"Scott? Scott!"

"Come in Kitty" he called.

Kitty phased in through Scott's door.

"I think something's wrong with Jean"

Scott sat up on his bed.

"Like what?"

"Well," said Kitty with an anxious tone quite unlike her own, "she just came back from wherever it was she was going today and just locked herself in the girl's bathroom. She won't talk to Ororo, Rouge, Logan, me, or even the Professor. We think something's really wrong"

"That's impossible. I would have felt it through our link" said Scott seriously concerned.

"That's what the Professor said. Could you come and try to talk to her?"

"Definitely"

He got up from his bed, packed up some of his school things, and headed out the door with Kitty.

There was a small worried crowd at the entrance to the bathroom when Scott and Kitty arrived. They all looked to Scott for hope; if anyone could reach her Scott could.

"Jean?" he called softly as he gently knocked on the door. "It's Scott"

The door unlocked and the thickness of the air outside the bathroom lifted if not just a little bit.

Scott opened the door and stepped into the bathroom. The door telekinetically shut and locked again once he was inside.

The bathroom was condensed and even the walls were foggy. Scott slowly approached the bathtub.

Jean was sitting in the bathtub, filled with water, still with her clothes on. Her eyes were red and swollen and she was hugging her knees as she often did when she was scared. She didn't take any notice of Scott and continued staring out in front of her.

"Jean?" he whispered in a soothing voice. When she didn't respond, Scott understood why he hadn't felt anything through their link: Jean was numb.

My God, is it really that bad?

"Jean? Where were you today? What happened? You know you can tell me"

She slightly moved her head down but still didn't speak.

Scott sighed. Then he removed his shirt and pants and sat across her in the tub forcing her to look at him.

"Sweetie, its killing me to see you like this" he said in a heartbroken tone.

"Killing" she whispered as she slowly returned to the present world. "Killing me"

"Jean,seeing you so depressed hurts me. Do you want to hurt me?" he asked, just trying to get her to talk more.

"It doesn't hurt yet" she muttered, as she turned her head away from Scott. "Is it going to?"

Scott realized that they weren't on the same page.

"Honey, what are you talking about?"

Jean locked eyes with him: red loving eyes on red loving eyes.

"I have breast cancer, Scott"

Scott didn't move at first. Didn't say anything as he processed what she said. Then finally…

"What?"

"I'm so young, Scott" she began sobbing as tears ran down her cheeks, "I have my whole life ahead of me.

"I want to be a doctor, I-I want to graduate from college, I want to raise a family, have kids with the man of my dreams. I love my life, I-I love my friends and they, they love me, Scott"

Her voice increased in pitch, "I love my house and my car and my part time teaching job. I love my room and my teachers and the X-Men and you…"

She stopped, the tears cascading now and her voice broken beyond any help.

"Oh God, Scott" she squeaked. "I love you so much"

Scott, who had just sat there staring at her, flung open his arms and Jean threw herself into them, burying her face in his neck and repeating the word she's just spoken, "I love you so much…"

Scott buried his own face in her neck, his voice broken as well.

"I love you too, Jean. And as God as my witness nothing in this universe will ever make me stop. Oh my Jean, my beautiful, beautiful, Jean…" he sobbed.

And in the humid bathroom, in an almost over flowing bathtub, cold, wet, and in the arms of the woman he loved, Scott Summers cried.

All while the X-Men waited outside the bathroom door for answers.

Hope it's up to par. I almost cried writing this. Of course, everything sounds better in your head so you guys might not cry.

I was inspired to finish up on this when I heard a song on the radio. It's called Skin (Sarabeth) by Rascal Flatts. It's a country song and it talks about a young girl with cancer who is trying to cope with Chemo and all those other awful things having to do with having Cancer. The song has a happy ending because she finds her true love, a boy that can understand her better than any one because he has cancer as well. Even if you don't like country music, I highly recomend it.

Till next chappie, stray

Ps: Be sure to check out my profile. It has been updated.