A gorgeous red-haired woman walked the streets of Bayville. She walked without purpose, without direction, without… hope. She crossed her arms across her ample chest as if stating to the world that she was would not surrender her last shred of dignity.

She was absolutely beside herself, completely unaware that a love forged from fires that even the Mutant Master of Fire himself could not hope to tame, could be so easily cast aside.

"Scott…" the redhead whispered as if the mere mention of her love's name would cause a severe mental breakdown.

She couldn't believe the love of her life had displayed feeling for another woman let alone who the other woman was.

"Emma," she said with contempt. Her walk slowed as she neared a street corner.

"Grey?"

She was brought out of her self loathing at the sound of her name. She scanned the area until she saw the only person that would know her name, let alone address her by her last name.

"Maximoff…" she said with a sigh.

"What are you doing here, Grey?" Pietro asked leaning against the building, "Shouldn't you be helping an old lady cross the street?"

"Why? Did you throw one into the street?" she asked glaring at the speedster.

"Snippy," he said peeking an eyebrow taking in her demeanor, "What's wrong… Blinky knock you up?"

She visibly flinched.

"He did, didn't he?" Pietro asked with a smug grin, "Oh man! Wait 'til Lance hears about this!" his celebration was cut off by a sob. He turned to see the tear soaked face of Jean, "He did something stupid, didn't he?"

"All men are stupid," she said regaining her composure.

"Sounds like you could use a drink," he said grabbing her arm and pulling her in the building he had been leaning against.

"I'm older than you are and I'm not old enough to buy alcohol, so how are you going to buy me a drink?" she asked in a whisper, "Wait… this is a bar?"

"Yeah, I still remember the first time I went into a bar," he said dragging her to a booth. They sat on the terribly uncomfortable seats and Pietro looked to the bartender and held up two fingers, "Now, why don't you tell me all about it?"

"Why are you doing this?" she asked in a state of confusion she had never experienced, "Why do you even care? We don't even like each other."

Pietro shrugged, "I'm bored, it's cold outside, you're not wearing a jacket and between you and me, business is kind of slow tonight," he said listing things off in a rapid fire manner, "I could go on if you want."

"Business is slow…" she repeated with a peeked eyebrow.

Pietro leaned forward, "What do you know about the Brotherhood?" he asked in a low tone.

Jean studied his face before answering, "You're all idiots," she said in a deadpan expression.

"Touché," he said with a smile, "But…" he reached into his jacket and pulled out a gold watch, "Give us a little more credit next time."

She snatched the watch from his grasp, "You stole this," she said forcefully, "How could you?"

In an instant her hands were empty again, "Criminal," he said with a smirk.

"But that's grand theft, that's a serious crime," she said, eyes wide in shock.

"And I'm a serious criminal," he responded just as the bartender brought them their drinks, "Now… why don't you tell me about Blinky?"

-An hour later-

A dozen empty glasses littered the table. Jean swayed in her seat as Pietro starred at her in mild curiosity.

"An' ya know what else…" she said her words slurring, "Have ya ever noticed how much room his costume has in the crotch area?" she pointed down at her own crotch, "I have!" she exclaimed spilling her drink.

"You don't handle alcohol very well do you?" he asked in mild amusement.

"I know my limits…" she said with a hiccup, "And I only had ten beers…"

"Well as long as you waved to your limits as you passed them by, I guess that's okay," he said tilting his head slightly.

"Damn right!" she exclaimed reaching for his drink.

Pietro pulled the drink just out of reach, "Why don't you finish the story?" he asked.

"Right, right…" Jean said with a nod, "So, cere… cerebellum?"

"Cerebro," Pietro corrected.

"That's that thing…" she said with a snap of her fingers, "It detected a new mutant, at a strip club of all places," she sighed, "An' Scott an' Logan went to go check her out…"

"Of course they did," Pietro said with a grin.

"An' when they were there… the place get's attacked by a bunch of religious mutant hatin' not nice people…" she slurred out.

That statement caused Pietro's eyebrow to peek in interest, "The Purifiers? I wonder how they knew a mutant was there," he said more to himself than to his inebriated acquaintance, "They're getting bold."

"We can go with that…" she said with a shrug, "They lit the place on fire an' she got stuck an' Scott saved her…"

"So, Blinky and the stripper fell in love at first sight?" Pietro asked resting his arms on the seat.

"Nah… she moved into the mansion an' everythin' went back to normal for a while…" she said reaching for his drink again, "But then things… started to happen…"

"Blinky not being as attentive as he used to be? Maybe forgetting to say he loves you? Screaming the wrong name during sex?" Pietro asked with a knowing nod pulling the drink just out of reach again.

Jean blushed, "We never… I mean I never… forget it. He's a jerk an' she can have him," she said finally getting her hands on the drink.

"A stripper in the X-Mansion…" Pietro said with a smirk, "At least she'll have plenty of business."

"Tha's not funny… there are a lot of little minds there…" she said swallowing the entire contents of the glass in one fluid motion, "Little tiny minds…"

"Well, did you walk in on them doing something of an intimately naughty nature?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She's in his head… the one on his shoulders… telepathically…" she slurred slamming the empty glass on the table.

"Excuse me, but that's tele-pathetic…" he said in disappointment.

"What?" she asked entirely offended.

"You're one of the most powerful mutants in the world and you can't handle some stripper in your boy toy's head?" he asked in complete disbelief, "If you ask me your little relationship wasn't that strong to begin with."

"Bar closes in ten minutes!" the barkeep exclaimed, "You ain't got to go home but you got to get the hell out of here!"

"Are you going home?" Pietro asked helping Jean out of her seat.

She allowed the speedster to lead her out of the bar, "I think I need a hug…" she said as new tears began forming in her eyes.

"I guess… you could stay at the boarding house tonight…" he said reluctantly.

"Awe… tha's so sweet…" she said touching his nose with her finger.

"Just don't throw up on me, okay?" he asked scooping the redhead into his arms.

"I promise nothin'…" she said resting her head on his chest.

"I was afraid of that…" Pietro sighed out.

With that the mutant couple sped off into the distance toward the sanctity of the Brotherhood Boarding House.

"Ah! That was my favorite shirt!"

A/N: I'm back baby!