Chapter 13

There was no change. She hadn't expected there to be, it was far too soon. But something- anything- would have been nice.

"Okay, does anyone else smell as great as I do?" Scott stood up, cringing as his legs got pins and needles from falling asleep while he kneeled in the mud.

"Shut up," Kitty whispered from somewhere under a rose bush, "Someone might hear you!"

"Get back to work, Ororo will rise in two hours," Laura said as she walked by with a wheelbarrow full of fertilizer. The two older teens glanced at each other and went back to putting flowers in small holes in the wet ground. The flux of rain in the last forty-eight hours had left the ground soft and pliable, and made the outdoor garden work much easier, if also much dirtier. The half dozen or so students left who hadn't succumbed to sleepiness were nearly done.

As the last plants were stuck in the ground, the sky began lightening in the east. Laura looked around at the grounds, checking that all of the surviving attic plants had been transplanted. She had gotten the help she needed in the end by reminding the students that many of the larger upstairs plants were supposed to be transplanted and that they had refused to help when Ororo asked the first time, citing excuses. This time, Laura asked. And by 'asked' she meant 'made them do it' through a combination of intimidation and explicit threats of violence.

"Everyone to bed," Hank said as the last of the roses were transplanted. There were no cheers, everyone was exhausted and quietly went inside to wash up and get a few hours of sleep. Even working in two shifts had been hard on them, since they still had to go to school, but there were no complaints.

"That includes you, kid," Logan nudged Laura, who was still patting soil around some of the new rose bushes.

"Is she likely to notice this?" Laura asked while trying to remove some mud from her hair and instead getting more in it. He chuckled.

"Likely? Kid, that eight a.m. meeting is going to be a boxing match after she sees this and her garden upstairs." Logan started walking inside, motioning for Laura to walk with him.

"I don't understand your expressions, is that a good thing?" Laura stretched as she walked up the stairs with Logan.

"Who knows, at this point. Look, go shower and get some sleep in. You're going to have a long day." Logan advised, turning away towards his room. Laura watched him leave, frowning, and then turned to the girls' rooms to sneak in a quick shower before everyone began waking up for school.

All too soon the sun was up, and everyone had left. The mansion was empty again as though it was a completely normal day. For most of the residents, it was, even if they were running on less sleep than normal. This day felt unusual to Laura when she woke from her nap on Logan's bed. She was tired, for once. She hadn't been this tired since coming to the mansion. Nothing had kept her up all night for multiple nights in a row working in a very long time.

Laura glanced at a clock. 7:40 a.m. She clenched her jaw and decided to meet the adults in Xavier's office rather than skulk into the room last as usual. Grabbing the garden design book she had carried around with her all evening and night, she walked down the hall. She didn't knock, instead choosing to walk right into Xavier's office. Professor Xavier was already there, quietly reading a book. She glanced at the cover. It was literature, something that she didn't care for.

"Good morning, Laura," Xavier smiled briefly and marked his place in the book, setting it down. "Before Ororo, Hank, and Logan arrive I'd like to speak to you on an unrelated matter."

Laura sat silently in one of the big chairs facing the desk, attentive, with her book on her lap.

"Given the events that occurred afterwards, you are not in trouble for this particular incident. However I must stress that thievery is not acceptable here. Next time you feel you need money, please ask before taking it."

"My apologies," Laura said. "You saw what it was for on your computer."

"Yes," Xavier said, "Which matches the receipts you gave me. For future reference, it is considered good manners to ask before you take. In this instance I would have said yes."

"Understood," Laura said as the door opened behind her. She sniffed the air; it was Logan, followed a few minutes later by Hank and Ororo. Ororo sat down in the chair next to Laura. Laura continued looking at Xavier but could feel Ororo's eyes on her. She didn't appear to be upset anymore, but it was another emotion Laura couldn't identify.

"Since we are all present, let us begin." Xavier began. "Does anyone wish to say anything at the outset, before I speak?"

He looked right at Laura meaningfully, who blinked a few times in suspicion as she tried to decipher the meaning of that action.

"Defend yourself, kid," Logan hinted.

"I have no defense," Laura stated bluntly. "That should not have happened. But it did. And now I've fixed it, I hope."

Ororo made a small sound next to her, then reached out and touched Laura's arm briefly. "How?" was all she asked. Laura's heart jumped a little at being spoken to again. She held up the garden book silently.

"I have slept three hours in the last three days. At this stage I feel I could reasonably blame delirium." Laura fought back a yawn and continued. "I know every single plant you own. I know how to take care of them, what they need to survive. I want them to survive."

Ororo smiled softly. "I know you do. It showed the first time you pruned the tea rose, though I thought if I brought attention to it you would stop."

"I am sorry. I did mean it," Laura said abruptly. "It's important you know that, though I don't know why. I hate not knowing why. So I stole the credit card and replaced everything. It is not the same, but it is close."

"It is better than before," Ororo said. "I love the hanging flowers. It looks like they're floating in the sky." Laura said nothing. That sounded too poetic to be considered a credible opinion. "I completely accept your apology, and I owe you an apology as well, Laura. It was not right of me to reject you, professionally or personally. The time we have spent together is sometime I will treasure. The old garden may have been mine, but this one is both of ours."

"Your plants that weren't killed and didn't have to be replaced-." Laura began, trying to correct her.

"They will heal. You made our garden beautiful, Laura."

This was beginning to get too emotional for Laura, who had no defenses against positive reinforcement.

"The hanging flowers might drip over the drip trays. Since you water them via rain shower I was unsure what size to get." She tried to change the topic. "There's extra space now for you to put something else in. The roses that I didn't destroy were transplanted outside. I would suggest more tomatoes, you never have enough."

"Although there is one plant missing." Ororo said, watching Laura. "Whatever happened to your hybrid tea rose?"