Title: The Genesis Strain
Author: furygrrl
Archive: Just ask first
Rating: R - for language, violence, and gore
Disclaimer: Not mine


Chapter One: The Calm Before the Storm

Residence of Sara Grey
New York City, NY
June 26th 5:50 a.m.

The first morning of Jean Grey's summer vacation dawned just like any other.

A golden wash of early sunlight sparkled on the eastern horizon, breakfasting birds were greeting the waking world with song, and the warm cocoon of sleep that still blanketed the rest of the house was as thick and as comforting as it had always been.

Creeping down the stairs to the lower level of the house, wrapped in a light cotton robe, Jean smiled at that last notion. At the Institute, her mornings were anything but peaceful and quiet; with more than a dozen teenagers in residence, wishing for otherwise was just that - a wish. She padded barefoot through the hall that led to the spaciously remodeled kitchen, nothing more pressing than thoughts of coffee and a toasted bagel on her mind, when the unexpected sight of her sister, dressed and eating, brought her to an abrupt halt.

"Sara, what are you doing up so early?" Jean asked softly, fighting the urge to yawn.

Sara, the elder of the two by almost a full decade, glanced up from her bowl of cereal. Seeing that it was only Jean, she smiled. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" she teased, shoveling the last bite of food into her mouth and rising from the table before she'd even had time to swallow.

"I'm still running on Institute time," Jean admitted ruefully. "My brain hasn't come to grips with the concept of sleeping in yet. What's your excuse?"

"The hospital paged me about half an hour ago, said that Emergency started filling up last night and hasn't stopped, said they're desperate," Sara explained, placing her bowl in the sink while looking over her shoulder at the redhead watching her. "And if they're calling on a lowly second year intern like me, they must be."

Jean made an amused sound and began preparing a pot of coffee. "Spare me," she said, spooning heaps of fragrant grounds into the filter basket. "Everyone knows how amazing you are already - full-fledged doctor or not."

"Yeah, well they could've picked a better day to prove your sweet, yet obviously biased sentiment," Sara grinned, slipping the metal chain that her hospital badge was clipped to around her neck. "I had the entire day planned - shopping, lunch downtown..." She paused, a vaguely disappointed look crossing her face. "I had a special dinner arranged for everyone tonight, too." She bit her lip. "I was going to introduce you all to a...a friend of mine."

Jean, in the midst of slicing a sesame-topped bagel, dropped the knife to the countertop and spun to stare at her sister with barely concealed delight. "You've got a boyfriend!" the redhead gasped.

"Maybe...maybe not," Sara replied enigmatically, her innocent expression spoiled by the not so innocent smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. "Either way, now you'll have to wait until I get back from work to find out."

"Sa-ra!" Jean whined, her pleading green eyes following her visibly pleased sisterto the front door.

"Later kid," Sara said, stooping for the paper on the small porch. "Tell mom and dad I'm sorry about today, and that I'll see them tonight."

And with that, she was gone.


The morning stretched into a lazy and uneventful day that saw both Jean and her parents sticking close to Sara's renovated townhouse. With the person they'd all come to visit absent, no one felt much like venturing out to shop or sight see, preferring instead to wait for their missing family member so they could all enjoy New York together. Their decision to stay in reaped some small reward, as the blue sky filled with sickly, bruise-coloured clouds sometime after lunch, a thunderstorm following shortly thereafter, flooding the small backyard garden and knocking out the power.

"Well, so much for my soap opera," Elaine Grey grumbled when the television winked out.

"I'll go look for some candles," Jean murmured, gratefully laying aside the trashy romance novel she'd started reading for lack of anything better to do.

After much rummaging, the young telepath finally located a box of tapers better suited to the dining table, and, to crows of relief, a deck of playing cards.

"And I'd like your solemn oath that there will be no cheating this time, Princess," John Grey admonished, wagging a playful finger at his daughter as his wife began to deal hands.

Jean managed a guilty grin as she nodded, remembering the last family poker game where the lure of using her telepathy had proved too difficult to resist.

John merely shook his head, amused. "You and Xavier," he told his daughter, tone fond. "Like two peas in a pod. Did I ever tell you about the time I caught him using that remarkably unfair ability of his to beat me at chess when we were at college together?"

And so the afternoon continued; games of Rummy and Crazy Eights peppered with stories and much laughter, despite the lack of electricity and lousy weatherthat refused to abate. When Jean's cell phone rang in the middle of another of her father's tales concerning himself and a youthful Charles Xavier, she was almost prepared to ignore it - almost.

"It could be someone from the Institute," she said by way of apology as she interrupted her dad to take the call. "Hello?"

"Jean?" Kitty's voice crackled through the receiver.

"Oh hey, Kitty. How was the flight to Chicago?" Jean inquired, rising from the table and heading into the shadowed living room.

"I wouldn't know, I missed it," Kitty complained through the static. "And now thanks to this storm, I don't know if I can get another one before tomorrow."

Jean sank into one of Sara's overstuffed armchairs and turned her gaze out the front window. "Is that what the gate attendants said?" she asked, watching rivulets of water streaking down the glass.

"Yeah right, like I could get a straight answer out of them," Kitty scoffed. "All they've said is to keep checking the schedule monitors for any changes - which, by the way, are all flashing big red 'pending' messages after every flight." She let out a disgusted snort. "Remind me to kill Evan when I get back from Deerfield, okay?"

Jean frowned, slightly confused. "Evan? What's he got to do with this?"

"My sitting here instead of at home is all his fault. He borrowed his parent's car last night and then conveniently fell asleep at a friend's house. He got home late this morning just as Ororo was calling for an cab. Like, can you believe how lame this is? The whole reason Ororo and I stayed over at his place was so we'd be on time for our flights!"

"And this is the same person who was finally judged responsible enough to stay home alone for the next two weeks?" Jean sighed, once again wondering why Evan always had to screw things up. "Did Ororo and his parents miss their flight too?"

"No," Kitty grumbled. "They're probably closing in on Africa as we speak."

Jean couldn't help but smile at her friend's sulky tone. "Poor Kitty, do you want me to come get you?"

"Would you?" Kitty asked, tone hopeful.

Jean laughed outright. "Of course I would, you twit. And so would Evan - if you didn't let on that you'd rather skin him alive. No one expects you to sleep at the airport," she teased. "Do you want me to drive over now?"

"No, you don't have to rush. I think I'll wait a little longer, see if the weather improves," Kitty replied. "But I'm glad to know I can call if it doesn't."

"Always," Jean assured her.

Kitty sighed with relief, and by the time the two girls said their good- byes a few minutes later, the young brunette's outlook was definitely brighter. With a shake of her head over her friend's predicament, Jean snapped her phone shut and reentered the kitchen just in time to see her mother return the house phone to its wall-mount.

"Another call?" the redhead asked, rejoining her father at the table.

"That was Sara," Elaine reported, brow furrowed with concern. "She said that the storm and the blackout have really made things difficult at the hospital and that she doesn't know when she'll be home. I suppose we should go ahead and eat without her."

As John excused himself to wash up, Jean watched her somewhat distressed looking mother begin gathering up the scattered playing cards from the kitchen table, the silence stretching between them making the redhead suspicious.

"Did Sara say anything else, mom?" Jean asked, taking the cards from her mother and sliding them back into their package.

"No, dear," Elaine replied a little too lightly, bringing a candle with her as she walked to the fridge.

Jean followed her, a knowing look on her face. "Mom?" she pressed, touching the older woman's shoulder.

Elaine, scanning the contents of the darkened refrigerator, didn't look at Jean when she spoke. "Your sister said that some of the patients were behaving...strangely...violently."

"Is Sara alright?" Jean asked, immediately fearful for her sister.

The fridge door swung shut as Elaine finally turned, leveling a fretful look at her youngest child. "I don't know. She said something about people coming in half-crazed and sick, attacking nurses and other patients, and that she and a paramedic had been bit by some man." She shook her head, unnerved. "She told me not to worry, that it was just a scratch, but even still..."

"My God," Jean breathed. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Because of your father," Elaine huffed, her frightened look beginning to dissipate. "You know how he gets whenever he thinks one of you girls is in trouble. If I told him what Sara said, he'd fly down to that hospital and drag her home, internship or not."

"Well shouldn't he?" Jean demanded. "Shouldn't we be more -"

"So, what's on the menu?" John's voice chimed in, blithely unaware of the mood in the room as he strode over to his wife.

Jean stared at her mom, the look in the elder Grey's blue eyes speaking more loudly than words could have. Sara's a grown up now, she can take care of herself... they seemed to say. The redhead sighed, feeling the truth behind the unspoken comment. "Anything in danger of spoiling," she answered her father, not at all comforted by the imperceptible nod of approval from her mother.

In fact, as she stood watching sandwiches being made, and her father dig into a melting carton of ice cream with unabashed enthusiasm, a fluttering sense of unease started to uncurl in the pit of her stomach, making her queasy. Whether it stemmed from concern for her sister or something else entirely, she didn't know, but either way she'd lost her appetite.

"Umm...I think I'm going to skip dinner," Jean announced, backing away from the counter.

"Not hungry, Princess?" her dad asked, his eyebrows wiggling comically as he waved a tempting spoonful of chocolate ice cream in front of her face.

Jean shook her head and gave him a weak smile. "Nah. I think I'm just going to go to bed, get some rest for our day out tomorrow."

"But it's barely past eight, Jean," her mother protested, only to be shushed by John.

"She's still a growing girl, Lainey. You know how teenagers need their beauty sleep." He winked at Jean and stuffed the spoon into his mouth.

Grateful for the escape, Jean kissed both of her parents goodnight and, a candle levitating behind her, walked to the stairs that would take her to one of the guest rooms. Once she was alone, she put her phone on the nightstand in case Kitty called, pulled off her clothes, and donned her summer nightgown. As her fingers tied the ribbon closure at her throat, she gazed out the large window that looked into the street below, noting for the first time just how eerie the cityscape seemed without lights to keep the pressing darkness at bay.

"Be safe Sara," whispered from her lips before she even realized it.