Doug and Kitty, February 20

[om_shadowcat]

After the team rescues Nico from Stryker's militants, Kitty hides in her room and Doug drops by to check on her.

Doug paused outside Kitty's door, wondering whether or not he should knock, or if he should text her rather than take the chance of waking Dana. Once River had settled down, he'd gotten the jist of the situation, including the fact that Kitty'd been on the team who'd gone to get Nico out of wherever it was he'd been taken. And yeah, he'd also confirmed she'd come back from it, but...hell, she'd been his best friend for years. Checking seemed as if it were in order.

He finally bit the bullet and knocked lightly on the door. With any luck, she was still awake.

Kitty had just gotten into her PJs when the knock startled her. Dana was already out of the room for the day, which was good, because all Kitty wanted to do was curl up in her bed and marathon Buffy the Vampire Slayer or something. Not sleep. She probably should be sleeping, because she hadn't gotten much sleep at all, but no. She didn't think she'd be sleeping for days.

Cautiously, she stuck her head through the wall to check the hallway for the identity of her visitor, but upon seeing Doug, she relaxed a little and moved to open the door. "Hey..."

"Hey," Doug replied. Realizing Kitty was in her PJs, he smiled awkwardly and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"As if I could sleep," she sighed, hopping up to sit cross-legged on the bed in her sweats and (very) faded Sailor Moon t-shirt. "I guess you heard?"

"Telepathic girlfriend," he reminded her as he came in and spun her desk chair so he could sit on it and lean against the back. He grimaced. "Took a while to get the actual story, but yeah. I think I pieced most of it together. You okay?"

"Yeah," Kitty answered quickly. "Oh yeah. I'm...fine." Except her chest kind of tightened at the thought of the big guy with the gun sliding down and hitting the floor.

Doug wasn't sure if it was the hitch in her voice or how quickly she answered or just having known Kitty for years, but he was pretty sure "fine" wasn't really on the table. He grinned just a little, crookedly, eyebrows raising. "Want to try that again and see if you can convince me this time?"

"Well it's not like I'm injured or anything!" she sighed, sliding sideways and curling up around a lump in her messed up blankets. "I'm just. Between what happened to Nico, and seeing those guys with guns and...and it all."

"So, not fine." Doug got up to come over and sit down next to her, his grin fading as he rested his hand on her back. "Guys with guns doesn't sound good. Anyone hurt? Other than Nico?" He shrugged. "I may have been exaggerating when I said I'd pieced the story together."

Kitty closed her eyes, but wriggled closer to him. "So Illyana and Nico teleported out to a graveyard in Nevada to get some practice in with his powers. I guess they ran across some of Reverend Stryker's people - you know, the crazy preacher guy who says mutants are demons? Anyway, they took them and, and hurt them. Illyana managed to teleport out, but Nico got the worst of it. Illyana told Cal and Cal put together a team, and we all went back to save Nico...who was really, really bad off. He was black and blue and bleeding everywhere-"

She cut off, taking a deep breath as her heart started to pound a little.

"He's okay now, though, right?" Doug checked, his hand rubbing circles on her shoulder. "River said -" well, actually, if he repeated exactly what River had said, it probably wouldn't make a whole lot of sense. He shrugged apologetically. "Well, something about him being okay? It kind of suffers in translation."

"He's okay," Kitty agreed. "I think Faiza healed him. He and Illyana are both okay. And no one that we took with us on the team got hurt."

"But...?" Doug prompted.

"But they had guns. And they wanted to hurt kids. And I hurt someone. And I'm not sure whether I'm a baby or an idiot for feeling weird about it." Kitty murmured, tucking her face against his leg.

"Hey, you're talking to the guy who still hasn't managed to land a blow in gym class, let alone squad training. I'm pretty sure I'd be feeling weird about it if it were me." Doug craned his head, trying to see her face. "Honestly, I'm feeling kind of weird just hearing it. Guns, religious fanatics; it sounds more like a made for TV movie than anything real."

"No kidding," Kitty sighed. They had cells down there. Like...like they'd just been waiting to run across a mutant to throw into their freaky little compound. What if Illyana hadn't been able to teleport? What would they have done with her once Nico..."

She swallowed and screwed her eyes shut.

"I don't know." Honestly, he didn't much want to think about it, though he knew he should, and that he'd probably spend a good part of the day doing just that. "She did teleport, though," he reminded Kitty. "And you guys were awesome and got Nico out of there. I think you hurting someone in the process was probably a fair trade-off?" He offered a faint smile and gave her arm a tug. "C'mere. You need a hug."

Sitting up, she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tight. "Thank you for being so reasonable."

Doug hugged her back just as tight, and leaned his face against the top of her head. "Hey, I spent a couple of hours under a desk trying not to freak out and to focus on just why Harley would've taken my screwdriver. My panicked reaction quota's been used up for the day." He turned his face a little to peer down at her. "On the flip side? I'm wired on enough caffeine that I'm going to be up the next six hours, most likely. You?"

"Ughhhhh," she groaned against his shoulder. "Yes. I don't even want to think about closing my eyes."

"So, there's only one real question, right?" Doug forced a trace of a smile, eyebrows raising as he pulled back just enough to see her face. "Movies, video games, or trying to see if we can hack into Tony's personal computer and leave him an obnoxious note?" More than likely it wasn't going to help much, but at least it'd keep her mind off what she'd seen, and his off imagining what might have happened if things hadn't gone as well as they had.

Kitty laughed. "As much as I'd love to annoy Tony...movies. I don't want to think right now. What did you have in mind?"

"Mmm..." Doug pretended to give it serious consideration, then shrugged and grinned a little. "Does the old Battlestar Galactica count as a movie? Because I think I might have seen it on Netflix, and cheesy special effects sound pretty good."

Another laugh against his shoulder and Kitty finally tugged away. "Okay, but you're going to go get us some popcorn. And... don't tell Peter I'm not sleeping? I don't want him to worry."

"Your secret's safe," Doug promised, dropping his arms. He grinned a little. "If by some strange fluke I should run into him, I promise I'll tell him Dana pinned me down and demanded that I get her popcorn. He'll believe it; she's pretty scary." He winked and got to his feet. "Popcorn, soda...anything else?"

"If there's any chocolate chip mint ice cream left?" Kitty grinned.

Doug groaned and made a noble attempt not to grin back. "Popcorn, soda, and ice cream. Now I'm really hoping I don't run into anyone I know. They're going to think I'm throwing a party for five year olds. Should I check for cake too?" And right, still not grinning. Not at all. Or...well, not much.

Kitty looked torn between pouting and hitting him.

Doug rolled his eyes and grinned crookedly. "You know I'm kidding." He paused and made a face. "Except that now I have an appetite for cake, so maybe that backfired?"

Bursting out laughing, Kitty threw her pillow in his face, then dove for her laptop. "Go get our food and get back here before I start thinking about hiding under my desk again."

"Yes, Ma'am. And warning? I am not spending any more time under a desk in the next twenty four hours," Doug informed her, shaking his finger at her. "If you crawl under there, you're on your own." He held the serious look for a few moments longer, then grinned and headed out the door.