Seven months ago

"JEAN! Get Down!" Scott shouted as he fired an optic blast. Jean ducked as quickly as she could underneath one of the nearby tables as Scott's beam neatly hit their assailant. The man that had called himself Sinister just laughed as his skin healed up the hole that Scott had ripped through him. Scott ran over to Jean who was hiding behind a table she had propped up and was taking of her high heeled shoes.

"Are you all right?" he asked her as he shrugged off his jacket and opened up his dress shirt. She nodded wordlessly and they both jumped up to fighting stances. Jean flung a nearby chair at the man. It was useless, however, as he flung it to a side with ease.

"You two will make excellent specimens" he chuckled as he fired a red beam in their direction which shattered the table they were hiding behind. Jean immediately threw up her shield around them but was having trouble keeping it up from the strength of the beam.

"So much for our romantic dinner" she muttered to Scott as she started to sweat from the pressure against the shield. Scott did a quick calculation and fired an optic blast out of the shield that ricocheted off his now bullet-proof car window and hit Sinister. It didn't hurt him but it did cut off the beam. Jean dropped the shield and dropped to her knees in exhaustion. Scott kneeled beside her and, clutching her close, ripped off his glasses all together and shot a huge beam at Sinister. He heard the cars that were parked around the man explode and he felt Jean's heartbeat start returning to normal.

After a couple of seconds, Scott cut off his beam and put his glasses back on. It took a few more seconds for the smoke to clear but it only took one for Scott's blood to run cold. Sinister was still alive and he was laughing at them.

"Fools! You can't defeat me!" he shouted as he powered up another beam at least twice as strong as his first.

"Can't blame us for trying" he whispered to Jean and he hugged her tight.

"No you can't" she said determinedly. Sinister fired his beam but Jean was ready. She threw up another shield, one stronger than before. Sinister's beam must've hit it at a wrong angle because it deflected off the top of the shield and shot behind them at the foundations of a three story construction building. Scott didn't need to hear the creaking to know what was coming next. Knowing that Jean's shield couldn't possibly withstand such force he threw himself protectively on top of her as the building came down on all three of them.

Jean had no idea how long she'd been out but she woke up to find herself pinned underneath a large piece of timber. She turned her head to a side and coughed out blood. Then, almost instinctively, she called out for her Scott.

"Scott?" she cried. Then, wincing in pain as she realized she had some broken ribs, she called out again a little softer and she felt a hand clasp her own on her other side. She turned her head to see Scott also under the same piece of timber. He was bleeding from his head and one of his glasses' lenses was cracked. She could see his red optic blast glowing through the cracks as he softly smiled at her. "I'm here" he whispered.

"Did we get him?" she whispered back weakly. Scott ever so gently nudged his head to his left. Jean looked beyond him and saw a black gloved hand peeking out of the wreckage. It wasn't moving.

"Jean, I have something to say" he said earnestly.

"Not now, baby. We need to rest and save our strength" she whispered tenderly.

"No" he whispered, "I've been building up the courage to ask you this tonight for months. I told myself nothing in the universe would stop me"

"I'm sure you'd be able to forgive yourself" she responded with a small, playful smile.

"Never" he continued whispering as he reached into his pocket with his free hand. He pulled out a small velvet box. It had been dented in the fight but she didn't care. He opened it and showed her the ring inside. "Jean, (cough) will you marry me?"

Jean smiled through her tears. "Of course. Do you even need to ask?" He smiled back at her and brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. Then she took it back and kissed his hand as well.

"You're crazy, you know" she whispered rubbing the back of his hand against her cheek. "That's why I love you so much"

"I love you, too" he whispered. Then the glow coming from the crack in his glasses faded out. Jean kissed his hand again and drifted to sleep.

Jean shut her eyes tight as she became aware of the bright lights around her. She heard voices and thoughts all around her and couldn't tell the tow apart. Ever so slowly, she willed her eyes open and found Dr. McCoy at her bed side. She was in the infirmary and was attached to several machines.

"Dr. McCoy?" she groaned.

He smiled at her. "It's me, Jean. How are you feeling?" he asked her in a concerned voice.

"Ok. What happened?"

"I was hoping you could tell us that. We pulled you out of the rubble of a contruction building three days ago" he said anxiously.

"Scott!" she exclaimed. "Dr. McCoy, is he…?"

Dr. McCoy sighed a defeated sigh and stepped to his left. Jean gently lifted her head to look beyond him. Scott was laying the bed nearest to her and was hooked up to even more machines and what looked like a life support system.

"No…" she whispered as tears came to her eyes. "Please…no…"

"He's not dead" another voice said. Jean turned her head to see Logan and Ororo on the other side of her bed. They both looked anxious as well.

"Thank God" she whispered, relieved.

"But, Jean," Ororo said with a voice full of sorrow, "he may never wake up again"

"He has to" Jean whispered to herself as she tuned out her teachersand shut her teary eyes. "We have a wedding to plan"

This is the prologue to 'Never Loose Hope'. The next and final chapter is the epilogue. Stay tuned!