"Mommy?" Jane whined, watching Jean pack the bare necessities into a duffle bag.
"I have to go, Jane. That's the end of the discussion."
"Why?"
With a frustrated sigh, Jean dropped down beside her daughter. "There's a lot you don't know about these things, sweetheart. A lot you aren't aware of in terms of me, and in terms of what's going on here. Those are the reasons I have to go and Daddy has to go."
"Tell me," she begged.
"No." Jean's tone brooked no argument. In fact, it almost sounded as angry as Jean had ever sounded to her children.
"But…"
"Drop it, Jane."
In a move reminiscent of a stubborn Jean, Jane lifted her chin in defiance. "I'll find out, you know."
Jean sighed, torn between frustration and defeat. She'd tried so hard to keep both of her children from the world she lived it, the one that was filled with manipulation, greed and indifference. Jane and Michele lived in a world of acceptance and love, a world both Jean and Logan had worked hard to achieve.
"You don't want to hear about it," she finally settled on. "Not yet, anyway."
"I'm not a little girl!" Jane exploded angrily, her lack of understanding evident to Jean in the stamping of her foot. "You can't keep us both hidden away forever."
"Jane…"
"You couldn't keep Michele hidden or out of anything, so why are you trying?"
Jean had known the girls would be smart, but this intelligence scared her. Jane had brought up a good point. Why was Jean hiding it all from them? Why, now that Michele was gone, was she not telling Jane everything?
"You know I'm right," Jane whispered, knowing from her mother's facial expressions that the older woman was battling through unknowns. "We deserve to know, Mommy."
"You deserve to be safe," Jean countered finally, her voice hard. "You deserve the change to lead a normal life without influence from outside people and without stress that comes with this cause."
"And if we like the cause? If we agree with it? What difference does it make then?"
Finally, Jean's carefully measured frustration got the better of her and she whirled on Jane, her eyes flashing coal black. "Enough."
Jane immediately backed off. Sitting quietly, puzzling over the events that had just occurred. She'd find out what was going on, one way or another. It was as she sat puzzling away, watching her mother's now jerky movements as she battled her inner demons and tried to pack at the same time, that she caught a stray thought. Since the thought was her mother's, and the event didn't happen regularly, Jane paid careful attention. Emotions swirled through her unprotected mind, frustration, worry, anger at herself… and anger at Grandpa Charles.
Grandpa Charles?
Gently and carefully, Jane dug into that anger, looking for its origin and gasped. Grandpa Charles is afraid of Mommy. Her mind reeled with the knowledge, holding onto the events in her mother's memory and the hell she'd been through since discovering it all.
Jane went to her grandfather, part of her ready to confront him and the things she believed he was responsible for in her life and I her mother's and part of her just wanting to get away from the packing and the idea of her parents leaving. It was comforting to be in his presence and to be away from her mother, away from the high stress that seemed to be taking over the mansion in the absence of her sister.
"Grandpa," she said softly after staring silently out the window for what felt like forever. "Why does this man think he can get Mommy's help? Everyone knows she's strong-willed and her powers are strong… how does he think he's different?"
Knowing Jane would be able to tell if he was lying, Charles didn't even try. "He doesn't believe your mother has the control we know she has."
"You mean like Daddy has control of his animal?" she tried to clarify innocently.
Xavier blinked. Jane knew much more than anyone gave her credit for, much like her mother when Charles met the twelve-year-old Jean Grey. He also discovered he could see nothing in her mind and sighed. Apparently her parents' problems had reflected on her and the shielding she'd been taught. Ororo had mentioned something about Jean's exhaustion because one of the twins had been up with nightmares….
"Grandpa?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Like Daddy?" she repeated. "Magnet doesn't think Mommy has control like Daddy does."
"Something like that," Xavier agreed finally.
"Why wouldn't Mommy have control? She's been training since she was a teenager," Jane asked, seemingly confused.
"Your mother did not always possess the abilities and strength she has now, Jane," he answered delicately. "There were things holding her back." People holding her back.
"Like what?"
Those green eyes, so like her mother's had Xavier hypnotized, as Jean's often did. "Barriers." He figured the answer was vague enough not to spark any reaction.
Jane gasped. "Psychic barriers?"
Xavier knew he was getting himself into trouble with someone as intelligent as Jane, but he answered regardless. "Yes." He saw the wheels turning as Jane took the information, digested it, and filed it away.
"But that doesn't make sense," Jane protested. "The only person that could do that would be you."
Xavier didn't answer and let Jane come to her own conclusion.
Her eyes widened as she realized what he was telling her. "You did that?" she whispered.
"I didn't have a choice." Part of him could not believe he was having this conversation with a five-year-old and defending himself as if she understood the implications.
"But… Mommy says this is a haven for people like us," Jane protested.
"It is," Xavier stressed, wheeling his chair to settle beside where Jane was still seated on a windowsill. "This will always be a place where you can use your mutation, within reason, and not fear the consequences."
"Then why did you do it?" Jane asked, trying to keep her voice neutral, trying to ignore the anger and betrayal that flooded her mind.
"Your mother was dangerous to herself and others. I didn't have a choice."
"Every mutant can be dangerous to themselves and to others," Jane shot back sensibly.
Xavier was not surprised by the intelligence of the little redhead. Instead, it was expected. She was Jean's child and Jean was an extremely intelligent woman. I didn't surprise him that she understood things, but he was impressed at the level of which she understood things that adults didn't. "That is true…"
"So how is Mommy different? She was supposed to be able to stay at this special school and make her life easier because she didn't have to hide and didn't have to be scared," Jane attacked.
"Jane, she could have killed people without realizing it."
"She can still do that," Jane exploded. "And Aunt Marie can kill people with a simple touch and you didn't do anything about that."
"Your Aunt Marie is different from your mother," Xavier tried again. "Her mutation was to take someone's life force. The only way to hinder that would be to remove it from her completely and that could kill her."
"Mommy's mutation almost killed her and almost killed the people she loved," Jane yelled, her eyes wild with indignation.
"Jane…"
"You can't admit you're wrong and sometime they won't need you, like Mommy doesn't need you now. They help you because you ask and that's okay because most of the people here love you, even Mommy, and you did bad things to her. But Grandpa, help has two sides and you don't always help them back. The battle with this Magnet guy started before I was born, and I get that, but I think you're starting to go too far." She nimbly hopped off the windowsill and prowled to the door, the perfect imitation of an annoyed Logan. When she reached the door, standing on her tip toes to reach the knob properly, she turned back.
"I don't think it's too late," she whispered.
Xavier was left looking at his closed office door wondering what exactly he'd let develop.
Jean was remarkably calm as she landed the Blackbird, Ororo In the co-pilot's seat and Logan's calming presence directly behind her. She stayed seated, powering down the jet's power as everyone else evacuated and began setting up camp just below. She was aware of Logan still in his seat as she did this, providing her with unwavering support in a time that was just as tough for him as it was for her.
He never ceased to amaze her. Logan could be dear and sweet, but angry and over-protective. He could be working through the worst problems of his life and still be a post for her to lean on when her world was crumbling.
I only hope I can be the same for him.
"You are, Jeannie," he spoke out loud, reminding her of their shared link. "You and those girls are the most important things in my life."
"And one is lost," Jean stated mournfully, leaning against the console.
"Don't beat yourself up about it," Logan stated forcefully. "Both Michele and Marie are smart girls and Michele's damn strong."
"She's terrified Logan," Jean whispered. "She's so scared…"
Logan carefully schooled his thoughts and face, knowing of Jean's hyper-sensitivity. He believed whole-heartedly that Jean was right, but he also crossed his fingers that his baby had his genes, his raw nerves and reckless bravery, that would be the backbone of her strength.
"She knows we're on our way," he spoke, trying to soothe Jean's own rising fears.
"Does she?" Jean whispered. "They don't, but Logan, she's a baby. What if she doesn't think we're coming."
"Hey," he said softly, pulling her into his arms and hugging her close to his body. "You didn't fight with Mich before she disappeared, Darlin'. I'm sure she knows we're coming." The tension in her muscles screamed her fear and discomfort and all Logan wanted was to take it away, to protect her and the girls from everything. He knew she blamed herself for Michele's disappearance but he almost blamed himself more. He'd known something was off with Scott and had known before he'd left. He shouldn't have trusted Scott, should have had him watched from day one.
He'd made a mistake and he knew there was a chance that it could cost him the things he loved most…
The people who'd taught him what family was.
"Its as much my fault as it is yours," she murmured into his shoulder, burrowing her head as close as she possibly could to the skin of his neck.
He sighed, shoving his pessimistic thoughts to the recesses of his mind. "Let's stop with the blaming and focus on getting Michele."
It was going to turn out to be their mantra: focus on Michele.
"Guys?" Bobby spoke up from the entrance to the plane, not wanting to startle the couple. "You're going to want to come see what I found."