Thank you all for the reviews! I didn't mean to piss so many people off, though. Just so

you know now, Scott and Taryn are going to be together a while, but I'll keep their time together to a minimum, promise. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

RedPhoenix1821

Chapter 3

Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring...

A hand reached blindly for the phone and knocked it off the hook. As the phone fell to the floor, the hand followed it. It picked the phone up and pulled it over to the bed.

"Hello?" Jean said, not sure if that was what she actually said.

"Hey, Jean, it's Erica. Michelle tried to get you on your cell phone earlier to tell you that you have today off."

"Oh, ok, yeah...yeah, sure...(yawn)...yeah, ok, sure, whatever. Ok, bye."

"Wait, Jean, I almost, forgot... some guy came in here today with his girlfriend..."

"Yeah, sounds great, tell me about it tomorrow." Jean said with a yawn.

"No wait, he knew that you worked here and asked for your address... I think he might be coming over to see you..."

Jean didn't hear Erica's last sentence, she was already hanging up the phone then. Stretching and yawning as she stood, Jean got up and started to pull her shirt off. She was so tired. Just as she got the last button undone on her blouse and she was about to shrug her shirt off, Jean heard a knock on her door.

"Oh, God. I can never get a moment to myself can I?" She grumbled as she re-buttoned her blouse. Jean stalked over to her door and threw it open. "What?" she snapped.

"What kind of a greeting is that?" Scott asked with a smirk. Jean looked him up and down with shock and disgust.

"What are you doing here? How did you get my address?"

"If I tell you, you'll kill her." Scott said with a smile. Jean couldn't help it when he smiled like that; it always made her smile in return.

"Sorry, I'm just really tired, Scott."

"I can tell. Last time I saw you was what... three weeks ago?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"And you didn't look this bad then. What happened?"

"I got fired from my other job. You know what, come in, come in." Jean said holding the door open, inviting Scott into her apartment.

"What the hell...?" Scott looked around Jean's apartment. There was trash, clothes, books, and magazines, mail... Scott lost track of everything, since it was all over the floor. He walked around, trying not to break anything. He tripped over something and looked down to see what it was. Beer bottles, they were everywhere. "Jean...? Are you... ok?

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?"

"Your place...is a mess."

Jean flopped herself down on her pulled out futon and let her head drop into her hand. "I know it's a mess, I just haven't cleaned it in a while."

Scott walked over to her and sat down beside her. "How long is a while?"

"I don't know, a couple weeks maybe, Scott did you come over here to complain about my apartment?"

"No, I came over here to hang out with my friend, who doesn't seem to know how to take care of herself anymore."

"Scott, I don't need your sympathy."

"But it does look like you need my help. Jean, don't give me that look, you know you do."

"Scott-" Jean stood up and shoved her hands into her pockets, but before she could get away, Scott grabbed her wrist and sat her back down.

"Jean, look at yourself, look around you. What happened to you?"

"I don't know, Scott, I don't know..." Jean cried. She let her head fall to his shoulder where she continued to cry until she fell back asleep. Scott was holding her in his arms again. He looked down at her, looked around her apartment. She needed help, and he was there. He would help her, it was his obligation.

Very gently, he laid her down on her futon mattress and spread the blanket across her body to keep her warm. After he was sure she was fast asleep, he got started cleaning her apartment. He picked up and threw out all trash and recycled all glass and plastic bottles and plastic containers. He picked up all of the clothes on the floor and put them all in a hamper and placed the hamper by the door with bottles of detergent and bleach and a scrub brush. He had been working now for a good hour and a half. He looked over to where Jean still lay fast asleep. It quickly reminded him of Taryn, and the morning he had spent cleaning her apartment. But this wasn't Taryn he was looking at, this was Jean.

After he had gotten all the clothes and trash picked up, he went about stacking her books and magazines in neat piles near her television. Anything he thought was a class book went next to her computer table, which happened to be, beside her bed, the only clean place in her whole apartment. All notebooks got stacked with the class books. All pens, pencils, highlighters etc. were placed in a plastic cup and put next to her laptop. He found a dozen or so CDs, most of them damaged from lying on the floor. They were burned CDs, made on her computer. She could always make new copies, Scott thought as he tossed them in the trash. Any CDs that were originals and weren't damaged, he slid onto a CD ring that he found, (and cleaned), and slid the top on after them, they too went next to her computer.

By then he had been working on her apartment for two hours, it was beginning to look like new again. Just as he was about to pull out the vacuum, Jean woke up.

"Good." He said looking at her. "Feel better?"

"What did you do?" Jean asked looking around.

"I cleaned for you, and I expect it to stay like this." Scott responded plugging the vacuum in. "Why don't you go take a shower while I do this. Take a nice long, hot shower and relax. Pamper yourself, do whatever you want."

"Oh...ok..." Jean said unsteadily as she made her way to her bathroom. Scott had yet to see that, but he was sure it was at least partially clean. He vacuumed quickly, Jean was still in the shower from what he could hear when he was finished. He wrote her a note saying he was going grocery shopping for her, and that he would be back as soon as possible.

Jean never got the note, she wasn't out of the shower by the time Scott returned. She walked out of the bathroom, dressed in clean clothes with a thick towel wrapped around her head. She walked out into her largest room and saw Scott walking in, his arms full of grocery bags. She looked at him with a bemused expression. He smiled at her as he passed her and set the groceries down on the counter, then left to get more. Jean sat down in one of the chairs at the counter and started unpacking the numerous bags.

The first one contained mostly vegetables; carrots, celery, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and one acorn squash. The next bag was fruits; apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruit, grapes, kiwi, strawberries... Jean lost track. She started putting it all away, and was in shock when she found her refrigerator and cabinets all empty.

"All of your food was spoiled or expired." Scott said as he walked with the last of the bags. He set them down beside the others and began pulling the groceries from them.

"You didn't have to do this, Scott. I could've done it myself."

"No, Jean, you couldn't, and you wouldn't. You know you wouldn't."

Jean slammed a box of cereal down, Kix Mixed Berries, one of her favorites. "Scott, I don't need you to run my life for me, I don't need you to parent me!"

"I'm not, Jean, but admit it, right now, you can't take very good care of yourself."

Jean knew he had a point, and she did have to admit to herself, she did need his help. She smirked at him and began placing all the fruit in the fruit drawer of the fridge. The drawer below was for vegetables, so that's where she put them. Scott had bought all new condiments and things for sandwich making, and he was the one who put them all away. He wanted to keep her fridge clean and organized. While he put all that away, Jean got to work re-stocking her cabinets. She noticed that Scott had not bought any Mac 'n' Cheese, or beer. She did find plenty of frozen pre-made meals, though.

Jean grabbed a box of Raisin Bran Double Scoop, and was reaching up to put it away. Scott looked over at her, her lithe body stretching to reach the shelf, her low-rise jeans pulling down, giving him just a glimpse at the black thong she was wearing. Scott broke his gaze and went back to putting groceries away.

"I'm done!" Jean announced a half-hour later as she jumped down from the stepladder she had been using. Scott looked at her and smiled.

"Good. I think your hair is dry." Jean looked up at the towel that was still wrapped around her hair. "Still takes forever to dry because it's so long?"

"No actually..." Jean started, "it doesn't take forever anymore." Jean slowly unwrapped the towel and let her hair fall.

"What did you do?!" Scott exclaimed.

"I cut it." Jean answered. Her hair was still straight, with the slight wave that Scott had always loved, but it was shorter, just brushing her shoulders.

"I can see that." Scott said. "Why?"

"Because I figured it would be easier to take care of. Do you like it?"

"No, I love it, I love it a lot."

But I love you more, Scott thought quietly to himself, quiet enough he hoped, that Jean couldn't "hear" him. "Jean?"

"Yes?" Jean looked up from the floor at him.

"Jean, there's something...something I want to talk to you about."

Jean took notice of the tone of his voice and started walking toward him. She took his hands. She'd always loved his hands, they were so strong, soft...susceptible... She let her fingers trace over his hands. Scott took a chance and slipped his fingers through hers so they interlocked. He stared down through his glasses into Jean's eyes, those beautiful emerald eyes that he had only just recently been able to see for their true color. They were nothing compared to the gorgeous creature in which they resided. Scott stared down into Jean's eyes as she pressed herself closer to him, tilting her head up a little so she could see him.

"Jean..." he whispered.

"Shh... Kiss me." She whispered.

Scott leaned down closing the space between their mouths and pressed his lips to hers. They melded together perfectly. Jean was shocked that she was shocked at how wonderful his kiss was. She had always dreamt of kissing Scott Summers, but she had never imagined it to be like this...

Scott's hands were now on her lower back, holding her close, as her arms were circling around his neck to bring him closer. Jean never wanted this to end. It was all so...

Jean couldn't find the word. She stood there grasping onto Scott and holding him tight as she kissed him. She didn't want to be doing anything else at that moment. That's not true, Jean thought to herself, I wouldn't mind... No! Don't think that! Bad Jean, she scolded herself.

They parted from each other reluctantly, their hands still clasped, just staring at each other. Then Jean threw herself into his arms, and Scott just stood there holding her.

Author's Note: What's going to happen between them now? I know this is the chapter A LOT of people have been waiting for, well there you have it! I hope you all enjoyed. REVIEW PLEASE!

RedPhoenix1821