Quixotic

Quixotic Chapter Seventeen (NC-17)

Disclaimers Apply

 

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch, and Uberbeta…Wheeeeeeee! Winter break!!!! InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are extra nice and
lovely and wonderful for archiving/hosting.
J ProPhile is a sparkley smutmuse (I’m stuck
for adjectives tonight).
Readers/Reviewers: Happy Yule to
my fellow moonchildren, lol. *g * I’m all Cenos-nos-y today. *G * Thanks to everyone who takes the time
to read and review or even just read these fics. Seriously…THANK YOU!!!!!!!

 

 



Jamie
yawned widely, wondering at how heavy his leg felt with the fiberglass cast
Beast had applied. “It isn’t pink,”
Rahne said from somewhere next to his ear.


“Was it
supposed to be?” he asked sleepily. Beast had only given him a mild painkiller,
but his body took the suggestion and ran with it, his eyes closing in a fitful
nap minutes after the cast had been applied.


“Well, he
had pink, red, white or green. I told
him you’d want green.” She leaned
closer, peering at him intently. “Jean
told me you’d broke your leg and I came down quick as I could…I had these
horrid visions of bones poking through your skin and such, but Beast says it
were just a crack in the bone. He even
let me see your x-rays!”

Jamie
smiled and patted her hand idly. “When
did my multiples disappear?”

“No idea…I
haven’t seen ‘em in days, since you ran into the backdoor when Kurt was comin’
out it.” She turned her palm up under
his hand, inviting him to twine fingers, which he did even in his sleepy
state. “Do you need more
painkiller? Beast is right upstairs…”

“No, I’m
fine,” he yawned again. “Have you seen
Kurt?”

Rahne shook
her head. “Scott said something about
him thinking he’s a gypsy now, though.”

“Last I saw
of him, he did.” Strugg slg slightly,
even with Rahne’s help, he managed to sit up in bed. “Do you think he’s gone crazy?”

Rahne
shrugged. “With him, who can tell?”

“Rahne…”

“I know, I
know. Sorry. I think he’s just…tired.”
She shrugged again and stared off into space as she spoke. “I can understand, though, the wanting to be
someone else. With me, it was some
cartoon character or someone from a book.
Never anyone heroic or anything like that. Just…someone else. Whatever book I was reading that week or
whatever cartoon I’d seen before I left for school.”

It was
Jamie’s turn to peer. After a moment of
nearly uncomfortable silence, he asked, “Why?”

“It was
easier than being me,” she replied with false gaiety. “If I were Sleeping Beauty, I could lay down under the table at
school and close my eyes, waiting for my prince to come. If I were Rainbow Brite, I could pretend
everything would be okay with a few words and I would have all the friends I
needed…”

WellWell,” he
said softly, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb, “that explains the
pig tails.”

She glared
at him briefly. “Rainbow Brite only had
a ponytail.”

“Sorry, I’m not up on my eighties cartoons…” He paused, uneager to delve into weightier
subjects but feeling he had to since his distraction by them earlier had been
one of the reasons he had his accident.
“About Christmas, Rahne…”

She raised
her eyebrows at this. “You never call
me by my name. You must be upset.”

“I do too!”

“No, you
don’t. Not unless you have something
serious to tell me. Otherwise, you just
wait until I turn around.”

“I’m sorry,”
he muttered, mildly embarrassed.

“At least
you know my name. I still think Kurt
spaces on Kitty’s half the time, with the amount of pet names he calls her.”

He smiled
at that but could not help but notice she still looked strained. “Well, what I was going to say is…I’ll go to
Midnight Mass with you if you really want m.”
.”

Rahne
looked down at their joined hands and frowned.
“But you don’t want to? I mean,
if I hadn’t asked you…”

Jamie
sighed. “I wasn’t raised any particular
religion…My mom was Catholic but my dad was…well, unless you count Larry’s Bar
as a house of worship, he wasn’t anything at all. I’m just not comfortable with church.”

She nodded
slowly. “I see.”

He pressed
on. “I’ve got nothing against it or
anything but…well, I just don’t like it.”

“You’re…atheist
then?”

“No…I don’t
think so. I mean, I believe in a god,
but I don’t know which one yet…” He
frowned now. “That reminds me, I need
to talk to Amara…”

Rahne’s
eyes flew wide at this. “Jamie! You’re
not going to be…whatever she is, are you?”

“I’m
exploring my options,” he said tiredly.


“Religion
is very important to me,” she began, then paused. “I know what I want for Christmas now.”

“Huh?”

“I want you
to come to Mass with me.”

“Rahne,” he
groaned, “don’t do that to me. I just
told you I wasn’t comfortable with it…let it go, okay? I don’t make you go to the arcade with me…”

“Yes, you
do…”

“It’s not
the same thing, though,” he continued. “Church
is entirely different than Tomb Raider.”

Rahne bit
her lip as if debating the weight of her next words. “Jamie, it would mean more to me than you could possibly know if
you would come to Mass with me this week.”

Jamie
closed his eyes, marshalling an argument for his aversion to organized
religion, when Kitty popped through the door.
Literally. “Hey, Jamie. Nice cast.”
“Did it for you, Kitty,” he
sighed, glad for the interruption.

“Aw, how
sweet. And I didn’t break you anything…
Rahne, Emma says you get to help decorate upstairs for that party dealie
tomorrow. Now.”

Rahne shot
Jamie a searching look and sighed, not seeing the answer she wanted reflected
in his eyes. “Okay. Jamie, will you be up for dinner?”

“I think so…I
don’t think a broken leg is a reason to stay down her too much longer…” He
couldn’t look at her.

Kitty
glanced between the two and frowned. “C’mon,
Rahne. We can snag some tinsel and
decorate his cast later, when he can’t run after us…” Reluctantly, Rahne
followed her friend, leaving Jamie to stare at the ceiling.

 

Kurt
thought his heart would burst through his ribcage. He had no idea how he had come to be in this clearing, but he
recognized it. It was his camp from the
night before, but somehow it was not like he remembered it. Where are my men? Where are the stores of food set by for
winter? It’s just me… Saints alive,
have my men been captured? His
heart pounding double time, he skinned up the nearest tree to gain a better
vantage of the woods around the grounds.
As far as he could see, there was no one about except him. He wished fervently for Little John just
then, his true right hand man, the one he could trust when all others might
fail him… Where would the Prince be holding him? Kurt had a sudden
mental picture of a large metal room, Little John snarling at some unseen
foe. Before he could name the place, he
was there, a feeling of tingling familiarity washing over him. What black works are these? The room
was indeed large and certainly metal, but there was no compatriot within. Instead, it was bare of any sign of life and
cold as the grave. Willing himself not
to panic, Kurt closed his eyes. This
is a trick. It’s an evil working, to be
sure… He opened his eyes to find
himself just where he wished to be, back in his clearing where he knew it to be
safe. With shaking steps, he went into
the cold lean-to and huddled for warmth.
He really should start a fire, he knew, but whoever captured his men
might be looking for him and he could not risk the smoke from even a small fire
giving away his position. The cold did
not bother him much, he thought to himself, it was the fear that made him
shiver so. He was afraid to move in
case he found himself some place he did not belong again. Gisbourne anttinttingham will surely be
about, sending men to look for me after that escape. Damn me for trusting that fool!
Mayhap he were tricked into helping Gisbourne, but I should have known… A new thought occurred to him, one that made
his heart plunge to the pit of his stomach.
Kitty…she’s still within the walls!
She was trapped as much as I was!
She was victim of that false Sherwood…
When did Nottingham find that wizard?
Kurt groaned aloud in fearful exasperation. There’s only one thing to do, he
decided suddenly. I have to find
that wizard. I have to rid the world of him for good…