X3 Last Stand
Chapter One: The Dream
A Rolls Royce approaches the Grey's household. It pulls up outside, and out step Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, younger, more vibrant…and still closest of friends. The two are heading towards the front door of the Grey household. Professor Xavier had found another mutant through cerebro and was able to track the mutant down. The mutant is that of a young girl by the name of Jean Grey. Professor Xavier sent a brochure to the Grey's and Mr. Grey responded. He thought his daughter had an illness. She wasn't sick just gifted. He and his wife are afraid of young Jean and Professor Xavier is there along with Erik to convince them to let Jean attend his school for the gifted.
"We're not going to meet every one of them in person, are we, Charles?" Erik asked.
"No, Erik. This one is special." Professor Xavier said.
"Couldn't we just make them say yes?" Erik asked smirking.
"Of all people, I would expect you to understand my feelings about the misuse of power." Professor Xavier said to him.
"Ah, yes. Power corrupts, and all that. When will you stop lecturing me?" Erik asked.
"When you start listening, perhaps?" Professor Xavier told him.
They each chuckle. Charles knocks. Elaine Grey answers the door.
"Oh, hello. Please, come in." Elaine says politely. The two gentlemen enter the Grey household. Elaine closes the door. She takes them to her husband's study. Michael Grey is there sitting at his desk. His wife enters along with Professor Xavier and Erik. Michael stands up to greet them.
"Professor Xavier, Mr. Lensherr." Michael said extending his hand. Only Professor Xavier shook his hand. Erik nods. "Please have a seat." He said more to Erik than the professor. Erik sat on the chair across from Michael. Professor Xavier is beside Erik. Elaine brought in some tea.
"Gentlemen would you care for some tea?" Elaine asked politely holding a tray in her hand.
"None for me thanks." Erik said.
"Please." Professor Xavier said as she handed the professor a cup with Tea on it.
Michael and Elaine Grey sit across a table from Charles and Erik. Elaine has served tea.
"We took a look at the brochure. The campus is wonderful, and Salem Center is only an hour away." Elaine said smiling. She loves her daughter but is terrified of what's happening with her.
"The brochure is great, but I'm concerned about Jean. Her…illness." Michael said.
"Illness?" Erik asked.
Xavier gives Erik a cautioning look. Erik ignores it.
"Now, Michael…" Elaine said to her husband.
"You think your daughter is ill, Mr. Grey?" Erik asked.
"Erik, please…" Professor scolded.
"Call it what you want. It's not normal. All we know for sure is that it's getting worse. She's been traumatized since Annie died…" Michael told them.
"You're afraid of her." Erik asked.
"I'm not afraid of my own daughter, Mr. Lensherr. I want to help her." Michael said.
"As do we. Perhaps we could speak to Jean alone?" Professor Xavier said to them.
Michael and Elaine exchange worried glances.
"All right." Michael responds.
He calls over his shoulder up the stairs.
"Jean? Could you come down here?" Michael called up to his daughter.
Jean, a young ten year old girl, comes down the stairs.
Michael and Elaine get up.
"We'll leave you, then." Elaine said as they got up.
Jean takes her father's seat. Xavier smiles. She's pretty tall for a ten year old, pretty smart and shy. Her innocent face looks somber. She knows there's something wrong.
"Hello, Jean." Professor Xavier said. Jean smirks a bit. "It's very rude, you know, to read Mr. Lensherr's thoughts, or my own, without our permission." Professor Xavier said to her telepathically. Jean shoots him an evil glare.
"Did you think you were the only one of your kind, girl?" Erik asked her.
"What kind?" Jean asked telepathically.
"We are mutants, Jean. Like you." Professor Xavier told her.
"You heard my thoughts." Jean asked.
"Just as you heard mine." Professor Xavier told her. She looks to Erik. "But you talk out loud. Your powers are different."
"Yes, his are different from yours and from mine. But despite that, we remain, fundamentally, the same." Professor Xavier told her.
"Really? I doubt that." Jean said to them.
Outside, all of the cars on the street begin to levitate. Mr. Lee the neighbor watches in awe as his hose begins to snake up, the water pouring up into the air, and Mr. Claremont chases after his lawnmower, which has taken on a life of its own.
Charles and Erik look through the window at the phenomenon.
"Oh, Charles, I like this one." Erik said realizing Jean is by far a very special mutant.
"Jean, you have more power than you can imagine." Professor Xavier told her. Jean shows no sign of strain, or even of listening to him. "The question is, will you control that power…" Jean suddenly loses control, and the cars come crashing down. "…or will you let it control you?" He said as she looked from the window back to the two men before her.
"Do my parents want to get rid of me?" She asked them. Both Professor Xavier and Erik looked over at each other.
"I don't think they want to be afraid of you." Erik told her.
"Erik." Professor Xavier said. Jean looks down sadly at her hands. She always knew she was different from the other kids. She was always able to read their minds knowing what they were thinking….especially about her. She was also able to hear her parents' thoughts about her and it hurt her deeply.
"She needs help Elaine." Michael said to his wife.
"I know but I don't want her to go." Elaine said.
"Professor Xavier can help her. I don't know about you but I'm tired of being frighten of her." Michael said to his wife.
"She's ten years old and needs us." Elaine practically screams in her head. Neither realized it but both Professor Xavier and Jean could hear their thoughts.
"I know she's ten but I don't want to keep being afraid of her." Michael said to his wife.
Professor Xavier felt bad for Jean who sat in the chair crying. The truth had come out.
"It's going to be ok Jean." Professor Xavier said to her. Michael and Elaine came back into the study.
"Nothing will ever be alright!" Jean shouted as she got up from the chair and ran back upstairs to her room. Michael and Elaine looked confused. They didn't know what was going on or what had been said.
"I'm afraid young Jean has heard your conversation." Professor Xavier said.
"But we didn't say anything." Elaine said.
"You didn't have to. She already knows how you're feeling." Professor Xavier said. Michael and Elaine felt bad. Jean went up to her room and cried.
The sound of a crying infant woke the now grown up version of Jean Grey Summers. The telepathic woman turned mother sits up in the bed she shares with her husband Scott. He's fast asleep. The infant still cries in his crib. Jean gets out of the bed and goes into her son's room. Since the events at Alkali Lake, Jean had given birth to a son she and Scott named Nathan Scott Alexander Summers. The little baby boy is three months old now.
"Nathan, you keeping mom up." Jean cooed over the little boy who's got a powerful set of lungs. The little bundle moved around in the crib as much as he could in his crib. Jean leans over and picks him up into her arms. She smiles at him and this seems to calm him down. She went over to the rocking chair next to the lamp and sat down. Professor Xavier had a little nursery built in Jean and Scott's room before Nathan was born. She removes her right breast and begins to feed him. Nathan takes the breast into his mouth drinks from his mother. She smiles down at him. It wasn't so long ago that Jean herself was a child. In fact, that's what her dream was about. She and Scott were two of Xavier's first students. Both never really knew they liked each other until much later. She thought back to the day professor came to her parents' home.
Though Jean knew she was different from the most kids, she wasn't scared but hurt. Her parents had feared her and didn't want her around. She wondered if they ever loved her. If they had, how come they hadn't contacted her or gone to see her? She didn't know. It had been twenty years since she'd seen them. They don't know that she's met and married the man of her dreams, that he's their son in law. They especially don't know that she has a son, their grandson. Since they hadn't contacted her in so long, Jean wondered if they had given up on her completely. This feeling made her cry. Tears fall down her face. She vowed she'd never give up on her son whether he was normal or a mutant. She didn't care. She was his mother and he her son.
Scott had turned over in the bed and noticed it was empty. His eyes were closed. Usually he could feel the bed and Jean would be right there. This time she wasn't. He reached over the nightstand and put his glasses over his eyes then opening them up. He looked around for his wife wondering where she was.
"Jean." Scott called to her. In here Scott. He heard her say. She said it telepathically. He turns and heads for the nursery. He smiles at the site before him. There sat his beautiful wife breast feeding his son. She smiled at him. He could see right through her smiles. Her eyes tell him that she's been crying. He goes over to them and kneels before Jean. "Hey little man. You wake mommy up? Huh?" He cooed as the little boy continues drinking from Jean's breast. Her busts had doubles in size much to Scott's delight. He liked that her breasts were bigger. He suspected that the milk was for the baby but he still like it. Jean smiles at him. "How's mommy doing?" He asked.
"I'm fine." Jean said to him.
"It's doesn't look like your fine. Looks to me like you've been crying." Scott told her.
"No I'm fine." She told him. Scott looks at her as he plays with his son's baby hand.
"Baby you can tell me anything." Scott told her. "We don't keep secrets from each other." He could tell Jean was bothered by something.
"I'm fine really." Jean said. "I'm just tired."
"Ok." Scott told her. He knew when to back off. He also knew that Jean would tell him when she was ready. In the meantime, he'd stay with her until little Nathan went back to sleep. Lucky for them it didn't take long before his little eyes closed shut. His mouth hung open with his tongue out. Jean and Scott chuckled as he grabbed Nathan's pacifier and slid into his son's mouth. Jean places her breast back into her nightgown. Scott takes little Nathan from her arms and gentley takes him back to his crib. He didn't even wake up. The pacifier moves in baby Nathan's mouth as he slept. Scott and Jean went back into their room and back to bed.