Inevitable
By Didi
Disclaimer: Honestly, if I own any of the characters you recognize in here, do you really think I'd be here? Of course not. Stan Lee and the people of Marvel has that distinctively enviable honor.
Summary: Men have a more difficult time accepting the inevitable truth about life.
Author's Note: Stand alone. Nothing to do with anything I've written so far. Post Uncanny X-Men # 423. (And for those that don't remember the issue numbers like me, it's the one where Jubilee reappears under pretty bad circumstances.) Oh, because I'm never quite sure of exactly how old any of these characters are other than some are younger than others, I'm going to be pretty liberal about age. (No booing in the back there.)
Wrote this some time ago and never got around to posting it. So I thought, why the hell not?
Key: "Spoken," *Thoughts,* "Telepathy Speech." Any questions?
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He watched her through the partition, the delicate little thing only a bump among the sea of surgical white sheets.
Though Annie had said that she would be back on her feet in no time and that there really was no danger to her health now, not after the little miracle that Warren had pulled off, Hank had insisted on sedating her and putting her into the isolation bubble. Perhaps it was because Hank knew her and loved her that he was being a hundred and twenty times more cautious than the school nurse. Or perhaps Hank was just his curious self and wanted to know what Warren's regenerative powers would do to the fragile young body that was now lying so deathly still that he was tempted to lift the bubble cover and put his hand to her nose, just to see if she was still breathing. But whatever the reason was, he was secretly glad that she was in there, protected.
"Bobby?"
He turned and watched with suppressed awe as Jean Grey-Summers approached slowly. Even without her breathtaking powers, he was sure she would have stood out like a diamond among the coals. There was something so striking about her that had nothing to do with her beauty or powers, it was just simply her. "Hey."
"They're calling another meeting. Scott wants to update Warren and Logan on what's happening and set up the battle plans," Jean said quietly as she stepped up the isolation bubble to stand by him. "How is she?"
"Hasn't moved since Logan put her down," he replied quietly even knowing she probably wouldn't wake up if they drop an atomic bomb next to the bed. "Hank gave her enough sedative to take down an elephant."
"She was fighting him and the medication," she replied watching the young girl she had known and cared about over the years. "I'd forgotten how beautiful she is." And she truly was. Jean couldn't help but remember that she use to associate Jubilee with Snow White, in one of Jubilee's rare quiet moments that is. With those big blue eyes, raven black hair and flawless pale skin she could easily give the fable princess a run for her money. And now lying under the clear protective bubble, she is again reminded of the fairy tale. "It's been too long."
"Too long?" Bobby asked his eyes on the delicate face that was so familiar. How many times did the two of them laughed and played together while living under the constant pressures of being an X-Men. He hadn't even realized that he missed that easiness of life until he saw her face again.
Jean nodded her head slowly. "We've all been so caught up in our lives that we don't even notice these little things. Times flies and we miss so much when we don't pay attention."
"What are you talking about, Jean?" distractedly.
"She's talking about the fact that we almost lost her cause we weren't paying attention," Scott replied soberly as he came up from behind, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as he stared at the figure in the bed. All his protective instincts rose to the surface as he watched her motionlessly sleeping, two tightly bandages hands peeking out. It sickened him to know that she had been crucified like some…
"Actually that's not what I was talking about," Jean replied softly, her hand coming up to rest against the tense muscles on her husband's arm. "I was just remarking on how beautiful Jubilee is becoming."
"She's always been pretty," Scott murmured softly, his eyes not leaving the drawn face of the wounded child he was seeing. He remembered hot afternoons and bright laughter full of such optimistic joy of life.
"Yes," Jean agreed with a nod. "She was always a pretty child. But now… she's beautiful. That's a face that's going to break a lot of hearts."
Bobby blinked and turned to stare at Jean. "What?" confused as to the statement. "What are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about, Jean?" Scott asked, turning to his wife.
Jean stared at them for a moment, unsure of where the confusion was. A light skimming of their minds brought an understanding that put a smile onto her lips. "Boys, all little girls grow up eventually. It's inevitable, even for X-Men." She turned to look at the young women that had grown from the precarious child that she had been. "Our little Jubilee isn't so little anymore. She's sixteen."
"Sixteen?" Bobby asked, not quite believing his ears. "She's sixteen?" His eyes danced over curves that hadn't been there before and felt his face grow warm. He mentally slapped himself.
Suppressing the laugh that was threatening to bubble to the surface, Jean reached over and patted Bobby gently on the arm. "Did you think she would stay thirteen forever? Yes, she's sixteen going on seventeen. A very beautiful sixteen year old young lady who may or may not have just lost her first love," glancing back at the empty bed that had been held Angelo Espinosa only hours before.
Scott's brows burrowed with concern. "You think that she and the gray skinned kid were…" he couldn't bring himself to say it. She will always be the overly energized child that he yelled at for rollerblading in the hallways.
"Intimate?" Jean suggested.
Bobby winced. "Don't say that."
"Why not?" Jean asked quietly, her eyes on Jubilee's closed eyes. She wished she could see those sapphire orbs that flash between twinkling laugher and mischievous devilry. "She's certainty old enough to know about the birds and the bees."
"Yeah but I don't want to know that she knows," Bobby made a face, truly disturbed by the thought. "It's creepy. I mean, come on… she's just a little…" he blinked, forgetting himself so quickly.
"A little what?" Jean asked, amused that Bobby couldn't quite accept that his little buddy wasn't so little anymore.
The Iceman didn't have a word to say to that.
Scot did though. "She's still too young to be… to be…"
Jean was having too much fun with this. "Intimate, dear. The word or the easiest word here anyways, would be intimate."
"This is not a joking matter, Jean," Scott scolded.
"I think Jubilee would find it vastly hilarious."
"Jubilee finds gumball machines amusing," the ruby eyed team leader complained. "It doesn't mean that…" He didn't like the thought, and it conjured all sorts of imagines that he didn't want lingering in his mind. "She's only sixteen."
"Were you still a virgin at sixteen, Scott?" Jean teased.
"As a matter of fact; yes."
Bobby coughed and looked away.
Jean rolled her eyes. "I won't even ask you."
"Ask who what?" Hank McCoy asked as he bounded in on silent feet…um… paws. For such a large man, he moved with the grace and silence of a lion in the jungle. It was something spectacular to see. He came to a rest on the other side of the bed, visually examining his patient through the bubble glass. "Has she moved?"
"No," Bobby answered with a frown. "Should we check to make sure…"
"Relax," Jean murmured softly, her fingertips on the partition. "She's just resting."
"Well can she move while she rests? This is kind of unnerving."
"She's fine, Bobby. We won't let anyone hurt her."
"Not that we did a particularly good job of protecting her in the first place," Scott muttered darkly. He could kick himself for not keeping a more vigilant eye on those associated with the X. Hadn't he learned by now that no one gets to simply walk away once they've don the uniform?
"Stop it," Jean rebuked sharply. "None of us could have counted on this. Besides which, she wasn't helpless. And she'd kick anyone that says she is."
"No she isn't," Hank shook his head. "Far from it if our little one could just get pass her fears."
"What do you mean?"
"I've read the last reports from Sean before Generation X broke up. Our Ms. Lee was showing some significant increase in energy output. Looks like her powers were growing by leaps and bounds. The only thing keeping her back was her own fears of what she can do."
Jean nodded her agreement. "Jubilee was always so uncertain about her own abilities. I suppose causing mass destruction a couple of times unintentionally could do that to a person."
"By all calculations," Hank went on with a smile as he picked up a chart by the bed. "Her powers would increase as she ages. Maybe even morph to a new level or a secondary power could appear."
"How far along in her transformation is she?" Scott asked, not too sure he liked this sound of this. While he was delighted that she may be growing into a power that will never allow this to happen again, he wasn't sure how she would handle knowing that she could become as dangerously as… *As myself perhaps?* Also with added power would mean added threats.
"Couldn't even begin to tell," Hank answered honestly, one long claw scratching delicately at his chin. "She's still young and even if she weren't, secondary powers can manifest at any time, look at Emma and Warren. No one saw their secondary mutations coming." He pounded one large paw against his wide furry chest. "Heck, yours truly is certainly proof of that."
"She's still growing," Jean said fondly. "I'll admit to some curiosity as to what she'll be when she's all grown up."
"How old is our dear little one?" Hank asked, searching among the medical instruments for the most important one of all, his eyeglasses.
"Sixteen," Jean answered and watched.
Hank blinked, found his glasses, looked up at Jean and asked, "I'm sorry. Did you say sixteen?"
"Yes."
"Hum…"
"Something wrong, Hank?"
"No, no," shaking his massive head. "I just thought… I thought she was younger."
"She was, we all were," she answered. "Why is it that men have such a difficult time understanding that little girls do grow up to be young women?"
"Because we are men," Hank answered cheerfully. "We have this intent reaction to little girls growing up to meet men like us when we know what men like us think about lovely young women. It's the father mentality coming to play."
"Hum…" Jean tilted her head and smiled.
"Excuse me." Jono interrupted as unobtrusively as possible. He had been standing there for some time now, waiting for someone to notice the fact that their private conversation wasn't so private anymore. He's gotten so use to standing out rather sorely in a crowd that he wasn't at all too sure what to do when no one notices him, a novel experience.
"Something wrong, Jono?" Scott asked soberly. He kept it firmly in his mind that this young man, with his scarred face and past, was a friend and comrade in arms with Jubilee. This young man watched and protected her when Scott could not.
"Nothing wrong, sir. I just wanted to put on some music for Jubilee. She use to fall asleep in the living room with the TV on, said it gave her comfort to hear noises." He put the CD player by the table and slipped the silver compact disc in without a word. A soothing female voice sang softly.
"What is it?" Bobby asked, not recognizing the singer. His music collection was limited at best and non-existent at worse. He couldn't remember the last time he's had a chance to just sit and enjoy music.
"Dido," Jono answered, turning the tune down lower so as not to wake Jubilee but have it there when she woke. He looked at her, remembering her on that damn cross. His heart would have stopped had he been sure where his heart was. It was a miracle she hadn't been taken. *First Mondo, then Everett, now Angelo. How many more GenX kids are you going take from us?*
"I don't think I've ever heard of her," Jean murmured. "But this is lovely."
"Jubilee likes her music."
Bobby raised a brow. The almost blues tones to the music isn't want he'd associate to the trickster he remembered. "I didn't know she liked stuff like this."
Jono stared at one of the first for a moment. He'd heard a significant part of the conversation. "Did you expect her to still be listening to bubblegum teeny bopper songs? FYI: she hates Brittany Spears and will only tolerate Backstreet Boys to some extent."
"Just how long were you standing there?" Bobby asked, not sure if he was offended or not. Jono, after all, was a colleague and seemed to be an over all nice guy if a bit of a loner.
"Long enough. Oh and no, Angelo was not dating Jbuilee. He wanted to but…" he stared at his friend for a moment. "I don't know if Jubes ever got over Everett and how he died. Scars like that don't disappear quickly, not even for someone as resilient as her."
"Everett Thomas?" Hank asked, remembering the kid that had excelled in biochemistry when he had taught the academy for a short time.
Jono nodded not wanting to go into the details of history that wasn't his to tell. "Are we still meeting in five?"
"Yeah," Scott crossed his arms again feeling a little lost. He watched Jono leave before turning to Jean. "I hadn't realized how much of Jubilee's life we've missed."
"We were busy," Jean answered warmly. "What with Apocalypse kidnapping us, you disappearing and all…"
"Yeah but… Bobby, what are you doing?"
Bobby Drakes was a guy that didn't always listen to the rules. Lifting the bubble with one hand, he reached out and held his finger under Jubilee's chin. His hand iced up and the air around Jubilee condensed with each breath she took. Reassured, he withdrew and returned the bubble. "Just making sure," he smiled as Jubilee made a noise of protest and turned onto her side with a kick that took most of the sheets away. He looked at her, truly looked at her through the eyes of a stranger for a moment. "Lord she's beautiful."
"Just notice that?" Jean asked with a smile. Reaching in with her mind, she tucked the blankets around the young women again.
"Yeah," Bobby admitted reluctantly. "I guess… I just never thought of her as a woman."
"Get use to it," Jean warned. "If Jubilee chooses to remain here, I think we're going to be seeing some suitors for her." Scott made a disagreeable noise. "Oh come on Scott," she laughed softly. "Girls date just like girls grow up. It's inevitable."
"I don't have to like it."
"Don't worry; I'm sure Logan will let you share in the fatherly duties of scaring the pants off her boyfriends."
Bobby chuckled. "Now that's something worth watching."
Fin…
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Not exactly how I had envisioned the story when started it. But hey, whoever said I was the one in charge here?