Face the Blood - Coda

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

All things come to an end - Yvette has one more favour to ask of Kevin before the inhibitor comes off.



Was it really this hot in the medlab all the time? Maybe it wasn't actually that hot in here. Yvette seemed comfortable, if not on edge. Perhaps it was his own anxiety causing the temperature rise. Or perhaps it was what felt like excessive levels of clothing that Kevin was wearing. He'd been back to his usual layers of clothing ever since he'd come back to the mansion with Yvette. It wasn't something he was used to any longer and the abrupt step backward had been uncomfortable. The inhibitor was coming off, though, and he wanted to be sure not to pose a threat to Yvette today. It was the last thing she'd need atop everything else. He also thought it might help, in a way, for someone else to be as blatantly untouchable as she was going to become again.

Kevin was, quite honestly, probably nervous enough for them both. "Y'know, it might be better if you just let her do it. Y'know, then you can't think about it too much. Band-aid approach and all." His own powers had seeped back slowly over the course of a week or two. It had been painful to be increasingly dangerous. Kevin didn't do well with grey areas.

Yvette gave Kevin a weak smile. She was wearing one of Forge's body suits and already she was starting to feel the distance coming back, the wall between her and the world created by her powers. "I am just needing the time to prepare," she replied softly. "Or it will feel too much." Her voice wobbled and she bit her lip, looking up at Kevin from where she was sitting on the exam table. "Thank you, for being here with me."

"Ah couldn't make you do this alone." His voice was soft, softer than usual. His worry for her seemed to be in every line and arch of his body. Kevin wanted to help keep Yvette safe but he couldn't do anything about this. He couldn't protect her from what going back was going to be like and that was frustrating for him. "It'll be okay. It won't be easy and you might end up miserable but it'll be okay. And Ah won't leave ya to deal alone either."

"I wish... I wish I could be having the more time. There is so much more I am wanting to do." She looked down at her wrist, where the inhibitor hung, blinking silently. The skin underneath was irritated and sore-looking, one of the side effects that had begun to make themselves felt. "So much I will miss. " Frustration entered her voice - Yvette tried to be patient, tried to hold out hope she would control her powers, but when it might take years... "How were you coping, when you knew you are having to go back?"

"It's not the same. Not exactly." He sighed and took her hand in a gesture of support. "My powers didn't just snap back, they sorta leeched back. And that was frustrating. But Ah didn't really do what you did. Ah'm not that brave. Sure, Ah didn't wear gloves or a shirt when it was hot out and Ah was workin', but Ah still avoided touchin' most people. 'Cept Jay, 'cause," his voice trailed off and Kevin shrugged. "'Cause ya can't argue against him and win much. For me it was more havin' to remember to be covered again than givin' up touching people again. 'Cause Ah figured Ah wasn't really someone who'd be glad to have the memory so much as Ah'd rather not have to keep remembering what Ah'd lost." Kevin paused and looked down at Yvette's hand. To be honest, he missed the red. Because that was Yvette. "Ah didn't handle it great, though. Just sorta stuck to myself more for a while."

"It was important, that I do the things I cannot. So that if I never can again, I have the memories. I do not want to ever be looking at my life and say that I was being too afraid to take the chance. Not after I am coming so close to dying." She squeezed his hand, her grip becoming almost a cling for a moment. "There is one thing I would like to be doing, before they take away the inhibitor." A faint blush suffused her pale skin. "But I do not know how to be asking for it."

"You're smarter than me, that's why." There was nothing patronizing in his tone. "Ah just chose not to do things just because it'd be easy to. Ah didn't wanna live with remembering it and wanting to do it again but never bein' able to." One day, Kevin thought, Yvette might be able to control her powers and be touchable whenever she wished. There was no such hope for him. Maybe that was the difference right there.

Cocking his head to the side, Kevin gave her a curious look. "If ya don't know how to ask then maybe you should just ask with whatever words you've got to ask with. Ah mean, it's not like you're gonna ask to perform surgery on me or somethin'." He paused, then added a tenative, "Right?"

She gave him a more natural looking smile at the question and shook her head. "No, no surgery." She paused and licked her lips nervously. "I know I am seeming like the little sister to you, but there is something that I have never done and I would like to, very much so." Again she stopped, heart hammering in her chest. What if he said no? Or, worse, what if he laughed at her? She'd never know if she didn't ask. "Kevin, would you be kissing me, please?" she blurted out.

His eyebrows shot upward, attempting to bury themselves in his hairline and his jaw dropped a little. Kevin didn't even register the blush that had sprouted on his cheeks. "You want me to-- Ah mean, that's, um, er." He paused and took a deep breath. This was not the sort of reaction she needed. Kevin exhaled and straightened his posture. "Are you sure? 'Cause, Ah mean, if there's someone else you'd rather--someone you like and all or who's safer..." This was going badly still. "Ah mean, if you really want me to do it then," he trailed off and sort of nodded. What was he going to say? 'No, I won't kiss you and I'm gonna make you go back to being untouchable without ever having been kissed' just wasn't something he was willing to say to someone who meant as much to him as Yvette did. Though the thought of kissing her was a little odd, he couldn't deny that.

It took all of her hard-learned emotional control not to shrink into herself at the reaction. Of course he'd react this way, she had just blurted it out of the blue, no real lead up. And he saw her as a child, they all did. For a moment it was on the tip of her tongue to tell him it was okay, she hadn't really meant it, but she had meant it and this was going to be her last chance, unless she asked Forge and she really couldn't see that working. Straightening her shoulders, she looked up at him and nodded, determination plain on her face. "I do, Kevin. You are the person I am trusting most in the world. You are understanding more than anyone what is going to happen when the inhibitor is gone, what I am having to live with. You are the very important person to me and I cannot think of anyone else I would be trusting for this." Despite the oddities of her English, Yvette sounded more confident, more grown up, than she ever had. "I am nearly dying without having my first kiss. Please, do not let me be missing this chance."

Obviously Angel could learn a thing or two from Yvette when it came to getting what she wanted. Angel had worn him down for the wheelchair racing with whining and wibbling lip. But Yvette had him at the dying, the trust, the important person. Jesus, he was so easy. Kevin nodded, "Well, if you're sure." Obviously the girl was sure. The girl was possibly going to maim him if he said no. And, really, it was a kiss. Just a kiss. It wasn't so much that Kevin saw her as a child as it was that he saw her in very platonic, sisterly terms. He could turn that off, right? After all, she was a girl. A pretty girl, even. A girl who had inspired more than one sculpture or drawing. She was practically a muse. If you couldn't bring yourself to kiss your muse then there was no hope, right?

Kevin took a deep breath and stood up. This whole being put on the spot thing wasn't something he'd ever been good with. This was the area of someone like Julian, he was pretty sure. "You realize you're gonna remember this forever, right? And the medlab's not really the place for first kisses. But," he bit his lip. Really, he just needed to shut up. With his own mind finally made up, Kevin repositioned himself so he was in front of Yvette rather than at her side. The height of the exam table put her just a little lower than himself.

At some point he'd let go of the hand he'd taken earlier, though he couldn't remember when he had done that. A hand rested lightly on Yvette's hip and the other raised to cradle her cheek, thumb brushing over her cheekbone. No, it really wasn't that hard to remember that Yvette was a pretty girl. Kevin leaned forward, closing most of the space between them and paused. Eyes locked onto Yvette's, he gave her one last chance to back out. "This memory's forever," he warned in a whisper. "You still sure you want it?"

Her skin had shivered slightly at the touch of his gloved hand on her cheek. Large brown eyes fixed on his, she nodded, ever so slightly. "Yes," she murmured, hoping she didn't sound as nervous as she felt. She kept her hands clasped loosely in her lap - it was a huge thing Kevin was doing for her, considering his own issues and she wouldn't make it harder for him by adding more contact. He was doing what she'd asked, so he'd get to determine how things would happen. "Thank you," she said, before tilting her face up to his and letting her eyes flutter closed, just as she'd seen them do on television and on movies.

"Don't worry," he whispered, the space between them closing a bit more. "Ah won't let you get hurt. Just," his lips brushed hers ever so slightly, "trust me." Then his eyes closed. His head tilted just right so that her nose wouldn't brush against his cheek and his hand slid back father so he'd have better control over where her head went and be able to adjust properly if she moved. And his lips pressed against hers lightly.

The torrid affair that had been his relationship, and his not-relationship, with Jay made this easy for Kevin. It was natural and he knew just how much space he had to work with before his powers would find a target. He was confident, though, and it helped keep the kiss from being the awkward bumbling it could have been under the circumstances. It also did not feel like the sort of kiss you gave your sister. It was the sort of kiss you gave your girlfriend, soft and lingering and reluctant to part. If you were to have only one memory of being kissed, Kevin thought, then it should be worth keeping.

She'd dreamed of something like this, ever since she'd started noticing boys. No-one, not even Angel, knew how much she'd longed for this moment. Now it was happening... she didn't know if she ever wanted it to stop. A shiver went through her at the touch of his lips on hers, a tingling right down to her toes and it felt like her heart might explode from her chest, it was beating so fast.

One perfect moment, exactly how she'd imagined it. As Kevin pulled back, she remained still, eyes closed, lips slightly parted, her cheeks flushed pink. When she opened her eyes, they were bright with emotion. "~I will remember this for the rest of my life,~" came the words in her native language, before she remembered her English. "That was..." Words failed her. "Thank you. So very much."

Kevin was still close, his hand still cradling her cheek, and he smiled at her. Now that was a priceless expression she wore. "Anythin' for you." The words were still caught in that reverent, whispered tone from the last time he spoke. A kiss was pressed to her cheek and Kevin finally stood up straight. Hand falling from her cheek, a step backward was taken and Kevin tried to switch gears back into concerned older brother. He also made a mental note to avoid any female high school aged for a bit. Girls talked and he wasn't sure he wanted to know what they'd say about this.

"The same, for you," she replied, smiling a little. She closed her eyes again briefly, lifting her hand to her cheek where he'd given her the second kiss, as if searing the whole thing into her memory. Then, taking a breath, she opened her eyes and squared her shoulders again. "I am ready," she said, voice soft and firm. "Could you please to be sending Forge in now?"

Kevin nodded, though he seemed to be watching her more closely than he was listening to her. "Yeah, 'course." He hesitated for a moment, wanting to be sure she was okay. For the first time since he'd met her Kevin was a little worried Yvette might break. She was stronger than that, though, and he knew it so he turned and headed for the door, giving her a half-smile over his shoulder. And so begins the end of normalcy, he thought as the door was pushed open and he went out to find the resident genius.



Forge removes the inhibitor.



Those minutes, sitting on the exam table and waiting for Forge to come in, took an eternity. Longer, as she replayed in her mind every single sensation she'd had since the inhibitor had been put on. The warmth of sunlight on her face, the gentle puff of a breeze against her cheek. The crisp, cool feel of freshly washed cotton sheets against her legs as she slid into bed, the airy lightness of soapsuds in the shower. Catseye's fur against her cheek, Joyita's tongue washing her face and above all, the warm smoothness of someone else's skin against hers. Kevin's kiss. It all came crashing back and for a moment she wasn't sure she could bear it. She wasn't ready, she would never be ready. Her power was like a prison to her senses, the inhibitor a precious reprieve. And now it was over. When the door opened, she looked up, fully prepared to beg for more time, if she had to.

Forge stepped into the small room, closing the door quietly behind him. For almost three weeks, he hadn't seen Yvette. Not since they'd left Kosovo. Between missions, and then Dubai... he could make excuses all day, but he knew that the reason he hadn't stepped into the room was the device clasped around the young girl's wrist.

Quietly, he walked over and sat on a stool next to the table, poking Yvette's leg with one metal finger and venturing a smile. "Hey, I'm looking for a patient here. Short girl, usually kinda reddish? Seen her anywhere?" he joked.

"Not for some time," Yvette replied, the joke doing the impossible and managing to get a wan smile from her. "But I believe you can be helping me find her?" She tilted her head, taking in the bruises. "You have been how you say? In the wars?"

"Worse," Forge admitted, "on vacation. We fought robots. Well, I fought robots. Everyone else came through unscathed. Should say something, that I can get through X-Men missions without a scratch, but vacation kicks my butt." He laughed and shook his head, then reached out to take Yvette's hand in his, sparing a quick glance at the inhibitor, the small piece of technology that separated the Yvette of a month ago from the winsome girl before him now.

No, he thought to himself. There's a lot more than just the inhibitor between now and then.

"How're you feeling?" he asked, inwardly kicking himself for the past weeks when he hadn't asked.

The metal of his hand was slightly cool and very smooth, where there weren't joins. She could spend ages just exploring it with her fingertips. Hours she didn't have any more. "Well, I am not dying any more?" she replied, trying to continue the lightheartedness of the tone. "You are saving my life, with the inhibitor." Her gaze dropped to the metal bracelet, the rash underneath. "But I think now it is the time to be taking it off, yes? The side effects, they are beginning to be worse."

"That's the drawback," Forge admitted. "Some things in us aren't supposed to be changed. We can bend our own genetics only so far before they begin to push back. But you... I mean, this..." He squeezed her fingers lightly for emphasis. "You look just like I thought you would, you know."

"This is why you are the genius, yes? You are knowing everything." The corners of Yvette's mouth turned down a little. "I wish I could stay this way," she said, softly. "My powers... they are so very hard, Forge."

"I know, Evie," came the response, just as quiet. "But now... look at it this way. This moment, the way you are? These past few weeks and everything you've had the chance to do and feel? You'll have it again. You'll learn to control your powers, and one day you'll be out complaining about sunburns again."

He lifted her hand and interlaced her fingers with his, looking at the contrast of metal and flesh meeting. "It's hard," Forge agreed, "but anything worth achieving always is. If you take anything away from this, remember that. And remember how strong you are. That's why you'll be able to do it. And," he added with a grin, "you'll never lack for help."

A short pause, and he nodded towards the inhibitor on Yvette's wrist. "So, are you ready?"

He believed in her. They all did. They'd all worried and fretted when she'd been hurt, celebrated when she'd gotten the transplant and come back, come to visit her when she was recovering. She had to try, to be strong, or she'd make all that mean nothing. She'd coped with her powers this long, she could do it again.

Setting her jaw so her lips wouldn't tremble, she nodded and held up the wrist with the device, her other hand gripping his tightly. "I am ready. Please to be doing it as quickly as possible." She remembered Kevin's suggestion. "Like the band aid, yes?"

A few presses of buttons and a series of clicks, and the bulky bracelet was unfastened, resting in Forge's hand. He placed it on a table, but didn't move from where he sat. "I don't know how long it will take," he said, "or what it's going to feel like. But I'm right here."

He squeezed her hand in his, smiling at the young girl. "I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled back. "I do not feel so diff--" she began, but the word was cut off by a soft gasp. He hand tightened on his, holding it in a death grip as she bent forward, panting slightly, her skin suddenly feeling two sizes too small for her.

In movies, such transformations take time, every nuance and alteration played out for the camera. For Yvette, it was much different. She shuddered and her skin rippled, changing from soft pink to hard brick red. Her fingers and toes elongated in an eyeblink, the force of the change shaving slivers of metal from the exam table and Forge's hand as she held on tight to both. Her posture, once as straight as she could make it, became slightly hunched, her shoulders rolling in and her back curving to compensate for the lack of flexibilty. And her eyes, when she looked up again, were blank and blue, glowing brightly.

"I think... next time..." she managed, her voice slightly tight from the exertion. "...we are doing things more slowly, yes?"

Startled momentarily, Forge glanced over to the medical monitors. Readings had spiked as expected, but levelling out to normal after a few seconds passed. "I think..." he started to say, then stopped and smiled, squeezing Yvette's hand in his as best as he was able. "I think the next time, it'll all be up to you."

She felt the pressure of the squeeze, but not the actual texture of his hand. The fine details were gone again and she'd have to relearn all those little tricks she'd taught herself - or had Kevin teach her - to compensate. As she let go of the exam table, she winced a little at the gouges her other hand had left - she'd worn the body suit, but hadn't been able to put the gloves on, the shape being all wrong for her small hands. "Thank you, for staying with me," she replied, looking at his hand still holding hers despite the fact her fingers were now three times as long as his and the metal was scored with scratches from her skin. "The doctor next, yes, to be having the check up and making sure the kidney is working?"

Forge nodded, standing up and, after a moment's thought, reaching under the exam table to lower it closer to the ground. With his free hand, he motioned to the door. "Just like the first time, yeah?" he said, recalling the day Yvette had woken up in the medlab. "Up for a walk?"

Incredibly, she laughed at that, remembering the day well. She slipped off the table, skidding a little on the floor as she got used to her feet again. "And perhaps later, the ice cream?" she suggested. "After today, I am thinking I deserve the treat, yes?"

"Ice cream it is," Forge agreed.