Chapter Four - Limited

Remy LeBeau stared down at Professor Xavier as he entered the office unannounced and uninvited. He could tell by the Professor's expression that he was not the person who had been expected to walk through that door.

"Surprised to see me?" Remy asked; despite all the Professor had done for him he still couldn't refrain from speaking in a voice devoid of feeling.

"Surprised that you returned at this point in time...no," said the Professor, "but...I am surprised that I received no word of warning from Muir Island that you had left early."

Remy kicked the door to close it; the cold ran up his back was unpleasant. "This place is freezing – even more than usual."

"We're without power."

"What about the backup generator?"

"It's blown."

"I couldn't get into the hangar...I had to park Excalibur's plane on the grounds."

"That explains the sound we heard moments ago," said Professor Xavier with a nod. "You look well..."

"I'm not really interested in discussing pleasantries at this time," Remy frowned. "Explanations would be more welcome."

"Hank told you?"

Remy scoffed, "I overheard. I doubt anyone had any intentions of telling me what happened; if I hadn't woken up when I did and heard that call...I'd have never known about what happened while I was away."

"How much did you hear?"

"Jessie's arm got broken. Rogue took off...no one can find her. I didn't stick around to listen to the rest...as you can imagine...I had a lot to worry about already. How long ago did this happen?"

"Two days ago," said the Professor. "Jessie is fine."

"Bad break?"

"Her arm is in a cast. They reset it. It'll heal..."

"But she's in pain," Remy frowned.

"Jean is in charge of her medication – it helps for her pain but it does make her a little drowsy..."

"How did it happen?"

"From what I understand – from what Jessie told me – is that Jessie took a foolish risk and tried to touch Rogue...Rogue panicked and reached out to stop her...she grabbed Jessie's arm and the bone broke quite cleanly. I do believe Jessie's account and Kitty did confirm it was what Rogue had told her too."

Remy sighed, "Rogue doesn't know her own strength..." he put his hand to his head, "she's never been able to control that..."

"It wasn't Rogue's fault..." the Professor softened his tone. "What she did was to save Jessie's life...if Jessie had touched her...who knows what may have happened – she may have not survived it."

"How could you let her just take off like that? Wasn't anyone with her?"

"Kitty was with her for a while – but then went to tend to the baby. When she returned to Rogue's bedroom, they found she had gone; taken off through the window with some clothes but not much else. Not even her credit cards or passport..."

Remy sighed, "I need to find her."

"You may have your work cut out for you..."

"You haven't been able to sense her?".

"We discovered Jessie has a new and rather interesting power...that is somewhat dulling the powers of everyone around her."

Remy paused to consider this, "so...your powers of being able to sense her presence right now are...limited."

"Your own powers may be limited as well," the Professor added. "It's been fleeting on and off for months and no one ever realised Jessie was the one causing it. The nearer we are to Jessie, the harder it is to focus our powers."

"If there's anything Jessie didn't need in her life right now, it's more power..." Remy sighed.

"We've also discovered she is highly empathic."

"Highly empathic?" Remy was caught between surprise and the sense of non-surprise. It was strange how suddenly so much about Jessie seemed to make much more sense knowing about this new power of hers. "How highly?"

"Highly enough to know that Rogue had left the premises before even having been told or seen for herself..." the Professor explained. "It also explains why she's so attuned to how everyone feels...you said yourself that Jessie seemed to be able to tell you were sad..."

"It was probably more than obvious...even to a seven year old..." Remy sighed. "I'm gonna wanna know more about this later..." he warned, "but now...I need to think about finding Rogue..."

"Where will you start?"

"I have a couple ideas. For all I know she might have taken back to Mississippi..." he said in distress. "If that's so...I'm gonna be gone for a while searching her out..."

"As soon as we get the electricity working and our equipment working again we'll be able to help in a better capacity..."

"How did the Electricity blow out?" Remy asked.

The Professor didn't answer, but instead he glanced towards the door as it was opening.

Jessie Crowell stood there, her eyes lit up like fairy lights at the sight of Remy, she dropped both the pencil case and the pile of books she was holding and rushed up to greet him.

"Mr. LeBeau!" she squealed.

Remy forced a smile; at that moment he felt too unprepared to see her, as long as he'd pined to be with her at that moment he didn't feel ready and he had to try and gather his emotions and thoughts in check and try to force a happy and relaxed state of mind.

If she is highly empathic, I can't let her know how I really feel inside anymore...it'll mess her up more than she already is, Remy thought as he knelt down to hug her. "Hi, mignon."

"You've been away so long!" she admonished as she pulled back to look at him. "Why didn't you call?"

"Ah...I'm not too good with phone conversations..." he sighed, "but look at you...I swear I think you got taller..." he lied, "and...what's this?" he gestured to her arm. "Some kind of new white armband?"

Jessie giggled and she flicked the cast awkwardly with the fingers of her left hand, "I got my arm hurt."

"Yes...it looks like you did."

"It's my fault," she said quickly, and she glanced over to the Professor.

"It's okay, mignon," said Remy softly, "Professor Xavier told me what happened..."

"Are you mad at me?" Jessie asked softly.

"Of course I'm not mad," Remy swallowed back his feelings. He wasn't sure how he felt about this. He was angry in some way – angry that his daughter had decided to take such a stupid risk as try to touch Rogue when she knew how dangerous it could have been. And he was definitely disappointed that what she'd done seemed to have been the catalyst for Rogue to suddenly take off without word. But how could he express this to a seven year old without upsetting her? It was better to just lie...Jessie didn't need the stress of the worrying or the feeling guilty any more than she probably already did.

"It's my fault Rogue is gone, though."

"You know what, Rogue just probably decided she needed a vacation. She hasn't had a vacation in...forever..." Remy realised, "like...since...what...last January?" Remy glanced over to the Professor.

"Oh, at least," agreed the Professor.

"So...yeah, she's probably just took off to go lie on a big beach somewhere on a sun drenched island to sip Pina coladas and get a tan. She was probably just forgot to mention."

Jessie put her hands on Remy's face and pressed her nose to his and looked him straight in the eye for a moment then grumbled, "you're a bad liar. And I'm not three."

Remy was sure he heard a quiet chuckle coming from where the Professor was sitting. He recomposed himself, "yeah, okay. She's probably not on vacation..." he gave in. "She just needs a time out...so she can think."

"She'll come back, though, right?" Jessie asked, her large blue-grey eyes felt as if they might penetrate him to his very soul.

"Of course. I'm going to go find her right now...and she'll be back here again before you know it."

"You're going again?" Jessie asked, her face fell.

"I'm coming back," he promised.

Jessie paused, her face strange.

Remy stared at her, "mignon? What's wrong?"

"I don't think she's very far away."