Please send any comments to DiScOrD at
lunatic_fringe_@hotmail.com, 
I know he'd love to hear readers' reactions.
This story and other stories by the author are being archived on 
Pryde&Wisdom fan-fiction page athttp://home.att.net/~lubakmetyk/
Enjoy...  :-)
******************************************************************
DISCLAIMER
None of these characters were invented by me(big suprise), and  I'm
not making dime one off this, it's only done for the enjoymentof
myself and others.  Please don't sue.  All character names and places
are copyright to Marvel Comics, but this story is copyrighted
1998 LuNaTiC Publishing.

NOTES
Being in the holiday spirit, I decided to set the WayBack machine
for 'then', and visit my "Year" reality Excalibur on the first
Christmas/Hannukah they spent with Pete(and without Piotr).  I was
a little rushed for time, so this is an abridged look at the holidays,
but I think it's still pretty good.  Enjoy!

You've Made This A Christmas To Remember

*BREEP!--BREEP!--BREEP!--BREEP!--BZZT--FIZZLE*
Kitty Pryde's alarm clock died a horrible death, melted and punctured
by several of her lover Pete Wisdom's hotknives.  Kitty had awoken
slightly at the alarm, but she snapped fully awake at the acrid
smell of burnt plastic.  Rolling her eyes, she reached over and
smacked her boyfriend lightly on the back of his head.
"Damn it, Pete, that's the sixth one!"

Wisdom's only response was to grab the pillow and bury his head
under it.  Kitty shook his shoulder.

"Pete.  Pete Wisdom, are you even...."  she gave up and sighed as she
realized Pete had no intention of getting up until he wanted to do
so.  Getting out of bed, she smirked when she saw the sheets twisted
around him, and she grabbed the ends in her hands.  With a loud grunt,
she yanked back hard--and Pete Wisdom was dumped most unceremoniously
on the hard wood floor.

"Bloody hell, what in that name o'-"  He looked up and saw hisyoung
lover standing over him, her arms crossed and one foot tapping in mock  
impatience.

"Do you know what day it is, Pete?"

"It's the first bleedin' day o' Hannukah.  I ain't that dumb,Pryde.
What was yer soddin' reason fer yankin' me arse out o' bed?"

She motioned towards the head of the bed with her left hand.  He
looked at her nightstand and saw the ruined alarm clock.

"Oh."  He looked at her questioningly.  "Number....""Six."
"Number six, yeah.  Oh, I'll buy you another onelove....actually,
that maybe takes care o' one o' yer presents."

Kitty rolled her eyes again.  "That's not the point, Pete. Look, I
don't mind that you don't get up when I do, that's fine, butplease,
stop destroying my clocks!"

Pete grinned at her and saw her irritation start to subside asshe
easily read the lusty gleam in his blue eyes.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop doin' yer bleedin' clocks, an' in
return,"  he grinned as he got up from the floor, and pulled her
nightshirt off of her, "you can help this miserable ol' git take
a shower.  Fair deal?"

Kitty's only reply was a wink and a kiss that she kept going all
the way into the bathroom.               
  ************
"Mein Gott im himmel!"  Kurt Wagner was very busy, cursing in two
languages, trying to hold up the Christmas tree with his tail, and
trying to get it in the stand with both hands, all at the same time.
"Douglock, Rahne, come help me with this verdammte fir tree!"

Muffled chuckles were the only response, and Kurt sighed. Surely,
he thought, laughing at the team leader ought to merit some
additional chores, perhaps an extra shift or five of kitchen duty.

Doug came up, using his superior strength to easily lift the bulky
and unwieldy tree up so Kurt could get it in the stand.
"Sorry, Kurt, you had to see it from our angle."

As the tree met the metal spike of the stand, Wagner sighed again.
"FINALLY.  Rahne, the decorations?"  As she handed him the first
handful, Kurt passed some to Doug and began hanging the rest.
Suddenly he stopped and stared at the ornament in his hand.
Looking at Rahne, he sighed again."An Energizer bunny?"

Rahne started to giggle.  "Douggie got 'im f'r me a'Thanksgivin',
sae jist hang 'im an' be quiet aboot et.  Besides, A think he's
cute...."  She cocked an eyebrow as she saw a rallying point in the
next ornament.  "A dinnae say anythin' aboot thes, do A?"  Kurt
blushed(although you couldn't really tell to look at him) when he
saw what Rhane was dangling, a pentagram ornament he'd gotten for
Amanda the year before.

"Yes, fine, whatever...."  And Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler, leader
of British mutant group Excalibur, sighed yet again.  I wonder,
he thought to himself, if the French Foreign Legion is recruiting?
                 ************
That night, up in Pete's room, he handed Kitty her first Hannukah 
present.

"Pete, this isn't fair, I only got you a few things, and if you've
got me one for every day...."  Kitty's voice trailed off as Pete
shook his head.

"Now, don't go gettin' yer knickers in a twist, love, I got you one
good thing, an' the rest is sort o' little stuff.  Open it, come on."
Kitty ripped away the paper and started to laugh when she saw an
alarm clock, just like all the previous ones he'd bought.

"Well, thank you, it just so happens that I needed one of these."
Pete grinned at her, and then pulled her up into his arms, as they
fell back onto his bed.                
 ************
Christmas day dawned sunny and cold, and Excalibur made they early
downstairs trek at 7, a little later this year, mainly because of
Pete, and also, this gave the couples a little more 'quality time'
in the morning.  As soon as everyone was assembled, the gifts and
paper began to fly.  The room became a confused hubbub of "thank
you!"'s and other notices of appreciation, then, as it finally died
down, after about fifteen minutes, Pete reached under the sofa
and got out one last present.  He smiled at his girlfriend, and
sat up with it held behind his back as the others started to watch.
"Yer turn, love."  As Kitty began to protest, he shook his head.
"Yeah, I know you've already gotten a Hannukah gift fer today,but,
seein' as how today's Christmas, I figured if anybody deserved a
little somethin' extra, it was you."  He handed her a small package,
smiling as she tore the paper carefully.

"Oh my God...."  Kitty's voice trailed off as she opened a jewel box
to see a pair of diamond earrings.  Sure, the diamonds were a little
small, but that didn't take away from the fact that no one had ever
given her diamonds before.

Pete was grinning widely, enjoying the looks on the faces of
Excalibur.  He'd had to spend most of a day going through his
pilfered Indian jewel collection to find a matching set that were
the perfect size to complement his lover's figure, not too big, not
too showy, just right.  As her bottom lip began to tremble, he
grinned again.  If she liked that, he wondered, what she would do
if he ever popped the question?

"Oh, Pete, they're so lovely...."  She pounced on him and kissed
him long and hard, until Wagner began to clear his throat.

"Well, Herr..." Kurt trailed off at the exasperated look Kitty shot
his way, "Pete, I must say, that is rather generous of you."

Pete shook his head.  "Ain't generous to give somethin' like that to
the woman you love, is it misery-guts?"  Amanda elbowed her blue
furred boyfriend in the side at that, and Brian had to fight back 
a laugh.

Kitty snuggled up to Pete and into his arms, her eyes brimming with
tears, as he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.  As more
post-gift conversation started, he whispered in her ear.

"Don't even be wonderin' love, yer worth everythin' I could ever
get you, an' then some."                 
************
It was December 28th, and Pete and Kitty were sitting in her room.
Kitty had been ordered to put her hands over her eyes.

"Can I open my eyes now, Pete?"

"In a bleedin' second, I said.  Now just wait, will ya?"

He went over to the bed and pulled her hands away from her face.
She looked over at the door, and saw her suitcase and his packed
and ready to go.  Confused, she looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, seein' as how we's all goin' over to Westchester on the first,
I thought you an' me would go 'head an' go.  Mebbe go see yer mum,
or some such."

Kitty laughed delightedly at that, and threw her arms around Pete
in a tight hug, almost knocking them both off the bed.
	
"So, when do we leave?"  Pete looked at the new alarm clock he'd
gotten her a few days before.

"Well, we need to go 'head an' go here in a few minutes. Braddock's
flyin' us down to Heathrow, an' I got a 3:30 to LaGuardia booked on
the Concord, then a connecting flight to O'Hare, then we just call
Westchester when we're ready to get picked up.  I figured you'd wanna
stay a day or two, at least."

Kitty climbed on to his lap, straddling his hips.  "Pete, I just
want you to know, this has been the best holiday I've had in along
time."  She grinned mischieviously.  "And it's mostly because of you."

Pete's eyes widened.  "Mostly?"  As his lover rolled her eyes,he
grinned.  "Well, love, it's been the best one I've had in quite a
while, too.  And that's ALL 'cause o' you."  He pulled her into
a deep kiss that lasted until an impatient Brian paged them over
the intercom.

"Kitty?  Wisdom?  It does take about fifty minutes to get to
London, you know.  It's only an hour and a half until your flight
leaves.  Come on, you two, save it for Chicago."

Kitty and Pete both began to laugh at that, and then they got up
and took their luggage to the hangar.               
  ************
"Well.  Here we are, outside O'Hare International Airport, and...."
Kitty frowned as yet another taxi driver ignored her hail, "we can't
even get a cab to take us to Deerfield."

Lighting a Marlboro with his Zippo, Pete grinned.  "Lemme try, love."
Seeing a cab that had just let someone out, Pete ran and grabbed the
driver, who had been helping unload the luggage.  Waving Kitty over,
he simply said, "Deerfield."  as the man loaded the two's suitcases
into the trunk.  Gallantly holding the door open for his young lover,
Pete got in a sat down beside her.

"No smoking in the cab, buddy."  The driver frowned at Pete.

"An extra ten if you let me finish this one."  Pete smiled to himself
when the driver nodded, and he turned to Kitty after blowing a drag
of smoke out the window.  "See how easy life can be, love?"

The cab made it to Deerfield in a little over thirty-five minutes,
and Wisdom paid the man off as they unloaded their luggage in front
of Kitty's mom's house.  Going up to the door, Kitty coughed in
nervous anticipation, then rang the bell several times.

"Just a minute."  came the cry from inside the house, then a light,
rapid step that Kitty easily identified, and the sound of a chain
being undone and the deadbolt being thrown back.

"Yes, how may I--"  Theresa Jenkins stopped dead in her tracks as
she saw her daughter, as well as the slightly taller man behind her.

"Hi, mom."  Kitty said, then laughed as her mother came forward to
embrace her tightly.

"Oh, Kitty, honey, it's so good to see you!"  Theresa kept on
hugging her until Kitty felt like she couldn't breathe.  "Kitty,
I never expected you'd come see me this year.  And who's this?"

Kitty smiled at her mother.  She might regret this later, she knew,
but right now, things were going so well that she just wanted to let
the past stay buried.  "Well, I just thought it'd been too long since
I came by.  And this," she said, pulling Pete forward, "this is
my boyfriend, Pete Wisdom.  Pete, this is my mom, Theresa Jenkins."

Pete actually remembered his manners, as he stuck his hand out.
"Ms. Jenkins.  Kitty's told me a lot about you."

"Well, come in, come in, I was just getting ready to eat, but I've
got enough for you two as well."  Kitty and Pete went in, Kitty
silently offering thanks that this was, so far, turning out better
than she'd hoped.                 
************
After THREE days of visiting Kitty's mother, Pryde & Wisdom called
up Brian to come get them that afternoon at O'Hare.  As Kitty went
out to the taxi with the driver and their luggage, Theresa pulled
Pete back for a second.

"Pete, I'm going to be honest with you.  You seem to be very good for
my Kitten, and I can see very plainly that you love each other. So
I'm only going to say one thing.  If you ever hurt her, I swear, by
all I hold holy, I don't care if you are a mutant, I will find a way
to kill you."  Pete looked at her in amazement.  "Yes, I know Kitty's
a mutant, I know about the X-Men, everything.  She told me, along
time ago.  None of that changes the fact that she's my daughter, and I
would die to protect her."  Pete lit a Marlboro.  He could believe it,
but still...."Well, then why don't you tell HER that?"  Pete turned 
and walked away, and as he got to the cab, he heard Theresa call out 
to Kitty, who walked back to the house.  He stood there, watching as
Theresa and Kitty talked, a talk that ended in a strong embrace, and 
a kiss on her daughter's cheek.  As his lover walked back, Pete saw
that she was wiping away tears.

"All right, love?"  She smiled and nodded, turning to wave at her
mother, and then they got in the cab and headed towards O'Hare.
                 ************
Kitty and Pete got to Westchester later that afternoon, and rejoined
the rest of Excalibur, as well as the X-Men, X-Force, and Gen-X,
who had come from Massachusetts.  Gift exchanges were largely confined
to the individual groups, although Kitty and Jubilee spent sometime
giggling about what they'd gotten for Logan, and Remy cornered Pete
to get the necklace he'd asked Pete to pick out of his jewels, the
one he'd mentally saved for Rogue a while back.  That night, there
was a large dinner, an informal affair, with everybody coming as-is,
and later that night, after presents were exchanged, everyone headed
into the foyer, where Hank and Bobby had moved the big screen TV to
watch the ball drop in Times Square.  Everyone had drinks, and there
was abundant mistletoe.  Even Professor Xavier indulged, graciously
accepting a portion of Pete's Scotch.  Although the two men still
didn't really care for each other, they had decided to just let it be,
and so far, that hadn't proved a problem.  At 11:59:45, Hank quieted
everyone down, then started the countdown at....
"TEN!  NINE!  EIGHT!  SEVEN!  SIX!  FIVE!  FOUR!  THREE!  TWO!
ONE!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

All of the X-couples started to kiss, and no one even noticed when
Jubilee sneaked one with Ev.  They'd both had a little more to drink
then they probably should have--what with many of the adults being
distracted, grabbing a few glasses of bubbly had been relativly easy
for the ex-shoplifter--and parted just in time to avoid being seen by
Moira.  As they seperated, both teens couldn't help but think that
this was something they'd have to address, and sooner rather than
later.  Most of the crowd began to sing, slightly off key, and as the
strains of "Auld Lang Syne" sounded in their ears, Kitty and Pete
snuck off to a quieter corner.

"I love you."  Pete said, as Kitty turned towards him.

"What!?"  Having been right next to Sean when the ball dropped,
her hearing was a little frutzed.  He gently grabbed her by the
chin and tilted her head up to look in her eyes.

"I SAID I LOVE YOU!"  Pete yelled, then blushed when the X-types
began clapping and hooting at the two.  Pete rolled his eyes.

"Oh, sod off, all o' you!"                
 ************
The End

(have yourselves a merry little christmas, all!)  

\(^o^)/