In The Heat
An X-men Evolution fanfic by Lavender Gaia
Editing and Assistance by Laine
Chapter Five: Girls
Disclaimer: I do not own X-men Evolution, any of its characters or Rachel Summers. They are all property of Marvel.
Note: This is probably going to be the last true light hearted chapter for a while. Enjoy it.
The more stores they went into, the more Scott looked like he'd rather be in an intense five hour training session with Logan. He had seen enough pastel colored tee-shirts and heard plenty of debate about what the best shade of jeans was. In his opinion, he could now be considered an expert. Unfortunately, that was not something that was which was often considered locker room discussion. Plus, his arms hurt from carrying not only Rachel's bags, but also Jean's and some of Kitty's.
"Jean…" he pleaded to his girlfriend as they left yet another store. "Aren't we done yet? You've spent like a million dollars already."
"Of course we're not! She doesn't have any shoes or bras or anything," she told him.
"Victoria's Secrets is right around the corner," Kitty told the two.
"Oh no!" Scott backed away. "That's where I draw the line! There's no way I'm gonna go in there."
Jean rolled her eyes. "Fine. Then you wait out here with all the bags."
The girls finally left for the lingerie store, so he put the quarters in a machine in order to get a cart to carry all of what they had purchased. Scott sat on one of the benches and ran his hands through his hair, effectively messing it up even worse than it had been. If anyone thought that it was bad shopping with their girlfriend, he dared them to try with five girls with mutant powers. One being their girlfriend and the other their daughter from an alternate dimension.
Groans escaped from his mouth as he squeezed his eyes shut. Could that sound any weirder? Maybe if you added in the fact that he was only four years older than her. Still, he already liked her. He reminded her so much of Jean. It was easy to imagine them raising her. Not to mention creating her, but like Jean, his daughter was also a telepath, so he was determined not to think about that.
A moment later, Scott felt a tap on his shoulder. "Huh?"
A man, who looked to be in his middle age, was surveying him with a pitied expression on his face. "Here, son."
Scott took the business card offered to him and read what was in on it, "Teen Help Center? We don't ask, we just care."
"We just want to help you," The man continued. "We offer food, beds, and a chance to stay so we can help you get back into school or a job. No questions asked, and it's only a quarter mile from here. The address and phone number is on the card."
"Um, yeah, sure, thanks. I'll, uh, think about it." Scott wasn't sure which was more pathetic. The fact that this guy thought he was some sort of teen runaway or that he actually was thinking about it. After all, they had food.
After he had walked away, Scott checked his reflection in a store window. Awww, shit, he really did look that bad. Attempting to fix his hair and clothes, Scott hardly noticed it when the gaggle of girls approached him until Tabby smirked, "Knew he cared more about his looks than he let on."
Scott decided to ignore this comment. "All done?"
Jean kissed him lightly. "Yep. Shoes are that last thing on our list."
"Can we eat lunch first?" Rachel asked suddenly. "I'm starving."
Her father's stomach rumbled in agreement. "See, Jean, she's not just like you."
The group made their way to the food court and Scott noticed that Jean was carrying a Victoria's Secret bag. "What's in there? Or do I not wanna know?"
She handed him the bag. "You can look. It's for you anyways." A check of the bag's contents revealed a lacy, very miniscule amount of black cloth and Scott's eyebrows flew up. "I'll share as long as you promise not to complain for the rest of the trip."
He kissed her hard right in the middle of the mall's corridor. "How's that for promise?"
"Uh, guys?" Rachel attempted to get their attention. "I'm standing right here and I really don't need to see or hear any of this."
Jean rolled her eyes, but dragged her boyfriend to the food court. Though the group split up to get their lunch (there was no way Kitty was getting Burger King, while Scott said he needed meat now). Otherwise, it was a light meal where they all pretty much just chatted.
After that, Scott was subjected to three shoe stores. He got the feeling that Rachel was attempting to beat Kitty for the one with the most pairs in the Institute. She might have succeeded too, if Shadowcat hadn't insisted on buying at least one pair in each of the stores. Which, of course, he ended up carrying.
He finally thought they were going to go back to the Institute, but this was not so. They wandered down one of the less populated corridors, and Scott had the vaguest idea he was being set up as he stared at the salon.
"Well, I just thought we'd all like to get our nails done," Tabitha grinned. Scott didn't like that grin.
"Oh, fun!" Kitty squealed, looking over at the nail polish selections.
"They do a lot of things here. Nails, hair, waxing…" the blonde glanced causally at the boy of their group. "Have you ever thought of getting your eyebrows waxed?"
"…No…"
"Ya know, I think that would be very interesting," Jean grinned. She knew she would have to make this up to him later, but Victoria's Secret was a good helper.
Tabitha approached the service desk. "Hey, do you have anyone to do his eyebrows?"
"Whoa!" Scott protested. "I never agreed to this!"
To the side where she was standing with Amara, Rachel rolled her eyes. "Man, my dad is such a wimp."
"Excuse me?" He asked her. "I'm a wimp?"
"Yeah! I do it all the time, actors do it…I bet Uncle Logan wouldn't be afraid of a little ole wax…"
Scott scowled. "Fine…"
The five girls squealed, forgoing their pampering to follow him and the technician back to the waxing area. "You are so my daughter," Jean whispered. Wax was heated and cloth strips were cut as they watched eagerly.
"Is it supposed to be that hot?" Scott winced as the woman spread it under his right eyebrow.
"The hotter the better. That way it doesn't cool and harden. It's hard to get it off that way and very painful. Now stop squinting." She placed a piece of cloth over the wax, and quickly ripped it off.
"AAH!" Scott screamed, hand going up to rub the large red mark above his eye. "And that isn't supposed to hurt!"
The girls, as well as other patrons in the salon, burst out laughing as "Hi! I'm Sarah" applied wax to his other eyebrow. He yelled out once more, then decided just to bite his lip. After they did the middle, he realized with a sigh that the torture was over and simply whimpered as she used the tweezers to get the few stray hairs.
Sarah spread lotion on the painful spots, then patted his back. "Good job, you. In fact, for being so brave I'm gonna give you a free manicure."
"…thanks…" he replied dryly.
Rachel laughed and hugged him. "Well, I for one am proud of you! And actually, Uncle Logan wouldn't have done it. I've tried before. So you're braver than he is!"
"Didn't we ever teach you not to lie?" He asked her, then just rolled his eyes and kissed the top of her head.
Jean grinned at the pair. "C'mon, we can get a couples manicure."
"Oh yay. Look at my happy face."
Scott, Jean and Kitty got their nails done first. While the other three were getting finished, the older redhead looked in the mirror. "You know…would it be too much trouble to cut my hair?"
Her friends stared at her in horror. "Jean…" Amara whispered. "Cut your hair!"
She blinked. "Oh, not short or anything!" With her hand, she measured about halfway between her collarbone and the start of her breasts. "Just about here."
Everyone sighed in relief as "Hi! I'm Nathalie" nodded. "Yeah, we can do that. Let's go wash your hair."
Half an hour later the group of six was finished and decided to head back to the Institute. Tabby was staring out the window of the SUV when she called out. "Hey, pull in!"
Jean gave her a weird look in the rearview mirror, but pulled into the Blockbuster parking lot anyway. "Ok…why?"
"I just had the best idea. Why don't we grab some movies and a whole bunch of junk food, take over the rec room and make this a real girls' night in!"
Rachel grinned. "That sounds awesome!"
Tabitha opened the door, taking Amara and Kitty with her. "Ok, we'll go, give you guys a bit of family time."
Kitty grinned at Scott through the passenger side window. "Heh, your eyebrows like totally match your glasses. Now we can nickname all you guys Red!"
He glared at her. "Go."
Within fifteen minutes they were pulling up in the driveway. Jean said she and Rachel would handle everything with their TK. Scott stumbled up the front porch and practically collapsed inside.
Kurt and Bobby wandered downstairs tossing a football back and forth when they saw their leader fall to the ground. "Scott!" Kurt teleported down to his friend. "Are you ok?"
Bobby ran down, eyes widening in horror when he saw the waxed eyebrows and male manicure. He stared at the girls as they came in, shopping backs levitating up the stairs. "What have you monsters done to him!"
The blue boy helped him to his feet. "Scott? Are you still with us?"
The older man cradled his head, as if trying to mime that he had a headache. Bobby shook his head with pity. "C'mon. We're going to go watch wrestling and play football and eat ribs! That we barbecued!"
Kurt and Bobby high fived as Scott rambled, "But I'll mess up my manicure…"
The girls howled with laughter as Kurt teleported them to the backyard. "Hey, Rogue!" Kitty greeted her as they went into the rec room. "Got any plans for tonight?"
"Nah, why?"
"Because the Sirens need a movie night!" Amara told her, sitting on the couch gracefully.
"With our newest recruit!" Tabitha swung her arm around Rachel's shoulders. "We should do some kind of initiation!"
"Just remember I am her mother…" Jean drawled, but grinned anyway.
"Like, whatever," Kitty rolled her eyes. "So, what do you say, Rogue?"
"Sounds like fun. But ya'll are missin' somethin'."
"What?"
"Pizza, of course."
Rachel laughed and sat on the arm of the couch. "I like the way you think, Rogue. I do believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship."
"Trust me, it's not as good as it seems," Shadowcat grinned. "Try sharing a room with her."
Rogue threw a pillow at her roommate, who easily phased through it. Instead, Wolverine received the cushion in the face. "Oops, sorry Mr. Logan…" the pair chorused together.
"Hmph, nice aim, Stripes, nice phase, Half-Pint. Little Red, I gotta talk to ya."
Jean frowned. "Little Red?"
"You're Red, she's Little Red, how hard is that to get?"
Rachel followed Logan out as Tabitha decided to give out instructions. "Ok, Kitty, you call the pizza place. Get at least one with meat. Actually, Amara, go with her and make sure she doesn't order three with all kinds of veggies on it. Jean, I think Rogue would like to see a certain boy in a certain place…"
"Rogue, I know you don't like people in your head, but I really think you should see this," Jean explained with a grin. "Trust me, it'll be worth it."
Upstairs, Wolverine ushered Rachel into his room. "Take a seat," he ordered, nodding to the bed as he picked up some weights and tossed them to her.
She caught them midair with her powers. "Hey, what'd ya do that for!"
"Just checking. Nice reflexes though. Anyway, those are your weights. I want you to work out with them at least once a day, and no using any powers. That ain't what this is about, got me?"
"I know. Once I did that and my parents grounded me for a week."
Logan raised an eyebrow. "Well, at least they can punish you right. Alright, let me just show you what to do."
Ten minutes later he had given her a preview of the exercises and made her do some for him. "My arms are already sore…"
"That's natural. You'll get used to it, and then we can move you up to higher weights," He ruffled her hair a bit. "Now, go enjoy your girls night. Don't maim too many of the guys in the process."
"Thanks, Uncle…I mean, Mr. Logan," she turned towards the door when he called her back.
"Hey, Kid."
"Yeah?"
"If you want, you can call me Uncle Logan. But only in private. Don't want the other kids doin' the same."
She hugged him tightly. "Thanks. That means a lot. Nice to have something familiar…"
"Weird bein' here?"
Rachel shrugged, then tried to ask casually, "Would you think I was a wuss if I said I was scared?"
"Course not. I think if I woke up in a totally different place I'd be a little freaked too. But Red and Slim here really like you. You're lucky, kid," He grinned, expecting her to say that she wasn't a kid, like everyone else around here did.
"Lucky…yeah…" she sighed. "That's a first…Anyway, I'm gonna go back downstairs. Thanks for the help!"
With a frown he watched her go, wondering what the hell she meant.
Downstairs, the other girls had set out a variety of chips, popcorn and candy were laid out on the tables. Tabby and Amara were arguing with Ray and Roberto. "You can't just commandeer the rec room!" Berserker protested.
Tabby smirked. "Watch us."
The other boy scowled. "You don't even live here."
"The rest of us do," Amara chimed in, "And we're using the rec room tonight. No boys allowed."
"But-!"
"Ray, you just got a new stereo, didn't you?" Kitty asked. "You like that stereo in working order, I'd assume."
"So now you're threatening me?"
"Just making observations."
"Ya guys are such babies," Rogue rolled her eyes.
"And inhospitable on top of that!" Jean nodded in the direction of her daughter. "We want to show our new family member a good time and you're going against that! What would the professor say?"
"He'd tell you to stop keeping the men out!" Roberto insisted.
"First of all," Amara scowled. "I don't see any men. And second, you're the only ones who have a problem with this!"
Ray rolled his eyes. "Sam's a chicken, Jamie's a kid, Scott's your boyfriend and your father," he pointed at Jean and Rachel, "Bobby's your boyfriend," he pointed at Amara, "and Kurt's your best friend and your brother," this time his finger was aimed at Kitty and Rogue.
"Awww, I think the little boys feel left out!" Tabitha pointed out.
"We're not left out, we're just not going to let you push us around!" Ray growled. "Did you even get permission to do this?"
"I said they could, Bub," Wolverine growled from behind him. "Ya gotta problem with that?"
"N-No, sir…" Roberto squeaked, dragging his friend out of the room. "C'mon, Ray, while I can still feel my legs."
"Go, Badger!"
"Don't call me that!"
"Mr. Logan, our pizzas should, like, be here soon. Would you get them when they come? I left the money on the table," Kitty bat her eyelashes at the teacher, who sighed.
"Sure, Half-Pint. Enjoy your movies."
"Thank you, Mr. Logan!" They all chorused together.
Tabitha settled back in a cushiony chair. "Ok, the first selection is in the DVD player: Avalanche Alley."
Kitty's face fell. "Avalanche…"
"Oh, don't you dare!" Rogue yelled, tossing at peanut M & M at her friend. "After Ah slept on the couch last night!"
"Right. Did I thank you for that?"
"No."
"Oh. Well, then thank you, totally."
"And you, like, so totally owe me."
"Don't make fun of the way I talk!"
"Oscar, Felix, hush!" Jean ordered, pushing the play button. "Anyway, Tab, I've never heard of this movie. Is it any good?"
"Eeeh, well, you probably haven't hard of it since it's from Canada, and it's actually not a very good movie. But, there are some…let's say, special perks to it," Tabitha grinned.
Amara was still stuck on Rogue and Kitty's fight. "If Rogue slept on the couch…then…Oh, man. Kitty, did you and Lance…?"
"Let's just watch the movie, ok?" Her friend whispered, but grinned.
The princess squealed softly, but watched as the DVD started. A few minutes into the movie, Tabitha started warning them. "You will see the very very special perk right about…now!"
The man on screen took off the cloth covering his face and everyone's jaw dropped. Easily the best candidate for the Sexiest Man Alive was talking to several other people. "Oh, my god…" Jean whispered in shock.
Tabitha leaned back and grinned. "At times like these, it's good to be single."
"This is a very good movie," Rachel agreed.
The rest of the girls nodded and watched the sexy man until there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Kitty asked absentmindedly.
"Scott. I come baring pizza."
Jean opened the door without looking away from the television. Unfortunately, the next scene was without the sexy man and all the girls groaned. Scott was annoyed as well. "What are you watching?"
"Avalanche Alley. Thanks for the pizza, Scott," Rachel said, grabbing a slice without moving from her seat.
"You guys did realize that we had pizza last night, right?"
"What's your point?" Rogue asked.
"Nothing, nothing at all."
"Oooh, he's back!" Amara squealed. The girls focused on the television as something dawned on them.
Jean stared back and forth between the television and her boyfriend. "This…is creepy…"
"I know!" Rachel agreed. "I'm mildly disturbed."
"What?" Scott wondered, checking his face in a decorative mirror.
"You sound, like, exactly like the guy on the television. It is creepy…" Kitty shied away from him a little bit.
"Nah," Tabitha disagreed. "Now, if he sounded and looked like that it would be creepy. A very good looking creepy, but still. This is just freakishly weird."
"Let's stop talking about this and just watch the man on T.V., shall we?" Rachel requested.
They did so, not even noticing when Scott left. Of course, Tabitha made sure they did her ritual: rewatching the part where Jake—the sexy man—moons the camera. Everyone agreed that it was their favorite part of the movie.
In the next few hours they had eaten a ton of junk food, watched Moulin Rouge (even Rogue sang along), and they were currently halfway through The Princess Bride. Scott poked his head in the room, smiling as he saw Rachel leaning on Jean, apparently asleep. "Hey," he whispered.
"Hey, yourself." Jean kissed the other red head in the room. "Looks like she does take after you."
"I never do that."
"Uh huh, sure. Anyway, mind carrying her upstairs? I don't want to wake her up," Jean rubbed Rachel's arm softly.
He leaned down and scooped up his daughter. "As you wish."
"Awww!" The rest of the girls gushed.
His girlfriend grinned. "C'mon, I'll go with you."
They put her to bed and stood watching her in the doorway of Rachel's room. "She's so cute," her father grinned. "Just like her mother."
"Yeah, she is." Jean sighed. "We're doing it. We really shouldn't."
"What are we doing?"
"Getting attached…" She crossed her arms over her chest sadly. "I know she's our daughter, and I do love her, but…How do we know that we're not going to wake up in the morning and find her gone? I guess every parent worries about the same thing, but I think we have more reason to…"
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, don't think that way. I don't want to lose her either. She's our daughter."
"You know, her birthday is in two weeks."
"How did you know that?" Scott frowned.
"I just do. I'm her mother, I suppose even if I didn't give birth to her, it's hard to forget," She leaned against him. "I don't want to lose her, Scott. Is it wrong of me not to want her to go back to her own time?"
"No. But I bet the us in her time is missing her dearly. So we'll just have to make the most of our time with her, and hope we're as lucky as us from Rach's universe." Scott kissed her. "I love her, and I love you, and I don't want to lose either of you."
She kissed back. "I love you both too. Sorry I was so depressing. I'm gonna blame it on Moulin Rouge, if that's ok."
"That's fine," he laughed. "But I do recall you promising a little share time with me earlier…"
She grinned. "Meet me in my room, I'll be there in a second."
He walked away and Jean carefully entered Rachel's room, determined not to wake her. She pulled the blanket up around the small girl's shoulders and kissed her forehead. But when she stood up, her head flashed with pain as she suddenly heard what felt like the entire world's thoughts at once.
She must half blacked out for as second, and when she came to, she had barely clung on to the nightstand to remain upright. Her heart beat so fast she thought it was going to lead to a heart attack. The pain was slowly fading.
Jean pushed herself to a standing position, lungs gulping at whatever air she could find. Yet, Rachel slept soundly. She reached for her daughter's hand, sighing in relief as the soft flesh calmed her down.
"I love you, and I want to be strong for you…but I can't…" Jean's tears dripped on to the soft sheets. "I think I'm losing control…and I'm scared…"
A/N: Yes, the ending has a lot to do with the next chapter, where the real dramatic stuff will start to happen.
I'm sure everyone who is reading this is confused about the Avalanche Alley reference. It is a Canadian movie, but you should be able to find it at any local video rental store. I even saw it at my EB Games. Jake—the sexy guy—is played by Kirby Morrow, who also provides the voice for Scott Summers. Most of Tabby's opinions of it reflect my own, but if you want to see Scott's ultimately sexy VA doing his own snowboarding stunts, I suggest you rent it.
Questions, comments, reactions and reviews are greatly appreciated.
Review Responses:
Xmengirlzrule: I can definitely imagine Scott being the overprotective father. He's overprotective of Kitty and Amara and everyone else and he's not even related to them.
DOJ: Karl got exactly what he deserved. I'm sad about Lance too. We'll be hearing some from him through Kitty, but they won't be interacting and the Brotherhood won't be big until a little later.
Wen1: She is a princess in the show, it's just not brought up much. She's a senator's daughter in the comics, and I don't know if that counts as a princess or just a lady, since I don't know too much about ancient Roman politics.
Agent-G: I didn't go so much the "opposites attract" since neither of them are so much like their powers, but they just seem close. She's the only girl left in the New Mutants (Jubilee left and I never liked her anyway), and he was really concerned about her in Cruise Control. Jean didn't so much look in Karl's mind so much as what was being thought so hard she picked up, and also that her telepathy hasn't exactly been the most loyal lately.
Slickboy444: One of the reasons I love Kitty and Tabby is that they're fun. Neither of them are very angsty and that's so refreshing compared to others. And I love Rachel. I'm doing the best I can to make her like Jean, without neglecting some of Scott's qualities and giving her her own…uniqueness. I'm so glad you like her!
StarStar16: Thank you!
Emily: I love my Rachel too. I'm glad you like the JOTT, I'll try to add more in the future.
Rogue14: I would love to have parents like Scott and Jean. Thank you for reading.
Ingrid: Emma just needs to die. I mean, the only reason I keep reading Astonishing X-men is because I love Kitty and the Badger. I would stop reading Phoenix: Endsong if there wasn't only one comic left, because now it's just turning all into Emma and that's annoying as hell. I'm not even going to write her in here because I don't want to stray away from any more JOTT than I have to. I'm glad you like it.
Telepathic Angel: I'm much more of a romantic comedy writer myself as well. And yes, a girl loves shopping…except for me, who hasn't been to the mall for months. I shop online…Thanks for reading!
Diaz F: I'm so happy you like it! I hope you keep reading!
Jenskott: I am totally with you on that. I have more then 24 Excalibur comics just because Kitty and Rachel are in them, and I also bought their miniseries with Wolverine. As for original material…well, I'm going to use the very very basic plots, but I'll tell you what I won't have: Aliens (besides the force, who doesn't really count in my opinion), the Hellfire Club, Jean committing suicide on some other planet, killing any other planets, Emma Frost, Mastermind (besides maybe a cameo), and the Brotherhood will have a very important role. I hope you enjoy it!
