I'm still alive. I deliberately never put this story on hiatus because I still have every intention of finishing it. Part of my stalling was from being unsure on where to take it after the last (depressing) chapter, but most is because of grad school. I write so much these days, guys, whenever I'm not doing papers I'm too hungry and braindead for anything else. But here's a chapter to tide you over for awhile longer.

Chapter 10

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

She stole the biggest pieces of her shredded rose bush that night, sneaking into the trashed attic garden not long after Ororo left. It was stupid, Laura knew, but she had to try to save it for reasons she refused to examine. That melancholy look in Ororo's eyes in Xavier's office, when she saw Laura holding the bud….

There had been some extra pots of the right size in one of the sheds, and Laura had braved the hail to go get one and haul it to the attic. She carefully and silently transferred her plant into it, scooping as much of the dirt on the floor as she could into it. Lightning from the thunderstorms lit the room well, and the light hail and roaring thunder covered the sounds she was making. Laura hoped that the rose and pot wouldn't go missed, since the mess was most concentrated around that part of the room, but to be sure she made sure to cover any evidence that she had been present as she left, hauling the large pot down the stairs.

Laura had her hands full of the heavy flowerpot, so she kicked lightly at Logan's door, knowing he would be up. There was a light thud- her senses told her that Logan had jumped down from his windowsill, which was the only place he was allowed to smoke indoors- and nearly inaudible footsteps across the floor.

"I would say you have a lot of nerve but you've crossed over into stupid today," he said, taking in the small teen with the huge flowerpot full of dying rose stems. Although he moved to shut the door on her, Logan paused and rubbed his brow tiredly. "Get in here with that before someone sees you."

Laura shuffled in, sitting the pot near the window with a small sigh. It was hard to be sneaky with such an awkwardly large object. She checked all the pieces of the rose bush that she had carefully replanted, making sure that none of them had moved. Logan watched silently from near the door.

"Does Storm ever come in here?" Laura asked, scooting the pot around to where she estimated the most sun would be in the day, if it ever was sunny again.

Logan shook his head. "Pretty much me and you. I don't like guests."

"I'm going to- can I leave this here?" Laura corrected herself, mid-sentence remembering to ask rather than inform. Especially with Logan, she needed his cooperation and silence on this matter. Most of the other rooms in the mansion had much better light, but most of the other rooms had residents with big mouths in them as well. Logan came over to where Laura was kneeling and studied the plant.

"Why bother, kid, it's shredded. Even you know that. This plant ain't gonna survive," he said quietly, sniffing it.

"It can't die," Laura said.

"What are you trying to prove? Ororo's still upset, if the storms weren't enough of a clue. You got a lot of nerve, breaking back in and stealing her dead plants now too."

"It can't die," Laura said, reaching into her shirt pocket for the mangled bud she had been carrying around all night and gingerly sticking it in the dirt too. The bud drooped ominously but didn't fall off. The downpour Laura had been in while getting the pot had drenched her, and the blood had washed off the stem.

Logan watched silently, taking a few drags on his cigar. "As soon as your weed there dies you get this thing out of my room. You better have a hell of a game plan for Chuck and Ororo on Wednesday, too."

"I will," she stated after several minutes of silence, and after watering her dying rosebush, left. She automatically headed to the attic garden, but paused at the end of the hall when she realized where she was going. There was no more garden sanctuary, she remembered. She killed it, but really needed somewhere to go and think.

The sun began to rise, marking the beginning of a new day. New…. Laura began to get an idea. She ran to the only room that she knew would be empty this time of morning, Professor Xavier's office, and once through his (surprisingly weak) password, began investigating parts of her blooming plan on the Internet.