Thanks to Evil Jubilee for reviewing! I'm glad you like the story.
Just to clarify:
…This is telepathy…
This is thoughts
"Lance!"
"Whuh?" Lance opened his eyes blearily and focused on a rolled-up newspaper that was about to be shoved up his nose.
"Why is Duncan in the paper?"
"Uh…" Lance took the paper off her and tried to focus on the lead story. Just as he'd suspected, Duncan and his cronies were making 'poor me' noises about the fight. According to them, they'd been followed away from a bar, their cars had been disabled and then they'd been attacked. They were trying to sound like they'd been outnumbered, but had given as good as they'd gotten.
"I can explain this."
"Really?" Jean had obviously been up a while, wearing workout clothes and her hair tied out of her face. "Because I'd like to know how you forgot to mention any of this to me!"
"It wasn't that important." Lance checked out the picture of Duncan, who didn't seem to have a scratch on him. "He got what he deserved."
"This is the last thing I need right now!" Jean paced the small area of the room not taken up by the bed. "I told you last night I wanted this whole thing to blow over and now the mutant-human conflict's back in the news again!"
"Hey, he started it." Lance threw the paper down onto the duvet. "They doubled back and came after us. It wasn't my fault."
"And Duncan being my ex never came into it I suppose?"
"I never laid a hand on Duncan! Just what are you accusing me of?"
Jean stopped pacing, not entirely sure why she was so upset. "I'm not accusing you of anything. It's just strange that you decided to go to that bar the same day he gets released from jail."
"We were trying to find out more about the guys attacking mutants, it was shitty luck that they walked in…" Lance glared at Jean, feeling defensive against the sudden attack. "Do you think I was gunning for Matthews? With some of your X-Men friends? What's wrong with you?"
"I…" Jean paused for a moment and Lance took the opportunity to jump out of the bed and stride toward the bathroom. She watched as he slammed the door behind him, the moody act ruined slightly by the toned and naked ass he revealed as he did so, then she sat on the end of the bed and sighed.
Why the hell did I do that?
She hadn't meant to accuse him of anything; she certainly hadn't meant to suggest that he'd deliberately gone after Duncan. But she'd been feeling on edge ever since the night before when Toad had called to tell them their plan to trap the Friends of Humanity was going ahead and she'd realised that Lance would be leaving Bayville as soon as they did. A couple of days at the most.
She didn't want him to go.
She'd known all along that he wouldn't stay but she'd tried not to dwell on it, to forget that they didn't have much time and just enjoy the moment. Realising that it was nearly over had robbed her of sleep and sent her out jogging without telling him – he'd go mad when he realised she'd snuck out without his say-so. Seeing Duncan on the front page of the paper had brought home the fact that Lance might leave, but he'd leave behind all the problems she had to face on a daily basis with just the deadliest one gone. She'd rather face something as dangerous as a terrorist group than the intangible hostilities of the population.
Hearing the shower running, she went into the living room and began to make coffee, grabbing her phone on impulse and dialling Rogue's number.
"Hey Jean. Heard the news?" Rogue sounded far too awake and amused for the early hour.
"What news? And since were you so chirpy in the morning?"
"Been up an hour or so, had a Danger Room session. Kicked ass in the no-power sim."
"And that's your news?"
"Hardly. The kids went away this morning. McCoy, Emma, Erik and Ororo took them to the rainforest and between you and me I don't think Magneto was too happy to be going with them. As soon as they're gone, the Professor has Kitty drive him down to the store in the limo – talk about visible – makes up some story about going to Scotland to visit his ex-wife and makes a big deal about telling the girl behind the counter. Said he's going today. Logan packs a bag and hits the road. Then Pietro takes the X-Jet out of here and he's still not back. The party Remy said the Brotherhood were thinking about, it's happening soon."
Jean gripped the phone so tightly her knuckles went white. "How soon do you think?"
"You mean Lance hasn't mentioned it?"
"Uh, no."
"You don't sound too happy today. Something wrong."
"I don't know. I picked a fight with Lance about what happened to Duncan last night."
"Oh. Ah heard about that."
"I'm glad you know about it, because Lance never once mentioned it to me."
"Maybe he knew you'd be pissed."
"I'd be less pissed if he'd told me they'd had some trouble."
"Maybe he thought you'd had enough of that lately."
Jean looked at the arm that still bore the scars of her ordeal in the café. "I don't like being kept in the dark about my own safety."
Rogue sounded sympathetic but stern. "This has nothing to do with him fighting with Duncan last night. You're pissed because he's leaving soon."
"I'm not happy about it, but that's got nothing to do with any of this."
"Yeah, right."
The sound of the shower ceased and Jean frowned. "Look, I'll call you later. But let me know if you hear anything."
"Ah will."
Jean dropped the phone onto the counter and added milk to the two coffees. She was determined to apologise to Lance for her outburst but when he walked in he was busy making his own calls.
"…A bit sudden?"
She noticed the frown on his face as he listened for a few moments and wondered if he was about to tell her something she didn't want to hear. Eventually he muttered something and shoved the phone into his pocket.
"I made coffee," said Jean.
"Hmm? Oh yeah." Lance wandered over and grabbed a cup, distracted.
Jean glanced down at the counter. "Look, I'm sorry about before. I'm just a little stressed out and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"I didn't go looking for Duncan," said Lance, snapping out of his trance. "He just showed up."
"I know." Jean glanced sideways at him. "What was the call about?"
"Plan's in motion. As far as the outside world knows, the instructors are all away and the younger kids are on a field trip, leaving the older X-Men alone in the mansion. They're gonna make it look like a party going on."
"Oh." Jean tried to think of something to say that wouldn't sound unhappy. "They're not asking people are they?"
"Apparently just a few people from outside the mansion. Wanda did mention a few names but I've never heard of most of them. Dani Moonstar went back to Dark Hollow this morning and she's coming back later. Somebody called, uh, Betsy?"
"Betsy!" Jean managed a smile. "I haven't seen her for ages."
"Logan's coming back, the New Recruits are making like party guests and the Professor never left. Pietro took the jet to make it look like he was leaving."
"So…when are they having this pretend party?"
"Tonight."
"Tonight!" Jean almost dropped her coffee. "That's a bit sudden, isn't it?"
"The sooner we get these guys caught, the sooner you're all safe."
"And you'll be able to get out of Bayville."
"Yeah." Lance wondered if he'd imagined the bitter note in her tone. "Just as soon as we finish the mission here. We've earned some time off." He was vaguely disappointed when Jean didn't pick up on this comment and suggest he spent some more time at her place. Maybe she thought of him as a temporary distraction, or perhaps she'd been missing the adrenalin rush of being in life-or-death situations and now he'd given her that rush back she was ready to go back to her everyday life.
Forget about it he thought. There was no way this was gonna last for long anyway. Enjoy it while it lasts – and try not to get too depressed when it's over.
8888888888888
Lance decided that she'd done it on purpose.
The fact she'd decided to wear trousers told him that she was expecting to get more involved in any possible fighting than watching if she got the chance. But the combination of tight black leather and matching top was something he'd never imagined demure Jean Grey would ever have worn back in high school.
Jean caught his expression and laughed. "It's my old Bayville Sirens uniform. You like it?"
"Uh, yeah," replied Lance weakly. "It's very, uh, nice."
"Nice?" Jean grinned. "Tabby chose all the uniforms. I don't think the look she was going for was 'nice'."
"I remember that, she kept stealing my jeep." Lance smiled slightly at the memory. The few months after Asteroid M had blown up and before Mystique had returned had been the calmest and the least stressful he'd spent in Bayville and Tabby had been a big part of that. "But isn't this supposed to be a party? Turning up in full ninja-dominatrix dress might give things away."
"You've obviously never met Betsy," said Jean. "And if Emma were here, she'd probably be wearing two handkerchiefs and a prayer. Her uniform's much more revealing than this."
"Yeah." Lance remembered that Emma was Scott's new girlfriend. Was Jean trying to remind her ex what he was missing while the other girl was away? "So let's go."
They went down to the car and set off after Lance had checked the safety of the vehicle, Jean sneaking glances at him ever few seconds. He looked particularly good tonight, his usual dress smartened up slightly to a shirt and his only pair of unripped jeans. She should be worried about her friends being used as a lure for a gang of terrorists, but the only thing she could think of was if everything went well, then Lance would be leaving, probably the very next day. She might never get to see him again, the sex they'd whiled the afternoon away with might be the final time he'd ever touch her in that way…
"We're here."
"What?" Jean jerked herself out of her reverie and realised they'd pulled up at the Institute. She hadn't even noticed the drive there.
Lance gave her a concerned look. "If you don't wanna be there tonight, you don't have to be. I can take you home, get Fury to request some cops outside your place."
"I want to be there," said Jean honestly. "I'd like to see you take them down and know that they can't hurt us anymore."
Shutting off the ignition, Lance turned to face her. "Look, there's no guarantee that this is gonna work. Just because we're staging a party doesn't mean they'll show up. We might stand around looking stupid all night waiting for them. And even if we do get them, we might not be able to talk them into giving up the ringleaders. Don't think that this is all gonna fall neatly into place."
"I know," said Jean, with mixed emotions at the news. It hadn't occurred to her that their plans might not be the end of the Friends of Humanity. "But I'd still feel better about being there."
"Let's go inside then." Lance got out of the car and glanced over to the mansion, every window lit up and loud music blasting from inside. "Hell, it looks like a party to me."
"I've got déjà vu," admitted Jean. "It's just like the last time I got back and found a party going on. I keep expecting Defcon 4 to start up!"
Before Lance could reply, a woman came out of the mansion and ran toward them. Jean grinned and hugged her fiercely.
"Thought you'd never get here," the woman said.
"Missed you too." Jean released her hold and the woman and turned. "Lance, this is Betsy Braddock."
Betsy raised an eyebrow and checked Lance out none too subtly. "I can see why you've been keeping him to yourself."
"Uh, hi," said Lance, a little taken aback. Betsy spoke with a British accent, something he'd always associated with sedate personalities who took tea in rose gardens. This girl however was the exact opposite of all that. She had long hair dyed purple and managed to wear even less than Jean.
"So come inside then!" Betsy grabbed Jean by the arm and dragged her toward the mansion, Lance trailing behind.
Inside, the atmosphere was almost festive in spite of the tension that came of waiting for something bad to happen. Betsy immediately spirited Jean off and Lance went over to where Pietro and Wanda were stood by the window, apparently talking idly but in actuality keeping an eye out.
"Did I miss anything?" Lance took a look out of the window himself, but saw nothing untoward.
"Nope." Pietro glanced over to where Jean and Betsy were chatting to Rogue and Kitty. "Man, that Betsy's hot. Imagine that accent talking dirty."
"You're disgusting." Wanda glared at her brother, who seemed unperturbed.
"Where are the others?" asked Lance.
"They're around somewhere. Xavier's keeping an eye on the security cameras – he says try not to do too much structural damage with the tremors. Logan's creeping around in the bushes. When they show up, we'll be ready for them."
"How can you be so sure they'll show?"
"Sure they will." Wanda gave a little smile. "That Xavier can be sneaky when he wants to. Kitty mentioned the party to a few people when they went out today and he gave them a mental command to mention it to as many people as possible. At worst we'll have a bunch of party-crashers to look out for while we kick their asses."
"We've got it easy this time," added Pietro. "We find out names, send some SHIELD agents over to nail them – we'll be out of Bayville in 24 hours if we do this right."
"Yeah," muttered Lance. "That's great."
"You're leaving tomorrow?"
Pietro turned and gave his trademark grin as he noticed Betsy behind him. "Afraid so. Why, you gonna miss me?"
Lance tuned out of the conversation and wandered off, too tense to let himself relax. He was always wound up in these types of situations, but he'd never been quite this worked up before. He'd already told Jean to stay away from the windows, but he wished he'd talked her into staying home. In spite of that, he felt better about her being there to watch his back than any of the other X-Men. He noticed Sam and Tabby entering the room, the last of the expected arrivals. Sam stopped to talk to Bobby while Tabby waved at Amara, bouncing over to the other girl and slipping an arm through hers. He wished they'd stood up to Mystique when she'd thrown Tabby out all those years ago. She'd been a good friend and deserved better.
"Hey Lance."
He didn't need to look around to know who that voice belonged to – Kitty, the girl he'd spend his teenage years thinking might just be the love of his life if he could stop screwing things up long enough for them to be together longer than a month or two.
"Hey Kitty." The years had been good to her he noticed. The Danger Room workouts had given her a toned figure and maturity had made her less scatty and more confident. She didn't seem compelled to hide her true personality away behind an air of dizzy good humour any longer. Rogue was with her, the Goth persona toned down but still evident in the way she dressed and the make-up she wore. "Hey Rogue."
"So Lance," said Rogue, moving straight in for the kill. "You must be glad to have this nearly over, stop sleeping on Jean's couch."
Lance shot her a dirty look. The words dripped with sarcasm although Kitty seemed to have missed the reason. Rogue obviously knew about him and Jean, but Kitty made no sign she shared the knowledge.
"I won't miss the couch," he said before realising it was a lie. They'd christened the couch the previous evening and he hadn't been able to look at it since without remembering.
Rogue looked at him through narrowed eyes but kept her voice congenial. "Think you'll ever some back to Bayville after all this is over?"
"I don't know," said Lance, more harshly than he'd intended.
"It must be totally weird to be back," said Kitty, falling into the old speech patterns she'd always used around him. "You've been gone so long and all."
"This place never changes," said Lance.
Jean looked over and felt her heart speed up as she noticed Lance speaking to his old flame. Was there anything still between them? As teenagers they'd been infatuated with one another but their philosophies on life had been just too different. Would that change now that they were on the same side?
She resisted the urge to probe their minds for answers to her questions. That would be intrusive of her and entering minds uninvited made her feel like the worst kind of voyeur. But it was harder at that moment than she'd ever found it in the past. It didn't help that Kitty had worn the black jeans and red shirt combination that Lance had always admired in high school.
Then she spotted Piotr nearby and felt ashamed of herself. Kitty was head over heels in love with the Russian and Jean was making a friendly conversation into a full-blown affair. She knew Kitty, trusted her. There was no way she'd do something like that…
Except that she doesn't know about you and Lance because you were afraid to tell her.
Jean sighed and grabbed herself a cranberry juice from the refreshment table, which she noticed was decidedly light on alcohol. She'd never thought of herself as the jealous type before, although she'd had her moments in the past. And why should she care even if they were still attracted to each other? Lance would be leaving the very next day if things went to plan and it would be none of her business whom he slept with after he'd left.
The psychic alert from the Professor was intended for the Brotherhood, but both Jean and Betsy picked up on it with their own telepathic abilities.
…There's a car coming through the gates that I don't recognise…
…Is it Duncan's…
Jean winced at the volume of the thought that Lance transmitted, he obviously wasn't used to communicating telepathically.
…No the tracking device says that his car's still at the Matthews house…
…I can see it…
That thought was Pietro's, just as loud as Lance's had been. It seemed as though they were transmitting as loudly as possible to make sure they were heard.
Jean made a mental scan of the outside of the Institute. There were three guys in the car, which didn't add up. Any raid on the mansion would need more than three people to carry it out.
There was a blur as Pietro received this information from the Professor and he went outside to see who it was. Lance moved over to the window to see what was going on and Jean could see Pyro and Wanda doing likewise. Fred kept an eye on the people in the room while Toad hopped out of a window at the other side of the room and vanished into the night, probably climbing onto the roof in case backup were needed. And Logan was also outside.
Jean waited anxiously, although it seemed that most of the X-Men hadn't even noticed that there was a problem. Glancing across the room, she noticed that Betsy was also tensed for a fight and was glad that Emma wasn't around. The blonde would probably transmit the happenings to the whole room or at least tell Scott, who would feel the need to attempt to take charge. Scott had noticed the activity from the Brotherhood she realised when she looked over at him, but he didn't know what.
She overheard a response from Logan, winced at another loud thought from Pietro and then heard the Professor's voice transmitting to all the Brotherhood.
…All three have bottles of paraffin they apparently intend to light, can you deal with it…
…I CAN ME ME ME…
"OUCH!"
"BLEEDIN' 'ELL!"
Jean and Betsy both cringed in pain at the loud thoughts from Pyro, gaining them some odd looks from the X-Men who had no idea of the psychic conversations. Before anyone could comment on their behaviour, three Molotov Cocktails broke through different windows.
There were a couple of cries of alarm at the sounds of shattering glass, but the flames didn't take because Pyro was already controlling all three blazes, letting them burn for a moment in order to properly rein them in – he was more used to using his powers against one large target rather than three smaller ones – before extinguishing them. The delay shouldn't have been a problem, the ultra-sensitive smoke alarms going off thanks to the fumes from the fires only to be expected. But the smoke detectors were wired directly into the sprinkler system, which the Professor hadn't yet managed to disable.
Jean was vaguely aware of liquid raining from the ceiling and had the chance to realise that the substance wasn't water; it was something sticky and dark…
Then a wave of dizziness hit her and all hell broke loose.