Thanks to hippiechick2112 and ForestStar of Wind Clan for reviewing! To answer your question, Jean knows about New York but not Omaha.
Not to comment on the current election, but I recommend that everyone google "Illinois green party candidates". Trust me.
On the last day of school, Scott waited for the girls at the corner of McKinley and Twelfth. He was supposed to meet them outside the school, but after twenty minutes got annoyed and hungry—mostly hungry—and texted the girls that he would meet them outside McDonald's.
McDonald's wasn't as good as it used to be, and everything was huge, but it still tasted okay.
There was no question when the girls drove up. He and Ororo argued about shotgun. Now it was a routine—simple, basic, but still something he would miss. They wouldn't wake up every morning and go to school together. Jean…
He hopped in the backseat.
"We got you a cookie," Ororo said, offering him a paper bag.
Scott hesitated. He could smell the cookie from here. He wasn't hungry. (Now… though he expected he would be five minutes later.) But it was an option to take it and hang onto it, have it for a snack later.
But…
"You really shouldn't be sneaking around."
"We're not sneaking," Jean said, then hit the brakes too hard at a stop sign. "Professor Xavier knows we're out."
"He thinks you're going to school!"
"Scott, it's really not a big deal," Jean said.
"They're good cookies," Ororo added.
Scott sighed and grabbed the pastry, trying not to feel complicit. Jean's class had ended a week earlier, but rather than stop going, she had continued driving to school every day, mostly to hang out with Ororo—who had stopped going to her classes and was meant to be grounded. It was a lot of dishonesty. Scott did not approve.
His disapproval changed exactly bunk, so he slipped the cookie into his bag. Besides, this would be Ororo's last day of freedom. Then she was really grounded, no excuse to sneak out.
Jean met Scott's eyes in the rearview mirror. Even through his glasses, they both knew that had happened, and she smiled at him. That damn smile. She had a way of melting him down with it, reminding him of the taste of her mouth…
"How was the last day, Scott?" Jean asked.
"It was good. I'll miss it, but I feel way readier to use the computer now." The intro to computers class had been intended for people who needed a little less intro, and Scott had scrambled to catch up those first few weeks. Now he felt competent with this thing so integral to life in the twenty-first century. He was quite proud of himself.
"I get that," Jean agreed.
By the time they reached home, Ororo had decided that Scott was too much of a goody-two-shoes and didn't deserve a cookie, and that the reasonable thing was to retrieve the cookie, something Scott disagreed with, and she made a grab for his backpack as they headed through the door. Scott shoved her off but she bounced back.
Jean hung back, as she did whenever they got into it with each other. That, and Scott doubted she was after the cookie.
At the same time, Scott and Ororo heard from the next room: "Sounds like they have not changed…"
They froze. Ororo had her hands firmly latched to Scott's backpack, Scott halfway to having her in a headlock. They glanced at each other, grinned, then stopped fighting.
"Who's—" Jean asked, but Scott and Ororo were gone.
They had recognized the voice, but that was nothing compared to the feeling of seeing Ruth in the sitting room.
She was an old woman now. Her face was softer, her hair white, her hands wrinkled—but she carried herself like a soldier still, and her eyes were the same. Her smile, too.
"Mom!"
Pillows were different in outer space. At least, the pillows on the Starjammer were different. They were some sort of smart synth fabric, slick—inflated. They were strange but comfortable, fine to sleep on. They were always cool, which was nice. There was no 'cold side of the pillow'.
They weren't good for crying into, though, and Scott had needed that. He ended up balling up his shirt in his mouth so no one would hear him, because it ripped him up inside to realize he might never see his mom and dad again. The first time, as a child, he hadn't understood. He did this time and he felt himself collapsing inside.
Now he didn't think before throwing his arms around Ruth. He was taller now—than he had been, than she was. And that felt different, that she was here now but not the same. He didn't know that Ororo was thinking the same, but he felt her beside him. She had done the same, run to Ruth and hugged her.
Ruth hadn't responded terribly differently. She was shorter now but as strong as ever, holding them.
"We missed you," Ororo murmured.
"I missed you, too."
After a while, Scott knew he was holding on too long, but he wasn't the only one. None of them wanted to let go.
Ruth had to push them away. She had to—to behave as an adult, because the kids couldn't.
"Let me look at you. Oh, you grew up," she told Ororo, which was true. The past year, she had changed. She learned to dress as a woman on other planets, something Ororo had loved and Scott found very awkward.
"And Scott, you're so tall! And you really need a haircut, what do you call this?" she asked, plucking at his hair. She was right, of course. He hadn't had it cut in months. When Professor Xavier first found Scott, he mistook him for a girl. His hair wasn't quite that long, but it was approaching androgyny.
"Ah, we're working on that," Professor Xavier chimed in.
"What working on? Get some scissors, I can fix it."
Scott shook his head, but he was glad he didn't need to explain. Professor Xavier did: "We need his social worker's permission."
"For a haircut?" Ruth asked.
Scott and Ororo nodded.
"That is stupid."
"Yes, it is," Professor Xavier agreed mildly. "This is Jean. Jean, this is Ruth. She was Ororo and Scott's foster mother."
Jean, who had been standing hesitant in the doorway, stepped forward and shook Ruth's hand. "It's nice to meet you. I've heard so many good things."
"She knows," Ororo added. "Scott opened his big mouth."
"Oh, yeah, and you want to tell why?" Scott retorted.
Ororo gave him a look the equivalent of her middle finger.
Scott opened his mouth.
Ororo kicked him.
Professor Xavier and Ruth looked at one another.
"Well, I'll remind you of the reason you agreed to be part of the academy, Ruth. You were all set to turn me down… until you saw Alex and Scott beating the hell out of each other."
"I hit him first," Scott said. "Although… he sort of deserved it."