In The Heat

An X-men: Evolution fanfic by Lavender Gaia

Editing and Assistance by Emily

Chapter Twenty: Tears

Disclaimer: I do not own X-men Evolution, any of its characters or Rachel Summers. They are all property of Marvel.

This chapter brought to you by Tropical Storm Ernesto and four day weekends. Wouldn't it be nice if all storms were like that…


Scott Summers was sitting in his room, designing new Danger Room scenarios based on the updated facilities when there was a loud BAMF behind him. "Hey, man, are you busy?"

He rubbed the smoke from in front of his eyes. "Not really. What's up?"

"Amanda's parents dragged her off on a final vacation before school starts," Kurt sighed. "So since I don't have my lovely girlfriend to be with and you don't have yours, I was thinking that we could spend a guys day together. Get out of the mansion, go get some manly food…like ribs!"

"Ribs?" Scott raised an eyebrow.

"Amanda doesn't like eating ribs in public," the fuzzy man explained. "Says she gets all dirty. So, yeah, ribs."

Scott chuckled. "Okay, sure. I know this sports bar with some great ribs. They've got pool tables and stuff too."

"Awesome," Kurt gave him double thumbs up. "So let's go, I'm hungry."

Pulling on a pair of sneakers and grabbing his keys, he followed his friend out into the hallway and down the stairs. Before they reached the bottom a furry mess ran past them. The man with blue fur reached down to pet the dog. "Hello, Sarina. We haven't seen you around lately."

"That's because she doesn't like Emma," Rachel told them, descending behind them.

"That's not true," Scott rolled his eyes behind his glasses.

"Sure it is. Emma comes, she hides under my bed. Emma leaves, she's all happy and wants to run around all the time. Coincidence? I think not." She bent down next to her dog, scratching her behind the ears. "You're just a good judge of character, aren't you?"

Kurt rubbed her back. "She is cute. They say that dogs are an awful lot like their owners."

"Flatterer. So, what are you guys up to?" Rachel looked at her father and friend.

They exchanged a look. "We were going to go get some food. You can come with us, liebchen," Kurt offered.

She looked back and forth between the two of them. "This was a guys thing, wasn't it? Don't worry about it. Just have fun."

Scott kissed her cheek. "I promise you, sometime this week the two of us are going out to dinner. I swear it."

Rachel smiled. "Alright, get out of here before I change my mind."

With a quick goodbye to her, they went out to Scott's car and drove the restaurant. It was slightly busy, but they managed to get a table and a game of pool in before settling down to eat their appetizers. "So…" Kurt shook some sugar into his ice tea. "How are things?"

Scott raised an eyebrow. "How are things? That's the kind of question you ask someone that you haven't seen for a while, not someone whose room is down the hall from yours."

"Yeah, well, I figure small talk could lead me in to what I really talk about," he shrugged, choosing a roll from the basket and spreading butter on it.

"Just say it, Kurt. We're friends. What am I going to do, blast you through the wall?"

He ran his hand through his hair. "I hope not. That would hurt. I like being blue, but not black and blue."

Scott chuckled and took a bite from his salad. "Alright, so what's up?"

"I…just kinda wanted to talk to you about everything that's been going on lately. Rachel, Emma…Jean…" A sigh escaped him. "I feel as if I've been a horrible friend."

"You haven't been. I haven't really wanted to talk about it," he leaned back in his chair. "If I had wanted to talk, I know you would have listened."

He popped another half of a roll in his mouth. "What about now?"

Scott considered the question. "Nothing we say leaves this table. I trust you when it comes to that, Kurt, but…I'm not sure if I trust you not to think I'm a horrible person."

Kurt frowned. "I could never think that. You're my best friend, and nothing you say here is going to change that."

After taking a long shuddering breath, he finally voiced what he had been thinking for weeks. "I'm mad at Jean. Furious at her. And I know it's bad to speak ill of the dead or feel angry with them, but I do. I think part of the reason Emma and I are…whatever we are, is that I want to get back at her. But I hate being mad at her because I love her so much.

"I'm sure you'll be surprised to know that when I wake up, I go over what I have to do all day," Scott said dryly, and Kurt managed a slight smile. "The first thing on my list is always to give Jean a kiss. Even now, I wake up and the first thing I think of is that I have to give her a kiss. But I can't, because she killed herself. Every morning, I have relive the fact that she's dead and I watched her kill herself and I held her in my arms as she died."

Kurt could hear his friend getting choked up. "Scott…"

"Why did she do it?" he asked no one in particular. "How could she just kill herself?"

"She was in pain and shock at what she had done. I guess she just couldn't live with herself."

"That's such bullshit," Scott insisted. "We could have done something if she had let us. Blocked the memories, helped her with her powers, told her that we loved her and it wasn't her fault so it would make her feel better. How could she be so selfish, to only think about the pain she was in? Didn't she even think about what it would do to us? Her family, her friends, me? That we wouldn't feel like dying without her?

"And what about Rachel? She'd already lost everything. She loves Jean maybe even more than I do. How could she do that to her daughter? How could she leave me to take care of her? I never had parents; I don't even know how to be a father, let alone a mother as well. Every time I look at her, I see Jean and I…lose my nerve to try to be better, I guess. It's not fair to Rachel, I know that, but I can't help it."

Kurt watched as his friend continued. "She has nightmares, you know. All the time."

Raising an eyebrow, the acrobat asked, "How do you know that?"

"Because I have them too. I wake up in the middle of the night and I go to check on her. Sometimes they aren't so bad, and other times they're so horrible that she's using her telekinesis in her sleep, calling out for Jean. I usually just sit with her, stroke her back and rub her hair and tell her I love her until she calms down. She's only woken up once or twice, then fallen right back to sleep. I doubt she even knows I'm there."

"You should tell her," Kurt suggested. "I think she'd really appreciate knowing you care."

Scott sighed. "I know. But I'm not ready to deal with her nightmares. I can't even face my own. If Jean was still alive, she would be better at it…but then, if she were alive, Rachel probably wouldn't be having nightmares. It kills me inside that the woman I love is gone, and that I can't do anything to help my daughter, who is the only piece of Jean I have left. I don't want to do what she did though. X-men don't give up. I love Jean and I love Rachel. But all I ever do is fail them." He put his head in his hands. "All I'm doing is failing the people I love…"

He tried to stop his shoulders from shaking as he fought back sobs. Kurt wiped the few tears that were falling down his cheeks. After a few minutes, he quietly asked, "So, you're with Emma to spite Jean?"

"I suppose so, yeah. Contrary to what you may think, Emma is kind of low maintenance. Take her out to dinner, go to a show, feint any kind of emotional attachment and she's happy. Nothing too complex."

"You don't feel anything for her?"

Scott shrugged. "I think she's a nice person. She can be fun to be around with and I do care about her. It's nothing compared to what I felt with Jean, but I know that I can't find that again. Maybe caring that could eventually grow into more is all I'm ever going to get. She demands attention a lot, so when I'm with her, it's a great distraction. I never think about Jean. And when I do, I hope she's watching from wherever she is. I hope she knows that it's her fault that I'm with Emma, and can't be the perfect father to our daughter, or be the leader I once was. I want her to know that even though I love her, she has to realize that actions have consequences and it's her fault. She's the one who will have to live with it for eternity."

Before Kurt could say anything, the waitress appeared with their food. The fuzzy dude eagerly dug into his ribs, while Scott just picked at his curly fries. "Uh, well, do you wanna see a movie after this?" Kurt suggested, and was answered with an eyebrow raise. "There's this action movie that's out. Major weapons, frequent explosions, scantily dressed women. Amanda won't see it. I mean, it's nothing we don't have at home, but…"

"Mindless violence?" Scott forced a small smile. "Sounds like it's just what I need."


The loud ring of her cell phone was the only thing that knocked Kitty out of the world of the book she was currently reading. Even though she was in the rec room, where the New Mutants were loudly playing video games. But her ring tone snapped her out of the reverie as she answered the small pink phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Pretty Kitty," said the voice on the other end.

"Lance!" she squealed in delight, sitting up in surprise. "How are you?"

She could hear his smile. "I'm great. Sorry I haven't called you lately, I've just been kind of busy."

"That's okay," she assured him. "I missed you, though."

"I missed you too. But to make it up to you, I've got a surprise for you," he told her, though it was difficult to hear.

"A surprise? What phone are you using, it keeps fading in and out."

"Really? Sorry, cell phones can get like that."

Kitty frowned. "Cell phone? Where are you?"

"Actually, right now I'm pulling into your drive way." In a flash, she bolted up and ran through the front door to see a black Cadillac with darkly tinted windows pull up to the side of the house. After turning it off, Lance stepped out of the car. "What? You're not going to come say hi?"

Shutting off her phone and sticking it in her pocket, Kitty ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. He held her for a minute before kissing her soundly. "This is the best surprise ever," she told him after catching her breath.

Lance grinned. "Nice to hear, but I'm not your surprise."

"What?" She looked confused. "You mean I get something else? What, the car?"

"Not quite. I gotta give this back to Magneto once I get home to get my jeep. I think you'll really like the other surprise though," he explained as Pietro ran out of the passenger seat, over to the backseat door behind Lance and opened it.

Kitty's knees gave out as she watched in awe; if Lance hadn't still been holding on to her, she would have fallen. "J-Jean?"

"Hi, Kitty," the redhead said softly. She ran through her boyfriend and into her lost friend's waiting arms.

Tears sprang to her eyes. "This has to be a dream," she whispered, squeezing her tightly. "Nothing this amazing could ever happen."

"It's not, I promise you. I'm really here." The two women hugged for a few more moments before Kitty broke away.

"I-I have to go tell everyone. Wait here. Please don't leave. Any of you. Please be here when I get back," she begged before running in to the rec room. "Everyone needs to go outside now!"

Rogue looked up at her. "Is Lance back? Ah mean, great for you, Kitty, but we really don't need to see him. Tell him Ah said hi, though."

She shook her head wildly. "No! I mean…yes, he is back, but that's not why you need to go outside."

"Then what is it?" Ray demanded. "Because I'm about to get the high score here."

"Jean's back."

The group looked at her for a second before sprinting towards the front door. They would have crashed right through it if Rogue hadn't remembered at the last second to open it. "Jean!" Amara cried when she saw her friend and was the first to hug her. The others quickly followed suit.

Kitty looked around, then realized that Rachel wasn't here. Going up to her bedroom, she found the young Phoenix lying in bed, reading the book she had suggested, with her dog curled up comfortingly at her side. "Ray, you need to come with me, now!"

"One second," she murmured. "I'm almost to the end of this chapter. Great book, by the way, you were right."

She pulled the book out of her friend's hand. "No, you need to come now!"

Rachel stared at her in surprise. "What?"

Declining to answer, Kitty just grabbed her friend and phased them downstairs. She continued pulling her through the walls of the Institute until they were outside. "Look!"

"Pryde, what—?" The question died on her lips as she saw the redhead standing several yards in front of her. When she found her voice, all she could whisper was, "Mommy?"

Jean looked up, catching her daughter's eyes. "Rachel!"

Tears welled up in Rachel's eyes as she ran towards her. "Mommy!" Had Jean not been expecting the hug, they would have both fallen to the ground. Instead, she scooped up her daughter, squeezing her tightly as Rachel cried against her.

"Hi, Baby," she told her, kissing the top of her head. A few tears escaped her as well. "Oh, my Rachel…"

They held each other for ages, until new voice greeted them. "Jean?" Ororo voiced. The two women hugged with Rachel in the middle, who wouldn't be pried from her mother's body. "How? What?" She took a deep breath. "Let's go inside and talk."

Everyone, including the Brotherhood boys, gathered in the rec room as Ororo went to go get the other staff members. Questions were flying around as the Professor, Hank and Logan came in. They seemed genuinely shocked, but it didn't stop them from hugging Jean once she had convinced Rachel to let her go for a minute. Being last, Xavier gave himself the right to hug her longest.

"She sure smells like Jeannie," Logan muttered to Ororo and Hank. The doctor nodded in agreement.

"I'm honestly not sure what to say," Xavier admitted. "Could someone possibly give an explanation?"

Lance raised his hand from where he was sitting on a chair, Kitty perched on his lap. "I think Pietro and I can." For a few moments, they explained about how they'd found Jean, omitting the fact that she could use her telepathy or telekinesis.

The professor sat back in his chair. "That's a lot to take in. Pietro, I know you and your sister aren't on excellent speaking terms with your father, but do you know anything about what he had been doing?"

The white-haired teenager snorted. "Yeah, right. I hadn't said a single word to him for a month until he came back yesterday."

"Jean, dear," Henry began, "Would you mind if I gave you an exam?"

As she opened her mouth to consent, Rachel interrupted, "Why?"

Beast blinked in surprise. "To make sure everything is alright."

"You mean to make sure that she is who she says she is," the younger redhead insisted. "Why are you questioning it? Isn't it enough that she's back?"

"Calm down, honey," Jean whispered, rubbing her back in slow circles just as she had all of Rachel's life.

Logan exchanged a look with Storm, both understanding Rachel's outburst. She didn't want to have her mother back only to lose her again. The adults weren't sure what to do. If Jean wasn't who she said she was, it could endanger the school. Rachel would probably have a complete mental and emotional breakdown. With her volatile powers growing as they were…

"Why don't we worry about that later, Henry?" Xavier suggested. "I think all this excitement has accelerated quite a few appetites. Lance, Pietro, you two are welcome to stay for dinner. Ororo, how does pizza sound?" He knew the weather witch was in no emotional state to cook dinner for over a dozen people.

She nodded and left for the kitchen as Sarina came padding in. She worked herself through the throng of students to Jean, putting her paws on her knees so that she could lick her face excitedly. "Hello, Sarina. Have you been a good dog?"

Rachel took that moment to look at the Professor and Logan, a look that obviously meant; Even my dog knows that's Mom. She continued to snuggle next to her mother as everyone tried to find something to talk about. Eventually they settled on the topic of where the Brotherhood actually went. Pietro didn't seem completely comfortable, but ended up telling most of the story while Lance's mouth was busy with Kitty's.

The male teachers watched from the entranceway to the room. "This is not good, Charles," Hank told them. "People just don't come back from the dead."

"I understand, Henry. But what can we do?" He sighed. "They know she's here. I wish Erik had spoken to me about this before allowing the boys to bring her home."

"I'm not entirely certain our old pal Magneto didn't have somethin' to do with this," Logan grunted. "It's not Mystique, at least. I'd smell her and I'm sure Rachel would be able to sense the difference."

Xavier raised an eyebrow. "Do you think she really would? I think she would accept that anyone was her mother at the moment. I don't want her to lose her again, but I fear it may come to that."

Beast nodded. "I do believe this is simply the calm before the storm."


"Ja, right, I'll tell him," Kurt said into his cell phone. "We'll be there soon. Bye." He looked at his friend closely as they drove up the street towards the Institute. "So, Scott…You remember Jean, right?"

Scott looked at Kurt incredulously out of the corner of his eyes as he pulled up the driveway and around an unfamiliar black Escalade. "Whoever said there was no such thing as stupid questions never heard that one. Of course I remember Jean."

He waited until the car was parked, so no harm could come to him from it. "Well, uh, you see…An amazing, indescribable thing happened."

"Emma and Rachel decided to get along?" he asked dryly.

"Not quite that incredible," Kurt admitted, then took a deep breath. "Scott, Jean's back. She's inside right now."

For a minute, the leader of the X-men was frozen to his seat, trying to process that information. Then without another second, he got out of the car and headed inside, wondering if the love he had lost would really be there waiting for him.


A/N: I know that the beginning was a little bit angsty, but it was supposed to be. Things can't just fall into place. In fact, I outlined the rest of the fic, and there should be about 30 chapters total, give or take a chapter. Of course, this certainly isn't going to be my last X-men fic, so I have a question to ask all of you. Do you like Rachel? As in, when I do start a new fic, would you like it to be a continuation/spin off and keep her as a character in it? Maybe not the main one, but there nonetheless. Please be honest; I won't be upset if you say you don't like her.

Questions, comments, reactions and reviews are greatly appreciated.