Chapter 9

She sighed miserably, knocked on the glass quietly to get their attention, and entered.

"Laura, what the hell?" Logan yelled angrily as a greeting of sorts. Xavier studied her silently, and Hank excused himself and left the room.

Laura sat down in the chair Hank had vacated, folded her hands on her lap and silently studied the hardwood floor in front of her.

"How are you possibly going to explain this, kid?' Logan continued, "Ororo's garden is completely destroyed! That's years of her work that you ruined."

"Logan," Xavier said calmly. Logan took a breath to continue yelling, but paused as the Professor's tone registered, and turned it into a frustrated sigh. He sat down, scowling at Laura. She was still studying the floor. It was very clean. She wondered who cleaned it.

"Thank you, Logan. I think it would be better if you did not handle this problem, but I will not ask you to leave."

"Understood," Logan nodded, and forced himself to sit back and calm down as Xavier moved closer to Laura.

"I already understand what has happened." He said quietly, "You were very loud and woke several of us up, including Jean, who told me about your trip yesterday to the mall and what you apparently overheard afterward. Logan has informed me of what he heard you yelling as he went to stop you, and what the damage is. I will take into account your actions now as well. Coming here now was an unexpected but encouraging decision on your part. What I would like for you to explain is why."

Laura frowned slightly in confusion. "Why what?" she asked softly.

"Why you were apparently upset enough to destroy something very dear to someone who was not involved in the cause of the issue."

The silence lasted several minutes, and Laura never looked up from the floor. When she spoke, she still couldn't bring herself to look at either the Professor or Logan.

"I thought I was doing so well," she said quietly. "I tried. Some of it was starting to bud and I ruined it. I didn't mean to."

Before the storms had ended, Laura had fetched the stem from her rosebush that she had thrown from the roof during the night. She had it tucked it into the front pocket of the soaked mens' shirt she was wearing, and pulled it out now to show it to the Professor. Although her hand had healed from the cuts, the thorns still had some of her blood on them. One small bloom sagged near the top end.

The door to the study opened and Ororo came in, followed by Hank who shut it again behind him. Laura didn't care, this was more important.

"It was mine and I killed it right when it was starting to bloom." Laura's voice wavered again and she stopped talking so they hopefully wouldn't notice how close to tears she was at seeing her shredded, dying rose stem in daylight. She ducked her head quickly and scowled as a tear fell anyway.

Professor Xavier gently took the rose piece from Laura and studied it as she tried to get her emotions under control again.

"Ororo, he said, looking up at her, "now that you have had some time to survey your greenhouse, what is the damage?"

Laura didn't dare look at Ororo as she recounted the destruction to her beloved garden. The tone of her voice was enough to tell Laura that she would not be helping with any more gardens. She was surprised at how sad that made her. She wanted to run away.

"I see," Xavier said, handed the stem back to Laura, and went to his desk. "What is that sheet of paper you are holding?" he asked Ororo. She came forward and laid the sheet of notebook paper on his desk. The words "I'm sorry" were visible in Laura's plain handwriting. "She dropped it in a few minutes before Hank came to get me."

Xavier looked at the note for a moment, and sighed. "Frankly, I am not sure how to handle this. The damage is intense. There are three options I can think of right now, however I'd advise against making a hasty decision. First, Laura can rebuild the garden."

"No," Ororo shook her head, and Laura frowned harder as another tear fell. Her earlier assumption had been correct but knowing in advance hadn't helped.

"Another option is to let Logan handle punishment. If you all recall, this had been an alternate option to the original suggestion of Laura assisting Ororo."

There was silence on this idea.

"However the suggestion that I recommend at this point," Xavier said, "Is to wait a couple of days and then discuss what to do about this at that time, once emotions have settled and we have all caught up on sleep and thought things through."

"Or I could just leave," Laura said, finally looking up at everyone. "I think it would be best if I left. I don't fit here."

"Don't be stupid," Logan said, "You have nowhere to go."

"I don't as it is," Laura replied, looking him in the eyes.

"Don't leave the grounds, Laura," Professor Xavier said firmly, "Expelling you will not be one of the options we consider. That goes against everything we stand for here."

Logan glanced at Ororo, who was silently waiting to go back to her greenhouse to clean more, and then back at Laura, who was still trying to scowl her emotions into submission as the occasional stubborn tear fell anyway, clutching her rose stem tightly. "I'll keep an eye on her for now, Chuck."

"Then this meeting is adjourned. For the next 48 hours think about what an appropriate response to this would be. At eight on Wednesday morning we will all reconvene to make a decision. Ororo, if you would like any assistance with repairs please ask anyone. We will all help you." Professor Xavier looked at Laura. "All of us."

"Very well," Ororo said placidly and walked toward the door. "I will be upstairs."

"I am sorry," Laura whispered, slumping down in the chair. She had no idea what to do now.