Got this idea flipping through one of those weekly gift calendars while watching Breakdown on my computer. The Xavier-Jean relationship, pre X-Men, tweaked to fit the show, and matched up to a calendar quote. My first WatX fiction, please give me a chance.

Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another's pain, life is not in vain. Helen Keller

Jean Grey sat on the couch, red hair flowing down her small shoulders, in a pair of light blue pajamas, aiming an utterly disbelieving look at the man in the wheelchair before her.

'So...why can't I just have the pills?', she asked, sighing in a tired, what-the-heck way.

John Grey shook his head, leaning against the cherry wood door. He caught the man's eye with a small and wistful smile.

'I'll just leave you to it then, Charles.', he muttered, turning to leave.

'Hello, Jean. How are you feeling today? Your father tells me you're a very smart girl.', he began, hoping to snare the girl with flattery.

'Yup. I missed half the school year sick in bed because I hear voices! Oh yeah, and the rest of it seeing muskrats in the woodwork 'cause that's the only way they'll stop! I-It's all the same! Everyone. They're scared because they're different and they keep asking the same thing. Help me! Help me! And I can't...

why do they think I can change the world?', she cried, burying her face in her hands.

They wouldn't stop. It was never going to...Stop.

He had his hand on her head, brushing away her hair. 'Jean?'

'Yeah? Lemme alone!' Jean jerked away angrily, colliding with a dusty shelf.

'Shhhh. What if we could help them, Jean? Then do you think they would stop?', Charles asked her softly, careful not to hurt her even more.

'Who could I possibly help? What, are you blind, too!?', she raged, pushing him away.

'No.', Charles rolled beside the couch, taking her hand in his. 'Maybe you can't. But we could. So, Jean, what do you think?'

She felt a little twinge of hope, something new and different in this man. Jean gave him a devilish grin.

'I think it sounds crazy. But then again, you're some bald guy in a wheelchair and I'm some kid who hears voices. Next, we're gonna find a kid with wings and I'm gonna fall in love with a red-eyed prince.

Could be crazier, right?', she chuckled for the first time in a while, and reached for a handshake.