A/N: The power rating for Jean is definitely from the movie. Even after her
training with Rogue, I still think she's not all that powerful
telepathically. Emma Frost's power level comes from the comic and I think
she's a pretty powerful telepath. Anyway, read on.
Kudos to Chele for beta-ing.
---
(4ish hours since the last chapter)
Jean flicked on the x-ray display back light and stood back to look at the series of x-ray slides she had up. There was a set of four slides, and they were all of Marie's forearms. Jean stepped forward and pressed on the newest slide to get a clearer picture of the bone structure. She looked at the other three and exhaled in amazement. The four slides were taken every hour since Rogue had been brought into the infirmary. The first slide showed distinctive bone claws built into her bones, and the two that followed showed Rogue's bone structure fusing together and returning to normal. The newest slide showed no sign of the claws what so ever.
The doctor turned to her computer and pulled up the brainwave scans she had done. Like the x-rays, there were a series of four scans. The first scan reflected that of a telepath or telekinetic's brain; the second and third showed a transition stage, and the latest was a brain scan that showed what Rogue's original brainwaves were suppose to look like.
Amazing. Her mutation is only now beginning to show. Jean flicked off her computer and x-ray display before walking into the main medical bay.
Marie sat with her legs dangling off the side of the examination table with her head bowed. She absently wrung her hands together and fingered her knuckles. As Jean walked up in front of her, Logan came in.
"Dinner's being served upstairs, but I brought you guys some." He dropped a plate of greasy pizza and a six pack of beer onto Jean's sterilized surgical equipment.
Jean pursed her lips in mild annoyance and looked a little reluctantly at the coagulated mess of cheese and baked vegetables that was corrupting the cleanliness of her tools.
"Thanks... Logan." She managed to say.
Logan shrugged and took a can of beer for himself prior to walking over to Rogue.
"Feeling better?" He opened the can and went to drink from it but paused and offered it to Marie instead.
Marie shook her head. Her eyes fell onto Logan's knuckles.
"They really do hurt when they come out." She said of Logan's claws.
Logan's expression went somber.
"Yeah."
Jean took Rogue's hands in her own and squeezed them gently. Jean had to keep Marie telepathically sedated for the first two hours. The first time she awoke, Rogue's stolen mutant powers had wrought havoc with everything. Jean had to call Emma down and have her mentally sedate Marie again. Jean tightened her jaw. Any thought of Emma soured her mood. Jean had, in the interest of caring for Marie, managed to push away her ire against the other telepath for the past four hours. Still, Jean knew, deep down, that it probably wasn't just Emma behind what had happened to Rogue. A surge of disgust rose from her gut as Jean figured Cyclops probably had something to do with this. Jean grimaced and turned her head towards the door. A second later, Scott, followed by Emma, came in.
Marie stiffened in hatred as she saw Emma. The 'test' Emma had put her through had been forced upon her. Emma had ripped through Marie's mind the instant she walked into her room. When Emma realized Rogue had an untapped potential, Emma forcefully manipulated Rogue's brainwaves to reveal Marie's new abilities.
"Wolverine," Cyclops said, "could you excuse us for a moment?"
Logan arched an eyebrow and looked dubiously at him. He wasn't about to leave his two favorite women. "No, I think I'll stay."
Jean looked at him and gave a small smile.
She said into Logan's mind.
Logan looked a bit disappointed. He secretly wanted to see Jean put Scott back into his place. Still, he respected the red head's request. He helped Marie off the bed and herded her out of the infirmary. As Marie passed Emma, Marie gave the coldest glare she could and raised her hand as if she was going to touch Emma. The telepath neutrally regarded Marie, but flinched slightly away from Rogue's hand.
When Wolverine and Rogue were out of sight, Jean spoke. She did her best to keep her voice calm and emotionless.
"Explain yourself." She directed her demand onto Scott. "That was the most irresponsible behavior I have ever seen from you."
Emma cleared her throat slightly and spoke.
"He wanted me to test Marie to see if her powers were completely developed. I pushed her to her limits, out of my own interest."
Jean ignored Emma. She knew that part of the story already.
"I wanted to see if she was at the level where she could re-enter society." Scott said, his voice firm.
Jean's jaw twitched from the fury she suppressed. Still, she managed to keep her tone from rising.
"That is only for Charles to decide, and you know it."
"He won't be back for another two weeks." Scott said.
Jean ripped off the glasses she wore and stepped closer to Scott.
"And you couldn't wait? You had her," Jean pointed at Emma, "conduct a test? A test we don't know anything about?"
Scott looked down at his feet, briefly. He would lose this argument.
"Charles wouldn't recruit a teacher who he didn't feel fit in with our methods. If he hired her, then any 'test' she does must conform with his." He said, defensively.
Jean inhaled sharply. It took everything in her to keep herself from outright screaming at Scott.
"Did you see the shape that Marie was in? I had to get Emma to force her into a near comatose state so her mutant powers wouldn't destroy everything."
Emma spoke up again.
"I did that under my own volition. Scott didn't ask me to do that."
Jean turned her head sharply to face Emma.
"I was not speaking to you." She said sternly.
Emma opened her mouth again to defend herself and Scott, but Jean was faster. Jean lifted her hand towards Emma, and with her TK, Jean dragged a chair noisily from across the room and placed it behind Emma.
"Be quiet and sit." Jean said through gritted teeth, and Emma sat heavily into the chair. It wasn't a telepathic command that Emma followed. The blond telepath was a far more powerful telepath than Jean was, and any mental coercion done by Jean would have failed. However, Emma had no resistance to the telekinetic might Jean wielded.
"I can't believe you did that to Marie. Did you think that kicking Marie out of our school would have solved our problem? You've made it worse, Scott. Marie was right. Every chance you get, you make our problem worse."
"I made a judgement call. If Marie didn't need anymore training, then she would be taking up valuable resources that we could be using to develop another mutant. Yes, my personal interest was a driving force behind my decision to allow Emma to go ahead with her test, but in the end Marie wasn't hurt by it." Scott stood up a bit straighter. "I hardly think you should be the one with an issue with this. Marie is staying in the Mansion after all."
Jean backed away a little unsteadily, aghast by his reply was.
"You need to separate your personal life from work, Scott. This is dangerous."
Scott almost said she never separated her personal life from her work. If she had, she would have never fallen in love with Rogue, and he wouldn't be placed in this situation now.
Though he never said it, Jean heard it in his mind and gave Scott a sickened look. She had been so patient with him, but this was too much. Without a second glance, Jean left the infirmary, and gave up the hope that she and Scott could ever be friends again.
---
(Upstairs at that moment)
"So none of you are going to be around next year?" Rogue asked a little sadly.
Piotr shrugged.
"We will be done with our school and many of us have mastered our powers. Xavier had said many of us were ready to graduate, but we stayed just because we wanted to."
Marie sulked a little.
"Where are you guys going to go?" Around Marie sat Sam, Alison, Bobby, Piotr and Kitty. The other students were off in the dining room or TV room eating.
"University. Maybe travel around a bit." Sam answered.
"University with me. I'm trying to get into a school in England." Kitty said. "Which reminds me, I better go work on my paper. The entrance requirements are so high for international students."
Alison looked up from the plate of leftovers she was playing with. Alison was most likely heading off to California to pursue her dream of being a singer.
"Aren't you going to NYU? You'll still be close enough to the Mansion"
Marie poked at the half-eaten slice of pizza that sat on her plate.
"Yeah. Still, you guys won't be here."
Piotr looked at Marie sympathetically.
"We are here for a few more months, Marie. We shouldn't worry about the future."
Jean walked into the kitchen and smiled tiredly at the students. These were the ones who knew of her and Rogue. Still, both limited their show of affection around them.
"Hi Dr. Grey." Kitty greeted brightly. "There's some pizza left in a couple of the boxes over there." She pointed to a pile of pizza boxes on the counter.
Jean widened her smile.
"Thanks Kitty. I think I'll just settle for something to drink."
Rogue asked.
Jean sighed and pulled out a carton of milk. She opened it but choked at its offensive smell.
"Oops. I forgot to take that out this morning." Sam said quickly and guiltily.
Jean grimaced as she poured it down the sink.
"It's fine. God, how long has that been in there for?"
"Too long!" Came a shout from the porch of the house. It was Logan who answered. He was outside smoking his cigars, but his heightened senses caught whiff of the spoiled milk.
"You would think with all the smoking he does, his sense of smell would dull a little." Kitty said thoughtfully.
"Damn healing power." Alison muttered. She looked over at Jean. "Busy in the lab?" Alison asked as she pointed out that Jean still wore her lab coat.
"Hmm?" Jean looked down at herself. She was indeed still wearing her lab coat. Mentally, Jean praised herself for changing lab coats earlier. Her first was spotted with Rogue's blood.
"Yeah. I had some x-rays to look at." Jean quickly said.
Jean looked at Rogue, who was discarding her uneaten pizza.
Jean suppressed a yawn and nodded slightly to Rogue. When Logan and Jean had carried Marie to the infirmary, they had taken the short cuts built into the walls, and therefore, none of the students had seen them.
I Jean washed the cup she had used and bade the students goodbye. Jean and Rogue lived in the most secluded part of the Mansion. It was an older wing and was mostly hidden away, but it helped to keep them away from Scott and prying eyes. When she finally arrived at her room, she sighed loudly as she looked at the damage that was done. The hinges were ripped right off the wood, blood stained the carpet, and the furnishings in the room were in complete disarray. She raised a hand and telekinetically began to lift the door that was half leaning on the wall but dropped her hand exhaustedly to her side. The door fell back down and Jean flinched as it took out a piece of the wall. She was too tired to try this now. Jean wearily hurdled over the door that lay in front of her and slumped tiredly onto the bed.
Kudos to Chele for beta-ing.
---
(4ish hours since the last chapter)
Jean flicked on the x-ray display back light and stood back to look at the series of x-ray slides she had up. There was a set of four slides, and they were all of Marie's forearms. Jean stepped forward and pressed on the newest slide to get a clearer picture of the bone structure. She looked at the other three and exhaled in amazement. The four slides were taken every hour since Rogue had been brought into the infirmary. The first slide showed distinctive bone claws built into her bones, and the two that followed showed Rogue's bone structure fusing together and returning to normal. The newest slide showed no sign of the claws what so ever.
The doctor turned to her computer and pulled up the brainwave scans she had done. Like the x-rays, there were a series of four scans. The first scan reflected that of a telepath or telekinetic's brain; the second and third showed a transition stage, and the latest was a brain scan that showed what Rogue's original brainwaves were suppose to look like.
Amazing. Her mutation is only now beginning to show. Jean flicked off her computer and x-ray display before walking into the main medical bay.
Marie sat with her legs dangling off the side of the examination table with her head bowed. She absently wrung her hands together and fingered her knuckles. As Jean walked up in front of her, Logan came in.
"Dinner's being served upstairs, but I brought you guys some." He dropped a plate of greasy pizza and a six pack of beer onto Jean's sterilized surgical equipment.
Jean pursed her lips in mild annoyance and looked a little reluctantly at the coagulated mess of cheese and baked vegetables that was corrupting the cleanliness of her tools.
"Thanks... Logan." She managed to say.
Logan shrugged and took a can of beer for himself prior to walking over to Rogue.
"Feeling better?" He opened the can and went to drink from it but paused and offered it to Marie instead.
Marie shook her head. Her eyes fell onto Logan's knuckles.
"They really do hurt when they come out." She said of Logan's claws.
Logan's expression went somber.
"Yeah."
Jean took Rogue's hands in her own and squeezed them gently. Jean had to keep Marie telepathically sedated for the first two hours. The first time she awoke, Rogue's stolen mutant powers had wrought havoc with everything. Jean had to call Emma down and have her mentally sedate Marie again. Jean tightened her jaw. Any thought of Emma soured her mood. Jean had, in the interest of caring for Marie, managed to push away her ire against the other telepath for the past four hours. Still, Jean knew, deep down, that it probably wasn't just Emma behind what had happened to Rogue. A surge of disgust rose from her gut as Jean figured Cyclops probably had something to do with this. Jean grimaced and turned her head towards the door. A second later, Scott, followed by Emma, came in.
Marie stiffened in hatred as she saw Emma. The 'test' Emma had put her through had been forced upon her. Emma had ripped through Marie's mind the instant she walked into her room. When Emma realized Rogue had an untapped potential, Emma forcefully manipulated Rogue's brainwaves to reveal Marie's new abilities.
"Wolverine," Cyclops said, "could you excuse us for a moment?"
Logan arched an eyebrow and looked dubiously at him. He wasn't about to leave his two favorite women. "No, I think I'll stay."
Jean looked at him and gave a small smile.
She said into Logan's mind.
Logan looked a bit disappointed. He secretly wanted to see Jean put Scott back into his place. Still, he respected the red head's request. He helped Marie off the bed and herded her out of the infirmary. As Marie passed Emma, Marie gave the coldest glare she could and raised her hand as if she was going to touch Emma. The telepath neutrally regarded Marie, but flinched slightly away from Rogue's hand.
When Wolverine and Rogue were out of sight, Jean spoke. She did her best to keep her voice calm and emotionless.
"Explain yourself." She directed her demand onto Scott. "That was the most irresponsible behavior I have ever seen from you."
Emma cleared her throat slightly and spoke.
"He wanted me to test Marie to see if her powers were completely developed. I pushed her to her limits, out of my own interest."
Jean ignored Emma. She knew that part of the story already.
"I wanted to see if she was at the level where she could re-enter society." Scott said, his voice firm.
Jean's jaw twitched from the fury she suppressed. Still, she managed to keep her tone from rising.
"That is only for Charles to decide, and you know it."
"He won't be back for another two weeks." Scott said.
Jean ripped off the glasses she wore and stepped closer to Scott.
"And you couldn't wait? You had her," Jean pointed at Emma, "conduct a test? A test we don't know anything about?"
Scott looked down at his feet, briefly. He would lose this argument.
"Charles wouldn't recruit a teacher who he didn't feel fit in with our methods. If he hired her, then any 'test' she does must conform with his." He said, defensively.
Jean inhaled sharply. It took everything in her to keep herself from outright screaming at Scott.
"Did you see the shape that Marie was in? I had to get Emma to force her into a near comatose state so her mutant powers wouldn't destroy everything."
Emma spoke up again.
"I did that under my own volition. Scott didn't ask me to do that."
Jean turned her head sharply to face Emma.
"I was not speaking to you." She said sternly.
Emma opened her mouth again to defend herself and Scott, but Jean was faster. Jean lifted her hand towards Emma, and with her TK, Jean dragged a chair noisily from across the room and placed it behind Emma.
"Be quiet and sit." Jean said through gritted teeth, and Emma sat heavily into the chair. It wasn't a telepathic command that Emma followed. The blond telepath was a far more powerful telepath than Jean was, and any mental coercion done by Jean would have failed. However, Emma had no resistance to the telekinetic might Jean wielded.
"I can't believe you did that to Marie. Did you think that kicking Marie out of our school would have solved our problem? You've made it worse, Scott. Marie was right. Every chance you get, you make our problem worse."
"I made a judgement call. If Marie didn't need anymore training, then she would be taking up valuable resources that we could be using to develop another mutant. Yes, my personal interest was a driving force behind my decision to allow Emma to go ahead with her test, but in the end Marie wasn't hurt by it." Scott stood up a bit straighter. "I hardly think you should be the one with an issue with this. Marie is staying in the Mansion after all."
Jean backed away a little unsteadily, aghast by his reply was.
"You need to separate your personal life from work, Scott. This is dangerous."
Scott almost said she never separated her personal life from her work. If she had, she would have never fallen in love with Rogue, and he wouldn't be placed in this situation now.
Though he never said it, Jean heard it in his mind and gave Scott a sickened look. She had been so patient with him, but this was too much. Without a second glance, Jean left the infirmary, and gave up the hope that she and Scott could ever be friends again.
---
(Upstairs at that moment)
"So none of you are going to be around next year?" Rogue asked a little sadly.
Piotr shrugged.
"We will be done with our school and many of us have mastered our powers. Xavier had said many of us were ready to graduate, but we stayed just because we wanted to."
Marie sulked a little.
"Where are you guys going to go?" Around Marie sat Sam, Alison, Bobby, Piotr and Kitty. The other students were off in the dining room or TV room eating.
"University. Maybe travel around a bit." Sam answered.
"University with me. I'm trying to get into a school in England." Kitty said. "Which reminds me, I better go work on my paper. The entrance requirements are so high for international students."
Alison looked up from the plate of leftovers she was playing with. Alison was most likely heading off to California to pursue her dream of being a singer.
"Aren't you going to NYU? You'll still be close enough to the Mansion"
Marie poked at the half-eaten slice of pizza that sat on her plate.
"Yeah. Still, you guys won't be here."
Piotr looked at Marie sympathetically.
"We are here for a few more months, Marie. We shouldn't worry about the future."
Jean walked into the kitchen and smiled tiredly at the students. These were the ones who knew of her and Rogue. Still, both limited their show of affection around them.
"Hi Dr. Grey." Kitty greeted brightly. "There's some pizza left in a couple of the boxes over there." She pointed to a pile of pizza boxes on the counter.
Jean widened her smile.
"Thanks Kitty. I think I'll just settle for something to drink."
Rogue asked.
Jean sighed and pulled out a carton of milk. She opened it but choked at its offensive smell.
"Oops. I forgot to take that out this morning." Sam said quickly and guiltily.
Jean grimaced as she poured it down the sink.
"It's fine. God, how long has that been in there for?"
"Too long!" Came a shout from the porch of the house. It was Logan who answered. He was outside smoking his cigars, but his heightened senses caught whiff of the spoiled milk.
"You would think with all the smoking he does, his sense of smell would dull a little." Kitty said thoughtfully.
"Damn healing power." Alison muttered. She looked over at Jean. "Busy in the lab?" Alison asked as she pointed out that Jean still wore her lab coat.
"Hmm?" Jean looked down at herself. She was indeed still wearing her lab coat. Mentally, Jean praised herself for changing lab coats earlier. Her first was spotted with Rogue's blood.
"Yeah. I had some x-rays to look at." Jean quickly said.
Jean looked at Rogue, who was discarding her uneaten pizza.
Jean suppressed a yawn and nodded slightly to Rogue. When Logan and Jean had carried Marie to the infirmary, they had taken the short cuts built into the walls, and therefore, none of the students had seen them.
I Jean washed the cup she had used and bade the students goodbye. Jean and Rogue lived in the most secluded part of the Mansion. It was an older wing and was mostly hidden away, but it helped to keep them away from Scott and prying eyes. When she finally arrived at her room, she sighed loudly as she looked at the damage that was done. The hinges were ripped right off the wood, blood stained the carpet, and the furnishings in the room were in complete disarray. She raised a hand and telekinetically began to lift the door that was half leaning on the wall but dropped her hand exhaustedly to her side. The door fell back down and Jean flinched as it took out a piece of the wall. She was too tired to try this now. Jean wearily hurdled over the door that lay in front of her and slumped tiredly onto the bed.