Of Jealousy and Love ch 29

Finally I come out of the woods. Hehe. Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I've been at a writer's block and every time I want to write, well, other things have occupied my time. But the important thing is I'm here now and I've updated!! So enjoy!!

………………………….

Time stood still.

All Rogue could hear was the thumping of her heart, travel at the speed of light through her ears as her mother stampeded down the hallway.

There were certain times in life when one could tell that grave danger or death was approaching, and every millisecond ticked by for eons and every surrounding action moved at a snails pace. It was a time where one couldn't think, couldn't breathe, and all the dire consequences of getting caught flashed through ones eyes.

That's what Marie felt right now.

Her whole body seemed to tense up and pause.

She was completely oblivious to Scott's panic, her father's warning to quickly hide in the bathroom, and any other attempt to snap her out of her trance.

She was only brought back into reality when her mother opened the door.

"MARIE D'ACANTO!!!"

Finally she could breathe again, but she wasn't sure she wanted to. Her breath came out in a short gasp and without thinking she clutched onto Scott in fear, only to let go when she realized this wasn't the best of ideas.

Her mother saw this.

"Mother—"

"So this is it huh?" her mother began, stepping into the room as calmly as she could and not bothering to close the door. "This is why you choose to stay in this dump?"

"Mother it's not what you think" Oh she was afraid; she was very afraid. Never in her life had she seen her mother so angry. Never in her life had she seen her mother so furious that she looked like she was almost….crazed. If there was ever a time to stand up to her or provoke her, now was not the time. Bethany was so livid right now, there was no telling what she would do.

"Not what ah think?" she asked. "You're locked in a room with you're teacher and it's not what ah think!"

"Mom—"

"No excuses Marie! Ah don't even wanna' begin to think of what possible excuses ya could have for this! How dare ya! How dare ya do something like this!"

"Mom—"

"AH SAID NO EXCUSES!!!" she boomed. "Ah just…..Ah just can't believe ya Marie. All weekend long ya bitch and whine and groan about your father and Ah lying to ya; your father and ah hiding secrets from ya'. Then ya' go and hide this?"

"Mom, I love him!"

POW! Another blow to the heart. She swore as the seconds marched on she was only making this worse for herself.

Her mother could only take a step back and clutch a hand to her heart when these putrid words fell onto her ears. Again she couldn't believe it.

"Excuse meh?" she asked quietly.

Rogue was crying now, tears of sadness and fear rolling down her cheeks. "Mom, I said I love him." She repeated. She sniffled into her sleeve as the tears kept flowing and her mother remained silent.

"I know this is a shock to you mom and I'm sorry I had to hide it but I love him, I love him with all my heart and I want to be with him and I have to stay here and—"

Rogue never got the chance to finish.

Fresh skin colliding with her cheek never gave her the chance and she could only stand there frozen like a statue afterwards, slowly brining a hand to her cheek at the bruise beginning to form.

"Hey!" Scott cried, fury beginning to build within him. He didn't care who it was talking to her, but nobody laid a hand on his girlfriend.

Richard paused Scott from confronting his ex-wife, knowing a reprimanding from him would only upset her more but it was needless to say that he was just as angry at her for hitting Rogue than Scott was. In all their years of raising their daughter, they had never lay a finger on her, until this day.

"Bethany" he gasped but she ignored him.

Stepping slowly toward her daughter, who still held her cheek, Bethany forced her to look her in the eyes. "You are a whore." She spat, saying those words like they were a deadly poison. "Words cannot describe how ashamed of you ah am" she continued.

Rogue's mouth twitched in anger; her fear was quickly shifting into fury and it was rising at dangerous levels.

"You've shamed your name, you've shamed your family, you've shamed yourself and I am disgusted at how I've raised such a filthy slut!—"

SLAP!

Another blow to the face. But this time it wasn't Rouge's.

Taking a step back from the rather hard hit, Bethany looked in fear and astonishment of what her daughter did and Scott quickly pulled Rogue away before she could do more damage. This was turning out way worse than any of them could have ever expected.

"Rogue please" he begged. "Don't—"

"I am not a whore mom!" she yelled, pulling free of her boyfriends grasp and towering over her mother. "I'm not a whore, I'm not a slut and you never raised me! You disowned me when I was a mutant, you hated me, you spited me and you're an awful mother! You're a bad woman mom; you're a bitch!"

"Marie!" it was her father's turn to cut in now, disgusted by his daughters cruel words, even if it was directed at someone who deserved it. Respect was a very important value in his eyes and he would see none of it misused from his own daughter.

Unfazed by her cruelty, Mrs. D'Acanto pulled herself together and out of her shock and calmly readjusted her blouse and her purse. This was getting out of hand; it was time to show Rogue who was boss in this family.

"You're right" she admitted quietly, staring her daughter down. "Ah didn't raise ya." She said. "Ah would never succumb ta raising such disrespectful whore like ya' self."

Again Rogue could feel her fury rising.

"This damn school is what turned ya inta' the demon that ya are know. This school is what shaped your disgusting habits you developed."

Rogue rolled her eyes.

"You—"

"Ah'm not finished yet" Bethany spat through clenched teeth. "Now if you love this man so much and if you give a rat's ass about this school than ya' stay; ah don't care. Just know that ah feel that's it's ma duty ta let the other parents know, what they're kids are getting into."

Turning around and beginning to exit the room, Rogue stopped her.

"Mom!"

She paused in the doorway, turning her head to look at her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Ah already told ya'." She said. "I need ta' have a talk with your dean"

……………………..

By now the assembly and the children's play were over and the atmosphere moved to an outdoor picnic on the mansions grounds; the last activity for the day until registration took place and goodbyes were said.

Emma had already left once she saw that her damage was done and she could safely ease-drop from afar and the mood seemed to shift into a relieved one, making space for anxious free quality time with the students and parents.

But for some that just wasn't the case anymore.

While outside in the pool area, Jean and the professor sat down and had a long talk about what she did and why she felt the need to do it and though utterly disappointed with her, Xavier decided not to renege her position at the school. The two reasons being, it was far too late to find someone to replace her as head of the Science department, clinic and co-leader and trainer in the X-man field, and, he always felt the need to give someone a second chance.

Though he did caution her that her position was hanging on by a thread and it would take a lot of doing to rebuild the trust they once had he also informed her that her only punishment would be to deal with all the consequences of what she's done all on her own, and he would have no part in helping her.

Graciously accepting his terms and conditions, Jean began by apologizing first to him for all she's caused and disappeared off into the abyss of people to begin her promise to the professor of doing better.

And now that that's been lifted off of his shoulders and Emma was gone, it only left for one more thing for the professor to worry about; Rogue and Scott.

While speaking to Jean he had heard Bethany's roars and stomps down the hallway into their room and he had felt the emotional stress dipping through extreme highs and lows between the couple and family both when they reveled their relationship to Richard, and when Bethany came to confront them.

He couldn't imagine what they were going through right now and he was scared of the consequences it could bring. He was worried about Rogue; worried about Scott and worried about where this would take not only their relationship, but the relationship with Rogue's family and Rogue and Scott's allegiance with the school.

Rogue and Scott were not only two of his best shining pupils, but they were also two very good friends; friends he enjoyed having as company, and he would hate to see one or both of them gone over something that was out of their control.

Thoughts of the possible outcomes plagued him as he sat under one of the tables at by the pool and continued to drown out everything around him and try to find out what was going on.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

A sudden voice pulled him out of his trance and Charles removed his hand from the palm of his hand to address who was speaking to him.

He smiled when he saw Storm standing there with a plate of food in her hands.

"Ah good afternoon Ororo" he greeted, plastering on the warmest smile he could muster. "Beautiful day outside isn't it?" he asked, looking around at the pleasure the beauty of the weather brought to his eyes.

Storm giggled. "Professor you flatter me" she said, taking a seat next to him. "But I can't take all the credit, the beautiful flowers are a special touch from Myra over there. She has an amazing gift"

The professor nodded in agreement. "Indeed she does"

Myra, the resident florist was known for using her mutation to make amazing floral arrangements, and today was no exception. Working in unison with Ororo's gift of weather manipulation, Myra created spectacular views of exotic and native flowers and shrubs that added to the beauty of the day and lasted a lifetime with the aid of the perfect climate. And today she really outdid herself. The blossoming tropical flowers, green bushes and plush leaves really gave the picnic it's creative edge.

"I brought some food for you" Storm said suddenly, placing the plate she brought in front of the professor. "Dean gets first pick of the day." She said. "And it's all your favorites too; Hanks' famous grilled chicken, my fluffy and delicious mashed potatoes and a fresh from the garden salad."

The professor smiled again. "Thank you very much Ororo, but I'm not too hungry at the moment."

Ororo sighed, setting down the plastic fork and knife as well. "Professor you barely touched your food this morning and you and I both know that if you don't eat properly you can—"

"I know, I know Ororo" he gently interrupted. "But you know how I get when I'm worried. The last thing I think about is food."

She sighed again. "I'm sure Rogue and Scott are fine; Emma's gone now."

"That she is, but the destruction she left behind is still here."

"Destruction?"

"I've felt Rogue and Scott's emotional stress rising and falling all morning, I don't think things are going to well with them; especially for Rouge"

"Did Emma tell?"

"I haven't eavesdropped on any of their conversations, Rogue has somehow found the ability to shut me out, but she must have said something to Bethany or things wouldn't be the way they are."

"Shut you out?" Storm asked. "I thought only telepaths could—"

"Rogue has limitless powers. Limitless, powerful and possibly destructive gifts that I clearly underestimated." He sighed.

"And that's why you're worried?"

Again he nodded.

Ororo sighed. "Professor?" she began after a period of silence.

The dean looked up from his plate of food; he was thinking about taking at least once bite of the chicken; no one could resist Hank's grilled masterpiece.

"Hmm?"

"Is it true what Emma said in the office this morning?" A look of confusion plastered on his face. "About you holding Rogue back from her powers?"

Again he sighed a hard sigh. This was going to be tough to explain.

"Yes it is true" he admitted, nodding solemnly. "I knew the moment she came to this school."

"So why'd you do it?" Storm asked. "Were he powers that bad?"

"They weren't bad" he explained. "Just dangerous. Rogue's mutation had been lying dormant for a few years before they manifested physically, and like I mentioned to her the other day, she doesn't need to physically come into contact with someone to absorb their power. From the time her mutant gene became active whilst lying where it was, to the time her power manifested, she had already absorbed so much from mutants she's met before but didn't know it."

"So you blocked the powers?" Storm asked.

"I did all that I could. Like Jean and Emma, I created a vast amount of not only mental shields but shields protecting her mutant gene as well. And during our sessions when I felt she was ready, I slowly began releasing them one by one, allowing her to progressively develop fully into her powers."

"And it didn't work did it?"

"It did, until her eighteenth birthday when she had that incident with Logan. I was going to tell her the next day about her dormant powers and begin to teach her about how to safely release and control them, but as the love square between her Scott, Jean and Logan grew and her parents came this weekend and added to the emotional stress, my shields were destroyed and her powers were released."

"But she's doing fine isn't she? She seems like she's handling them alright to me."

"Solely because only the surface of what's been lying there for all these years has been revealing itself. It's not too late to still teach her how to control them but I'm afraid if she continued being disturbed like this for too long, than all her powers will surface at once and well…….if not controlled properly, it could be fatal."

Storm gasped. "Oh my" she said, gently holding a hand to her heart. "I didn't know that there was—"

"Excuse me?"

A flabbergasted Mrs. D'Acanto cut off her sympathy and both the professor and Storm paused in their tracks.

"Mrs. D'Acanto" Ororo said suddenly. Oh God, this was not good; more incidents adding to their collection of unfortunate events. "Uh, how much of that conversation did you hear?"

"Enough to prove all ah knew about this school, that's how much ah heard" she snarled angrily.

"Mrs. D'Acanto please, let's not be rash about this—

"Rash? Ya think ah'm bein' rash?"

"Mah daughter has a condition that could be fatal and ya failed ta inform not only ma husband and ah, but her as well and you want meh ta not be rash!" she fumed. "What kind of school are ya running here?"

She was beginning to draw the attention of some of the picnic-goers, some of which were Hank, Jean and Logan who excused themselves from whatever they were doing to join the professor and back him up if need be.

"Mrs. D'Acanto I understand you're upset but please understand, I only did what I did for the best interest of your daughter."

"Her dyin' is in her best interest!!!"

Even more attention was brought over to them now and it was then that Rogue, Scott and Richard entered at the patio scene; they quickly rushed over.

"Mrs. D'Acanto, I assure you that—"

"Ah don't need ta' be reassured of anythin'! I've got all the information ah need to not only withdraw mah daughter from this school Mr. Xavier but ah'll tie ya up in so much allegations' ya'll be forced to close down this school by the feds!"

People were beginning to whisper now.

"Mom" Rogue groaned, trying to pull her away.

Bethany refused. "How dare ya! How dare ya' put mah family through turmoil like this and how dare ya' not only risk the life of mah daughter but ya…..ya…. allow her to date her teacher!!!"

The crowd gasped now, whispers being exchanged now lauder than ever and parent on lookers suddenly rethinking their child's admission to the school.

Xavier however could feel his heart doing flip-flops as he sat there and took the verbal abuse. He was worried about Rogue and the outcomes of her taking the emotional distress but now as things began sitting wrongly with him, he was worried for himself.

"Mom!" Rogue scolded.

"Ya' should be ahamed of yourself for doin this to a sweet innocent girl! Turnin' her into a whore by allowin' her ta' be involved with this man"

She pointed and angry finger at Scott and rumors began to circulate.

"Oh my God, is this true?"

"I can't believe it, after all these years of leaving my child here"

"I think I'm going to have to reconsider my child's application"

"Me two, how could he let this happen?"

The whispers blew up into an all out conversation between the crowd and all the thoughts of concern and disappointment raged through Charles' head, stressing him out more. He could feel his heart pumping faster than usual, and doing an abnormal gyrating dance and it was beginning to cause him pain.

At first it started off slow but as Bethany's yelling continued and the buzz around him grew into talks of concern, the pain grew worse.

Xavier wasn't exactly sure, but he thought he might be having a heart attack.

Rogue picked up on this as her mother continued to go on. She wasn't sure how and she wasn't sure why but as she glanced around the area for any sort of distraction that might stop her mother the monstrosity, she managed to clear all the thoughts of concern from the crowd out of her head and the bizarre, rapid, pulsating throb of Xavier's heartbeat began to pound in.

At first she thought it was her own, as she was just as worried and panicked as the next fellow, but when she listened closer and she caught look of Xavier's face, slowly shifting into discomfort, she knew he was in trouble.

She suddenly gasped; she needed to help him.

"Ah'm going to write a letter, no ah'm paying a visit to the school bored and ordering they have not only social workers, but lawyers and police pay a visit to this….this…hell hole ya call a school! Never in my life have ah seen such ludicrous behavior!"

He could no longer hear her as the pain of his heart attack began to take over. Rogue saw his pain and knew she had to do something and do it fast; she was running out of time.

Her first instinct was to push past her mother and everyone else and nurse him and order for someone to call an ambulance but something internally stopped her.

An ambulance would take too long, and neither Jean nor Hank had the equipment in the lab to save a man from a heart attack.

Not having a moment to spare, without thinking Rogue tapped deep into her mind to find the healing power she knew she's absorbed more than once from Logan.

Having no experience in finding or transferring gifts and mutant capabilities, Rogue shut everyone and everything from out of her mind and concentrated on helping Xavier.

Finding Logan's capability just in time, Rogue transferred it just like she would transfer a telepathic message to Xavier, allowing him to get just enough to heal his heart without hurting him.

Meanwhile as the pain began to intensify, and Bethany continued to yell and cause a riot between the crowd, Xavier was just about to clutch his heart and collapse when he felt Rogue's help enter his mind.

He didn't know how to react except by allowing her in, and he felt time stand still as he allowed her to heal him; passing Logan's gifts from his brain, to his veins, to his arteries and finally to his heart, clearing the stress and blockage that was causing him pain and easing the cause of the heart attack.

Externally looking as though he was listening to Bethany, Internally he could feel himself healing second by second and when he looked up to gaze at Rogue, he could see her intensely concentrated look and a trickle of blood slide down her right nostril.

Now he was growing concerned again. Through amazed at how she was helping him, he knew she was using too much of her power too soon and if she didn't stop now, it could kill her.

Now feeling his heart, pumping at regular pace and working in better condition than it was ever working before, Xavier halted Rogue before she went to far.

"Rogue" he cautioned mentally, stopping the flow of power he was receiving from her and entering her mind. "It's ok, I'm alright Rogue; stop this before you hurt yourself"

And that's when her effort stopped.

She gasped and her eyes shot open wide, before she took a step back, stumbling as she inhaled sharply and leaned into Scott.

Scott caught her before she could hit the floor, instantly putting an end to Bethany's yelling and the riot of the crowd around them.

"Rogue!" he cried in concern. "Rogue are you alright?"

He helped her stand upright and she caught herself before she fell unconscious, regaining her breath and wiping the blood that trickled down her nose with her sleeve.

More presented itself.

"Oh honey, you're bleeding." Storm said, quickly swiping the napkin that she set out for Xavier and pressing it to her nose.

The crowd watched in awe, wondering what had just happened. One moment Bethany was yelling and they were growing upset at all these secrets that were being hidden and the next moment, the girl of subject was nearly on the floor. It could have been that all the yelling and stress finally got to the kid and she almost collapsed, or it could have been that what Bethany said about the professor admitting she had a fatal condition was right, and she took now to dive in. But whatever it was, whether stress, illness or some other unknown cause, it left Bethany feeling nothing but pure guilt wash over her.

Recovering from the amount of power she exerted and the shock of how she managed to do it all, Rogue accepted the napkin and glanced over at the professor to make sure he was ok.

He displayed a look of concern for her but other than that, compared to about a minute ago, he looked absolutely fine.

She couldn't believe it; had she just saved him from a heart attack?

"Rogue honey, here, take a seat" Scott said quickly pulling up a plastic chair from behind him for her to sit on and taking the napkin into his own hands, holding it to her nose. "Are you ok?" he asked again.

"Marie?" Bethany suddenly asked. For once this entire weekend, her anger and resentment toward the school and her daughter vanished and true concern for her child emerged. "Are you alright sweetheart?" she spoke softly with genuine concern and brushed a stray stand of white hair from her face.

Removing the napkin from her nose, Rogue saw the true look of love in her mother's eyes and briefly going over what just happened, she knew what she had to do was going to be hard.

Concern or nor concern, Love or no love, caring or not caring, Rogue knew that her mother was relentless in attempting to get what she wanted; and what she wanted was for her to come home.

This whole weekend she's been bitching, groaning, picking fights, and starting trouble all to bring her baby home for whatever the reason may be and when she found out about Rogue and Scott, it certainly did not make things any better.

It was unfair for Bethany to do this; it was rude, uncouth, and downright selfish, but when she reflected on what happened today, she knew that despite the problems she was having with her family, it was unfair to drag everyone else into it and allow them to get hurt as well.

The reputation of Scott's career and Xavier's school was now on the line and not only that but the professor nearly had a heart attack because of her and her family issues. She loved Xavier. She loved Scott and she loved this school. None of them deserved to suffer because of something involved with her and she would hate to see the people and the things she cared for so much get into trouble because of her problems.

The possibility of a man's death was crossing the line at such a degree, it made Rogue realize, that to stop the madness and to bring everyone else out of the hot water they suddenly jumped into, she had to do something she really didn't want to do; she had to give in.

"Ya, mom I'm fine" she finally said with a sigh, wiping the last bit of blood from her nose with her sleeve and wobbly standing up.

"Rogue honey, please be careful" Scott cautioned as he helped her stand.

"I'm fine" she said, gently removing her hand from his.

She turned to the professor.

"Professor" she began. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you this weekend, I really didn't mean it." She apologized.

"There's no need for you too apologize Rogue" he said. He was still partially in awe that she healed him from his heart attack; but for the sake of the entire population of Xavier's looking on, he maintained composure. "There really isn't, all off this was out of your control"

"No it wasn't" she said. "I should have done what I'm about to do now from the beginning" she said.

"Marie?" Bethany asked, curiously. About to do what? What was she going to do?

"Rogue" the professor began. "Please think about what you're going to do before you do it." He warned. "You wouldn't want to—"

"There's no other way professor. Things have gone to far." She said sadly.

Turning to Scott, Rogue could feel the tears sting her eyes and she looked down at his shoes, not mustering up the courage to look him in the eyes.

Her heart said stop but her brain urged on, knowing this was what was best for everyone else, including him.

"Scott" she began, sniffling before she had the chance to say anything else, and chocking back the tears that were rapidly approaching.

Tilting her chin upwards so she could look at him, Scott sadly addressed her.

"Rogue, what's going on?" he said.

A lone tear slid down her bruised cheek and a raindrop splashed on his nose.

He looked up and saw the once sunny clouds, shift quickly into gray; now he was scared. "Rogue please don't—"

She chocked back another sob. "No, I'm sorry I can't Scott. I can't do it anymore"

He knew it; he could feel it approaching. It was the same feeling he got before his first girlfriend decided to put the breaks on their relationship only this one hurt worse; this was the love of his life.

He could only hope she wouldn't say it, hope she wouldn't do it; hope she would just change her mind right now.

"Rogue….."

"We can't see each other anymore Scott."

It came out sudden and powerful, ringing in his ears and ripping his heart out, tearing it in two.

"We have to end it now."

This couldn't be happening; none of this could. First her mother finds out about them, shouts out for the whole school to hear causes and riot and now she breaks it off him? This had to be surreal, it just wasn't happening; he wouldn't allow it.

Letting go of her chin out of pure shock, Scott felt his own goggles fogging up with tears and his heart pulsated at the speed of light, anxiously waiting for her to crack up and admit she was just kidding; admit that this was all some sort of sick joke.

But she didn't.

She didn't laugh, she didn't confess, and most, importantly, she didn't give him one final kiss.

She just apologized, stared at him sadly, and turned around to face her mother, leaving him to stand there, crushed, with the same feeling he felt when he thought Rogue was dead.

He felt like he had lost her; and this time he did; for real.

"Mom" Rogue said suddenly, wiping the tear that slid down her cheek. She didn't want to look her in the eye, nor did she want to turn around and face Scott again, as she knew it would only make it harder. "Just………don't worry about Xavier anymore mom, I'm coming home"

Not giving Bethany a chance to react she made her way passed her mother and passed the crowd, leaving nothing but sad silence behind her.

When she reached the doorway to the mansion and turned the knob, she heard Scott call after her and it ripped her heart in two, just like she had ripped his.

"Rogue wait please!" he begged but she kept on turning. "Marie!"

She halted and another pang of guilt washed over her causing another tear to squeeze out her eye. Whenever Scott used her real name, it always brought a sense of joy to her heart, but this time as he said it with tone full of pain, it made her feel more guilty than ever.

"Marie please!" he begged.

Not having the courage to face him and explain, she continued to make her way through the door and inside the mansion and once inside and away from the stares of the crowd, she cried.

She hid behind a wall, slid down to the floor and cried.

And as she cried; it rained.

………………………………………

A longie but a goodie!

Review!!!!!