AUTHOR'S NOTE: Another request by medred! I also forgot to credit them in Chapter 24, titled "For the Longest Time," my bad. Anyway, without further ado, here's "Redd":

Jean spent this time to herself to stargaze and think about her life up to this point. She won't lie to herself, it was pretty rough. But if she never joined the X-Men in the first place, who knows. It could have been far worse.

First off, she probably would have never met Scott. She remembered that day fondly… the cute boy pushing Professor Xavier's wheelchair into her home, asking her to join his school. She remembered hardly paying attention and finding herself lost in Scott's visage. Maybe that was why she really decided to join, but it was certainly a perk.

Even if being with Scott had its ups and downs. He was always the right one for her.

Come to think of it, one of her more fonder memories with Scott had to be when they got sucked into the future on the night of their honeymoon. To anyone else, to any other superhero for that reason, that would seem daunting and generally disappointing. But because they were needed in the future, they got the chance to raise Nathan from a baby.

And because being with Scott had its ups and down, Jean never got the chance to do that before. Even now, she's never looked after a baby like she did then. Jean loved every moment of it, more so that Scott was there every step of the way.

Back then they decided to lie to Nathan and say that they were his adopted parents and remained under the guise of Redd and Slym Dayspring. Looking back on that, the names were fairly on the nose but nobody knew of Cyclops and Phoenix like that in the future.

Jean softly giggled at the memory of picking their names.

"Slim but with a 'Y'? Scott are you really that uncreative?"

"Yeah but Red with an extra 'D' is highly innovative."

By then it was already decided and as Nathan grew up, he was accustomed to calling them by those names. Even if they were supposed to be his adopted parents. It stung somewhat, especially when they were having a deep moment. They didn't want to lie to him, but they did what they could. They even took up calling each other by those names so that they won't slip up. It was rough at first, but they got used to it.

Jean would never forget how Nathan would get frustrated with his powers and with trying to conceal his true self. Let alone the constant pain he was in due to the virus. In those trying times, Jean would sit with him and get him to calm down as the little boy would look at her with teary eyes.

"Redd," he would say. "I can't do this anymore."

And everytime he said that she wished she could tell him about the man he was going to be.

And maybe she wished he would call her mother too. Even adult Cable resorted to calling Scott and Jean by their real names but he was quicker with calling Scott "dad" every now and again. Jean tried to not let it get to her as Madelyne, her clone was Nathan's true mother. Even if their DNA matched, Madelyne was the one who gave birth to him. Not Jean. But in every other sense, Jean was Nathan's mother and that's all that mattered.

As a matter of fact, it wasn't until recently that Nathan started using mom and dad more frequently. Especially "mom."

After he came to this timeline and killed off older Cable, one of the first things he had done was revive Scott from the dead. Then Jean encountered him with what was left of the X-Men. She didn't recognize him at first but being a telepath, she was sure that she recognized those brainwaves.

Then as Xavier likes to put it, "the world fell asleep."

During this time, Scott had gathered his family to Krakoa and made plans for where they were going to live. It was awkward at first with all of them there and alive. But Jean was more than happy to have a family, especially since her human one was practically eradicated.

Quickly Rachel fell in nicely. She was already used to calling Scott dad and sometimes Alex as her uncle. And now that Jean was back, she grew accustomed to calling Jean mom.

Nathan on the other hand felt awkward. Once again, he was out of time and it was like the family had to meet him all over again. He mostly stayed by Scott's side and addressed Jean as Redd.

Even as he said it, it felt odd in his mouth. His ears would be tinted with pink when Rachel would turn around and say "mom." His heart fluttered when Jean called him son. But he didn't know what to do at that point. No matter what, he felt strange.

Then on the night they all moved into the Summer Home, it happened in a passing conversation. They were all gathered around eating dinner cooked by Jean and Gabriel and he said it.

"Tastes great mom, I have forgotten how much I missed your cooking. Even if it isn't from a mutated animal."

It was a light and joking comment but Jean froze when she heard it, not going unnoticed by Nathan.

"You okay…?" he asked as he took a long pause. You wanted to say "You okay, mom?" but that might've been pushing it. The comment just slipped out of his mouth without thought but he felt a yearning to say it more. It felt nice and homey, and more than anything, he wanted a mom. Just as he wanted his dad.

And you can't have Scott without Jean. (And if you do, you may as well count on having a blind man.)

Jean had blinked at Nathan's response and came to her senses. "Mom?" she had questioned.

Nathan's face flushed as he looked down at his plate, suddenly more interested in the overly welldone steak Gabriel had cooked for him. "Well, yeah." he said. "Aren't you my mom? We're a family now, aren't we?"

That made Jean smile. "I am. We are." she answered. "I'm just used to you calling me Redd."

Nathan shrugged and replied with, "Well the world changed when you fell asleep."

And with what they say, "the more things change, the more things stay the same."

Jean saw the little boy who struggled with his abilities once so long ago and remembered how close they had been.

And in all those years that had passed, their closeness has never changed.