Disclaimer:

I don't own X-Men Evolution, though I wish I did.  If I did, I'd bring it back for not just a fifth season, but a sixth, seventh, and eighth.  With seventeen episodes per season, just like season two.  And that's just the beginning.  Would if I could, but I can't so I won't.

Summary:

A nice fluff-filled romance, just in time for the holidays.  Kurt/Amanda, with a few references to other couples and holiday-goers later on.  Much shorter than most of my previous works. No villains, unless you count typical holiday stress as Kurt deals with Amanda's parents and the hassle of trying to find his girlfriend the perfect present.  Minor reference to previous stories 'Nullification' and 'Weapon X24.'  Does not require reading of said stories.  Takes place roughly after 'Ascension, part II.'

Kurt Wagner sighed, fidgeting, one hand adjusting the tie that was painfully wrapped around his neck.  Like a noose, he thought morbidly.  Then he pushed the thought out of his head.  Now was most diffidently not the time to have such thoughts.  He needed his absolute best image.

This was, after all, a second chance.

Second chances in life were very, very rare occurrences.  And the chance of a third was practically non-existent.  He couldn't afford to screw up this one by any stretch of the imagination.

Because if he did, he might never see Amanda again.

So Kurt had strived to put on the best possible image for her parents.  After getting back from school he'd showered at least twice, once to get clean, twice out of nervousness and the nagging doubt he'd missed something.  His hair was freshly cut by the local Institute barber, known to some as Storm and others as Ororo Munroe.  Kurt's fur, like Hank's thankfully never grew to unseemly length, save in the winter when both of them developed winter coats.  They shed in the spring, and Kurt received no end of good-nature ribbing because of it.  The hair on his head grew in the manner of normal teenagers.  Those matters taken care of, he'd sealed himself in his room for private preparations.  He was pretty sure he'd worn Opa's brushes down to the handle the way he'd brushed every single last bit of loose fur from his hide, from head to toe.  And then had come the most difficult of choices.

Clothing had been harder, finding something that worked for both his holographic and regular self.  Amanda hadn't been able to give many details when she'd extended the invitation, but Kurt knew what was up.  Her parents knew, after all.  Then he'd added a number of good natured curses to rain down the head on a certain slimy toad he knew.  He took care not to voice them aloud, for fear of Logan hearing, but any telepaths wandering past his room would be sent scurrying for cover.

In the end he'd been forced to wear the same dark-blue formal suit he'd worn during their last unfortunate encounter.  With the lighter blue shirt underneath and dark slacks.  His feet were bare, but a quick adjusting of his holowatch made them appeared covered with shoes and socks.  Kurt fidgeted with his tie again, praying silently to any divine being who might be listening for help.

Reluctantly, he rang the doorbell.

To Kurt's surprise, it wasn't Amanda that answer, but her father, Mr. Sefton.  Then again, that only made sense, he supposed.  He wasn't smiling, like he'd been when they first met.  In fact he seemed almost angry, though he tried to hide it.  He made his way aside to let Kurt in, who slinked in, withering under that gaze of his beloved's father.

"Guten nac... er, I mean... good evening," said Kurt, already stumbling over his words.  It was his habit when he got nervous.  And if he'd thought his last encounter had made him nervous now he truly knew the meaning of terror.

To his relief, Mr. Sefton barely paid any notice to Kurt as he made his way into the living room.  Mrs. Sefton was there as well, seated on the couch, a cup of warm tea in her hands.  She looked more nervous than angry as she regarded Kurt.  Confused, almost.  Like she didn't know what to make of him anymore.  Kurt was thankful in a way for that.

"Kurt!"

The blue-furred mutant turned and saw to his vast relief that Amanda had arrived.  She was rapidly descending the stairs, dressed in a red and green ensemble that, had it not just turned into December, would have looked downright tasteless.  But like anything his dark-skinned liebchen wore, Kurt found beautiful.  She descended down the stairs like an angel from heaven.  Normally the two would've shared a hug, at the very least, but not with Amanda's parents watching.  As it was, she awkwardly stopped herself a foot or so away.  To judge from her chocolate-brown eyes, she was fighting the urge to run over and glomp him.  It made him smile.

"I'm glad you could come," she managed, taking his arm and gently escorting her boyfriend into the living room.  She could feel the tension in Kurt's arm.  It was taking everything in him not to bolt here and now, like he'd done the night Toad had exposed him.  Doing it all for her sake.

"Yes Kurt please, come in... sit down," said Amanda's mother, gesturing at a chair across from the couch with her and her husband.  Kurt reluctantly did so, careful not to slouch or hunch forward, as was his habit.  His body structure the way it was, it was sometimes hard for him not to, but now was not the time to give in.  So he kept his back painfully straight, glancing between Mr. and Mrs. Sefton, though careful not to keep their gaze or look like he was staring them down.  Amanda slid onto the armrest next to Kurt, one arm draped around his shoulders and giving a comforting, warm squeeze.  Kurt's hand reached across his chest to find hers, intertwining their fingers.

The gesture did not go unnoticed by either of Amanda's parents.

"Kurt... I think we should start," began Mr. Sefton, leaning forward.  "We've invited you here tonight just to talk.  You don't have to stay if you don't like what you're going to hear, but we'd like to settle this reasonably.  Like adults."

"Ja," replied Kurt.  "I vould also like zis."

"But we're going to be honest and do this like adults... with no secrets," stated Mr. Sefton, his voice dark as he indicated Kurt.  Or, not himself, realized the German boy.  His wrist.  The holowatch.

"I..." he said, hesitating as he laid his hand over his holowatch.  Protectively.

"We're not scared Kurt," stated Mrs. Sefton in very quiet tones, placing her tea down on the low table in front of her.

"But if you ever expect to see Amanda again," added Mr. Sefton. "We need to know what you really look like under that... hologram, or whatever it is."

Kurt sighed, closing his eyes, and braced himself.  He could imagine what was going to happen.  This was, after all, going to be their first clear look at Kurt.  The last time he'd been over for dinner, after his holowatch was stolen, he'd teleported away almost instantly, leaving Amanda behind to explain what had happened.  He'd immediately regretted it, cursing himself for leaving his girlfriend alone like that, running out and leaving her to explain all that without him present.  But he couldn't go back, at the time.  It would've been that much harder on them all.  So he'd waited and met her later in the park, when Amanda had told him that she'd been forbidden to see him.  And that she still wanted to, regardless.

He could well imagine what was going to happen.  Amanda's mother might scream, her father might curse or call on God.  They'd ask what was wrong with him, how he'd come to be like he was.  A torrent of questions would follow.  They might even call a priest to try and exorcise him.  Or at the very least douse him with holy water.  He doubted he'd be lashed to a stake and burned, this wasn't Winzeldorf after all.  But still, Americans were in some ways just as fearful and hate-filled of that they didn't understand as the provincial superstitious villages in the area of Germany he'd come from.

Amanda squeezed his hand again, gently, and her strength seemed to flow into him.  He squeezed the requisite buttons on his holowatch.

Kurt's image shimmered, vanishing, replaced by his true form.  That of a blue-furred, pointy-eared and pointy-tailed demon.  He kept his eyes closed, bracing himself.  However, when all he heard was a soft gasp, he peeked open his now visibly yellow eyes.

The gasp had come from Mrs. Sefton, who had a hand over her mouth to stifle it.  Yet she didn't look entirely horrified.  She looked almost... sorry.  Mr. Sefton's reaction was surprise as well, his eyebrows had almost shot up into the short dark hair of his forehead, but he quickly got that under control, and then his expression became unreadable.  Kurt did his absolute best to keep his expression one of peace.

"Mom, Dad," stated Amanda quietly.  "This is what Kurt really looks like.  He wears his holowatch so he can attend school like a normal person, just like I do."

"Ja... I'm... I'm really sorry you had to find out... like you did," he added, sinking low into the chair.  He wished he could teleport away.  Or borrow Kitty's power and just sink into the ground.  Anything was better than those staring eyes of both the Seftons as they took in the whole of his physical differences.

To his surprise, Amanda's mother... Kurt dimly recalled her name given name was Margali... scooted forward, stretching out a curious hand towards Kurt.

"It is fur..." she whispered softly.  She wasn't speaking to Kurt per se, more confirming aloud her own suspicions.  "Is it soft?" she asked, directing her question as much to Amanda as to Kurt.

Kurt, stunned, couldn't manage to find a reply.  This was, however, decidedly better than being screamed at and lynched.

"Sure Mom," replied Amanda, a little uneasily.

"You can touch it, if you want," said Kurt quietly when he'd recovered his wits, rolling up his sleeve and offering his now half-bare arm to the equally surprised Mrs. Sefton.  "Really, I don't mind... I like being petted," he added with a smile.

Margali hesitantly reached out, running her fingers gently along Kurt's arm, marveling at the fur that covered it.  It was soft as down, a little thicker than a cat's coat but she suspected that was because it was so very cold outside.  Margali had worked as a veterinary doctor for many years before she married.  She loved animals.  But, she decided as she sat back on the couch, Kurt was most decidedly -not- an animal.

No animals had eyes like those.  They were too human.

"Kurt, I... we..." she added, daring a look at her husband for approval briefly.  He nodded.  "We want to apologize.  What happened that night was not your fault.  Amanda explained that the... thief... was no friend of yours.  We believe you now."

"I am still very sorry for the damages," Kurt intoned softly, lowering his eyes.  He was still ashamed about all the trouble he'd caused.  Even if most of it had been fending Toad off.

"Don't be," replied Mr. Sefton, losing his dour disposition for the first time since the evening had begun.  "Your guardian repaid everything that was broken, and I admit, you saved the most valuable item from getting broken in the first place," he said, pointing to the low table to Kurt's right, near the window.  There, resting on it, was the same blue vase that Kurt had managed to preserve through the fight.  To his surprise, it was filled with pretty bluebonnet flowers.  Kurt didn't need to look far to see the person who'd chosen them.

"We weren't thinking straight when we forbade Amanda from seeing you anymore," said Mrs. Sefton.  "Mutations was new, people were scared and confused.  Even us," she added shamefully.  "We didn't know what to think... but we hope you can forgive us and... start over?" she asked, standing and extending her hand to him.

Kurt hesitated, slipping to his feet, then took her hand.  He smiled broadly as they shook, his normal "elf-grin" in place.  "Ja.  Ist alvays better to have friends than enemies."

"Oh look," remarked Amanda, her voice soft.  All eyes snapped to follow her finger as she pointed out the window.  Ivory snowflakes were falling from the dark blue sky of early evening.  It was snowing.

"Does this mean you'll be leaving me to go work with Santa soon?" Amanda joked, grinning playfully at her boyfriend as she tweaked a pointed ear.  He chuckled openly with her, as the two adults did.  Warm, heartfelt laughter.  No hatred, no fear, no screaming.

Kurt silently thanked whatever divine being had listened and heard his earlier pleas.

                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That was so embarrassing," remarked Amanda, her cheeks rosy.  Partially from embarrassment, partially from the cold.  A pink scarf had been wrapped around her neck and the lower part of her face, and she'd donned her favorite blue winter jacket as she and Kurt made their way back to the Institute.  Kurt wore the same light jacket, as his fur kept him better insulated, though he wished he'd born his uniform boots for his feet.  He'd turned back on his holowatch after he'd left the Seftons.  They might be accepting, but he doubted many others in the neighborhood were the same way.

They walked arm in arm, happy, content and, above all, grateful they didn't need to keep glancing over their shoulders.  Amanda's parents had, after the long discussion, agreed to allow Kurt and Amanda to continue to date.  They'd been only marginally surprised to find out they'd been secretly seeing one another.  Apparently the elder Seftons had shared a similar habit back when they'd been younger.  They'd understood, and they'd accepted.

Then of course had come the questions.

"Vhat part?" teased Kurt.  "Vhen your muzzer asked how far my fur went...?  Or vhen Herr Sefton commented on how useful meine tail must be in Gym class."

"Both!" she huffed in mock indignation.  "All of them... those were some pretty personal questions they were asking," she said as she walked along.  The snow was falling lightly, melting practically the instant it hit the ground.  Which, for most, meant no closed schools and no traffic delays.  Kurt smiled and leaned against Amanda more as they walked, squeezing her shoulders gently.

"Considering I'm usually greeted in my true form by a stake or holy water, I think that went rather well," he whispered into her ear, teasing her again.  She giggled softly, smiling and nodding her head gently.

All too soon their walk ended, and they found themselves gazing up at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters.  The gates were closed and electronically locked.  An unfortunate necessity with all the roving gangs of punks and mutant-haters.  Reluctantly Kurt tapped the button for entrance and spoke his name, accent and all.  The gates swung open as he turned back to face his girlfriend.

"Vell, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" he said with a smile.

"Diffidently," she replied, leaning in as they shared a very warm embrace, drawing on each other for strength and warmth.  Kurt purred softly, nuzzling his furry cheek against Amanda's, making her coo contently.  Reluctantly, they departed.

"Take care, meine schlone liebchen," he whispered, planting a soft farewell kiss on her forehead and biding her farewell.  Amanda reluctantly turned to begin her short walk home, hands jammed into the pockets of her coat as the night grew longer and colder.  Kurt closed the gate and 'ported directly into his room, shrugging off his coat and dusting the snow out of his hair.  He shivered a little, but it wasn't because of the cold.

He... was... -so-... happy.

For a few moments he was cheering, bouncing up and down and off the walls, one hyperactive little fuzzball elf.  His beloved cared for him, her parents accepted him, Rogue was better, and it was the Holiday season.  Life could not be more perfect, he thought.  Now he and Amanda could be together, always and forever.

                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One week later.

                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"KU-URT!" squealed Amanda, as the tiny snowball struck her again, unerringly, between the shoulder blades.  It didn't hurt, nothing Kurt ever sent her way did.  But the icy cold snow tickled her mercilessly.  She immediately turned and launched her own, much larger snowballs at their ever-elusive target.  But, as always, they missed.  He was long gone, with only a whiff of sulfur where he'd once stood.

"Get back here you fuzzy little elf!" she hollered.  She wasn't angry, and they both knew it.  It was just a game they played.  Pretend-fights were so much nicer than real ones.

"No vay, liebchen," came a playful shout from behind a snowdrift.  "'Ave to catch tha leprechaun before he gives ya 'is gold!" he added with a playful (and obviously fake) Irish accent.  Amanda giggled again, diving over the snowdrift but, again, she was rewarded with empty hands and a snowball striking her in the butt.  She gasped, leaping up nearly six feet in the air in shock and glancing back.  To her surprise, he was there this time, with a look of absolute innocence on his face.

It never failed to amaze her, how a face that could, when its owner was angry, could look so demonic could also, when he was like that, look so insufferably, so detestably, so incredibly...

Cuuuuuuuute.

Amanda giggled, brushing off her posterior as she planted her hands on her hips in mock annoyance.  Stifling her giggles she twisted her face into a exaggerated pout.

"Kurt Michael Wagner," she yelled.  "I am going to nail your furry hide above my bedroom door!"  A rain of snowballs followed after.  Kurt could have simply 'ported aside, but he took delight in using his acrobatic grace to dodge them instead.  Though he never would have voice it aloud, Amanda was a most horrible shot.  A little real anger and frustration coming out now she took her last snowball and just charged Kurt where he stood, underneath the barren branches of a tree.

She was practically at point blank range.  There was no way she could miss.  Yet when she flung the snowball he vanished in a puff of sulfurous smoke and a muffled 'bamf.'  She grumbled, kicking the snow.  Then suddenly she felt very hot air against the back of her neck, and realized he hadn't 'ported as far as she imagined he would.

"You're out of ammo," he whispered into her ear softly.  Almost seductively.  Amanda smiled.  Oh, this was his game now, hmmm?  Well, she knew how to play it too.  It was their favorite.  Slowly, the dark-haired girl turned to face Kurt.  To her surprise, he was dangling upside down from the tree branch, his eyes meeting hers.  He was hanging from his tail.  Amanda smiled a ten-factor smile.  That sort that could reduce fuzzy elves to jelly in no time.

"I have other weapons," she whispered back seductively.  "Like my feminine wiles.  You have no defense against those."

"Curse you women and your feminine wiles," he intoned softly, though his expression bespoke his thoughts lay in the opposite direction.

"You know you love them," replied Amanda, leaning in closer.  Hesitantly, slowly, their lips met, sealed against one another in a brief, chaste kiss.  They never went any deeper than that.  Kurt had been raised to proper a gentleman, and Amanda was too downright shy.  In this aspect, at least.

Kurt teleported again, vanishing again.  Then with a whoop and a wild cry the blue-furred elf slammed into Amanda from behind, rolling as he brought the two of them to the ground so he would take the brunt of their fall.  As it was, Amanda fell right into a snug carpet of velvet fur and only the smallest of soft winter coats.  Kurt's fur kept him warm, yes, but not perfectly dry.  Thus, even he wore winter wear when it snowed.  And this winter there was snow in abundance.  The entire place was blanketed in the ivory stuff, and apart from the odd snowball fight, it was always perfectly quiet.

Like right now.  Amanda and Kurt just lay there, Kurt's arms around Amanda's shoulders as they stared up at the sky.  It was overcast, not a shadow showed on the ground, not the sun in the sky.  But it carried its own splendor.

"Its so beautiful," remarked Kurt quietly.  Amanda, comfortably nestled into his side, shifted her head to lie more comfortably against his chest, nodding in agreement.  His tail had snaked its way up between them and she idly clasped it between her fingers, playing with it.  She held it loosely, knowing how sensitive it was, in case he wanted to withdraw it from her fingers.

He sighed, or rather purred, smiling like a great big Cheshire cat.  He made no move to remove his tail from her grip.  And so the two of them lay there, content despite the cold, snuggled up against one another for warmth and comfort.

Amanda was the one who broke the silence.

"I could lie here forever," she stated firmly.  A coy smile graced her lips as she lay back, eyes closed.

"Ja," he agreed.  "Do you ever wonder about the future?" he asked her idly.

"A little... what do you mean?" Amanda asked, snuggling up close against him.

"I mean... us..." he replied, hesitating at the last word.  Amanda stiffened just a fraction in his embrace.

"Kurt...?" she asked.  Belatedly she shifted, sitting partially up so she could face him, lying on her side.

"I mean... vell, its nice that your parents have accepted me, but..."

"You're worried about the rest of the world," said Amanda, correctly surmising what her boyfriends fear was.  She was mildly relieved, at the mention of 'us' she'd been half-scared to death he wanted to break up.  This was, while not good, better than that.

Amanda sighed, drawing Kurt into a very warm embrace, squeezing him like a great big plush doll in her loving arms.

"Kurt everything will be fine.  The people we care about don't care about something stupid like this... a mutant and a human dating," she said, smiling down at him.  Her ebon locks flowed down around her head, and she belatedly brushed them behind one ear.

"Mutant and -latent- mutant," he teased, nudging her side playfully.  She giggled, nodding.  They'd found out a short while ago, about Amanda's latent x-gene.  Hank had, after examining a blood sample, confirmed it.  Basically, though she had no powers, the potential for them to manifest in future generations was more likely than if she didn't have one.  Like all gene-passing, there was a large fraction of her offspring's genetic code was chance.

"Ja, I guess you're right..." he said at last.  "I just don't want to put you through that.  I mean, zere vas already zat jerk at the concert who recognized me from school.  I almost vould've been happier if he'd thrown his hotdog at me instead of you..." he added sadly.

He did not add how it had hurt him even worse when he'd been called a freak, and his girlfriend a whore for sleeping with a freak.  He imagine it would've been worse if anyone at school had ever seen his true form.  As it was, all they knew was he was a mutant, and he could teleport.  They'd found that out easily enough after the school board meeting.

"Awwww," she cooed.  Partly in sadness that he thought so little of himself, partly proud that he would've been so brave and selfless for her.  "Kurt, my family approves, your family approves, your friends here all support us.  That one jerk we don't need to worry about..."  Kurt smiled softly, nodding.  Suddenly his smile vanished, however.  Of course, he thought.  Damn, I should've handled this before.  But everything has been so confusing lately...

"Kurt?  Is something wrong?"

"Not... exactly..." he replied delicately.  This was a delicate subject after all.  Kurt sat up, and Amanda slid off him, her brown eyes watching him, searching for a clue as to what troubled him now.  His tail was very still.  It was something bad.  "Amanda... I... I need to show you something..." he said, taking her hand.

Amanda nodded, knowing what he meant, and willingly put her hand in his, letting her fingers coil around his palm.  She smiled, holding her breath and closing her eyes.  It made teleporting easier, though it could not perfectly remove the sense of nausea.  Still, she could put up with it.  Just like the fur she occasionally found sticking to her shirt.

Kurt closed his eyes, and the grounded slipped away...

                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kurt and Amanda reappeared in roughly the same position on the other side of the Institute, deep in the woods that surrounded that particular part of the Institute grounds. On a particular rock that Kurt had already shown Amanda once before.

His church.

Kurt had found the spot shortly after moving to the Institute.  The people back in his hometown of Heirelgart had not minded sharing their pews with a blue-furry elf, considering what some of the other inhabitants were like.  In other places of Germany and especially in America Kurt had found it was not the same. Thus, he'd found his own church. His own place to pray, and speak (or argue) with God.

Kurt leaned back and gracefully flipped up onto his feet. Amanda crawled up less gracefully into a standing position as he leaned forward, brushing away some of the snow around the stone, apparently searching for something buried beneath it.

"You remember I told you I vas adopted," he stated slowly. "That meine parents in Germany, and meine schwesters, weren't really mine."

Amanda nodded, not knowing quite what to say.

"Vell, its a tiny bit more complicated than that..." he said quietly. He paused in his task, turning to face her more fully. His blue face was deathly solemn, and Amanda was now even a little fearful as she listened to him. "You see... a year or so ago... ve found meine muzzer. Meine birth muzzer," he added quietly.

This confused Amanda even more. Wouldn't that be a good thing, to find one's mother? Evidently not, to judge by Kurt's expression. He didn't look happy at all. He looked... downright morose. "What happened?" she asked, her whisper-quiet voice barely heard over the rustle of the wind through the tree branches.

"It..." he started off, but paused, shook his head, and started over. "I'd been dreaming about it most of my life, since I learned I was adopted at age six. My parents never kept it a secret from me, and I knew they loved me regardless. But still, I dreamed about my Muzzer and Fazzer, and what they vere like. But... then... vell, Rogue was having zis strange dream. I explained how schwester Rogue's powers work, right?"

Amanda nodded again. She sat down on the stone rock behind her, hands clasped in her lap.

"Vell, she had this dream about a woman, who dropped a baby in a river... who vas later rescued. Zat baby vas me. But the dream was Rogue's because she'd absorbed it from... from ze voman who vas meine muzzer. Though I'd known the woman, I hadn't realized who she truly vas until she herself told me."

"Who was it?" asked Amanda quietly.

"Mystique," replied Kurt. A shiver ran down Amanda's spine, as her eyes opened wide in shock. Kurt had, at length, explained to Amanda about the other people at the Institute. How they were all mutants, how they had powers unique and different from his own. He'd told her about the Brotherhood, that they were mutants as well. About Magneto, who believed a war was coming. About Mystique being Principal Darkholme. About the Sentinels and their fanatic creator, Trask. And about other mutants they fought and why they fought. For Xavier's dream, ironically symbolized most perfectly by Kurt and Amanda themselves.

"But... she..." started Amanda.

"Vas our enemy," interjected Kurt softly, nodding. "Ja. Ve never got a chance to make peace with one another either. Not after..." and here he choked, his throat constricting as emotion overwhelmed him. Amanda, seeing this, reached out, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Kurt, you don't need to go on..." she whispered tenderly.

"You deserve to know this," his voice equally soft. And a little hard to distinguish. When he mumbled his short pointed teeth tended to make it more difficult for people to make out what he was saying. "Mystique vas... vorking for Apocalypse..."

"That mutant who tried to, uhm... destroy us normal humans?" she asked for clarification. It was all in the news, though a great number of facts were being greatly distorted. Like mutant conspiracies, secret armies, government cover-ups, and the like.

"Ja, kinda," he settled with, not wanting to tell her the whole story. "She took schwester Rogue to him, to free him from his prison up in the Himalayas.... I mentioned that before, right?"

"Yeah, you came to me a few weeks afterwards... you were really upset for Rogue..."

"That vasn't vhy I came to you," he replied softly. He didn't mean to be so blunt but he wanted to be honest. He hated himself that night. Clinging to Amanda in the park, clinging to her for warmth, for strength, for comfort. He hadn't spoken a word, and neither had she. Just stroked his dark blue hair and patted his back in the way that always comforted him. The next day his smile had been back in place, and after another few weeks he'd even begun to wear it sincerely. Amanda had forgotten about the incident, but Kurt hadn't. Now he had to set things straight.

"Vhen Mystique took Rogue to Apocalypse, she vas betrayed... turned to stone," he said quietly. He paused a moment to allow the shock to settle in, and boy did it ever. Had anyone but Kurt told Amanda, she would've scoffed. There was no snake-haired Medusa that turned people to stone. But since meeting Kurt she'd seen, and heard of far stranger things. Mutants in costumes fighting super-villains. Sounded like something out of the comic books she'd loved to read as a kid.

Now she truly believed she was capable of believing anything. And then it fully impacted upon her... Kurt's mother...

Her hands came up to cover her mouth as she gasped in shock.

"Nein, nein... it vasn't her exactly," he said. "I don't understand it myself either, but she... she vas still alive. But she vas the slave of Apocalypse. Zat vas... ve found out shortly before... before that night I said good-bye," he added quietly.

Amanda sat down, and Kurt joined her, helping comfort her while she processed all the information. That night had been very dear to Kurt at the time. And Amanda as well. She'd been a little downright shocked at the time, of course, when Kurt had teleported directly into her bedroom. He'd never done that before. Even the few times he'd come to her house, after being forbidden by her parents, he'd appeared outside, tapped the window, and waited to be invited in. Despite his flirting and his playfulness he remained, at the core, a gentleman.

Thus, appearing right in front of her, he'd startled even her. He hadn't stayed long, and told her as much. He'd needed to go and get their mutual friend Evan, so he told her. Then he'd just hugged her, and whispered 'Auf Wiedersehen, Liebchen' into her ear. And with that, he was gone. Confused, she'd consulted a English-German dictionary (a must have with her new boyfriend) and started to translate before her parents called her down for the breaking news. All sorts of strange stuff going on, all over the world. Nobody knew what was going on until after the fact, when the President had made his speech, saying how disaster had been averted.

Kurt had been one to give her more details of the battle against Apocalypse, at the pyramids and the Sphinx. How mutants all over the world had come to help, even the Brotherhood (whom Amanda had only ever known from High school, and hadn't known very well since she, like most students, had avoided them) and they'd saved the world. Kurt had mentioned fighting against minions of Apocalypse, but before he'd always been vague about what sort of minions they were. Now Amanda knew. She'd always been very smart at figuring things out.

Kurt had been fighting his own mother.

"I'm so sorry, Kurt," she said softly, wrapping her arms around his neck and drawing him in close. She laid her head atop of his as he rested against her shoulder, and they just held each other like that for a short while.

"Mystique is alive but... she isn't a muzzer, really. To me or... or to Rogue," stated Kurt. His tone was quiet, but there was a certain conviction behind his words. Amanda was a little surprised to find that Rogue was connected to Kurt by Mystique, but she decided to save her questions for another date. He needed her now.

"Why did you tell me this?" asked Amanda softly. She leaned her head back as Kurt's own rose, their faces only a few inches apart. His soft yellow eyes, which shifted like liquid gold, met hers, dark as chocolate.

"Because I vant you to know vhat meine family is like. I don't know about meine fazzer... my real one, I mean. Muzzer never told me. But... I vanted to honor her... so..." he paused then, deciding actions spoke louder than words, and clambered down off the rock, brushing aside the snow and directing Amanda's attention to what lay beneath.

A crude, smaller stone, a rough triangular shape. All in all rather unremarkable. But written on the side in charcoal was what gave it significance. 'Raven Darkholme, Mystique. Birth: Unknown. Death: August 30, 2003.'

"That vas vhen the statue shattered, and I gave up hope of ever reuniting with meine muzzer," explained Kurt, as he crouched down to brush the snow from the crude headstone. "I buried the fragments here." He did not add how the statue's fate had been ended. Or who had done it. He'd forgiven her, after all. "Now my muzzer is gone... and only Mystique is left."

Amanda slipped off the rock and sat down beside Kurt. Then, tenderly, she wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing herself against his back, her cheek rubbing against his furry neck as she sighed contently.

"Kurt... this obviously means a lot to you," she whispered tenderly. "Thank you for... for letting me in."

Kurt sighed softly, leaning back. All the pain, all the trials in his life, all of it was worth this. To be held in the arms of a woman whom not only did he love with all his heart, but who loved him back just as passionately. Smiling, he turned in her embrace, kissing her softly on the cheek as the two of them pressed against one another.

Around them, the wind howled and blew, and a few light snowflakes fell. Neither of them noticed, so enwrapped were they with one another.

                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kurt and Amanda were being watched.

The two lovebirds were being spied upon by another kind of bird. A dark raven, black as coal. She tilted her head, gazing at them across her long black beak with cold, yellow eyes. The same yellow-gold color as Kurt's eyes, but with a black reptilian slit marring the otherwise perfect form of the bird.

Mystique had heard, seen, everything. Her son, in love with a human, telling her all about his 'wicked, evil' mother. How she'd abandoned him, not she'd lost him. How she'd left him behind to protect him from Magneto. But he didn't know, she supposed. She'd never gotten to tell him. Again Magneto had interfered. Mystique shifted that priority further up her list of revenge. It was a long one. No one wronged her... discarded her... or used her... and got away with it.

She sighed, a very un-bird-like motion, though it went unnoticed by the young couple below. They were in a frantic embrace, kissing like they never wanted it to end, half lying on the great big stone in the clearing. Superimposed over the image, Mystique could see herself, and her beloved Eric, lying on a similar position over a similar rock in the woods of Austria. In many ways he'd been a perfect gentleman, as his station as a Count had required of him. In many ways just as much of a flirt and a rogue as his son was. Mystique, seeing the memories before her, re-enacted by her son and the human girl, couldn't stifle a tear that came to her yellow eye. It trickled down along the short black feathers of her face, drying quickly in the icy air.

Lifting her wings and giving a characteristic raven's cry, she flew off. She couldn't bear to see them anymore. She couldn't bear to see that Kurt was happy with a sniveling, weak, ordinary human.

She couldn't bear to see that someone loved him more than she did.

                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I love you," whispered Kurt softly, kissing Amanda's forehead again tenderly.

"I love you more," she replied, playfully running her nimble fingers through his dark blue hair. It was one of the many games they played, though neither had ever won a single one.

"I'd give you the stars, I love you so much," he intoned softly, gazing up at the sky. It was still cloudy and overcast, and rapidly becoming darker. They had maybe an hour or so more before they would have to head inside.

"I love you times infinity!" she declared teasingly, her eyes half-closed as she kissed him again, her soft lips brushing against his briefly.

"I love you more," he whispered, his brain too slowed to think of anything poetic to add. All he could think about were those beautiful big eyes and those soft, honey-sweet lips. Her love was intoxicating. And so he surrendered, partially, to his teenager hormones and kissed her full on the lips, as the two lay on their sides, lips sealed. His hands did not stray anywhere inappropriate, despite his longing to caress her curvaceous form. She put any and every super model he'd ever seen to shame with her beautiful body. But he respected her too much to grope at her like some lusty animal.

Their lips reluctantly parted, and she smiled up at him.  Siitting up, her eyes darted skywards briefly, as she seemed to notice the time. "I should be going," she whispered softly. She didn't look anxious to say those words. If anything she looked sad. But Kurt nodded, squeezing her close briefly before bidding her farewell.

"Vill I see you again tomorrow?" he asked.

"I can't, Kurt," she replied with a strained smile. "My grandparents are coming in tomorrow... I'm meeting them at the airport with my parents."

"Vell, okay," he said quietly, lowering his head, allowing his bluish bangs to obscure his eyes. Amanda giggled, blowing him a kiss.

"I'll see you soon, Kurt... and don't worry, I've got an extra-special Christmas present for you!" she stated as she ran off into the snow, deliberately teasing him as she hurried to get home before it got any later.

"Me too!" he called out to her as she vanished between the trees, then immediately wished he hadn't. He'd completely forgotten, though admittedly his mind had been on a number of other things.  Avoiding being crushed, blown up, blasted and the like by Apocalypse, Lousiana thieves and even the Brotherhood. And it was already the 17th. One week to find his girlfriend the perfect present?

Kurt realized he had a more difficult task than if he had to take down a rampaging Juggernaut.

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Author's Notes:

Awww, isn't it cute? Please tell me it is. I hope everyone enjoyed my portrayal of the Seftons, and my near-last-minute decision to make Amanda's mother Margali a vet. I doubt her comic version would approve, but she can't stop me. The post-snowball fight upside-down kiss (say that five times fast) was of course inspired by the Spider-Man movie. Amanda being a latent mutant is a subtle nod to 'Nullification.' Yet another reference to Internutter's many stories about Kurt and his private church. Thank you, Internutter. ^_^ The idea that Kurt's father was an Austrian count named Eric is roughly based on the explanation from TAS. I'd rather not get into the whole idea about Kurt's real dad being a red, actually-from-hell demon. But I am aware of Azazel, before anyone corrects me. Mystique's grave is a subtle reference to 'Weapon X24' and the date is the airdate of Impact, actually. The plot thickens, I am welcome to hear suggestions for what they think Kurt's present is going to be. And for that matter, Amanda's.

Kinomi: Danke fraulein, for being so kind to be my beta-reader.  And grammar instructor.  Hehe.