The Call

By TheLostMaximoff

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I like Bobby and Kitty so I thought I'd write something with them.

A day doesn't go by without him staring at the phone or constantly checking his email. He hasn't heard anything from anyone since he got back home. Bobby Drake can't imagine a world without the Xavier Institute or its X-Men. He can't imagine a kitchen devoid of Jean's cooking and the tasty aromas it produced or a recreation room without Wolverine constantly hogging the pool table and Kitty doing the same to the TV. He can't imagine a world without Danger Room sessions or the constant threat of peril that came with wearing that uniform. However, this unfathomable world is the one he lives in now.

Bobby wishes he had a different mutant power, something like Forge's ability so he could create a machine to fix everything. The least he could do would be invent a way for all of them to stay in touch with each other. He could use the company now that it's just him and his parents. Bobby can hear them downstairs right now and he knows they're having another discussion about him and his future. He can't stay here forever but realistically there's nowhere else for him to go. Out of the many gifts he received from Charles Xavier, Bobby knows that direction was the most important one. At the Institute, he felt he had a purpose in life, a role to play. Now Bobby just feels like the highlight of his day is staring at the phone and hoping that when it rings it's one of his friends with the news that the band is back together.

"C'mon," mutters Bobby as he looks at the phone, "Somebody's out there." It's become his daily prayer, a mantra chanted so many times that it's as automatic as breathing. He knows they won't leave him in the cold because that's not what X-Men do. Yet he can't shake the doubt creeping into his head day in and day out. He really considers leaving them behind but his thoughts are interrupted as the phone finally rings.

"I got it!" shouts Bobby as he grabs the phone and hastily clicks the button, "Hello?"

"Bobby?" asks the hesitant voice on the other end.

"Kitty?" asks Bobby in return, realizing that he's almost forgotten the sound of her voice.

"Hey," they both say in unison and the shy embarrassment radiates through the line.

"Uhm, how've you been?" inquires Kitty after a brief silence, nervously twirling the phone's cord around her finger.

"Oh you know," replies Bobby casually, "Things are always cool with me. You doing alright?"

"Yeah, totally," assures Kitty half-heartedly, "I mean it's like I never left, you know?"

"Yeah same here," agrees Bobby though neither of them believes it.

"Your life sucks too, huh?" realizes Kitty as she unwinds the cord and starts twirling it again, the sounds of her parents' argument rising up from the living room to meet her ears.

"Yeah," confesses Bobby with a sigh, "Parents still aren't totally cool with the mutant thing."

"Mine too," admits Kitty, "I just, you know, wanted to talk to somebody who understood."

"Yeah," says Bobby, saying more with a single word than he could with an entire paragraph, "Have you heard from the others yet?"

"No," answers Kitty sadly, "I can't take this anymore, Bobby. I'm going crazy thinking about them."

"They'll come get us," assures Bobby, "You'll see, Kitty. You just have to be cool and wait." Kitty wishes she could be as confident and cocky as he is. She misses her life at the Institute. She misses Kurt's swashbuckling antics and her weekly games of chess with Xavier. She misses marveling at the beauty of Piotr's artwork and clowning around during class with Bobby. She feels like that life is dead and she can't shove herself back into her pre-Institute box so easily. She's come to a decision and she wants him to know it because out of all of them he's probably her best and closest friend.

"I'm going to Genosha, Bobby," announces Kitty. At first, he barely hears the proclamation at all and it takes a second for him to catch on.

"Kitty, you can't do that," decides Bobby, "Don't you remember how many times Magneto tried to kill us? That guy's a total tool and he can't be up to anything good down there."

"I've made up my mind," she tells him, "I can't do this, Bobby. The X-Men are finished and I can't live with my parents anymore. I need to find a new life somewhere out there."

"Why are you telling me?" he inquires.

"I thought you might want to come too," admits Kitty, "You're my friend and I could probably use one there. C'mon, you going to leave me all alone in some foreign country I've never been to before?"

"I can't go with you," replies Bobby, "I know they'll come back, Kitty. X-Men always do."

"Wish I could agree," says Kitty, "My boat leaves in a couple days. If you see them and I don't then say goodbye for me. I wish there was another way."

"Do you trust me?" asks Bobby.

"Of course I do," assures Kitty.

"Then stay," pleads Bobby, "If you trust me then stay." He wishes he could find the words to make her believe in him, believe in all of them, but he knows she won't listen. She's too stubborn to turn back now.

"I can't stay," replies Kitty, "This is goodbye, Bobby, maybe forever. You know you were always my best friend." Bobby's fingers clinch the phone harder as Kitty hangs up. He's never traveled that far on one of his slides but he figures he can make it to Chicago by nightfall if he goes full blast. He wants to find her and make her understand. He wants to fix everything back to the way it was but Bobby knows things are broken far beyond repair. He absently hangs up the phone and then stares at it solemnly. He won't give up on them and he won't give up on her but he knows she's made her choice and he has to respect it. Bobby Drake sits and waits for the call but his hope is melting faster every day.