*click*

"The time is 3:34 in the AM on what was Tuesday the 26th. Two of my children have came home this afternoon and they came home in love.

"I foresaw this, although it is not part of powers. Just a little gift I picked over the years instructing and watching over children. It was the relationship that everyone was betting on. After telling Logan how happy we are all for him, I scolded him for abducting a student, with him staring at me and shooting vile thoughts in my direction. I then debriefed him on what he and young Rogue discovered at the lake. Apparently, Stryker's organization has lived on, though their leader is "very, very dead", as Logan put it. He took too much pleasure in that, I believe. I am glad that his revenge is over before he learned too much from Stryker. I believe I will have to tell him everything soon.

"Rogue, Marie, is absolutely glowing. She confided in me that she has even gotten a sense of how to control her powers. I sensed from her that she has something entirely else in mind, which I really should be dissuading her from doing. However, she legally is an adult and the heart goes where it wants. I believe she will-"

*knock*

"Professor?"

"Yes. Come in Scott."

"Professor, I just talked with Logan and-"

"Scott, you're drunk."

The door slams shut. Audio shows a set of uneven footfalls heading toward the recorder,

"I know. I really needed it. It doesn't affect Logan though. Maybe he has a dependency issue. That's probably why he drinks so much."

"Logan told you, didn't he?"

"About him and Rogue? Yeah, he's really happy. Blushing and everything. He can't stop talking about her and him and how happy they are together."

"Scott, that's not quite what I meant. He told you that there was no sign of Jean."

"He didn't look hard enough. He was too busy playing hanky-panky with Marie. He, he couldn't have checked everywhere."

Crying, coughing, more sobbing.

"Scott.  There is still a chance. We have rebuilt Cerebro and, if she is out there, we will find her. You know that. You know that we will never stop looking. She was the light within us all."

Sob. "She was my light."

"I know, Scott. I have walked in your shoes once, long long ago."

"Really?" Fifteen seconds of silence. "It's not fair. I know I sound like a spoiled child, but it's not. Logan, with his empty life, and Rogue falls straight into his lap. They go through a bunch of adventures and then they realize that they are meant for each other and then they fall in love only to come back and rub it in my face."

"They are not rubbing anything in anyone's face. They are happy and they want to share it. They have not had an easy life and maybe, just maybe, they want to spread it. They are your friends, Scott, even Logan, and they want you to be happy for them. Trust them, as they trust you."

"You mean that, don't you? That they trust me, even Logan?"

"Of course, Scott. We are all family here, with our tongues and wings and eye beams and claws and tails. We want each other to be happy, to create a new world where we can simply live and be happy. It's a small wish, but that ends up being the meaning of life. I thought you should learn it early. Consider it an early Christmas present."

"Thanks, Professor." The sound of the door opens, with footfalls going with it. "I think I should go to sleep and think about it."

"Good night, Scott." Steps fall farther away from the recorder. "Oh, and Scott."

"Yes?"

"Ask Ororo tomorrow morning for her hangover cure-all. Believe me- it works."