Chapter 13

The Break Up

Jean came by as promised the next morning. She had said very little to Freddy that day. Anytime he had tried to look at her, she would turn away, and avoid him. Freddy knew why she was avoiding him and he didn't push the subject. He simply spoke to her when he felt it was needed and then went off to work.

Todd was the only person left in the house besides Jean and Tiffany. He had watched the behavior between the two and for a while he stayed quiet out of respect for their privacy. He had noticed that Jean was rather aggitated and had been recieving many text messeges and phone calls which she had silenced. When she dissapeared to go to the bathroom, Todd couldn't help but be a bit nosey. He pulled out her cell phone and looked at it's history. She had recieved 20 text messeges and had 10 voice mail messeges, all of which were from Scott. He didn't bother listening to the voice mail for fear that he would get caught, so he took a glimsp at all of the text messeges that had already been open. When he heard her returning footstep he quickly put her phone back and pretended to watch tv.

For the rest of the day, Jean spent as much time as she could with Tiffany to keep her mind at ease. She loved the little girl very much and Tiffany loved her just as much as well. Try as she might, she couldn't get Tiffany to stop calling her Mama.

"Mama, I hungry."

Jean sighed and shook her head, "Sweetie, how many time do I have to tell you? I'm Jean. I may look like your Mama, but I'm not her."

Tiffany scruntched her face, not wanting to accept what Jean had said, "No. You Mama."

"No. It's Jean."

"Mama!"

"Jean!"

"Mama!"

"It's no use, Red." said Todd, who was leaning over the couch, "She's gonna see you as her Mama for a very looooong time."

Jean sighed defeatedly and leaned back on her arms, "I just don't feel right about it is all."

"I know. But the kid misses her mom-"

"And she associating my looks to replace what she has lost. It may seem innocent now, but what happens when she gets older, and she starts realizing that she's been calling the wrong woman mom? It'll break her little heart."

"I know how ya feel, Red, but that's a part of life. Tiffany may be young, but she's also very forgiving. I think she'll still like ya even after she realizes that your not her mom."

"I suppose your right, Todd. But I still don't feel right about it. I feel like I'm lying to her everytime I watch her."

"Shit happens."

Jean grabbed Tiffany and covered her ears, "For the love of God, Todd, watch your langauge!"

"Hey, I've only cussed around her a couple of times and she ain't repeated any of it."

"Shit! Shit!" Tiffany giggled joyously.

Jean glared up at Todd and he gulped, "Up until now that is. Heh Heh Please, don't tell Freddy or Mystique?"

Freddy came home later that night. He plopped down on the couch and stretched out his legs, he closed his eyes, and groaned from the days work.

"Dah Dah!"

He felt his daughter jump up on his lap and hug him.

"Hey, sweetie. What are you still doing up? It's way past your bed time."

"She wanted tell you goodnight before going to bed." Jean said as she walked into the living room. She leaned against the doorway with her arms folded in front of her chest, smiling as she saw how happy Tiffany was, "I didn't have the heart to tell her no. I hope you're not mad."

"Ain't no big deal." he kissed his daughter and smiled up his friend, "It's always good to come home to people that love me."

"You're a lucky man, Freddy." she leaned down and picked up her back pack.

"You leavin' already?"

"Yeah." she looked very distant.

"Jean. Are you okay?"

"I've just had a lot on my mind is all. It's nothing to worry about. Really." Freddy was about to say something, but she had already left the room, "I'll see you later, Freddy. Bye."

He pinched his nose and groaned, "Man! I should have never kissed her."

"The kiss ain't what eatin' her, yo." Todd popped in and sat down next to him.

"It ain't? Then what?"

"One eye's been giving her greif about her spending more time with us than with the X-Men. But I think it's more abut him than the rest of the team."

"How d'ya know that?"

"I kinda snooped through her phone."

"Toad!"

"Hey, don't get mad! I was worried just like you. Okay? Mister Stick Up His Butt woudn't stop calling or texting her all day. She almost went home early because of that crap."

"Great. Just great. It's bad enough that I can't win the girl of my dreams, but her boyfriend is trying to take away my friendship with her."

"Could be worse."

"Yeah, it could be. I'm gonna put Tiffany to bed and get some sleep myself. They're making me work a double shift tomorrow."

"Damn, yo. You really need to slow down with this job of yours. I know you're invulnerable and all, but if ya work yourself to hard, your gonna have a heart attack or a stroke, or somethin'."

"I wish I could, Toad. I really do, but I gotta do what I gotta do to pay the bills, and to keep social services offa my back."

"You could always look for another job, yo."

"Let's not talk about this tonight. I'm already in a sour mood as it is and I don't want to make things worse."

"Sorry, yo. I'm just tryin' to help."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks, buddy. G'night." with that he got up and dissapeared upstairs for the rest of the night.

Todd sighed, scratching the back of his head; he couldn't think of anything to do other than go after Jean. He had at first headed for the mansion, but he caught sight of her walking through the park. He hopped through the trees, keeping an eye on her from a far, but then he stopped when he saw a very familiar boy with red shades approach her. He couldn't make out what they were saying, so he dared to get closer. He crouched in the tree above them and listened quietly.

"You didn't answer any of my calls, Jean. Why have you been avoiding me?"

"Please, Scott... I'm tired. Let's talk about this later." she attempted to leave, but he caught her hand.

"No. We need to talk about this. You've been avoiding me and your responsibilites to the team. You act as though you don't care about what we fight for anymore. About us."

She jerked her hand away from his and faced him again, "I haven't been avoiding anythng! I've been helping Freddy by watching Tiffany."

"Oh, yeah, like that's a good excuse."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Exactly how it sounds, Jean. You're using his kid as an excuse to spend time with him."

"For you're information, Scott Summers, I rarely get to see him except for before he goes to work and after he comes home. When in his busy schedule does he have time to spare for me?"

"Who's to say he doesn't make time?"

"You better not by insinuating what I think you mean."

"Come one, Jean. Let's face it. Ever since he quit the Brotherhood and became a family man, you've bee drawn to him more and more. The way your eyes light up when you talk about him and his kid is completely obvious."

"I've never cheated on you with him."

"Then why did you let him kiss you?"

Her eyes grew wide and she took a step back, "Who told you that?"

"No one. I over her Kitty and Lance talking about it. I also heard them say that it seemed like you didn't want him to stop."

Jean cursed under her breath and made mental note to kill those two, "It was just an innocent kiss, Scott, nothing more."

"For now at least. Next thing you know he'll have your pants and panties off and be in between your legs."

At those words Jean slapped him extremely hard, knocking him to the ground. She stood over her with her fists clenched, "You just shut up! You think you know me, but you don't. You don't know how I feel or what I want..."

He quickly got back up to his feet and got in her face, "Then tell me! Tell me so we can stop fighting and go back to the way the way thing were before he decided to turn over a so called new leaf."

Tears of anger swelled in her eyes, her emotions were high, and all of their surroundings that were not rooted to the ground floated in mid-air.

"I am so sick and tired of you and your attitude! You turn your nose up at anyone who has had a shade past and don't give a rats ass no matter how hard they try to fix things. You're a jealous, over baring, ass hole, and I'm sick of it! We're through, Scott Summers!"

He was angry, so angry that he couldn't control the next words that came out of his mouth, "Fine! I don't want to be the boyfriend of a two-timing whore anyways!"

"OOOOOH!" she stamped her foot and used her powers to send him flying smack dab into a tree, where he laid unconscious. She stomped away and headed deeper into the wooded area of the park.

Todd waited until she was out of sight, then hopped down from his hiding place, and over to Scott's unconscious form. He snagged Scott's wallet, took all of the cash that he was carrying, and pocketed it. "Consider this a collectors fee for being such an asshole to your girl, yo." he tossed the wallet in Scott's lap and kicked some dirt up in his face, "Oh, and by the way. Dispite what you think, even us shadey people deserve a second chance, yo." he hopped away and continued to follow Jean. If anything, he wanted to make sure that there were no late night stalkers roaming around the woods. He followed her till she stopped in the middle of the bridge that hovered above the parks slowing stream. She leaned against the railing and held her face in her hands, unable to hold in her emotions any longer. He stood in the shadows for a while, unsure of what to do. Slowly he walked up to her and placed a supporting hand on her shoulder. She jumped at his touch, but when she saw that it was him, she did not pull away.

"Hey, you okay?" she shook her head, her body shaking. He rubbed her back, "You want me to walk ya home?"

"I don't want to go home... Not when I know he's going to be there."

"You want to come back to the house, then? We still have that spare bedroom available." she sniffed and nodded her head, "Okay." he put his arm around her and led her away from the bridge, "Let's go." he walked her back to the house.

Freddy woke up to the sounds of their movement and he poked his head out of his room to see Todd walking Jean to the spare bedroom. They said their good nights and Todd left her to head to his room, but he stopped when he saw Freddy.

"What's goin' on, Todd? I thought she went home?"

Todd looked back at her door, then back at his friend, "She was just a little more tired than she thought she was. So she's gonna spend the night."

Freddy sensed that his friend wasn't telling him the truth, but he didn't push it, "Okay. I guess I'll see you guys in the morning then."

"Yeah. G'night, Freddy."

"Night."