The Lady, the Leader and the Bump in the Road
Author: Nefret24
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men but if Marvel, Stan Lee or 20th Century Fox want to loan me Scott for awhile, I'll have no complaints.
Pairing: Scott/Jean with a little bit o' Jean/Logan UST to make things interestin'
Summary: Set before, after and during the movie.
Author's Note: I'm a newbie at X-Men fanfic, and I realize that I'm probably most definitely gonna screw up at least a hundred times in this story, so please, be kind- (not only to me, but to Scott- he's really not such a bad guy as people make him out to be, sniff sniff [we love you James Mardsen!!! she cries hysterically]. The characterization of Scott and Jean are a combination of their movie/novelization components and their old anger-filled comic selves (just too controlled to my taste in some respects in the movie.)
Technical note: Thoughts versus //Telekinesis//
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Charles Xavier's School for the Gifted
Westchester, NY
The Metal Shop around 7:00 pm
"Excuse me? You will not allow it? Since when do you allow me to do anything?" Jean's voice grew louder with rage.
"It's dangerous! I know it, you know it and the Professor knows it! I don't want to see you get your brain fried! What is so wrong about that?" Scott threw down one of the grease rags onto the floor in a huff.
"Can't you expect that the Professor and I know what we're doing? We're not a couple of idiotic novices, you know. We have had a degree of schooling and-"
"What are you saying? That because you're a doctor that makes you qualified to liquify your brains?"
"Argh!" Can not do this now Scott, or so help me I will hurt you in more ways than one. She began to walk down the corridor that led to their room.
"Jean! Don't walk away- we're not finished here-" Can't you see that I only care about you?
"Oh yes we are."
Now it was Scott's turn to sigh.
~*~*~*~
I just wanted to try it. There's no conclusive evidence that supports that I can't handle Cerebro, Jean mused as she began to get undressed for a hot shower. How can Scott suppose that I wouldn't be careful? That I wouldn't take every precaution! Jean sighed inwardly. He's only doing what he's supposed to do- care about you, she scolded herself. As the hot water pummelled her, she tried to calm herself down. In reality, it felt good to lose her temper again- she spent so much time maintaining her cool, just like Scott. They had both been angry once, mellowed out with age and each other. They had found the ultimate niche for themselves at the school and they were happy. The perfect time to question it she guessed. Resolute to ease things over later, she shut her eyes and let the steam ease her clenched muscles.
~*~*~*~
Shit, shit, shit. I haven't gotten Jean this pissed since… since… since before we were engaged. Damn. That long just to screw up now.
Scott busied himself with putting an extra coat of wax on his motorcycle. At least my second true love isn't that tempermental. He'd been fooling around with the idea of adding a few more gadgets and gizmos to juice it up when Jean walked in and very composedly announced her intention to start training on Cerebro. As if it weren't an incredibly powerful and risky machine, as if it were on a par with what was for dinner. So matter-of-factly. So he objected. Stringently, the way he always did. It weighed on her more now. Usually she sighs and agrees with me. I'll be damned if I can understand her without the mind link. He tried to reach out for her mentally, the way she had taught him, but with no success. Still can't get this crap. She probably shut me out. Oh well, I guess we'll talk this through the old fashioned way- more screaming. But… later, he resolved, and continued to polish his bike.~*~*~*~
"Hey."
"Hey, yourself," Jean replied, looking up from her notes. She was sitting in their bed, wearing only a camisole and silk boxers. Scott was standing in the doorway, tenatively leaning against the doorjamb. "You gonna come in?"
"You gonna bite my head off?"
"Maybe. Guess you'll have to take your chances."
"Guess so," he replied with a smile, and shut the door behind him. A Jean making lame jokes is better than a non-speaking Jean.
//Who says my jokes are lame?//
"Guess you're linked with me again huh?" Scott said sheepishly blushing. He began to pace the length of their bedroom.
"You bet your fine ass I am," she said, taking off her glasses. She watched him for a moment and then continued, "Would you like to sit down? Over here perhaps?" She gestured to the bed.
"Scott-"
"Jean-"
//You gonna let me talk or what?//
"Why don't you start honey?" Scott said, his words dripping with honey.
"Sarcasm will get you nowhere, darling. Cerebro."
"Yes."
"You object."
"Yes. As I have said many, many times with damn good reason."
"Yes, with damn good reason. But that was then."
"And this is now? What makes now so different from then? The risk is still there- if anything the stakes are raised," he argued, taking her left hand in his and pointedly fondling her engagement ring.
"You are gonna be a pain in the ass for a husband."
"Yes I am. So you better get used to it."
"Who says that I'll marry a man who bosses me around? I think that that would be a grave error on his part- I could make his life hell on earth."
"No one living with you would be in hell," he said softly, raising her hand to his lips and giving it a soft kiss.
"Oh no, you don't. You will not get out of this by getting mushy on me," Jean replied firmly, removing her hand and glaring at him. Goddamn he is adorable. Pushing lust aside for later she continued, "Marriage is about equality, agree?"
A muffled 'yes' escaped the lips that were slowly creeping up her arm.
"And so, in the interest of equality, couples should make decisions together, discussing them openly and objectively, right?"
"Mmmm-hmmm," said her elbow.
"And not with one of the said couple trying to use sexual attraction to get the other of the said couple not to experiment with her powers," Jean finished with a gasp.
"Mmmm-hmmm," said her shoulder blade.
"Scott-" she said, taking his hands from their particularly pleasant areas on her body and clasped them in hers. "Do you trust me?"
"Implicitly," he replied huskily.
Jean stifled a giggle but still held his hands fast. "I'm serious- do you trust me?"
//With all my heart.// Scott telepathed, resting his forehead against hers.
//Then let me do this. Please.//
Scott sighed and kissed her cheek. "I love you, Jean. There is nothing in the world that I wouldn't give you. But why must you do this now? The hearings, the UN summit, finals week-"
"Because if not now, when? We've been putting it off- too scared to risk this-" she gestured at the scant amount of space between them "but I have to try. Even more because of the hearings, and the UN summit."
"Jean, if I were to lose you…"
"Compromise. After the hearings and the summit and finals week. Then I try it. Huh?"
He sighed again and gave her a lopsided grin. "You're incorrigible."
"And you're a pain in the ass but I'm marrying you anyway."
"Why is that I wonder?"
"Because of that-" she kissed the side of his mouth- "extra" –other side- "fiiine gluteus maximus of yours," she finished, firmly planting her lips on his and squeezing that part of his anatomy.
"Damn I love it when you talk doctor to me," he replied, regaining the use of his hands and using them to his full advantage.
"Well then, Mr. Summers – lose the shirt. I have an examination to perform."
~*~*~*~
"I think," said Jean much later, feeling warm and spent and resting her head on Scott's chest, "that the subject is in perfect physical health."
"Really, now," Scott remarked, lazily stroking her hair.
"Mmmm-hmmm. I really should get to sleep. Have that speech to do in the morning."
"Don't think about the speech," Scott murmured into the mess of tangled curls.
"Gonna give me something else to do?" she smiled as her hands slowly made their way south.
"A man must do what a man must do," he replied in kind, taking her head into his hands and kissing her. //You worry too much Jean.//
//I know. Fill me with something else. Please.//
And he obliged.
~*~*~*~