Finally! Sheesh, took me long enough, huh? Running two jobs leaves little time for hobbies (Though if anyone would like to pay me – I could work for you! And write you fiction in return for food, shelter, and pocket money! There's a job I could handle….) Thanks again for the reviews, guys. You're the best! ;)
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That night Nora found it impossible to sleep, so amidst her tossing and turning she spent the early morning hours wisely, thinking over the things she wanted to cover with the professor again and again in her mind.
She knew she had to be prepared. At dinner some of the students had talked about the professor's ability to read minds at will. According to what they had told her, the man could enter into your mind and search for thoughts, memories even. Sometimes he could see things inside a mind that even the owner himself didn't know was there. The very idea had made her insides shudder, and the probable truth behind it had only worsened her already shaky nerves.
Thankfully though, the next morning Aimee remembered her offer. The petite blonde arrived promptly at her door, and Nora had to admit, seeing her eager face did ease some of the tension. Aimee accompanied Nora down the stairs and led her right up to the door of Professor Xavier's office, just like she said she would.
"I let him know you were coming," Aimee told Nora in a quiet tone, tilting her neck toward the open door. After giving Nora's shoulder a comforting squeeze, she took a position resting against the wall opposite his door. "I'll let you two do your thing, and wait for you out here, okay?"
"Thanks," Nora said. "I won't take long."
"Oh yeah, be quick about it. I mean, I just couldn't stand to miss another enthralling lecture on how geometric proofs compose the very fiber of our being. Are you kidding? Take all morning. Take all night! You, child, are the perfect excuse for me to miss another rousing session of geometry class."
Nora let out a crooked smile. "I'm glad to hear I serve a purpose."
"Hey, a girl's gotta take her perks where she can get 'em."
"Well, no promises," she said, starting toward the room. "But I'll do my best to drag things out where I can."
Aimee put a hand up. "No, no, please. Honest to God, I'm just kidding." She brought down the volume of her voice. "Say what needs to be said."
Nora nodded. "I'll be back."
"I'll be here."
Taking strong deliberate steps forward, Nora rapped lightly on the open door, and almost immediately, the professor's distinguished voice asked her to enter. After she greeted him and shut the door behind her, the two exchanged the regular sequence of polite remarks, and she took a seat in front of him.
His eyes remained on hers the entire time. "Aimee said that you wanted to speak with me."
"I do." Nora folded her hands in front of her, trying to appear composed and above all, in control. "First off, I wanted to thank you for all you've done for me. The last time we spoke I was a little less than grateful, and I wanted to remedy that."
The sincerity never left the professor's voice. "There's no need to apologize. I believe your reaction was only reasonable given the circumstances."
As the events of their last meeting flowed back to her, she couldn't help but reply, "I guess you haven't found anything more, since the last time we talked."
The professor shook his head. "I'm afraid any new information has yet to reveal itself."
"Right." While this time she had been expecting such a response, she couldn't help but let a trace of sadness cross her face.
Even with the emotion's appearance, she tried to keep going anyway. "A couple of the students said something about classes, that you offer them to the kids that come here." She looked to the professor. "I'd really like to…"
Though she had thought herself to be perfectly fine, she felt her throat go suddenly dry. It descended swiftly and without warning. Thoughts of Luke flew through her, and it became too much. The thought of never seeing him again, never hearing him talk or laugh even, never again having him in her life… As the glimpse of this possible future reared its ugly head, Nora felt her composure slipping. "To have something to…" she tried to get out.
Studying her, Professor Xavier softly finished for her. "To have something to occupy your thoughts."
Nora held her hand tight against the armrest of the chair to steady herself, and taking a long, deep breath, nodded her confirmation.
As she felt the wave recede backwards, her body relaxed, and she heard the professor validate her. "I think that would be a wise thing for you to do."
The professor waited for her, and slowly, Nora regained her initial self-control. Along with it, she also remembered her reason for coming. "I think so, too," she said. "But…before I do that, there's something else I wanted to discuss with you."
The professor's nod gave her room to continue.
Her jittery nerves cleanly slipped underneath a stance that Luke referred to as her 'corporate attorney' persona. It was a cover she had honed through plenty of practice. No pranks, all business.
"Before we go any further, I just think it's only right to let me know. What's the deal around here?"
The professor blinked once. "The deal?"
"You take me in, you give me a place to stay, you agree to help me find my brother…" Nora gave a distinct pause. "It only makes sense that after all the services you've provided me with, you'd expect some kind of reimbursement. I can respect that." Her words came out sounding much more rehearsed than she planned, but she continued anyway. There was certainly no turning back now.
She zeroed in on him. "What I can't respect is when the truth is kept hidden from me, whether out of well-meaning intentions or not. Now, I decided to come right to you about this, because I think you'll be honest with me. I don't know what situations you've had before with your other students, but the point I want to make is…
She took a breath. "Whatever your terms are, I'll meet them to find my brother. I just need you to be straight with me. We're both adults here. I need to know my options. You give me that, and I can guarantee I'll do my best to cooperate."
Though Nora was able to maintain her poker face, underneath it all apprehensions buzzed through her mind. Had she come off too cocky? She knew she was being blunt, but had she offended him in any way? She saw nothing in his face to suggest that, but in all fairness, his poker face was probably even more convincing than hers. After all, if he could look inside her mind, there would never be a situation that could leave him unprepared. There was nothing to be afraid of when you held all the cards.
A new fear presented itself. If he was listening in on her thoughts, would she have any defense? Did you feel anything when that happened? Was there anything to predict –
Nora closed her eyes and jerked her thought process to a halt. The questions, as well as the answers, right now were of little consequence.
She focused forward. What the professor said next would matter.
* * * * *
As Professor Xavier stared forward, he could feel only compassion for the girl before him. Though he was indeed telepathic in nearly every sense of the word, he needed none of his mutant power to understand the condition Nora Blaize was in. Though she was probably not aware, she looked and sounded terrified, and he took her hoarse voice and the dark bags under her eyes to mean that she had not slept the night before.
No doubt she had been up most of the night worrying about his answer to her suspicions.
Though he knew his words would do little to console her, he lent her them anyway. "Nora, for years now, this institute has worked to take in mutants who have nowhere else to turn. It has proven a sanctuary and a home for many mutants, all over the country. I, and others who helped found the school, have been fortunate enough to have all the funding we need from family wealth and stature.
"With these resources at our disposal, we have been able to build classrooms, dormitories, recreation halls, and all the training equipment and medical facilities you saw in the lower levels. While our true purpose remain hidden from the public, we have earned all that you see here through hard work and persistence, and we try to teach those values to those who come here. It's why we offer classes, as well as training to those whose powers are a danger to themselves and others."
Now, it was his turn to lean forward to make his point. "Our hope is to educate young mutants…to teach them about their powers and to use them responsibly. Not to glean further funds from those who attend."
Nora stared forward as if looking at a math problem she didn't quite understand. "So, you're trying to tell me that you don't expect any payment from me? Of any kind?"
"I expect the students who go here to take the lessons we've taught them and in some way apply them to their lives. But other than that, no. We don't keep our students here through any deal or bargain."
For a moment, Nora looked like she might falter, but the moment passed and she sat back, shaking her head. Despite the sincerity of his words and the coherency of his argument, Nora remained unconvinced. However, the professor left his words as they were. There was nothing else he could say to eradicate her doubts, but he didn't need to. He knew that time itself would provide the best picture of what his institution was all about.
After a long silence, Professor Xavier spoke up once more. "If you would still like to take classes, I could show you your options."
Staring off to the side, Nora let out a quiet sigh, but nodded. It took a few moments to get her involved, but once she was, she spent the next half hour choosing from an array of classes the school offered. At the end of the meeting she was handed a hand-written schedule, that looked surprisingly similar to the one she had received at her former high school.
"If you like," the professor told her, "you can start tomorrow."
Nora rose, holding her new textbooks to her chest. "Thank you," she said, still avoiding eye contact.
As she turned to leave, the professor called after her, "Nora."
She turned around.
"I know right now you're overwhelmed by all you've gone through in the past few days. Your circumstances may seem difficult for others to understand…" He looked past her to glance at the door Aimee was waiting behind. "But that doesn't mean you should have to go through them alone."
Nora's eyelids lowered, too many thoughts running through her mind to take what he said at face value. With another thank you that was mostly out of courtesy, she left the room with only more questions instead of answers.
Aimee joined her once she exited the room and helped her carry her books upstairs.
"Everything cool?" she asked.
"Yeah," Nora said. When they reached her room, they put her books down on the desk. As agitation built up a headache in her brain, she scooped her hair up into a ponytail. "I've got a question."
Aimee looked up. "Okay, I've got an answer."
Nora almost smirked. She knew she would. "You guys have a track around here? You know, for racing?"
"Ummm, no track. But we have a trail that kinda winds its way along the property, goes back into the woods."
Nora opened the closet and grabbed a pair of sneakers. "Even better."
