Love of a Family: Chapter 5

An X-Men Evolution fanfic

“Hey, Half-pint.”

Kitty smiled when Logan walked into the room. The nurse had helped her sit up, and she was grateful she didn’t have to look up at him. “Hey.”

“I didn’t know you were in town.”

Well, if that’s all the accusation she got, this would be a much easier conversation than she anticipated. “I wasn’t planning to stay long. And I definitely wasn’t planning to go to the hospital.”

“Kitty, what were you thinking?" Ah yes, Scott would definitely not take this so well as Logan seemed to be.

“I was trying to help my friends and protect someone. That’s what we do, isn’t it?”

“But why didn’t you get us?"

“Because Evan asked the Brotherhood for help, not you. It wasn’t my choice to make. Besides, you’ve never liked working with them anyway.”

“So, what, you’re joining the Brotherhood now? What happened to you?”

“What do you mean what happened to me? I’m not joining the Brotherhood, but they are my friends, and that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me.”

He sighed. “Listen, I know you always liked Lance, but–”

“Not just Lance! They’re all my friends!”

He crossed his arms and shook his head. “I don’t get you. It’s like you’ve forgotten everything they did.”

“Oh, like we were perfect? We were kids, Scott! All of us, and we all messed up, and that doesn’t excuse them, but it doesn’t excuse us either!” She wanted to cross her arms, but as soon as she shifted, pain shot through her side, and she decided against it. The heart monitor beeped faster, just in case anyone hadn’t realized yet that she was angry. She took a couple breaths to calm down.

“If you’re just going to complain about my life choices, then I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

Scott gritted his teeth, but walked to the door. He stopped as he opened it and said, “I hope you feel better soon.”

“Thanks. And, Scott . . . I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

He nodded and left. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Well, that went about as well as I was expecting.”

“Hmm.” Logan agreed.

She cracked her eyes open and peeked at him. “Are you going to get mad at me too?”

“Nope. I just wanted to tell you you can call me whenever you need to.”

She sighed and tilted her head back. “I know, but like I said, Evan asked for our help, and I thought we could handle it.”

“Bad luck comes to us all, kid. Sometimes we walk away from something we probably shouldn’t have, and sometimes a simple task goes all wrong.” She smiled and reached over to take his hand. He squeezed hers.

“Sooo, you’re not going to lecture me about going out with Lance?”

Logan sighed. “I don’t like it, but you’re an adult. And, well, it’s pretty clear he cares about you.” He frowned. “But he hurts you, and I’ll take care of it.”

She gave a slight smile. “Don’t worry. I think he knows.”

“Besides, I always thought you and Rogue had more in common than you thought.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” She sighed, turning to the window. It had been a while since she’d seen Rogue, and she missed her.

Wait.

She jerked her head back to look at Logan, wincing at the pain. “You knew about that?”

He rolled his eyes. “Half-pint, if you still lived at the mansion most of the time, I would have learned about your secret boyfriend a long time ago.”

Oh, yeah.

“Ooh, secret boyfriend?” Kurt poked his head through the door. He wagged his eyebrows. “Are we interrupting something?”

Kitty grinned. “Kurt!”

“It was hardly a secret,” Wanda said, stepping into the room after him. She leaned against the far wall and crossed her arms. “Not when you guys are always practically on top of each other.”

“We are not!”

Wanda rolled her eyes, expressing her feelings as loud as if she had shouted them. Kitty noticed she wouldn’t look at her, though. She just leaned into the wall and twisted her rings.

Kurt sat on the end of the bed. “So how long are you in town? And why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”

Kitty groaned. “We were supposed to leave today so we can get back to work and school, but obviously that’s not happening now.”

“Will you come back to the mansion?” Logan asked. “We can take care of you there.”

“I can’t. Not right now. Besides, I do have to go back to school as soon as I can, and if I even, like, set foot in there right now, they won’t let me leave for months.”

Logan frowned, but nodded. “Well, if you’re sure you’re okay, we should be heading back home.”

“What?” Kurt protested. “But I only just got here!”

“And you can visit her again later.” Logan grabbed the back of Kurt’s shirt, making the image-inducer flicker. “Let’s go.”

“But Logan–!”

Logan turned around. “Call if you need us.” Kitty nodded. “I’ll send in the other kids.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll come visit later, Kitty!” Kurt called.

“You better!”

As silence returned, Kitty glanced over at the room’s only other occupant. “Wanda–”

“I’m sorry,” Wanda interrupted. “You wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me, and I was the one who decided we would help Evan, and–”

“Wanda, it’s not your fault! I decided I wanted to come along, and I was the one who wasn’t paying enough attention.”

Wanda swallowed and stared out the window. “You were supposed to be at school.”

“Yeah, but what are friends for if not to look for you when you go missing?” Wanda’s lips twitched, then she turned back and both girls grinned at each other.

“You know,” Tabby said, pulling her feet up onto the end of the hospital bed. The nurse definitely wouldn’t like that. “Next time you want to know if we all love you, you can just ask.” Kitty grinned.

“Does it hurt?” Freddy asked.

Pietro rolled his eyes. “She got shot, Freddy. Of course it hurts.” Lance winced.

“Actually, they gave me a lot of pain medicine,” Kitty said. “So it doesn’t hurt much unless I move . . . or breathe.”

“Oh, that’s fine then,” Todd snickered. “Just don’t breathe.”

“Todd . . .” Lance began.

“Sorry, sorry.”

Kitty looked like she was biting back a grin. “I can’t laugh either.”

Todd rolled his eyes back and dramatically fell to the floor. “Oh no. Guess I’ll have to stay away. I’m too funny for my own good.”

Lance rolled his eyes and nudged Todd’s arm away with his shoe. “You’re certainly something.”

A sharp knock at the door startled them all, and a nurse walked in. “Miss Pryde, I have some things to go over with–” She broke off as she looked up at the room full of people, including Todd still lying on the floor. “Oh.” Todd smirked and sat up, bounding into the chair next to Wanda.

“It’s fine,” Kitty assured her. “Whatever it is, they can hear it too.”

“Are they family then?”

“No,” Lance said, at the same time that Wanda said, “Yes.”

Tabby snickered at the nurse’s confusing, then grinned and shrugged. “Kinda?” Oh yeah, that definitely cleared things up.

Everyone turned to Kitty, who was clearly trying not to laugh. “They’re sort of family, and they’re the ones I’m staying with now.”

“Wait, what?”

Everyone turned to look at Lance. Todd raised and eyebrow and chuckled. “I don’t know if you noticed, but she’s kinda been staying at the Maximoff’s place with you the last couple days.”

“I know that, Todd! But don’t you want to go back home?”

Kitty frowned. “Back to my apartment? I don’t think that’s a good idea, and I definitely don’t want to ride in the car several hours tonight.”

“No, I mean to the mansion.”

“I told you already, I am not sneaking you into the mansion, and after how things went with Scott earlier, I wouldn’t think you’d want–”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it!”

“Um–” the nurse began, but Todd interrupted her.

“Just give them a minute. They’ll be done soon. They just like arguing.”

“We do not!” they both said. Todd stepped back and raised his hands over his head

“I told you already that I didn’t want to go to the mansion,” Kitty said. “So why would you think I suddenly want to now?”

“Because your family is there! Your friends! And they can take better care of you there.”

“You’re my family too! Just what do you think we’re doing, Lance? Do you think I’m just dating you for the fun of it?” That . . . had definitely crossed his mind, but there was no way he was admitting it. She was waiting for an answer, though, and his silence was definitely not it.

“I love you, and I’m staying with you,” she said firmly.

It was hardly the first time he had heard her say those words, but it was the first time it really hit him that she meant it. She loved and wanted him.

“Soo . . . we good now?” Pietro asked, breaking the silence.

Lance said nothing, so Kitty turned to Pietro. “Unless you decide to kick me out,” she said. “I guess I should have asked you that first.”

“You’re staying,” Wanda said firmly.

Pietro shrugged. “It’d be a hassle to move you somewhere else now.”

Todd stood up on his chair and peered at the papers in the nurse’s hand. “So what did you want to tell us?”

“Umm . . .” She stared around the room. “I, uh, I have the discharge paperwork that needs to be signed, and also a set of instructions for . . . whoever she’s staying with about medications and how to care for her at home.”

She pulled out a set of stapled pages, but clearly had no idea who to hand it to. Pietro snatched it up, flipped through it too fast to see, then tossed it to Lance.

“Says you’re not supposed to move too much and you need to stay home,” Pietro said pointedly.

“I know. You don’t have to rub it in.”

“So does that mean she’s free to go now?” Lance asked.

“We need to go over this paperwork, but after that, yes,” the nurse said.

The paperwork took forever, but eventually it was finished, Kitty was transferred to a folding wheelchair, and Pietro had picked up both Tabby’s and Lance’s cars so they could all drive home. (He still didn’t have a driver’s license since he kept failing the driving test, but no one bothered to point this out.)

Kitty sighed when they arrived back at the duplex. “I’m so glad to be back.”

“Yeah, me too,” Lance said as he picked her up and carried her inside.

As soon as Pietro got the door open, Wanda ran to the couch and fixed it up for Kitty to stay there, and Pietro dragged the palate she had used the night before out of Wanda’s room.

“Hey, Lance, where do you want this?” he called.

“Mind if I sleep in here with you?” Lance asked, and Kitty smiled and shook her head.

“Beside the couch,” he called, and Pietro nodded and dragged it over.

“Do you want to sit or lay down?” Lance asked when they reached the couch.

“Lay down. I’m already tired again.”

“Yeah, I think I need a nap too.”

He got her situated on the couch, then he and Wanda hovered around to make sure she didn’t need anything else. After she assured them multiple times that she didn’t, they all decided Kitty had the right idea and went to their respective beds to sleep.

Lance laid down and pulled the covers up over him. As he rolled over on his side, Kitty let her hand hang over the side of the couch. He reached over and squeezed it, and a minute later, he was asleep.

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