A/N: Well, I figured if people wanted this to continue, it should continue. Timeline explanations are at the bottom. Please let me know what you thought. :) Here's the second chapter…
Almost Exactly One Year Later…
Jean couldn't stop smiling.
There was probably something wrong with her cheek muscles, she reflected. Maybe they'd gotten stuck this way from smiling to much. Or maybe that weird fluttery, elated feeling in her stomach was manifesting itself this way, to stop her from exploding with jubilation. It was four 'o clock in the morning and she was no less sleepy than at four 'o clock in the afternoon. She couldn't sit still. Moving around was pointless. She couldn't sleep.
Gold with a diamond in the middle. Simple, elegant, and gorgeous. In her opinion, the prettiest engagement ring in the history of… absolutely everything. And that goofy smile just kept creeping on to her face. Sometimes she tried to stop smiling, just to see if she could.
She couldn't.
That morning, not even tired from her all-nighter (which had involved doing nothing but playing with the engagement ring of course) she slipped out into the corridor. Excited (beyond excited) as she was about all this, she wasn't sure how to tell anyone. She was a teacher now (the minute she'd graduated her college courses, one year early as many students here did, she'd been hired) and she knew all these people quite well. But what did you do exactly? Just go around flashing the ring at people? Waltz up to your friends and say something along the lines of, "Hi, I'm getting married. So, how's your morning going?". Or did you make some kind of announcement?
Jean finally just did absolutely nothing about it, which turned out to do the job all on its own. Apparently people - well, girls especially - had some kind of radar for engagement rings. The minute she walked into the kitchen, or so it seemed, Ororo's eyes widened and her mouth formed an "O".
"Oh Jean! You said yes!"
That seemed to Jean to be skipping a good part of the conversation, concerning what the ring was, who'd proposed, and how it had happened, but she didn't mind.
"Yeah." She nodded, blushing but smiling all the same.
"That's so wonderful!" Ororo wasn't given to squealing, but this was as close as the goddess ever got to a squeal. Or even a screech. Throwing her arms around her red-headed friend, Storm spun them both around in a gentle whirlwind, Jean's goofy smile reclaiming her face. How could she keep it contained?
"Oh Jean, this is so fantastic. I'd been wondering when he'd ask, and it's…It's great."
Jean couldn't disagree.
All over the mansion that day, people congratulated her. Bobby Drake collected money from his friend John, known as Pyro. "Told you." He taunted. Apparently, he'd won a bet.
Jubilee and Kitty came skipping up to her, demanding to examine the ring and know all the details, stiffness between student and teacher broken as they babbled on. "I knew it!" Jubilee crowed, and she and Kitty exchanged high fives.
Professor Xavier stopped by her classroom. She saw him out of the corner of her eye, waiting for her to finish teaching her lesson. When it was done (the effects of Shakespeare on modern literature) he rolled in.
"It's fantastic Jean." He told her, a firm smile in place on his face. That goofy grin claimed her mouth again. "The entire mansion has been holding its breath since Scott bought the ring."
"What? You knew?"
"Well, inquiring minds will find out what they wish to know. I did not sleuth it out myself - I believe some of the students did. Kitty and Jubilee were two of the foremost culprits I believe. They snooped through Scott's grocery bags and found it hidden between the eggs and the ham."
Jean looked at her ring in a whole new way. The Professor laughed. "Congratulations Jean. I wish you all the best."
Later that night, Jean spotted Scott sitting on a bench. He looked awfully thoughtful, and she slid into a seat next to him.
"Having second thoughts?" She asked, a wry smile twisting at the corner of her lips. He started and turned to look at her. "Or maybe you're hearing weird voices in your daydreams?"
That was okay to joke about now - it had stopped only a few days after she became Scott's "official" girlfriend and hadn't reoccurred since. An entire year almost exactly.
He laughed. "No to both."
He turned to her seriously. "I'm just…thinking about all this. Marriage. That's a big deal I guess huh?"
"I guess." Jean said, sensing Scott was serious. They really were second thoughts then?
"It's not that I don't want to marry you or anything. I just hope I can…I don't know… Take care of you I guess."
It was like falling in love all over again. He was a… words failed her. He was a really great guy. Gee, how poetic.
"First of all Mr. Summers, I can take care of myself." She said, trying her best to sound snappy.
"Oh I know you can!" He sounded horrified, and his face said something along the lines of, "Oh God I've screwed up already!"
"And second," She continued, her voice softening, "I have the utmost confidence that you'll be able to take care of me just fine."
The world is going to end.
Just deal with it.
Jean sat with her head in her hands, a raging headache claiming most of her capacity for thought. A silent tear trickled down her cheek. This wasn't fair.
She could feel the engagement ring digging into the skin of her forehead, but it was just a reminder. Just a reminder of the fact that this was supposed to be one of the happiest days of her life. Joyful. Blissful. Not haunted by strange, frighteningly real nightmares.
What was she going to do? This hadn't happened in almost a year. Checking the clock she saw it read "12:01." Exactly a year now. It had been a year since that first kiss, and they were engaged. Kind of poetic. At least, it would be, if it hadn't been for the fact that she was hearing strange voices in her dreams - and daydreams.
It wasn't made any better by the fact that she remembered every word the voice had said, because they were terrible words.
She sat there on the edge of her bed, crying, and wondering what in the world you did when anonymous voices in your head predicted apocalypse.
Jean was a mess for the next week.
She constantly told herself that she would tell someone -- Scott, Ororo, Hank, the Professor -- but somehow something always got in her way. She had to go grocery shopping, she had to study, she had to...
In truth she didn't want to tell anybody.
She could still remember the look on Scott's face that year ago when she'd explained her daydreams to him. Granted then she hadn't been able to remember them, but it was no better now that she could. He'd been shocked and then rapidly horrified -- not a look she wanted to encourage on people's faces. And the longer she waited the more she could picture the scene. Added to the stunned expressions would be words like, "Why didn't you tell anybody sooner?"
Not that those words wouldn't mean well, but they would slip out of friendly, caring mouths, and she would flinch.
She really did mean to tell someone all week, but she didn't.
If she was a little more stressed or withdrawn for the first couple of days, well, at first nobody said anything. She did her best to tell herself nothing was wrong, and most of the time it worked.
It worked until the voice came again.
It would strike at unexpected moments, and she would be left standing stock still and staring off into space until the voice stopped again. She'd glance around, turning faintly red, and continue on with what she was doing hoping no one had seen.
She could handle it, and repeatedly told herself so, until she really almost believed it.
After all, what was the worst that could happen?
Well, she doesn't really like to go there.
A/N: Now, about that timeline:
Basically, here's the deal. This is based on the comics Phoenix saga, however as was asked in a review, yeah, I am influenced by the movies. There are some ideas in the movies that I really liked, but I was originally (and always will be) a comics devotee. I read the original ones, from the late '70's and early 80's. So I'll be taking ideas from both the comics and the movies. Hopefully, everything will be fairly self explanatory. If anything is confusing, please let me know. I want to improve this writing!
As for the actual timeline, it's before the movies if that's what you're familiar with, and in the comics it would begin around the time Jean became Phoenix, though without that particular event.
It's going to be a fairly AU story, as Jean's transformation into Phoenix will be one that is of my own invention.
Lastly (sorry to make this long), a quick WARNING: There are no happy endings guaranteed. I definitely can't make any promises. The Phoenix saga was never a happy one. I can't promise bliss for our couple or for Jean as an individual. In fact, I can't promise that when this closes they will (necessarily) be alive. No, I'm not into depression just, well, if you've read the original comics, you'll know things didn't go well for them. Just thought you should all know.