What The Cat Dragged In Ch. 32

Kelly moaned softly. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" He arched against her, rubbing his hardness against the back of her thigh. A low growl vibrated through his chest. "You sure that's your answer, frail?"

"Y-yes." She reached back with her other hand and stroked him through the denim.

"Yes?" He nipped the back of her neck lightly.

"Yes that's your answer or yes it is my business?" He bit a little harder. "Gotta be specific frail."

"It is your business." Her words were a soft moan.

"That's what I thought. Stay put." He knelt next to her and traced the tips of his claws from her knees up to her hip, carrying the shirt with it and revealing her bare bottom. Kelly shivered. Victor chuckled. "Think I smell something else that belongs to me. Don't I frail?"

Kelly felt the heat of a blush rise to her cheeks. She nodded.

"Out loud, frail." He lifted the shirt higher and Kelly pulled her arms out of it.

Need buzzed inside her head. "Yes. You smell something else that belongs to you."

The tip of a single claw traced down the middle of her back and down the cleft of her bottom. Kelly shivered and moaned. He traced little designs over her trembling flesh. Kelly closed her eyes and opened her legs wider. "So get on your knees, face in the pillow and show me what else is mine."

Kelly was lost in the delicate sensation of the razor sharp claw on her skin. The words were insignificant, but eventually the pleasure fog cleared long enough for her to process what he said. Kelly moved to the edge of the bed and shifted onto her knees and opened her legs so that she was presented for him.

His knuckle made a single rough trip between her lower lips. Kelly moaned. Victor lifted his finger to his nose and inhaled deeply. He grinned and stroked her bottom. "Yeah, that's mine. Wait there like a good girl."

Kelly turned her head. He started to unbutton his shirt. The itch to touch him was too much. She started to get up but he grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her back down. "Didn't tell you to move, did I frail?"

"No."

"Now you don't get to watch." His claws tickled close to her center and moved out of her sight-line.

Kelly could hear him undressing, but no matter how she turned she couldn't see him. Between the exposure and the sounds of his clothing shifting and moving made her ache for him even more. She moved her hips and moaned softly.

Another soft tickle. "Head in the pillow frail and don't move."

Kelly put her face in the pillow and gripped handfuls of the burgundy comforter, waiting for him to enter her, or to touch her or to lick or anything. When nothing happened, she started to relax. It seemed like forever that she knelt there waiting. Needing. Heart racing. She was starting to believe that he wasn't going to touch her. It made the waiting worse. She moved back, spreading her legs wider.

"Please." Kelly moaned softly.

"Please?" The tips of his claws traced her pouting lower lips. "Sounds like you need somethin' frail."

Her eyes were closed. She was breathing faster. "I do."

"Gonna tell me what you want?" Both of his hands started moving over her bottom and the backs of her thighs.

Goosebumps raised on her flesh. "You know what I want."

"Course I do." His knuckle traced just inside her lips. "Wanna hear you say it."

"Need to feel you inside me. Please." Kelly's voice was a soft whimper.

He pushed his knuckle against her opening. "So polite. And such a nice little pussy you're offering."

Before Kelly could think, his claws bit into her hips and he plunged into her hard and fast. Kelly screamed into the pillow. Even after all this time, it still hurt when he took her so fast. She was just as sure that she needed it to. He put his hand on the back of her neck and held her still as he drove into her. Kelly clawed at the bed and moved with him. She let herself fall into all the sensations of rapidly building pleasure and shockingly sharp release. She screamed into the pillow again as the dam burst and she let herself be carried away on the tide. His rhythm didn't change, but his claws bit into her hips and shoulders. She felt them pierce her skin, but by that time the stinging sensation of her skin breaking was just another aspect of the wave that was sweeping her along.

Somewhere off in the distance she heard a deep roar of release. That wasn't important either. The tide of her release was just beginning to slacken, but it was still drifting with it. She treasured those times when he could be gentle, but ferocious encounters like this were still what she dreamed about. Kelly smiled into the pillow and let the fluid pleasure carry her.

Just when the world was beginning to come back, Kelly felt Victor shifting her body back into bed. Her back was against his chest. His hands wandered over her breasts and down over her stomach to her thigh and then back up. She could hear a purr rumbling through his chest. He pinched her nipple and chuckled.

"Think you're purring more than I am." His voice was a soft rumble next to her ear.

Kelly smiled. "You make studying fun."

Victor laughed. "Gonna be trying to do your proofs and you'll be thinking about fucking." He stroked her stomach with his thumb.

"Like I don't already." She stroked the backs of his claws and laced her fingers with his. A comfortable silence grew between them and Kelly started to doze.

"Where do you wanna live, frail?" His voice was a soft rumble.

She didn't open her eyes. "Here."

A soft chuckle. "Hotel'd love that."

She smiled. "Not what I meant."

He kissed the side of her neck. "What's your second choice?"

She stroked his arm lightly. She thought for a long moment. "You've never asked me before."

He turned her to face him. His eyes held hers. "We're done running frail. Probably gonna have to deal with more shit eventually but I'll be goddamned if I'm gonna make you live on the run because of maybe. You name the place. 'F I don't already own something decent we'll find something."

She kissed him. Her lips lingering on his for a long moment. "Don't take this the wrong way. Not Chicago."

He turned over on her back. Kelly snuggled against his side. "Still hate it there, huh?"

"It's not that I hate it. The city itself is interesting and since you fixed the lights, the apartment is gorgeous. I know it's safe." She turned her face away from him. "This is going to sound stupid to you, but I hate that I can't smell the outside."

"It don't sound stupid. That's one of the things I hate about Chicago too. Maine's got plenty of space and open air." He stroked her arm lightly.

"It does. The house is huge though, and how much did we actually use? There were rooms I would never have set foot in if I weren't cleaning them. Besides, I want to be closer to the hospital where Cody is."

"So Buffalo. You take your tests tomorrow. Sunday we'll head back to Chicago and get our stuff and head out. Probably stay someplace close to the hospital until we know what's gonna happen with the kid." He stroked her back softly. For a long moment they were both silent. "You know I'm going to build a system for the place before we move in."

Kelly laughed. "I would be surprised if you didn't." She relaxed against him. "It's going to be hard living in the same city as Granna and Grandpa and not tell them where we are."

His claws teased through her hair. "Don't have to. Told you, we're done running."

*~*~*~*~*~*

"So what color?" Cassie asked.

"I don't know." Kelly sorted through the purple plastic basket of nail polish colors. "I don't usually paint my toenails."

Cassie laughed. "So? What about this one?" She held up a nearly new bottle.

Kelly shook her head. "I don't think pink glitter is exactly my thing." She kept searching and found a dark red. "This is more like it."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Please, my mom bought that one for me when I was in my cousin's wedding." She pulled out a black with an undertone of cherry.

Kelly shook her head. "Victor has a car that color. Looks great on the car, but I'm not sure about my toes." She found a bottle of red glittery polish. The color was called 'Ruby Slippers'. She smiled. "This one."

Cassie smiled a little and started to paint the big toenail on Kelly's right foot. "So is it true?"

Kelly looked at her. "Is what true?"

The brush paused mid-stroke. "Oh come on!"

Kelly laughed. "What? I don't know. All I know is all night you've had this look on your face like you've been itching to ask a question and now that you have I have no idea what you mean."

She smirked. "You told off Professor Xavier."

"I didn't tell him off." She looked at Cassie.

"How would you have heard about that anyway?"

"Place is full of psychics, remember? Word tends to travel."

"I didn't tell him off." Kelly said.

"That's not what I heard." Cassie's voice had a sing-song quality.

Kelly laughed. "I only told him that I was done defending myself and Victor. If you ask me it was long overdue."

"Nobody tells him to back off," Cassie said. Kelly shrugged. "He's overbearing, smug, manipulative and running his own agenda. I don't appreciate being used."

Cassie stared at her. "He's one of the good guys."

"The impression I get is that he's on his own side." She smiled a little. "Reminds me of Victor in that way. Victor's just more obvious about it."

Cassie watched her. "Do you see everyone that way?"

Kelly shrugged a little. "I've developed a different perspective I guess ." She looked down at her toes. "It looked different in the bottle."

A smile teased at Cassie's lips. "It needs a second coat. When do you guys leave?"

"Sunday. Feel like going to a movie or shopping or something tomorrow?"

Cassie focused on Kelly's toes. "I'll see if I can."

Kelly took a deep breath and willed herself to be calm. "If the warden won't let you out, see if I can come over here."

"Victor won't mind?"

She smiled a little. "I don't know if I would say it that way. He won't admit it, but I think he likes having the chance to argue with his brother."

*~*~*~*~*~*

It had taken two weeks to find a decent furnished apartment close to the hospital and a week to make a few basic security modifications. It was a perfectly dull two bedroom on the eighth floor of an equally uninspired high rise six blocks from the hospital. It was a little too modern for his tastes, but the frail looked more comfortable than she did in Chicago. That made it bearable.

The day after she'd unpacked, he'd taken her to the hospital and they'd been turned away. Not on the list, that wrinkled old bitch of a nurse had said. They'd come home and she'd spent a good two hours trying not to cry before she locked herself in the bathroom and gave in. It had taken Joe a lot of talking and explaining and convincing to get him and Kelly of the kid's list of approved visitors. In Creed's opinion, it was a bunch of bullshit. Anybody with a little bit of ingenuity and determination could get into a hospital. Those two weeks of waiting had been torture for the frail. At least now the wait was over.

Creed pulled on the charcoal gray jacket. "Frail! You gonna be all fucking morning?"

She emerged from the bedroom wearing black jeans and a gray and black argyle sweater. She smiled at him. "They're not going to be able to resist you."

He snorted and fastened the heavy gold watch around his wrist. "Client's a paranoid asshole and I'm about to offer him a tin foil hat with more bells and whistles than he's ever seen. He's probably gonna wanna suck my cock before lunchtime." He checked the files in his briefcase and then closed it.

Kelly smirked. "Trying to tell me I have competition?"

He grinned. "I'm a 'Systems Designer' now. Gotta keep my options open."

She smoothed his lapels. "Does that mean I get to keep my options open too?"

His eyebrows drew together. "Fuck no!"

"Good." She laughed and stood on her toes to kiss him. "I already have the best option."

Fucking frail. She was a smiling, sweet-scented distraction and he loved every minute of it. Creed pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. "You know you make me hard when you say shit like that. Got half a mind to call Conlon and tell him to hold off for an hour."

She smiled and kissed his lower lip. "You have an appointment to get to. You know Grandpa would take me to the hospital though."

Creed shook his head. "Just 'cause I decide to get out don't mean the past is gonna leave me alone. If I'm not with you, Conlon is." She looked like she was about to say something, but a knock at the door broke the moment. He grabbed his coat and handed her jacket to her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kelly stood in the pediatric intensive care unit of Women's and Children's Hospital of Buffalo. She could see Cody's bed and her grandmother through the glass wall. Granna smiled at her. Kelly managed to smile back. She could barely see Cody through the side rails on the bed, but she followed all the tubes and monitor leads with her eyes until she found the small, pale form at their center.

She shook her head. "I thought he was breathing on his own." Kelly's arms were crossed across her stomach, trying to hold back the tremor that was threatening to consume her. Her grandfather stroked her back.

"He is. The tube is there to protect his airway and give us access should we need to provide more support." Dr. Ackerly was a small round man with a full white beard. It made him look like a garden gnome. His manner was equally kind. "We're monitoring his heart rate, the oxygen levels in his blood and his blood pressure. That's the monitor facing the window. There are IVs for medications and hydration, and we're giving him liquid nutrition through a tube in his nose. It all looks dramatic, but we're mostly offering support. Doing the things for Cody that he can't do for himself just now and making sure that he's holding his own."

There was a bag of yellow urine hanging on the side of the bed, but the doctor hadn't mentioned it. Kelly watched the barely perceptible rise and fall of his chest under the sheets. She tried to remember something, anything from the time when she was unconscious at Xavier's, but nothing came back to her. She shook her head. "He doesn't know that any of us are here, does he?"

He gestured to a small collection of chairs. Kelly sat. The doctor sat on one side of her, her grandfather on the other. It was Dr. Ackerly that spoke. "I don't have a good answer for that. Coma is still a mystery in many ways. Some people who wake report that they remember everything that visitors said to them. Some feel as though they only closed their eyes for a moment. The days or weeks spent in the coma are simply missing."

"Did grandpa tell you that I was seriously injured and in a coma for a week several months ago?"

"Not in so many words, but the information about the epigenetic treatment and the story of your recovery from death seemed linked. I wondered if the patient in the case study and his granddaughter might be the same person."

She smiled a little. "It was me. I don't remember anything about the time when I was unconscious. Victor told me that I remembered a few things at the beginning, but it was all gone in a day or two." She looked down at her hands.

"Even if Cody does hear me, he thinks I'm dead. If I upset him it could make him worse."

Her grandfather shook his head. "We've told him that was a mistake."

Kelly took a deep breath. "I didn't expect him to look so...so small and so sick. I don't know what to say to him."

"You don't have to say anything special." Dr. Akerly said. "You don't have to say anything at all if you don't want to. Just hold his hand for a few minutes. Maybe when you come back again you'll find something to say." The kindness in his eyes infused his smile.

Kelly nodded and looked at her grandfather. "Do you think Granna would give me a few minutes alone with him?"

"We'll go get some coffee." He patted her hand. Kelly and Dr. Akerly waited by the door. Kelly hugged her grandmother on the way past. The relationship was still tentative, but it wasn't quite as strained as it had been. Even when her grandparents had stepped onto the elevator, she stayed still. "Take your time." The doctor said. She walked into the pale, chilly room. For a long moment she just stared at Cody. He seemed even smaller than she remembered. His eyes were closed, his skin was nearly as pale as the sheets he was laying on. She grasped his hand and brushed a long lock of sandy hair off of his forehead.

"Cody, it's Kelly." Her mouth went dry, but she swallowed hard and went on. "I know they told you I was dead. It was just a mistake." She took a deep breath and sat down on the edge of her grandmother's chair. "There's so much that's happened, and this whole time I've missed you so much it hurt." She blinked the tears back. "If Granna and Grandpa haven't told you, you're safe. Not just for now, forever. Stan's gone and he's not going to come back, I promise you." She kissed his hand. "You're going to get better, Cody, and when you do I'll be here."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Three months. Three motherfucking months. That's how long it took to jump through all the fucking hoops, dot all the i's cross all the t's , fill out all the forms in triplicate, lose them, then fill them all out again.

Fucking bureaucratic bullshit.

In that time, the frail went to the hospital almost every day. Most of the time he worked from home designing custom systems based on what the client wanted and on those days, he went with her.

Some days she talked to the kid. Some days she read him the 'Harry Potter' books. Sometimes she just held his hand while she talked with her grandparents.

There was never any sign of change. Days when he was meeting with clients, Conlon took her.

He took her back to Xavier's for her finals. She aced them just like he knew she would. While the other kids when to dances and practiced how to walk across a stage to get their diplomas, she packed and they headed back to the Buffalo. All the way back, she looked like another weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

In that three month period, the government had called him once. He'd fulfilled the mission to the letter and in the moment when his claws had torn into that sad bastard's belly he'd felt a familiar rush of excitement that reached through his pounding heart to his groin. After, when the blood was getting sticky and the body was starting to cool at his feet, the thought of the frail looking at him made him feel like he'd been rolling around in shit. He stayed away an extra day, just to try and get rid of that feeling. The frail didn't say anything about it when he got back. She just kissed him and told him she had missed him.

The new job wasn't ideal, but he didn't need a cooling off period before he could let the frail look at him again. Maybe that feeling wouldn't last. Maybe he'd end up missing the blood and the screaming and the stink of human fear. He doubted it, but then he never thought he would ever want out either.

He looked over at the frail. She was curled up and dozing in one of the uncomfortable visitor's chairs in the kid's hospital room. She hadn't wanted the kid to be alone when he got the treatment. Her grandparents took the day shift. She volunteered to take nights. That fucking bitch of a nurse started babbling about rules. Ackerly stepped in before Creed had to. Whether or not he was partially reformed, she was still his frail and he would be damned if anybody was going to hurt her.

Two nights in those godawful hospital chairs were testing his fucking resolve. He leaned back in the recliner and stroked the frail's arm. She looked over her shoulder.

"C'mere." He smiled a little.

She got up and settled against his chest. He wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. She kissed him lightly. "You should go home." Her voice was a soft murmur.