Title: A Friend in Need II: Sweet Child of Mine 02/22
Author: Somogyi
Email: somogyi02@yahoo.com
Archive: Sure, just please ask first
Rating: PG-13 for language, violence, and some disturbing imagery
Summary: Jubilee is well on the way to recovery from the physical injuries she
sustained during "A Friend in Need," thanks to the help of Logan and Jean. The
psychic damage, however, has been slow to heal: she is still plagued by regular
nightmares and her memory has not yet returned. And while Jean's endless devotion
to Jubilee is helping her to recuperate, it is starting to put a strain on Jean's
marriage to Scott.
Disclaimer: The X-Men and Generation X are property of Marvel Entertainment.
Characters are used without permission, no profit is being made, and no infringement
on copyright is intended.
*****
A Friend in Need II: Sweet Child of Mine
by Somogyi
somogyi02@yahoo.com
Chapter 2
Jean awoke with a start. She had heard Jubilee's anguished cries in her mind,
through the mindlink she had established when the girl had come under her care.
Now, as she sat up in bed and telekinetically turned on the lamp at her bedside,
she could hear the faint sound of screaming coming from the room across the
hall.
"Jean. . . ?" Beside her, Scott stirred, quickly shaking off the last vestiges
of sleep. His years of training and being accustomed to being awakened in the
middle of the night to face God-only-knew-what enabled his mind to become alert
almost instantaneously. he asked through the psychic rapport
they shared.
"It's Jubilee," Jean said aloud, tossing back the covers and quickly climbing
out of bed. She did not even bother to grab her robe as she rushed out of the
room.
She found Jubilee sitting up in bed, her frightened screams having since been
reduced to loud sobbing. As she walked closer, she saw that Jubilee's cheeks
were wet with tears, her eyes wide and filled with terror. Jean quickly sat down
on the bed beside her and reached for the trembling girl.
At first, Jubilee recoiled at the touch.
"Easy, Jubilee. It's just me. It's Jean." Once again, she reached for Jubilee.
"J-Jean. . . ?" This time, the girl did not pull back; rather, she practically
launched herself at Jean, grabbing her and holding on desperately. She buried
her face in Jean's shoulder and began to sob even harder. "Y-You're alive!"
"Of course I'm alive," Jean assured her, gently rubbing her back. "I'm fine. I'm
right here with you, sweetie."
"And Sc-Scott. . . ?"
"I'm here, too, Jubilee," he called from the doorway.
Jubilee raised her eyes, saw him leaning against the doorjamb, watching them,
concern etched all over his face. She sighed. "I- I thought he killed you. Like
he k-killed m-me. I tried to r-run . . . tr-tried to f-f-fight `im . . . but . .
. but. . . ."
"Shh," Jean soothed, gently stroking Jubilee's hair. "It's okay, sweetie. You're
safe. Nobody's trying to hurt you. You're fine. I'm fine. Scott's fine. We're
all okay."
"We'd never let anybody hurt you," Scott added.
Didn't Scott understand? He had disguised himself as a friend, as someone they
trusted. So that when they least expected it, he would strike. And kill them
all. They would never see it coming.
Fear and hopelessness gripping her heart once more, Jubilee continued to shake,
her breath coming in ragged gasps between loud sobs.
Jean began to rock her, continuing to issue soft words of comfort.
Scott asked, holding his hands out helplessly as he took a step
closer.
she replied tersely. And with that, she
ended the exchange.
In Scott's mind, it were as though she had put him `on hold,' weakening their
psychic rapport, focusing her attention instead on her link with Jubilee.
Feeling rebuffed, he quietly took his leave, giving Jean the privacy she
evidently sought.
Jean continued to rock Jubilee in her arms, trying to assuage her fears and
quiet her weeping. When spoken words seemed to have no effect, she resorted to
telepathic communication, projecting soothing words directly into Jubilee's
mind. That seemed to do the trick; before long, the girl's sobs had subsided,
and her tears stopped flowing. In a few minutes, she had given in to the
emotional exhaustion, and had fallen asleep in Jean's embrace.
Jean carefully lay the girl back down against the pillow, tucking the blanket
securely around her. She gently brushed the hair off of her sweat-soaked brow.
She sat watching her for a few minutes to assure herself that Jubilee was, in
fact, fast asleep. When she was convinced, she bent down to place a soft kiss on
Jubilee's head before quietly leaving the room.
With a sigh, Jean made her way into the kitchen. There, she found Scott waiting
for her. Seeing him sitting at the table with one steaming mug in front of him
and another in front of a nearby seat, she smiled.
She silently sat down, cradled the mug in her hands. The gentle aroma of
camomile tea drifted up toward her nose.
"She fall back asleep?" Scott asked.
Jean nodded. "With the help of a psychic sedative. She was terrified, Scott. I
glimpsed into her mind. The images were horrible." She could not suppress a
shudder from running through her. "What time is it?" she asked as she took a
careful sip of the tea.
Scott glanced at the clock on the wall behind Jean. "Half past two."
Jean sighed. "She's supposed to get up in four hours." She shook her head. "I
should probably let her sleep in this morning, let her rest."
"Jean, I thought we all agreed that it's important to maintain a schedule. If
Jubilee starts skipping physical therapy sessions, she's never going to get
well."
Jean sighed. "I suppose you're right. It's just . . . whenever she has one of
these dreams, she's always so exhausted the next day."
"No one said getting better would be easy. Sometimes she has to push herself a
bit. But she's strong. She can handle it." He paused, saw the dejected look on
his wife's face. "At least this was the first nightmare this week," Scott
offered hopefully.
Jean sighed in exasperation. "I thought we were making good progress, but
obviously the underlying trauma is still there. It's like we've come up against
a brick wall."
Scott gently covered one of her hands with his own, offering her a sympathetic
smile. He understood Jean's frustration. While Jubilee had been improving by
leaps and bounds physically these past six weeks, her emotional therapy was
slow-going. When she had first come to stay with them, she had had a violent
nightmare each night, never once sleeping undisturbed until morning. It was not
until after several weeks of psychic counseling that she began to have some
peace. But even that was short-lived; just when they thought she was beginning
to recover emotionally, she had another nightmare. They came less frequently,
but just as fierce in their content. It seemed that for every psychic barrier
Jean managed to help Jubilee overcome, there were at least a dozen more that
stood strong. The extent of the damage Tessa had wreaked in the young woman's
mind seemed to be never-ending.
"Jean, she endured a terrible emotional trauma. Those kind of scars don't fade
instantly; it's going to take time."
"You think I don't know that? That I'm some naive, amateur counselor? I've been
inside her mind nearly every day for the past month-and-a-half. I've seen the
demons that lurk there, Scott. And for each one I help her slay, there are a
handful remaining to be exorcised. It's so goddammed frustrating!" She blinked
back tears.
"I'm sorry, Jean," he said gently, wrapping his fingers around hers and giving
her hand a squeeze. "I know how frustrated you are. But you're not the only one
who feels that way. We all do. We all want Jubilee to be well. To beat this
thing."
"Yes, but none of you can help her heal her mind. I'm the only one who can get
into her unconscious, the only one who can mend her wounded psyche. And I'm
failing miserably." Bowing her head, she could no longer stop the tears from
falling.
"Oh, Jean. . . ." He reached for her, gently wiped the wetness from her cheeks.
"You'reexpecting too much, putting too much pressure on yourself. You're doing
the best you can."
"And it's obviously not enough! I promised to help heal Jubilee, and I haven't
kept my word."
"Of course you have. Jean, you spend nearly every waking moment caring for that
girl. You help clothe her, feed her, bathe her. You work with her to improve her
speech, walk with her as part of her physical therapy. And slowly but surely,
you're helping her to heal her mind. It's because of you that she's able to
sleep five nights out of the week. Because of your efforts that she can sing,
that she'll soon dance again. It's because of your love that she's able to laugh
again. So don't you dare sit here and try to sell yourself short. Because I've
watched you with her for weeks, and I sure as hell know better."
Jean smiled then. Holding tight to his hand, she reached her other toward him,
lightly stroked his face. "Thank you, Scott. Somehow, you always know just what
to say to make me feel better."
He returned her smile, turning his head to kiss her palm.
Jean yawned then despite herself.
"I think it's time we both got to bed," Scott said, rising and taking the mugs
to the sink. "We need the rest if we're going to be alert for tomorrow's
training session."
Jean's brow furrowed. "Training session? Scott, what are you talking about?"
He turned back from the sink to face her. "What do you mean what am I talking
about? The entire team was planning to practice in the Danger Room tomorrow--
well, actually, today," he quickly corrected himself as he remembered the early
hour. He regarded her for a moment in silent disbelief. "Jean, you didn't really
forget about it, did you? We were just talking about it yesterday afternoon with
Ororo and Logan."
"Scott, you know that ever since Jubilee came to stay with us, I've considered
myself to be on inactive duty. To be perfectly honest, when I heard you
discussing it with them, I didn't pay much attention because I didn't consider
it to pertain to me."
She could see his eyebrows raise above the top of his ruby-quartz glasses. "Not
pertain to you? Jean, you're still an X-Man."
"An inactive member," she reminded him.
"Regardless, you're still a member of the team. You're still living on the
mansion grounds, which means you're subject to the same threats of attack as the
rest of us. Most importantly, you're still in full possession of your mutant
powers and physically capable of fighting. As such, you need to brush up on your
skills, hone your powers and your fighting repertoire. I know you don't have
time to attend sessions regularly, but I figured you'd be coming to this one."
Jean could not help but give a small laugh. "Scott, this isn't some green, wet-
behind-the-ears new recruit you're talking to here--it's me, your wife. I've
been training in the use of my powers since before there was such a thing as the
X-Men. Cut me a little slack."
If anything, her words and reaction caused his face to grow even more stern. "As
leader of this team, I cannot in all good conscience go easy on you."
"You're kidding me, right?"
"Jean, just because we decide to take some time off does not mean that our
enemies do. What would happen if we were to be attacked tomorrow? What if the
events you saw in Jubilee's nightmare actually came to pass? What do you think
would happen if you had not been exercising your powers for some time? If you
were a little rusty? What do you think the consequences would be--not only for
yourself, but for Jubilee, whom you have sworn to protect? You won't do her any
good if you haven't stretched any psychic or physical muscles for weeks on end.
You need to practice."
"I'm supposed to help Jubilee with her speech and psychic therapy later this
morning."
"At what time?"
Annoyed, she blew out a loud breath. "Nine."
"That won't be a problem. Ororo and I decided to split the team into two groups
for two separate sessions. You can join the first while Logan helps Jubilee with
her physical therapy at seven. You should be done in more than enough time to
work with Jubilee at nine."
Jean stared at Scott in disbelief. "Is that an order, Cyclops?" she asked
tersely.
Sensing her indignation, Scott walked over to the table. "Don't be absurd, Jean.
You know I only push us all so hard for our own good. When the battles are for
real, no one pulls any punches. We have to be prepared for the worst."
"Sure. Fine. Whatever," she muttered, getting to her feet.
"So you'll be at the seven o'clock session?"
"Once I'm sure that Jubilee is settled for her PT, I'll stop by the Danger
Room."
"Great. So, you ready to go back to bed?" he asked, holding out his hand to her.
She ignored his gesture as she turned away from the table. "You go ahead, Scott.
I want to go check on Jubilee."
"I can wait while you--"
"Don't bother. I want to sit with her a few minutes, make sure the nightmares
don't return," Jean told him, already heading out the kitchen door. "You should
get to sleep, though, Scott--you don't want to be tired for your training
session. It might slow down your reflexes." Without another word, she quietly
made her way into Jubilee's room, closing the door shut behind her.
End Chapter 2
*****
Author: Somogyi
Email: somogyi02@yahoo.com
Archive: Sure, just please ask first
Rating: PG-13 for language, violence, and some disturbing imagery
Summary: Jubilee is well on the way to recovery from the physical injuries she
sustained during "A Friend in Need," thanks to the help of Logan and Jean. The
psychic damage, however, has been slow to heal: she is still plagued by regular
nightmares and her memory has not yet returned. And while Jean's endless devotion
to Jubilee is helping her to recuperate, it is starting to put a strain on Jean's
marriage to Scott.
Disclaimer: The X-Men and Generation X are property of Marvel Entertainment.
Characters are used without permission, no profit is being made, and no infringement
on copyright is intended.
*****
A Friend in Need II: Sweet Child of Mine
by Somogyi
somogyi02@yahoo.com
Chapter 2
Jean awoke with a start. She had heard Jubilee's anguished cries in her mind,
through the mindlink she had established when the girl had come under her care.
Now, as she sat up in bed and telekinetically turned on the lamp at her bedside,
she could hear the faint sound of screaming coming from the room across the
hall.
"Jean. . . ?" Beside her, Scott stirred, quickly shaking off the last vestiges
of sleep. His years of training and being accustomed to being awakened in the
middle of the night to face God-only-knew-what enabled his mind to become alert
almost instantaneously. he asked through the psychic rapport
they shared.
"It's Jubilee," Jean said aloud, tossing back the covers and quickly climbing
out of bed. She did not even bother to grab her robe as she rushed out of the
room.
She found Jubilee sitting up in bed, her frightened screams having since been
reduced to loud sobbing. As she walked closer, she saw that Jubilee's cheeks
were wet with tears, her eyes wide and filled with terror. Jean quickly sat down
on the bed beside her and reached for the trembling girl.
At first, Jubilee recoiled at the touch.
"Easy, Jubilee. It's just me. It's Jean." Once again, she reached for Jubilee.
"J-Jean. . . ?" This time, the girl did not pull back; rather, she practically
launched herself at Jean, grabbing her and holding on desperately. She buried
her face in Jean's shoulder and began to sob even harder. "Y-You're alive!"
"Of course I'm alive," Jean assured her, gently rubbing her back. "I'm fine. I'm
right here with you, sweetie."
"And Sc-Scott. . . ?"
"I'm here, too, Jubilee," he called from the doorway.
Jubilee raised her eyes, saw him leaning against the doorjamb, watching them,
concern etched all over his face. She sighed. "I- I thought he killed you. Like
he k-killed m-me. I tried to r-run . . . tr-tried to f-f-fight `im . . . but . .
. but. . . ."
"Shh," Jean soothed, gently stroking Jubilee's hair. "It's okay, sweetie. You're
safe. Nobody's trying to hurt you. You're fine. I'm fine. Scott's fine. We're
all okay."
"We'd never let anybody hurt you," Scott added.
Didn't Scott understand? He had disguised himself as a friend, as someone they
trusted. So that when they least expected it, he would strike. And kill them
all. They would never see it coming.
Fear and hopelessness gripping her heart once more, Jubilee continued to shake,
her breath coming in ragged gasps between loud sobs.
Jean began to rock her, continuing to issue soft words of comfort.
Scott asked, holding his hands out helplessly as he took a step
closer.
she replied tersely. And with that, she
ended the exchange.
In Scott's mind, it were as though she had put him `on hold,' weakening their
psychic rapport, focusing her attention instead on her link with Jubilee.
Feeling rebuffed, he quietly took his leave, giving Jean the privacy she
evidently sought.
Jean continued to rock Jubilee in her arms, trying to assuage her fears and
quiet her weeping. When spoken words seemed to have no effect, she resorted to
telepathic communication, projecting soothing words directly into Jubilee's
mind. That seemed to do the trick; before long, the girl's sobs had subsided,
and her tears stopped flowing. In a few minutes, she had given in to the
emotional exhaustion, and had fallen asleep in Jean's embrace.
Jean carefully lay the girl back down against the pillow, tucking the blanket
securely around her. She gently brushed the hair off of her sweat-soaked brow.
She sat watching her for a few minutes to assure herself that Jubilee was, in
fact, fast asleep. When she was convinced, she bent down to place a soft kiss on
Jubilee's head before quietly leaving the room.
With a sigh, Jean made her way into the kitchen. There, she found Scott waiting
for her. Seeing him sitting at the table with one steaming mug in front of him
and another in front of a nearby seat, she smiled.
She silently sat down, cradled the mug in her hands. The gentle aroma of
camomile tea drifted up toward her nose.
"She fall back asleep?" Scott asked.
Jean nodded. "With the help of a psychic sedative. She was terrified, Scott. I
glimpsed into her mind. The images were horrible." She could not suppress a
shudder from running through her. "What time is it?" she asked as she took a
careful sip of the tea.
Scott glanced at the clock on the wall behind Jean. "Half past two."
Jean sighed. "She's supposed to get up in four hours." She shook her head. "I
should probably let her sleep in this morning, let her rest."
"Jean, I thought we all agreed that it's important to maintain a schedule. If
Jubilee starts skipping physical therapy sessions, she's never going to get
well."
Jean sighed. "I suppose you're right. It's just . . . whenever she has one of
these dreams, she's always so exhausted the next day."
"No one said getting better would be easy. Sometimes she has to push herself a
bit. But she's strong. She can handle it." He paused, saw the dejected look on
his wife's face. "At least this was the first nightmare this week," Scott
offered hopefully.
Jean sighed in exasperation. "I thought we were making good progress, but
obviously the underlying trauma is still there. It's like we've come up against
a brick wall."
Scott gently covered one of her hands with his own, offering her a sympathetic
smile. He understood Jean's frustration. While Jubilee had been improving by
leaps and bounds physically these past six weeks, her emotional therapy was
slow-going. When she had first come to stay with them, she had had a violent
nightmare each night, never once sleeping undisturbed until morning. It was not
until after several weeks of psychic counseling that she began to have some
peace. But even that was short-lived; just when they thought she was beginning
to recover emotionally, she had another nightmare. They came less frequently,
but just as fierce in their content. It seemed that for every psychic barrier
Jean managed to help Jubilee overcome, there were at least a dozen more that
stood strong. The extent of the damage Tessa had wreaked in the young woman's
mind seemed to be never-ending.
"Jean, she endured a terrible emotional trauma. Those kind of scars don't fade
instantly; it's going to take time."
"You think I don't know that? That I'm some naive, amateur counselor? I've been
inside her mind nearly every day for the past month-and-a-half. I've seen the
demons that lurk there, Scott. And for each one I help her slay, there are a
handful remaining to be exorcised. It's so goddammed frustrating!" She blinked
back tears.
"I'm sorry, Jean," he said gently, wrapping his fingers around hers and giving
her hand a squeeze. "I know how frustrated you are. But you're not the only one
who feels that way. We all do. We all want Jubilee to be well. To beat this
thing."
"Yes, but none of you can help her heal her mind. I'm the only one who can get
into her unconscious, the only one who can mend her wounded psyche. And I'm
failing miserably." Bowing her head, she could no longer stop the tears from
falling.
"Oh, Jean. . . ." He reached for her, gently wiped the wetness from her cheeks.
"You'reexpecting too much, putting too much pressure on yourself. You're doing
the best you can."
"And it's obviously not enough! I promised to help heal Jubilee, and I haven't
kept my word."
"Of course you have. Jean, you spend nearly every waking moment caring for that
girl. You help clothe her, feed her, bathe her. You work with her to improve her
speech, walk with her as part of her physical therapy. And slowly but surely,
you're helping her to heal her mind. It's because of you that she's able to
sleep five nights out of the week. Because of your efforts that she can sing,
that she'll soon dance again. It's because of your love that she's able to laugh
again. So don't you dare sit here and try to sell yourself short. Because I've
watched you with her for weeks, and I sure as hell know better."
Jean smiled then. Holding tight to his hand, she reached her other toward him,
lightly stroked his face. "Thank you, Scott. Somehow, you always know just what
to say to make me feel better."
He returned her smile, turning his head to kiss her palm.
Jean yawned then despite herself.
"I think it's time we both got to bed," Scott said, rising and taking the mugs
to the sink. "We need the rest if we're going to be alert for tomorrow's
training session."
Jean's brow furrowed. "Training session? Scott, what are you talking about?"
He turned back from the sink to face her. "What do you mean what am I talking
about? The entire team was planning to practice in the Danger Room tomorrow--
well, actually, today," he quickly corrected himself as he remembered the early
hour. He regarded her for a moment in silent disbelief. "Jean, you didn't really
forget about it, did you? We were just talking about it yesterday afternoon with
Ororo and Logan."
"Scott, you know that ever since Jubilee came to stay with us, I've considered
myself to be on inactive duty. To be perfectly honest, when I heard you
discussing it with them, I didn't pay much attention because I didn't consider
it to pertain to me."
She could see his eyebrows raise above the top of his ruby-quartz glasses. "Not
pertain to you? Jean, you're still an X-Man."
"An inactive member," she reminded him.
"Regardless, you're still a member of the team. You're still living on the
mansion grounds, which means you're subject to the same threats of attack as the
rest of us. Most importantly, you're still in full possession of your mutant
powers and physically capable of fighting. As such, you need to brush up on your
skills, hone your powers and your fighting repertoire. I know you don't have
time to attend sessions regularly, but I figured you'd be coming to this one."
Jean could not help but give a small laugh. "Scott, this isn't some green, wet-
behind-the-ears new recruit you're talking to here--it's me, your wife. I've
been training in the use of my powers since before there was such a thing as the
X-Men. Cut me a little slack."
If anything, her words and reaction caused his face to grow even more stern. "As
leader of this team, I cannot in all good conscience go easy on you."
"You're kidding me, right?"
"Jean, just because we decide to take some time off does not mean that our
enemies do. What would happen if we were to be attacked tomorrow? What if the
events you saw in Jubilee's nightmare actually came to pass? What do you think
would happen if you had not been exercising your powers for some time? If you
were a little rusty? What do you think the consequences would be--not only for
yourself, but for Jubilee, whom you have sworn to protect? You won't do her any
good if you haven't stretched any psychic or physical muscles for weeks on end.
You need to practice."
"I'm supposed to help Jubilee with her speech and psychic therapy later this
morning."
"At what time?"
Annoyed, she blew out a loud breath. "Nine."
"That won't be a problem. Ororo and I decided to split the team into two groups
for two separate sessions. You can join the first while Logan helps Jubilee with
her physical therapy at seven. You should be done in more than enough time to
work with Jubilee at nine."
Jean stared at Scott in disbelief. "Is that an order, Cyclops?" she asked
tersely.
Sensing her indignation, Scott walked over to the table. "Don't be absurd, Jean.
You know I only push us all so hard for our own good. When the battles are for
real, no one pulls any punches. We have to be prepared for the worst."
"Sure. Fine. Whatever," she muttered, getting to her feet.
"So you'll be at the seven o'clock session?"
"Once I'm sure that Jubilee is settled for her PT, I'll stop by the Danger
Room."
"Great. So, you ready to go back to bed?" he asked, holding out his hand to her.
She ignored his gesture as she turned away from the table. "You go ahead, Scott.
I want to go check on Jubilee."
"I can wait while you--"
"Don't bother. I want to sit with her a few minutes, make sure the nightmares
don't return," Jean told him, already heading out the kitchen door. "You should
get to sleep, though, Scott--you don't want to be tired for your training
session. It might slow down your reflexes." Without another word, she quietly
made her way into Jubilee's room, closing the door shut behind her.
End Chapter 2
*****