Another Kietro.

Romance and love just so happen to be sucking ass in my life. I guess creating a little myself makes up for some of that. Maybe I would regret it, but honestly, I'd take up being mutant and the whole shunning thing just to be in love...

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Enjoy.

"I infuriate myself," he said gently.

"The way I can't seem to keep from
putting you in danger.
My very existence puts you at risk."

"I love you," he said.

"It's a poor excuse for what I'm doing,
but it's still true."

-Edward Cullen, 'Twilight'

"You shouldn't have to go," Kitty murmured sadly.

"I don't want to go."

"You know as well as I do that in our world, 'wants' don't have high priority."

"Kitty?"

"Yeah."

"You, your love, your happiness and your safety are my only priorities."

Kitty buried her head deeper into Pietro's bare shoulders, hot salty tears willingly appearing. Her body begged closeness. His warmth and touch were her only solaces. One hand held her on top of him at her waist, the other comfortingly stroked her back as she quietly cried her pain to him.

She couldn't handle this.

It was a Saturday morning for the Institute. No one would even attempt to rise from their beds until ten, and even then, no one would be capable of anything remotely understandable till hot coffee and even hotter showers. Saturdays were pleasures delighted in by all. Unfortunately, Kitty's usual rest and relaxation was marred by her apprehension regarding an upcoming mission to discover information about a possible anti-mutant terrorist group.

Ironically, she wouldn't be going.

Information about this group sums up to be about minimal to none, but the products from their activities all add up to be the most the X-men have encountered in a long time. Those two facts alone were enough to fear.

Recruitment missions planned in the past four months had all been botched by unexpected abductions. Viruses came and went, hacking everything from student's final exam papers to cerebro discoveries. A one-man spy even made it within the Institute's walls, appearing to have only been collecting information, was caught but disappeared the next morning leaving no trail behind. No actual physical damage had been set into motion by the group, but their secrecy was almost considered worse, the Professor felt unease and danger waiting for their next move, and almost everyone agreed. How could anyone have done so much and yet leave nothing behind? Where did the numerous newly found mutants go? Anticipation did not work so well with the X-men who had lost so much already, so they had all agreed—they wouldn't wait. The next move would be theirs.

Wolverine, Jean, Scott, Remy, and Pietro made up the core team. Their mission would last until a source for all the activity was found, a decision made and carried out. All this could mean traveling half-way across the world, following whatever lead they would manage to gain no matter how absurd. Kitty and the other X-men would attend to main team's needs when their time came, but until then, they would remain at the Institute teaching the younger students and analyzing any incoming information.

Kitty knew Pietro could take care of himself, but her insides seemed to stretch in the most uncomfortable ways imaginable just thinking about how things could turn out—reasonably or not. There was nothing to be known of who he would be tracing, absolutely nothing. These people had done all sorts of things—things so many of them thought impossible, over and over again, and they had gotten out unscathed, remaining a mystery. What minds could have managed that? Were they even humans? What were their intentions?

Not knowing anything drove Kitty up the wall. Her mind handled things systematically, taking in information, processing each bit, and then coming up with a conclusion that had her satisfied. All the unknown variables that came with Pietro's task knocked that security right out of her, and to add all her emotions into the jumble created an even bigger realm of growing panic within her. She could not lose or even see the man she loved harm. She refused.

"Ten bucks for your thoughts," Pietro's warm voice permeated Kitty's thoughts.

She let out a soft murmur of acknowledgment.

Pietro had woken up early that morning to find Kitty curled in a little ball at the edge of their bed, beads of sweat running down her forehead. She had been dreaming. She had been biting her lip in sleep, whispering his name in a pained terrified voice.

He woke her up, and she moved into his arms grasping him tight. In her nightmare, she had seen a future where this wouldn't have been impossible. Their positions had not changed since.

Moving one of his hands from her waist, he lifted a finger to her face, tracing a line from her ear to her lips to her chin, he gently lifted her head silently asking her to look at him. She made no complaints as his cool lips lightly kissed hers. Pulling away, he gazed intensely at her. Her whole face was flushed pink because of her tears. A red line was visible because of her nervous habit of biting her lip when upset. A small frown formed her expression, and her big almost child-like eyes conveyed to him levels of fear and almost unbearable sadness.

"Baby, talk to me please."

Silence followed his request. She moved back burying herself in his neck, her body lied limply over his.

"You don't want this. I leave in a couple of hours. I don't want you to have all this buried inside of you. I can't change our situation Kit, but we can get through this. You have to talk to me."

He gently shook her shoulder. Her only reply was a moan of protest. Exasperated, Pietro lifted them both up. He brought his body into a full-sitting position, resting his back against the headboard of their bed. Coping with it, Kitty shifted her legs, straddling him and bringing both her hands to rest on his chest. She began moving her head to her original location.

Pietro would have none of that. Her firmly cupped her cheek moving her away from him into her own sitting position.

"Stop it. You're being stubborn."

She hated when he called her that. Years of being the baby of the X-men left her annoyed with everyone's presumptions that she was a brat. Even when the Brotherhood and Magneto joined with them, they too felt an inclination to protect her.

"Shut up."

"Very mature Kit."

Her frown transformed into a thin line signaling her irritation with him. It would have been cuter if the situation were different.

"You're leaving in a couple of hours, and you're being mean."

"Do you know how silly you sound?"

"Case in point. Stop being condescending."

"Stop being silly then."

"Shut up Pietro."

"No."

Kitty shifted, moving to get up. Pietro quickly moved his hands to grasp her waist.

"Leave me alone," she grumbled, struggling against his hold. When his arms wouldn't give up, she simply phased moving to the bottom of the bed where she sat bringing her knees up, consciously looking away from him.

Pietro was at a lost. Kitty was taking everything harder than what he thought was necessary, but he wasn't blaming her for that. If their roles were switched... well, hell like she would be leaving him behind. She just wouldn't talk to him. How could he console her if she didn't listen? How could he give her reassurance if she wouldn't let him in?

There were only so many things the speed demon could do in the hours they had left.

"You want it like that. Okay then, I'll stay on my side and you stay on yours. Deal?"

Kitty sat as though he had said nothing.

"Talk to me."

Silence.

"Please?"

Silence.

"For God's sake Kitty, fucking TALK to me," his voice had reached pleading levels.

Still silence ensued.

Pietro didn't do well with silence.

Frustrated, he pushed himself off the bed. Grabbing the suitcase Kitty had laid out for him a couple of days ago, he roughly threw it on the bed and began to pack random articles of clothing. His temper was rising, and his hands reached to throw in everything and anything. While doing so, he spoke for them both.

"Look, I love you. I love you with everything I've got. Sorry if that isn't enough for the spoiled little princess you're acting like right now, but it's what you have. I'm leaving. I know you're upset about it, but you and I both have to do things like this. We have to. I have to do this to protect you. I have to do this to protect your family here.

"You're hurting, and you're scared. You don't know how much I want to take that all away from you. But NEWS FLASH Kit, I'm damn well scared too, and I don't even think I should need to tell you how much I don't want to leave you. You're acting like I can just put this off. I can't.

"You know this, but right now you're choosing to be a brat. And yes, Ms. Katherine Pryde, I know you hate being treated like a baby, but guess what? Don't dish out what you can't take love. I leave in five hours. In five hours, you won't know when you're going to see me again. Don't you think that's reason enough to talk to me?"

Pietro looked at his girlfriend's perched form and waited for her reply. Her head hung lower. Her grip on her folded knees held tighter, and yet she said nothing. Pietro felt his defeat.

SLAM

His suitcase was thrown angrily to the corner of the room. Its contents fell out creating a huge mess. He didn't care one bit.

"God Kit. You would think I would need some comfort too huh? Fine, I'll see you at the departure."

He made his way to the door. He wouldn't take this. She wasn't being fair. This wasn't his fault. He couldn't do shit about it.

His hand reached out for the doorknob. His head was throbbing. It was like there were tens of thousands of voices echoing in his ear plus the silence in the room was competing to expel all reasonable thought from his brain. Leaving right now was the only option to keep his sanity in tact.

"Wait," her voice was soft and feeble, "Pietro, don't leave me."

His body was exhausted. He was drained emotionally, and emotion dealing with Kitty came only in extremes. Love did that to a guy sometimes. He couldn't move; couldn't turn.

He heard her feet hit the carpet. Her breathing was heavy. He couldn't help but think that he heard more tears drop down her angelic face.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder. She guided him to turn and look at her. She stood there in one of this shirts. It was oversized and made her petite frame look even smaller. Pietro had seen Kitty come out of many battles. She fought like the best of them, and what she lacked in strength she made up with sheer passion. She hardly ever lost, but when she did, especially when it came to a fight her heart had truly been in, it felt like a piece of her would die fighting. Kitty believed in things. Once people or beliefs came to her that mattered, she would stop at nothing to fight for them. It was her nature.

Right now, she looked as if she had lost him.

"You haven't lost me," he opened his arms slightly.

Kitty threw herself into his embrace. Hard, body-racking sobs engulfed her. He could hear nothing but her crying, and he felt his heart tear. His embrace grew tighter. There was nothing or no one in this world he'd cared for more than her.

"Stop it, please. We're going to be okay."

"You don't know that. You don't know about our future. I can't be by myself. You can't leave me. Too many people leave, not you though, never you," her words were rasped and came out in short breaths. She was having trouble forming them, but they tumbled out, "Pietro, I love you. I love you. I love you."

Her words were assurances. They weren't empty like the so many times he had heard them before from the random girls his life had been filled with. He needed her. He had never needed anyone. He was independent; had everything and didn't need anything. Then he met her. His world had never been the same. He never wanted it the same. It was life with the girl right in front of him or no life at all.

Ironically, it was all the more reason he needed to go. He had to protect her.

Cautiously he guided both of them to their bed. He placed her onto his lap, never breaking his embrace. He held her tight, knowing that she needed his assurance and he needed hers as well.

"God, what a pair we make," Kitty lifted her forehead to press against his.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Girls complain about guys needing to be 'open' all the time. I just confessed my heart to you."

Kitty managed a small laugh.

"I'm sorry Pietro."

"Don't be. Just quit shutting me out."

She smiled warmly at him as she nodded her promise.

"I hate being in love. I just lose it with you, especially with all this going on. You've fought monsters and even Lance was kind of scary that one time he caught us kissing in the garage, but all those times, I could handle things. I'm mean we're the freakin' X-men," she was interrupted as Pietro coughed. Laughing slightly more, Kitty continued, "Now you're being silly. Like it or not, you are part of this team, spandex and all. Let me continue. Like I said, those things didn't freak me out as much as this does. For some reason not knowing what my boyfriend is going to go off and face unnerves me, more than anything has in the past.

"I don't know how long you're going to be gone, and for the most part, I won't know where you're going to be running off to. I think deep down, I feel like me staying here while you're out saying the world isn't right. I know you're doing the right there, and that my place is here. But I don't want to accept it, and I sure as hell can't stop worrying.

"But you're right. I'm acting stupid. You're probably feeling all these things too. I'm just being selfish. It's all out of love though, you know that right?"

Pietro laughed. She really was a piece of work. Kitty was everything but simple.

"Yes I do, and I love you too. But come on Kit, we'll get through this. I won't be alone. I have along your X-men, and I'm still partially upset you'd classify me into your little cult. I'm here and staying for you babe. They're your family. I mean come on, you're not scared for Mr. Big Bad Wolvy are you? Ms. Perfect and Summers, though overly anal, know more than well how to take care of things, and you know how Rem gets. And I'm not some weak bucket of suds either. You're dating the best of them gorgeous.

"We'll all take care of ourselves and watch each other's back. And you'll be along for the ride, just at a distance, safe at home helping. And honestly, I like it that way," Pietro teasingly pinched Kitty's cheek as she stuck out her tongue at his comment, "When the real action does come along, you know when find these suckers, you'll be by my side before you know it, and if they think they can handle our tag team, they'll be in for a surprise."

"Pie, the last time we were teamed up together in a Danger Room session, it was a mess," she remarked as she remembered the extremely embarrassing incident. Pietro had placed himself in front of Kitty, fighting like a knight to protect her virtue, and when she did manage to get in front of him, she had the wind knocked out of her as Pietro rammed into both of them 'protecting' her from what he still claims to this day as a 'rogue laser'. They were the laughing joke of the Institute that day.

"Honestly, I don't know what you want. You have the whole open-ness thing, and you talk about chivalry all the time."

Kitty laughed contentedly, nestling herself into Pietro's neck, trailing soft almost unnoticeable kisses on his bare skin. She closed her eyes basking in the bliss of the moment.

"We're going to be okay right? You'll take care of yourself. Be careful and all?"

"Of course," he promised, knowing she needed to hear that above anything else.

"Okay. Sorry for going all psycho on you."

"Sorry for going all hulk on you."

"Love you Maximoff."

"And I love you Pryde."

"Always?"

"Promise."

And with that, Kitty's lips descended on his, resulting in a sweet innocent kiss which Pietro more than willingly obliged to her. They had talked enough. Sweet turned to fire. Soft caresses came into play then transcended into clinging grips.

Words were no longer necessary.

They would be fine...

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Till next time...