Blueshift

Blueshift Twenty (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… I think Watari is loose in the kitchen… InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting. :) ProPhile: It’ll keep… Morgan: *glomp *Just checking. Readers/Reviewers: Okay, here it goes… lol.

Jamie rubbed his neck wearily. Doctor Johansen had been polite but not as excited as he had hoped. He had taken the entire thing as a matter of course, explaining to Jamie that there were dozens, if not more, random bodies visible from Earth’s surface and appearing as meteors or comets. He explained that it could be anything from experimental aircraft (“No,” Jamie had replied quickly, “It’s definitely not that…”) to a piece of a disused satellite or space junk falling through the atmosphere. (“Wouldn’t it burn fast then?” Jamie had asked. “It would look more like a shooting star…”). Doctor Johansen had left without confirming or denying Jamie’s findings, leaving the teenager mopey and with the makings of a headache from Hell. He trudged up the stairs—it was only three o’clock but he wanted to check the settings on the telescope for that night—and ignored the ruckus coming from near Rogue’s room. _Lance and Amara are always fighting, _ he thought with some small tinge of amused concern, not registering the fact it was Rogue’s voice raised in dismay. He shut the door to the narrow staircase leading to the attic dormer behind him and tread quietly up the old steps. The sun was slanting it at just the right angle, glinting off the metal of the telescope and glass of the window, making him narrow his eyes and wince. He stopped at the top of the stairs and frowned. “Hey,” he said aloud, “who moved the telescope?”
“I did,” Rahne replied smoothly, standing. She hand been sitting below the window, waiting for him to come up as soon as she had seen the scientist leave. “Figured the only way I could get your attention these days was either dress up like a falling star or stand in between you and the telescope.” She folded her arms across her chest and sighed. “Sorry it wasn’t a good meeting.”
“How’d you know?” he muttered, moving to replace the scope back in it’s original position, frowning over the changed settings. “It might’ve been very good!”
Rahne raised a brow and bent to put her lips near Jamie’s ear as he huddled over the eyepiece. “Jamie, I know you. I know that look on your face. You got it when you realized you were failing algebra. You got it when you wrecked Scott’s car backing it out of the garage. The meeting didn’t go well.” She reached up and ran a finger tip along the outer edge of his ear, smiling slightly as his skin turned pink in her wake, his face growing warm from blushing as he stood still, staring down at the telescope. “I’m still here, Jamie. Remember that.”
“I know,” he replied, his voice almost a whisper. “I didn’t forget…” He shifted, turning to face her and straightening to his full height, looking her in the eye as she assumed a similar posture. “It’s just… this is important. I mean,” he closed his eyes and damned his speech patterns, “you’re important too! You’re VERY important to me but this is a different kind of important!”
Rahne sighed and reached to lay a hand on his shoulder, stemming his babble. “Jamie, just don’t get yourself obsessed any more than you already are. I mean,” she glanced out the window in the direction the telescope was pointed. “Huh.” Her hand fell to her side and she furrowed her brow, stepping closer to the glass. “I’ll be damned…”
Jamie blinked, confused, “What?” Joining her at the window, it took a moment for his eyes to focus. “Whoa…” The blood rushed to his face then fell, making him dizzy. “Wow, wow, wow, wow!” A silver blur was visible in the sky, not moving, as if someone had taken a drop of paint and dabbed it against blue canvas. “Maybe it’s a plane,” he suggested thinly.”
“Or maybe it’s the end of the world and we’re going to be cooked according to To Serve Man…”1 Rahne blinked and heard Jamie gasp, both of them clutching for the other’s hands as the silver blur vanished. “What the Hell was that?” she asked, jerking on his fingers. “Jamie, what WAS that?”
“I… have no idea! Damn it! I wish it were dark out! I can’t see anything in the daylight with this thing!” He raked his fingers through his hair and muttered a curse in frustration.
“It’s possible that it was nothing,” Rahne said slowly. “Maybe just a plane after all… or a reflection off the river or bay…” She bit her lower lip, her heart racing excitedly. “Or maybe a UFO?” She could not help the grin that was spreading across her face, the long suppressed conspiracy theorist inside her doing a dance of joy.
“UFOs aren’t always aliens,” he replied tersely. “It could be something like a mylar balloon at a distance…” He sighed then, wilting. “But they wouldn’t go up that high.”
“We need to tell someone,” Rahne said distantly. “Who, though? That scientist guy isn’t interested… Professor Xavier would naysay it…”
“Oh, NOW you’re interested,” he retorted, half teasing. He kissed the freckles on the bridge of her nose and sighed. “I love you, you know.”
“Yep,” she chirped. “Now who can we tell?”
_*How about us?” *_ Jono stood at the top of the stairs, a living shadow in a pool of light.
Paige stuck her head out from around his arm. “Move it, Jono. If I fall down the steps, so help me, you’re going with me.” She shimmied past him and sighed as she looked between the three wide, anxious sets of eyes. “Great. I’m in the middle of a geek-gasm.”
Rahne snorted. “Kitty. We can tell Kitty.”
Paige yelped and pressed herself against the wall as Rahne, Jamie and Jono thundered down the steps, slamming the door behind them. “Fine!” she called after them. “Leave me here. Alone. With the telescope!” She sighed and sat down on the wooden floor, her legs straight out in front of her. “Not like I understand what’s going on anyway… nope, not me…” She glanced up and frowned. “Hello…” She rose to her knees and moved forward, peering out the window, her eyes widening. “Wait up y’all!”


1 An old Twilight Zone episode where aliens come down and everyone thinks they’re there to help and be friendly b/c of the title of a book they have called “To Serve Man…” Think about it and you’ll see where that’s going.