I came back in time for dinner. I could hear the shouting as I landed, and I hesitated, but I could not avoid it any longer. Reluctantly, I went in the kitchen door.

"… always staring at her, always stalking her. Why can't you accept it?"

"Why can't you?" Logan and Scott were fighting again. Great. Just what I needed.

The two of them were glaring at each other, eye to eye, at the end of the room. Kurt looked up as if to say something, then caught my gaze and instead stared at his plate. Remy was shuttling cards through his hands, Rogue was moodily eating cereal, and Jean was watching the two men, looking torn.

"What is this fighting?" I couldn't take it any more. "Leave each other alone. You are behaving like children. Scott has married Jean. That settles things. Now, sit down and eat."

Logan sniggered, then started laughing. Scott drew himself up rigidly. Jean's eyes flickered from one man to the next, and she looked guilty and sad. "I…I'm sorry. I don't feel like eating." She bolted from the room, and Logan glared around, then followed her.

Scott's rigid pose relaxed, and then he walked slowly past the rest of us toward the kitchen door and left.

"Kurt?" He jumped a little as I spoke, then put his fork down.

"Ja?" His voice trembled.

"Go after them. Knock their heads together, if you have to. Do not let them withdraw again." And keep them from making matters worse, I thought silently.

He nodded and teleported from the room, still avoiding my eyes. I looked at the others. "I will handle Scott. Can you two behave if I leave you alone?"

Remy's face darkened, and Rogue thrust her chin forward in rebellion. "We aren't kids, Storm. We can take care of ourselves."

"When we don't abandon people we love to die, chere."

I turned on Gambit. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. Cut it out. That is no longer acceptable behavior." I turned to Rogue. "Leave the room if you have to. I will not have more fights tonight, no matter what. I … I love all of you. Stop hurting me this way."

I followed Scott. He had gone to the small gazebo in back and was sitting on the wooden plank, arms wrapped around his knees. He was crying.

I was not accustomed to dealing with a crying Cyclops, but I did my best. I put my arm around his back. He flinched away from it, but I held on.

"You know," he said after a little while, "I never thought I'd be good enough for Jean. She was my ideal, you know? She was everything I wanted. But I was always afraid that once I got her, she'd leave me. Now, Logan tells me he's going to try … I don't understand. Part of me feels that he's right, that she really belongs with him, but I don't want to let her go."

I sat and bent my head. "I don't understand, either, Scott."

He looked up at the sky. "All my life, practically, I couldn't see what was in front of me. It was all murky red, Jean and you and everyone. The one thing I've known is that she loved me. She really did. And now, I don't know that any more."

I didn't know what to say. I felt guilty because of what I had heard earlier. Finally, I said, "You do know one other thing. We all need you as part of the team, and part of the vision of a peaceful humanity."

"Yeah?" His blank visor looked at me, and I shuddered a little. "Well, thanks. But it doesn't make up for … if I can't have her, who do I have?"

Madelyne, my mind whispered. I shook my head. "All of us, Scott. Working together. It's not what I hoped for either, but it is enough." It has to be.