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Part 3 Kurt and Amanda

The door opened, and Kurt came into the room, followed by Amanda. "Braddock, what in the world do you think you're doing in here? We could hear you arguing out in the hallway. Moira said a few visitors, and I would assume she meant a few quiet visitors... I cannot believe this is helping Kitty, or Herr Wisdom, either." Ignoring Brian's muttered excuses and explanations, Nightcrawler firmly ushered the much larger Englishman to the door and virtually shoved him out into the hallway.

Meggan stayed behind. She went around the other side of the bed, and sat down to hold Pete's other hand while she reached across, above his body, to take Kitty's free hand. Wisdom's erratic vital signs rapidly stabilized at Meggan's touch, as she carefully and consciously projected all the loving concern Kitty was feeling for him, and her own also.

Amanda hovered nearby as Kurt came back to stand near the bed. "So, Katzchen, what was all that clamor about? We thought the shouting meant something had happened to Herr Wisdom, although I would have expected you to page Moira, if there were any problem with her patient."

"I was just going to, but Meggan said it wasn't serious..." Kitty looked on in amazement as Wisdom's breathing slowed and his entire body seemed to relax at Meggan's efforts. "Brian was just being so horrid... He was ranting and raving about Pete being a drunken bum, and seducing me, and mistreating me in the future..."

Meggan looked over at Nightcrawler as she said defensively, "Brian's just worried about you, Kitty. He just doesn't want you to get hurt, like he hurt me. He'll be sorry in the morning for what he said, he didn't mean any of it, not really." She frowned up at Amanda, who was chuckling quietly to herself at Kitty's condensed version of Brian's concerns.

"Well, Brian might possibly have raised some valid concerns, although I certainly do not see any signs that Herr Wisdom's drinking is that bad." Kurt dismissed the suggestion with only a small twinge of doubt. He still winced at the memory of having to throw the drunken Captain Britain into the ocean from the lighthouse to sober him up for a mission. "But I worry myself, Katzchen, about how the two of you came to this.. understanding.. you seem to have reached so quickly, and whether you have truly considered all the longterm implications..."

"Kurt, what is there for you to worry about?" Amanda interjected, laying her hand on his arm. "They like each other, and they want to be together... Sounds perfectly natural and reasonable to me."

Wagner looked over at his ladylove, where she stood close by his side. "You came after they had left for London, liebling, so you didn't see them quarreling and sniping at each other almost every moment since Black Air assigned Herr Wisdom to us as their official observer. And none of us have seen much of either of them, since they returned here a few days ago. I had thought nothing of it, that they were tired, and perhaps even trying to avoid each other after that excursion. But their announcement tonight was a great surprise to us all, and I cannot help wondering now how their relationship did begin, what did happen, that Kitty has not yet told us."

"Oh, I don't know... a girl and guy alone together, dislike masking strong attraction, a romantic spy mission on a dark and moonlit night... now, exactly which part of that perfectly cliched situation are you having trouble understanding, Kurt?" Amanda teased him, gently. "James Bond obviously has nothing on Peter Wisdom when it comes to getting the girl." She laughed suddenly. "Heck, just getting away from this madhouse might have been enough, we need to try that more often ourselves..."

Kurt wrapped his arm around Amanda and hugged her close in a silent promise. "Your jests are more accurate than you think, liebchen, about my concerns. I wonder if, perhaps, Kitty might have gotten carried away by the 'perfectly cliched situation', as you so aptly put it." He glanced down at Kitty, still sitting by the bed, leaning toward Wisdom as she held his hand tightly, her head twisted to the side slightly to look up at her oldest friend. "Just how serious are you about this new relationship, Katzchen, truly?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, Kurt... of course, I'm serious about Pete..." Kitty was looking puzzled, wondering what Nightcrawler was driving at with his question.

Amanda snorted at Kurt's delicacy. "He wants to know if you and Pete are sleeping together, Kitty, he's just too embarrassed to ask..."

The blunt question made Kitty flush crimson but, looking at Amanda, she didn't see any criticism or censure, just sympathy and understanding. Turning to where Meggan still sat on the other side of Wisdom's bed, she got a smile and a nod of encouragement and support. Kitty took a deep breath and looked back at Kurt. "Yes, we are. Is that what you wanted to know, Kurt?" With his midnight blue skin, Kitty couldn't tell if Wagner had blushed in turn or not, but she felt a twinge of satisfaction as she thought she could detect a bit of an embarrassed squirm.

"Well then, while I certainly do not believe for a moment that Herr Wisdom forcibly seduced you, or intoxicated you or drugged you or any other such truly ludicrous idea, given the situation I do have to wonder what kind of subtle pressure a man of his obvious experience might have applied while you were alone with him in London, on his home ground..." Kurt's voice trailed away at Amanda's withering look at his implication.

"But I keep trying to tell you, nothing happened in London." After that frustrated cry, Kitty calmed down again as she suddenly remembered she'd told that to Brian and Meggan, before Kurt or Amanda had come in. She didn't want to get into the details, they were too personal, but she did want to convince the other members of Excalibur that Wisdom hadn't taken any unfair advantage of her, or they'd just continue to doubt him. "Well, it almost did, on the plane coming back, but Pete said we'd better wait... and he didn't come after me, I went to him when we got back, not that he objected, I don't mean..." Now it was her voice that trailed away in embarrassment, even as her eyes shone and her lips curled upward in a private smile at the memory of their first encounter.

Kurt sputtered and looked a bit shocked, but Amanda just laughed as she exclaimed, "Way to go, Kitty," just as Meggan said "Good for you," in an equally pleased voice, smiling widely.

Nightcrawler was feeling definitely outnumbered by the women in the room, and suddenly wished Wisdom weren't still unconscious, whatever his opinion of the man. Clearing his throat a few times, Kurt eventually said, "In actual fact, Amanda was wrong earlier... I was not enquiring into your private arrangements, Katzchen, although I am pleased that you feel able to confide in me, and hope that you continue to do so. I was intending to ask, if you are indeed so truly certain that you no longer harbor any lingering feelings for Peter, whether in fact you would still have come to whatever accommodation you appear to have reached with Herr Wisdom, if you had known Peter was coming here, to see you?"

Kitty hadn't really had any time to think since Colossus' arrival, and his fight with Wisdom. She took a moment now, trying to sort out her feelings, apart from her predictable anger and fury at the unprovoked attack, and marshall the words to try to explain. "Of course I still have feelings for Peter, Kurt. He's an old friend, I've known him as long as I've known you, even if we have spent less time together. And I did love him, I really and truly did, and I still do, too, just not the same way as before, just as an old friend." A fleeting shadow of regret passed across her expressive face, as she thought about their past years ago, as Amanda and Kurt and Meggan watched sympathetically.

After pausing for another few moments of thought, Kitty continued, her voice strengthening as she articulated her feelings, and liked the feeling her words gave her. "But it's been four long years since Peter told me there could never be anything serious and permanent between us, and a lot of water under the bridge since then. Yes, I used to daydream that we'd get back together someday, often, especially when Illyana died. I thought he'd finally admit he needed me then, but he didn't..."

Another long pause ensued. Kitty clutched Pete's hand as if she could force him to recover, as she hadn't been able to do with that sick little girl. Her big brown eyes filled with unshed tears, as they always did whenever she thought of Peter's young sister and her tragic life and senseless death, while Kurt reached over to stroke Kitty's hair gently at the mention of Illyana. Then Kitty resumed, "But those dreams weren't real. And any feelings I might have for Peter as a friend, if there are any left after tonight, have nothing to do with my feelings for Pete." Her voice was hard and harsh at the end, as she forgot the past in her fury at the present situation.

"And that's perfectly normal, Kitty," Amanda said soothingly, trying to distract her from more wrathful, painful thoughts of tonight's debacle. "You never really forget your first love, but it's very rare to actually stay with them forever, usually you end up growing apart as you grow up." She slipped her arm around Nightcrawler's waist, snuggling against him as he automatically put his arm around her shoulders. "Kurt and I were very lucky that way, to be together now as we were when we were little. But that's no reason to expect you and Peter to do the same. Moving on with your life is good, and if you feel Pete is right for you now, then I wish you both well..."

"Yes, of course I agree, Amanda, but I still don't understand what on earth she can possibly see in the man," Kurt said plaintively. "I have trouble finding any redeeming features in him. I know he's not a bad man, Kitty, but he's rude, and unpleasant, and he's filthy, and..."

"That's because you're a man, Kurt." Amanda interrupted, laughing, before Kitty could jump to Pete's defense. "Meggan and I can easily see his appeal, can't we, Meggan?" Meggan nodded enthusiastically as Amanda continued merrily, "And it really doesn't matter if you're attracted to him, Kurt, it only matters that Kitty is." That made Kitty and Meggan dissolve in giggles, as Kurt scowled around at them in mock outrage.

"He's a good man, Kurt. He cares about people, even if he tries to hide it. He stole a Black Air helicopter once, to rush his friend Doyle to the hospital when his appendix ruptured, and he took three bullets once saving a total stranger's life, and he would have done anything to help his Black Air friend Culley if we'd just gotten to him in time..."

Kitty's flood of words slowed as she saw Kurt and Amanda and Meggan all looking at her incredulously. She remembered Braddock's insulting comment about Wisdom lying to her, and rushed on, "And I know it's true. Pete didn't tell me, he never said a word. But Mr. Jardine told me, when I asked him why he was helping Pete, he said it was his daughter Pete had saved, when he didn't even know her, just because the job needed doing..."

As she quieted down, Kurt sighed, "Well, I admit Amanda was correct, again. It doesn't matter what I may think, Kitty, what you think is all that matters." That reluctant concession earned him another hug from his appreciative lover. Kurt returned her embrace enthusiastically, then he straightened up and pushed Amanda away from him gently. "Now I need to go call the X-men, and tell them that Peter is here, although I will not tell them any of the details, at least not quite yet. And I think you should go see Peter, Katzchen, and talk to him, and soon..."

"Oh, I'll go see him, all right, don't you worry about that, Kurt. And I'll tell him exactly what I think of him trying to murder Pete, right before I kick his brains out so he knows just how it feels." All the laughter was gone from Kitty's voice, the tension was back in her body, and the hardness had returned to her slitted eyes.

"Try to think about Peter's side, too, Kitty, at least a little," Kurt said soothingly. He wondered for a moment if he should withdraw his suggestion, then decided that particular confrontation would have to come sooner or later, and he would just have to trust Kitty's common sense and her deep feelings for Peter would outweigh her anger at this attack.

"Don't worry, I'll stay with Pete until you get back, Kitty," Meggan offered. "And I'll stay and keep her company," Amanda promptly added. Kitty smiled back at both of them gratefully.

Continued in Part 4... Intermission, with Storm