Chapter Fifteen

SCOTT

I came downstairs to find Jean scowling at her breakfast, Storm's clouds roiling around the house, Xavier sedately eating his healthy porridge and Logan nowhere in sight. After my normal morning run, I had taken a long shower. I rarely liked to eat breakfast early. Since Logan usually came to the kitchen first and left last, I suspected that the women of the house had scolded the tenacious man.

Jean brightened a little when I sat down next to her.

/Logan said something about Storm's clouds. He's out in the garage now./ She said and showed me an image of Storm commanding a cloud to hover over Logan's head, the static of the threatening lightning causing his already thick head of hair to stand even further on end than normal. I grinned.

"Well children, what do you mean to do with your first day of summer break?" Xavier asked in his quiet cultured way. Jean brightened even more.

"Scott promised to help me get the pool ready." She said. I couldn't remember making that promise but I had had no doubt that my afternoon would be at Jean's disposal. Our weekends had usually been like that. Xavier smiled knowingly.

/I suppose this was what you were planning to do?/ He inquired. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. This was something I could do without Jean seeing because of my glasses. Despite the frustration I held at my inability to control my power, the glasses hid the most expressive part of my face, giving me an advantage to be able to conceal my emotions.

/I planned to spend my afternoon with her./ I replied.

/Don't let her walk over you./

/I really want to, sir./

"What are you going to do today, Professor?" Jean asked.

"I have completed my improvements on Cerebro and mean to test them out today." He replied. I was suddenly aware that he was studying me carefully. I lifted my head and turned it towards him so he knew I was looking back. He smiled kindly. "I have looked into trying to harness the power so that even a non telepath could use it. Perhaps later I could have your help."

I nodded. Jean soon took over the conversation and I listened to her with only half my mind, considering my own unplanned summer cautiously.

LOGAN

Once Storm's clouds let up, I headed back inside. Slim was alone in the kitchen, finishing dish duty. Jean had done her part and had abandoned him. He probably didn't care. Jean could walk over him and he'd think she was still the greatest creature in the world. Probably only natural considering they were the only teenagers in the house and since there was no one else at their school who could completely understand them. Xavier worried that Jean abused her power over Scott, but I knew different. She had her way in most things but it was Scott who got her to go to bed when she was sick, Scott who could make her give her all on homework just so she didn't fall behind him, Scott who kept her from trying dangerous things. They didn't get it yet themselves. In their minds, they were just friends. Jean was too distracted by the attention of the jocks at school to face the power Scott's affection had over her and Scott did not understand his own feelings yet, his emotions stunted by the numerous abuses he had suffered.

Jean flew down the stairs as I left Slim putting the last dishes away. Her red hair billowed behind her and she hardly touched the ground as she buoyed herself up with her telekinesis.

"Logan, do you think I could ever truly fly?" She showed me her feet dangling a few inches off the floor.

"Maybe, darling." I replied. "I got to go find Chuck. Don't do anything foolish."

"Scott will help me." She said brightly. I was relieved to hear her decision. Slim would keep her from doing something stupid, like leaping off the roof to learn to fly.

I tiptoed down the hall, fearing that if Storm heard me I might get another little storm around my head. It wasn't my fault the beauty was so tense today. I should have waited to see how she welcomed the others. If Slim didn't have so much energy to burn thanks to the power he pulled from the sun he probably would have been at breakfast with me. While my heightened senses could lend me clues about the physical changes going on in those around me Scott was sensitive to the moods of others, able to hear the slight inflections in our voices.

Chuck was busy with the blasted helmet and computer we called Cerebro. He welcomed me. "Storm is asleep." He smiled knowingly. "I would appreciate you thinking your comments through before blurting them out. Scott may be able to shrug you off but the other residents of our home are subject to fluctuating hormones."

"Sorry Chuck. What did you want to see me about?"

"I wished to ask you, and Storm when her headache clears up, what you would think if I adopted Scott."

"Adopted?"

"Yes. While we are granted guardian status over him, I would like to solidify that bond. I would like to make him my heir." Xavier said quietly.

I considered that carefully. It made sense. Scott would have a future to work towards. If Xavier's little haven continued to expand someone would need to take over if anything ever happened to him and it wasn't like Chuck was going to get married and have kids of his own. He was married to his work. As for becoming the leader of our little sanctuary, Scott excelled at managing Jean, could placate Storm in her hardest times. The kid could get me to talk. More than that, he could formulate a plan of action in half the time of the rest of us, which was why he was starting to be a challenge in our daily practices. Best of all Xavier's plan would grant Scott the security of knowing he belonged. If there was something the kid needed more than anything, it was that he could not be taken away or sent away.

"I like the idea."

Chuck looked relieved. "Just talk with Scott before you do anything. He trusts and likes you, but he may not like the idea of you claiming him."

Scott had never spoken of what Jack Winters had done to him. But we all knew that the boy had been treated more like a piece of property than a human being. Freedom was dear to Slim because it had been denied him so often. Xavier agreed with that plan.

SCOTT

Jean and I had spent that last three afternoons filling the pool and getting the chemicals right. We were now setting up the chairs and table. Well I was setting them up while Jean floated around (which was her newest hobby as she tried to teach herself to fly) and cocked them at ridiculous angles. Storm was flying above us, welcoming the sun this morning. Logan was also in sight, watching us like a hunter from his seat in the vast tree that sat just outside the pool gate. No wonder Jean wanted to fly with those two always somewhere off the ground.

"Come on Jean." I complained as I set the last chair in place and she proceeded to use her telekinesis to rearrange the whole set. "It looks fine." I liked order in my world and Jean's attempt to aesthetically place the furniture was messing with the tidy layout I had set up.

/Scott are you finished with Jean?/ The professor touched my mind gently. He was a low hum accompanied by a feeling of safety. Jean was a warm fire and a sudden joy. I was very sensitive to which of them was trying to talk to me. Logan rarely could tell them apart when they were 'talking' into his mind.

/Well I got my part done. She is now rearranging all my work./ I complained, smiling fondly at the red haired beauty. She floated out over the water to view her work from a further distance. "Hey Jean, don't fall in!" I called. I felt the professor's amusement as he glimpsed Jean get startled and nearly lose her concentration.

She focused on moving the table to one side, straining her power to its limits. Suddenly she looked startled and the next moment she'd dropped into the water. The professor, still seeing through my eyes, and I started laughing and I heard Logan chuckle. Jean resurfaced, sputtering and glaring at me. "This is all your fault." She complained, trying to splash me, but I moved out of the way.

/Perhaps you would like to come to my study before she decides to use her telekinesis to get the water to you. I have something I would like to discuss with you./ Seeing Jean forming a ball of water I decided the professor was right.

"The professor wants to see me." I called and ran before she could throw her water at me.

/You won't get away that easy. I'll be waiting for you when you come back./ Her threat made me laugh. If revenge meant this gorgeous creature would still be my best friend I would revel in my drenching.

She removed herself from my mind at my slight hint. I raised my mental shields and knocked at the professor's office door. "Come in." He called, aware that my shields had gone up. The wheelchair bound man did not scare me but I suspected a serious conversation was coming up since he did not telepathically tell me what was going on, and I liked to think my thoughts in private. I entered quietly and stood before his desk.

"Sit down Scott." He said gently. I obeyed, scrambling over my recent behavior. I did not think I had done anything wrong, but my neglected childhood sometime caused me to commit social gaffs unwittingly. Storm and Jean would straighten me out most of the time, but there were some things the professor had to explain. (Since Logan disdained many conventions of social life.)

I sat straight as I could, prepared to take my instruction humbly as I could. The Professor also straightened himself as much as possible. We looked at each other across the desk, Professor Xavier's eyes kind and yet wary. My stomach dropped. Mingled among the terrors of my nighttime dreams were the daytime fears that I would have to leave this haven. It would make sense if they got tired of me. I was hard to live with, I did not deceive myself, between my fears, nightmares, headaches and the ever present fear of the power that the red glasses held in check.

"Scott, I would like to adopt you as my son." Xavier said.

I froze, staring at him at shock. No one had ever even pretended to want me. The 'brain damage' label affixed me after my coma and the horrific headaches had scared any potential caretakers. Could Xavier be serious? I got that he wanted what was best for me, but did he want to take that much responsibility towards me? Did he mean to be a father or did he want to lay claim to me to use me to further his research?

"Why?" I finally asked, watching his response anxiously. He looked surprised at first, perhaps both at the question and my severe tone. I didn't have to be a telepath to see his confusion and then his caution as he realized the resurgence of my old fears. Was I projecting? I didn't know for sure and tightened my hold on my mind.

"I want to give you a home and make you my heir. I love you as if you were my child." Xavier replied. His eyes remained calm and focused. I had discovered that when Jean or the Professor used their mental powers their eyes grew unfocused and the muscles on their faces grew strained. He was making no effort to manipulate my mind.

My vision blurred slightly, and then my optic power burned the tears away. I stood on a narrow bridge above a chasm, with the choice to run from this kind man or to accept his kindness, his love. Xavier was asking me for my trust. He was offering me the family I had prayed for since my first nights in my first foster home, the family I had believed would never be mine again.

I sat tense as a wound up rubber band, so afraid of belonging somewhere, so uncertain if I deserved place in Xavier's home. "Scott, I mean no disrespect to your parents. I think only of you and your future."

The rubber band snapped. The word future did it. This word that spoke of all I had thought would be refused me. I stared at this man offering to be my father. The tears welled up fast and hot too many to be burned away. Several slipped under my glasses and ran down my cheek.

"Thank you sir." I whispered.

"So you agree with it? You will allow me to make you my son?" Xavier asked eagerly. I nodded.

"Can I keep my last name?" I asked. "It's all I have of my parents."

"Of course." Xavier agreed. He rolled around the desk, coming up to me with a huge smile on his face. He wrapped his strong arms around me and suddenly I was sobbing, stunned with how much my life had changed. I leaned into his chest, my father's chest, and I cried, mourning my dead family and marveling at my precious new family.

Thank you for reading my story, The Lost Boy. I feel that there could be a sequel in the works for this one detailing how this little community decided to open their doors to more and how the x-men first began.

However, my muse is currently more focused on the Batman Family, so it will not be an immediate sequel.

Again thanks for reading, following and favoriting my story. Please leave me a comment to let me know if it was a good story and (kindly) let me know where I can improve.

Once more, I do not own Cyclops and the rest and am merely borrowing them for the purpose of practicing my craft.