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Part 1

Despite retiring long after midnight, Kurt Wagner -- like most of his current teammates -- hadn't been able to sleep well, given the culminating traumatic events of the previous evening. After several hours of restless tossing and turning, he was up early. However much he might cringe at the various chores he had to attend to today, it wasn't in him to postpone or avoid unpleasant duties -- his conscienciousness was part of what made him such a good team leader.

Padding along the hallway dressed in comfortable sweats -- he didn't need the artificial boost of wearing his uniform to assert his status or authority -- he headed for the MedLab, catching up to Moira along the way. Falling into step besides the Scots doctor, he noted her haggard face -- laugh and frown lines far more pronounced than usual, dark bags stark against pallid skin under deeply sunken eyes -- and asked worriedly, "Should you not be resting, geschätzte Frau Ärztin*?"

* [esteemed lady physician]

"Stop cozenin' me, ye an' Rahney..." MacTaggert waved a dismissive hand, then, seeing Nightcrawler's golden eyes fixed on its just visible trembling, stuck it back in the pocket of her wrinkled white labcoat. "A canna -- no' until the meds A took tae drive oot the drink wear off. An' no' until A ken muh patients are safe tae leave fuir a bit..."

"Is there still a risk?"

"Wi' Peter, nay -- his back's healin' well, an' naught but a bruise or two where Brian an' Meggan hit him. Fuir Wisdom... A donna think sae, nay, but, until he wakes, A canna be *sure*..."

The blue-furred mutant nodded at that. "Let us pray he wakes soon, then." Since it was obvious the exhausted doctor would refuse the rest she so plainly needed until he did. "And, on a related subject -- do you know where Kitty is now? I need to speak with her. She was not at breakfast just now." Despite going to bed as late as Kurt himself had and having as few hours sleep, Amanda, Brian, Meggan, Rahne and Douglock -- well, the last didn't need sleep, of course -- had all straggled into the kitchen early, in various stages of dress and alertness, just as he himself had. "That is not too surprising, given the night we had -- but she was not in her room, resting, either."

"A left her wi' Wisdom." The acerbic Scotswoman might call the dour Londoner all kinds of foul epithets at other times, but not while he was a patient under her care -- at least, not until he was guaranteed to be a *recovering* patient under her care. "She dinna want tae leave him, an' A dinna see nae harm in it... It may e'en ha'e helped, if he woke up sooner than A expect."

"I am sure you did what was best." *Nobody* questioned MacTaggert's medical decisions. "But I do need to speak with her..."

"Ye can come along wi' me, then. A need tae examine him, which A certainly donna want tae do wi' the lass there. Ye can ha'e yuir talk then... as long as ye donna fesh her further." Moira shook a finger in Kurt's face warningly. "Just because she wasna hurt physically donna mean she's no' a victim here too, an' needs time tae recover, too."

"I am afraid I must, Moira. I must call a team meeting later today, where I will make an important announcement about Peter, and I must tell Katzchen first, alone--"

"Kurt--"

"I *must* tell her first, Moira. I *must* talk to her -- alone."

"All right then." Her gruff, grumbled agreement couldn't hide her concern.

Feeling her new lover's arm come around her in her sleep had subconsciously reassured and relaxed the young brunette; she might have had the best sleep of any on Muir after the tumultuous events of the night just past. But, although her emotional and physical exhaustion would take more than a few hours sleep to dispell, Kitty was still on a hair trigger, so the sound of the door opening had her jerking awake, a bit disoriented. Sitting up, she didn't notice the flaccid arm falling back onto the bed. "Moira? Kurt? What's wrong?! Is Pete--"

"Nothing's wrong, lassie," Moira soothed immediately. "A need tae check over yon Sassenach, is all. So ye gae off wi' Kurt here an' wash up, change, ha'e yuirself something tae eat--"

"Moira, I can't!" Kitty protested, even as the Scots doctor gently but firmly pulled her up onto slightly wobbly feet and pushed her toward Wagner while Moira took her place at the Englishman's bedside. "I can't leave him, not while--" The unspoken 'not while I don't know how Pete is, when he'll wake up... *if* he'll wake up...' hung in the air.

"Ye canna stay here whilst A examine muh handiwork," MacTaggert pronounced. Leaning over the still form, she quickly checked Wisdom's heartbeat and his breathing, then lifted each closed eyelid in turn to flash a light within to check his pupils. "Pulse an' respiration fine, color guid -- nae worse than his usual -- sae A donna see nae reason tae fret... but that's all A'm doin' wi' ye still here. A need tae check his wounds and muh surgery, an' ye donna need tae see none o' tha'. Go wi' Kurt -- ye can come back later and stay wi' him again, but no' until A see you've eaten and washed and changed."

Wagner had one arm around her waist and was trying to lead her out but Kitty hung back, her feet planted with the stubbornness of a mule. "What if he wakes up before I'm back? I don't want him to wake up alone!"

"A promise, A'll call Rahney or Meg or Amanda tae sit wi' him, if A ha'e tae leave afore ye get back."

It wasn't that easy, of course. Kitty stayed adamant about not leaving Pete's side. Kurt kept repeating they needed to talk, and Moira insisted on privacy before carrying out a complete exam. The young woman might have resisted indefinitely Wagner's plaints about not delaying the team meeting he needed to hold, but the Scots doctor's dire threats about more bodies around increasing the risk of infection while she changed dressings were much harder to ignore. So, eventually, with Moira firmly pushing and the blue-furred team leader gently pulling, they finally got the forlorn young girl outside into the hallway and the doctor promptly shut the door on them, leaving the two old friends alone.

"Ok, if I hurry I can grab a quick shower and change and get some coffee and get back here in just a few--"

"Kitty." Wagner's determined voice interrupted her gabbling, just as the arm he still had around her kept her from rushing off down the hall.

She phased through his hold instinctively and started off toward her room, tossing back over her shoulder, "Look, Fuzzy -- I don't care what Moira said, I couldn't eat a thing, not now--"

He teleported with a sharp 'bamf' of displaced air and the strong stench of brimstone so suited to his demonic appearance, to reappear in front of her. "Kitty, we must talk."

"Not now, Kurt." She walked through him without pausing. "Whatever it is can wait."

Another 'bamf' and the hall smelled even more strongly of sulphur -- and he blocked her way again, three-fingered hand held up commandingly. "Yes, now. And no, it cannot wait. I must talk to the rest of the team soon and I wish to speak with you first. I will follow you like this to your room if need be... and into your shower too, even, if that is what I must do for you to listen to me."

"Ok, what then?" Kitty's foot tapped the floor impatiently. But, even though she fought to hide her sudden trepidation, Wagner's uncharacteristic determination had her stomach roiling nervously.

"You must know -- you deserve to know now, before I tell the others -- I have asked Peter to stay--"

"What?!" She stared at him, brown eyes wide in shock.

"He *needs* us, Katzchen," Kurt rushed on, almost pleadingly. "Surely you can see that. He needs us, needs our help--"

Her eyes were narrowed in fury now, her usually tightly-reined temper erupting into a loud "What I can *see* is he tried to murder Pete! What he *needs* is to have his head examined!"

"I have said he needs help, yes." Nightcrawler was quite familiar with the wrathful indignation simmering just under the surface of the soft, innocent-appearing young girl, that their teammate Logan had so long ago been the first to recognize. He was not very surprised to see it unleased now, in such trying personal circumstances, and he would not chastise her for her outburst, as long as she remained enough in control to see reason when he presented his case to her. "But he does not wish to go to the X-Men -- more, he does not wish them to know anything about last night's events, especially not the Professor and Scott and Ororo. He begged me not to tell them--"

"Tell me you're not thinking about trying to cover this up! They need to know, so they can try to help him! The Professor, Jean, Betsy--"

"I told him we could not keep it from the X-Men -- not completely. I told him we would present his... 'snapping' as a possible after-effect of the brain damage he suffered just before his sister's death, and the Professor's and Moira's belated 'cure' through hurried surgery. I told him he could remain here with us, while we help him regain control of himself, and come to terms with all the stress he has been under. I am certain he did not intend to truly hurt Herr Wisdom -- he simply lost control, and made an error of judgement due to exhaustion and stress."

"Oh, yeah, Peter never *means* to hurt people," Kitty riposted bitterly. "He never meant to hurt me when he dumped me. He never meant to hurt me, hurt you, hurt *Illyana* by letting us all think he'd died in Dallas -- you didn't see her, Kurt, but I did, when she came to me right after, when she wanted my help killing Forge for payback..." The other former X-Man didn't say anything, just let her rant on as he listened sympathetically. "He didn't mean to hurt me when Illyana died, when I wanted to comfort him, wanted him to comfort me, wanted us to share our grief -- but he did, when he pushed me away, then went off with Magneto instead! Yeah, sure, he didn't mean to hurt anybody when he let the X-Men onto Avalon, but Logan was hurt, and Magneto was hurt--"

"And he needs our help to deal with all that, to accept all that," Kurt finally interrupted the rehashing of old hurts.

"Ok, fine -- I agree he needs help." She pushed tangled chestnut hair back off her face, then wearily rubbed at sore, reddened eyes. "But why here, why us?"

"Because he will accept help from us -- which you agree he needs -- as he will not from the Professor or the other X-Men... at least, not yet. You spoke to him, Katzchen -- did you not pity him, instead of blame him? Do you not wish to help him?"

"I can do both, Kurt. Yes, I can pity him," especially when she'd actually seen him locked away in that holding cell, wearing an inhibitor collar, dazed confusion in eyes which used to see everything and everyone so clearly, with an artist's special insight, "but I can blame him too." Logan had taught her to take responsibility for herself and her actions, no matter what, so she had little patience with others who wouldn't do the same, but kept trying to pass the buck instead. She'd told Colossus basically that. "Or are you suggesting Pete's to blame -- or I am?"

"No, of course not!" It was Kurt's turn to look shocked. "Peter admitted to me he saw you kissing and lost control -- he never tried to claim Wisdom provoked him in any other way, or that *you* were to blame in any other way."

"Yeah, right," Kitty snorted. "He lost control so bad that he waited -- he deliberately *waited*, until I went inside, until Pete was *alone*--"

"I am not sure his actions were quite that premeditated, Katzchen. What you see as a deliberate ambush may have been simply a fugue state brought on by shock and exhaustion. Peter lost control so badly he attacked *me*, Kitty. If I can forgive him, can you not do the same?"

"I've forgiven him a lot, Kurt. I've given him a lot *more* than simple forgiveness... I was willing to give him my *life*, Kurt. I was ready to marry Caliban and stay with him in the Morlock tunnels forever, to save Peter's life -- not that he ever bothered to say thank you! -- but I'm not willing to give him *Pete's* life. There has to be a limit to friendship and forgiveness."