Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any other Marvel characters. The only thing that is mine is the plot.

A/N: I had started this epilogue shortly after releasing the original story, but my desire to write anything X-Men was squashed by the direction Marvel took the X-Men (and more specifically, Cyclops) around the time it was posted. But it was hard to stay away forever, and after going through my collection of unfinished stories, and posting a couple of things, I decided to give it another try. This was one story that I had truly been looking forward to writing an epilogue too, and though it took me longer than I liked, I finally finished it, and decided to post it. Like with the original story, this will mostly be from Cyclops' P.O.V., with the occasional snippet about other characters. Please enjoy, and feel free to leave a review.

Secret Santa: The Aftermath

Epilogue

Epilogue to the Aftermath

18 Months Later

The sun feels nice as I sit on a marble bench outside the Institute, and look at the memorial statue the Professor had made for Jean. Shortly after returning from Muir Island, upon finding out that I was dating Kitty, the Professor suggested it to me; saying he had wanted to do it earlier, but felt that I wasn't ready yet. Since then, I visit it on occasion, and talk to Jean.

"Hey Jean." I say. "Sorry that I haven't passed by in a couple of weeks, but I was in San Francisco, helping Bobby and his team get settled in. Everyone seems to like this new set up we have going; four teams spread across the globe, makes for quicker response with a lot less travel."

I notice a cardinal land on the top of the statue, drawing my attention.

"The new additions to the units have been working out really nice." I say. "There were obviously some growing pains, but things have gotten a lot better in recent weeks."

The cardinal flies away.

"Kitty says hi." I say, returning my attention to the statue. "Things are going great with her; I'm really happy. I've told you about how hard it was for me at first, but I've come to believe that you'd want me to move on and be happy; and I am. I love her, Jean; I really do. And she loves me."

I reach into my pocket and pull out a ring. I fiddle with it a little before holding it out to the statue.

"I'm going to propose to her tonight." I say. "She thinks we're just going out to dinner, but I have it all planned out; and I couldn't have done it all without help from Anna and Remy. Yeah, that's right; Anna and Remy." I laugh a little. "They're visiting for a week from Munich; Kurt gave them a week off, and I recruited them to help me. Anna has actually been out shopping with Kitty all day, just to get her out of the house; I'm going to owe her big for that. I needed her out of the house, so that I could fly to Chicago and pick up her family; they're going to be hiding in the restaurant, waiting to surprise her if she says yes. God I hope she says yes."

I start to laugh nervously.

"I know, I know." I say, twirling the ring between my fingers. "I need to be more confident, but you know me; self-doubt is a part of who I am. Anyways, Remy was a huge help in choosing the ring; with me being color blind, and a complete novice when it comes to jewelry. He has a keen eye for this stuff, thief and all, and I think we got it right."

I look carefully at the ring.

"A diamond surrounded by sapphires." I say. "I think she'll love it." My hand drops to my lap, and I sigh. "I hope you're okay with this, and that you're happy for me; I like to think you are."

"Scott." I hear Kitty call out. "Ororo said you were outside."

I quickly stuff the ring back in my pocket, and stand up to wave at Kitty. "I'm over here." I reply.

"Oh, you're talking to Jean; sorry to interrupt." She says, walking over and giving me a kiss. "But we need to get ready if we want to make our reservation."

"I'm all done here." I say, draping my arm around her shoulder and leading her back towards the Institute. "Let's go get ready for our date."

THE END

Text in Italic = 'Thoughts'

A/N: This whole thing had started out as just a short epilogue to the original story, and grew into this. I hope you enjoyed reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you to all those that have showed me support throughout all my writings; I've had a recent surge in inspiration to keep writing, and it's thanks to you (because I sure as hell wasn't inspired by the decision makers at Marvel).