Thank you for all of your reviews! Sorry it took me so long, I explained breifly down at the bottom why. To Slickboy444: It's good to hear from you again! I missed your reviews, and I just read your most recent chapter in "Hanging By A Moment". I always suspected that Betsy was jealous, but I never thought she would stoop that low. VERY well done. ENJOY!


Chapter 10: Starting Anew

For three days Jean lay on her couch constantly wondering to herself if she would ever see Scott again. She didn't get up to eat, drink, or even sleep; she just simply lay there staring up at her ceiling and holding a pillow to herself as she twirled her hair around her fingers. Her mind went over and over the afternoon when she had told him the truth about herself, playing out different scenarios if things had gone differently between them. Finally when she couldn't stand the pang of hunger that growled in her stomach any longer Jean pulled herself off her couch and wandered into her kitchen for some food.

As she was preparing a bowl of Mac n Cheese, there was a soft knock at her door. Jean turned her stove off and removed the pot from the glass top before answering it. She peered through the peephole first and sighed when she saw who it was. Jean opened the door slowly and leaned on the doorpost.

"Hey," Scott said softly.

"Hey," Jean responded. They immediately enveloped each other in a tight hug. "Oh, Scott. I've missed you so much." She whispered to him as she ran her hand through his hair.

"I've missed you, too." Scott said as they let go. He crooked his head around the corner of her door and looked into her apartment seeing the pot on the counter. Jean looked where he was and smirked to herself.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" She asked looking back up at him.

"Would you mind if I cooked?" Scott said indicating the two plastic bags he had with him. Jean shook her head and allowed Scott to walk into her apartment. "I went back to the institute and made Ororo, Logan, and Charles explain everything to me." Scott said as he unpacked the bags. Jean dumped her failed attempt at macaroni in the garbage then began washing the pot out. "I had no idea they cared about me so much."

Jean looked up from the sink. "You're loved, Scott, by so many people, you just have to realize it." Jean walked over to him when she was done and wrapped her arms around his waist. "So what did you bring?" she asked softly.

Scott suddenly had a vision of seeing himself turning around and grasping Jean by her waist and kissing her, but he shook himself out of it. "I brought a small roast, vegetables, and rice."

"Sounds good, I'm starving."

Scott smiled to himself. "Good." He whispered.

Some time later Jean lay cuddled on her couch beside Scott his arm wrapped around her shoulders keeping her warm, keeping her calm. She laid her head on his chest and sighed.

"Thank you for forgiving me, Scott."

"I was never angry at you, Jean. I was just… Overwhelmed by it all. It was a lot to take in at once and it just shocked me, I guess, to find out that everyone I had ever trusted lied to me for so long."

"As you said, though, they cared about you, Scott, and were only trying to protect you."

Scott looked down at Jean, as she seemed to gaze off into nowhere. "They should have cared more about you, Jean."

Jean paused for a moment, taken aback by his statement and thinking to herself, what could they have done? There was nothing they could have done, I was on my own. "Let's not talk about it anymore, ok? I'm tired."

"Then let's get you to bed." Scott stood and picked Jean up then carried her to her bedroom where he laid her in her bed and pulled the blanket over her. Scott turned to go but Jean reached out and grabbed his hand.

"No, stay. I don't want to be alone." She whispered. Scott smiled to himself in the dark then sat on the edge of the bed, removed his shoes, then got in beside Jean. Jean rolled over and pressed herself to his front as Scott wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head.

"Sleep well, Jean." And she did.

Scott awoke in the morning to a muffled sound and a shift in the bed. He was now lying on his back with Jean almost laying on top of him her arms wrapped securely around him. Scott lifted his head then to see what had climbed on the bed. His shift awoke Jean as well, she had never been a deep sleeper, and neither had Scott apparently. Jean lifted her head as well. She saw fast asleep at Scott's feet a small white and gray kitten.

"Oh, Scott, I forgot to introduce you." Jean sat up unwrapping her arms from around him allowing Scott to sit up as well. She clapped her hands lightly once and the kitten's head popped up staring at them both with its little head cocked to one side.

"It's adorable." Scott said quietly.

"It's a she." Jean responded. She then made a hissing noise that sounded to Scott like 'psssp… psssp…pssp pssp pssp…' The little kitten stood up on wobbly legs and padded over to Jean rubbing the side of its head against her hand purring quite loudly. Jean scooped the little thing up and turned to Scott. "Scott, this is Ruby, Ruby, this is Scott."

"Ruby?" Scott asked looking at the cat's color.

"I was thinking of you when I named her."

"How old is she?"

"About eight weeks." Jean set the kitten down and it hopped off her bed padding towards the kitchen. "She's probably hungry."

"Where did you get her?"

"My parents gave her to me. They didn't want me to be alone. My mother is actually treating me like a human being now. Its nice, in a weird sort of way."

Scott nodded. "Want me to make breakfast?"

"I'd like that."


Mid autumn

It was now late October and the beginning of Scott and Jean's junior year of college was hitting them hard. They were unable to see each other as often as they had liked, but sometimes managed to get together for lunch on days when neither had classes. Scott had thought Jean would take it easy after the ordeal she had been through but Jean wasn't. She was throwing herself headfirst into her various studies taking each of her several classes quite seriously and sometimes ignoring Scott's calls, staying uplate into the night to finish a single paper. At one point Scott didn't hear from Jean for an entire week and got worried and drove over to her apartment with a load of groceries, knowing she wouldn't have bought any herself and reduced herself to surviving on bread and water. He found her in her bedroom passed out at her desk, an overused coffee cup next to her laptop, and several water-stained glasses lying around.

Scott nudged her awake slowly, told her to change her clothes because he was taking her out and put away everything he had brought with him. After that he checked up on Jean once a week finally convincing her to give him her spare key. Scott gave her his key to calm her mood and told her to come over anytime she wanted for whatever the reason. Neither of them seemed to realize just what they were headed for.


Betsy Braddock, the newest member of the X-Men, who had joined a little more than three years prior, sat on one of the various couches in the institute's vast foyer curled against a pillow enjoying her most recent book. The purple-haired mutant was taking her daily quiet time trying to settle mind and filter the day's progress. Charles Xavier had personally recommended it for her after seeing what Jean had gone through, he didn't want any more of his students suffering from that kind of trauma. Betsy looked up when she heard the screech of brakes and a car door slam. She saw a very fancy silver convertible parked in thelarge circular driveway and a very handsome blonde man walking up to the front door. He rang the doorbell and rapped on the glass door twice.

"One or the other, darling!" Betsy called as she uncurled herself from the couch and went to get the door. She answered with a smile. Warren Worthington barely even seemed to notice her.

"Is Jean here?" Warren asked looking past Betsy's shoulder to see if Jean was walking by inside.

"Jean Grey I assume?" Betsy asked, her British accent was still strong after the several years she had lived in New York. Warren dropped his gaze to her to be met with beautiful brown eyes.

"Yeah." Warren said. "Hey, I know you from somewhere…"

"Doubt it, love. Come on in."

"Warren!" Ororo Munroe walked from one of the side rooms and greeted the young man with a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm great. I heard Jean was… Is… Alive. Is she here?"

"No, she's not actually. We moved her into the city almost three months ago. Mostly for her own good so she could actually live the life she was deprived of while living here."

"Do you have her address by any chance?"

"Warren…"

"Please." Warren begged. "I need to talk with her."

"All right, fine. Wait here, I'll get it for you."

Warren began pacing as soon as Ororo left, his actions didn't go unnoticed. "You know, just in case things don't work out between you and Jean, I'm always here for extra comfort." Betsy's voice said from the couch.

"What do you mean, "in case things don't work out"? What do you know?"

Betsy turned so she was looking at Warren, he stared back with his hands on his hips. "Just that Jean may have met someone since she moved to the city, and in this length of time, three months to be precise, things could have gotten serious."

"What do you know?" Warren asked again. "Who did she meet?"

"Oh there's no fooling you I see. Some guy that used to live here as well. Scott…. Something. She called here the other day asking if something of his was still here. And the way she talked about him… Oof, it sounded serious. It was the first conversation I ever had with her and the first time I found about 'Scott'. She sounded like she was in love."

Warren snorted a laugh. "Did she happen to tell you that she wasonce engaged to me?"

"No, but she's only twenty-one. How old are you?" Betsy raised an eyebrow when Warren didn't answer immediately.

"Twenty-four."

"Really, you seem so much... Older." Betsy said changing her tone and earning a look of interest from Warren.

"Here you are, Warren." Ororo announced walking back into the room and handing Warren a slip of paper. "Give her our regards."

"I will." Warren turned to walk out and was met with one last statement from Betsy.

"Remember, love, if things don't work out between the two of you, I'm always here." Warren merely smiled and nodded then walked through the door and drove off in his car. "Ooh, he is handsome."

"He gave Jean a lot of grief, too." Ororo stated sitting on the arm of the couch that Betsy was curled up on."Be careful around him. He hurt her, and not just emotionally. I don't want you going through the same thing."


"What do you think?" Jean asked pushing a slip of paper across her small kitchen table to Scott who stood on the other side of it at the counter. He looked up from chopping vegetables and sat down to look at the paper.

"What is it?" he asked staring at the drawing. It depicted Jean, he guessed, in some outfit.

"My new uniform." Jean stated with a proud smile.

"You designed this yourself?"

"Yes, what do you think?"

"What colors does it consist of?"

With another proud smile Jean went off into the full description of her work of art. "The uniform itself is a one piece, black. The gloves, boots, emblem, and sash will all be gold. See that little thing on the sash, that's a clip. It matches the emblem on the chest. That'll be gold as well."

"Opera length gloves, thigh high boots… Let me guess," Scott motioned to the emblem on the uniform's chest and the clip, "A Phoenix."

"Yep." Jean said excitedly. "So what do you think?"

"I like it. I think you'll look very, no, extremely sexy in it."

"Oh, Scott!" Jean shouted playfully and throwing her pencil at him. Scott held his arm up to deflect it.He laughed and returned to chopping vegetables. Jean grabbed her drawing back and levitated her pencil up from the floor and into her hand then took up her drawing once more. Just then there was a knock on her door. "I'll get it!" Jean called. She walked briskly and purposefully over to the door and threw it open with a gasp of surprise that Scott heard in the kitchen. He began to concentrate more on listening to Jean's conversation than the vegetables. "Warren, what are you doing here? How did you get my address?"

Warren shrugged. "A lady at the mansion… White hair…"

"Ororo." Jean said for him.

"Yeah."

"So what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you. I heard that you… That you were alive."

"Warren, now isn't a good time. I have company."

The tension between them was broken suddenly by a loud "OW! Shit!" from the kitchen. Warren tried to look around Jean but couldn't see who the distinct male voice belonged to. He heard footsteps approaching and suddenly a man was in the doorway beside Jean, his arm around her waist.

"Hey," Scott said. "What's going on out here, is everything ok?" Jean looked down at Scott's left hand where it lay on her waist. His index finger was wrapped in a tissue, poorly, since blood was beginning to leak through it.

"Honey, what did you do?" Jean asked taking his hand.

"Cut my finger." Scott said quietly.

"Well, don't stand here letting it get worse, go clean it. I'll be in a minute to look at it. And everything is fine, Scott." Warren stared at the young man on Jean's side. He knew him from somewhere but he just couldn't place him. "Scott, you remember Warren, right?"

"Oh yeah, how could I forget?" Scott said sarcastically.

"Warren, this is Scott. You've met a couple times."

"Is he you brother?" Warren asked, a little dumbfounded. There was no way that what Betsy had told him was true. Jean couldn't be in love with someone else.

"Warren, you know my only sibling is a sister, you've met her, too."

"Sara, right. Is he your cousin?"

"I don't have any cousins named Scott." Warren's gaze dropped down to where Scott's hand was still lying on Jean's waist. "Scott's my…"

"Boyfriend." Scott interrupted Jean. He knew she was about to say 'friend', but he wasn't going to allow this conceited, stuck-up snob to ruin her life a second time.

"Right," Jean said glancing up at Scott. "So like I told you, Warren, now isn't a good time. Goodnight, Warren." And Jean shut the door quietly with Warren still standing there. He heard a lock slide on the other side. So this was what rejection felt like.


A/N: I knowI said I wasn't going to have lapses in my updates but I got really busy with summer school stuff and SAT tutoring. I'll update again as soon as possible. I promise!