t he in here?”

“Why do you think, Summers?” Kurt flinched, but Summers either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“Maybe . . . maybe I should go outside with Evan,” Kurt said.

Summers still clearly didn’t believe Lance’s story. “But if Evan needed help, why didn’t he come to us?”

Oh no. There was no way Lance was getting into the middle of that. “Maybe you should ask him.”

“The guys you went after . . .” Wolverine said slowly. “What do you know about them?”

Lance shrugged. “Not much. It was a group of mutants I’ve never seen before.”

“Their place was totally creepy.” Tabby shivered. “Like some sort of underground lab. Definitely nothing good going on down there.”

“The leader, he looked like a vampire or something,” Lance continued. “And not like he was just dressing up. His skin was way too pale, and his eyes were . . . weird.”

“Sinister,” Wolverine growled.

Tabby shrugged one shoulder. “Not exactly the word I’d use, but sure.”

“No, that’s his name. Mister Sinister.”

Tabby scoffed. “Creative.”

“Mr. Alvers?”

Lance turned around and saw a nurse standing in the door. Weird. He couldn’t remember giving any of them his name. “Yeah?”

“Miss Pryde is awake and asking for you.”

He shot to his feet, and everyone else sat up straighter.

“Is she okay?” Wanda asked.

“She’s in pain and it will take some time to heal, but she’ll be fine soon enough.”

Lance heard a collective sigh as he started to follow the nurse out of the hall, then stopped. He looked back at Wolverine. “Maybe you should–”

“Just go, kid. She wants to see you, not me.”

That might be just because she didn’t know Wolverine was here, but Lance decided not to argue. He followed the nurse down the hall and to a room. The nurse knocked, then strode in without waiting for an answer, but Lance hesitated at the door. He could see her lying on the bed, eyes closed and so still. She looked asleep. Asleep or–

She turned her head, and he could breathe again. Her eyes cracked open and she smiled when she saw him. “Lance.”

“Hey.” He stepped into the room, grabbed one of the chairs by the wall and set it beside the bed. The nurse finished checking . . . whatever she was looking for, and she left the room.

“How are you feeling?” Okay, that was a stupid question.

Her eyes closed again, and she wrinkled her nose. “Like I’ve been shot.”

He froze. Did she not know what happened? She was still clearly recovering from whatever drugs the doctor used to put her under. Was that confusing her?

She opened one eye and looked at him. “That was a joke. You can laugh.”

“That’s not funny!”

Her lips twitched as she closed her eyes again. “Sorry. Guess I should wait a week or two.”

“It won’t be funny then either.”

Her hand slid out from under the blanket and to the edge of the bed, reaching towards him. He wrapped his own hand around hers. “Is everyone else okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, they’re fine. They’re all sitting out in the hallway waiting to see you.”

Her smile grew. “Really?”

“They were all pretty worried.”

“I guess you should go get them then.”

“Right now?” He didn’t want to leave her yet, and he really didn’t want to know how Summers would react if he came back out just to bring the rest of the Brotherhood to her room.

She squeezed his hand. “Not yet. Stay another minute.”

He smiled. “Okay.” She settled back into her pillow, and he reached over to brush her hair out of her face. After the stress of the past few hours, the quiet moment was exactly what they both needed, and he didn’t want to ruin it.

But she needed to know what happened. “I have a confession to make.”

She didn’t open her eyes, but her lips twisted into a frown. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Tabby, Wanda, and the boys aren’t the only ones here to see you.”

“They aren’t?”

“No.” He had to just get it over with. “Wolverine, Summers, and Kurt are here too.”

She was so silent and still that for a moment he thought she had fallen asleep. Then, “Is this a joke?”

“I wish.”

Her eyes flew open. “Why are they here?”

Lance rubbed the back of his neck. “I–I panicked, okay? And I thought they should know.”

And they’re out there now?”

“Yes.”

“With the others?”

“Um, yes?”

She groaned and closed her eyes again. “I should have just told them months ago.” She turned her head and looked up at him. “Are you okay?”

He knew she didn’t just mean physically this time. “Me? I’m fine!” Well, he was now anyway.

“And everyone else?” She narrowed her eyes. “And don’t you dare lie to me. I’ll ask Pietro too when he gets in here.”

Okay, that was just unfair. “They’re fine. I mean, Wanda’s not . . . not great. She thinks it’s her fault you, well . . .”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“I know. I’m sure she’ll feel better when she knows you don’t blame her.”

Kitty pursed her lips, and her eyes drifted over to the window. “Will you send Logan, Scott, and Kurt in here? I want to go ahead and talk to them, preferably before anyone gets into a fight.”

He must not have done a good job keeping his face straight, because as soon as she looked back at him, she frowned. “Lance . . .”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” he said quickly. “We didn’t actually get into a fight.”

“What happened?”

“Summers just . . . heard Wanda say what happened was her fault, and kinda got mad.” She scowled, and he hurried on. “It was fine. I mean, Wolverine got him to calm down before anything else happened. Otherwise I think Freddie would have sent him through a wall, but that’s, um, not the point.” He was doing a terrible job explaining. “Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have called them.”

She sighed. “No, I’m glad you did. This would be even worse to explain later.”

“I’ll go get them.” Her hand tightened on his as he stood up, then she let go. He left the room and shut the door again, then walked back to the hall where everyone was waiting. He looked at Wolverine, who had clearly been waiting for him. (Could he hear him coming down the hall?). “She wants to see you. All three of you.”

Wolverine nodded and stood up, then glanced over at the door. Todd hopped off his chair. “I’ll go get Blue Boy.” Summers grimaced, but didn’t protest. He and Wolverine left the room.

“Third door on the left,” Lance said as they passed, then he sat next to Wanda. “How are you doing?”

“Fine.” She crossed her arms and sank further in her chair. “I’m not the one who’s hurt.”

“That’s not what I meant.” She said nothing. “Listen, what happened wasn’t your fault. Kitty doesn’t think so either.”

She glanced at him, then her eyes darted away. “I want to see her.”

He sighed. “I know. Just give them a minute first. Kitty was worried they might start something if they stayed out here much longer.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Todd said, coming back in with Kurt and Pietro. “I bet she had one person in mind in particular, and his name starts with “S” and ends with “cott”.”

Kurt winced. “He’s just . . . worried.”

“And we aren’t?” Lance asked, then regretted it. He didn’t want to fight with Kurt too.”

Kurt ducked his head. “Todd said I could . . .”

“Third door on the left.”

Kurt nodded, then scanned the group. “Aren’t you going?”

Todd shrugged. “We’ll see her later.”

Kurt frowned. “But–”

“Just go, Blue,” Tabby said. “We can wait our turn.”

Still, Kurt hesitated. He glanced over at Wanda, who seemed to be trying to melt into her chair. “Do you want to come?”

She looked up and stared at him for a long moment. “What?”

“Do you want to come with me? I’ll make sure Scott doesn’t say anything.”

Wanda pulled her arms tighter across her chest and stared at him as though the offer were a trap. Then she breathed out slowly and stood up. “Yes.” Kurt smiled and led her down the hall. Lance breathed a sigh of relief when they left. Hopefully seeing Kitty would help Wanda.

He looked over at Todd. “You told Evan she’s okay, right?”

“Yeah. Told him she was out of surgery, you talked to her, and she wanted to see the X-geeks. He left and said he’d come see her when we get her back home.”

That was assuming she wanted to go back to the Maximoff’s place. The mansion actually had decent medical equipment rather than a bottle of ibuprofen and a box of bandaids. Not to mention the people she actually considered family.

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