Jean Grey watched through the window in the garage door as Scott poked around under the hood of one of the mansion's many automobiles. He still wasn't talking to her. He had come back to their room, but he would not budge on his opinion's of Rogue. Thinking of the two-toned mutant, Jean rolled her eyes. She vaguely wondered where Scott's precious little Rogue was…probably off causing trouble and ruining someone else's life, she decided. Looking back inside the window at Scott, another memory came back to her

It had been a tough week for the mansion's newest resident; she wasn't taking Logan's swift departure very well at all. The professor, Ororo, and Jean had been in a meeting for the last hour, discussing what to do for the girl. Well, the professor and Ororo had…Jean had been picturing vividly in her mind the exact contours of the feral man's chest. She looked up, surprised, as Storm stood. Well, that meeting flew by! Without the slightest clue what they had decided, or even if they had reached a conclusion, Jean skipped off to find the other man in her life. No doubt he would be in the garage, working on a car. She was prepared to burst right through the door, but stopped suddenly when she saw not only Scott in the garage, but the subject of the meeting that had wasted so much of her precious time! She peered jealously through the window in the garage door at the two of them. Rogue was hanging back, as if nervous to be too close to Scott or the car. Eventually, though, Scott managed to get her to inch forward, until they were working side by side. Jean watched as Rogue brushed a still gloved hand, now covered in grease, past her bangs, getting a small smudge on her cheek in the process, before passing Scott a wrench. Scott looked up at her as she handed it to him and smiled, noticing the smudge. He took out his handkerchief and gingerly wiped it away, avoiding skin contact. He said something to Rogue and they both grinned and turned back to the car.

Jean shook away the memory, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door. Music was blaring through the whole room, the bass making the floor beneath her feet pulsate with the rhythm of the song. Scott didn't look up from his spot underneath the hood, so she went to him, an idea forming in her head. She reached out her hands to his broad shoulders, massaging them as her lips found the base of his neck. It did not have the desired effect. He jumped when he felt her hands and lips on him, hitting his head on the hood of the car, and cursing loudly. One hand rubbing his head, he turned around and gave her a quizzical look.

"I thought you might need some help out here, baby." She winked at him. Scott wondered if he had hit his head harder than he thought.

"You…want to work on the car? With me? It's dirty under there, you know. You'll probably get grease all over your hands." Jean swallowed back the urge to decline, and nodded.

"I thought we could spend some time together. It'll be fun, right?" Scott wasn't sure what had gotten into her, but he scooted over and let her stand next to him. He pointed out all the parts to her, describing what each does. Jean pretended to pay attention.

"Ok, so do you want to take off the oil cap now?" She looked where he pointed, and grabbed the cap, twisting it in her hand until it came off. She handed it to him and as he turned to grab something, she smeared the grease from her fingers onto her nose and forehead, rubbing it in furiously. Scott turned back around with a bottle of something and glanced at her. He did a double take.

"Umm. You've uh...you've got grease all over you, Jean. Maybe you should go inside and clean up? This really isn't your kind of thing." He said the whole thing while staring at her face in confusion. Jean felt a surge of embarrassment go through her and stormed away from the garage in a hurry.


Rogue sat in yet another dimly lit motel room, watching I Love Lucy re-runs. Her mind wandered back to the handsome stranger who had helped her out at the bus stop. He had stayed on the bus after she had gotten off at the most recent stop. His name was Remy, she'd learned, but that was about all. He hadn't been the most talkative person, but she found herself missing his company. Life on the road was not all it was cracked up to be, but she had found that out a year ago. She didn't know exactly what she was planning on doing. It wasn't as if she could just spend her life wandering from one place to the next, but she had no idea where to go or what to do with herself once she got there. She was in Canada now, in a small sleepy town that had no other claim to fame, apparently, than being the closest town to someplace called Alkali Lake. It didn't sound like much to her. Sighing, she turned her attention back to the tv and eventually dropped off to sleep.


Charles Xavier sat in his office. Getting the information on Marie D'Ancanto was taking a lot longer than he had planned. He hadn't realized there was so much red tape to go through to find out information about someone's past, especially when that someone is a minor and a runaway. The world's most powerful telepath he may be, but he was no computer wiz and he refused to use his power just to speed up the process. No, he would just have to wait for the information to come back to him. It had been almost a month; he would be getting it any day now. Maybe then they would be able to sort out this madness.

AN: I am so so so so so so so so so so sorry to all of my loyal reviewers for not updating this. I went through a rut recently. There was a guy who was a friend...and then the guy decided to randomly cut all contact with me for no reason at all. Ugh, men! If anyone knows of a decent, cute, single man let me know, because I'm starting to believe he doesn't exist. I realize that this chapter is crap, but I wanted to get back into the swing of writing and this is what came out onto the paper.

I will try my hardest to continue updating. Thank you thank you thank you for all the lovely reviews I am still getting. Please forgive me for not updating as often as I should. Please read and review...let me know if I've made any mistakes or anything. Thanks, I love you all!