Encounters with an Icy Table
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Marvel does.
Another one prolonged by the ff.net site issues…
Chapter 6
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Scott lay on the dock. It was pouring rain . He didn't care. He just felt the constant pulsing of the raindrops on his back. It dulled the pain in his head. By now his clothing was soaked.
Jean approached slowly and quietly. She had seen him from the house. She didn't want to approach too quickly, for fear of scaring him away. Now, however, she was too close for him to go anywhere. Except into the lake, and she wouldn't put it past him, given his disposition of the day. Jean inched onto the dock. He hadn't acknowledged her yet. Jean was drenched by now as well, thankful that it wasn't especially cold out. She stood at his feet.
"Gotcha this time."
Scott spun around and inched his way toward the edge of the dock.
"Where do you plan on going? Into the lake?"
Scott stared up at her, terrified. Jean sat down next to him.
"Scott…"
She put her hand on his shoulder. All of the anger she's felt toward him earlier was gone. She was just glad to have found him. He looked like a drowned little puppy. His lip was quivering.
"It's all right," Jean assured, wrapping her arms around him, pulling him down to lay on her lap.
"Jean…I…don't know…what…to say," he choked out between sobs. "I …I…I'm so….sorry."
"Scott, I know," Jean stroked his back. "I know sweetie, it was an accident. I'm okay."
"It's…my worst….fear… you know. Hurting…you."
"It's okay. It's just a bruise. My teke kicked in quick."
Scott burrowed his head against her thigh and Jean ran her hands through his sopping hair.
"Come on, let's go inside. We can dry off, and talk a little more. I don't want you to get yourself sick."
Jean pushed Scott to his feet. He was silent, as they walked to the house. When they got inside, Jean led him to his room.
"Where are your towels?"
"In the bathroom."
Scott stood listlessly in the middle of the room. Jean retrieved two towels and began to dry herself off as she came back over to Scott. He didn't take the towel right away, so she lay them down on the bed and set about peeling off his shirt. Scott jumped away.
"Either you take it off, or I will."
Scott let her continue. She had him stripped down to his soaked boxer shorts. They looked at each other awkwardly.
"Where are your comfy clothes?"
Scott didn't answer, but trudged over to the dresser, and yanked a T shirt and sweatpants out of the drawer.
"Do you want something?"
Jean nodded. He tossed some clothing at her.
"I'm going to go change in the bathroom, to give you some privacy."
Jean smiled. It was the first full sentence he'd said since she found him. She quickly dried off and dressed herself in his soft T shirt and sweatpants. She thankfully, had not been soaked all the way through. She was rolling up the bottom of the pants as Scott came out of the bathroom. He came over to sit next to her on the bed.
"Can I see the bruise?"
"Are you sure?"
Scott nodded. "I saw part of it before. This morning."
Jean raised the hem of her T shirt. The bruise on her side stretched six inches in diameter. Scott's hand shook as he traced the outline.
"That tickles."
"Does it hurt?"
"Not really."
"It looks awful."
Scott began to take deep calming breaths. He finally tipped himself over to lay his head against Jean's stomach.
"Scott, really, I'm okay. I'm not mad, I'm not hurt. I'm okay."
She ran her hands up and down his back.
^^^Students, please report to the lounge. I would like to have a post mission meeting.^^^
Scott sat up, full of dread. "I…don't…want to talk…about it."
"We have to Scott. We have to talk about it to learn from it."
"Yeah, don't shoot. Ever."
"Scott!"
He stared at the floor.
"Come on. Let's go."
She pulled him onto his feet. Looking up at him, they caught each other's eyes. She threw her arms around him and held him tight. He raised his arms around her waist and pulled her as close to him as he could.
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"I would like to discuss last night's mission," the Professor explained.
He sat in the center of the room with the students on the periphery. Hank, Bobby and Warren were on the couch, and Jean and Scott were in the big chair.
"Who would like to begin?"
"Well, we were lost from the beginning," Warren began. "Scott was right. It was underground, and it was far more massive than any of us imagined."
"We got really lost," Bobby agreed, "Then we ended up in this big room."
"And we were ambushed by The Brotherhood. They had Griffin. Avalanche started trouble, so I grabbed Griffin and Bobby, and we raced for the surface, with the hope that Bobby could freeze the river."
Bobby nodded. "I couldn't hold it long."
"Inside," Hank added. "We were all brawling. I was fighting Blob, Toad had Jean, and Scott was fighting Mystique."
"At one point, Mystique came to hide behind Toad and I."
She looked at Scott. He remained quiet. She continued. "Then Mystique jumped out from behind us. Scott fired, Mystique jumped out of the way. It hit me."
Jean leaned back against Scott, a calming gesture. He slid his arm around her waist.
"Scott?" the Professor asked.
Scott looked up.
"What led to that?"
"Mystique, she had been attacking me on one rock ledge then she jumped to the other, near, uh, Jean and Toad. I don't know how she jumped out of the way so fast…"
He stopped, tightening his grip on Jean's waist.
"My concern, Scott, is not about that. I'm more concerned that you became so unstable when you realized what had happened. Thankfully, they Brotherhood backed off. Otherwise it would have been Henry fighting alone."
"I couldn't just leave her there!"
"I'm not saying you should have. But once you established her pulse and breath, you should have aided Henry. Not to mention that all of you seemed easily overtaken by the Brotherhood this time. We will begin some intensive sessions in the Danger Room tomorrow. You may all go now."
The Professor left the room.
"Yikes," Warren mouthed. "Is it dinner time yet?"
"You're home for dinner tonight?" Bobby asked.
"I'm going out later, for drinks."
"With who?"
"Brittanny."
"Who's that?" Hank asked.
"I met her this afternoon at the bookstore."
"At least this one can read."
The guys laughed as the left, leaving Jean and Scott alone in the lounge. He was resting his head on her shoulder, his arms still tightly wrapped around her waist. She pressed her head back against his chest.
"You okay?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Talk? No. Just sit. Like this."
"It's nice, isn't it?"
"Mmm."
They sat like that for a long time, in silence. She was content to just let him hold her, because he needed to. He needed to feel her presence to know she was really okay.
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