The Secret
Chapter Three: Kurt
"Okay." Bobby was red faced from laughing. "Do this one Kurt." He changed the channel on the television. "It's That 70's Show."
"Vay too easy." Kurt let loose a wide grin. "I'd be Fez, Scott would be Eric and Jean would be Donna. Kitty would be Jackie and I guess dat vould mean Kelso vas . . . Lance!"
Bobby and Jamie exchanged quick glances between them before bursting out laughing.
"I told you so." Kurt smiled. "Ve X-Men could be on any of those shows."
Bobby snorted. "Right Kurt. Mutants on t.v.- And not on the news?" He sounded like a disbeliever. "Like that'll ever happen."
Kurt shrugged.
Bobby flipped the channel again. It was the news. "… Of course marks the anniversary of the daring 1971 ... "
He flipped the channel again and looked to Kurt imploringly. "I thought the parade was on."
"Channel twelve." Kurt told him, looking up to see Rogue coming downstairs. She looked uneasy.
"I'll be right back." Kurt flashed a smile and vanished with a 'Bamph'.
"He's really funny." Jamie said, wiping his eyes. "He made me laugh until I cried."
Bobby took his water bottle and chilled it slightly before taking another swallow. "That's for certain. I almost died laughing when he did 'Green Acres'."
They exchanged glances before speaking in unison. "…as Arnold – the pig!" And they burst out laughing again.
"If Scott's Eric Foreman than wouldn't it stand to reason that his Dad, Red Foreman, would be Professor X?" Jamie wondered out loud.
"I guess so." Bobby went for another sip of his drink.
"Could you see the Professor calling Scott a Dumb-ass?" Jamie asked.
And Bobby spit his drink, laughing.
Kurt bamfed out to the back yard and cut Rogue off at the pass.
"Hey sis, Happy . . ." He began, but her look told him to 'stuff it'. "Vat's wrong?" He asked.
Rogue was about to snap at him but she thought better of it. Finally she exhaled and crossed her arms over her chest.
Kurt took this as an opportunity to practice his 'little brothering'. "Ahh, so ve don't vant to talk about it. That's okay. I can talk enough for the both of us. I just saw an hour long History of Concrete on the Education channel. I'd love to tell you all about it." He smiled enthusiasticly. "And before that they was a whole hour on Felt."
"Felt?" She looked at him in disbelief.
"Ya, you know, the fabric?" He seemed enthusiastic and puffed his chest out like the hero of an old western "I am burdened to know things about felt that no one should have to bear alone." He turned and looked slyly at her.
She was smiling.
Kurt dropped the posturing and the posing. "Or you could make me really happy and let me know vat's wrong." He cocked his head to one side, ever so slightly.
Rogue smiled again. "I was having Jean's dreams last night." She said softly. "Ah think it was a residual from when I slipped in to my coma last month – after all that 'Mezmero and the stolen rings' stuff that happened." (See Vacancy – by the same author)
"I do remember." He looked sheepish.
"Well, it was just weird." Rogue pulled her hair back and tucked it behind her ear. "And uncomfortable."
Kurt nodded sympathetically. "Vas it a nightmare?"
"Ah don't know. I fell off these metal stairs, like a fire escape. And then I woke up, but when I fell back to sleep, I was levitating down towards the ground. I hit it hard and then I ran off, laughing down my sleeve at the people who were chasing me."
Kurt considered. "Are you sure it vas Jeans dream? I mean, why wouldn't she just fly away?"
Rogue thought about it. "Because it's just a dream I guess."
Kurt shrugged. "I teleport in my dreams. I think it would be unnatural if I didn't."
Rogue wondered for a moment. "Ah don't touch people in mah dreams." She realized. "But I always figured that was . .."
"Habit?" Kurt asked.
"Ahhh, yeah." She agreed, seeing the light.
"So vhy vouldnt Jean fly away?" Kurt shrugged.
Rogue cast a glance over her shoulder toward the mansion and then back to Kurt. "Maybe you should ask her." A subtle light seemed to hover behind Rogues eyes. "Just do it . . . A little sneaky?" Rogue was asking for a favor.
Kurt smiled a little too wide, a little too quick, and flashed his fangs at her. Every so often he would do something small like that and look utterly frightening. Rogue just breathed through it and tried not to give off any signs that it bothered her. She didn't want it to bother her, but it did.
"I believe in a persons right to privacy." He informed her. "It comes from looking like the Devil." He smirked at her coyly. "Let me see vat she wants to share on the subject." He winked at her once and disappeared.
"If I did have a brother . . ." Rogue whispered towards the mansion, but instead of finishing she just took a shallow breath and was surprised to hear herself say, simply, "Thank you."
And she began to cry.
