I remembered after I wrote this that John (Pyro) goes off with Magneto. For this, we're going to pretend it didn't happen. So, in a way, it's AU, but for the story it has to work. Sorry!
Good Luck
"Logan!" Jean called. "Good."
"Hello to you too." She gave him a shy, nervous smile as she fell into step with him.
"What's up?" He noticed her biting her bottom lip in nervousness. Finally, she took a deep breath as if preparing herself for a huge revelation.
"I'm going to talk to the professor today about going back to teaching." He wasn't sure what to say. Less than a month ago, she'd flatly refused to even think about teaching. Her change had him confused. Her reasoning had been sound when she'd explained her lack of trust in her abilities. Sure, he believed in her, but he wasn't sure she could have mastered enough control in the span of a month. Her mental nudge told him otherwise.
"I've been practicing," she told him proudly. He chuckled softly.
"Really."
"Within the lab and a lot of small things."
"Teaching?"
"Yeah. Rogue brought a couple of her friends down to the lab again for some more experiment stuff and it hit me, how much I loved teaching," she said, suddenly animated and excited. He chuckled at her youthful exuberance as they continued to meander down the halls. A lot of changes in Jean had made him giddy these days.
Rogue had called him on his actions, the only one really paying enough attention to notice. Around Jean, nothing else mattered. Whenever Rogue wanted to find him, the first places she checked, besides his room, were the lab and Jean's room.
He was just glad he'd gotten a second chance.
Half of him wanted to severely injure Scott Summers for his treatment of the woman he was supposed to have loved. The stronger half thanked Scott for screwing up and letting go of what was probably the best part of the holier-than-thou bastard's life. Logan had been offered a second chance and it was the only thing he'd ever prayed for.
"When are you talking to Chuck?" he asked, breaking the comfortable silence. If he was completely honest with himself, they rarely had awkward silences any more. Jean looked at him sheepishly.
"When I find the guts. Just because I've been practicing doesn't mean I have complete trust in my control and doesn't mean he'll let me go back," she explained. He smirked.
"I think we both know he could never say no to you." She shook her head empathetically.
"That's half of the problem. I want him to let me back because I'm the best for it, not because I'm still his protégée," she said, sadness creeping into her voice. Not wanting that sadness sticking around, Logan elected to change the subject.
"What did you show the students?" he asked, knowing her inherent love of chemistry and biology would be a good distraction.
"Nothing overt. It was really only electrolytic solutions…"
"Whoa, Jeannie, dumb it down for us normal people." Her pursed lips and short glare spoke of her displeasure with the term.
"In laymen's terms then," she subtly corrected. "Some substances can conduct electricity." The rest of the explanation he zoned out, captivated by the melodical excitement in her voice.
"Were they the same kids?" Jean shook her head.
"New ones. I think she's just trying to prove a point."
"And?"
"Well she must have really made it, right? I'm going to talk to the professor," she shrugged.
"Set a date," he told her.
"What?"
"Set a date."
"For what?"
"Talking to the professor."
"Logan, that's not…" He stopped, pulling her to face him and meeting her gaze squarely.
"I trust you to go through with it Jean, but courage after what you went through, is going to be hard to find. The deadline…" he shrugged. Jean sighed. Once again he'd been able to see past her mask and figure her out. She suddenly really understood why he wanted her to set that date.
"A week," she finally decided, sounding much more confident than she felt. His look of shock had her butterflies attempting acrobatic tricks in her stomach.
"You can take your time."
"I know. But you're right. Its only going to get harder the longer I put it off." He looked at her strangely for a moment and she grinned.
"I'm not reading your mind," she promised, ducking around him to continue down the hall. "Its all over your face." With that, she sauntered off down the hall.
A week later, having made sure to keep her decision a secret, Jean awoke to the worst butterflies she'd ever had. She was going to talk to Xavier.
It wasn't talking to Xavier that had her feeling uncomfortable but the potential result. She'd been a good teacher, absolutely in love with her curriculum, but her biggest fear was that the professor would tell her she was still untrusted with the students. Rogue had stealthily brought in an astounding number of students in the last three weeks and it had not only boosted her confidence in teaching, but her trust in the students and her value in the school.
Slowly, she pulled herself out of bed and absently went about her normal routine, showering and getting dressed. For the first time since she'd returned, she slipped into a business suit and heels, different than the slacks and sensible shoes she'd been wearing.
With a deep breath, she opened the door and almost tripped over the green bear in front of her door. She picked it up slowly, a small smile floating over her face.
Good luck.
That was all the note aid that was taped to the green clover on the bear's stomach. Placing the bear on her bed, beside Bedtime, and, with calmer butterflies, headed towards the professor's office.
She'd hoped to catch him before classes and worried she'd missed him when sleepy teens made their way through the halls. Still, she knocked on the professor's door, poking her head in and smiling at her mentor.
"Can I talk to you, professor?"
"Jean, what can I help you with?"
"I've been thinking about returning to teaching," she said carefully. She felt the surprise from the professor, something that shocked her. Physically, he hid it well.
"What changed your mind?" It didn't surprise her that he knew she'd opposed teaching. After all, he did have substantial power. Still, she knew her shields were strong enough that he hadn't entered her mind to find that she didn't want to teach.
"Rogue." That was all the information Xavier was going to get fro her, mentally or otherwise. She'd been building her shields as much as her control, after all.
"I need my life back, professor."
"And teaching is important to that?" She took a deep breath.
"These kids… they need more than what they're being given. I want to teach them, help them become…" Xavier held up his hand in understanding.
"Are you prepared to teach again?" She felt the now-familiar flare of anger that flooded her system when someone questioned her abilities and resolutely locked it into a corner of her mind. This was the professor, who would never mean anything against her.
"I've been working on my control professor…"
"Jean," he interrupted. "I believe you when you say you haven't changed. I trust you." Jean blushed, realizing her assumption.
"I'm sorry," she apologized.
"It is understandable and no harm is done, though I am glad you have not been shying away from your abilities.:" He paused for a moment. "Is it a safe assumption that you would prefer to teach your beloved sciences?" Jean nodded shyly.
"I am sure Scott would be more tan willing to hand them over." Jean resisted the urge to flinch. The professor seemed to miss it.
"Shall we see where your students are?" he didn't give her much of a choice and so she followed him down the halls.
Scott Summers was indeed at the front of the room and she recognized her own teaching binder on the front table. She took comfort in the fact that he was teaching from her own notes. And he was trying. The students, however, weren't being very helpful.
"Is the xylem alive Mr Summers?" Jean recognized John from where she stood and closed her eyes, preparing for the worst. When she opened them, Scott was bent over her notes. She knew that particular answer was not in her notes because she'd never needed it. She also knew John was looking for humiliation.
"Mr Summers, you mentioned CSF last week, what is that?" That came from another student, this one recognizable because she'd seen her around the school with Rogue. Jean's brain was in overdrive, the information flooding back to her.
"The medulla oblongata helps with memory, right?" Jean took a deep breath, trying to stop herself from interrupting. Scott looked slightly frazzled from the bombardment. Jean took a careful look around the room and realized that about 25 percent of the students had come to visit her at least once since Rogue had started.
"Anaemia is a form of cancer, right?" Jean had had enough. It wasn't fair to Scott and she was starting to feel slightly used.
"Enough," she ordered, oozing much more calm than she was feeling. John was the first person to react.
"Dr Grey."
"Explain to me how this is fair to Mr Summers?' she asked. The room was deathly silent and part of her wondered if it was in fear. She ruthlessly stomped it down.
"So I'll pose the same questions to you. I xylem alive?" She waited, crossing her arms across her chest. "Well?"
"Its not alive," John said finally. Jean nodded curtly.
"And CSF is?" Her eyes fell on the student who had originally posed the question.
"Cerebrospinal fluid," the student answered sheepishly.
"The medulla oblongata?"
"Helps with balance," they chorused.
"And anaemia?"
"A blood disorder unrelated to cancer."
"So explain to me why you're asking questions that you already know the answers to?" She raised an eyebrow. "Anyone?" John stood up.
"I'm sorry, Dr Grey. We… we figured if we were rally bratty Mr Summers would quit and you'd have to come back to teaching. Its not that we don't trust Mr Summers, but, Dr Grey! You know this stuff better than anyone and we want the best." Valiantly holding in her shock, Jean dropped her arms with a heavy sigh.
"As honoured as I am, there are better ways to go about doing this. You might want to think about that. I want 2 single spaced pages on respect for teachers from the four of you on Monday," she said,
"But Dr Grey, you're…"
"I can make it more," she threatened. John fell silent and Jean spun and left, not even waiting for Xavier.
She made it to the roof without issue. It gave her time to puzzle out exactly what had just happened in the classroom.
The students wanted her back.
That threw her for a loop. Part of her was thankful they wanted her back, it would probably ease her transition, but that they wanted to go as far as to embarrass another teacher to get her back absolutely baffled her. She still didn't think it was fair to Scott for them to harass him like they had.
What made her feel worse was that they'd used her knowledge, what she'd taught them, it was like they were trying to turn her against him. She leaned back on the roof, letting the sun warm her skin.
Jean? She hadn't realized her shields were down so low.
I'm sorry about that, professor.
Mr Summers would like to speak with you, but Logan was on his way in when I was exiting. Jean groaned out loud, not exactly hearing the second half of the conversation.
I'm not sure that is a good idea, sir. Jen had allowed her anger to take over when she left the room and really was not prepared to deal rationally with the consequenes of both the class and her outburst.
Jean, Logan is here. That caught her attention and she was outside the classroom as fast as he could, not really remembering how she even got there in the first place. She could hear what was going on inside through the door.
"She's been sabotaging the class!" Jean winced at Scott's voice.
"How?" She was lucky she could decipher Logan's low growl.
"Teaching behind my back! How do I know she didn't plan it?"
"So that's it? Jean dies and all of a sudden she can't be trusted?" The anger in the room almost suffocated her and she was on the other side of the door.
"You saw the power in her."
"You idiot." Jean slipped silently into the room. Logan's hands were clenched tightly at his sides. Jean knew Logan had picked up her scent as she raced down the hall. His restraint was because of her.
"I'm an idiot?"
"You're afraid of her. You're actually afraid that Dr Jean Grey could actually do some damage to any one?" Logan was almost laughing. Suddenly, he turned serious and angry again.
"She didn't want to teach," Logan ground out. " She yelled at Rogue when she suggested it."
"She looked ready to do it today." Logan out right growled and jean could almost see every muscle in his body tense, ready to pounce.
"Why am I explaining this to you?" he asked himself. "You know nothing about Jean."
"And you do? You…"
"Spend time with her, listen to her. You wanted to marry her." Jean flinched again. It was still really difficult for her to remember those moments. Scott was silent. Jean took this as the perfect opportunity to intervene.
"Logan," she spoke up. Both men turned to face her.
"Jean." That came from Scott, but Jean's focus was on Logan. She was going to have to deal with one issue at a time. Logan was the current threat.
"Logan," she said again, this time receiving a grunt of acknowledgement. "Stop." She wasn't exactly sure what she was asking him to stop doing. He hadn't attacked Scott and hadn't done anything that would normally warrant an admonishment.
"Logan!" her tone was sharp. He finally locked his eyes on hers and she caught a huge wave of protectiveness that almost had her losing her balance.
It's not your fight. She planted the thought in his head with a strength she had had to search for.
It shouldn't be a fight, his thoughts screamed. It almost made her smile. With more confidence that Logan was not going to injure anyone, she faced Scott.
"I had nothing to do with what happened in your class," she told him.
"The questions weren't in your notes," he accused.
"You've had my notes, so I couldn't have done anything," she pointed out. "You know this is insane." His face twisted in indigence.
"You're telepathic," he spat. Jean's jaw dropped.
"Excuse me?"
"How am I supposed to believe you…"
"You seriously believe I would influence them like that? What the hell happened to you?" She didn't give him time to respond. Hurt raced through her system as she fled.
Jean? She shut the professor out of her head, having allowed him to monitor the issue through her mind. Doors flew open in frton of her as they had to. She threw herself on her bed and allowed the sobs and tears to overwhelm her.
Something had happened to Scott in the last little while. There was something completely and totally wrong with his reaction to her and his reaction to everything since she'd gotten back. It didn't begin the fact that she'd only recently discovered that she couldn't get into his mind, couldn't understand what he was thinking. Before she totally surrendered to the exhaustion she was feeling because of her tears, she made a mental note to check the mission logs for the results of the last couple of missions Scott had been on.
Then sleep claimed her.
Originally, half of this didn't make any sense, so hopefully when I rewrote it, it makes more sense now. I'm sorry if Scott was a pain. personally, I don't like Scott, but I realized he would probably never actually be that cruel to Jean. I'm sorry that he was most definitely OOC but if things go my way, there will be a reason for it.
Hope you enjoyed it anyway.
