For once Scott was sure he hadn't been noticed. What that confidence was based on he couldn't tell, but it was there nevertheless. Most probably it was the look Emma Frost had on her face. One that said that if sky itself came falling down at her, she wouldn't notice. Or it could simply be his wishful thinking. His wish not to be observed, but to observe himself. How often can one catch a telepath unaware after all?

That wasn't a sudden realization many are fond of talking about. Scott just wanted to know if he really was looking without seeing, as he was told once. For as much as he hated to admit that, he was seeing without looking more than once, when it came to Emma. Must be his mutation's fault. He tried to rationalize his thoughts, as he was watching woman in front of him. If she knew it was cold outside, she didn't show it. Come to think of it, whole point of her being outside seemed to be standing there freezing. Back to his initial thoughts, Scott had to admit Emma Frost was beautiful. Not that that fact ever interested him before. And not that it interested him now. Simple observation, that's it, nothing more. Nothing more.

He never meant to compare Emma with Jean. Jean was above those things, couldn't be compared with anyone. Surely not with Emma Frost of all people. Still, Scott was noticing how much different the two women were. It was not just their appearance though. Sure Emma was a bit taller, had blue eyes instead of green and blonde hair instead of red. However all those obvious difference had little importance, come to think of it. It was something else, something Scott couldn't put his finger on. While Jean was loving, caring and warm, Emma seemed to always keep her distance. Scott knew Jean as he knew himself and may be even better. Whenever he started to think he understood Emma, she managed to prove him wrong. Jean was home, Emma still was foreign to this house. May be this was exactly what he was missing all this time, the way she stood out never belonging.

-"Like what you see? No need to answer actually. Everyone does."

Even if she was exaggerating she wasn't exaggerating much, Scott was sure. He only saw school inhabitants' reaction, and those were mostly teenagers. No wonder they were more than 'liking what they were seeing'. On the other hand, Scott overheard part of Logan's talk with Marie once. The one they had after Emma took girls shopping. Marie was describing men's reaction to Emma in her more than revealing outfit, one Scott still considered lingerie, and Logan's only response was 'No wonder'. 'No wonder', indeed.

-"I'm not everyone."

Whether Emma was creating her image consciously or it just happened to be that way Scott didn't know and frankly speaking didn't care much. What mattered was the impression Emma created on people. 'Expensive doll', was the closest description Scott could think of. He wasn't sure about the first part, but 'doll' was certainly not who Emma Frost was.

-"Neither am I, Scott dear. You surely understood by now it's useless to lie to me. Besides, I'm simply asking if you find me beautiful, not if you want to sleep with me. Although, I wouldn't mind the latter either."

And then suddenly as if forgetting two of them could hardly be called friends.

-"You really don't care, do you? You know I'm beautiful but you don't care. If I could only figure out if I like it."

Scott had heard her use the same tone of voice once. And once again he felt like he caught a glimpse of something he could feel, but couldn't understand. It was usually easy not to like Emma Frost, but there were moments like this when it seemed to turn into one of most difficult tasks he ever had to face. Because as much as he denied it, he liked spending time with Emma. Especially when they were not trying to kill each other. Or may be even when they did. Being flawless all the time was tiresome, to put it mildly.

-"Of course you do. Doesn't it feel good, to be appreciated for who you are, not for how you look like?"

-"So you 'appreciate' me now?"

Whatever came over her few moments ago was clearly gone now. The usual sarcasm was evident in Emma's voice. And once again Scott found the question was to be expected but could not be answered. Not when he couldn't decide if he was to continue the banter or to be as honest as possible. At least he had become good in eluding answering that kind of questions.

-"I don't know about you but I'm freezing. That means I'm going inside."

-"Why, darling, I know a great way to get warm."

So he now remembered why he couldn't stand her. Didn't that mean he should not be trying to understand if she meant what she had said?

---

Even though it had always been Charles Xavier's politics, Scott was sure now was time to make an exception. It was earlier this morning Xavier had departed for the meeting with possible new school doctor and member of their team. He also took Ororo and Kurt with him. Ororo for piloting Black Bird and Kurt for reasons unknown. Scott would usually have nothing against that, even if that meant he had to look after school all by himself. Honestly, Logan as far from being helpful as possible and Emma… Emma was in Cerebro chamber, taking the device in question apart and clearly enjoying herself.

-"And I was wondering, what made you behave all this time. You were just waiting for opportunity, weren't you?"

Scott briefly wondered how long it will take for Emma to mind-wipe him. Surely not as long as it will take him to contact Logan. He didn't want to think, that was the plan all along. Professor would have known, had it been like this. Probably when Charles Xavier left, Emma just saw the opportunity and decided to use it. Only what was she expecting to accomplish with breaking Cerebro? Drive Professor into coma again? Judging by the efforts made to take Cerebro apart Emma either had no idea how to do that or had more complicated purpose.

-"You really think I'm up to something bad. Why am I even surprised?"

Did that mean 'no mind-wiping' or 'no mind-wiping for now'? More than that, either he was hearing things or there was no anger in Emma's voice, only amusement. Could it be he was seeing things also? Right now, he surely wouldn't mind that.

-"Should I take it that I am wrong? Only if I'm offered an explanation."

May be he was already mind-wiped. Zombified even. Why else would he be willing to believe her so easily? Scott suddenly thought how it all looked from ouside. Emma was sitting in the middle of various Cerebro parts, so he was looking at her top-down. At the same time both of them knew she only had to think, for him to become her puppet. And then Emma smiled.

-"Explanation? And then you will want me to prove the explanation was not a lie. And then you will start thinking if the proof itself was real. Oh, you already do think I'm mentally controlling you."

It was Scott's turn to laugh now. He could probably push it and try to pull rank at Emma. But even if it wouldn't be destined to fail, it was also bound to go by the scenario she had just described. Anyway, that was exactly what Xavier tried to make him do all these months. To 'give Emma a chance'. He could always tell he was just following instructions.

-"I do have bad influence on you, Scott dear."

His point exactly. He really was nice person, before he met Emma Frost that it. There was Logan of course, but that was different. Scott knew exactly what and why he hated in Logan. Knew and at least pretended to tolerate the other man. As time passed the need to pretend almost disappeared. With Emma it wasn't about reasoning at all. Acting out on his emotions was just not what he did.

-"You surely do. Now, how about you tell me what are you doing here and I'll see if I can give you a hand."

'And let Logan deal with the kids all by himself for a while.' He could tolerate this man but he didn't have to like him. Besides Emma never said she wasn't trying to damage Cerebo. Something that would be impossible to achieve with him looking after her.

-"Or spy on me. You can say it out loud, makes no difference. And I'm only trying to synchronize Cerebro with my mental signature. As Charles was the only one to use it for quite a while, it's configured to match his brain waves."

Scott wondered if Magneto would be willing to share his helmet's secret. He could certainly use some protection against telepathy right now. Didn't such thing as 'privacy' exist anymore? Apparently even if it did, then not in Emma Frost's vocabulary.

-"Interesting idea. But I'd say that Professor still uses Cerebro more frequently than you do. Wouldn't be wise to change it to suit you."

She could at least use it. Scott was pretty sure everything went wrong the moment Jean used this damn thing. That was after what her powers went crazy. If he was Logan, he would certainly consider breaking the device. Luckily he was not.

-"And why do you think I'm going this deep into it? I'll just place another switch to enable configuration modifying. Still want to help?"

That could even be fun. Especially trying to put it all together again. Scott could understand why Emma didn't try anything like this while Professor was in the mansion. He himself shouldn't be encouraging her either. Then again it could be fun.

-"Sure. Why not?"