DISCLAIMER:
Pryde and Wisdom, the X-men and Excalibur all are trademarks of Marvel Comics. This story is an unauthorized work done purely for my personal enjoyment, and is not intended to infringe on any of their rights in or profits from these characters. But this story is copyright to me.

WARNING:
THERE IS EXPLICIT SEX IN THIS SECTION. I marked this clearly in the individual section header. The sex is graphic, but all loving and consensual (and not that much worse than a typical romance novel). If reading sex scenes like that would offend you, please don't read this.

If you want to comment, send email to <luba@lubakmetyk.net>

Part 6 Appearances

The afternoon was warm and beautiful as the residents of the Xavier Institute relaxed near the pool at the rear of the mansion. Summer in Westchester was by far the best season of the year, gentle breezes shifting around a scattering of fluffy white clouds in a sea of golden sunshine, with no direct intervention on Storm's part required. Such a climate did not go unremarked by the visiting members of Excalibur, accustomed as they had become to the cold and brief summers on their rocky and isolated Muir Island base.

The pool itself was a long rectangle of inviting, deep blue water, with diving platforms and a water slide at one end, where Hank McCoy and Bobby Drake were horsing around as usual. Surrounding the concrete and tile of the pool were convenient clusters of red and white striped patio furniture, allowing small conversational groups to form at will. Coolers sat in the shade nearby, some full of beer and others containing various soda, mineral water and other nonalcoholic beverages. With Iceman around, keeping the drinks cool was not a problem, regardless of the heat, but keeping him from pulling pranks like freezing the drinks rock solid in large chunks of ice definitely was.

Professor Xavier observed the pool party from the shaded privacy of a second-floor balcony, using his much vaunted mental powers to skim the surface thoughts of the various groups below, allowing him to follow the various encounters even when he could not hear the actual conversations.

It was an odd situation that afternoon, everyone hanging around together despite everything that had been said and done since the Excalibur visitors first arrived. But close study would reveal that the various groupings reflected the opinions and reactions of the different participants involved in the current spat in question...

Both Tabitha and Kitty had wanted to hide out and sulk after the morning confrontations, and it had taken considerable work, mostly on Domino's part, directly and indirectly, to coax each of them out to join the informal pool party. Neither girl was feeling up to apologies yet, although they both knew they would sooner or later, but the morning scene had had some unexpected and beneficial effects, for Tabitha, at least.

Domino had sent Cannonball to Tabitha after first talking to the girl herself, dragging Sam out of an X-man training session. When Storm had objected, Domino bluntly told her and the others to buzz off and let the kids have some time alone to settle things. Domino had then talked to Sam at length, about the general bad impression his overeager acceptance of junior X-man status had left with his former teammates, how it appeared he considered them a second-class team he'd been promoted out of, and the particular personal grievance Tabitha had justifiably felt at his sudden abandonment of her and them.

Sam had talked to Tabitha then, as they hadn't talked in a long time. They were now sitting together at one side of the pool, Sam in a lounge chair and Tabitha practically in his lap, nuzzling at his bare chest as she lay there in his embrace. Meltdown had taken time to redo her hair and make-up as she'd seldom done recently, her skimpy, hot-pink bikini left little to the imagination, and Sam wasn't keeping his hands to himself. The others were giving them some time alone, while silently cheering them on.

While not intruding on their private discussion, these two necking lovebirds had Sunspot, Siryn, Warpath and Shatterstar sitting quite near them around another patio table, a show of silent support from all their teammates, any internal squabbles forgotten as they presented a united front to everyone else. As they spoke quietly among themselves, only Bobby remained adamant in his ranting against what he perceived as Kitty's unfriendliness. The others had given up trying to talk sense into him, agreeing without any overt consultation that it wasn't worth pursuing, and had started a discussion about what movie to go see the next time they went out. But they still stayed near their own, even though several of them privately felt Tabitha owed Kitty an apology, at the least.

Roberto and Jimmy with their darker complexions sat out in the sun without concern, Bobby in particular revelling in the source of his power, while the fair-skinned Siryn had pulled the sunburned Shatterstar to sit in the shade with her. DaCosta had tried to get himself a beer, only to be reminded by Jimmy how tactless that would be in front of Theresa who was all too easily tempted by alcohol. So, the four of them were drinking sodas, while Siryn surreptitiously watched Sam and Tabitha, and Warpath eyed Siryn in turn. Bobby ogled both Tabitha in her hot-pink bikini and Theresa in her deep-gold one-piece much more blatantly, although he was an equal-opportunity jerk and drooled over all the older X-women equally also. In contrast, Shatterstar was watching and envying Beast's gymnastic feats where Hank was fooling around with Bobby at the head of the pool.

Domino had had a very busy time of it indeed since that morning, and felt she richly deserved this rest break and her beer. After trying to settle Sam and Tabitha, she'd managed to catch Wisdom then, while he'd left Kitty for a minute to go scrounge himself a drink, and talked to him as one old friend to another, filling him in somewhat on Tabitha's recent personal problems, and leaving it up to him to explain to Kitty, while voicing her hope that the two of them would be able to not take Tabitha's interference personally.

Pete had expressed himself rather forcibly in turn, on the X-men in general and Storm and Meltdown in particular, to the vast entertainment of the few observers lucky enough to overhear any brief snatches of that little meeting, until Domino had read him the riot act on life in general, and this visit in particular, both going on despite either any such minor embarrassments or Pete's opinion thereof. She was confident, though, that she could count on him to square things with Kitty, at least in as far as Tabitha was concerned, because she knew Wisdom was more level-headed than his brusque behavior might sometimes indicate, and that he wouldn't let his ego get in the way of his common sense, especially when it came to Kitty's relations with her adopted family.

Kitty and Pete had come out to the pool then, without demur, when Rogue had gone to fetch them a bit later, but they were careful to select seats on the other side of the pool, as far away from Tabitha as possible.

Kitty now lay stretched out in a lounge chaise in a tiny blue floral bikini, with Pete sitting on the concrete next to her, still in his white shirt, black tie, and black pants. She had to stifle her giggles whenever she remembered his aghast reaction to her innocent suggestion that he put on some swim trunks, but at least she'd convinced him, amid even more giggles, that they wouldn't be likely to need his coat at the pool.

Pete was enjoying the cold beer, and Kitty had joined him, and since they were outdoors she didn't even nag him about his smoking, preferring to just lie back and enjoy the peace. Wisdom in turn had taken advantage of the outdoors and the quiet to temporarily sate his endless craving for his cigarettes, accumulating quite a pile of unsightly butts around him as he sat contentedly next to Kitty, holding her hand as they talked.

Meggan and Betsy and Rogue sat together at a patio table quite near Kitty and Pete, sipping at tall, cool drinks and indulging themselves in animated conversation, as they enjoyed the shade of the large umbrella shading the table. They made a spectacular threesome. Meggan was in a slinky green one-piece swimsuit, Betsy wore a designer swimsuit in her signature deep purple, with cutouts in unexpected places, but with not much more showing than her costume normally revealed, while Rogue in a fire-engine red bikini with little white polka dots sat off a bit to the side to be extra careful not to accidentally touch anyone.

While they didn't do much more than smile at the romantic twosome sitting near them, their proximity was a show of silent support for Kitty and Pete by the sympathetic women. As they occasionally got up to fetch themselves something, each of the three women dropped off fresh drinks by the visiting couple, adding a friendly comment or two, before returning to their own table.

Braddock sat at that table with Meggan and Betsy and Rogue almost by default, bored to distraction by Betsy and Rogue both reliving various shopping expeditions for Meggan's envious entertainment, drinking an ersatz nonalcoholic ale and eying others' beer enviously. Brian wasn't really thrilled about appearing to side with Wisdom by being seen with this particular group, but he also wasn't sure whether any of the other groups would welcome him. Warren also had a chair near Betsy, but he got up several times to go join Hank and Bobby, Scott and Jean in casual conversation for extended periods. Angel wasn't gathering himself any brownie points with Betsy's brother as he repeatedly abandoned Brian to his most arduous adventure yet, an entire afternoon spent seated at a table of fashion-talking women.

Scott and Jean sat perhaps halfway between the table where Meggan, Betsy and Rogue talked while Brian sulked, and the head of the pool where Bobby and Hank were showing off their antics. Scott had his back to the other three women, not wanting to give Jean any excuse to accuse him of any lingering interest in Psylocke, which suited Jean just fine since it allowed her to watch Kitty and Pete over her husband's shoulder. And it wasn't really much of a sacrifice on his part, Jean in a bright yellow two-piece suit was more than enough to occupy Cyclops' attention.

The Summers were occasionally joined by Warren, by Hank and Bobby, and by Cable. The rest of the time they were deep in a private mental conversation about how to repair this visit, given both the Professor's and Storm's obdurate opposition to Wisdom. Pete and Kitty would have been surprised to know that Scott and Jean, as well as many of the others, were willing to give the uncouth Britisher quite a bit of credit for not having left already in disgust. And most of the X-men also realized Kitty would have left with him, if she'd been forced to choose, and were giving Pete even more credit for not forcing that choice on her.

Fluttering around indecisively, Rahne and Douglock had first hovered around Kitty and Pete until she'd told them firmly to relax and go be with their friends in X-Force, she wouldn't mind. Even with that assurance, they still tended to shift back and forth uncertainly between the two sides, especially whenever they got up to get more soda for Rahne. They kept trying unsuccessfully to start conversations with each pair, who were both too engrossed with themselves after the morning's fireworks to welcome either Rahne's overtures or Douglock's endless questions.

Cable and Domino also wandered back and forth among the groups, in unconscious contraposition to Rahne and Douglock but more purposefully, both together and separately, wanting to be there for their charges, but also siding with Wisdom, although they knew he would likely not welcome their help or support. Cable stopped by to consult with Jean and Scott several times, while Domino preferred to keep her counsel to herself.

A final group had formed at the foot of the pool, where Logan and Ororo and Kurt sat close to each other, talking quietly among themselves. Unlike the other men, both Wolverine and Nightcrawler wore t-shirts and cutoffs rather than swimtrunks, as they enjoyed cold beers in the warm sun. Ororo wore a black swimsuit with silver trim, somewhat reminiscent of her uniform, and she was also drinking a cold beer, from a glass rather than directly from the bottle as did the two men, but that was still quite uncharacteristic of her given her usual avoidance of artificial stimulants such as alcohol.

Bishop sat nearby, as did Gambit and Colossus, all hovering somewhere around Storm as they usually did. Bishop sat farthest away from the pool, where he could observe the entire assembly without having to move his head much. Gambit sat to one side, playing a card game with himself as he sipped at a bottle of beer. Colossus sat on the other side of the main threesome, holding a book in his hands, although careful observation would have shown the book open to the same page the entire time. As might have been expected, Remy had elected the side where Rogue sat not far from Pete and Kitty, while Peter sat on the other side where he had an unobstructed view of Kitty and Pete, although he tried to keep his scrutiny covert.

Wisdom, when not drinking his beer or smoking his fags, spent the better part of the afternoon busily rubbing sunblock lotion on Kitty, a task he did not mind in the least. He was very careful and thorough about applying it to cover all of Kitty's exposed skin, knowing how delicate her fair skin was despite her obvious love of sunbathing. Kitty for her part simply revelled in the sensual attention.

Scott was doing the same for Jean and Warren for Betsy. Sam had oiled Tabitha just as thoroughly, while Theresa preferred to attend to herself despite Sunspot's eagerly volunteering his services. Ororo's natural dark hue offered sufficient protection, as did Meggan's unusual combination of elemental and morphing powers and Domino's quite unique skin. Ignoring both Remy's pleading glances and Iceman's gallant offers, Rogue had asked Kurt to do her the honors, after he'd first donned a pair of throw-away gloves donated by Beast from his large store of laboratory supplies. But both Pete and Kitty did appear to be getting the maximum enjoyment possible from that simple service.

He did her back first, as Kitty lay on her stomach on the recliner. The string ties of her bikini top and the thin little piece of fabric slipping into the crack between her buttocks left her back practically naked, and there wasn't a spot he didn't attend to while enjoying the view. Pete pushed up her hair with one hand to get her upper back and shoulders with the lotion with the other. Holding her hand in his, he pulled her nearer arm out to the side so he could rub the sunblock in, then worked his way down her back. Kitty sighed and stretched luxuriously as he massaged the lotion into her hips and buttocks, being careful to run his hand in under the edges of the brief bit of fabric covering her there, before he shifted position to work his way down the soft skin covering the firm muscles of her long legs.

Kitty rolled over then, and Pete was careful to remember to do her other arm, now that he could reach it easily. Then he began working his way up her legs, starting with her feet, covering both the outside and the inside curves as she shifted around to let his hand reach wherever it wanted. Pouring more into his palm every few minutes, he smoothed the lotion over her hips and stomach, again being careful to run his hand under the brief bit of bikini bottom. As he worked upward from her belly to her breasts, she arched up to better meet his hands, and sat propped up on her elbows as he did her neck and upper chest. He could easily slip his hand under the fabric to rub the lotion into her breasts, smiling down at her flushed face as he ran his fingers across her hardening nipples, leaning down to kiss her lightly in an unspoken promise for later.

The summer afternoon crept on at a lazy snail's pace, the golden hours melting into one another. Logan and Ororo and Kurt sat huddled close together, talking quietly among themselves. Nearby, Peter kept straining his ears to overhear their conversation, but their voices were low enough that he couldn't hear more than an occasional word from where he sat pretending to read his book.

Kurt raised an expressive eyebrow at Storm's beer glass. "Have you changed your habits so much then, Ororo? I remember when you would not touch alcohol in any form."

"Go easy on her, fuzzy elf, she's had a bad day." Wolverine shook his head at her in exasperation, still amazed she'd confronted Kitty and Wisdom out in the front hall on their return to the mansion that morning. Then he grinned ferally at Nightcrawler, "Your new sidekick there, my old buddy, is drivin' her to drink, he is..."

Ororo took a swallow of her beer, making a wry face down at it, then gave Kurt an accusing look. "Your... recruit... is obviously being a bad influence on Kitty. She would not normally flaunt her affair around us so blatantly, he must be encouraging her to do so..."

Wagner looked back at her steadily, refusing to accept any blame. "And what do you know of how she would normally behave, liebchen? You haven't spent much time with her for a long time now. Actually, she is only acting just as she does back home on Muir, with teammates whom she considers family. You should be relieved, instead, that Kitty does not feel that she is among 'company' where she must behave according to some artificial social rules. But she will not feel that this is still her home for much longer, if you continue to treat her as an unruly child."

"She is acting like a spoilt child." But Storm's voice lacked the conviction it would have had earlier in the day, as she gradually had become aware of the general perception among many of the mansion's inhabitants that the problem was Ororo overreacting, rather than Kitty acting, inappropriately. Several people had already reproached her for her crass behavior earlier, pointing out that, in contrast to her own public performance, they had the grace to deliver their rebuke privately.

Storm's plaintive complaint made Logan laugh and sputter, as he choked on his beer. "Yeah, darlin', I'd say that ol' Pete sure is doing his damnest to spoil Kitty absolutely rotten, but he ain't treating her like a kid, that's for sure."

Kurt acknowledged Wolverine's interjection with a quick appreciative grin, white teeth brilliant against blue fur, but then addressed Storm's comment more seriously. "Kitty may act like a rebellious child when the X-men here insist on treating her as still a child, but she behaves as a responsible adult with us, because we treat her like one." Wagner hoped Ororo would pick up that subtle little hint.

"Do you all approve so strongly of this relationship, then, Kurt?" Ororo was still trying to find someone to support her view, with little luck so far.

"It is not our place to approve or disapprove, liebling." Wagner's voice was gentle, yet firm. "I cannot evaluate their long-term potential as a viable couple, no one can predict the future that reliably. Herr Wisdom is certainly not what I would have selected for her, had it been my choice, but that may simply reflect the limited scope of my preconceived notions. But what I will say, is that he is very good for her right now."

Storm gave him a stunned look, while Logan raised his beer glass to him in mock salute. Kurt waved his hand at where Pete sat next to Kitty's chair, lovingly rubbing sunblock all over her as she stretched sensuously and arched up to meet his gentle touch, while smiling up into his eyes. "Look at her, Ororo. Take a really good look. She's not a young girl any more, our little Katzchen, she's a young woman... a very beautiful young woman... And, to our shame, we did not teach her that, Wisdom did."

Wolverine drained his bottle, and got up to fetch fresh drinks. He glanced over at the other two in enquiry. Wagner emptied his bottle also, and nodded at Logan, while Ororo took another reluctant sip of her beer, shaking her head at the unspoken offer. Kurt kept talking, as Logan went over to the coolers. "Our little Kitty never thought she was beautiful. How could she, liebchen, growing up among you all?" He waved his hand at Storm herself, a regal and exotic goddess figure, at the flamboyant Jean and exotic Betsy, the spectacular Rogue and voluptuous Meggan, and left Ororo to think about that observation for a moment in silence.

Logan returned quickly, with two beers and a bottle of mineral water. Kurt took a long and welcome swallow of the icy fresh brew, while Storm gratefully pushed her warm beer aside in favor of the cold mineral water. As Wolverine reseated himself with a long draft of his own beer, Wagner continued, "Kitty has grown up beautiful, but it is a quiet, restful, subtle beauty as compared to you others. She would not believe that from any of us, but Herr Wisdom lives up to his name in his ability to perceive her beauty, and to reflect it back to her through his eyes."

"We never said or implied to Kitty that she was not attractive..." Ororo was quite uncomfortable, discussing her own appearance and that of the other women. They would all have claimed to aspire to be judged on their power and skill and experience and character, not on appearance, a smug attitude possible only to those who'd never had to worry about their appearance.

Wagner shook his head at her weak comment. "Have you forgotten how Kitty would constantly worry about Illyana being so much more beautiful, that her roommate always drew all the attention? How uncomfortable she'd be at dances or parties, especially with Danielle and Karma and Amara around? She could never hope to compete with you or Rogue, or Madelyne back then, age and experience alone ensured that. And, while Rachel was relatively quiet and subdued while we were all with the X-men, you didn't see much of her later. As Phoenix she became a totally different person, the most flamboyant and visually evocative of all of you. And Kitty lived with that every single day as her roommate. And, at the same time, once she'd gotten apart from you all, she then had Meggan to measure herself against, Meggan who all unconsciously could change herself to fit anyone's fantasies, especially Brian's extremely stereotypical and chauvinistic fantasies..." Kurt winced inside as he remembered Meggan once morphing into a beautiful blue-furred, black-haired female version of himself, a living embodiment of Kurt's impossible dream of others like himself.

"You, more than most of us, should know that physical appearance, physical beauty, is not everything, Kurt. Kitty is undoubtedly the smartest, the most gifted intellectually among us, except possibly for Beast himself, and she has always known that. That is why she was so uncomfortable at dances or parties with her own agemates, she was far above and beyond them..." Storm's voice trailed away as she saw both Wolverine and Nightcrawler shaking their heads at her comment.

"Can't have it both ways, 'Ro," Logan rejoined the quiet discussion. "Either she's still acting like a child or she's more mature than her age, but not both." He took another long swallow of his cold beer. "And what teenage girl ever wants to be known for her brains, not her looks?"

Wagner was nodding his agreement with Logan. "Douglas liked and valued Kitty for her intelligence, her computer skills, but Cypher himself was not a typical teenage boy. I know you've always wanted Kitty with Peter, liebchen, but I had always thought Ramsey would be a much better match for her, closer to her own age, more her equal intellectually and sharing a common background and culture with her. I've always wondered what might have happened there, if things had turned out differently."

Kurt remembered the wistful yearning in Kitty's voice one night long ago, after the New Mutants had rescued her and Doug Ramsey from the White Queen and her Hellions, when she'd confided to him how Emma Frost had claimed Doug was in love with Kitty, just before Peter had told her that he in turn had fallen in love with the alien healer Zsaji. Kitty would not have thought of Doug Ramsey that way while she felt committed to Peter, and by the time she'd returned from her time in Japan with Logan, after Peter had told her they had no future together, she and Doug had grown apart.

Resuming his interrupted train of thought, Nightcrawler continued, "Alastaire Stuart was brilliant enough himself to appreciate Kitty's mind, her intellect. But he never did seem to notice that she was a woman, a girl still back then but with normal female instincts and desires, and he treated her as a sexless genius child while he spent all his time lusting after Rachel, quite blatantly, I might add. What effect do you think that had on Kitty's confidence in herself as an attractive woman, Ororo?"

Storm nodded slowly as Kurt spoke, imagining the situation he had described to her several times in the past. The X-men had been living hidden in the Australian outback during that period, after their presumed death in Dallas, and there'd been no direct contact possible at the time without revealing their deception. She wondered briefly now if whatever dubious gains they had achieved by that deception had been worth the price paid in separation from everyone they knew and loved.

Logan had finished his beer while Kurt spoke, and now took over as Wagner paused to sip at his own beer, lowering his voice even further to be sure Colossus couldn't overhear. "Even Petey himself never really treated Kitty as a good-lookin' sexy girl he fell for, 'Ro, he always treated her more like a kid sister, just like he treated Illyana herself. Kitty tried to chase him, yeah, an' we all used to laugh about it an' make fun o' her for it, but Peter didn't really take her love for him seriously as an adult feeling, an' he sure didn't respect her or value her like she deserved." A low growl rumbled in Wolverine's throat, even after all the time since, as he remembered the young Kitty's very adult pain when Peter had bluntly informed her he'd fallen in love with the alien healer, and that they had no chance of a future together.

"But Peter wants her now, he values her now, he went to Muir looking for her, to be with her." Storm was going down to defeat before her two oldest friends' arguments, but she would never surrender gracefully.

The two men sitting with her glanced at each other, and Logan nodded at Kurt to respond first. "Peter wants her as his last remaining link to his sister Illyana, and to the happier days when he first came to the X-men, when the Professor first recruited us all, before his commitment to the X-men cost him his family, his parents and brother and sister, before he'd given up his art, before he'd faced the necessity of killing. His feelings for Kitty are all mixed up with his feelings for Illyana, and with his yearning for the past."

Wagner looked over at Logan, who took over the argument smoothly, as though they'd rehearsed it. "What did Kitty and Petey ever really have, 'Ro? A 14-year-old kid chased a 19-year-old boy when she first arrived, and he was flattered, but he treated her more like a little sister than a girlfriend, an' that was that. You were there, darlin', you tell me, why didn't Peter turn back to Kitty after Zsaji, slowly, while they were still teammates, or turn to her after Illyana died, instead of to Mags?"

As she struggled to find an answer for the unanswerable, suddenly remembering how happy Peter had been as an amnesiac artist living with the transformed Callisto, how the Siege Perilous had been supposed to take them to their deserved fates and how Kitty had apparently not been part of Colossus' alternate destiny, Kurt again resumed the conversation, in a soft, musing tone. "Peter may not have been the best possible choice to be an X-man. He always seemed so strong to us, not physically only, but with a deep-rooted spiritual strength derived from his simple country peasant roots. However, his steel exterior may have hidden a flawed inner core. I have begun recently to believe that what appeared to be a pure straightforward simplicity may actually be just a persistent childishness that hasn't gone away properly with growth and maturity. Peter doesn't seem to be flexible enough, adaptable enough to cope with the various happenings in his life. I fear he may be brittle as some flawed steels are, breaking instead of bending."

Ororo seized on Kurt's words. "That is exactly why I want Kitty back with Peter, he needs her more now than before, because he's lost everyone else, everything else."

Wolverine groaned in exasperation. "Listen to yourself, darlin'. Peter may need Kitty, but Kitty doesn't need Peter. She's too young to devote the rest of her life to mothering him, which is what you're really talking about. Kitty needs Pete, for herself, for her own good."

Nightcrawler nodded enthusiastically at that. "That is exactly what I said earlier, Ororo, that Wisdom is good for Kitty. I have observed them, and there is no doubt in my mind that he loves her for herself, her mind, her intelligence, yes, but her fighting heart and indomitable spirit also, and her body too, whether you wish to acknowledge her sexuality or not. Wisdom puts her and her needs first, as Peter has never done."

Kurt sighed as he thought of their relationship. "And I can even understand and sympathize with Herr Wisdom's jaundiced view of our normal lifestyle, and his constantly dragging Kitty off to pursue "normal" activities, as much as possible for anyone with our special powers and responsibilities. I myself would pray to be able to have a real, normal life, with home and family someday..."

Nightcrawler missed Storm's stunned look at his unintentional coupling of Kitty's and Wisdom's relationship with the mention of future family, while he silently pondered his own chances of ever achieving such a happy state given his own demonic appearance coupled with the spreading anti-mutant hysteria. But Logan didn't miss her shock, and grinned both at the possibility itself and at Ororo's reaction. Then he threw his old friend a deeply sympathetic glance, appreciating the irony that Kurt had never become so embittered by his own horrible experiences that he would begrudge someone else able to have what he yearned for himself.

They'd been sitting silently for some time, and Kitty had been staring at Wisdom with an uncharacteristically undecided look on her face for the past few moments as he leaned against her lounge chair and played with the fingers of her hand. After first waiting for her to bring up whatever was obviously bothering her, Pete finally raised an eyebrow at her quizically, asking in a low voice, "What's on your mind, Pryde?"

"Pete..." Kitty hesitated for another moment, small white teeth biting at her lower lip until Pete reached out his free hand to run a soothing finger along the soft contour of her mouth, then her words rushed out. "Are you sure you don't want to leave? Because, if you do, just say so, and we will."

He just stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded by her question and touched by her obviously sincere offer. "I thought you was the one said we couldn't give up an' hide out, you was the one wanted me to keep tryin' to get along with your old mates, for your sake, you said."

Her teeth were worrying her lip again, and again he reached out with a gentle finger to smooth out her grimace. "Yes, but I never expected anything like what you've had to put up with, especially that horrible scene with Storm this morning..."

Wisdom didn't really want to put her in the position of choosing between him and her friends, her family really, not unless there proved to be no other solution, since he knew she would come to resent that at some time in the future. "Nah, it's ok, I'm used to shit dumped on me, I get a lot worse from my dad. An' all this 'ere hurts you worse than it does me, 'cause you care about what all these soddin' gits think." It occurred to him belatedly that he might have found a more tactful way of putting that, but Kitty was smiling at him gratefully, accepting the unspoken sentiment behind the blunt words. Pete let go her hand to start another cigarette. "Besides, the worst must be over. What else can go wrong?"

A large dark shadow fell over them, and they looked up to see Caliban looming over them. Wisdom's mouth dropped open and his cigarette fell, to land on his leg where it started burning yet another hole in his pants. He grabbed it and put it out, slapping at the singed fabric and cursing, as Caliban wrinkled his nose in disgust at the smell and Kitty greeted the huge Morlock warmly. "Caliban, hi, it's so wonderful to see you again..."

Crouching down next to her recliner, Caliban gingerly returned her enthusiastic hug, and then stared at her intently. "Are you alright, friend kittypryde? friend boomermeltdown said kittypryde was in trouble, that little stinkyman here was hurting friend kittypryde..."

Smiling up at him in reassurance, Kitty said forcefully, "I'm just fine, Caliban, really, I'm better than fine, I'm very happy..." Waving her arm in the general direction of the mansion and the pool, she then continued in a more normal voice, "I'm so glad to see you here, with X-Force, I hope you're happy here." She smiled at him winsomely. "And it's so much nicer here today than the last time I saw you, when we went swimming in the Morlock tunnels together." Caliban gave her a puzzled look, then seemed to realize she was making a joke, and laughed.

Then Caliban got up and moved over to squat down in front of Pete, who was still sitting propped against Kitty's chair rubbing at the new burn in his pants leg, watching the reunion in bemusement. Even while squatting, the transformed Morlock mutant tracker towered over Wisdom. (If you could have made two of the thin, wiry Wisdom from the muscular Wolverine, you could very easily make three or more of the relatively puny Londoner out of the mountainous Caliban.)

"Caliban loves kittypryde, little stinkyman. Caliban let her go back to sundaylight, to be happy... Caliban will be very angry if his friend kittypryde is not happy..." His long canines flashed in the sunlight.

Wisdom was not normally intimidated by much of anything and, if he ever was, he'd rather die than let any fear show, but in this case Pete decided a tactful silence might be his most prudent course of action.

As Caliban surged upward to his feet and shuffled away, Wisdom took a deep breath, and stared over at Kitty in amazement. "What the bloody hell was that all about? Just how many more big brothers am I gonna run into?"

He felt Kitty's fingers tighten on his, and saw her bite her lip yet again in hesitation, but then she answered, in a low voice, "Caliban's always been very protective of me, ever since we first met and we were supposed to get married. That's why the Professor sent me down into the Morlock tunnels that time with Sabertooth, remember, Pete, I told you about that, because Caliban had kidnapped Jubilee and he insisted I was the only one he'd trust..."

Pete ignored her Xavier/Sabertooth/Jubilee red herring and stuck to the question at hand. "Married?" His voice was high enough, it cracked in the middle of the word. He stopped for a minute, and visibly took another deep breath, trying to control his incredulity, before going on. "You... were going to marry that? Are you pullin' my leg here, or what? Right, you're just kiddin', ain't you? Some perishin' 'Beauty and the Beast' joke I don't think is damn funny..." He glared at her.

"I wouldn't joke about something like that, Pete, or about Caliban, that wouldn't be nice, or fair, either." There was a note of reproof in Kitty's voice now. She didn't want Pete making a mockery of Caliban, who was much less able to defend himself from Wisdom's savage verbal quips than the others. "He kidnapped me a long time ago, when I first joined the X-men, but he let me go, he saved me later when Plague had infected me, when we were trying to save Angel from Sunder, that was when Storm first fought Callisto for leadership of the Morlocks, and I promised I'd marry him if he helped the X-men against his own people, and he kept his side of the bargain, but I didn't, I left him. The Morlocks kidnapped me again later, to make me keep my promise, and I was going to, too, but Caliban decided to let me go again, because he wanted me to be happy..."

"So, how come you're always givin' me all them bleedin' history lessons, but now I'm findin' out there's all this stuff you ain't been tellin' me..." She'd talked about the Morlocks frequently, and about the recurring duels between Storm and Callisto, but not this marriage he was now hearing about, and he was still trying to assimilate what Psylocke had told him that morning, about Kitty wanting to kill herself when she'd first been trapped in her phased state, after the Morlock massacre.

Kitty could hear that same plaintive note in Pete's voice she'd heard earlier that morning, when he'd confronted her with Betsy's revelations, the rebuke that she was keeping things back from him. "Because I'd gone back to the Morlocks and agreed to marry Caliban so the Morlock Healer would cure Peter, Colossus, when he'd been badly injured, and I know you don't like hearing about me and Peter..."

"That's 'cos you're talkin' about the stupid sod all the bloody time," Wisdom interrupted her, and she could hear the bitterness in his voice.

"No, I'm not," Kitty snapped back at him, then paused herself for a deep breath, taking a minute to rein in her temper. "See, that's why I try not to bring up things related to Peter unless I think you need to know them, to understand him and work and live with him, because you always get like that whenever I try to talk about Peter and me."

"You're right, I don't like it..." Pete admitted honestly, in a gruff voice, but then continued in a gentler tone, "but I don't like you feelin' you can't tell me things even worse. Sure, I won't like it, Kitty, but I want to know, I'll listen, I won't get mad. I have to live with your past, like you've accepted me an' my past mistakes." He leaned over to kiss her to seal his promise.

Kitty had fallen asleep in the warm sun, with Pete still sitting by her, holding her hand, when Kurt bamfed over to them to announce dinner. "I still don't get why all you stupid gits bug me about my bleedin' fags, they don't stink 'alf as bad as you do, Wagner..." Wisdom waved his cigarette under Kurt's nose in illustration, as he gagged on the sudden stench of sulphur, the traditional demon-scent of fire and brimstone.

"It is not primarily because of the offensive odor that we wish you to refrain, mein freund, it is because of the probable longterm health effects. We care about your well-being, not only for Kitty's sake but for your own sake, whether you wish to accept that or not, and we do not want you getting cancer or dying." Kurt saw the skeptical look on Pete's face, and wondered how to convince him of his full acceptance into the group, and the group's concern for him. Nightcrawler decided to take a gamble. "It is the exact same reason that we all still worry about Brian and his abeyant alcoholism, because of its possible impact on his health and well-being, and Meggan's also." Kurt prayed fervently that Wisdom would not use that as a convenient weapon in some future verbal sparring match with Braddock, but he hoped that linking Meggan in would remind Pete that others would be hurt in such an exchange. "And, while Moira is very good, she cannot repair everything..."

Wisdom had seemed to be listening seriously, until that last comment. "Who, that soddin' McTaggart witch? She can't wait to bloody dance at my funeral, just like a whole bunch o' this friggin' lot 'ere..." he snorted contemptuously.

Nightcrawler gave him a hard, level stare. "She repaired you once already, Wisdom. And it appears far more likely that you will have your doubtless welcome opportunity to dance at her funeral first, unless she and Dr. McCoy begin making some major progress on the Legacy virus soon."

Pete had the grace to look ashamed at that reminder. Looking at the ground while he crushed out his unfinished cigarette, he muttered, "Look, mate, don't get me wrong... I just fight with the 'orrible ol' shrew, is all, I don't really want nothin' to happen to her, not for real..."

Since Wisdom seemed to be taking his rebuke somewhat to heart, Kurt decided that he'd given Pete enough to ponder on for the moment, and changed the subject gracefully. "So, how long have you been sitting here just watching our Shadowcat sleep?"

Pete grinned back at Nightcrawler ruefully. "Long enough for me hands and legs to be fallin' asleep also... It's gonna hurt like the devil to get up and move again, an' I'm perishin' for another drink, too."

Wagner smiled back. "You should have gotten up, moved around. Kitty would not mind..."

Wisdom smiled down at the sleeping form next to him, as he shifted around slightly trying to find a more comfortable position. "Nah, time enough for all that later. I ain't got no better way to spend my time than this."

"Well, you will both have to get up soon. It is almost dinnertime." With a last fond look at his friends, Kurt bamfed away.

Left alone with Kitty, Wisdom's gaze lingered on the graceful curves of her back and buttocks, on her long, exquisitely shaped legs, on the delicate arch of her feet. He loved to watch her while she slept and he felt the ever-present desire stirring within himself yet again. Looking around to make sure no one was watching him, Pete bent over and gently kissed her naked thigh. Kitty moaned, feeling his soft touch even in her sleep, and turned over, coming awake to see Pete smiling down on her with a secret, tender look on his face.

As she wrinkled her nose at the faint smell in the air, Pete couldn't resist reaching over to tweak it gently as he laughed, "Don't blame me... the fuzzy elf was just 'ere, to tell us to get ready for dinner."

"Great, but I want one more swim before changing." With that, Kitty jumped up and, running the few steps to the pool, dove into the water, leaving Wisdom to shake a few stray drops of water off as he climbed creakily to his feet and stretched out luxuriously.

He was still waving his arms around and stamping his feet to get his circulation back when Kitty reappeared, refreshed and wide awake, and dripping wet. "Do you want to go on, Pete, with some of the others, while I go change? Since you're already dressed, after all."

Wisdom lunged at her suddenly, grabbing her to him in a big bear hug that lifted her off her feet. Setting her back down with a grin, he said "Nah, I'm wet too, see," proudly displaying the damp stains on the front of his shirt and tie and pants. "I guess I'll have to go with you to dry out."

"You call those little spots wet? You wait, I'll show you wet..." With a mischievous grin, Kitty twisted out of his loose grasp and gave him a strong shove that pushed him right into the pool.

As he resurfaced, sputtering and coughing, several of the onlookers joined in the general laughter as Kitty reached down a hand to help him out of the pool, and Pete promptly pulled her back in with him.

After a few minutes more of horseplay, culminating as usual with a tight embrace and a deep kiss while both treading water, they both got up out of the pool to a spattering of appreciative applause and, soaking wet, went inside together to change.

It was now well past the better part of the afternoon, the sparkly summer sun not nearly as high in the sky as it had been. Kurt had the pool area to tell Kitty and Pete that it was dinnertime, and to go get ready himself. Ororo and Logan, however, continued talking where they sat at the foot of the pool, each still hoping to change the other's view, neither willing to accede to the other's opinion. But Wolverine continued because he felt he was making progress, while Storm persisted because she felt she was losing ground.

"You cannot deny, Logan, that if it were not for this current Wisdom situation, Kitty would probably be back here with the X-men now, as would Peter also." Ororo had always held her opinions fiercely, irregardless of what others said or thought, and her own brief encounters with Wisdom on this visit had not done anything to improve her opinion of Kitty's new relationship. Storm could not imagine what on earth Kitty saw in the man, or why the others seemed to be accepting him, a few even defending him. "He is distancing her from us emotionally, to increase his own influence, to make her dependent on him only."

Wolverine was equally determined to help ease the way for his beloved original protegee to be happy with his old acquaintance, and recognized that Storm's opposition mattered to Kitty far more than any of the others' reactions. He knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, for Ororo to admit she was wrong, but he was stubborn also. "No way, 'Ro. Pete may be good at mind games, but not that good, and I don't think he's messing with Kitty's head. Actually, it's our own fault, we did it to ourselves."

Storm gave him a disbelieving glare. "What are you trying to say?"

Logan gave a long-suffering sigh, realizing he had to spell it out for her. "I'm trying to tell you, flat out, that Pete didn't cut Kitty off from us, we did. When we let Kitty and Kurt think we died in Dallas, we cut an emotional cord that hasn't been fully rebuilt since then, especially once they found out it was a scam and we were still alive."

"I made what seemed to be the right decision at the time." Storm's tone was decidedly defensive. "The X-men were being hounded, and that presumed death seemed to give us a perfect opportunity to hide, and start over, and strike back. We all of us agreed that it was the best course, when Roma asked us what we wished, that even though it was cruel it was worth the pain of our few loved ones for the greater good."

"Not arguing with your decision, 'Ro, just saying you have to take responsibility for your actions, and live with the consequences." Logan drained the last of his beer, and looked at the empty bottle longingly. This discussion didn't seem to be ending soon, and he would have really liked another beer. He wondered fleetingly if turning the discussion to Ororo herself, rather than to Pete or Kitty or Peter, would help any, then decided it was worth a try. "Just like I've never really challenged your decision to keep fighting Callisto for the Morlock leadership, even though you've never faced up to the responsibilities of winning that leadership."

Storm was aghast at that comment, as Logan had known she would be, and she glared at him in icy affront. He took advantage of her outraged silence to go on. "You originally fought Callisto for that leadership just to save Kitty, remember? When Plague infected her while we were trying to rescue Angel, and Callisto wouldn't let us get Kitty the medical treatment she needed? And you won, darlin', you did good, and we got away and Kitty was ok, but you shoulda found some graceful way to hand Cal back the job then. If you had, a whole lotta things since then might've turned out different. But you've always seen leading the Morlocks only as beating Callisto, 'Ro, never as helping the rest o' the Morlocks."

"I did try to help the Morlocks, Logan, I invited them to come join us, to live at the school..." Ororo was definitely on the defensive now. "And Callisto did act as leader in my absence, regardless of my position or opinion, or approval or disapproval."

"You knew they'd never leave those tunnels, come live with us X-men. That invitation was just for show." Logan refuted her bluntly. "But what if they had accepted, darlin'? Just what woulda we done with all them Morlocks, if they had come live with us? They wouldn't have all fit in the mansion, and they weren't exactly the kinda people to blend into the scenery. And they needed a day-to-day leader, not an absentee landlord like you wanted to be, had to be. But Callisto's credibility was damaged after you beat her. She'd been beaten once and that meant she could be beaten again, and so she got challenged often, or out an' out defied, by Masque and later by Marrow, and that made it harder for her to protect her people, since you weren't around to do the job."

"So, exactly what are you holding me responsible for, Logan? All the evils that we've experienced since?" Storm couldn't face the implications of what he was saying. It brought back all those self-doubts she'd been experiencing recently, that had taken her down to the Morlocks' abandoned Cathedral and then to Mikhail's dimension, that she'd worked so hard to rebury since then. Logan's words struck at the core of her leadership of the X-men, that she'd fought Cyclops for once as she'd fought Callisto for the Morlocks, the very same thing that had led to her leadership of the urchin street thieves in Cairo so long ago, the deep-rooted conviction that she knew best what should be done, what needed to be done. Storm had always told herself that she wanted to be leader because she cared about what became of her charges more than anyone else could, not because she wanted the associated power, and Wolverine was destroying that comfortable and admirable self-view of her own motivations.

"We'll never know, now, will we, 'Ro?" Logan's voice was gentle now. "Maybe the Marauders wouldn't've slaughtered the Morlocks so easily if you'd been there for them from the beginning, so maybe, just maybe, Kurt and Kitty and Petey wouldn'ta been hurt so bad and sent away from us..." Logan wondered briefly how much to hit her with, how much she could take, and decided her stubbornness might need all the ammunition thrown at it he could muster.

"Maybe that big lump Caliban wouldn't have gone lookin' for revenge on Sabertooth and the Marauders, and wouldn'ta gotten himself turned into Apocalypse's fourth Horseman and grabbed Cyke and Jean for Sinister to trade to Stryfe." Wolverine didn't know that his argument could have been much more powerful, because they still didn't know that it had been Stryfe who'd traded the Legacy virus genetic matrix to Mr. Sinister in return, which Sinister's mutant aide Gordon then had contracted and released to eventually infect and kill Illyana Rasputin, among many others.

"An' Mikhail might not have lost it in the Morlock tunnels, when he tried to kill himself with them all, and poor Petey might have had his big brother still around to help him cope with his little sister's death right after his parents were killed, instead of yet another loss to cope with." Ororo winced at that particular vision, her concern for Peter Rasputin one of her few vulnerable areas. She had dreaded having to tell Peter about finding Mikhail again, what his brother had done, and what he'd become. "So Peter might not have rejected us X-men and gone off to join Magneto at Illyana's funeral. And if he hadn't let us onto the station, maybe Chuck wouldn't've wiped Maggie's mind..."

Logan was surprised himself at how much of the X-men's history seemed to be tied to the Morlocks in general, and to the battle for the Morlock leadership in particular. "And how much do you suppose those Gene Nation atrocity murders of humans as payback for the original Morlock massacre contributed to all the anti-mutant hysteria now? Would Gene Nation even exist, if Mikhail hadn't twisted the Morlocks like you tol' us, and Marrow wasn't fighting Callisto's leadership? Like I said, 'Ro, you make the decisions, you gotta live with the results."

"You're saying, then, that I'm responsible for all those terrible things happening?" Ororo's voice was low, hushed, stunned. Despite her mastery of the elements, which normally made her impervious to the ambient conditions, she felt a distinct chill, and wondered if it was only from the afternoon shadows lengthening.

Seeing her shiver, Logan got up and fetched her a large beachtowel lying nearby, which she wrapped around herself tightly, as he began gently reassuring her. "'Course not, 'Ro, I'm saying you did what you thought was right at the time, and what happened, happened, and we'll never know what mighta happened different. Just like you did what you thought was right after Dallas, and let Kurt and Kitty think we'd died, and they both made a life for themselves without us. And I dunno about you, but I'm pretty proud of what they've both grown into on their own."

Wolverine smiled fondly as he went on, "Our fuzzy elf's grown from a clowning circus entertainer into a confident, able leader and our little Kitten's grown from a gawky insecure teenager into a beautiful, smart, confident woman. And believe you me, she'd appeal to any man, not just to Wisdom. So you'd better get used to the idea that Kitty's love and affection is gonna be going mostly somewhere else, darlin'. It's only natural for that to happen, 'Ro, it's not anything for you to get so damn whacked out about. Just like you were so jealous of Stevie Hunter way back, remember, of her closeness with Kitty. And it's not like you see so much of Kitty now, or spend so much time with her, that any o' this'll really make that big a difference to you..."

Ororo was sitting huddled down into the beachtowel Logan had handed her, looking downward at the ground instead of at him as he spoke, and occasionally shaking her head slowly in futile negation. He was amazed at how long she been silent, how intently she seemed to be listening, how little she'd challenged his latest observations. He sincerely hoped he was getting through to her, at least a little.

"But you're still jealous of Raven around Forge even though you're not sure you want the Maker anymore for yourself, ain'tcha, darlin'?" His voice softened even more, a gentle and sympathetic tone that would have surprised anyone judging his sensitivity by his rough outward appearance. "You know, 'Ro, most of your problems with Forge are all part of the same thing, too. You make a decision, fine, you stick to it, and you live with the consequences. But you decided leading the X-men was more important than being with Forge, for all kinda reasons, an' that's ok by me, but y'ain't accepted the effect that decision had on your lovelife with him, just like you made the decision to let everyone think we was all dead after Dallas, but you haven't accepted the effect that decision had on your relationship with Kitty."

A single, solitary tear tracked down Ororo's cheek when Wolverine brought up Forge. Seeing it, Logan was reminded of Bishop telling him about seeing her crying when Forge had left the mansion with Mystique, saying Raven needed him even if Storm didn't. Logan hoped fervently he'd finally found his opening to Storm's closed mind. "You claimed you were going to accept Forge's proposal, but you didn't tell him that when you'd waited too long and he gave up, thinking you'd picked the X-men instead o' him." He thought he heard Storm whisper, "I was going to say yes..." but he couldn't tell if she were trying to convince him, or herself. So Wolverine kept on. "All Forge wanted was to give you the same thing Pete wants to give Kitty, a chance to lead a normal life with a man who loves her. You threw away your chance through pride or fear, but you shouldn't begrudge Kitty having the guts to take the risk you wouldn't."

He saw Storm looking at him not in anger or outrage as before, but like the frightened little orphan, the lost stray, that Forge had called her then. "You hold your grudges for way too long, darlin', first with Rogue for absorbing Carol's memories, even though that was an accident, then with Forge for taking your powers, even though that was an accident, too, and same thing with Callisto, for trying to take back the Morlocks, even though you didn't want them yourself. Don't do the same with Pete Wisdom for lovin' Kitty, it'll just drive Kitty further away from you..."

They came into their room hand in hand, still laughing over Pete's unexpected swim. Pete started them heading for the bed, automatically, but Kitty held him back, giggling "But you said we were going to clean up for dinner. That means showering, and changing, and joining the others."

Wisdom interrupted her, his usual leer a bit skewed as he couldn't completely suppress his chuckles. "Yeah, I could go for a shower. But, if you wanna go back an' join the others, it'll go faster if we shower together, right?" Pete had been regretting his passing up that enticing prospect when she'd woken him up that morning, and he intended to make up for that momentary lapse now. After all, he didn't want Kitty to feel slighted, or unwanted.

That set Kitty giggling even more. She knew perfectly well what Pete had in mind, and that rushing back to join her friends was not the primary motive behind his suggestion. While she hung on to him laughing, Wisdom was busy taking off her swimsuit. That wasn't any major challenge to his constantly growing experience in undressing her, quick pulls at the ties behind her neck and her back while he nuzzled at her neck below her chin, and the top fell to the floor, to be kicked aside, two more quick pulls at the ties on each hip as he bent to nuzzle at the valley between her breasts, and the bikini bottom fell also, kicked aside in some other direction.

Pete pulled her to him for a quick kiss, then let her go to begin pulling off his tie as he kicked his shoes off. Kitty grabbed his hands, however, looking up at him through lowered lashes as she said in a low, sultry voice, "You promised me this morning, Pete... you took the lead the last few times, now it's my turn..."

The bulge in his pants was unmistakable as his manhood sprang to immediate attention at the thought, and at the way she looked and sounded, even as he was still protesting half-heartedly, "But it'll be faster if I help..."

Kitty shook her head firmly, as she pushed his hands to hang still at his sides. "You promised... besides, if we go faster, we'll just have to go out and rejoin my friends sooner..." She grinned at him mischievously, in companionable conspiracy. Then, as she pulled off his tie she went on, "And if you won't behave yourself, I'll just have to make sure you do..." Holding up his tie, Kitty positively purred at him, "See, nice and handy, want it around your wrists instead of your neck?" Pete shook his head in mock surrender, and she dropped his tie to join her swimsuit on the floor, as she reached out to unbutton his shirt.

Pete just relaxed and enjoyed the feel of her warm hands stroking his cold, damp upper body as she pulled his shirt open and out of his pants, and pushed it off his shoulders and down his arms to fall, her hot mouth following her hands everywhere to kiss and nip and suck at him. Kitty ran her fingers along his back and arms as she tongued his chest, lapping delicately at his dark nipples, then knelt down in front of him.

Unbuckling his belt and pulling it off, with a shudder of enhanced arousal as she remembered how he'd used it to collar her that morning, she unzipped his pants and pulled them off, kissing his legs along the insides of his thighs as he swayed in front of her. Pete laid his hands on her shoulders, lightly, to help him keep his balance as she lifted first one leg and then the other to get the pants off. While she knelt on her heels in front of him, she also pulled off his socks, pausing to run her nails along the naked sole of each foot, tickling him and making him laugh again as he leaned more heavily against her, while jerking his foot away involuntarily.

She straightened up, still kneeling in front of him, and reached up to pull off his briefs the same way as his pants. Wisdom moaned and twitched when she kissed his stomach, running her tongue into and around his navel, one hand reaching around him to knead his buttocks while her other hand ran fingers along his aching shaft before encircling it to hold him in her tight, warm grasp, making him groan. Then he could feel her wonderful soft hair rubbing against his straining erection as she resumed kissing and nipping at his thighs, pushing her head in between his legs where her hand was already busy also. Kitty planned to postpone more serious attention to his erection for later, but she couldn't resist one little teasing lick of her tongue at the oozing tip. Pete couldn't help it, he buried his hands in her hair to pull her mouth onto him, but Kitty leaned back again, pushing his hands away with another throaty chuckle. "I told you, it's my treat, don't rush me, just let me do it my way..."

Holding up her hands to him so he could pull her to her feet, she kept hold of his hands in hers and began pulling him toward the bathroom. He followed her eagerly and they were in the shower in a moment, warm water cascading over them to wash away any damp chill remaining after their pool immersion.

As she adjusted the temperature controls, Pete stood just behind her inside the shower, running his hands along her sleek wet sides, memorizing every change of texture, every soft curve of her, yet again, as he rubbed his erection against the crack between her buttocks. Kitty didn't push his hands away this time, instead she started twisting her hips around to rub against him provocatively, as she tilted back to increase the contact between their bodies.

"Can I at least wash your hair?" he muttered in her ear, wrapping his arms around her waist to hold her close. Leaning back against his comforting warmth, Kitty simply nodded agreement. It was something he often did for her.

Wisdom let her go again. He grabbed the shampoo bottle, squeezed some into the palm of one hand, and began rubbing the soap into her hair. Kitty sighed in pleasure as his strong fingers massaged her scalp, then gasped and chuckled as he held her close with one arm as he snaked the other around to rub shampoo into the triangle of curly hair between her legs, his fingers teasing at the folds of skin protecting the opening to her center and pushing tentatively inside. "Pete, that wasn't the hair I thought you were talking about..." she giggled.

"Don't want to leave any spot unattended..." Pete mumbled into her ear, but, mindful of their agreement, he stopped teasing her and went back to just shampooing her hair, enjoying the way she pushed her head into his hands as he worked the lather through her hair. He pulled down a towel and used it to shield Kitty's eyes as he positioned her directly under the shower head to rinse the shampoo from her hair, then carefully wiped her face off with another towel so that water wouldn't drip into her eyes.

When he was done, he pulled her to him for another deep kiss. Kitty broke away after a few moments, and knelt in front of him as before. Pete gasped as he felt her hot mouth close over his aching shaft, but pushed her away after a minute with a mumbled "Hang on, just a sec..." As she looked up at him in bemused surprise, Wisdom reached out to grab another towel, then bent over to lay it down so that she was kneeling on the soft terry cloth rather than the hard slippery tile. He straightened back up and smiled down at her upturned face, saying huskily "I don't want you rushin' because you're uncomfortable."

Then her mouth was back on him, and he forgot what he was saying, as Kitty worked him with her mouth and lips and tongue, her hands alternately grasping and caressing his buttocks. All Pete could concentrate on was the gentle strokes of hand and tongue that were steadily driving him mad. Growling, he tangled his hands in her wet hair to hold her to him, to enjoy the silky softness of her hair in his fingers as he enjoyed the warm softness of her lips on his erection as the water continued to flow over their bodies.

Kneeling in front of him, feeling his hips thrusting forward in increasing urgency, Kitty debated whether to continue to suck him until he came in her mouth, or shift positions before his climax. Then she felt his motions slow and his hands pulling up on her gently, in mute entreaty. Kitty gently released him from her mouth, and let him pull her up to her feet again.

Wisdom pushed into her then, trapping her between his hard body and the even harder shower wall, but he stopped and pulled away after only a few strokes. As she opened her mouth to ask him why, he reached out to pull her off the wall, grabbing and spreading another towel to cushion her back from the hard tile. Pushing her back against the towel padding, Pete used the last of the towels to make an extra cushion for her head.

Then in one smooth motion, he lifted her up onto his body, her arms gripping his shoulders and her legs wrapping around his waist as he slid into her. She was hot and wet around his manhood, in wonderful contrast to the cool water sluicing over their bodies. She clung to him, her back pressed against the towel on the wall as she met him stroke for stroke.

Pete changed the rhythm, faster, harder, fuller, and each time Kitty felt the tremors increase, felt herself convulse around him. As he felt her tighten around him, his body shook from the force of his own climax and his breath came in rapid, short gasps. Wisdom held her tightly in his arms, feeling her breath warm and rapid on his neck as she nestled her head in the hollow of his shoulder. Kitty pressed herself against him, raising her head, gazing at him with those luminous brown eyes that made his heart beat a little faster every time he looked into them. Unlocking her ankles from around his waist, she slowly slid down the length of his body until she was once again standing in front of him. Pete held her tightly to him in the circle of his arms until the trembling in their bodies subsided.

Finally turning off the water and leaving the shower stall, they both laughed weakly to see a mass of sopping-wet towels lying around the shower and no dry ones left. "Sorry, love, guess I shoulda counted the towels... Now what do we do?"

She glanced around their room for inspiration. "Well, we could use the bedsheets to dry ourselves."

"Kitty, I'm already tired out from that shower." He leered at her.

"Good, that'll give me plenty of time to play while you recover your strength..." As he looked back at her in surprise, she purred throatily, "Did you think I was done?"

Kitty pushed him down on his back in the bed and began to touch and kiss him again. Whenever Pete would try to make a move with his hands she would push them down to his sides, telling him "It's still my turn, love, to make your head spin for a change." The kissing, the stroking all over his body was driving him wild. He'd thought she'd drained him back in the shower, but her touch now had its usual magical effect on him again and, within minutes, Wisdom couldn't seem to get his breath and was moaning at each new caress. Kitty explored every part of his front, until he was sure that he couldn't take any more without exploding. She'd taken him back eagerly in her mouth again but, wanting to draw things out as long as possible, she drew back from him when he seemed ready to climax and sat up on the bed, chuckling, "Come on, Pete, be a good boy, and roll over."

As he obediently turned over to lie on his stomach, stifling his pleading groans and clutching at the sheets in frustration, Kitty scooted back over to him on the bed and then straddled him, her body resting on his bare buttocks. Pete felt her lean over and her naked breasts brush against his back. Her lips were suddenly teasing his neck and upper back, her hands kneading the flesh of his back, shoulders and arms. Again he had to fight to get his breath and for control. Pressing his straining erection into the bed did seem to help, just a little. But when her mouth found its way down to his thighs and hips, her hands kneading his buttocks while one small finger teased his rear hole, he could control himself no longer. Pete rolled over, swiftly, suddenly, throwing her off him in the process. Then, before Kitty could protest, he had grabbed her and pulled her back on top of him.

Lifting her hips, Pete pulled Kitty forward onto his erection, her legs outspread as she knelt astride him. As he forced himself in deeper, she could feel him reaching all the way to that mysterious core within her, sending waves of ecstasy washing through her, forcing great guttural moans out of her as she rode upon him. Taking his cues from her response, Wisdom's thrusts came faster and faster until he gave a loud groan also and pulled her close to him, her breasts aching and pressed against his chest, his lips on her mouth, his body softening slowly within hers as Kitty collapsed on top of him.

Neither had the energy for movement for a long time. Finally Pete rolled over onto his side, still clutching Kitty close, and they both fell into an exhausted sleep even as they murmured their love to each other.

Continued in Part 7 Casual Dining
Dinner the second day of the visit, and the end for now...