"Jean, please." Scott Summers easily caught up to his ex-girlfriend.

"Go back to your family, Scott."

"Jean."

"I died, Scott. I died and you moved on with your life." Jean looked up at Scott, a single tear falling down her face. "It was a mistake for you to follow me. I should have stayed dead," she said bitterly.

"I love you," Scott was silenced by Jean's finger placed on his lips.

"We can't," she said sadly, "we may have had the chance once upon a time, but that died when I did. I love you too, Scott. But I won't have you throw your life away because of me."

"You know that's really quite presumptuous of you, Jean. I've always loved you, ever since we were kids on the first X-team."

"We still can't, Scott. You married Madelyne. She carried your child."

"But I need you," Scott looked into Jean's eyes through his visor, glad that she couldn't see the sadness welling.

"You need to need Madelyne," Jean was acutely aware that she was the only one referring to Scott's family by name. "We had something. We could have had more. But that future died when I did. Scott, if nothing else, go back to her for me. Live a long, happy, married life with Madelyne."

"A happy life with Madelyne," Scott snorted. "I want that life, Jean. But I want it with you." Scott took Jean's face in his hands and she cupped his hand against her face.

"You think that I don't want it? Scott, I want that life more than anything. You must know that. I thought that we were… but it doesn't matter. We can't just take back what happened in the past to make the present exactly how we want (Author glares at X-Men story writers – hem hem). Real life doesn't work like that."

"No, of course we can't. Which is why there is a system. A justice system. A divorce system."

"Scott. You were happy before I came back. Happy to be out of the 'superhero' life. Happy to be married to a normal woman."

"I don't love her, Jean. Not how I love you."

"I don't even know who I am, Scott. I died, I was dead. Now I've somehow been resurrected by the Avengers from the bottom of the ocean."

"What is a better reason? Jean, we've been given a second chance. A chance to get this right." Scott looked at the love of his life, wondering why she couldn't see the blessing they'd been given.

"It's wrong." Jean said simply. She opened her bedroom door, still facing Scott. "I," Jean began to say something, but instead pressed her lips together thinly and disappeared into her room. Scott stood rooted to the floor, Jean's words echoing in his head. That died when I did…You married Madelyne…I should have stayed dead…You married Madelyne…should have stayed dead…stayed dead…

Author's Notes: This takes place after Uncanny X-Men 175 and before X-Factor 13, basically after Scott marries Madelyne, and before X-Factor 8 – when Scott believed that Madelyne left him and took baby Nathan away. I haven't read all of these comics, since I'm limited to what I can find at my local library (comic books are expensive as hell, even the little ones from the thrift store are a dollar each – compare that to the twenty-five cents each for a hardcover novel). Obviously, Scott and Jean canonically get back together at some point, after this little interlude. I see Jean as very emotionally conflicted – the man she loves has moved on with his life after believing her dead. Realistically, she would want him to not live his life continuously missing her, but it also wounds her to see someone where she could have been had she not died – as Scott's wife. And so, she wishes that she truly had died, so that she wouldn't have had to see Scott so hurt.