Blueshift

Blueshift Chapter Nine (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…*random GLOMP * and Beep! InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting… ProPhile: There, better? ;) Morgan: *waves * Readers/Reviewers: *poke * Some of y’all are still bouncing… some aren’t, lol. Just seeing if you’re alive out there…

“Let me see….”
“What’s he doing?” Jubilee whispered harshly, leaning across the table towards Rogue. “Where’s all the books?”
Rogue silently pointed to the towering stacks near the door leading to the back hallway. “He’s reorganizing…”
Jubilee frowned and tapped her pencil eraser against the wooden table top for a moment, sighed, shoved her chair back and strode over to the librarian. “Um, what the hell, dude?” she asked, pointing to the stacks of books. “They were organized before!” She glanced at the shelf he had partially complete and blinked. “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance next to Six Simple Steps For Fixing a Leaky Sink?”1
“Yes,” Mark replied, raising a brow. “I don’t see a problem with that… both of them are how to books.” He picked up the next in the stack that reached his hip, checked the title, and reached to put it on the top shelf. “And these,” he indicated the shelf over Jubilee’s head, “are also how to books. Human Biology Made Easy, Gibson’s Guide to Abdominal Surgery…”2
Jubilee stared for one long moment, opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it, closed it with an audible click, and returned to the table with Rogue. She was sure she heard him chuckle under his breath but she did not turn around to find out. “He’s reorganizing,” she repeated Rogue’s earlier words with a hint of confusion. She picked up her pencil again, turned in her seat and shook her head. “I have no fucking clue what he’s doing…”
Rogue shrugged. “Like you use the books anyway, Queen of Internet Research. Kitty and Jean are the only ones who really bother.” She flipped through the pages of her text book and paused, then smiled faintly. “I dunno… I think it’s pretty damned cool Jamie found that thing. Comet, meteor, whatever it is…”
“Neither,” Mark called from across the room. “It’s technically a UFO, though the phrase lacks the X-Files connotation that most people apply to it…” He shoved another book into a spot on the shelf with a thud and turned to face the young women, leaning against the shelves and pushing his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. “Your friend has spotted something even the boys at the federal observatories can’t identify. It’s very exciting if you’re interested in astronomy and such. In fact,” he reached seemingly blindly, grabbed a book from the shelf to his right and opened it to a page without looking. “Here’s some very interesting information on unidentified flying objects that has nothing to do with little green men or black ooze that possesses people…”3 When neither Rogue nor Jubilee made a move to take the book, he raised his eyes heavenward for a moment, went to the table and deposited it between them. “This isn’t as simple as him finding a penny on the sidewalk, girls. This is of monumental importance, especially to those who know about such things. I wouldn’t be surprised if your young friend winds up in the news papers soon when the news of his discovery comes out.”
“No!” Kitty’s voice came from somewhere within the stacks. “No newspapers!”
Rogue snorted as Kitty made her way from somewhere between Ancient Cultures (including books on the Depression and both World Wars, seeing as how they did occur in the previous millennium) and Zoology, crypto and otherwise. “We sort of have an anti-media thing going on here… bad mojo and all that.”
Mark did not make a face but they received the distinct impression he was somehow derisive about that statement. “Right, well, good to know. I should have this place reorganized in a few days, sooner if I get some help,” he added without really expecting any.
Kitty, slightly dusty and very harried, finally appeared. “Are you going to explain your system of organization here or are they just going to guess?” She dropped to sit in one of the library chairs, depositing a small stack of books in front of her, two for her and the rest for Kurt, including one on writing college application essays.
“’They’? Like you’re not included?” Rogue asked, deciding to abandon her efforts on the science paper for the time being. She had the feeling Todd had been avoiding her since she snarked at him the night before and she wanted to find him before it got too late in the day anyway, maybe make some time for apology sex…
“It’s common sense,” Kitty shrugged, selecting the book on essays and taking a packet of Post It notes out of her pocket.
Mark grinned. “Exactly. Starting at A,” he pointed to the far wall, near the door leading to the main hallway, “and working around to zed…” he turned and pointed to the wall he had been working on. “Just go alphabetical by topic and you’ll find what you need.”
Jubilee sighed. “Zed… Had to be British, didn’t you?” She let her head fall and hit her text book. “Cajuns on one side, British on the other… I’m surrounded.”
Mark snorted. “I didn’t have much of a choice in being British but I highly doubt the Cajuns and the British are going to make an alliance to take over your life any time soon. You lack meaningful resources that would make colonization worth it.”
Any annoyed response from Jubilee or amused ones from her friends was cut off by a thud from the other side of the door. Mark frowned and after making a visual check to ensure all of the books were still in stacks, he strode to the door and flung it open. “Oh. Hello there…”
Kitty and Rogue followed, stopping behind Mark and following his gaze downward. Kitty moved first. “Jean! Jean, ohmygod!” She pushed the librarian aside and dropped to her knees beside her friend, who seemed to have fainted. “Are you okay?” She slapped Jean’s face lightly, tilting her head back to make sure she could breathe. “Jean!”
“Ow,” the red head finally groaned. “Stop hitting me, Kit…”
Rogue and Jubilee knelt, leaving Mark standing. “Somehow, the visions I had of being surrounded by young women on their knees was a lot better than the reality,” he sighed. “I’ll go get that Beast person,” he added, stepping over Jean’s prone form and heading down the hall.
“I had this terrible pain,” Jean murmured, letting Kitty help her to sit up. “And I saw…” She frowned, her eyes closing again. “I saw this…room. No, not a room. It was huge… so many lights…”
“What’s wrong with her?” Jubilee hissed to Rogue. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah, cause everyone faints when they feel fine,” Rogue replied. “Jean, does your head still hurt?”
Jean shook her head no and tried to stand. “Kitty, help me up.”
“No, just wait here until Beast gets here…” Kitty frowned and looked at her friends. “Maybe one of you should get the Professor too…”
Jean blinked at this idea, then nodded. “Yeah… that might be a really good idea,” she whispered, her eyes rolling back in her head and her body going limp.

1 *waves to Doctor Nightfall *
2 Yeah, made that last one up…
3 Another X Files mythology/movie reference…