Standard disclaimer: I don't own them; I'm just borrowing them for our entertainment.

Scylla and Charybdis

Part 10 - Senior Year: Sailing for Home

"Jean!" Scott called. "Come on, you're going to miss your train."

"I'm coming," she replied. At the door she shrugged on her coat while Scott handed her a travel mug of coffee. This had been their routine for the past two weeks.

Scott drove to the train station while Jean applied her makeup. It was amazing to him that women managed to put on makeup flawlessly in a moving vehicle, but Jean had the knack. He was still nervous about her being on a crowded train and subway for twenty minutes, but he was far too intelligent to say anything. He noticed she glared at him when he even thought it. But so far, she was coping well.

After leaving the train station, he continued in the other direction to Manhattanville. He would stay on campus until evening when he would meet Jean's train. Since neither of them were much of a cook, dinner tended to be take-out or frozen. Evenings were spent with Scott doing homework and Jean reviewing her lab notes and prepping for the next day. And in spite of predictions of death and disaster, living together turned out to be the easiest thing they had ever done.

There were, however, issues. Not all the opposition went away. Professor Xavier didn't say anything, but he had definitely been a member of the "death and disaster" club and they had no reason to suppose his feelings had really changed. Jean's mother had said a whole lot more, with the result that for weeks later, Jean barely spoke to her mother.

However, that was now the minority opinion. Their apartment had quickly become a haven for their friends. Maggie and Nancy had also left the dorms and the four happily found reasons to get together frequently. Ororo, now doing graduate work in the city, often used their apartment as a way station and a place to sleep over when necessary. Hank was also a frequent visitor, and so was Warren. Warren especially needed to get away from the expectations of Worthington Industries and his family. Eating Chinese food and watching TV was a welcome break for him.

They continued to sail along happily until Thanksgiving.

x x x x x

"So, how did you manage to wrangle an invite for me?" Scott asked.

"What do you mean?" They were driving to Annandale-on-Hudson, to be with Jean's family at Thanksgiving. Scott had expected them to be separated for the holidays and was startled to be included.

"Well, the couple of times I've met your family, I can't say we really clicked," he replied honestly. "So, I was just wondering why I'm coming."

"You're coming because we're living together. The sooner my family accepts that, the better off all of us will be," Jean stated firmly.

Scott had no idea what had transpired between Jean and her mother to get the invitation, but he could guess. The two women were both very strong willed, but his money was on Jean for being able to hold the line.

x x x x x

The Grey house was a big white Colonial revival house with a sun-porch on one side and situated near Bard College, where Professor Grey was head of the History Department. They parked the car in front of the house and got out the suitcases and the pie (purchased from a local bakery.)

Professor Grey greeted them at the door. "Daddy!" Jean squealed as she hugged and kissed her father. "You remember Scott."

"Of course," he said in his friendly manner. "Glad you could come." He called over his shoulder, "Elaine, they're here," and then led the way to the living room.

The room wasn't empty. Inside were Jean's sister and brother-in-law, as well as their two children, the twins, Gailyn and Joey. Jean kissed everyone while Scott followed, to be introduced to the group. He had met her sister Sara once, briefly, but had never met her family. Scott realized he was being looked over by all four, but only the children had an uncritical eye.

Just then, Jean's mother breezed into the room. "Jeannie," she cried out, giving her daughter a big hug. Scott watched the dynamics for a moment. There was nothing hypocritical about their stance -- the two women were tied by strong bonds, even though equally strong personalities strained those bonds to the limits at times.

Elaine Grey then held out her hand to Scott. "It's nice to see you again," she said.

Okay, that wasn't the warmest greeting he had ever had from her, but it wasn't the coldest, either.

"Nice to see you too," Scott said. There was a moment's silence.

"Well, I have to get back to the kitchen," Elaine said. "I've got all burners cooking at once."

"Can I help?" Jean offered.

Both Scott and Sara sent their eyes skyward looking for divine intervention, although only Sara's was noticeable. Fortunately, maternal intervention came to their rescue.

"No, dear," her mother replied drily. "Why don't you take your things upstairs and show Scott around. Dinner won't be for another hour."

Scott followed Jean back to the hall and carried their suitcases up the stairs. Jean opened the door to a bedroom and flopped on the bed. "This is where we'll be staying," she smirked.

Scott looked around with interest. It wasn't a museum to Jean's childhood, but there were plenty of mementoes to look at.

He finished looking around the room and joined her on the bed. "And you're sure it's okay for us to sleep together here?"

"Oooh, yes," Jean responded enigmatically. She would say nothing else.

x x x x x

All in all, Thanksgiving dinner turned out better than expected. Scott decided to ignore Elaine Grey's coolness and Sara and Paul Bailey's disapproval and addressed himself mostly to Jean's father and the twins.

"Jean tells me you're going to be a teacher, Scott," John Grey remarked as he passed the mashed potatoes around. "And that Charles will be teaching the children at the Institute?"

"That's right," Scott confirmed. "As everything stands now, I'll be the math teacher -- well, math and English composition. Ororo is going to take social studies and the Professor will handle everything else. Beyond that, we haven't really made any decisions yet. The kids aren't going to get short-changed academically, though; we've all agreed on that."

"But still, you'll only have a bachelors degree," Elaine murmured.

Scott realized in the world of academia, degrees were everything. "Right now, yes," he admitted. "But both Ororo and I will be working for permanent certification -- and that takes a masters degree. It's a lot of paperwork, but we think it will be worth it in the long run."

"Have you considered where you'd like to study?" John asked.

Scott shrugged slightly. "I looked at NYU, but frankly, their program didn't appeal to me. However, the State University at Albany has a program I think I'd like and I can even do the course work for that online."

John Grey tried not to sniff at that. He had a low opinion of online programs, but recognized the need for them in some fields. "I'm surprised by the rush," he said. "I thought the local high school worked out well."

Scott shrugged. There were things he didn't want to say in front of Sara and Paul Bailey. "Situations change," he replied.

x x x x x

While Thanksgiving went better than either really expected, Scott and Jean decided not to repeat the experiment at Christmas. Jean went to her family and Scott joined his brother Alex and the Masters in Hawaii for a few days. New Years, they spent together at the Institute.

x x x x x

The Xavier mansion was still decorated for Christmas (the Professor maintained his family's tradition of keeping decorations up until Twelfth Night), but the Library was scattered with paper and textbooks from end to end. Scott, Ororo and Professor Xavier were planning the school's curriculum.

"There's only three of us," Scott said. "We have to keep it simple."

"I don't think the one room school house approach is going to work," Ororo stated.

"She's right," the Professor joined in. "However, I think four separate grades will be beyond our abilities right now. Suppose we put the 11th and 12th grades together and the 9th and 10th grades together. That would be two sections, which would be manageable."

"What about kids younger than fourteen?" Scott asked.

"Since we only have one student under fourteen right now," Professor Xavier replied, "we can probably keep the younger children in the public schools -- until there are more. Hopefully, by then we'll be prepared to handle them."

Ororo began writing in a large chart. "Let's see. Scott gets math and English composition, I do social studies, and the Professor will take the sciences and English lit. Scott and I will handle PE together -- "

"Oh, joy," Scott breathed.

"-- and the Professor will teach ethics and mutant powers," Ororo finished. "What about electives?"

"We could offer Auto Mechanics," Scott grinned.

"Excellent suggestion," said Professor Xavier.

"I was joking!"

"I'm not," the Professor stated. "I think it's useful to offer practical skills as well academic ones."

"What about languages?" Ororo asked. "I'd be a competent teacher's aide in a French class, but I don't think I could really teach it."

"Maybe we could try online courses for languages," Scott suggested. "That way, we could offer any language they want to study, with assistance in French, German, and Spanish."

"What about the arts?" she demanded. "Artistic expression is very important for a well rounded education."

"I think we're going to have to call in back-up on that," Scott admitted.

Ororo grinned at the phraseology. "These aren't plans for a mission," she reminded him.

"In a way, they are," Professor Xavier reminded them. "But Scott is quite right; we can only provide so much in-house. We can have music and art appreciation sessions, with visits to museums and concerts, but anything beyond that will have to be on a contract basis."

They all agreed with this compromise. With a small number of students and only three teachers, they could only do so much. But they now had a framework, which left plenty of room to grow.

x x x x x

That evening, Scott enthused about the school plans to Jean. Then he noticed she was silent.

"What's up?" he asked.

Jean decided to be honest. "It's just .... I feel a little left out," she admitted.

"You're not left out," he assured her. "You're going to be the doctor, and you'll have your lab experiments to do ..."

"I know," she said. "But ... I want to be more involved. I feel like I did when you and Ororo started training to work together seriously. I'd like to do more."

This was news to Scott. "I thought you thought it was stupid."

"Maybe I did at first," Jean said. "But after I heard about what you were doing -- the kinds of people you were going up against -- I felt like I wanted to be a part of it. But I wasn't."

"There's no reason you can't be," he stated resolutely. "You want to be involved, you're involved." He held out his hand. "Partners?"

Jean grinned and shook his hand. "Partners."

x x x x x