Genesis of a Legend

Disclaimer:  I don't own anything.  Marvel does.

Chapter 5

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I frowned as I looked at the car's clock.  4:35.  Shit, I hadn't meant to spend that long at the mall.  It's just that every store I went into had something intriguing in their new collection.  I knew Scott's test must have been long over, and felt bad I'd made him wait so long.  I really did want to spend time with him.  That's all I wanted to do with my free time lately.  All I could think about was Scott Summers…

Arriving at the Institute, I quickly parked my car and went inside.  It was oddly quiet.  I flung my bags down at the bottom of the stairs and looked around.  Scott wasn't anywhere downstairs, so  I made my way up the stairs and rapped loudly on his door.  A loud whine came from inside.

"I said before, leave me alone!"

I was a little taken aback by this comment.  He sounded really upset, or hurt, or both.

"Scott, its just me."

"Just leave me alone for now.  I need to sleep."

I didn't know what to think.  Something must be wrong.  We'd slept late today, he shouldn't be tired.  He'd asked me to leave him alone, but I was too concerned.  I flipped the lock telekinetically, and tiptoed in.  His room was pitch black.  All of the shades were pulled down, and Scott lay beneath his blanket.  Slowly, I made my way over to the bed.

"Scott?"

"Mnh!" he whined, and curled himself up tightly.  "I asked you to leave me alone!"

"I just…"

"You have no…right to just…unlock my door."

His voice sounded so weak.  I sat down on his bed.

"Jean!  Please.  Go.  Away."

"What's wrong?" I asked, reaching out my hand to his cheek.  He jerked away from my touch.

"Leave me alone. Let me sleep."

"You're very upset about something.  I…"

"Get out of my head!"

"I'm not in your head!"

I bit my lip.  I didn't want to make him angrier.  It was killing me to see him so upset, and so unwilling to talk about it, even to me.  I'd thought we were close enough now to talk about almost anything.  "I would never go in your head without permission."

"You came into my room without permission!"

Touche.  "That's diff…"

"It's not different.  Go away!"

My lip was quivering, and I could feel the tears building up in my eyes.  He winced in pain, and curled up even tighter.  I scooted off the bed, and walked over to the door. 

"I'm just concerned.  But, I guess, if you want me to leave that badly, I'll leave."

He didn't respond, so I reluctantly left the room.  I'd been hoping he'd change his mind, so I was thoroughly disappointed.  I did, however, leave the door unlocked.

What had him so upset?  It had to be something from his test.  Hell, I didn't even know what kind of test it was.  I needed to talk to the Professor.  I found him in the med lab with Dr. McCoy.  They sat at a computer, looking over a data stream.

"There are no dangerous physiological changes," Hank explained.  "No respiratory distress, no increased or decreased heart rate.  Pulse steady. No drop in pulse ox until the end."

"That's promising." The Professor noted. "Come in, Jean."

I walked over to them.

"Is that from Scott's test earlier?"

"Yes.  It is."

"What's wrong with him?  What kind of test was it?"

"It was a duration test.  We were determining how long his optic blast lasts for if uninhibited. 

Hank added, "He lasted for one hour and seven minutes."

"Wow.  At full force?"
"It started to taper at 58 minutes, but still held on for another nine more minutes."

"Then what happened?"

Hank and the Professor glanced at each other quickly.  The Professor answered my question.  "He passed out.  He was out for about 15 minutes."

"Is he okay?"

"If you look at the data, you'll see that he had fairly normal stats throughout his unconsciousness."

"How long ago did it happen?"

"About two hours ago."

"Why isn't he being observed in the med lab?"

"He insisted he go upstairs.  Said he'd crawl if necessary," Hank laughed. "I had to carry him.  Then he insisted he be left alone."

The Professor added, "He seemed rather angry and upset."

I nodded.

Hank asked, "Did he kick you out too?"

I nodded again. 

"He just needs time to rest."

"I hate to see him like that."

"I know," the Professor consoled. "But he just needs his space right now."

I nodded reluctantly, and left the room.  I trudged up the stairs, pausing outside Scott's room.  I really wanted to go in.  He was hurting.  I just wanted to hold him and make him feel all better.  I wish I had the power to do it.  But I didn't want him to get mad at me again, so I decided to leave him be. 

The following morning I stood outside his room again.  As a result of leaving him alone, despite my better intentions, I slept poorly.  It was still fairly early, only 8am, but Scott was usually up by now.  I inched into his room again, and tried not to trip on anything as I made my way over to the bed in the blackness.  Gradually, my eyes got used to the lack of light, and I could make out Scott's form, his chest rising and falling rhythmically.  I just watched him for a while.  He didn't look like he'd slept well either.  The bed was all rustled, and his bed clothes crumpled.

"I know you're there."

He startled me.  There was no red glimmer in his goggles, so I thought he was asleep. 

"Sorry.  I was just checking on you.  You had me worried.  I'll go now."

"No…stay."

I sat on his bed.  He still looked awful. 

"How're you doing?"

"I still feel like shit, Jean.  I can't figure it out.  I've been fucking laying here doing nothing, and I can't shake this." 

I ran my hand through his hair.  As much as he didn't look any better, at least  he was in a better mood.

"My head is killing me, and I'm fucking exhausted.  Completely fucking exhausted.  Did you hear about the goddamn test?"

"Yeah."

"I had no idea it was going to kick my ass like that.  I've been holed up in here since I made Hank take me upstairs.  Jean, I don't know what to do."

He sounded desperate.  I lay beside him, and pulled him very close to me, and just held him for a while. I thought about everything I knew about his mutation.  He couldn't control it, after an accident he had, but it was indeed finite if not 'charged'.  But what charged it?  As I looked around the dark room I got and idea and sat up. 

"Scott, get dressed.  Let's go outside."
"What?!  No, Jean, I need to sleep.  I need the darkness."

"It's not helping you.  You can lay down outside.  If it starts to bother you more then we can come back inside.  But, I don't know, I have this hunch, that you need the sun."

He looked at me quizzically, but sat up slowly.  "I'm dressed enough to go outside."

He was wearing a T shirt and gym shorts.  I stood up and grabbed his arms to pull him to his feet. 

"Woah." He swayed a bit.

"It's okay.  I've got you."

I threaded my arm under his, and guided him all the way downstairs, and outside.  We settled down in a soft, grassy spot in the middle of the lawn. 

"It's warm out today," he noted.

"Yeah, it is." 

Scott lay down, with his head on my lap.  I gently pet his back, and neck.  The sun was strong.

"Shit!" I cursed.

"What's wrong, Jean?"

"I'll be right back.  I have to go get my sunscreen.  I'm going to turn bright red if I don't put some on.  Will you be okay out here for a few minutes?"

"Yup."

He was already sounding better.  Was my strange little hunch right?  I quickly darted up the stairs and grabbed my bottle of SPF 45.  I still burnt through this, but it was far better than nothing.  When I returned outside, Scott was laying on his back looking up at the sky.

"Anything interesting up there?"

"Nah.  Nada.  No clouds even.  We should go in the pool."

"In a little bit.  Just relax for a while."

I slathered on the white cream, trying desperately to get my back. 

Scott sat up quickly.  "Let me get that for you."

"Okay." I handed him the bottle.

"Geez, does any sun get through this?"

"More than you'd think."

His hands felt amazing on my back as he rubbed the lotion into my back. 

"There.  All done."

"Thank you."

He grinned at me, and lay back on the grass. 

"Wow, its really warm out here. I think this is the warmest its been yet, this year here."

Scott sat up again, and peeled off his T shirt.  I'm sure my jaw dropped visibly.  I tried quickly to hide it, but I'm sure my reaction was noticeable.  Why did it effect me like that?  I'd seen Scott shirtless before…Hell, I'd even snuggled up to Scott shirtless before, but there was something about the way the sun glistened off of his well defined muscles.  I couldn't take my eyes off him. 

"You okay?"  He asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

"Oh…uh…yeah…I'm fine.  Sorry.  I was just in a daze."

"I can see that."

"You're looking much bett…you look like you're feeling much better."

Scott grinned.  I love his grin.  It makes me melt.  "Yeah, I think you were right about the sun.  I'm already feeling ten times better."

"Good."

The light was back behind his glasses.  I could feel him looking at me.   He curled back up on my lap. 

"I thought you were feeling better?"

"There's nothing like being held."

I laughed, reached my hand out to his side.  Skin to skin.  I can't even explain how it felt.  Amazing.  Electric.  My hand shook at little bit as I stroked his chest, but finally I reveled in the moment.  It was going to be a good day after all.

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Okay… so not where I was originally planning on ending this chapter, but the other stuff will go into Scott's chapter.