Day 2

[goawayleavemealone]

He wakes with a start, his eyes darting around the room quickly, and then falling on Kitty, still asleep with her head on his chest.

He blinks, looks around again, and frowns as the events of the day before come back to him.

What had began a simple phone call to check up on an old flame had turned into him inviting her to run away to London, and her confessing that she thinks they belong together.

Which is terrifying, brilliant, and probably short-lived.

She'd promised the night before that she wouldn't hurt him again, and he wants to believe that, but he knows that jumping into this so soon after she was supposed to marry Piotr Rasputin is playing with a very specific kind of fire.

It's hard to ignore how good it feels to have her so close though. He lays back, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the last time they were like this. it was so long ago, before things had gone south. By that point, they'd been sleeping on opposite sides of the bed, barely touching.

But before all that...when things were good?

Things were really good.

It's painful to admit how much he's thought about being able to do this with her again; how pathetic it makes him that he kept missing this.

He closes his eyes and tries not to think about it.

Comments

[goawayleavemealone]

Pete nods. "Be good to work with Wagner again. I know Meg an' Brian'll be happy about him and Summers."

[enduring_pryde]

"Yes it would. And Rachel is Rachel Grey now. Code-named Prestige." She grins and glances at him. She definitely has plans.

[goawayleavemealone]

"Well, we dodged a bullet with that one," Pete says. "I was a bit worried my superiors were gonna see the name 'Summers' an' have a meltdown. Cyclops still isn't terribly popular in these parts."

[enduring_pryde]

"I know. Cyclops is still dead of it helps." She squeezes his hand. "It would be nice to get some of the band back together."

[goawayleavemealone]

"Hate to say it, but it doesn't hurt that he's not around," Pete says. "And...yeah. Be nice to work together again. And I'm always lookin' for competent team members."

He hails them a cab and opens the door for her to get in.

[enduring_pryde]

I don't take that personally. Scott has gotten more extreme as the years have passed. He was dangerous." She slips into the cab with her load of computers, which look heavy but with her phasing weigh practically nothing at the moment.

"It bothers me that the team lacks any oversight anymore. Having Abigail Brand around for a time was nice. But now? The X-Men's public image is in the toilet. Logan initially had me working on that for the last five years." But given how she was in space for three of those years, two in a bullet and one with The Guardians, it made her job non-existent.

"I appreciate there being a higher authority than me. I mean besides God, but I do take that into consideration too." Having met gods and yet still maintaining her faith had been somewhat of a challenge. But she could accept that God had created other gods, those with more limited abilities.

[goawayleavemealone]

He nods as he gets into the cab with her. "You and I have gone so many rounds about X-Men and public image, I don't even know where to start anymore," he grins a little. "We talked about Cable and his big bloody gun, and what that says to the public at large, both human and mutant, and it's only gotten worse in a lot of ways. That's why Excalibur worked so well, though. If you looked at you, and Wagner and Braddock and Meg, yeah, you were different, but each of you brought different things to the group, that were palatable to the public. You added me in, you had someone who had worked for Queen and Country on a government level, you added Rahne, an' you had someone who was devoutly religious. You add that to Wagner's charm, Braddock's entire schtick, Meggan's cheefulness and your brains, and you have something people can get behind."

He sits back. "And then you have the X-Men. You bein' the public face helps, but there's nobody to back you up that can show the public that having you around is a positive thing. The Tin Can still has that thick accent, which scares the hell out of people, Wolverine's...well he's bloody Wolverine, isn't he? He's got a reputation. The closest you've got to someone with charm other'n you is Rogue. Who can kill people if she touches them too much. And that might night be her fault, but it's not puttin' anybody at ease."

[enduring_pryde]

"Right and Cable generally isn't on any of our teams. He's more of an associate. The X-Men generally don't use guns. There have been a few members but we do try non-leathal modes of combat." She nods. "The mindsets have changed. Our last row with the Avengers hasn't helped relations. And really, many are still angry after Wanda wished Mutants away. But still. Holding on to the past isn't healthy for any of us."

She smiles as she listens. "Most times, Kurt, Rahne, and I are the soul of the team. Kurt went on to be a priest for a while. He got so tired from the fighting." And like Pete said, it had only gotten worse.

"That is very true. I had an uphill battle on my hands. And it got to a point that Logan opposed wjat I was doing too. I was trying to give the original team's younger selves a better life. They're pretty much stuck now. I thought, why not give them the opportunity to have new lives." She frowns when he mentions Piotr. "It's less to do with his accent than his presence and history. Piotr sided with Magneto and joined the Acolytes after Yana died. And then recently he was one of the Phoenix Five. Him, Yana, Scott, Emma, and Namor." Which was just another clusterfuck of epic proportions for them to deal with. "Giving people who already are on massive power trips even more power. Yeah, no thank you." She runs her hand over her hair. "Logan is also kind of dead but we got an older version of him from a different reality at the moment." She smiles. "Yeah, Rogue who was once a villain and a part of the Brotherhood? And took Carol Fucking Danvers's powers? That's pretty fantastic for public relations too, not."

[goawayleavemealone]

"Yeah, nobody outside of the teams cares who's an associate and who's a full team member. Cable led X-Force for at least a decade on and off. He counts. He's one of you, and the X-Men have to take ownership of that."

He pays the cabbie and gets out, helping her with her bags. "Don't get me started on that Phoenix Five bullshit. Frost an' I had words on just how bloody terrible an idea that entire stint was."

He glances at Kitty briefly, slightly worried that Rasputin, juiced up with the Phoenix Force hurt her, but she hadn't mentioned anything.

He knows about the bullet, and space, but hasn't wanted to bring it up, not wanting to push her to talk about anything she's not ready to tell him.

He heads for the Bake Shop. "Chelsea buns, yeah?"

[enduring_pryde]

"Well, with that outlook, that means you too are an X-Man after leading X-Force too." For however brief of time that was.

"Oh you spoke to Frosty about it? And what did she say?" Sorry Pete, you brought this on yourself. She's going to get you started.

"Yes please. And a large hot chai latte."

[goawayleavemealone]

"Oh, she gave all sorts of idiotic excuses, having to do with wanting the control and the power to make things better in the world," Pete grumbles, rolling his eyes, as he steps up to the counter. "'Lo, Minnie. Three Chelsea buns, a hot chai latte and a large coffee, thanks."

He turns back to Kitty. "The conversation ended with me tellin' her to stop tryin'a play god because she's bad at it, an' her dumping a cup of tea in my lap, and telepathically shutting down the speech center in my brain to shut me up."

[enduring_pryde]

She presses her lips together and folds her arms. "I'm actually facing a similar set of circumstances at the moment. But the Phoenix Force. Dear God, no. I wouldn't let that thing anywhere near me." She had seen the death and destruction caused by it, even when Ray was playing host.

She doesn't say anything else until they have their food and drinks. "When I was with Quill, I had to expose myself to this cosmic device, the Black Vortex. Have you heard of it? It juiced up my phasing. I try not to think about it but there is very little in this universe that I can't phase." She purses her lips. "I haven't done much experimenting with it, but I can phase into different dimensions now."

[goawayleavemealone]

He blinks and turns to her, taking a long sip of his coffee.

"That's new," he says. "I hadn't heard of the Vortex, no. I tend to stay out of the Space stuff, mostly. MI6 is very keen to keep MI13 on the mystical and supernatural stuff, and away from anything cosmic. Something about not trusting me with aliens after I wished away the entire Skrull army."

[enduring_pryde]

"Oh yeah. I can phase whole planets. Ones that are small and preferably lack inhabitants. It's a bit jarring." She also didn't like thinking about being phased in a bullet for two years, or how it took dying to gain control once more. "Really? How about you tell me about that."

[goawayleavemealone]

He tilts his head, watching her for a long moment. "Faiza tells it better," he says. "You a'right?"

He can tell when she's uncomfortable; when she's trying to change the subject.

He always could. It's surprising that her tells are still the same, and that he can still pick up on them so easily.

[enduring_pryde]

"But it was your wish. How did you do that?"

She sips her chai. "Yeah, I'm okay. I mean, I know I have to deal with it. I know I need to test what I can do, test what my limits are. And it can just fade away with time...." But she had some concerns about that given how strong her abilities were even before the cosmic upgrade.

[goawayleavemealone]

"I let loose a dungeon full of demons, and they granted me one wish," he shrugs.

He doesn't want to tell her what he almost wish for.

For his mother.

For Maureen.

For Pryde's own life, stuck in that bullet as she'd been.

"I bet Alistaire would jump up and down with at the idea of helping you figure out what's going on with your powers. And it'd give you a good excuse to catch up with him."

Al had been possibly more excited than Meggan at the prospect of Kitty coming back to London.

He sips his coffee as they walk down the street towards White Hall.

[enduring_pryde]

"What a trade off! Well thanks for getting rid of the Skrulls."

She nods. "I'll tell him." And before she can take a breath she adds, "Is that all right? Does that bother you? I'm far from what I used to be."

[goawayleavemealone]

He grins at her fondly. "So'm I."

[enduring_pryde]

She smiles, pulls him by the tie and kisses him.

[goawayleavemealone]

He almost drops his coffee as he kisses her back, sliding an arm around her.

Right. It's nice to know that, if nothing else, this still works for them.

He rests his forehead against hers, his eyes only half open. "What wuzzat for, then?"

[enduring_pryde]

She nestles against him. "I needed you to know where I'm coming from now and I needed to know that you still trusted me." Plus she needed to trust herself. Being able to travel between dimensions could be a lasting power. After all, there was Widget, Kate Pryde. Who sent Rachel back in time. This was always going to be her power. "I love you, Pete."

[goawayleavemealone]

"Love you, too," he says quietly, rubbing her arm and holding her close.

"S'gonna be alright, Pryde," he reassures her. "We'll get it sorted."

[enduring_pryde]

"You know what is also nice? You've never made me have to chase you. You've always been the one to come to me. Thank you for that. And thank you for being able to handle me, with all my contradictions, issues, and baggage." Cause wow, she knew that she is a lot to take on. Even talking about her cosmically-boosted abilities and Pete remains calm.

[goawayleavemealone]

He doesn't know what that says about him. He doesn't know if that makes him pathetic or a sap or what, but she's right. He's always come to her.

On the other hand, she's here now, and she seems like she wants to stay.

So maybe being a bloody idiot and an open book will pay off.

"Most people are contradictions filled up with issues and baggage, Pryde," he comments as they start walking again, heading up White Hall's steps. "That's just life. S'not like I'm a walk in the bloody park, is it?" He nods to the man at the front desk. "'Lo, Herbert."