The Funeral Chapter 11

Rating: PG-13

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Marie laid a hand on the Professor's shoulder as she passed him. She looked up and saw Logan and her two friends; she walked up to Logan and stood in front of him. "She gonna be okay?" He asked her, she knew he was referring to her mother. She nodded her head and grabbed his hand and stood beside him, "Yeah, she's gonna be fine. The Professor just has a question for her." She felt Kitty grab her hand and squeezed it, she gave her a small smile.

***

"May I call you Rose?" The Professor asked kindly. Rose nodded her head and twisted the napkin that she had in her hands. " I don't know how much your daughter has told you about me, so I'll start with my name. I am Professor Charles Xavier and I run a school for gifted youngsters, and by gifted I mean children who are mutants. This school takes in children who are runaways or children whose parents wanted them to be safe."

He stopped and waited to see if she might have any questions for him. He was telling the truth, he didn't know how much Rogue had told her mother and even if she did tell her everything, he thought it safer to go over everything again.

"She said that the school is pretty much like that a non-mutant would go to, with a little differences. What did she mean by difference?" She really wanted to know and the picture her daughter had painted for her left much to be desired.

Xavier gave her a patient kind smile and continued. "Yes, my school is very much like that of a normal high school. The two woman that are with me work there. Storm teaches history and Jean is the medical doctor of the school." Rose nodded her head; "Storm is the one with the white hair? And Jean is the red head, right?" Xavier nodded his head; pleased to see that she was unconsciously leaning who was who.

"They are both mutants as well?" He studied her face for a moment and realized she really was interested in knowing. He slipped into her mind quickly and found that she would rather have had Rogue her with her than letting her husband kick their only daughter out.

"Storm is a weather mutant, or as the children at the school and her tribe called her 'weather goddess', she had the power to manipulate the weather to however she wants it." He saw a little understanding come over her face. " Is that what the one in yellow meant, when she said that she would have stayed in New York except that there was cold front, I think it was."

Xavier gave a wide grin and shook his head, "Yes. Storm was having a personal problem with a young man named Gambit and her motions caused the cold front." He saw her give a small smile and nodded her head to herself as if she was making a mental inventory. " And the doctor, Jean? What cans she do?"

The Professor felt himself relax as he realized that she would not be scared of him or the others. He sensed the genuine curiosity from her and the felt the need from her to want to be part of her daughter's life no matter how small the part may be. " Dr. Jean Gray, she is like me, a telepathe and telekinetic. We can move things with our minds and talk to people with our minds. She is engaged to another one of my former students, Cyclops."

He saw a confused look come over her face. " How come just about everybody else has a nick name except her?" Xavier gave the truthful answer, and even after all this time he still didn't know why she didn't choose a name for herself and said as much to Rose. He decided he spent enough time getting her comfortable and then went into why he is here. "Rose, the reason I came here is because I would like to hire you." Puzzlement was so obvious on her face; " Hire me?" it came out slow and disjointed. "Yes, the past couple of months we have taken on some infants and new born babies. I have been lucky in that two other students' mothers have agreed to help take care of them. We have at least fifteen infants and that is too many for two helpers and I was hoping that would like to come to the mansion and help look after the children"

" Why would you want me? I mean, I stood by while my husband threw our daughter out the house, I'm the last person who should be taking care of a baby." He heard the self-loathing in her voice and felt pity for her. She was the product of old school rearing. In the time when mothers taught their daughters to obey their husbands and be the good wife in making sure that the dinner was always on the table by the time he got home and that the house was always clean.

" I chose you because now your husband is dead and if you worked for me, you would be able to see your daughter any time you pleased. You would have free room and board if you took care of children. " The Professor didn't like to play dirty, but he was desperate. Everybody was taking care of the children, including Rogue and Logan. Those two were his only saving grace because they both suffered insomnia from time to time. But taking care of the babies was taking its toll on the whole staff. People were becoming irritating and moody. Including him and he didn't like that.

"That's all I would have to do, is take care of children. Making sure that they are fed and bathed and are getting enough sleep?" Xavier nodded his head, and he mentally crossed his fingers. He watched her as she shook her head and said yes.

*Rogue, she said she would come to work for the mansion.*

***

Marie was listening to Jubilee and Kitty's conversation when she heard the Professor.

" So you're saying you would choose Colin Ferrell over Orlando Bloom and Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp?" she said disbleivingly.

Kitty looked torn. " Can't I have them all?" Jubes shook her head. " Nope. I'll say it again if you had to choose someone when the world was coming to the end to procreate with which one would you choose?"

Marie was laughing hard at the look on Kitty's face and the grunt of annoyance that Logan gave, but her laughter was cut short.

*Rogue, she said she would come to work for the mansion. *

Marie gave a squeal of joy before she turned to the others and gave them the news.

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TBC..

Well, was that okay? Let me know if you didn't like it, but do it nicely.