"Wedding Bells"
Part 1 – Private Conversations
It was amazing how much one person coming back from the dead and another almost dying could galvanize wedding plans. Jean Grey later would say all it took to dispel any doubts she had was to almost lose her fiancé, Scott Summers. While this was undoubtably true, even Logan refrained from reminding her that she was the one who nearly killed Scott in a burst of uncontrolled power (and temper).
However, once Jean and Scott set the date for their wedding, they were determined to see it through this time. They been engaged for two years and had tried to set a date several times before, but something had always happened to put their wedding on hold. Fortunately, all their initial plans and decisions were still there; they just needed to be dug up and dusted off. And since it was going to be a small wedding held at the school, which was something they both wanted, there weren't that many actual preparations. All of which Jean tried to explain to her mother on the hall telephone.
The problem with the hall telephone was that it was in the hall. There was no privacy and voices carried easily to the library. Especially when they were shouting.
"Mother, don't be ridiculous," Jean was saying. "I've lived with Scott for six years and I fucked him for three years before that ..."
"Way more information than I wanted to know," Bobby Drake murmured. He and about half a dozen other students were sitting in the library, pretending to ignore Jean's conversation, but in reality, glued to every word. He might pretend indifference, but Logan knew he had done the math. Hell, they had all done the math. Scott had been eighteen when Jean first slept with him.
"No, I won't apologize for my language," Jean continued. "I just won't play the blushing virgin. I'm thirty-four, dammit. Scott and I are going to get married. All I want from you and Dad and Sara is to come and be happy for me. Can you do that?"
There was silence for a few minutes and the decibel level went down a bit. "I'm only going to have one bridesmaid and it's Ororo."
"I'm not wearing pink chiffon," Storm muttered from her chair in the library.
x X x
The decibel level continued to drop and by the time Jean hung up the phone, she was talking normally and little could be heard in the library. Logan figured, frankly, that they had heard enough.
Jean calmly entered the library and went into a huddle with Storm and some of the other girls over wedding dresses. Most of the boys cleared out of the room. Wedding plans were too gooey to listen to and the overheard phone call provided plenty of good gossip to spread.
Suddenly, Jean looked up and cast her gaze upon Logan.
"Logan," she called out. "Would you please go check on Scott for me? I asked him if he was all right and he told me not to nag. He's in the hammock."
Logan was still startled by the ease of the couple's telepathic communication, but he shrugged and did as she asked. Pointed in the right direction by one of the students, he set off to find Scott.
Scott was convalescing from what was being referred to as "The Hellfire Club Incident." It was a good euphemism that hid all the pain and emotional turmoil that had occurred, culminating in his being thrown off a cliff by Jean. That he had survived at all, was nothing short of a miracle.
Miracle or not, Scott had not been a good patient, and was constantly pushing the boundaries of what his body (and his doctors) would allow him to do. He had been ordered to recuperate for a couple of weeks in the Med-Lab; but four days later, he had rebelled, insisting on going back to his own room. Jean had backed him up on it, pointing out that she could look after him just as easily there and that Hank needed a break. Hank agreed on both counts and tried again with an order for complete bed rest. But again, after three days of total boredom, Scott had secretly organized his advanced trigonometry class to meet in his room. Even Jean had not been aware of it and neither Hank nor Jean, as his doctors, were happy when the ruse was discovered. But Scott continued to push and was now back to teaching some of his math classes. The compromise was having the class meet in the library, rather than his regular classroom, so he could rest as needed. The students were charged with monitoring him for Hank and Jean and they did a pretty fair job of it.
Only in the matter of the Danger Room was Scott stymied. Professor Xavier had locked him out until he was completely recovered. It was not negotiable.
x X x
The hammock was hung between two large oaks, not too far from the house. Scott's leg had only recently come out of the cast; Logan was impressed that he had gotten this far on his own. As Jean had said, Scott was there, the hammock swinging gently back and forth. It was hard to tell initially if Scott were even awake. The glasses hid all.
"I had a feeling Jean would send someone," he said without looking.
"After everything that's happened, I don't blame her," Logan remarked lightly. "She has a vested interest in keeping you healthy. You're the groom and you're getting married in a few weeks. Scott snorted. "It only took two years and me almost dying to get there. But I'm not complaining. At least she's not asking me to choose fabric."
Logan thought over the magazines and scraps of cloth he had seen over the past weeks. "For a small wedding, it looks complicated."
"Battle plans for D-Day were simpler," Scott confirmed. "I'd be happy to just elope, but Jean's always wanted what she calls 'a proper wedding' and the kids are looking forward to it as well."
Logan smiled slightly. The kids were thrilled that the wedding was taking place at the mansion and they'd all get to attend. A wedding was something that showed even mutants could have the normal things in life – marriage and a family.
Scott continued. "It's not what I wanted, but I can suck it up and deal with it. It's just one day. So I'll do what every groom does -- stand where I'm told and wear what I'm told."
"What are you wearing?"
"A tux, apparently. That's de rigeur for an evening wedding. Well, late afternoon wedding. The wedding will be at five and an early dinner for everyone. That, at least, is firm. Then we're going to have the reception. The party should be fun."
"The kids are looking forward to that," Logan said. "They're planning on choosing the music."
"I'm choosing the music," Scott said firmly. "The reception's certainly going to be interesting. Jean's mother and I are going to have to pretend we get along."
That was an intriguing statement. Since Scott appeared to be in an unusually chatty mood, Logan was willing to delve deeper. "Don't you?" he asked.
"Not really," Scott replied. "I think she's too interested in social position and status. She takes being "Mrs. Head of the History Department of Bard College" very seriously. She thinks I'm too young for Jean and I'm just a high school math teacher. But what bothers her more than anything else is I'm Roman Catholic."
Logan was floored. "You're kidding?"
"Nope. Can you image that? That I'm a mutant doesn't bother her as much. She's resigned the to fact her grandchildren will be mutants; but she's afraid they'll be Roman Catholic mutants. Oh, the horror."
Logan choked on a laugh.
"But I have to cut Elaine some slack," Scott continued. "She was the only thing that stood between Jean and an insane asylum when she was a kid."
"Huh?"
"Jean was mis-diagnosed when her gifts manifested," he explained. "The doctors thought she was schizophrenic. But Elaine didn't accept the diagnosis. So she home schooled Jean for two years and took her to every doctor in New York state. Finally, they got to Professor Xavier, who was able to lock up Jean's powers until she was able to learn to control them."
This was all news to Logan. Much as he loved Jean (and he still did, even though he acknowledged her choice) there was much about her that he didn't know. Whereas, Scott had known her all of his adult life.
"So I'll be nice to Elaine and Elaine will be nice to me for Jean's sake," Scott continued. "And Jean's sister Sara and her husband will look disapproving and their kids will love every minute."
Logan snorted his laughter.
"Sounds like a fun family get-together," he commented.
"It will be," Scott confirmed. "I just hope I don't start laughing. At some point, the silliness of the whole thing will hit me."
"Well," Logan said, pushing himself away from the oak on which he was leaning. "I've got to get back to the house. I promised some of the kids a judo class." In spite of Logan's initial resistance to being enveloped by the school, he had quickly moved from being just head of security to teaching self defense classes as well. Much as he denied it, the school had become his home.
None of this was lost on Scott. "Careful, Logan," he called out. "Keep it up and I'll get the idea that you actually like us."
Logan's profane answer was lost on the breeze.
x X x
That evening, Jean sat in their bedroom, typing at her laptop with only the desk light on. Normally, she did this work in the lab, but Scott went to bed early now (partly on order from his doctors and partly from his own need to rest, irritating though he found it), so Jean came upstairs with him.
He was in bed, already asleep judging by his steady breathing. He wore the visor to bed now and Jean couldn't blame him for that. He had never been entirely comfortable not wearing some kind of ruby quartz eye-wear; after the attack on the school and subsequent events, he wasn't going to let his guard down. Especially when he was recovering from injuries to boot.
He moaned and Jean quickly turned his attention to him. The bulk of her powers were still in lockdown, but she could still reach out to him telepathically. But she didn't have to.
"Jean," Scott croaked, now awake. "Is there any aspirin?"
She brought it to him and sat on the edge of the bed while he swallowed the pills and water. "Is it your leg?"
He nodded. "It hurts a bit," he admitted. Jean knew better – his admission probably meant he was in considerable pain. "What are you working on?" he asked, changing the subject.
She smiled at the evasion. "Invitation list," she replied. "So far, with the school, family, and friends, it's coming in at about sixty people."
"Sounds manageable," Scott murmured. "Don't forget the Masters," he said. "Alex's parents would like to come, I think." He was rewarded with a kiss from Jean. Scott's brother Alex was going to be the best man. Circumstances had conspired in their childhood where Alex was adopted and Scott wasn't. While Scott was on good terms with Alex's adoptive parents, there was always a slight distance between them. Scott, for his part, recognized this in his own behavior and tried not to give in to hurt feelings. The Masters would be included under "family."
Which brought up the biggest point of discussion. "We still haven't decided who's going to do the ceremony," she reminded him.
Scott sighed. Left up to him, they'd be eloping. "You'd really like to be married religiously?"
"Well – yes, I would. And I thought with your conversations with Father Gregory and with Kurt, you'd be more -- interested -- in having a religious service."
While Jean had been believed to be dead, Scott had slowly taken steps to return to the faith of his childhood. Scott had been a "lapsed Catholic" for many years, despite the regular presence of a retired Roman Catholic priest, providing Mass at the school for the children. Father Gregory had tried for years to rekindle Scott's faith. But Kurt Wagner, a teleporter who returned with them from Alkali Lake and who physically resembled a demonic creature, was more tenacious. Between the two of them, Scott was slowly resolving his own inner conflicts between his faith and his experiences. It was going to be a long road, but Kurt was optimistic that he would eventually return to the church.
"Okay, I can compromise," Scott finally said. "We can ask Father Gregory to do it. We know him, he's known us for years, he knows what we all are, and he'd love to do it."
Jean tried not to laugh. Whereas she was herself only a nominal Episcopalian, her mother had imbibed some "anti-popish" sentiments early in her childhood and had never shaken their influence. As Scott had said, one of Jean's mother's objections to their relationship was Scott's Roman Catholicism. Oh, well, her mother would just have to deal with it.
He patted the bed beside him. "Is 'overexertion' still forbidden?" he asked slyly.
"Yes," she replied, joining him. "However, cuddling is allowed."
"Good," he murmured sleepily.
x X x