The Secret
Chapter Ten: Rogue and Xavier
"Are you sure?" Kurt raised an eyebrow at Rogue.
"Sure am. Got a real handle on that memory now. Saw my own – or more over – his own reflection." She lied.
"And you're sure, it's the Juggernaught's memory?" Kurt hesitated.
"Ah sure am, and I don't think we should mention it to Jean or the Professor. Neither one needs to be spending Thanksgiving dwelling on that creep." She put her hands on her hips and looked him in the eye.
"Agreed." He said at last. "But …"
"But what?" She looked for holes in her deception.
"Didn't you say that he levitated down in to a creek?" Kurt asked. "How did the Juggernaught levitate?"
"He didn't" She dropped her eyes and took a breath. "You know how, sometimes, in the danger room, time seems to slow down, especially in fights?" She was out on a limb.
"Oh, sure." Kurt smiled. "I've seen this happen."
"Well, that's what happened to Marko. Time slowed down before he hit the ground is all, from his perspective, anyway."
Kurt shrugged ."Oh vell, another mystery solved."
"Meddling kid." She smiled slyly at him.
"He-he-he-He-He-he." He laughed like Scooby Doo and bamphed away.
Rogue smiled as he went. She had been hoping she could convince him to drop it. Especially after hearing what he had to say about the date being the key to the mystery. Kurt was right on track. If he had sat down at a computer he could have found the answer on the internet.
Just as she had – not an hour ago.
Rogue eased up to the door of the Professor's private study. She knocked softly.
"Yes?" He answered from within.
She opened the door and side-stepped in, closing it behind her. "Professor? Can we talk?"
"Kurt bothering you again?" He ventured.
"Actually, " She brought herself up short. "No. Kinda the opposite really."
Xavier raised an eyebrow. "Indeed?"
"There's worse things a girl could have than a pest of a little brother looking out for her all the time." She admitted softly, to herself as much as to Xavier.
Xavier leaned back and locked a steady gaze on her. This was quite a change in her personality and he knew it.
"And what exactly brought about this observation?"
"Personal responsibility." She said, sitting down and getting comfortable in one of his fine red-leather chairs. "He was trying to help me out and he almost discovered something he shouldn't have."
"Shouldn't have?" He said quickly, prompting her to speak.
"That's right." She smiled coyly. "Course, I had to stop him from finding out – and in the process I did figure it out for mahself." There was s soft, knowing light behind her eyes.
Xavier could feel the bottom dropping out of his stomach. For the first time all day, he wasn't hungry.
"What? What is it?" His concern was genuine, but who it was for was indeterminable.
"Well, Ah found out about a boy who was going to lose his inheritance." She began. "Who had to start a business of his own and succeed brilliantly in a very short time. And when he did, his step-brother robbed him blind so that he couldn't prove his success and claim his inheritance."
Xavier's mouth was hanging open.
"And so, on Thanksgiving eve, just two days before his proof was due at the lawyers . . ."
Xavier was holding up his hand, and embarrassed smile on his face. "Okay, just stop."
"You boarded a plane, from an airline who your mother was heavily invested in . . ."
Xavier returned his hands to his lap and smiled pleasantly, as there was, obviously, no stopping her.
"And you held it hostage for two-hundred thousand dollars – before you tied the money to your waist and jumped from the back of the plane."
He was smiling so serenely that she thought for a moment that she was wrong or mistaken.
"You're . . " She began.
He nodded.
"You're . . ." She swallowed.
"It's okay." He smiled at her. "You can say it."
"You're D.B. Cooper. Aren't you."
And Xavier nodded once before he flashed a wide and guilty grin.
"Really, Rogue, You must tell me how you figured it all out." He said at last.
"Sure." She relaxed down in to the chair. "We've got an hour to kill before dinner. And while I'm at it, Ah'll explain why you can't just make me forget it, you know, like you did to Jean." She raised an eyebrow in his direction.
And she realized that the smile had fallen from his face.
