A/N: So it's been a while yes, but better late than never! Yes, it is
possible to write 7 and a half page in five hours. Yes, I really want a
head massage.
(9:00 am) Marie tilted her head slightly to the right and exhaled softly from her mouth as she calmed her mind, and focused on the pinecone that rested in her palm. She was sitting in the back garden of the Mansion. She and Jean had flown back the night before, and while Marie should be mentally focused on finishing her final school paper that was due in four days, her mental focus was elsewhere.
The pinecone in her hand slowly floated up, and with much mental strain Marie made it spin. Beads of sweat formed on her upper lip as she tried to telekinetically pluck the scales off the pinecone.
"Don't concentrate too hard there; you might blow a blood vessel."
The voice startled Marie, and broke her concentration. The pinecone thudded lightly to the ground. The young woman turned around quickly and as she stood, her library books, notes and first draft slipped from her lap to land as a messy heap at her feet.
"And without me, who knows when that part of your mutation would have surfaced." Emma Frost crossed her arms and smirked coldly. She had been teaching in the Mansion for a couple months now, and the slow, passive methods Xavier and the other teachers employed baffled her. When she first came to the school, she expected a stronger focus on the development of the children's full mutant potential. Instead, she noticed a lot of dampening on mutant powers. It wasn't extreme, but Xavier and his faculty were more paranoid of what would happen if the children's powers accidentally flared up during training and everyday life than the potential problems of the future brought on by the incomplete discovery a mutant child's capabilities. Emma believed in pushing her students past their limits. That way, any accidents could happen in a sheltered location, rather than in the outside world.
Marie glared coldly at the platinum blond telepath that was in front of her.
"You know what you did to me goes against the rules of being a telepath."
Frost smirked again.
"Xavier's rules," Emma corrected sourly, but she continued on. Marie was 'raised' on Xavier's view, and as righteous as they were sometimes they needed to be bent. "Xavier's right in that we telepaths shouldn't go around frolicking in other people's mind for no reason, or hurting them but in my mind Rogue," Emma stepped closer to Marie. "That wasn't the case. You're healed. In fact you're better than you were before in terms of your mutant powers."
Marie opened her mouth. How dare Emma claim that she didn't hurt her?
"Hurting you, in terms of a telepath, would be mind wiping you, or mentally torturing you. I didn't do either. Logan's claws were a manifestation of your own powers, and you healed from the wounds in the end. And now you know the limits of your powers. You should be thanking me, Marie. Scott wanted you gone from the school." Emma's lip curled in mild amusement. Scott amused her. He was so focused on Logan that when Marie showed up to blindside him, the hurt was much worse than what it could have been. Emma, although a telepath, would have never guessed such an immature side existed in Scott, the leader of the X-Men. But then again, he was a male. Good on Jean to go get herself a girl. Emma thought amusingly to herself before continuing.
"Now you can stay, and at least prepare for when you have to go."
"I am not the one who should be leaving. You're the kind of mutants that the Professor teaches us not to be. Do you really think you're going to stick around once the Professor gets word of what you did to me?"
Emma's expression hardened. Even though she felt that what she did was for the betterment of Marie, she knew the consequences of her actions could be harsh.
"Xavier and I have different teaching styles, but in the end what I did for you was good for you. I hope you realize that one day because I've seen what happens to mutants who suddenly have another development of their powers because they were never pushed enough as adolescents." Emma turned and left then. As she left, she dove into Marie's mind and left Marie with her experiences of secondary mutations, and some of the tragedies that followed. ----
(Noon)
"Dr. MacTaggert should be better from her cold by next week so be prepared for her quiz. Make sure you pay attention to chapter four and eight when you study."
Jean watched the class of students she subbed in for file out before she bowed her head and rubbed her brow. She didn't need to use her telepathy to know that half of the class spent more time wondering about her and Rogue than listening to her lesson. Jean reached down into the recycling bin, and pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of paper. She had discretely confiscated it earlier in class from one of the students as it was being passed around, but hadn't read it then. Jean sighed and opened up the note. Some of the printing she could recognize, but there were many new students this semester and Jean was not teaching.
I wouldn't have guessed Doc Grey was gay. Wasn't very smart of her to be so blatant by going on that holiday all of a sudden. I wonder if she's going to get in shit. One neatly written line read.
'Doc Grey was gay' ha, that kinda rhymes. Cyclops must be pissed. I can't tell though, I can never see his eyes. Another line read.
I wouldn't have guessed Rogue was gay too. But whatever. It's not our business. Either way, Dr. Grey's a good person. It can't be bad. Replied a line, written completely in finely printed capitals. Jean smiled weakly. This was Bobby's writing.
Maybe they're not gay, and they just had to go away for ten days to do X-Men stuff? Read one small line.
Pfft. Don't be naïve. First of all, Marie isn't an X-Man, and second. THEY LIVE TOGETHER! Soooo scandalous! Professor X is coming back the day after tomorrow. Won't he be surprised. A messy line read.
I think he already knows. I mean, he's the world's strongest telepath. Sure, he says it's wrong to go into people's head, but c'mon, he's the Headmaster of the school. He probably suspects something. Now that's it's 'out of the closet' she'll probably get fired or something. This is a school after all.
Damn, girl on girl action gave this boring school some life. Hate to see it stop when it just started. Jean's lip tightened into a thin line. This line was burnt deftly into the paper, and it was obvious who wrote it.
"Jean?"
The telepath looked up as she crumpled the note up. Storm walked into her classroom; her face a mix of emotions as she closed the door behind her.
"Hey Ororo." Jean replied quietly.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Storm was upfront with Jean but not angry. She was more disappointed if anything that her good friend didn't mention this relationship.
Jean glanced away. She knew she should have said something to Storm, and she could feel that the weather goddess was hurt that Hank, a relatively new teacher, knew more about the relationship than she did. Jean had contemplated this issue briefly before. She figured that it was because she knew Storm as long as she knew Scott, and Storm would have tried to talk Jean out of it. Storm might not have accepted this change, and Jean knew she would have to deal with Scott's reaction inevitably; Storm's reaction was a bit too much.
Jean met Storm's eyes. "I'm so sorry. I was. and I still am uneasy about your reaction. I didn't want to think about it, and that was wrong."
Storm let out a heavy sigh and sat across from Jean on the edge of one of the tables.
"You should have seen me when I finally heard about it. I kept asking 'Really? No. That can't be. Really?' for almost ten minutes." Storm laughed dryly. "It was finally when Scott walked in and heard me and Logan talking that I finally believed it. Scott didn't say a thing, but the way his jaw clenched before he walked back out said everything." She paused. "Funny, you can't see his eyes, but you still know what he's feeling."
Jean nodded slightly.
"Yeah. He says a lot with his eyebrows." She said softly as she remembered past days.
Storm's expression sobered before she continued on.
"I don't know what to say, Jean. I know you're happy, but it feels like it's all so sudden. Is this the right thing?"
Jean looked into Storm's worried eyes. Storm was concerned about Scott, the school and anyone else that could be affected by the relationship. She knew Jean well enough not to go off and make irresponsible choices, and Marie showed herself to be a wise person despite her age, so Storm didn't feel the need to question the legitimacy of the relationship. But still, there were larger issues that she needed to know Jean considered.
"It is." Jean exhaled loudly. "It was stupid of us to just run off in front of everyone, but I couldn't make myself be discrete. We had to get away from everything even if it caused more people to know about us. You didn't see what Emma did, Ororo. She ripped through Marie's mind like paper," Jean's expression suddenly got darker. "And Scott was the reason behind it." The expression passed when Jean paused. "But I love her. I really do."
Storm sighed and went closer to Jean so she could clasp the telepaths hand, and give them a gentle squeeze.
"I know. As strange as it is to me because ever since we were teenagers, it was always 'Jean and Scott', I know. I don't know if I agree with your relationship like Hank and Logan do, but I don't question it. I just worry. I worry about you, Marie, Scott. everything." Her eye saddened. "I just wish you told me."
Jean nodded slowly.
"Me too."
---
(3:00pm)
The medical lab was a sterile, metallic place and mostly quiet except for the soft, constant drone of computers. Unlike the rest of the Mansion, it was one of the few places in which most students preferred not to wander into. While certain supply cabinets and machines were locked off, the actual room was, unlike the Danger Room and Cerebro, open to student access. The reclusive nature of the lab, along with the state of the art computers and bright lighting, made it a great place to study.
Jean sat at her laptop and surfed the web. Beside her, sat Marie in front of the lab computer, diligently plugging away on her assignment. The rhythmic tapping of Marie's fingers on the keyboard for the past hour and a half, interlaced with the occasional flipping of book pages was the only sounds that really broke the drone of the medical machines. Jean had finished restocking and organizing her medical supplies, and felt no hurry to leave the sanctity of her lab. Earlier, after concluding her talk with Storm, Jean's walk through the halls to her lab was filled with enough sideway glances to frustrate the telepath. While most of the students were indifferent to the revelation, or, somehow still remarkably unaware of it, Jean felt enough hidden apprehensive emotions to make her want to hole up in her lab for the rest of the day. When Jean came to her lab, Marie was already there, and had been there since ten o'clock in the morning working on her paper. She felt the same way as Jean did. Neither was ashamed of their decision, but it baffled them that some would see them, not as individuals, but as a societal label.
Abruptly, Marie rolled her chair back from the desk, reached forward and down to do a mighty stretch. She groaned loudly as her joints and muscles popped and relaxed. She did not sit up when her stretch ended. Jean smiled and laughed lightly at Marie, who was still folded with her head between her knees.
"Seven and a half down, four and a half pages to go." Marie, her voice muffled by her legs, said.
"Good job, that's more than an hour a page. You need a break." Jean rolled her chair over to Marie's still folded over form, and slid a hand comforting up and down the other woman's back.
Marie shook her head and wearily sat back up.
"Two more pages more and then I'll take a break. I want to get this finished today."
Jean frowned.
"You haven't even eaten yet. You'll write better once you've eaten."
"Soon, I'm just on a roll. Two more pages and then I'll grab something."
The red head sighed. Inside her head the doctor part of Jean began lecturing about the importance of proper eating habits, and only by biting her bottom lip did Jean stop herself from physically saying it.
I Marie said through the rapport with a wry smile on her face.
Jean laughed and smiled before leaning in and kissing Marie on the mouth.
She replied. Jean rolled her chair in behind Marie's and fiddled with the levers of Marie's chair so the other woman was reclined at a forty-five degree angle with her head resting comfortably on the headrest. Before Marie could protest or sit back up, Jean began working her fingers deftly and firmly along Marie's hairline, forehead and scalp.
Rogue moaned as she felt the tension being rubbed away. For ten minutes, as Jean combed and moved her fingers in circles over Marie's scalp she lay completely motionless. Jean asked as she gently pinched the edges of the ears to activate the acupuncture points for the entire body.
Marie's reply came in no form of coherent words or though. Instead a flow of almost unbearable, golden pleasure gushed through the rapport, causing Jean to intake a sharp breath as her fingers fumbled through the last set of shiatsu movements along Rogue's neck.
Jean said a little amusingly through the rapport.
It was a good minute from the end of the massage before Rogue opened her eyes.
"I don't want to move." Rogue said, her voice already a bit raspy from being in such a relaxed state.
Jean laughed again. It felt good to be able to laugh in the Mansion again. She wheeled her chair more to the right side of Rogue and brought her face over Rogue's. Her red, wavy hair tumbled over and curtained their faces as Jean and Marie tenderly kissed again. Jean's hand slid over the younger woman's waist and she tightened her arm protectively around it. Marie broke the kiss and just lay there, gazing into the rich green eyes of the woman that hovered not five inches from her face. Jean smiled and with her other hand she brushed stray brown locks from Marie's face.
For what seemed like hours, Jean and Marie remained still. Nothing seemed capable of breaking the moment.
RRrrrggg.
Jean and Rogue frowned and blinked rapidly as their senses returned to reality.
Rrrrggggg.
"I think you should really eat." Jean said, her hand that rested on Marie's belly trembled with the growl.
"After just one page and a half." Marie grinned and popped her chair back up. Jean could barely sigh exasperatedly before Marie was clicking away on the computer once again.
---
(The next, next day. 9:47 am.) Marie checked her watch as she darted out of one bus and across the street to the opposite bus stop.
9:47.
Marie had just missed the second of three buses she needed to take in order to get from the collage to the Mansion. Marie cursed loudly. The next bus would come in another forty-five minutes, and this meant she would miss the last bus she needed, causing her to have to wait in the rain for another twenty more minutes. Marie muttered and cursed herself for not bringing an umbrella, or for having the brains to wear a waterproof jacket. She was so happy to be able to hand in her paper early that Marie simply dashed out of the Mansion with only enough pocket change for bus fare. The rain was coming down hard now, and there was no shelter for her to huddle underneath.
At least my paper's handed in and done with. Just the take home written exam to do and then I'll be done.
Marie wiped her brow, and sat down on the curb. Her pants would be wet eventually, and she was warmer curled up than standing straight. She was wearing one of the Xavier Institute zip up hooded sweatshirts and was thankful that it was part wool. Even in the rain, she'd still retain some body heat. She pondered whether or not she should ask Jean for a drive back, but figured the telepath might be subbing another one of Moira's class.
Rogue exhaled slowly and closed her eyes. Rogue accessed Jean's TK powers. Maybe she could create a telekinetic barrier between her and the rain, but it was a fruitless effort. Rogue had only recently been able to access the stored mutant powers in her mind. Using the various skills was something completely different, and creating a TK barrier was beyond the scope of Rogue's abilities. Marie rubbed her temples and gave up. As she went back to mentally berating herself for being too stubborn to listen to the weather forecasts, a navy blue Mazda zoomed past her.
Rogue sputtered as road water drenched her already soaked body. She yelped and jumped up, gesturing angrily and shouting at the car that had stopped at the curve in the road twenty meters away. To her fear, the car reversed until it was next to her, and the window rolled down.
It was Scott. He looked at her, a grim look on his face.
"Get in." The car lock released. "Try not to get the seats wet." He said, as he waited for Rogue to get in.
She stood there staring at him, and it was only when Scott revved the engine and threatened to drive away, did she open the door and enter.
Scott grimaced at the palpable squishy, wet noise Marie made as she sat down. He checked the road and peeled around to do a u-turn.
"Thanks." Marie said quietly.
"Don't sit on the road next time. Someone could have hit you."
The next five minutes wiled away in slow agonizing silence.
"Say something." Marie said, looking at him.
"You know why I was behind it. I went about it in the wrong way, yes, but I might have been right about your powers." Scott said flatly, as he remembered that fatal meeting between him and Emma in the back yard. "Although, I never knew Emma would have done it like that. I was run by emotions, and I'll face the consequences." Cyclops rounded a corner. They were about five minutes from the Mansion now.
"Jean said you think it's some sort of phase with her, but it's not."
"Phase or not, it's wrong, and it's sick. You are a student, and Jean is a teacher. She should know better. Regardless of the mistake I made, she knows better than to engage in a relationship with a student. You're eight years younger than her too. No matter how much Storm says you are 'wise for your age,' the unevenness in maturity puts you way out of her league. I have no idea what she was thinking by falling for you, but it will pass. When it does, she'll regret everything."
"You talk like you're in her mind. Thing is, you never were. I'm in there right now, and she shares with me everything, even when she dreams." Marie shot back. "Don't tell me I'm out of my league. You could never bring yourself to being as open with your mind as she was trying to offer."
Scott tightened the grip on the wheel and stepped on the gas pedal a little harder. Marie's word held a grain of truth, and that grated against his nerves.
They stopped at the front gate of the Mansion with a screaming halt. Cyclops intended to wait for the gates to open, and then drive in, but Marie was already opening the door to leave. Before she closed the door, she bent down and looked into the car at Scott.
"If you still care even a bit about Jean, look past your jealousy and realize this is for real." Rain was dripping down her face. "It'll never come to the point where she regrets anything about this. If you knew her enough, you would know Jean's not the kind of person to do things that would cause her to regret in the long run." She paused before closing the car door. "Thanks for the ride."
His car idled for a second more. When he looked up, Jean was standing at the Mansion doors with towels in hand. He reversed his car at that point, not wanting to see Jean and Rogue together a moment longer, and besides, he was already late picking up the Professor.
(9:00 am) Marie tilted her head slightly to the right and exhaled softly from her mouth as she calmed her mind, and focused on the pinecone that rested in her palm. She was sitting in the back garden of the Mansion. She and Jean had flown back the night before, and while Marie should be mentally focused on finishing her final school paper that was due in four days, her mental focus was elsewhere.
The pinecone in her hand slowly floated up, and with much mental strain Marie made it spin. Beads of sweat formed on her upper lip as she tried to telekinetically pluck the scales off the pinecone.
"Don't concentrate too hard there; you might blow a blood vessel."
The voice startled Marie, and broke her concentration. The pinecone thudded lightly to the ground. The young woman turned around quickly and as she stood, her library books, notes and first draft slipped from her lap to land as a messy heap at her feet.
"And without me, who knows when that part of your mutation would have surfaced." Emma Frost crossed her arms and smirked coldly. She had been teaching in the Mansion for a couple months now, and the slow, passive methods Xavier and the other teachers employed baffled her. When she first came to the school, she expected a stronger focus on the development of the children's full mutant potential. Instead, she noticed a lot of dampening on mutant powers. It wasn't extreme, but Xavier and his faculty were more paranoid of what would happen if the children's powers accidentally flared up during training and everyday life than the potential problems of the future brought on by the incomplete discovery a mutant child's capabilities. Emma believed in pushing her students past their limits. That way, any accidents could happen in a sheltered location, rather than in the outside world.
Marie glared coldly at the platinum blond telepath that was in front of her.
"You know what you did to me goes against the rules of being a telepath."
Frost smirked again.
"Xavier's rules," Emma corrected sourly, but she continued on. Marie was 'raised' on Xavier's view, and as righteous as they were sometimes they needed to be bent. "Xavier's right in that we telepaths shouldn't go around frolicking in other people's mind for no reason, or hurting them but in my mind Rogue," Emma stepped closer to Marie. "That wasn't the case. You're healed. In fact you're better than you were before in terms of your mutant powers."
Marie opened her mouth. How dare Emma claim that she didn't hurt her?
"Hurting you, in terms of a telepath, would be mind wiping you, or mentally torturing you. I didn't do either. Logan's claws were a manifestation of your own powers, and you healed from the wounds in the end. And now you know the limits of your powers. You should be thanking me, Marie. Scott wanted you gone from the school." Emma's lip curled in mild amusement. Scott amused her. He was so focused on Logan that when Marie showed up to blindside him, the hurt was much worse than what it could have been. Emma, although a telepath, would have never guessed such an immature side existed in Scott, the leader of the X-Men. But then again, he was a male. Good on Jean to go get herself a girl. Emma thought amusingly to herself before continuing.
"Now you can stay, and at least prepare for when you have to go."
"I am not the one who should be leaving. You're the kind of mutants that the Professor teaches us not to be. Do you really think you're going to stick around once the Professor gets word of what you did to me?"
Emma's expression hardened. Even though she felt that what she did was for the betterment of Marie, she knew the consequences of her actions could be harsh.
"Xavier and I have different teaching styles, but in the end what I did for you was good for you. I hope you realize that one day because I've seen what happens to mutants who suddenly have another development of their powers because they were never pushed enough as adolescents." Emma turned and left then. As she left, she dove into Marie's mind and left Marie with her experiences of secondary mutations, and some of the tragedies that followed. ----
(Noon)
"Dr. MacTaggert should be better from her cold by next week so be prepared for her quiz. Make sure you pay attention to chapter four and eight when you study."
Jean watched the class of students she subbed in for file out before she bowed her head and rubbed her brow. She didn't need to use her telepathy to know that half of the class spent more time wondering about her and Rogue than listening to her lesson. Jean reached down into the recycling bin, and pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of paper. She had discretely confiscated it earlier in class from one of the students as it was being passed around, but hadn't read it then. Jean sighed and opened up the note. Some of the printing she could recognize, but there were many new students this semester and Jean was not teaching.
I wouldn't have guessed Doc Grey was gay. Wasn't very smart of her to be so blatant by going on that holiday all of a sudden. I wonder if she's going to get in shit. One neatly written line read.
'Doc Grey was gay' ha, that kinda rhymes. Cyclops must be pissed. I can't tell though, I can never see his eyes. Another line read.
I wouldn't have guessed Rogue was gay too. But whatever. It's not our business. Either way, Dr. Grey's a good person. It can't be bad. Replied a line, written completely in finely printed capitals. Jean smiled weakly. This was Bobby's writing.
Maybe they're not gay, and they just had to go away for ten days to do X-Men stuff? Read one small line.
Pfft. Don't be naïve. First of all, Marie isn't an X-Man, and second. THEY LIVE TOGETHER! Soooo scandalous! Professor X is coming back the day after tomorrow. Won't he be surprised. A messy line read.
I think he already knows. I mean, he's the world's strongest telepath. Sure, he says it's wrong to go into people's head, but c'mon, he's the Headmaster of the school. He probably suspects something. Now that's it's 'out of the closet' she'll probably get fired or something. This is a school after all.
Damn, girl on girl action gave this boring school some life. Hate to see it stop when it just started. Jean's lip tightened into a thin line. This line was burnt deftly into the paper, and it was obvious who wrote it.
"Jean?"
The telepath looked up as she crumpled the note up. Storm walked into her classroom; her face a mix of emotions as she closed the door behind her.
"Hey Ororo." Jean replied quietly.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Storm was upfront with Jean but not angry. She was more disappointed if anything that her good friend didn't mention this relationship.
Jean glanced away. She knew she should have said something to Storm, and she could feel that the weather goddess was hurt that Hank, a relatively new teacher, knew more about the relationship than she did. Jean had contemplated this issue briefly before. She figured that it was because she knew Storm as long as she knew Scott, and Storm would have tried to talk Jean out of it. Storm might not have accepted this change, and Jean knew she would have to deal with Scott's reaction inevitably; Storm's reaction was a bit too much.
Jean met Storm's eyes. "I'm so sorry. I was. and I still am uneasy about your reaction. I didn't want to think about it, and that was wrong."
Storm let out a heavy sigh and sat across from Jean on the edge of one of the tables.
"You should have seen me when I finally heard about it. I kept asking 'Really? No. That can't be. Really?' for almost ten minutes." Storm laughed dryly. "It was finally when Scott walked in and heard me and Logan talking that I finally believed it. Scott didn't say a thing, but the way his jaw clenched before he walked back out said everything." She paused. "Funny, you can't see his eyes, but you still know what he's feeling."
Jean nodded slightly.
"Yeah. He says a lot with his eyebrows." She said softly as she remembered past days.
Storm's expression sobered before she continued on.
"I don't know what to say, Jean. I know you're happy, but it feels like it's all so sudden. Is this the right thing?"
Jean looked into Storm's worried eyes. Storm was concerned about Scott, the school and anyone else that could be affected by the relationship. She knew Jean well enough not to go off and make irresponsible choices, and Marie showed herself to be a wise person despite her age, so Storm didn't feel the need to question the legitimacy of the relationship. But still, there were larger issues that she needed to know Jean considered.
"It is." Jean exhaled loudly. "It was stupid of us to just run off in front of everyone, but I couldn't make myself be discrete. We had to get away from everything even if it caused more people to know about us. You didn't see what Emma did, Ororo. She ripped through Marie's mind like paper," Jean's expression suddenly got darker. "And Scott was the reason behind it." The expression passed when Jean paused. "But I love her. I really do."
Storm sighed and went closer to Jean so she could clasp the telepaths hand, and give them a gentle squeeze.
"I know. As strange as it is to me because ever since we were teenagers, it was always 'Jean and Scott', I know. I don't know if I agree with your relationship like Hank and Logan do, but I don't question it. I just worry. I worry about you, Marie, Scott. everything." Her eye saddened. "I just wish you told me."
Jean nodded slowly.
"Me too."
---
(3:00pm)
The medical lab was a sterile, metallic place and mostly quiet except for the soft, constant drone of computers. Unlike the rest of the Mansion, it was one of the few places in which most students preferred not to wander into. While certain supply cabinets and machines were locked off, the actual room was, unlike the Danger Room and Cerebro, open to student access. The reclusive nature of the lab, along with the state of the art computers and bright lighting, made it a great place to study.
Jean sat at her laptop and surfed the web. Beside her, sat Marie in front of the lab computer, diligently plugging away on her assignment. The rhythmic tapping of Marie's fingers on the keyboard for the past hour and a half, interlaced with the occasional flipping of book pages was the only sounds that really broke the drone of the medical machines. Jean had finished restocking and organizing her medical supplies, and felt no hurry to leave the sanctity of her lab. Earlier, after concluding her talk with Storm, Jean's walk through the halls to her lab was filled with enough sideway glances to frustrate the telepath. While most of the students were indifferent to the revelation, or, somehow still remarkably unaware of it, Jean felt enough hidden apprehensive emotions to make her want to hole up in her lab for the rest of the day. When Jean came to her lab, Marie was already there, and had been there since ten o'clock in the morning working on her paper. She felt the same way as Jean did. Neither was ashamed of their decision, but it baffled them that some would see them, not as individuals, but as a societal label.
Abruptly, Marie rolled her chair back from the desk, reached forward and down to do a mighty stretch. She groaned loudly as her joints and muscles popped and relaxed. She did not sit up when her stretch ended. Jean smiled and laughed lightly at Marie, who was still folded with her head between her knees.
"Seven and a half down, four and a half pages to go." Marie, her voice muffled by her legs, said.
"Good job, that's more than an hour a page. You need a break." Jean rolled her chair over to Marie's still folded over form, and slid a hand comforting up and down the other woman's back.
Marie shook her head and wearily sat back up.
"Two more pages more and then I'll take a break. I want to get this finished today."
Jean frowned.
"You haven't even eaten yet. You'll write better once you've eaten."
"Soon, I'm just on a roll. Two more pages and then I'll grab something."
The red head sighed. Inside her head the doctor part of Jean began lecturing about the importance of proper eating habits, and only by biting her bottom lip did Jean stop herself from physically saying it.
I Marie said through the rapport with a wry smile on her face.
Jean laughed and smiled before leaning in and kissing Marie on the mouth.
She replied. Jean rolled her chair in behind Marie's and fiddled with the levers of Marie's chair so the other woman was reclined at a forty-five degree angle with her head resting comfortably on the headrest. Before Marie could protest or sit back up, Jean began working her fingers deftly and firmly along Marie's hairline, forehead and scalp.
Rogue moaned as she felt the tension being rubbed away. For ten minutes, as Jean combed and moved her fingers in circles over Marie's scalp she lay completely motionless. Jean asked as she gently pinched the edges of the ears to activate the acupuncture points for the entire body.
Marie's reply came in no form of coherent words or though. Instead a flow of almost unbearable, golden pleasure gushed through the rapport, causing Jean to intake a sharp breath as her fingers fumbled through the last set of shiatsu movements along Rogue's neck.
Jean said a little amusingly through the rapport.
It was a good minute from the end of the massage before Rogue opened her eyes.
"I don't want to move." Rogue said, her voice already a bit raspy from being in such a relaxed state.
Jean laughed again. It felt good to be able to laugh in the Mansion again. She wheeled her chair more to the right side of Rogue and brought her face over Rogue's. Her red, wavy hair tumbled over and curtained their faces as Jean and Marie tenderly kissed again. Jean's hand slid over the younger woman's waist and she tightened her arm protectively around it. Marie broke the kiss and just lay there, gazing into the rich green eyes of the woman that hovered not five inches from her face. Jean smiled and with her other hand she brushed stray brown locks from Marie's face.
For what seemed like hours, Jean and Marie remained still. Nothing seemed capable of breaking the moment.
RRrrrggg.
Jean and Rogue frowned and blinked rapidly as their senses returned to reality.
Rrrrggggg.
"I think you should really eat." Jean said, her hand that rested on Marie's belly trembled with the growl.
"After just one page and a half." Marie grinned and popped her chair back up. Jean could barely sigh exasperatedly before Marie was clicking away on the computer once again.
---
(The next, next day. 9:47 am.) Marie checked her watch as she darted out of one bus and across the street to the opposite bus stop.
9:47.
Marie had just missed the second of three buses she needed to take in order to get from the collage to the Mansion. Marie cursed loudly. The next bus would come in another forty-five minutes, and this meant she would miss the last bus she needed, causing her to have to wait in the rain for another twenty more minutes. Marie muttered and cursed herself for not bringing an umbrella, or for having the brains to wear a waterproof jacket. She was so happy to be able to hand in her paper early that Marie simply dashed out of the Mansion with only enough pocket change for bus fare. The rain was coming down hard now, and there was no shelter for her to huddle underneath.
At least my paper's handed in and done with. Just the take home written exam to do and then I'll be done.
Marie wiped her brow, and sat down on the curb. Her pants would be wet eventually, and she was warmer curled up than standing straight. She was wearing one of the Xavier Institute zip up hooded sweatshirts and was thankful that it was part wool. Even in the rain, she'd still retain some body heat. She pondered whether or not she should ask Jean for a drive back, but figured the telepath might be subbing another one of Moira's class.
Rogue exhaled slowly and closed her eyes. Rogue accessed Jean's TK powers. Maybe she could create a telekinetic barrier between her and the rain, but it was a fruitless effort. Rogue had only recently been able to access the stored mutant powers in her mind. Using the various skills was something completely different, and creating a TK barrier was beyond the scope of Rogue's abilities. Marie rubbed her temples and gave up. As she went back to mentally berating herself for being too stubborn to listen to the weather forecasts, a navy blue Mazda zoomed past her.
Rogue sputtered as road water drenched her already soaked body. She yelped and jumped up, gesturing angrily and shouting at the car that had stopped at the curve in the road twenty meters away. To her fear, the car reversed until it was next to her, and the window rolled down.
It was Scott. He looked at her, a grim look on his face.
"Get in." The car lock released. "Try not to get the seats wet." He said, as he waited for Rogue to get in.
She stood there staring at him, and it was only when Scott revved the engine and threatened to drive away, did she open the door and enter.
Scott grimaced at the palpable squishy, wet noise Marie made as she sat down. He checked the road and peeled around to do a u-turn.
"Thanks." Marie said quietly.
"Don't sit on the road next time. Someone could have hit you."
The next five minutes wiled away in slow agonizing silence.
"Say something." Marie said, looking at him.
"You know why I was behind it. I went about it in the wrong way, yes, but I might have been right about your powers." Scott said flatly, as he remembered that fatal meeting between him and Emma in the back yard. "Although, I never knew Emma would have done it like that. I was run by emotions, and I'll face the consequences." Cyclops rounded a corner. They were about five minutes from the Mansion now.
"Jean said you think it's some sort of phase with her, but it's not."
"Phase or not, it's wrong, and it's sick. You are a student, and Jean is a teacher. She should know better. Regardless of the mistake I made, she knows better than to engage in a relationship with a student. You're eight years younger than her too. No matter how much Storm says you are 'wise for your age,' the unevenness in maturity puts you way out of her league. I have no idea what she was thinking by falling for you, but it will pass. When it does, she'll regret everything."
"You talk like you're in her mind. Thing is, you never were. I'm in there right now, and she shares with me everything, even when she dreams." Marie shot back. "Don't tell me I'm out of my league. You could never bring yourself to being as open with your mind as she was trying to offer."
Scott tightened the grip on the wheel and stepped on the gas pedal a little harder. Marie's word held a grain of truth, and that grated against his nerves.
They stopped at the front gate of the Mansion with a screaming halt. Cyclops intended to wait for the gates to open, and then drive in, but Marie was already opening the door to leave. Before she closed the door, she bent down and looked into the car at Scott.
"If you still care even a bit about Jean, look past your jealousy and realize this is for real." Rain was dripping down her face. "It'll never come to the point where she regrets anything about this. If you knew her enough, you would know Jean's not the kind of person to do things that would cause her to regret in the long run." She paused before closing the car door. "Thanks for the ride."
His car idled for a second more. When he looked up, Jean was standing at the Mansion doors with towels in hand. He reversed his car at that point, not wanting to see Jean and Rogue together a moment longer, and besides, he was already late picking up the Professor.