Part 6:  

" Auch. God damn it, Cecilia," Scott swore as she ungently removed another bullet from his body, this one from his leg.

" This is your own fault, Scott Summers. If you had accepted the tranquilliser I offered you OR started thinking for yourself this wouldn't have happened," she replied and he lifted an eyebrow at her. He had lead a battle against what was believed to be the rebel leader, Magneto's, stronghold. They had been met with resistance but Magneto and all highly placed officials in his group had already left, the fighting covering their escape.

" It is unwise to talk like that, healer," Scott reminded her but with no heat in his voice. He had known Cecilia since he was a child. She was the only real doctor in the stronghold, Beast being more an interrogator than doctor. Her limited mutant powers and the fact that Sinister covered for her had kept her alive. She now worked as a doctor in the stronghold and had through the years played mother to both Scott and Alex, therefore feeling she had a right to speak more freely with them. She had been a beautiful black woman in her days but the hardship of her life had teared on her even though she lived better than most; she had her own chambers in the stronghold. Scott didn't even know how old she was; she looked way older than himself yet he had a feeling that she wasn't more than some 17 years older.

" Yeah, well…. if you had wanted to kill me you had done so long ago," Cecilia commented and removed a bullet from Scott's arm. 

" There. That was the last one," she said and began bandaging Scott's wounds. During her work she gave him stolen glances.

" What?" he asked.

" When will you open your eyes? When will you see?" she asked softly.

" You wouldn't want me to open my eyes, Cecilia. I'll ruin your hospital," Scott answered and let her remark slide. Knowing she had been out of line and that Scott's words had been a warning she said:

" So…I hear you have a young woman living with you."

" Yes. Jean Grey. She'll be a great asset to the Elite, I'm sure," Scott answered and stood as Cecilia had finished bandaging him.

" She was brought in two days ago. Now that she is to be…. well, maybe then I can take a look at her?" Cecilia asked. Scott considered it. He hadn't called Cecilia the earlier night because he didn't want her to see what he had caused. He still didn't want her to see or know but it was illogical. She already knew.

" I'll have her sent down," Scott said and left.

Part 7:

Cecilia heard noise from outside her lab and opened the door to see two guards guiding a very reluctant red-haired woman between them. She had to be Jean Grey. Behind them walked….

" Nat………Sinister," Cecilia said surprised as she saw him.

" Let me go, you stupid over-grown…" Jean threatened as the guards forced her into Cecilia's lab.

" Hey, be gentle with her," Cecilia said, as one of the guards was a little hard on her as he forced her onto a chair.

" Better tie her to it," Sinister demanded as he stood in the doorframe. The guards nodded and tied Jean to the chair.

" She is hurt. Is it really necessary?" Cecilia whispered lowly to Sinister, so lowly that the guards didn't hear.

" She'll kill you if she gets the chance. I'm not about to give her that chance," Sinister said coldly. The guards came to Sinister as they had tied Jean up. " Come on," Sinister said to them and they walked away. Cecilia looked after them for a little while before turning her attention to her patient.

" Who are you?" Jean demanded to know as she tried to escape her bonds.

" I'm Cecilia Reyes. I'm a doctor. I'll just take a look at your wound here…" she said as she drew closer to Jean and began removing her shirt to look at her wound in her shoulder.

" Get away from me!" Jean tried to back away from her but her bonds prevented it.

" I'm not gonna hurt you," Cecilia promised as she examined the wound. It wasn't dangerous but it must have hurt and probably still did. She ignored Jean's protests and cleaned the wound before redressing it in a fresh bandage.

" Are you hurt anywhere else?" Cecilia asked, as she was finished with Jean's shoulder wound.

" No," Jean answered but the fire in her eyes told Cecilia that she'll probably had said no even if she had more wounds.

" I'm not your enemy," Cecilia said as she tried to see for herself if Jean was injured anywhere else.

" Oh, no. You just work for them," Jean spat out. " So, tell me, how does it work? First you torture people and then you patch them up? Is that it?"

" I'm trying to help you, woman, not poison you. Though right now I can't for the life of me understand why I even bother!" Cecilia gave back and as she was sure Jean didn't have other injuries she turned back to her desk and sat down.

" What do you care anyway? You're one of them!" Jean said angrily. Cecilia turned to look at her.

" Look, you got an opportunity that few get. To be a part of the Elite, the strong, the best. You have a chance at a decent life," Cecilia told her, trying to make her understand.

" Do I?"

" Do you what?"

" Have a chance at a decent life?" Jean elaborated.

" Well…yes. You'll have what few have. You'll live like royalty. You can't convince me that you don't like the luxury you saw on the upper levels," Cecilia said, her eyes saying something her words did not.

" Is that how you got to be here? Because you like the money, the prestige, the luxury?" Jean asked with contempt in her voice. Cecilia's eyes turned cold.

" You don't know the first ting about me so don't assume you do. I have bleed, suffered and lost as much as the next man so don't you dare come here and play my judge!" Cecilia said harshly and turned her back on the other woman. There was silence for a long while.

" Do you know Summers?" Jean finally asked.

" Yes."

" What's he…like?" Cecilia turned back towards Jean so she looked into her eyes.

" You'll find no weakness in him. Scott is one man you cannot fool……….unless he wants to be fooled," Cecilia warned.

" It wasn't like that," Jena protested but her voice betrayed her.

" Sure it was and I'll expect nothing else from a member of the rebels," Cecilia said with a small smile. " Look, if I was you, I'll try and get the most out of the situation. Unlike me you're a very powerful mutant. One day when they trust you, you'll be given access to the whole compound. You'll have money, power……….everything," even as she said it, there was sadness to her words that Jean didn't miss.

" This place change people. I'm sure you can vote for that. But I don't want to change," Jean admitted.

" The way I see it you have two choices; one you join the Elite and do as they say until their belief is eventually yours OR…you get killed. And frankly…you look too much of a survivor to me for you to even consider the second so that only leaves the first," Cecilia said more gently.

" I'm not one of them! I'm not like Summers!" Jean protested.

" No, you're not. Not yet anyway," Cecilia warned. She saw the despair in the other woman's eyes and added; " But then maybe you don't change sides. Maybe you are that one person who can remain pure in this Hell." Silence fell between them again.

" Is…………is Summers really Sinister's son?" Jean then asked. The question was so sudden that Cecilia stared strangely at her.

" Why do you ask this? Does it matter?"

" If I am to live with the man then…. yeah!"

" No, he is not. Alex and Scott's father…is gone. Sinister took them in," Cecilia explained.

" And where do you fit into all this?"

" In the middle…somewhere in the middle," Cecilia mumbled. She then looked more closely at Jean. " You are asking me this in hopes of escaping," it was not a question, merely an observation.

" I will not……….I cannot stay," Jean whispered.

" Afraid you might like it?"

" Yes," Jean admitted. Cecilia seemed deep in thought for a while.

" You have someone?" she then asked.

" Yes. My husband; Logan," Jean answered. She hadn't given anything away that Cecilia didn't already know yet still she felt strange about telling so much. But if she was to escape…Cecilia was her best shot.

" I have heard of him. Weapon X, right?"

Jean nodded.

" He will search for me and I know that he WILL find me," Jean said confidently.

" You are probably right," Cecilia turned back to her desk.

" But if he knew in which compound I was held…" Jean let the sentence hang in the air.

" Give me just one good reason to why I should risk my life for you," Cecilia asked, her back still turned to Jean.

" When Logan comes………I'll make him spare Summers," Jean suggested.

" Scott could kill Weapon X in seconds without problems," Cecilia said with as much confidence as Jean had in her voice when she had said she was sure Logan would come.

" Fine, then I have no good reason but this; don't let me become what I hate," there was no pleading in her voice yet still it spoke volumes. Silence fell between them.

" I may be able to get one, only one message out of the compound about your whereabouts. That is ALL I'll do for you. We'll talk no more of this," Cecilia finally said and called the guards through her com-link.     

" I know it means little but…. thanks," Jean said quietly as the two women could hear people in the hallway. Cecilia smiled.

" I too know the meaning of pain…and temptation." The guards entered and began guiding Jean away, back to Scott's room.

" If one ting, my stay here have convinced me that the bad guys are as complex as the good guys," Jean said with a smile and Cecilia shook her head.

" There are no good or bad guys. Let that be your first lesson then," Cecilia said and then Jean was gone.

TBC