Sins of the Father

Sins of the Father Chapter Twenty Five (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta...*skips around in circles * The backlog is almost cleared! InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena... *glomp * for archiving/hosting! ProPhile: It's long, but it might not be good... ;) Morgan: Damn it, now I'm antsy too! Readers/Reviewers: *sends ducks to find ReiMars * In the mean time... *sends Armadillos to do dance of thanks for reading/reviewing *


Professor Xavier closed his eyes and cleared his mind-not as easy a task as one might think. Jubilee's muted sniffles punctuated the silence as he purged the last extraneous thought, his shields sliding into place effortlessly. "Jubilee," he began softly, "I need for you to be completely honest with me. I am not scanning you," he added as an afterthought to calm her paranoia. He met Jean's eyes over the crying girl's head. _* Do you know what started this? * _
She shrugged helplessly. _* I know as much as you do, just what she's said... * _ Aloud, she asked, "Jubes, you need some water or something? A tissue?"
Jubilee shook her head violently. "I don't know what it is," she repeated for the third time since arriving in the study. She sniffed once more and looked up, smiling blearily. "I feel loads better now, though...maybe it's PMS?" She shrugged and colored slightly. "I feel like a dork now..."
The Professor frowned. "I don't feel that this is a simple case of hormonal flux, Jubilee. I want for you to go through the day for me again, from the time you woke up to just before you came here. Leave nothing out."
"Nothing?" she asked with the faintest tinge of embarrassment.
"Nothing," he confirmed, well aware of the possibilities "nothing" presented.
Jubilee sighed and sat up a bit straighter, fisting her hands on her knees and taking several deep, slow breaths. Each exhale felt like a little more of the melancholy was leaving her, making it a little easier for her to talk. "Well, I woke up too early after going to bed too late and I took a shower. I had to borrow Kitty's shampoo because I was out so I went to her room but she wasn't there so I knocked and then when she didn't answer, I went in and was soooooooooo happy she and Kurt weren't trying to sneak in a quickie." She glanced up quickly and cleared her throat. "Sorry...pretend I didn't say that, okay?"
Jean sighed and tuned Jubilee out as she continued with the minutiae of her morning. Her mind wandered to Scott, a minor irritation this week. She felt bad being annoyed with him when he did not mean anything bad by his comments about school, her work or even her drive to be the best at both. He just, she told herself, did not understand. She had fired off an angry but coherent email to her professor that morning, demanding-requesting, she corrected-a meeting to discuss her paper and possible revisions. She had been polite but curt and was fairly certain she could persuade him that not only was her sample not flawed but she had done damned near expert level research. Scott, however, did not seem to think she was being rational. His exact word, she fumed inwardly, had been "obsessed."
"Jean," Professor Xavier said rather loudly.
"Huh? I mean...yes?" She colored rapidly, suddenly aware that he had been trying to get her attention for some moments. "I was...thinking about school..."
He raised one brow but otherwise refrained from comment. "I need to make some calls but I'd like for Jubilee to come back and see me as soon as Beast takes some blood and checks hormone levels. Would you mind taking her downstairs for me?"
Jubilee rolled her eyes, her old self coming back rapidly. "I can talk myself, Professor. I'm not an invalid, just...sad." She stood and sniffed once more, mostly for effect. "I'm a big girl."
Jean smiled in her best nurse manner. "Come on. I'll just go with you to make sure you don't faint on us or anything. I'm not going to hold your hand."
The other girl snorted. "Okay, fine. Chaperone me, oh mighty duenna1" She made a small bow, sweeping her hand towards the door in an expansive gesture. "I am but a weak girl child and require assistance to travel less than four thousand feet!"
It was Jean's turn to roll her eyes. "Whatever was wrong with you seems to be gone now," she muttered, smiling in spite of herself. She nodded once to the Professor to show that yes, she did understand she was supposed to see Jubilee back as well, and opened the door for her friend.
Once out in the hallway, Jubilee plucked at her elbow. "It was Ernie." Her eyes were dark pools in her ashen face, her lips a thin line of nervous tension.
"What was Ernie? Jubilee, what are you talking about?" Jean pulled her a bit further down the hall, away from the Professor's door. Even if he was not scanning, he was sure to pick up what they were saying at that proximity.
"Whatever made me so upset and...and wanting to hurt myself...Ernie made it happen!" She leaned closer and added, "I didn't feel bad until I talked to him! And when it was the worst, he was right outside the door, remember? And as soon as we got up here, I got better!"
Jean frowned. "Maybe it's a coincidence..."
"Jean! Come ON! When is any of the fucked up shit that happens around here a coincidence? It's like living at Blake Holesy High!"2 She stamped her foot in frustration as an afterthought. "Beast is not going to find anything in my tests because it's not hormones or some fucked up mutant problem of MINE. Ernie did it. Hey..." her eyes narrowed suddenly. "Why weren't we introduced to them?"
"What?" Jean blinked in surprise and leaned back. "We met them..."
"Not formally. We didn't have a get-to-know-you meeting like with everyone else. No explanation of powers, no life story, not even a name..." She ran her fingers through already tousled hair, mingling pink and yellow streaks with black. "I've gotta find Kitty."
"What? Why?"
"Can't be Scoobies3 without the Head Scooby herself!"


1 Like a really alert chaperone. Spanish word for the women who would accompany unmarried girls to make sure they didn't get up to anything fun.
2 I'm a dork and admit it. I like the Blake Holesy high series on Nick. A high school where paranormal weirdness happens.
3 Ref. to Buffy. The gang was called the Scoobies in jest b/c of their evil fighting ways.