In The Heat
An X-men: Evolution fanfic by Lavender Gaia
Editing and Assistance by Laine
Chapter Eleven: Alone Time
Disclaimer: I do not own X-men Evolution, any of its characters or Rachel Summers. They are all property of Marvel.
Dedicated to Ranchan. Happy birthday, sweetie!
That evening after dinner, Jean approached Logan and asked if she could see the damage done to the Danger Room. After a moment's hesitation, he agreed and escorted the family to the back. "It's not pretty, but see for yourself."
As her stomach dropped, she took in the wreckage. The ceiling had completely collapsed, there was glass everywhere from the window shielding the control room, and it seemed as if everything had been on fire. Unless you'd have watched the fight, no one would have ever been able to tell that a Sentinel had been in there; now it was just scraps of burning metal.
"Damn fires just won't stay out," Wolverine grumbled as he sprayed one with a fire extinguisher.
"What on Earth could have done this?" Scott asked in disbelief.
A wave of nausea passed over Jean and the realization hit her. She'd done this. She was the horrible creature that had destroyed the room, threatening everything and everyone that was around it. No! I wouldn't do that! She protested her own ideas, wrapping arms around herself as if to shrink into her own body. It was an accident!
Her own memories contradicted her. She heard the class break, smelt the smoke and scent of burning metal, felt the flames on her skin. They were comforting almost, warm and gentle as they licked at her.
"Are you ok?" Rachel asked her suddenly, jerking her from her semi-conscious state. "You look kind of pale."
The men looked at her too. "It's not safe for you guys to be in here. C'mon, let's leave," Logan instructed. The redheads silently agreed and left for the clean air of the house.
Rachel's arm was wrapped around her, stroking the bare skin of her arm. The feeling comforted her mother immediately. There was a feeling of complete safety with her daughter, a kind that could be found no where else, not even with Scott. Maybe it was the knowledge that the future would happen. Possibly it was having someone that could begin to understand what you were going through. Whatever it was, she was thanking god she was there.
Jean went into her room and lay on her bed. Her eyes closed automatically, reveling in the silence and calm that was in the area. The need to vomit was slowly going away, replaced only with a deep feeling of regret. "I didn't mean to," she told herself. "It was an accident." Yet, even so, she was too ashamed to admit it, to admit that once again she had no control over her wants and needs.
It only then occurred to her that the total destruction had been what she wanted.
Before she could think about this some more, her door opened. Scott smiled at her in the way that made her knees weak and her heart melt, and she wondered briefly why Rachel was an only child. Right now she desperately wanted to be held by this man. "Hey, Jean."
As he took a seat on the edge of her bed, she pulled him towards her for a kiss. "Hey, yourself."
Scott ran a hand through her soft red hair, smiling at her lovingly. "Are you ok? You seemed a little sick in the Danger Room. Or what's left of it at least."
"I'm fine," she told him with a forced smile. Jean snuggled his strong body, enjoying the safety she felt there. He held her close, giving her light kisses before an idea came over him. Scott got up and went to the door. She pouted. "What are you doing?"
"Locking this door. Because I know if I don't, one way or another, Rachel will find a way to get in here." He turned the lock triumphantly.
Jean cocked a red eyebrow. "She's telekinetic, Scott. If she wants that door open, it will be open."
He considered this. "Be right back." Unlocking the door, he called out down the stairs. "Rachel!"
"YEAH?"
"You don't have any reason to come upstairs and bother your mother anytime soon, do you?"
"Um…no, I don't think so."
"Good. And that goes for the rest of you too." He closed the door and faced his girlfriend, looking very proud of himself. "Now, where were we?"
Jean stood up and kissed him. "Right about here, I believe…"
Mid-way through their kiss, there was another knock on the door. Scott groaned against Jean's lips. "I do believe there's a conspiracy against us." She giggled and watched as he opened the door with a glare. "What do you want, Bobby?"
"That five bucks you owe me," the Iceman held out his palm.
Scott pulled out his wallet and handed him a bill. "I'll give you ten if you keep away for the rest of the night and make sure everyone else does too."
"Awesome! And how do you expect me to do that? Ice the stairs?"
"Any way you possibly can, Drake. Now go!" The door slammed shut on the younger X-man's face and Scott sighed in relief. "Let's move out. We'll go far, far away. How's Alaska sound?"
"Cold," she admitted. "Lately, I've been a lot more particular towards heat."
Scott smirked. "I think I can handle that." He leaned over and kissed her, letting her lean back on her soft comforter. His lips gently teased over her neck, listening to her giggle happily. "Have I mentioned lately that I love you?"
"Not in the past hour or so," Jean replied, matching her lips to his. "But I love you too."
His hands stroked the bare skin of her arms, wrapping around her waist and rubbing her back. "Have I possibly said anything about wanting to be with you forever?" Scott rested his head between her chin and collarbone, taking in her sweet scent.
Jean's long fingers ran through his soft hair. "Well, I do believe Rachel would appreciate that."
"I'm not talking about Rachel," he sighed, looking her in the eyes. "I'm talking about us. I really love you, Jean."
"I love you too. You know that." They kissed again, passionately, bodies intertwining. When they finally broke apart, he pushed the hair around her face aside, feeling her chest rise and fall with each deep breath. "Scott…"
He nuzzled her neck, giving a little nip and licking directly under her ear. "I'm serious when I say I want us to be together forever. The two of us…what we have…I can't even explain it, but…"
She put a gentle finger to his lips. "I know." Jean leaned up and kissed him harder, locking the door and sliding her desk chair in front of it with her telekinesis. She had a lot of things on her mind, but right now, for this night, that wasn't important.
When she awoke the next morning, the first thing she realized was that there was a very handsome guy in bed next to her. This was not at all unwanted and she laid a light kiss on his forehead. It occurred to her that she had no reason to get up, and snuggled back into his arms.
"Jean?" Rachel called from outside her door. "Can I come in?"
"Oh, shit," she whispered. "Scott, wake up!" Jean pushed him lightly, while yelling to her daughter, "Just a minute!"
The man next to her rolled over. "What's going on?"
"Rachel's outside and she wants to come in!" Jean hissed. "Get under the bed!" He cursed and crouched on the side farthest from the door as she grabbed her bathrobe and opened up. "Morning, Rach. Something wrong?"
The younger redhead gave her a weird look. "No…I was just wondering if you were up yet. Breakfast was a while ago, so…"
"I'm…I'm just not hungry this morning, I guess. If that's all you wanted, then I guess I'll see you later." She started to shut the door when Rachel put her foot in the space.
"You know, Jean, I just wanted to tell you something," Rachel smirked.
She ran a hand through her hair. "What's that?"
"Why the hell would I care if you and Scott are sleeping together? I'm your daughter. Because you slept together I exist. In fact, I support it. Always wanted a baby brother or sister." The younger girl grinned widely, then peeked inside the room. "Keep up the good work, Scott!"
He peeked over the side of the bed and gave a little wave as both of her parents blushed. "Ok, you can go now," Jean pushed the other redhead into the hallway.
"But you know…even if I don't care, a certain Professor and Wolverine might. So you might wanna be a little more careful next time. Anyway, see you guys later!" She gave a quick wave and went downstairs.
Her mother went back into her room as Scott started pulling on his clothes. "Well, um…that went well?" He attempted.
"At least it was only Rachel," she sighed, then smiled at him. "But, other than that…I'd say it went very well."
"I'd have to agree." He kissed her lightly, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I'm going to go hop in the shower. You wouldn't happen to want to go with me, would you?"
She considered it. This was a very tempting offer. "Give me a minute, I'll meet you there."
He grinned widely at her, giving her a large kiss. "Alright. Love you."
"I love you too," Jean watched as he left her room, than sank down to sit at the foot of her bed. Last night had been amazing to say the least. She got up and glanced in the mirror, wondering if she looked any different from the night before.
Her reflection stared back at her, surrounded by flames and in the background there were ruins of buildings, bodies, everything her mind could bring up. "No! No no no!" She stumbled back quickly, averting her eyes and burying her face in her hands. "That's not me. That's not me!"
In a minute, she gained enough courage to glance back at the mirror. It was normal again, just a very pale redhead. "Just…a…delayed nightmare," she justified to herself. "That's all it was."
Before anything else could happen, she ran towards the bathroom, slipping inside. Her body was immediately comforted by the steam that had already started to build in the small room. Scott glanced at her, noticing she was out of breath. "You ok?"
"Fine," she smiled, lying through her teeth. "Everything's going to be just fine."
Rachel Summers was bored. Having a bored mutant was never a good thing, and generally led to property damage. Generally, Logan would tell her to go work out, but with no Danger Room, that would be rather hard to accomplish.
Unfortunately for Rogue, she was in the vicinity when the crisis occurred. "Rogue, I'm bored."
"Ah'm not your activities director. Find somethin' to do that doesn't involve complainin' to me!" She looked back at the Blue Collar Comedy Show on television.
Rachel knew that of all the people in the house, Rogue was one of the last ones you wanted to push. Not that she couldn't take her, she definitely could, and it just would do no good to start a fight. With a sigh, she got up and left the den, looking for anyone.
"Hey, Professor, what are you doing?" she asked him eagerly, peering into his office.
He looked up from the box he had been examining. "Actually, just going through old files and pictures. I have some things I think you might be interested in."
"Really?" She went into the room and stood across from him next to his desk. "Like what?"
"Well, for a while your parents were my only students. They were actually the first students when I decided to form the Institute. Ororo and Logan were grown by then." He handed her a picture of her mother looking slightly nervous. Rachel checked the back, where it read "Jean's first day at Bayville."
"It took her a few days to get used to it here," Xavier confided. "Unlike you, she didn't fit in immediately. Of course, back then it was only Scott, Ororo, Logan and I. She had very little control of her abilities. Her telepathy was completely out of control and it took a lot of concentration to lift even the simplest items. But, as they all do, she grew into her powers."
Rachel nodded. "She's certainly not having any trouble lifting things with her TK now…"
The professor looked at her curiously. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. I just know she's very powerful." The redhead looked into the box, pulling out more photos. Most of them were of her parents when they were about her age. It seemed to her that they were already in love. "Can I keep one of these?" she asked quietly.
"Of course, dear. Choose anyone you'd like," Xavier smiled at her, packing up some of the old files he wanted to store.
She flipped through the photos until two caught her eyes. The first was Scott teasing her by attempting to put a flower in her hair. Jean was laughing, face alight with happiness. In the second, Scott was giving Jean a kiss along with what seemed to be a Christmas gift if the mistletoe hovering above their heads was any hint. "Both of these are wonderful," she told him.
He looked over at the pictures she was holding out. "Ah, yes. I do remember taking those. And as the photographer, I'd be honored if you had both of them."
"But they're yours. I can't just take your pictures." She really wanted to keep them, but she had the real thing and one day Xavier would only have memories.
"No, I want you to have them. I have plenty and I do believe they'll mean a great more to you than they will in a box in the attic." He gestured around to the photos placed all around his office. "Now, why don't you go run along while I finish my belated spring cleaning?"
"Thank you!" Rachel gave him a hug and admired the pictures again. "This really does mean a lot to me."
He smiled. "I'm glad."
She grinned at him, then ran upstairs to her room. After a moment's deliberation, she decided to place the pictures in the mirror over her dresser. It was a perfect view from her bed, where she could look at them whenever she wanted. Truth be told, these had reminded her of almost exactly the same ones she'd seen of her parents back home. It was comforting and the room suddenly felt a lot more like home.
In her room next door, Jean also collapsed on her bed. For the past two hours, she'd been working nonstop on her telekinesis. Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten any closer to controlling it. Every time she got frustrated, it would spin out of control again and it was making her exhausted.
"Hey, Jean," Kurt poked his head in. "Uh…redecorating?"
"Just trying out some new stuff," she told him, which wasn't exactly a lie. "Something you need?"
"There are some men waiting for you downstairs. I think they're from your parent's insurance company," he told her, fiddling with the hologram watch that was currently on.
She smiled at him. "Oh, thanks." The two of them went down stairs, where two men in suits were waiting. "I'm Jean Grey?"
"Miss Grey, I'm Mr. Sanchez and this is Mr. Range. We're here about your car that you had the accident in." He handed her a manila folder. "Here are some pictures of the scene after we got to it."
She pulled them out of packet, gasping at the wreckage. The SUV was crushed by rocks, leaving nothing more than a scrap of metal. Apparently, the passenger door had been ripped open, but by the look over the scratches, she was pretty sure it hadn't been the insurance company.
"Miss, can you tell us what happened that night?" Mr. Range asked.
"I was going for a drive to clear my head and it started to rain. Then when I was on the cliff, I got a flat. Luckily there was a spare, but after I had replaced it a tree was hit by lightning and struck the hood of the car. The edge of the cliff wasn't strong enough to hold it and it just toppled over. It was a good thing someone came by to pick me up about ten minutes later," she explained.
To the side, Kurt and Scott exchanged a glance. That hadn't been what she'd told them.
Mr. Sanchez nodded. "Alright then. We should be contacting your parents with a quote by the end of the week. Thank you for your time, Miss Grey."
"Not a problem," she responded with a smile as she showed them out. When she returned back to her friends, Kurt was looking at the pictures and whistled lowly. "How does anyone deal with something like that? I'm not sure I could handle it."
Jean shrugged and put a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "I try not to think about it." Kitty waved to them as she walked past, talking to Lance on the phone. Jean suddenly got a burst of inspiration of what she could possibly do to help her powers. Within a second, she got the information from the blue boy she needed, hoping he didn't notice. "Hey, Scott, can I borrow your car for a little while? I have to run a few errands."
"Only if you promise not to drive it off a cliff." He pulled his keys out of his pocket and handed them to her with a grin.
"Oh, hahaha." She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. "I shouldn't be gone too long. Love you!"
"I love you too, Jean."
Jean waved to the two of them before grabbing her purse and walking outside towards the convertible. She had a woman named Agatha Harkness to see.
A/Ns: Well, my birthday was yesterday so I went on a cruise to the Bahamas and got seasick. But I decided that I wanted to come home today and finish this up for you guys! The big stuff is starting soon, I promise you that. Oh, and just because I thought I'd mention it, I got a henna tattoo of a Phoenix on my cruise. I'm such an obsessed fangirl…
Questions, comments, reactions and reviews are greatly appreciated.
Review Responses:
Jacx: Well, I'm glad you thought it was interesting. Thanks for reviewing.
DOJ: I'm glad you like my Magneto theory. I can't think of any other reason he'd want to do anything to our favorite fuzzy elf. The reason they think that there might be more than one person in the Danger Room was that the level of power was so high and they've never encountered anyone with such a great amount. The only machine left was the total energy and since that's what they got, they figured that there was a chance for more than one person to be in there.
Wen1: I'm glad that you like it so much! The Phoenix is coming!
Slickboy444: This is certainly only the beginning of major things and they're all going to start to happen in the next chapter. I hope you like this one, thank you for reviewing!
Rogue14: That's my way that she got the Phoenix codename at least. Thanks for reading!
Diaz F.: I'm so happy you like my explanation. Rachel will definitely mean something big when it comes to the Phoenix, but I'm not giving it away yet. And Rachel is from a separate future, where things may not happen the same way as they do in our dimension.
Amazing redd phoenix: I'm very glad you're enjoying it, I'm doing my best to make my version as good as possible. And poor us who had to start school early. I hope you're doing well.
Whylime: The entire thing with Aideen is completely me. I don't think it has anything to do with canon and if it does, well, then I must be a hell of a psychic. Oh, and cookies for spotting Dazzler!
Anna: I'm glad you're liking the story. Both Jean and Rachel could rearrange molecules in the comics, but I'm not sure if it's a Grey thing or just a telekinetic thing, even though I've never seen Betsy do it. Then again, I only have a few Psylocke comics, so I could just miss it. If I find out the answer, I'll be sure to let you know!
Sweetmidnight: Yes, Rachel does have something to do with Aideen, but I'm not going to tell you what it is yet. You'll just have to keep reading.
Anna Marie Raven: Rogue was sleeping on the couch to allow Kitty to have her privacy. What a great roommate, right?
Telepathic Angel: I'm so happy you liked it! I hope you like this chapter.
Strayphoenix: The poem is mine, I thought it up while I was laying in the pool, which is probably why it's not one of my favorites that I've written. I can't wait to see your Phoenix poem! Thanks for all the nice compliments, stray!
