Because it's not truly done until I've beaten you with obvious symbolism in an epilogue.

Thanks for reading this and waiting it out for the last two years or so! Although I don't write much fanfiction anymore (barring this crazy spree) I absolutely read the comments. I also have other Laura stories in my profile, if this wasn't enough you can go read those too. :)

Ch. 14

"Although there is one plant missing." Ororo said, watching Laura. "Whatever happened to your hybrid tea rose?"

For several weeks afterwards Laura would run the meeting through her head and it always played out to the same conclusion: people make no damn sense. At all. It was baffling. For example, she did not technically get in trouble for the incident. Xavier had given a speech on how she had shown remorse and an ability to fix her own mistakes, etcetera, but Laura had stopped listening after Ororo said Laura was more than welcome to return to gardening with her.

In the end she had been assigned two weeks of intensive Danger Room sessions with Logan, but that had seemed hollow even to Laura since she and Logan had intensive Danger Room sessions all the time already. She was also assigned permanent gardening duty, which was also superfluous. But after winning the garden back Laura didn't want to push her apparent luck any further.

Jean seemed to assume that since Laura had spoken to her the most of any of the teenagers that they were now part of a sacred sisterly bond. It was surprisingly difficult for Laura to evade her new friend now that most of the students were on rota for the new gardening chores that had been added to their housekeeping lists. Jean always wanted to take her with her to the movies, to the mall, to her college campus. Apparently, just wanting to include her in her life. Laura sometimes went but usually ran and hid until Jean left. It was usually still too much.

It was especially awkward if it was one of the other students. Somehow when she had asked for help to make Ororo feel better and fix her garden, they saw that as some kind of vulnerability that made her relatable. Laura now had an almost Pavlovian response to run away when she saw Kitty heading towards her with some new CD, or one of the guys wandering around with their extra video game controller.

Although overall she had gotten off lightly (other than the sharp increase in unpreventable social interactions with her fellow students), she had lied to Ororo at the meeting, which was making her feel sort of…twitchy. She had told Ororo that her rose had died, that she had killed it that horrible night of her berserker rage. That was mostly true. Most of the original plant hadn't survived the transplant, but there was that one abused little bud that hung in there. It had been torn up, drenched, thrown off a roof, been bled on, shoved into a pocket repeatedly, and unceremoniously stuck into strange dirt in some man's cigar-smoke-scented bedroom, but it had survived.

Laura wanted to be the very first person to see what color that stupid rose in the bud was going to be. As it began to grow she could see hints of red, but not enough to determine the exact shade. Now that some time had passed and spring was definitely happening, the roses outside would bloom any day. Laura hoped hers would bloom then too, despite being grown indoors. Part of Jean's sudden inexplicable affection for her seemed to stem in part from Laura having to move the rose into her room for more sunlight. Somehow this was interpreted as a sign of trust just because Laura knew Jean would keep her mouth shut about it.

That waiting paid off, finally, almost two months after nearly killing it. Laura unceremoniously walked into Jean's room as she was getting dressed, ignoring the older girl's scolding, and looked at her rose.

"Finally!" she yelled out of surprise. Jean paused mid-sentence and hopped over while putting her pants on to see.

"Oh, I didn't even notice that when I got up. How beautiful," she said, all irritation gone. "It's gorgeous!"

If Jean gushed about it anymore, Laura didn't stick around to hear. She picked the pot up and sprinted as best she could up to the attic garden, where she knew Ororo would be tending her-their- the plants.

"There!" Laura said forcefully, sitting the pot down on the table Ororo was nearest to. "Mission completed. Kind of."

Ororo turned, startled at Laura's entrance, then smiled broadly as she leaned in to study the solitary rose in the huge pot. "You told me it died."

"I lied," Laura said. "Although at that point I was not sure. Most of it did die. But not this one."

"Oh. Well-." Ororo paused as there was thumping coming from the stairwell.

Jean came in, fixing her hair into a ponytail while she ran up the stairs. "Did you ever tell her about the symbolism?" she panted slightly through the hair tie gripped in her teeth as she freed her hands from her hair.

"Symbolism?" Laura asked skeptically. This also rang of literature to her. Ororo shook her head.

"Laura is not interested in the symbolism behind roses," she said. Jean sighed in disappointment.

"Maybe this one time I will tolerate it," Laura said slowly, confused by Ororo and Jean, "but don't make it sappy."

Ororo beckoned Laura to come in to her rose. "Roses are symbolic of love." Laura sighed. Ororo continued. "Different varieties of roses have different significances. I'll spare you the list. The hybrid tea rose is supposed to signify remembrance, that the recipient of one will never be forgotten. And that beautiful color your rose has, burgundy, means 'unconscious beauty'."

Jean glanced casually at her watch, double-glanced at it sharply, and then left to go to school, pouting a little that she was missing the symbolism talk. Ororo chuckled, patting Laura's shoulder as they admired the rose.

"What is funny?" Laura asked suspiciously. Symbolism was turning out to be just as irritating as emotions. "I see no humor in the present situation."

"When you initially picked this flower you told me that you picked it because it was ugly and 'makes you bleed'."

"It has. I heal from incidents like that." Laura reminded her.

"I believe a revision to that statement is in order. No, it was not much to look at before. But this rose has been through a lot. It has thorns and requires nearly constant attention-" she looked sharply at Laura for a moment "-but it blooms most unexpectedly when given a chance. Its beauty surprises. The thorns aren't so important when that happens."

"I believe you have just compared me to flora," Laura said after a few moments.

Ororo laughed and picked up her pruning shears. "Very well, I will stop the sentimentality. Make yourself useful and prune the new plants, they are growing very quickly."

Laura popped her blades out and set to using violence against vegetables while Ororo worked. The sun was shining brightly through the glass ceiling. The panels that opened were letting a warm summer breeze into the room that made the hanging flowers, already flowing over the sides of their pots, spin gently. And for Laura, working silently while Ororo hummed quietly from across the room, everything was as it should be.