The Tree
Explosions
She carried his limp body into the rec room. It was starting to get late, but at this hour, there would still be people down there watching news, or, if Bobby had managed to get a hold of the remote control, late night comedy shows. Indeed, quite a few members of the house had congregated there – Ororo, Bobby, Logan, Scott, Jean, the professor – checking out the news, mostly for any kind of political developments that might have an affect on them, she guessed. The telepaths turned toward her first, followed very shortly by Logan's eyes, all having sensed her anxiety before she entered the room. The other people followed suite one by one. She ignored most of them though, and walked into the room with out realizing that Ororo had turned the TV off, with out realizing that her eyes appeared to be burning with the fire that only a few minutes ago had been in the eyes of the loved one that now laid lifeless in her arms. She just stared straight at the professor, angry, hurt, unrelenting, until she reached his wheel chair. She carefully she laid his body on the professor's wheel chair, like some kind of human sacrifice, resumed her uncompromising stare and said to the old man,
"He kissed me. That's all."
Charles just looked down at the body that had all but been placed in his lap. He fumbled around the Creole, checking for a pulse, mentally calling for Hank. These were all legitimate tasks, but the truth was, he couldn't bear to look the young woman in the eye. He could feel her accusatory glance piercing his heart and burning through his flesh as she backed away. He thought she would leave the room, maybe even the mansion, and they wouldn't see her for weeks. As Hank came into the room, he looked up and saw that she had stayed, huddled in the door, waiting for Hank, just like the rest of them. Moreover, her attention had seemed to be taken off trying to kill him with a look to concern for the man Hank was checking for vitals. He also saw that Ororo, despite her devotion to her young Cajun friend, had made her way over the young Southern woman, trying to comfort her. The younger woman didn't seem too responsive to the sympathy. She didn't flat out reject it, either, so Ororo continued to silently comfort the indifferent one.
Hank was laying the Cajun down on one of the beds, hooking him to an I.V., oxygen, and setting up everything else the young man would need for his stay in the MedLab. The professor and Scott were helping him, with Ororo and her trembling companion lingering in the background. The only sound was Hank giving out commands to Scott and Charles over the whir of the equipment and computers. Until the younger woman spoke up.
"Is there anythin' Ah can do to help?"
Scott, annoyed about the whole situation at hand, and still peeved about having his meeting so rudely interrupted earlier, snapped back at her.
"Haven't you done enough?!"
She just stared him for a moment. The room was silent, tense, and Hank wondered if he wouldn't have to be setting Scott up in one of these beds in a few minutes. Much everyone's surprise, though, she just whispered:
"You're right. Ah'm sorry."
As soon as the younger woman had disappeared from the room, Ororo turned angrily to Scott.
"A bit harsh, don't you think, Scott?" and she turned to follow her friend to the upper levels.
She made her way back to the hallway before Ororo could catch up to her, and paused a moment before returning to the Rec Room. The news had come back on, but no one appeared terribly interested in it. She headed straight to Logan.
"Show me your claws," she commanded of him.
"What?" Everyone had turned to look at her, but she ignored them.
"Show me your claws."
"No."
She grabbed his arm, as if she was trying to force them out herself, trying desperately to shatter the bones she knew would never break. He stood up. The others were on her, calling out her name, trying to talk some sense into her. But she ignored their pleas and flung them off effortlessly. She kept her grip on Logan, though and kept trying to get him to show him her claws. Finally, Logan managed to get a good stance. Though he could never quite to reach her height or strength, he did throw her off him while she was distracted enough, launching her toward a wall. She left a shattered table in her path, and created a dent in the wall where she landed, but Logan had managed to hurl her so that no person was in her path.
She sat were she had landed, unhurt, but a little stunned. The other people in the room began to collect themselves. She shuttered on the floor and buried her face in her hands, muttering apologies through her tearless sobs. Then, all of a sudden, the long, spearmint gloves that went past her elbows exploded in her face. She let out a little scream. Indeed, the blast startled everyone. She just sat there, staring at her hands, realizing what had just happened, with that same, stunned look on her face. Someone broke the silence with her name, but her only response was to jump up and run to her room.
A few of them would have run after him, but Logan stopped them.
"Leave her be."
Bobby spoke up.
"You seem to be saying that a lot tonight. How can you be sure she's going to be okay if we leave her all alone?"
"She's not alone, bub," Logan replied matter-of-factly.
"What if…what if she tries to hurt herself?"
"I wouldn't worry too much about that, Ororo. She won't try anything so long as Gumbo's with her like that. Besides, any of us trying to help her now, with the state she's in, might end up doing more harm than good."
It sounded reasonable enough of an explanation to Ororo. Logan didn't sound at all angry with her, and she did trust his instincts. Still, she couldn't help but be worried about her friends – both of them. She sighed, and went back down to the MedLab to be with the friend that wouldn't reject her presence.