「 The Professor & I 」VOLUME II

(159) Jason Stryker

Charles' POV

In a world of endless possibilities and infinite outcomes where countless choices define our fate, each choice, each moment, a ripple in the river of time. Enough ripples and you change the tide, for the future is never truly set.

Dire straits fell upon us like the crumbling skies whose wreckage simply piled up like a stack of immovable rubble atop our lives, preventing its recovery.

Despite his broken femur that was still in the midst of healing, Peter absolutely could not accept the strange and unbelievable reality revolving around the mysterious disappearances of his family and instigated Scott to head to Alberta and Vancouver in search for them. Scott held him back sufficiently to seek my approval, albeit having the consensus that they would take a drive up over the weekend instead. Surely, I was not alone in being more than apprehensive of the further use of air transportation to get to that seemingly god forbidden zone.

Although my reservations and Scott's rationality allowed for them to arrive at their destination safely, Lynn's depression was certainly not appeased by their incompetence to locate Raven, or any of the others apart from Jubilee. While the minute amount of Peter's DNA aided to restore health to Lynn's physical body, the condition of her heart and soul paled in comparison, failing to recuperate.

It took almost every ounce of persuasion I could conjure to get her to eat and drink in order to ensure the wellness of her internal constitution we could no longer take for granted. Not to mention the nearly drastic measures required to get her out of bed to meet with the boys or have so much as a glimpse of the peculiar young mutant who was the student I meant to pick up personally until she discovered that they had also delivered an unconscious Jubilee home in Raven's unscathed jet.

"How is she?" Lynn investigated shakily as she let Scott wheel her to the viewing gallery separating us from Jubilee laying motionless in the ICU ward, albeit without any bandages or apparent superficial injuries.

I took her hand to comfort her but as did every other day since the accident, her fingers hardly moved to reciprocate the favour as she stared blankly at Jubilee's almost lifeless frame.

"Although her skull was not fractured, tests suggest that her brain suffered some kind of trauma which generated this blood clot," Jean explained, pointing to an opaque spot on the backlit X-Ray image hanging on the wall.

"Can't you remove it?" Storm probed in a somber tone.

"It's not life-threatening and I still don't have the expertise to go that deep..." Jean refuted but her voice went adrift and everyone's head automatically lowered almost in sync, as dejected as Hank who had indefinitely imprisoned himself in his lab, refusing to see anyone.

"We can only wait for it to clear and see if she wakes," Jean informed sadly, switching off the illuminated panel as she removed the large film and Lynn sighed in disappointment.

"Jubilee is an optimistic girl. I believe she'll be fine," I consoled as I squeezed Lynn's palm but she barely even glanced at me.

Lynn retracted her hand expressionlessly and took her wheels, aiming to leave but it was obvious I was not the only one against her willful desire of returning to our room. The girls halted her chair and Scott stood before it, impeding her passage to the exit which induced her to exhale a deep breath in annoyance.

"Get out of my way, Scott," Lynn demanded restlessly, albeit still maintaining a rather calm demeanor.

"Lynn, why don't you take a look at him? He's just next door," I appealed, simply not wanting her to coop herself up but she remained silent.