Pryde Goeth Before A Fall

Kitty Pryde is rescued by a very unlikely hero, one who won't let her forget the debt she now owes.

I don't own them – I wouldn't mind owning them – but I don't. Thank you Marvel for letting me play in your sandbox, there will be a few minor OC's in this story that are mine –but if you want them you can have them.

Chapter Fourteen – The Cold Light of Dawn.

He stood at the foot of the bed. She still took up the whole damned thing, he grinned watching her stretch.

"You're up early."

"Took a job." He said simply. He knew she was taking it all in, the leathers, the bag on the end of the bed, his hair loose and wild. He was going hunting – his human prey. It wasn't the first time; it wasn't going to be the last. He tried hard to hide the smile.

"Gonna be gone long? The party is tomorrow."

"Yeah –I'll be gone – a while." He said. She deserved to know the truth. He was stifled, suffocated here. Xavier and the students looked down their noses at him, the only one that didn't was Logan, and that bugged the shit out of him. It had been almost two years. He'd been able to handle it almost two years.

"Victor."

"Don't. I can't play by the rules anymore."

"Then don't."

"Kitty, I can't live my life with you and the cub."

"Yes you can, just not here." She said.

"What?"

"Victoria and I are packed, Victor. I've been waiting for you to bolt for months."

"No, you don't get it. Here you two are safe, I know you are safe. I don't have to worry about you. Out there, with just me, I'd be a nutcase."

"What with just you? What am I, chopped liver?" She sat up and let the covers drop to her waist. She was wearing what she usually wore to bed when he was home – not a damned thing, and he was definitely distracted by the view. "You and Logan have both been working with me, training me to be offensive as well as defensive with my powers; I can take care of me and Vicky."

"I still worry." He hated admitting it, and if it were anyone else but his Kitten he wouldn't.

"So do I, every damned time you leave me." She said.

"Kitten, it isn't like your mother won't be thrilled that I'm gone."

"Yeah – RIGHT. Her exact words were 'If you have to live with a gentile, at least he's rich.'" Victor chuckled. Her mother was something else. "Besides, she's got dad and a Mohel waiting for you to convert."

"Over my dead body, the only thing sharp that goes down there is your teeth." He grinned, and then forced himself to stop. This wasn't going like he planned, he needed to stick to the plan. "I gotta go."

"No you don't – your job doesn't start for three more days."

"Kitten."

"That's what you get for living with an electronics geek, I checked your email."

"Damn it – stay out of my business."

"No."

"KITTY!"

"I love you." Shit she was pulling out the big guns, the ones he couldn't stop, even after two years.

"Baby, please. It's best for you and the baby."

"No YOU are what is best for me and the baby." She said, and at that moment the OTHER big gun came toddling into the room.

"Dadda." She rubbed her eyes sleepily and held her arms up for him to pick her up. He wanted to scream, nothing was going like he'd planned. He felt like he was dying here, not with them – but at the school, hell he'd gone out drinking with LOGAN last night, just to get away, and DIDN'T try to kill him. That had decided him, when he started looking at the damned RUNT as a drinking buddy it was time to get the hell out of dodge.

"Kitten."

"Victor, Vicky and I don't have to STAY here. You have houses all over the world. You've been promising to take us to Seattle for over a year, and we still haven't gone. This job is on the west coast, Vicky and I would be FINE in Seattle while you took care of things, and then we could get away for a while."

"It's not safe."

"Life isn't safe, human or mutant, so what's the difference."

"Baby." He said looking at her. She'd pulled the sheet back up when Victoria walked into the room. He had the baby on his shoulder and she was playing in his hair.

"You have two choices, Victor Creed, take us WITH you or look over your shoulder every minute because we'll follow you." He turned his face to hide his grin in the baby's shirt,

"Seattle, huh? You sure you could take not being here – with your friends."

"Let me see, Jubilee is in California working on her PhD in bio genetic research, Marie and Logan just got BACK from one of their 'I can't stand this place another minute' runs, and Bobby and Angelica are getting married, I give THAT six months. Warren's running his dad's business in New York, and Pete's gone back to Russia to help his family, WHAT FRIENDS! They've all taken off, and I'm stuck here with your lazy ass."

"Are you tryin ta tell me you want to get out of here. I thought this was home."

"Home is where YOU are." She said simply.

"GOD! Where are your bags?"

"In my closet."

"I can just see this now, I'm stalking a mark and you call me to pick up milk - or worse diapers."

"I do that anyway."

"How the FUCK am I supposed to do my JOB with a frail and a cub hanging on my coat tails." He was so glad he was holding the baby, she was falling right into his trap.

"I don't know, you've been doing it for two years, you tell me."

"Xavier's rules go the fuck out the window; you play by MY rules out there."

"I expect to, besides you aren't the ONLY one feeling a little closed in by all the 'play nice' rules around here. I like to let my hair down once in a while. I swear he's getting senile in his old age, and a senile telepath isn't something I want to spend my life around. I am going to be thirty in two years, I'd LIKE to live MY life, not the one Xavier wants."

He didn't say a word, just opened her closet door, put Victoria on the bed and reached in and found the two backpacks on the floor.

"Been packed for months? I think we need to repack for the weed there." He growled, opening Victoria's bag. "Kitten, if I end up having to bury you, I'll kill ya myself."

She just gave him that look, the cute one, and he grumbled and went through the baby's bag. She must have repacked it not long ago, and he nodded at what he found, blankets, clothes, a few small toys, nothing noisy, nothing bulky if they had to consolidate her bag into theirs. He'd taught his Kitty well.

"I don't see any Care Bears."

"Those are in my bag." She grinned at him as she pulled one of the T-shirts over her head.

"I swear I am the only man on the face of the damned planet that finds the damned CARE BEARS sexy." He grumbled.

"It could be worse." She grinned as Victoria climbed up onto the bed with her for a good tickle. "It could be Teletubbies."

"Bite your tongue woman." He snarled. "I'll put up with the damned bears, but none of those damned whatever the fuck they are."

Kitty just laughed with their daughter.

"We just have one other issue." He loved it when a good plan came together.

"What's that?"

"You ain't travelin with me as Kitty Pryde." He said simply, as he opened his bag on the bed. He had been planning this for months, since he'd decided he was leaving.

"And just how the HELL am I traveling then?"

"As Kitty Creed." He threw the box on the bed.

"VICTOR!"

"Cub's already a Creed, figured her mom needed to be too."

SHIT! She was crying. "Kitty."

"I love you, you big idiot."

"Is that a yes?"

"It's an I'll think about it." She said, not even opening the box.

"KITTY"

She stood up and walked to the end of the bed, and slipped her arms around his neck. "Of course I'll marry you, you big DOPE! Now maybe my mother will get off my case. 'When are you going to marry that boy? He needs a wife to take care of him? You don't feed him right, he's getting thin.'"

"Oh God, I am getting a Jewish mother-in-law." He grumbled, but it was spoiled by the smile.

"Welcome to my world." Kitty said. "I'd rather live in yours sometimes, it's safer."

He grinned and crushed her against his chest. The tiny hands on his distracted him long enough to grab the squirt and pull her up with them. He'd never wanted a family, never imagined himself with one, and now, looking down the long years of his life, wouldn't live without them for any amount of money. He knew someday she'd be gone, but he had years until he faced that day, and there would always be a reminder of her, in his children and grandchildren.