WARNING:
THERE WILL BE EXPLICIT SEX IN SOME PARTS OF THIS STORY. I will mark any section that has sex in it in the individual section header. The sex is graphic and definitely non-consensual. 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 1 Favors

Hey, Pryde, where you hidin' out?" Kitty could hear Pete calling out in the hallway but she didn't bother interrupting her work to answer him. She knew he'd find her with no difficulty, he was obviously headed straight for her.

Wisdom came into the laboratory to find her phased partially within the massive central Cerebro unit, repairing it to work properly after yet another of Kurt's botched fix-it efforts. "How come you don't just tell our fearless leader to keep his oversized fingers an' toes out o' that overgrown electronic monstrosity? Or is it usin' his tail what mucks up anythin' he tries with it?"

Kitty phased out of the unit completely, to relax on a bare spot of floor. It always took a lot of attention, for her to avoid making more work for herself by accidentally phasing through any of the still-working electronics. She brushed stray tendrils of hair off her sweat-soaked face as she tossed her lover a disgusted look. "When I'm in a good mood, I try telling myself he just doesn't want to impose on me for small problems he thinks he can handle himself. But, when I'm in a particularly lousy mood, especially after wasting hours and hours of my time repairing the much bigger nightmare messes Kurt always manages to create, like right now, I feel like he completely forgets the fact that I've been fully qualified to dissamble, modify, upgrade and reassemble Cerebro all by myself ever since I was fourteen, which Kurt certainly has never been."

"So, got it all fixed?" He sounded dubious about that possibility, as he glanced around the floor at the many scattered mounds of assorted electronic components still in sight.

"Not even close -- another day or two worth of hard work, at the very least." Kitty held out her hand for Pete to haul her to her feet, which he promptly used to pull her into his arms for a long, deep kiss. She let herself melt into his warm embrace for a long moment, reveling in the feel of his thin, wiry body hard against hers, remembering when she had thought she'd lost this forever. Then she pulled back, quite reluctantly, to ask temptingly, "Were you looking for me for any particular reason, or did you just figure it was time I took a break... maybe with you?"

Pete grinned back at her flushed face, glowing from beginning arousal as much as from exertion. "You do look like you could mebbe use a bit of a rest, love, but I was gonna tell you, Jardine just called."

Kitty stifled her regretful sigh. It sounded like business before pleasure, although Pete didn't sound too enthused about whatever it was his old friend wanted this time. "Is his daughter in trouble *again*?"

He laughed at her exasperated tone. "Nah, nothin' like that. That might actually be fun." He turned a bit more serious. "Seems they turned up yet another Black Air arms depot, hidden away in a supposedly abandoned warehouse in London. No records, o' course, an' most o' the stuff seems to have come from Genosha. So, since he knows right well that Scicluna used to make me run down t' that soddin' hellhole all th' bloody time as her friggin' liaison, he wants me t' come help sort through the loot an' see what I can identify. Seems the Genoshans have heard about it already -- he's got a leak somewheres, obviously -- but, anyway, they've been yellin' t' have it all returned, preferably untouched an' yesterday."

"You're right. That sounds like just a barrel of fun." Kitty winced at the recollection of conditions in that disturbed country, still busy tearing itself apart between freed mutates out for hot revenge and human bigots wanting a return to the comfortable old days of mutate slavery. "Oh, well, at least it gives us a good excuse to get away for a few days, just the two of us. Let's go tell Kurt we're leaving."

And it might give him a chance to sneak off to a jewellers' shop, Pete thought smugly, as well as the opportunity to arrange a nice romantic setting, to ask Kitty a very important question in decent privacy. He'd been thinking about it ever since he'd died and returned, and he'd decided Kitty had been right, just like she always was, really. No matter how his parents' marriage had turned out, no matter how her parents' marriage had turned out, he and Kitty were already married in every way that mattered. He'd been lucky enough to be given another chance, to be back with this incredible woman of his, and it was past time to make their relationship all proper and official.

"You wish to leave, to go to London?" Nightcrawler sounded somewhat harried, when they finally tracked him down working out in the gymnasium. "I can understand your desire to cooperate with your friend's request for assistance -- indeed, he has helped us on more than one occasion in the past -- but, please, Herr Wisdom, can this trip not be postponed for but a short period of time?"

"Sorry, mate." Pete tried to keep the aggravation out of his voice, at Wagner's renewed insistence on calling him that, since his aborted funeral, despite repeated requests to stop. "But Jardine needs t' know wot all that stuff is now, so he knows whether to play nice-nice with the friggin' Genoshans, t' win political brownie points, or tell 'em to bugger off 'cos the soddin' stuff is just too damn bloody dangerous to let loose. 'Sides, wot's the big deal?"

"You know Brian and Meggan are away, on a second honeymoon..."

Pete interrupted Kurt sharply. "Don't get politically correct on me here, Wagner. You an' I both know that poor, stupid, soft-hearted Meggie hauled Braddock's sorry arse off to that clinic Betsy found, t' try t' get him dried out one more bloody time, if she can. An' we all know Betsy's with 'em, tryin' her damn'dest t' help. Just how long do you think they can keep it up, before his selfishness tears 'em apart once an' fer all? An' you ain't helpin' any, covering up for the overgrown plonker.." Kitty winced at his attack on her oldest friend, but she could understand Pete's frustrated, unvoiced protectiveness. Meggan had been the first to welcome him, to accept him without reservation, and he'd responded to her innocent overtures before he'd even been aware of it. And, after an awkward moment or two at the start, he and Betsy had developed a comfortable friendship, too, to Kitty's pleased surprise.

Kurt had been protective of the fragile Meggan in her long, troubled relationship with the retired Captain Britain far longer than Pete had, but he had reluctantly given up trying to reason with Meggan long ago, having learned the hard way that they did not welcome his interference or advice. However, he still worried about Meggan, often, and didn't enjoy being reminded of his failure. "It is their own business, Wisdom, how they choose to handle their own private affairs, not ours. I am merely honouring their wishes, just as I have always been accepting of your relationship with Kitty."

"It ain't your business to accept or not..."

Pete had begun snarling an automatic reply, when Kitty interrupted, laying her hand on his arm soothingly. "So, Brian and Meggan are away now. Is that your concern, Kurt? Even if we leave, too, you still have Rahne and Douglock and Amanda and Peter here, if any problem comes up while we're gone." Kitty's voice stayed quite steady on that last name. She knew Pete still worried about Colossus losing control again, often, but she'd found Peter so supportive when Pete had died that she felt the troubled young Russian had made great progress in working through his problems. And she'd greatly appreciated Peter's surprisingly delicate tact in always disappearing silently, to leave her alone with Pete ever since his miraculous return.

"Rahne promised she would care for Marianne while Betsy is away, which is certainly a full-time job that would keep her from responding to any... occurrence that might require our presence elsewhere. Amanda just left for New York. She got a call that one of her old friends is ill, a serious case of cancer, apparently, and she wanted to be in time to visit before her approaching surgery." Kitty winced in sympathy for whoever might be unfortunate enough to be in that position, and even Wisdom stayed silent. Nightcrawler went on, more hesitently, "And you must recall that Peter is scheduled to leave early tomorrow morning, on a long-planned walking tour of the highlands. I do not wish to interfere with his plans. Moira and I both hope that the solitude and the views may inspire him to begin painting again."

Kurt paused for a moment, waiting for a response that didn't come, then continued, "I can understand Mr. Jardine's need for your knowledge of Black Air, Wisdom, but... cannot you stay here, Katzchen? It does not seem that you can add much to their study of this Black Air equipment depository, other than providing him personal companionship, of course, but you could be of great assistance to me here. And Cerebro needs to be repaired -- we cannot afford to be long with it offline."

Glancing over at Pete, Kitty saw him give a minute shrug, leaving it up to her to decide. She'd caught his almost-invisible relaxation at the reminder that Rasputin was due to leave, also. Kitty really didn't want to be apart from Pete for several days; she almost never let him far out of her sight since his death and return. But Kurt's little dig made her hesitate -- they needed to learn to be apart again, occasionally, without her panicking that he wouldn't come back to her. Putting business before pleasure, Nightcrawler was right -- she certainly couldn't contribute to Wisdom's mission as she could here. Then, a wide, mischievous grin spread across her face as an inspiration came to her. "I'll stay, Kurt, on one condition -- you promise me, right now, you'll never try to fix Cerebro yourself, ever again."

"An' you swear it's our turn to take off for a nice, long vacation, right after Brian an' Meggan get back." Pete added slyly. "No excuses, no welshin'." That might provide a lot better opportunity for setting up a good, romantic proposal than this quick trip to London, he thought, and he wasn't really putting it off, he reassured himself silently, he just wanted to do it perfect, for Kitty's sake.

"Agreed!" Nightcrawler sounded like he would have promised anything. He turned to Wisdom. "I can fly you down to London now, if you will allow Kitty to get back to Cerebro. Or would you prefer she take you, to have a little more time together?"

"Don't rush me, mate." Wisdom smirked as he reached out an arm to catch Kitty to his side. "Your bloody overgrown tinkertoy can wait a bit, an' so can that ol' sod Jardine. If I'm gonna be gone a few days, I think I deserve a proper sendoff."

He leered down at Kitty, who laughed in turn, even as her cheeks glowed with a delicate rosy blush. She wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him back tightly. "Oh, I think we can spare the time for that..."

Continued in Part 2... Surprises