Yeah! I got more reviews, just not as many as I wanted, but I'm updating anyway because I've waited so long to get to write this part of the story that I just can't stop writing it! I hope you all enjoy!


Chapter 9: Phoenix Rising

Late Summer-Mid Autumn

It had been almost three years now…

Three years without Jean Grey at their sides, three years without her there to make them smile, to make them laugh, and to remember what a joy it was to be alive. Ororo would never get over losing her; Jean had been like a daughter or a younger sister to her. It was harsh that her life had been so drastically cut short. She had had the brightest future ahead of her; the sky had indeed been her limit. Not anymore…

Not anymore, Ororo thought to herself as she strolled the edge of the mansion's grounds. It was dusk; the sun was setting over the ocean beside her. Ororo had walked this path so many times and each time she did she prayed for the same thing. No matter how, for Jean to find a way back to them. She knew it was an impossible prayer, but if one kept at something wasn't it bound to happen? Eventually…

Eventually, Ororo thought now, eventually she would get over it.Eventually she would on. Eventually… Ororo walked over to the cliff to get a better look at the setting sun, to watch the purple, red, and gold bleed together into a single hue and then spread themselves across the water. She stood there for a long moment praying silently for Jean knowing she would have loved this; and she would have loved it more if Scott were here to share it with her.

As Ororo stood there taking in the brilliance of such a beautiful sunset her eyes drifted downward along the cliff to the narrow sandy beach at the bottom. What she saw made her grab her heart. No, there's no way… Ororo thought to herself as her mind raced to find an answer for what she saw. Shakily she raised her wrist to her mouth and spoke into the intercom on her watch. "Logan, Hank, come outside quickly. I'm by the cliff, and bring a warm blanket."

"Ororo, what's wrong, did something happen?" Hank's voice asked back.

"A miracle has occurred." Ororo whispered back.

Fifteen minutes later Ororo was drifting back up the side of the cliff on a small cloud she had created, Jean Grey's naked body wrapped tightly in the blanket. "My God…" Logan gasped when he saw her. Hank couldn't say anything. He walked over on all fours and took a small flashlight from the pocket in his shorts as Ororo shifted Jean's minimal weight in her arms so she held her more like a newborn baby. Hank checked her eyes then listened to her breathing.

"She's alive." He whispered after a long moment. There were audible gasps from both Logan and Ororo. "I wouldn't be surprised if she weighed eighty pounds or less, though." Hank stated.

"What are you going to do?" Logan asked. Hank indicated that they walk over to the gazebo and take the hidden elevator down to the med-bay.

"Put her in the infirmary and hook her up to a heart monitor, oxygen. Then I'll probably have to giveher a series of IVs. I'll monitor her daily to check how she's doing. This could take some time, Ororo." Hank stated reading the expression on the woman's face. "Months, before she wakes up. Especially in this state."

When they arrived at the med-bay Hank prepared a bed for Jean in the back where no one would go, placed her in the bed and then did everything he said he would. "When she does wake up, I think we can start her off with soup, lots of protein, andthen work her up to solid food again. No one must find out, especially Alex."

"I'll tell Charles." Logan said then turned to go.

"I'll go with you." Ororo added and walked out after him. That left Hank to care for Jean. He stared down at the young woman, she had just turned nineteen when she died, and now she looked as though she had aged these years she was gone from them.

"Welcome back, Red." Hank whispered placing his hand on her forehead. "We've missed you."

After that fateful day the months crawled by slowly as Jean's body was restored to a healthy state, Ororo, Logan, and Hank all took shifts by her side should anything unexpected happen. The students did begin to take notice that Hank was spending much more time down in the lab than he normally did, and some even came down to poke around, but Hank was always there to stop them. No one would have guessed that it was a fellow teammate they were trying to protect.

After one month Hank believed Jean was doing much better and that her body weight was going up. As she lay there in the bed they worked her legs mostly, since she had needles in her arms, bending one leg back toward her then laying it flat again. Ororo had dressed Jean in some of her own clothes. A month or two after her death she and Logan had packed everything in her room and stored them in boxes, which were placed in the attic. After three years many of Jean's belongings were still findable, much to Ororo's liking, she wanted to help the young woman put her life back together when this was all over, and she was sure going through many of those boxes would help.

By the end of two months Jean was able to breathe without the oxygen tube assisting her, but she was still connected to several IVs. Charles came down to see her more often, spoke to her even, even though he knew she couldn't really hear himbutin his heart he knew she was listening. He mostly came down in the evenings after all the students had gone to bed; he even took a few shifts watching over her. It was on a quiet night like this, when the only person around was Logan that Jean woke up.

Her eyelids fluttered first, then her hand moved up to her eyes as she moaned groggily. Logan had been fast asleep in the chair beside her bed his head leaning back against the wall. He looked up when he heard the moan and smiled to see Jean awake.

"Hey, beautiful." He whispered.

Jean looked over at him, surprised to see Logan. "Hey," she whispered back.

"Long time no see, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that. How are you?"

"I'm fine, I've missed you like hell, though, Red."

"Yes, I'm sure everyone has. Where is everyone?"

"Asleep upstairs."

"Where's Scott?"

Logan hesitated before answering her he didn't know how she would take this. "We never told him." Jean nodded.

"I knew you wouldn't. For one thing you care about him too much to want to cause him that kind of pain, and you know as well as I do that if he received that information he could very well run the risk of becoming suicidal."

"Nice to see you haven't lost yourspark, Red."

"I've got a new one, too."

"Well, you can show me that later." Logan looked over his shoulder to see Ororo coming in to take her shift. "There's someone else here now, and I'm sure she's going to love seeing you. Ororo," Logan said softly ashe walked out of the small room Jean was in. She heard Logan tell Ororo and then the woman walked in a smile beaming from her face.

"Jean… It's so good to see you smile again."

"I missed you, too, Storm.

Jean remained bedridden for several more weeks before Hank allowed her to walk around. By now the students knew that Jean was alive and well. They would come downstairs during the day when they weren't at school. Alex came to see her most often. "So I still can't tell my brother?" he asked Logan as he walked out one afternoon.

"No, we decided that Jean will tell him everything when the time comes. We're moving her into the city."

"We made the mistake once of allowing her tostay here, we're not doing that again." Ororo added. "It's getting late, Alex, you better return to your dorm at college. Don't tell Scott a thing." Ororo added strictly.

"You're moving me into the city?" Jean asked when Ororo and Logan returned to her small room.

"Yes, you've been given a second chance, Jean. We're doing the same for you that we did for Scott. We're moving you into an apartment; Charles is taking of everything surrounding that. And if you decide to take some classes at one of the local colleges, we encourage it."

"Soyou'rebasically kicking me out?"

"Yup." Logan added with a smile. "We don't want you here, we can get along fine without you, Jean. You have a life that you deserve to live."

Jean breathed slowly as she took the entirety of that in. "What about, Scott?"

"That's a bridge you'll cross when you come to it."

A few weeks later Hank decided that Jean was now healthy enough to leave his care and to begin a new life for herself. He handed her two small orange bottles on the morning that she was leaving. "Now these painkillers are for the headaches you may experience, I'm Charles has filled you in about all of those."

"Yes, unfortunately." Jean smiled sarcastically.

"And these," Hank added, "are sleeping pills. I want you to only take these when you can not sleep." Hank emphasized. "And take it very easy on those painkillers, there the same ones I gave Scott."

"I will, don't worry." Jean promised placing the two small bottles in her purse. "Thank you, Hank, for everything you've done." Jean gave the man a hug then said her goodbyes. It was hard for her to say goodbye to everyone, she had only just returned to them and now she was leaving once more.

"Good luck!" several of them called after her as she drove up the driveway.

"How long do you think it will take before she runs into Scott?" Ororo asked as she and Logan walked back inside arm in arm.

"Depends on how long it takes for Alex to spill the beans I guess." Logan answered with a smile.

Not long at all, actually, Scott was back at the mansion a few days later. He burst through the door and headed straight for Xavier's study. "May I speak with you?" Scott asked knocking lightly on the door.

"Is this about Jean?"

"Yes, Alex told me she came back, but he didn't tell me where she is. I was hoping you might know."

"I do, actually, Scott. Sit down I'll give you her address."

"She's local!"

"Yes," Xavier wrote down Jean's street and apartment building and number. "I trust she'll give you the rest." Xavier said calmly as he handed Scott the slip of paper.

"Thank you. I can't wait to see her again I miss her so much. Thank you, professor."

"Scott, don't be a stranger here. Come and visit us as often as you'd like."

"I will, I promise. Thank you." Scott walked out hurriedly to his car. Jean was back, he couldn't believe it. After all this time… "She's back." Scott said to himself. "She's back…"

When Scott arrived at the street he figured he wanted to surprise her so he stopped a few blocks away and bought some fresh red roses at a small stand. He checked his hair in a window then began walking toward her apartment building. He was so influenced by the fact that he was going to see Jean again after three years that he didn't watch where he was going and walked right into someone spilling their groceries all over.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention at all." Scott apologized quickly helping to pick the person's groceries up.

"It's fine, it was my fault. I'm in a rush to get home."

Scott looked up when he heard the voice, he would've recognized it anywhere, even after three years of not hearing it. "Jean?"

The woman looked up at him from picking up her fruit, the same emerald green eyes stared at him. "Scott? Scott!" Jean threw herself at him nearly tackling him to the ground as she wrapped her arms around him in a ferocious hug.

"Nice to see you, too. I was just coming to see you." Scott couldn't take his eyes off her. She was more beautiful than ever.

"Well you wereheading in the wrong direction."

"Yes, I see that now… You're so beautiful, Jean."

Jean blushed as she smiled at him and continued to pick up her groceries. Scott helped with the rest of them and offered to carry one of the bags for her. They made it to her apartment in a few minutes where Jean set down the paper bags and began unloading them. Scott looked around her apartment as she did so. It was just like his, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a bedroom. White walls, cream carpet, simple furnishings, and whatever Jean had personally added.

"Oh, here, these are for you." Scott said handing her the roses finally.

"Thank you, Scott." Jean said taking them from him. "They're beautiful. And it's nice to see they survived our little crash test." Jean retrieved a vase from under her kitchen sink, filled it with cold water then placed the roses in it. She placed the vase on her small kitchen table.

"Would you like some help?" Scott motioning to her groceries.

"Sure."

They unpacked her groceries together talking and catching up, sharing stories, though Jean didn't have many, and generally enjoying each other's company.

"So where have you been all this time?" Scott asked as he placed her fruits and vegetables in the fridge in their respective drawers. Jean stopped cold as she placed a box of cereal away. She turned and looked at Scott with a weary expression. "Jean, what's wrong?" Scott asked upon seeing the sad look in her eyes. Jean had forgotten that Scott didn't know.

"I think you should sit down while I'll tell this to you."

"Jean, what do you mean?"

"Just sit." Jean said motioning to her couch. She sat down as Scott sat beside her. "Where to begin?"

"How about at the beginning?"

"Don't be a smartass, Scott. This isn't something easy that I can just tell you." Jean took a deep breath before continuing. She knew she would want to have this story straight before she actually met up with Scott, her only problem was she was having difficulty still believing parts of it. "I died." Jean whispered.

"You… What?"

"I died, Scott. It happened about three months after you left for your freshman year of college. We had to go on this mission to recruit a young girl named Elizabeth Braddock. I don't really know much about her now except that she's British, she has purple hair, and likes to be called Betsy. She was at this warehouse, so I flew the jet there, we picked her up, and as we were about to leave Magneto and his Acolytes showed up. Charles had wanted us to find Betsy before Magneto did, but what he didn't know was that Magneto had already found Betsy and was using her as bait to lure the team, specifically the leader, into a trap. We didn't know that, well, at least the team didn't."

"But you did?" Scott accused.

"Yes, I did, and I judged the situation entirely the wrong way, Scott. I did something so selfish, I won't expect you to ever forgive me."

"What happened?" Scott asked, his voice low.

"I battled Magneto. Alone, just the two of us in the warehouse. I erupted into flame as Logan and Ororo told me, and I spoke in a voice that was not my own."

"Phoenix…?" Scott asked staring straight into Jean's emerald eyes. Jean nodded, swallowed, and continued. Tears were quickly filling her eyes.

"I allowed Magneto to kill me, Scott. I was afraid of what I was becoming. I knew I would never be able to control it, I would wind hurting everyone around me that I loved. I felt as if I had no choice."

Scott sat there taking all of it in. How could Jean do something like that? "How come I never knew? I was told that you had just up and left."

"They didn't want you to hurt, Scott." Jean choked out in between her sobs. "They didn't want you to feel any pain."

"SO THEY LIED TO ME!" Scott shouted rising to his feet. Jean stood up and tried to take his hand as tears continued to fall down her cheeks. Scott pulled away from her. "Don't touch me. How could they lie to me, Jean? About something like that! How?" he demanded grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.

"Scott, don't!" Jean yelled. "Don't do this, I'm sorry!"

"How could you do that?" Scott yelled. "Why, Jean?" He shook her again.

"Scott, don't!" Jean yelled again, warning him. Scott watched as fire began to blaze in her eyes. He let her go and the fire died.

"Jean…?"

"I have control now, Scott…" Jean whimpered, as she lay crumpled on the floor. "But not a lot… Please don't go, let me explain…"

"I've heard enough." Scott spat grabbing his keys and walking to the door.

"Please, I want you here!" Jean cried.

"I need some time to think about this, Jean. Goodbye." Scott shut the door on his way out, a little harder than necessary. Jean threw herself against the side of her couch and cried until she could cry no more.


A/N: I don't think Scott took that very well… Please review and tell me what you all think!