Just a polite Conversation

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Marvel Inc. and/or Twentieth Century Fox or whoever might claim to posses them.

A/N: So this is my first X-Men FF I ever finished, published… whatever. And I suppose there are certain things to explain in the beginning: First, sometimes I get wacky and weird ideas. They come completely out of the blue, catch me off guard and provide me with a lot of strange stuff to think about… while I should be doing other, more important, things…
Second, mostly a story begins to form out of those odd ideas.
Third, this is one of those stories.
(I'm not as mad as this might suggest… and my ideas are not always strange…)
So, if you might be easily bothered and offended by more or less hidden or blunt suggestions in Direction JxX This alone should give me some things to ponder… because well... I don't think this to be apropriate, even the thought of it... but I'm sometimes quite complicate then maybe you shouldn't read along. There might be some crude words too… I warned you!
Could be AU or something like that (lay importance to: something like that) and I did make some assumptions concerning the backgrounds of the X-Men, the Brotherhood, etc. pp.
One direct allusion to the fact that Famke Janssen and Patrick Steward knew each other before X-Men from filming an episode of Star Trek. Well who finds it?
Feedback is rewarded with a big fat smile!
(Oh well… and if you find too much grammar mistakes, word-order-confusions or when some things just sound too strange… or make no sense, then this is because of the fact that English is not my mother tongue… corrections are always welcomed. Ah ja... and I'm not sure I understand how the formatting works properly... but I'll try anyway.)

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He felt fear slowly creep up his spine, when he saw her lying there. All lifeless and limp, her brown eyes with those green flames blazing in them closed, Erics hand stroking her cheek, gliding through her auburn hair, which sparkled with strands of firing red. He knew Erik knew he was there, staring at him, at her, in complete and utter shock.

"No need to look so worried, Charles, she's not dead, as are the others." Erics voice was cold, but not teasing, not yet; he said the truth. When he watched carefully he could see her breathing. Her chest was rising slowly with each in- and outtake of air, her lips lightly parted. "Just unconscious." His old friend went on, his hands still working gently through the smoothness of her hair, caressing her pale tender skin. "I suppose she'll have a terrible headache, but I wouldn't kill your most precious pupil, or should I say possession?"

"She's not a possession, at least mine." He retorted, anger slowly rising in him. "And what do you want, baiting them and knocking them out?"

Eric laughed still staying completely unmoved. "Well… I just wanted to make a little bit polite conversation and of course see what your prized X-Men, or rather X-Kids, can actually do. I must say, I am majorly impressed. You trained them very well, so they put up quite a fight. But they hadn't so much of a chance against us. After all, they are just kids, aren't they? I was really amazed when I saw that the storm child and little Jean had learned how to fly." Eric fixed him, his glance not unfriendly but cold. "Don't you feel any remorse for using them?"

"I do not use them, Eric. They are doing everything they do due to their free will."

Erics brows shot up in disbelief. "You really think they do it because they think it would be the right thing to do? Charles, they are just so grateful, they feel like they would owe you to fight for your dream, your loyal little soldiers." He laughed again, this time it sounded more like mockery. "You cannot deny that you saved them. You saved Scott and Ororo both from a dreadful life on the streets and gorgeous little Jean from losing her mind. I very much doubt she would be able to speak today, much less beginning to study, had you not helped her, had you not decided she was worth it. She is grateful, oh so grateful, I suppose she would do nearly everything just to repay you."

"They always have the choice to say no, Eric. I'm not like you demanding complete obedience and I do not think that they look at me as their saviour. They all have a mind of their own and I very much appreciate when they use it to judge a situation and their actions."

"But obedience is sometimes better than thinking, especially when it comes to critical moments. The children I raise would never even consider questioning my decisions, the tasks I give them. Ah yes, that was the reason I wanted to meet you. You and your children I should say." Eric actually smiled. "I just wanted to inform you that I too found some young mutants to train and form. And be warned, Charles, do not try to cross my path."

He ignored the last comment; it was not worth discussing now. He knew that theirs paths would inevitably cross somewhere in the future. "I'm not forming them. I show them what they can do and hope they don't become monsters."

"Monsters like me? Mutants who want superiority above mankind? But well, I think you made your opinion pretty clear when you told me to leave. We discussed this topic often enough."

They fell silent for a moment; Eric still kneeling next to Jeans unconscious form, her head lying in his lap, he sitting in his wheelchair and carefully watching them. They had been friends, fought on the same side, but today the rift between them was just too wide to cross; probably they even would become enemies. "You know, I proposed Jean to come with me. But she refused. What a pity. I could teach her so much more, I could teach her how to use her whole magnificent psionic potential. You know very well, Charles, one day, she will be so much more powerful than we two together ever have been; it is just a question of training."

"You would simply teach her how to control other people, how to meddle with theirs thoughts; and you would use her for your ambitions."

"Yes maybe. Maybe, but you cannot teach her much more. You just bore her and the others with morality and giving them qualms. And if I may remind you, you use her and the others as well, no matter how much you like to claim the contrary."

"I show them how to act responsible, that is not quite the same."

"You just teach them how to accept that humans despise them, and maybe will even begin to persecute them. That is not really acceptable if you ask me."

"I am not asking you, Eric, because you will never understand me. You may, though, have a point, but maybe not. And I would appreciate it if you now would leave so that I could take care of the youngsters you so nicely knocked unconscious." There was a sharp edge to his voice; he was not in the mood to dawdle while his students might need medical care.

"So harsh today Charles… but we have a lot of time, they'll be out for another thirty minutes, securely drugged to sleep. After that they will awake. No harm done to anyone." He had liked to wipe that very self satisfied smirk out of Erics face, but he knew as well as his old friend did, that he would and could never do so. "So, in the meantime I thought we talk a little about Jean. I assume she is still as mature, responsible and sensible as ever; a really clever girl, with her wits sharp as blades. But now she's grown up too, her body no longer that of a young girl, but of a beautiful, well, let's say stunning woman. Breathtaking this irresistible mix of childish innocence and the intoxicating sensuality of womanhood, don't you agree Charles? Her swanlike throat, those slender arms, her narrow waist and her endless legs are making her really a knockout. Not to forget those high cheekbones, her fine, almost angelic features, carved from a real master, those delicately curved brows, her sweet lips, this smooth skin and her silky hair. She obviously was made to be desired." Eric paused and a mischievously grin was tugging at his lips. "Do you desire her, Charles? Is she the object of your dreams, your fragile red-haired Venus?"

He glowered at Eric, but his voice was almost neutral when he answered. "Don't be silly, Eric. I could easily be her father."

"Well Charles, as you probably know, desire is not a question of age, maybe of taste, but never of age. And you cannot deny how precious she is for you, isn't she? She is the only other telepath you ever encountered, and better still, she is female; your perfect mate. Whom do you want to fool? Yourself? Her? Me? I am most certain that you do love her, and in a most un-fatherly way I can tell."

"And how do you come to such hilarious conclusions?" His voice had become cold.

Erics Hand paused on Jeans cheek, he bent his head a little and had a better look at her relaxed features, before he looked up again; the mischievous grin hadn't disappeared but widened. "I know you, Charles. I may be not a telepath, but I know you."

Jean sighed, captivating the attention of both Eric and him, muscles working visibly along her jaw. She parted her lips just a little bit more and murmured something completely incomprehensible before she lay still again. "So cat got your tongue Charles, or was it her, catching your breath in your throat, that prevents you from a witty retort?"

"That is nonsense. Yes I love her, but…"

"You really want to tell me, you love her in the same way as the others? Come on Charles, you know very well that it is not true."

Another pause lingered; unspoken words poisoning the atmosphere. He would not discuss especially this truly delicate topic with Eric and therefore he had more than one reason: first, it might make him vulnerable in a way he did not like; second, he was shocked that it showed.

"She is still bad at shielding herself, I presume, so she still blacks sometimes out when you are training with her."

"Eric, as much as I like you making irrelevant smalltalk and nice conversation, I am not sure I understand what you are driving at."

"It is obvious, is it not? I just want to ask you if you never used her unconsciousness to touch her? Strip her of her clothes and watch her utter nude beauty? Caress her silken skin with your fingers? Feel the sweet and promising softness of her body? Kiss her innocent lips?" Eric traced a line along her cheek, smiling, when Jean again muttered something indiscernible. "You never envisioned how it would be to feel her?"

"Eric, this is clearly not a topic to make fun of." His tone had become lecturing; he sighed taking a deep breath to express his disgust. "And well, I never touched her in a way for which I could not take the complete responsibility and I definitely did not imagine myself coupling with her." It was a lie, well, one of his statements, but he would never admit that anyway.

Eric went on as if he hadn't heard his last remark. "Indeed I very much doubt she would reject you if you would ask. She feels so grateful for what you did, for saving her… she will certainly let you in her bed, her pants…" He made a pause to underline his point. "…and her body. Probably she would even enjoy it. I think you should be able to do so, I mean to please and satisfy her. You might sit in a wheelchair, Charles, but you are not dead."

"You get a bit carried away with your nasty thoughts, Eric." He tried to put as much repulsion in his voice as he could. "And in case you did not realise it, you are insulting her."

"What, you are playing the guard of her innocence and virginity, Charles? How cute, but isn't this a bit like letting a fox look after your hens?" Eric's tone was clearly mocking him now. "Well at least I suppose she is still a virgin."

"How crude, Eric, and this would obviously be none of your business, don't you think?"

"Depends on what you think is my business. But I assume you already realised, telepath that you are, that Scott loves her, and that she feels attracted to him? They are drawn to each other like moths to a flame since they met for the first time. It is just a question of time, and they will become a couple. I am just asking myself if you could stand it. If you could stand the thought that he was touching her in a way you are too much of a coward to do. Or that he could have what you denied yourself."

"And this too, would be none of your business, as it is none of mine."

"So much denial, Charles... so much denial..." Eric actually laughed. "So well, I think we might yet complete this polite little chat at another time, a time, when you are perhaps not any longer denying what you feel and what you want. Or a time which causes much more troubles, even fighting." He sighed. "Goodbye my old friend." With that he placed Jeans body carefully on the ground and stood, turning to leave.

"Goodbye, Eric."

"Maybe you should ponder my words."

At least, he really would ponder some of the things which had been said, because some of them simply held too much truth to ignore them. But before he could do so, there were more pressing matters at hand. He took his mobile phone and dialled. It only needed to ring two times. "Hank, I require your help. Eric had the team drugged and unconscious…"

After ending his short call, he realised that Jean wasn't as unconscious as he had thought. She stirred, her eyes fluttering slowly open to stare at him with dilated pupils and a bit dazed. Her lips moved, but not a single audible syllable came from them; like some kind of silent prayer. She sighed, her beautiful eyes still fixed on him. "Professor…" she whispered, apparently fighting with the urge to drift again into sleep. "…I heard what you and Mr. Lehnsherr talked about…" she finally managed to say, the expression on her face unreadable, but her cheeks visibly flushed.

He stared at her in disbelief. "But you were unconscious, Jean, maybe you dreamt."

"No… I was kinda out of it, but I could hear you, loud and clear." She paused, now blushing rather furiously. "Even your thoughts." Closing her eyes again, she sighed. "But I think I'm somehow okay with that."

There was a long pause, a slightly uncomfortable silence, before he realised that she was out cold once more. He suspected everything would be back to normal in due time; Jean would be okay, simply pretending she never knew.
He just sat there in his wheelchair, watching, offering her sleeping form a loving smile she couldn't see.