"Where ya headed, Elf?"

He turned to find Logan leaning in the kitchen doorway, arms folded beneath a knowing smirk. With a grin and a flick of his wrist, Kurt tossed the knife that he had been using over his shoulder, taking up the business of buttering the bread with his tail. The counter was littered with fruits and half-finished sandwiches, all the trappings of a late morning meal.

"It is a beautiful day, my friend. I thought that I might take a walk."

"With a picnic for two, eh?" He stalked into the room, snatching a bottle of wine from the waiting basket. Glancing sideways, he quirked a brow. "That still going on?"

Kurt turned back to his work, busying himself with the final touches. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean." He smiled. "And a gentleman never tells."

"Right." Setting the bottle back in the basket, Logan shook his head. "But good luck to ya. She's had it rough lately, rougher than most."

"You sound worried, my friend."

"You ain't?"

"I am not blind." He sighed, loading the last of the items into the basket and snapping shut the lid. "But perhaps she is stronger than you think."

"Got no doubta that. But she's never been through something like this before. Thought I might try talkin' to her, but she wouldn't have it." He snorted. "Then again, I never tried bringin' her flowers."

"Of those she has plenty. Still… I hope to try a gentler hand."

"Heh. I'll bet you do."

Kurt chuckled with him, but the smile did not reach his eyes. With a parting bow, he took up the basket and vanished in a burst of smoke.

Alone now in the kitchen, Logan sighed. "Good luck, Elf."

Reappearing in the mansion's highest hallway, Kurt paused. His friends had long ago given up any expectation of privacy, seemingly unmindful of his popping unannounced into their rooms. But the hand that he raised now hesitated, his rap on the attic door quiet in the empty hall. "Ororo?"

There was a sudden crash behind the door. He teleported without thinking, dropping into an easy crouch as his head whipped round. Storm had her back to him, kneeling cross the room to cradle a shattered pot. He watched her for a moment, startled by the change even after all these weeks. Her hair was shaved above her ears, the remaining crest spiked high and severe, her once-billowing cloaks exchanged for tight and clinging leathers.

"My apologies."

"It was not your fault." She did not turn as he approached.

But there was something more here, a slight weight to the one-brilliant leaves of her garden. If he was not mistaken, that was a drift of snow in one of the larger pots.

"I merely lost control."

"That is unlike you."

"Is it?" She straightened, moving to brush light fingers across a shriveling bud. It responded instantly to her touch, straightening almost imperceptibly. He smiled but she only scowled, moving away as the bloom wilted again.

"Ororo." He had never seen her like this before. First the Brood and Callisto and then Japan… Setting the basket aside, he leapt onto the table beside her and rested elbows on his knees.

"People change." She sighed. "I have changed."

"We have noticed." He offered her a small smile.

"I suppose you are here to lecture me on the matter?"

Bowing his head, he chuckled. "Never, dear lady. In fact, I rather like it."

"The others are afraid. They do not understand."

"That you wish to make yourself appear the monster? The one you fear you feel within? But even that is not entirely the truth. You hope to be the monster. It would be simpler that way."

"Sometimes I think you know me too well, old friend."

"I merely know something of the fact. I was not far from a demon in truth when the Professor found me. So easy it would have been to surrender. But that has never been my way. Neither, I think, is it yours."

She turned full to face him now, a quiet smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"And I meant what I said about the outfit." He let his eyes roam over her. "Beauty you are called and beauty you are still."

Laughing beneath her breath, she looked beyond him, eye lighting on the basket. "Ah. What sort of mischief do you have planned today?"

"Mischief?" He gasped in mock offense. "I was merely hoping that you might accompany me on a picnic. It is not like you to spend so much time indoors." Grinning, he pinched a bit of snow between his fingers. "And it seems your plants could use the rest."

With a shake of her head, she raised her arms, sending a warming breeze to wash the cold and wet away. Kurt shielded his eyes, opening them as she brushed a sodden strand of hair from his forehead.

"Perhaps you are right."

He leapt from the bench, bowing to offer his free hand as he scooped up the basket. "I know just the spot."

"Then you shall be our guide." At her gesture, the windows were thrown wide. "But if we are to do as you suggest, let us do it right."

"Verdammter mist." He groaned as she took him firmly beneath the arms, shifting the basket to his feet as a gust of wind bore them up and out the window. But there was laughter echoing above him now, deep and thick and real. Stilling his stomach, he craned his neck to look up at her, sharing a smile that had been all too rare of late.

"This spot of yours… where is it?"

He had to shout to be heard above the rushing of the wind. "Away to the right. Those cliffs beyond the treeline."

Ororo banked hard, her grip sliding away as he fell. She laughed at his startled cry, but her hands slipped only as far as his wrists, her fingers twining sure and strong through his.

"Perhaps I should have said I would meet you there!"

Grin widening, she pretended not to hear him, focusing on the outcropping ahead. She pulled up sharply, lowering him gently as she followed behind.

"Hm." Striding to the cliff's edge, she looked out across the hills. The wind did its best to stir her hair and for a moment she seemed to glory in it, something of her old self again. But her arms were folded, hugging herself, her eyes sad as he crouched at her side. "I used to come here often. There was barely a rock or tree that I did not know."

"I know."

She looked down at him with a tired smile. "Thank you."

"You have not seen the half of it." He straightened, offering her his hand and leading her back toward the shade of the trees. Finding a soft patch of earth, he busied himself with emptying the basket. He had not brought a blanket, had know that they would not need it. As she settled beside him and ran her fingers through the grass, he smiled.

Storm, though, looked troubled. "So you thought to bring me out here and show me what I have forgotten, what I have lost?" She took an apple in her hand, turning it round but making no move to bite. Once she would have whispered a quiet thanks to the tree that had borne it, a calming sort of prayer.

"Why must it be lost?"

"Kurt." She set the fruit aside. "I am not the woman I once was."

"And yet we were close once, you and I." He bowed his head, taking her hand in his. "I had only hoped to listen if you wished to speak, or to be your silent companion if you did not."

"Ah. 'Companion,' is it? An appeal to my baser instincts, then, if the splendor of nature did not do the trick?"

He chuckled. "I said nothing of the sort."

Quick she moved, pressing a hand to his chest and knocking him onto his back as she slid her legs across his. "If that is what I wanted of you, I would have commanded it."

"As leader of the X-men?" Pushing himself onto his elbows, he smirked up at her. "You would not. You are not the type to be corrupted by something so mundane."

"But something has." She slid off of him, slipping cross the grass to hug a knee to her chest. Slowly, she raised her eyes to his. "I am not the woman you knew."

"Then allow me to know this one." Moving to her side, he ran a finger beneath her chin.

"Where is Amanda?"

He blinked at the sudden change in direction, his hand hovering still as she backed away. He sighed. "Gone again, I'm afraid."

"I'm sorry."

"Do not be. We have an… understanding. Her line of work makes a traditional relationship somewhat difficult."

"As does ours."

He nodded, again leaning close. "And at the moment, I fear you need me more than she."

"Hm. Full of yourself, Mr. Wagner?" Her lips brushed his but she was rising to her feet, turning her back to him as she moved toward the cliff. The sky darkened as she raised her arms, his eyes darting nervously to the clouds as he stepped slowly to her side. But her hands moved now to her leathers, letting them fall as the sky ripped wide.

The drops were fat but light, the cleansing deluge of a warm summer shower. There was laughter beneath the thunder, the cruel spikes of her hair falling at last, hanging wet and heavy cross her eyes as she turned to look at him. For one startling moment, she was herself again.

Quickly he closed the gap, brushing her hair aside. "With the amount of gel you put in, I thought it would take a—"

But her mouth was on his then, the press of her against him sudden and forceful, fitting perfectly. Around them the storm intensified, the downpour pelting, choking.

Pulling away, Kurt gasped for breath. His own clothes were soaked, his fur wet and heavy, his hair clinging desperately to his forehead despite his efforts to slick it back. "Come!" He had to shout above the roar of it, taking her by the arm as he nodded back toward the shelter of the trees.

She only laughed, pulling her hand away, holding her ground as he moved to huddle beneath the leaves. Even her voice seemed to carry with ease. "What is wrong?"

He smirked, running a hand along his arm, showing her the fur that stood on end. "This is not exactly comfortable."

"Suit yourself." She turned away with a mocking shrug, striding to the cliff's edge. Smiling for the beauty of it she stretched her arms above her head, smoothing back her hair and moving lower still, following the curves of her, washing, glorying…

With a muttered curse he vanished, appearing behind her, pressing himself against her back. His hand darted low, playing cross the softness of her belly before slipping between her legs. She shifted against him, rolling her hips as her head fell back against his shoulder, her moan almost lost beneath the rain. His teeth traced along her neck, their edges grazing, nipping, biting.

Twisting round she smiled at him, brushing back the hair that still hung pitifully in his eyes, pinching the fur on his cheeks into thick spikes. They both laughed. But her hands were moving again, helping him to peel the shirt up and over his head. Her lips she pressed to his, moving to his belt without seeing, helping him to struggle out of his sodden slacks. Her hands were smoothing then, her fingertips following the rain, tracing the patterns that it left in his fur.

She leaned close to his ear. "Is it truly so bad? I rather like it."

"Ja, I feel like a drowned rat. Very sexy."

Her laugh was warm against his neck.

Taking her by the hand, he spun her away in an impromptu dance, watching her turn before him. He pulled her close then, bowing her into a deep dip. Smirking down at her, he winked.

They vanished, reappearing safely beneath the canopy. Storm fell softly back against the grass, laughing as he leaned above her. "Very well. Have it your way."

The rain was lessened here but still her fingers were tangled in his hair, pulling him down as she shifted beneath. Again his mouth found hers, his hands slipping cross her chest, his hips moving to—

She rolled aside, leaving him to fall facedown in the grass with a grunt of pained frustration. But her hands were on his shoulders, rolling him onto his back as she rose above. Quickly she straddled him, sinking roughly against him.

"Mein Gott!"

Again she rose and again she sank, her nails biting against his chest, tangling painfully in his fur as she threw back her head to the rain. He watched her, doing his best to keep his eyes open, to watch the water as it smoothed her hair, running pure and cleansing over her skin. His hands were moving then, following it, kneading and caressing, his tail snaking round to trace slowly up the length of her spine. Still he allowed her to lead them, biting back a hiss of pain as her nails opened his flesh, crying out with her as her hips slammed painfully against his own.

The trees were doing little now to hold back the storm. He found his back arching, fingers digging into the earth as he pressed upward to meet her. Her cries turned keening as the balance shifted, her screams whipped away as she opened her arms to the sky. There she seemed to hang suspended, goddess of the wood and rain.

As he lay back she sagged, collapsing against his chest and rolling onto her side. Kurt chuckled, drawing deep breaths as the sky began to lighten. Turning to look at her he smiled, but already she was coming to her feet.

She moved away without a backward glance, slipping on her pants and shrugging her vest over her head as she stepped to the cliff's edge. "You were right about one thing, old friend." She glanced back at him over her shoulder, something sad flickering behind her eyes. "My plants could use a rest. They are dying under my care. I think I shall just be rid of them."

"Ororo…"

"Give my regards to Amanda." With that she took to the air, disappearing across the hills.