A Hundred Splendid Summers

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. I don't make money off them. I just borrow them every now and again.

Author's Notes: Hello friends! I'm back with some more Scott/Jean (and family) fics. These stories I'll be posting will all take place in the same universe as my trilogy The Girl From Tomorrow/Wait For Me/Hearts See Through Lies. Some might take place before, others in between, some after. Basically, these are stories I was unable to fit into my original trilogy for pacing purposes, but I thought were still worth sharing. Anyway, enjoy!

This chapter takes place between the stories Wait For Me and Hearts See Through Lies.

Summary: Scott and Jean have a fight on their wedding anniversary.

The Anniversary

The Mall

April 18th, 2003

"Mommy, can we go now?" Four-and-a-half-year-old Nathan Summers whined at his mother.

"Not yet, sweetie," Jean answered her son patiently. "Remember what I said? Today is mommy and daddy's anniversary and we need to buy something special for daddy."

Nate tugged at his mother's hand. "But I'm hungry!"

"No, you're not," Jean said, an amused look on her face as she watched her youngest child continue to whine.

"How do you know?" Nate asked.

"Because I'm your mother and I know… That, and you couldn't possibly be hungry since we just ate less than an hour ago," Jean answered, going back to perusing the greeting cards before her.

"This is boring. Ah wanna go home and play with Rach," her son said.

"In a little while, Nate. We're still not done. Besides, you're the one who wanted to come with me, remember? I asked you if you wanted to stay home with your daddy and sister, and you said, 'no'," Jean said. Nate's shoulder slumped, realizing he wasn't going to win.

Jean smiled inwardly at the look of resignation on her son's face. It was the exact look her husband gave her whenever he lost an argument… which was usually. Jean figured a couple of more hours of keeping Nate away from home would do her daughter, Rachel, some good. Lately, she'd found her little brother to be more and more of a pest rather than a playmate. Jean figured it was to be expected with their almost four-year age gap. But she knew they would grow up to be very close.

Jean was perusing the cards section looking for the perfect, romantic card to give her husband for their eleven-year anniversary. Dear God, had it been that long? It seemed just like yesterday she had walked down the aisle and married the love of her life. One thing was for sure, life with Scott was never boring.

Jean picked up a card with a light bluish design and opened it. It read, 'You're the twinkle in my eyes, the smile on my lips, the joy on my face and without you, I am incomplete. I love you'. Jean paused for a moment. Why did those words sound so familiar? Then it hit her. Scott wrote those words to her on her birthday card from the year before.

Jean frowned, putting the card back where she got it. But just as quickly, she decided against it, and grabbed the card back and placed it in her shopping basket. She continued perusing the cards. She opened a couple of dozen more cards and read the messages in them. Nothing really stood out. She got to the end of the aisle, and she picked up a card with an image of two people holding hands on the cover.

"Are you done yet, mommy?" Nate asked sighing.

"Just a few more minutes," Jean answered absently. She opened the card and read the message inside. 'You brighten my day with the sound of your voice. You bring so much laughter and love. You are everything to me, and I was so blessed when God sent you to me.'

This was the same message Scott wrote on Jean's anniversary card from the year before. There was no doubt in Jean's mind now. Her husband plagiarized at least two cards he'd given her in the past year. He pretty much took the words right out of one card and put them in another. Somewhere deep down, Jean knew she was overreacting, but she was angry… and hurt.

She closed the card in her hand and placed it in her shopping basket along with the other one. Her husband was not going to get anything for their anniversary, Jean thought angrily. Her shopping excursion was at an end. "Come on, Nate. We're going home!" Jean said.

"Yay!" Nate yelled, oblivious to his mother's sudden change in mood.

Thirty minutes later

The Boathouse

Scott looked down at his daughter on the couch who fell asleep while watching re-runs of Duck Tales on television. He turned down the volume on the TV and put a blanket over his little girl. He then got up and decided to grab himself a drink from the fridge.

It was his and Jean's anniversary and he had big plans for them later that evening. He'd asked Jean's parents if they could watch the kids overnight. His mother in-law, bless her soul, offered to spend the night at his and Jean's place so he and his wife could have the evening all to themselves. Scott had made reservations at Le Bernardin restaurant, and he'd booked a room for them at the Four Seasons as well afterwards.

Scott loved his children, but even he had to admit that having an eight-year-old and a four-year-old around the house made it a challenge for him and Jean to have any time alone. Things had been so busy and tiring lately that he realized he and his wife hadn't been intimate in at least three weeks. They hadn't gone that long since… well, since Jean gave birth to Nate! No wonder Rachel had called her daddy cranky just that morning.

Scott pulled out a Coke from the fridge and was about to open it when he heard the front door open. "Hi, daddy!" Nate said, running into the house, forgetting to take off his shoes.

Scott bent down to hug his son. "Hey, buddy! Let's keep it down, huh? Your sister's napping on the couch. Did you have a good time with mommy?" Scott asked his son.

Nate shrugged. "It was boring."

Scott chuckled and handed his son a cookie from the counter. "Go take off your shoes and watch some TV. Just don't wake your sister, okay?" Scott watched as his son ran off into the family room.

Scott looked up and saw his wife, hanging her coat. His smile quickly faded when he sensed her mood through their psychic link. "Everything okay, hon?" Scott asked his wife.

Jean didn't answer. She walked past him without even greeting him and opened the fridge. She opened herself a 7-Up and gulped down the whole can without taking a breath. He was in the dog house. That much was certain. Jean didn't even like soft drinks. Scott racked his brain trying to think of what he may have done to upset his wife. Everything had been fine between them before she left with Nate.

Scott decided to try again. "Umm, Jean? You okay? You don't seem like yourself."

Jean just raised her eyebrow at him, turned around and walked away. She headed straight for their bedroom up the stairs. "Jean wait, what's the matter?" Scott asked, following her.

Jean opened the door to their bedroom, put her purse down on one of the chairs and sat on the bed. Scott watched his wife sit there just staring out their window. After several agonizingly long moments, Jean broke the silence. "Go away, Scott."

Scott shook his head. "No, not until you tell me what I did. It's obvious you're mad at me. C'mon, Jean… It's not like you to give me the silent treatment. What'd I do? I can't make things right if you don't tell me what I did."

After a few more seconds of silence, Jean answered, "I wanted to get you a card for our anniversary… And so, I was reading through a bunch of them at the store today… Then I came across this one," Jean said, reaching for her purse and pulling out a greeting card. She handed it to Scott.

Scott opened up the card, read the pre-printed message in it, and gave his wife a confused look. "I don't follow, sweetheart…" Scott tentatively said.

Jean sighed, pulled out another card from her purse and handed it to her husband. Again, Scott opened it up, and read what was in it. Scott still wasn't sure what his wife was trying to tell him. "Jean, these cards are empty, save for the message it already comes with… I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me," Scott said.

Jean gave him a look that said, 'You're an idiot', got up and grabbed a shoebox from their walk-in closet. Scott watched his wife dig through a bunch of old cards and letters in there. After a minute, Jean pulled out two cards. She handed them to her husband.

Scott opened the first one and in his own handwriting it read, 'You're the twinkle in my eyes, the smile on my lips, the joy on my face and without you, I am incomplete. I love you'. Oh, shit. Those were the exact words on the other card. Scott knew the moment his wife knew he realized what he'd done..

Jean didn't say anything. Instead, she handed him the other card. Scott already knew what was in it, but he opened it anyway. Again, in his own handwriting, he read the exact words that were printed in one of the brand-new cards his wife brought home. No doubt about it. He was busted!

"Uhh… honey, I-" Scott started.

"Did you even mean any of those words you wrote to me, Scott?" Jean asked, hurt written on her beautiful face.

Scott dropped the card, went on his knees and took his wife's face in his hands. "Of course, Jean! Every word! I just… I just am so bad at putting my feelings into words eloquently that I, you know, resorted to a bit of plagiarism," Scott said, sheepishly. "See, Peter had this idea for me to copy the pre-printed message on one greeting card and put in a different one to give to you… I was asking him for tips on how to be more romantic."

"Great! Every romantic word my husband's ever given me came from Hallmark!" Jean said, crossing her arms and turning away from Scott.

"Not all of them!" Scott argued.

"Oh really? Pray tell, which words were yours?" Jean asked wryly.

"Umm… 'I love you'?" Scott answered hesitantly.

"You're such a dumb-ass, Scott."

Jean rolled her eyes and walked past her husband. She closed their bedroom door behind her with a gentle click. Scott would have almost preferred she slammed the door.

Later that evening

Le Bernardin Restaurant

Jean hadn't wanted to go out for dinner after what happened earlier in the day. Her anger with Scott had since turned into mere annoyance. And she didn't have the heart to turn her mother away when she drove all the way to their place just to spend the night with the children. She hadn't known that Scott had made plans for a night out just the two of them.

Reluctantly, she admitted that his gesture went quite a ways to softening her heart towards him. Looking back, she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. Her husband wasn't a man of many words. Sure, he was very articulate when explaining Math or Physics or even History. But when it came to expressing himself emotionally, he usually ended up tongue-tied. It wasn't really something she paid much attention to because their psychic link always made her privy to his thoughts and feelings. And his thoughts and feelings always overflowed with love for her.

Imagining herself in his shoes, Peter's solution of plagiarizing a bunch of Hallmark cards probably seemed like a godsend to Scott. Jean's thoughts were interrupted by the waiter bringing their meals to them. "Bon appetit, madame et monsieur!"

Jean and Scott kindly thanked their waiter as he made his way back towards the kitchen. Their food was piping hot, and neither made a move to start eating. "Thanks for umm… coming out tonight with me, Jean… I know you're still mad at me," Scott said.

Jean sighed, sadly. "I'm not mad anymore, Scott… I admit, I was hurt that it seemed that every single letter or card you'd ever given me was copyrighted by Hallmark or American Greetings."

"I know, and I feel awful! I just… I'm really bad at writing that sort of stuff… And I wanted it to be special for you… I know it won't mean much to you now, but my heart really was in those words… That's why I chose them," Scott said, an embarrassed look on his handsome face.

"Scott, don't you know that I don't care how fancy the words are as long as they're from you and that you mean them? That's what makes it special. Not because the words might be good enough to win a poetry competition somewhere," Jean said.

"I realize that now, honey… And that's why I wanted to show you this," Scott said, handing Jean an envelope.

"What's this?" Jean asked.

"I wrote this for you. It was many years ago, just shortly after we first started dating," Scott said.

Jean opened it, and pulled out a handwritten letter. It read:

"Dear Jean, I just wanted to say how happy I've been these last few months. Sometimes, I still have to pinch myself, I'm not sure if I'm living a dream. Never in my wildest imaginings did I picture you ever wanting to be with me too. You see, you were the woman I never thought I'd fall for.

And I don't even know when it started, but suddenly, all those dumb love songs on the radio were about you. At first, I was angry that I let myself fall for the most beautiful girl at school. I said to myself, 'If I ever find that little turd, Cupid, I'm gonna incinerate him with my optic blast once and for all!'. Trust me, I tried my best not to fall for you.

You were just so way out of my league that I figured you'd lead to nothing but heartache for me. But as much as I resisted, I found I liked you more than discounted Whoppers on Whopper Wednesdays. You grew on me the way Yersinia enterocolitica grows on spoiled bacon. And before I knew it, I was addicted to you like a back-alley hooker is addicted to crack. I couldn't get you out of my head! And lucky me, it turned out you liked me too.

If it's true what they say that only dumb people are truly happy, then I must be the dumbest guy on Earth, because having you in my life has made me the happiest man ever. Now don't get me wrong, you're not all sunshine and birthday cakes either. You're not perfect. But you're all I want. I love you, Jean. PS: You're my favorite cardio workout."

Jean snorted at that last sentence. "Oh, Scott…"

"See, that's what happens when I just write whatever comes to mind," Scott said, his shoulders slumping. "If I'd gone ahead and given you that letter thirteen years ago, you'd have run the other way."

"Scott, that was… the most inelegant, rambling letter full of backhanded compliments I've ever read…" Jean said. "And you know what? I would have cherished this letter."

"What? Really?" Scott asked, obviously not believing his ears.

"I know you wrote this letter from the heart. And I know you wrote whatever came to mind with no filters. Honey, I don't expect you to be John Keats or Lord Byron. I know there's a reason the professor has never given you English or Creative Writing duties. This letter here is all you. And that's all I've ever wanted," Jean said, meaning every word.

"I realize that now. And I'm so sorry about what I did… If I knew you'd have been fine with the various ramblings of my mind…" Scott said, trailing off.

"I'm sorry too, Scott," Jean said, taking her husband's hand in hers.

"About what?"

"For calling you a dumb-ass earlier. That was unforgivably rude. You didn't deserve that," Jean said, feeling completely remorseful.

Scott smiled and shrugged. "Just as long as I'm still your dumb-ass."

Jean laughed loudly, drawing some stares their way. "I'll say this much, Scott, you certainly have a way with words."

"I guess you bring out the poet in me, sweetheart," Scott answered, taking a bite of his food.

"So, your favorite cardio workout huh?" Jean said teasingly.

Scott grinned. "The Danger Room's got nothing on you, Jean."

Jean blushed at her husband's innuendo. Scott continued. "Speaking of rooms… I got one reserved just for us at the Four Seasons tonight…"

"Wow, didn't you go all out for our anniversary," Jean said, genuinely impressed.

"Only the best for my wife… What do you say we finish up here and get some exercise?" Scott said.

"Let me guess… cardio?" Jean said, giggling.

"Well, this is a lot of calories we need to burn off," Scott answered, looking down at the food before them. "Besides, when was the last time we got in some quality… workout time, without one of the kids knocking on our door?"

Jean could only laugh, as she couldn't argue with that.

To be continued…

Thanks for reading. I know a lot of you wanted me to make a sequel to Hearts See Through Lies and to turn my trilogy into a quadrilogy. I didn't really have enough material for that. But I realized there were a lot of years in between (also before and after) my trilogy that I never got to explore. This series will fill all those parts in. The stories also won't be in any chronological order.