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Chapter 5

More than six months after her arrival at the Institute, Jean was finally starting to come out of her shell. Without the overwhelming responsibility of learning to control her telepathy, she was able to focus on healing from the physical and emotional trauma of the accident and her ensuing coma. She still had quiet moments, and times where she would revert to being shy, but more and more Jean was relearning how to have fun and laugh and play and just be silly.

The appearance of the real Jean revealed her affectionate, considerate nature. She would give Ororo a hug for no reason at all other than wanting to; she would clean up the lab for Henry after he'd finished conducting an experiment; or she'd curl up on the sofa and watch TV with her head resting on Logan's chest. The first time Hank had entered the rec room to see the ferocious Wolverine being used as a pillow by the little girl, he could hardly believe his eyes; in fact, he'd quickly gone to retrieve his camera to capture the moment on film.

It appeared to everyone that Jean was well on her way to being a well-adjusted, happy child. Until the day the second part of her mutation manifested.

*****

"Come on Jeannie, you can hit harder than that," Logan egged her on, holding up his gloved hands and jabbing at her. She leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding the punch. She scowled at him and advanced, darting quickly in an attempt to out-maneuver him. He hopped out of her way and laughed. "Pathetic, kid! Not even close!"

Her eyes narrowed angrily. She knew Logan was just pushing her buttons to make her mad, to trick her into getting sloppy; even though she knew it, it was working. Logan could make her angry faster than anyone she'd ever met – he seemed to delight in seeing how far he could push before she'd snap. Suddenly he swept her feet out from underneath her and the next thing she knew she was flat on her back. He stood over her, grinning, and she glared up at him. "You lose, kid."

Jean was already cranky after a restless sleep the night before, and was not in the mood for Logan's torment. "Stop baiting me!" she shouted at him in frustration. "You're distracting me."

"That's the point," he told her, pulling her to her feet. "Ya need to be able to focus, regardless of what yer opponent might be sayin'."

"You're not fighting fair."

He howled with laughter. "Kid, life ain't fair, in case ya hadn't noticed. And what's that got to do with the fact that yer hittin' like a girl today?"

Jean's face was getting redder and redder as her anger bubbled up.

"Whatsa matter, Red? Don't like bein' told ya fight like a girl?" Logan continued his verbal assault, trying to get her to fight the way he knew she was able to.

"Cut it out!" she yelled at him. The gym seemed to vibrate, and that got Logan's attention even more than the fury in the young girl's voice. He glanced around and noticed that everything in the room was shaking, and that items that weren't bolted to the floor were starting to lift into the air. "Stop making fun of me! You're acting like a total jerk!" Jean continued to yell, oblivious to what was happening.

"Jeannie," he said slowly, trying to get her attention.

"Don't Jeannie me!" she screamed shrilly, and the room seemed to explode. The mirrors along the wall shattered outwardly, and Logan tackled Jean to the ground to keep her from being sliced by the flying glass. When he raised his head, the entire contents of the room were spinning through the air, as if caught in a tornado.

Jean's peeked out from under Logan's protective arm and looked at the scene around her in horror.

"Logan, what's going on?" she asked, suddenly very scared.

"I dunno, but we've gotta get outta here," he growled and urged Jean to her hands and knees. "Crawl towards the doors, and keep your head down."

Charles, you'd better get down here! Logan sent urgent call. I don't think telepathy is Jean's only mutation!

Once they were safely out of the gym, Jean pulled her knees up tight against her body, staring back into the spinning chaos.

"Am I doing that?" she asked in a small voice.

Logan looked over at her, curled up on the floor shaking almost convulsively. He sank to the ground next to her and hugged her tight. He sighed heavily, knowing what this development would do to her. "I'm not sure, darlin', but I think so."

Jean whimpered and buried her head against his chest. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she cried over and over.

That's how Charles found them several minutes later, Logan tenderly holding the scared girl, stroking her hair to calm her. The telekinetic storm in the gym was still raging, seeming to gain in power the more upset Jean grew.

"Jean, I need you to calm down," Xavier ordered gently. "Deep breaths...use the focusing exercises you're been working on with Ororo. Now, I want you to visualize the objects in the other room, and focus on setting them down, gently. Picture everything in the room settling back into place. Concentrate, Jean, you can do it."

Eyes clenched tightly shut, Jean did as she was instructed. She fought to control the whirling objects in the room. Sweat was beading on her forehead as she struggled to visualize placing the objects gently down on the ground. She didn't notice when her hand came up, fingers pressing against her temple, or her other arm reaching out towards the gymnasium, directing the equipment to settle back to the floor. She cried out in pain at one point, and Logan shot a look at the Professor, who shook his head and continued to watch Jean with an intense expression on his face.

To Logan's amazement, the tornado in the gym was slowing. The larger objects landed first, with loud thuds, while the smaller and lighter objects continued to circle the room, though not as frantically as before. Finally the last objects settled, and Jean slumped over with a whimper. Logan dropped to his knees beside her, worry etched in his rugged features.

"Jean? C'mon, Jeannie, wake up," he encouraged, gently shaking her prone form. She didn't move. "Christ, she's out cold, Charles."

The other man nodded sagely. "I'm not surprised. The exertion of controlling her new powers overwhelmed her. We need to take her to the med lab so that Henry can monitor her condition."

Logan scooped her up into his arms, and followed Xavier down the corridors to the lab. "This is gonna be a huge set-back fer her, isn't it?" he asked quietly, looking down at the sweet face of the little girl he carried.

Charles sighed. "I'm afraid so, Logan, I'm afraid so."

"She possesses telekinetic abilities as well?" Hank asked in amazement, after being filled in on the situation. "Oh, my stars and garters."

Jean lay motionless on the exam table in the med lab as Hank attached electrodes to her head to monitor brain activity; the only outward indication that she was even alive was the shallow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Logan hovered nearby, glancing from Jean to Hank and back, tracking every move the doctor made.

"She's gonna be all right, isn't she?" Logan finally asked.

"Yes, yes, of course," Hank murmured under his breath as he examined the readouts from the machines. "Fascinating, simply fascinating."

"She's had so much trouble controlling her telepathy. Why d'ya think she was able to get a handle on the telekinesis so fast? Sure, it took 'er a few minutes, but she put everything back down," Logan asked nobody in particular.

"Although more testing will be required in order to confirm this, it would appear that telekinesis is actually Jean's primary mutation," Charles speculated. "She demonstrated an innate control over it after its initial manifestation, though it will still take her some time before she is able to manage it completely. Telepathy is apparently Jean's secondary, weaker mutation, though her power is still formidable. That would, of course, explain why she has so much trouble controlling her telepathy."

"How come ya didn't know that she had multiple mutations?" Logan wondered.

Charles sighed. "It is impossible to predict these things, I'm afraid."

"I shouldn't have pushed 'er," Logan muttered, a frown deeply etched on his face. "I was teasin' 'er, tryin' to make 'er angry so she'd fight better. That's what triggered the telekinesis to explode like that."

"No, Logan, it wasn't your fault," Charles insisted. "The telekinesis would have manifested itself eventually. You were simply the catalyst – if it hadn't been you, it would have been something else. It was very fortunate that you were there when it happened, otherwise she could have been seriously injured."

The frown deepened as Logan absorbed this information. I'm sorry, darlin', he sent to her, hoping that maybe her telepathy would pick up on his thoughts.  If I'd known what it would do to ya, I never woulda pushed ya that hard.

"I believe our young patient is beginning to awaken," Hank announced. Charles and Logan rushed over to the table where Jean lay, watching as she slowly opened her eyes. She looked at them in confusion.

"What happened?" she asked groggily, moving to sit up. Hank stopped her with an arm across her shoulders.

"Not yet, young lady," he ordered gently. "You need to stay lying down, or I'm afraid you may lose consciousness again."

"What do you mean, again?" she asked, brow furrowing.

"You're even more gifted than we'd first realized, Jean," Professor Xavier told her with a kind smile. "Not only are you telepathic, but you also have the power of telekinesis – the ability to move things with your mind. Do you remember what happened in the gymnasium?"

She looked at him blankly for a moment, but then it came back to her in a rush. "The room exploded," she muttered, and the instruments around the lab started to rattle slightly.

"Jean, listen to me," Charles instructed. "You need to calm down, and you need to concentrate on not commanding items in this room to move. Do you understand?"

She looked at him fearfully, but nodded. Jean closed her eyes in concentration, and after a few long seconds the instruments settled onto their trays.

"Now remember that feeling, Jean. Remember exactly how you regained control of the items in this room. What did you do, how did you do it? You need to be able to keep control like that at all times. That feeling must become second nature to you."

Jean bit her lip and nodded, not really knowing how she'd managed to control her new power, but that she needed to master it, and fast. She didn't ever want to hurt anyone; she'd almost hurt Logan earlier, without meaning to. She wanted nothing more than to run away and hide where she could never hurt anyone again.

Great, I'm an even bigger freak than I thought, Jean told herself, disgusted and ashamed of herself. But she refused to let her tears fall in front of the others.

~~

Coming soon, Chapter 6

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