*** DISCLAIMER: The X-MEN are Copyright (C) 1997 Marvel Characters, Inc., 
and are property of Marvel Comics Entertainment Group. They have been
used without permission. No profit has been made from this work. This
story is Copyright (C) 1997 by Jon Bartley.

*** NOTE: This story may contain adult language, adult content, and
violence. If any of these things offend you, don't read this.

BLACK LOVE (5/13)
By Jon Bartley

PART FIVE: "The Right Choice"

The first Sunday of spring, malignant and cruel, was a day Kitty Pryde
would remember for a long time. It was a beginning, of sorts. A
beginning Kitty was glad came. This beginning began with she and her
boyfriend Pete Wisdom anxiously awaiting their business in the States to
finally resolve, so they could return to Muir Isle. 
     On Sunday morning, Pryde and Wisdom's bags were packed and ready to
be carried to the airport. If everything went well on Sunday, they would
return home on Monday, possibly Tuesday. Everything did not go well. It
was nearly noon when the Black Bird soared into the cold, metal hangar,
and--landing gear failing--crashed into a wall of wooden crates. The X-
Men, including Kitty, departed from the black jet, all of them gathered
around a hovering metal slab with a shirtless Pete Wisdom attached to it. 
Each one of them helped to move the hovering construct.
     Pete had been shot several times in the chest.
     Being very careful to respond and not react, Doctor Hank McCoy
grabbed the hovering Wisdom, and, after instructing Kitty to grab a hold
and phase the three of them to speed up their journey, flew through the
mansion toward the med-lab. Kitty couldn't have told you how long it had
been since Pete had been shot. As far as she was concerned, several
endless eternities had passed.
     Hank and Pete whizzed into the med-lab operating room, Kittyless,
and, with a cold, vacant slam, the sliding door which separated the
operating room from the rest of the med-lab was shut. Kitty sat down in
a chair and tried to think of something else--anything else. After
another endless eternity (which was, in actuality, only an hour and a
half), the sliding door opened as vacantly as it had shut and Hank
walked out.
     Kitty stared at him. Then put her face in her hands. "Oh, fuck,"
said she. "He's dead, isn't he?"
     "I did everything I could for him, Kitty." said Hank. "Pete isn't... 
dead. But he's lost a lot of blood. I'll monitor him until morning,
but it"--Hank had trouble with this--"it'll be a miracle if he survives
until then."
     Fifteen minutes later, Kitty realized she was in a waiting room of
sorts. So she decided to give the room use. She decided to wait.

Scott Summers' bedroom television set spat out, over the course of three
hours, news that a series of technological viruses had been created and
placed all over New York City. Scott could see, in the cracks, where no
one else could, that this was handiwork of either Apocalypse or Sinister. 
He walked across the room and turned the television set off. He knew
what he had to do.
     Tonight, before he dreamt, he would make another wish--one to stop
these viruses.
     Scott's afternoon business took him from the Danger Room to the
Black Bird hangar, where a fire had burst to life in the jet's engines.
Scott put out the fire. He thought it was strange that it had suddenly
occurred, and thought to conduct an investigation into it. He then went
from the hangar to the War Room, where he checked the online log books
and found that the Black Bird had been flown in a morning mission lead
by Katherine Pryde.
     He went from the War Room to the med-lab, where he found Ms. Pryde.
     "Kitty, I've been looking all over for you," Scott confessed.
Something was wrong, he noted. "What's wrong?"
     Kitty shifted in her seat. "Pete's been shot. Hank doesn't know if
he'll live 'til morning." In response to Scott's silence, she continued:
"We were tying up our business here. We tried to break into this lab...
and didn't know someone else had beaten us to it. Someone else started
firing. Pete was the first to go in." She looked off. "Hank's done all
he can."
     Scott walked over to Kitty and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm...
I'm sorry. Is there... anything you need? Talk?"
     Kitty shook her head and tried to smile. "I don't need to talk. I
don't anything really. I just need for Pete to be all right."

He hated to see her like this. Kitty had grown up a lot, since Scott
last saw her. Of course, she was only seventeen years old, and she had a
lot more maturing to do than she'd like to think, but she was more
mature than most girls her age. At the least, Scott respected her.
     He could only make one wish tonight, he knew. He would either have
to wish Pete Wisdom a swift recovery, or wish the techno-viruses gone.
Scott knew he couldn't make two wishes at the same time. He had to make
a choice. Save one life or save hundreds of lives.
     Sometimes the right choice is hard to make.

Kitty poured another cup of coffee and sat down. If Pete was going to
die tonight--even if there was a chance of him dying--it would be better
than she be there with him, to spend those precious, painful last hours
with him. She thought it over, then got up to see him.
     Before Kitty could fully lift herself up, the med-lab doors opened,
and Hank and Scott entered. As Hank began to gather certain items from
the shelves of the waiting area, Scott swiftly entered the room Pete was
supposedly in. "What's going on?" said Kitty.
     Hank turned, smiled, and said: "Your boyfriend's chances of
survival just got better. Mr. Summers has agreed to be a blood donor.
Scott said he'd donate as much as Pete needed to be well."
     "Oh," was all Kitty could say at first. "Is he... is he even the
right blood type?"
     "Oh yes, oh yes. Correct blood type. Disease-free. Everything is
fine." Hank grinned again, then disappeared into another room.
     Kitty sat down and did something she hadn't done all day long.
     She smiled.

After the blood transfusion, Scott was told to stay in the med-lab
overnight. Which was fine by him. He went to sleep at midnight, not
forgetting to make his wish. At six-thirty the following morning, he
woke, and promptly afterward received a kiss on the cheek. Kitty hovered
over him and smiled brighter than he'd ever seen her smile. She thanked
him for his deed and he accepted her thanks.
     "Has there been anything new about the techno-viruses on the news
this morning?" he wanted to know.
     "What techno-viruses?" Kitty asked.
     "Nevermind," said Scott, happily. He turned slightly on his side
and tried to get another hour's worth of sleep. He knew he'd made the
right choice. Not only did he save Pete's life, or at least give the
Englishman better chances at living, but he'd also saved the hundreds.
What made the former so much more enriching was that Kitty *knew* it was
Scott that did the deed. Scott smiled and went back to sleep.

To Be Continued...
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