A/N: While the X-Kids rock the Halloween festivities, Jean and Scott have a romantic dinner. Unbeknownst to the couple, Emma Frost has followed them to gather information for the Hellfire Club. :) Thanks for reading!

In September a new French restaurant opened in Bayville – the first of its kind, fawned over by the uncultured masses who recognized the silhouette of the Eiffel Tower on the bathroom wallpaper and thought of themselves as true connoisseurs of Parisian culture – and its menu prices could bankrupt the average high school prom committee. It attracted a certain class of people, primarily the elderly but also the occasional couple celebrating a special anniversary or some such. Scott Summers had chosen this restaurant out of a deep-rooted desire to give his girlfriend the best of himself. It was quite endearing.

As he sat down, he thought about the fact that he and Jean hadn't been on a date since before the events of June, the battle against Apocalypse. "Now that is a long time to go without treating the woman you love to dinner, Mr. Summers," Emma mused softly, the words whispered into the lip of her wine glass, "Tsk, tsk." She took a sip of her Chablis – it was the most expensive wine on the menu, wasn't that quaint? – and gazed out over the dining room. She was one year away from the legal drinking age but she persuaded her waiter that it was unnecessary to card her. People could be so accommodating... if you had the right name, or the right powers.

"What d'you say?"

Emma slow blinked in annoyance and turned her gaze briefly to her date. "I wasn't speaking to you, Paul."

"Oh." He missed the disdain in her voice – but she hadn't chosen him for the stimulating conversation. A former student of Bayville High School, the tall and blond Paul Haitis now worked at his father's car dealership. He had little ambition and no talent, average in every sense of the word.

He couldn't believe his luck, getting a date with her. Emma, of course, was anything but average. A very discrete plastic surgeon, the miracles of hair color, and the tenacity of a telepath who knows how to use her powers allowed Emma to blossom in high school from a mousy, middling brunette into the voluptuous blonde businesswoman she was today. On her eighteenth birthday, her father had made her the heir apparent to the family fortune - an offer she had rejected. Emma couldn't stand the thought of living the rest of her life in Winston's shadow, constantly fending off the machinations of the jealous harpies she called sisters. Instead, she had ambitions to start her own company. She was only a junior in college and well on her way to establishing herself as the youngest female CEO in the northeast.

That was how she met Sebastian. She had plans to meet the board director of a multi-billion dollar corporation operating out of Manhattan last May. She hoped to persuade him to sell so that she could rebrand the company in her own image: Frost Enterprises. Imagine her surprise when the twenty-five year old CEO of Shaw Industries took her to lunch instead. The two were mutually aware of each other's surnames as they moved in the same aristocratic social circles (despite having never met face-to-face). Of course, Shaw was nouveau riche but Emma didn't hold it against him. He revealed himself to be a mutant – like her – and informed her that he had put together his own Inner Circle. He wanted her to be a part of it.

What he envisioned for their social club was success where the - now infamous - Brotherhood had failed. Those boys were of poor stock. They didn't have breeding, or money, or ambition beyond committing felonies in Bayville. They didn't have direction. And they certainly didn't have the wherewithal to manipulate the media in the way that Sebastian could. He was not interested in making headlines for destruction of property. No, he intended to change the world, beginning with New York. Unlike previous iterations of the Hellfire Club, Sebastian Shaw had the innovative perspective of a young man with endless resources. He believed that influence and power to shape the future should be in the hands of mutants like them, not their parents or mentors. They should be the ones to decide what their world would look like. Emma agreed.

Of course, when she signed on she did not expect to be doing this.

She was not Sebastian Shaw's errand girl – and yet, here she was, keeping an eye on Scott Summers and Jean Grey for reasons that had not been fully explained to her. Shaw had made it very clear to her what would happen if he caught her reading his mind... but she disliked his secretive demeanor. Shouldn't the queen have more of a say in how she spent her evenings? Her time was precious.

Doesn't he trust me? Emma could hear the frustration in this thought as clear as a bell. Jean was talking to Scott about her plans to return to school and finish her degree - and meanwhile, his mind was racing. He wished the Professor would have confided in him about his visions. He was resentful. He was worried. He wanted to protect Jean and felt that he couldn't do so if he didn't know what the 'worst case scenario' could be. And so on, and so forth. Admirable multi-tasking in a man, Emma thought somewhat condescendingly. He could engage Jean easily in her discussion about university requirements while simultaneously struggling with questioning a great mentor he admired and respected.

"This is the best restaurant in town." Emma was doing some multi-tasking of her own, eavesdropping on their dinner across the room while managing her own date. Paul was trying - and failing - to keep her attention. He offered that brilliant statement as a segue to... what, exactly?

"Is it?"

"Yeah. It was just built."

"How fascinating." Emma leaned forward slightly, a shift in position that accentuated the low neckline of her white gown. Paul stared. Poor boy. He really was so out of his league. "Paul," she said his name - twice - before he raised his gaze to meet cool blue eyes, "Do you know that couple?" She gestured with one perfectly manicured hand in the direction of Jean and Scott.

She would have preferred Duncan Matthews - Jean's old flame - to fulfill this role but sadly he was still in prison for some... debacle with explosives last year. So Emma took the next best thing: the former friend of Scott Summers. She did not take on charity cases, after all. No, she had chosen this boy for a reason. He was her way in, without requiring her to compromise herself by showing up on the steps of the Xavier Institute like one of their little lost lambs. Emma Frost was not a wayward social outcast in need of guidance. She had no desire to give up her life - as it was - so she had to find another way to acquaint herself with the X-Men. This was what Sebastian asked of her.

Paul's gaze refocused in the direction Emma subtly indicated, and for a few seconds his mouth couldn't catch up with his thoughts. Finally, he managed with a furrowed brow, "That's Scott. I went to school with him."

"Scott who?" she feigned ignorance, "He seems so familiar to me for some reason."

"Scott Summers," Paul said grimly, and Emma read in his thoughts shame. He had once been best friends with Scott, and he felt betrayed by what he'd seen on the news. He could not believe that he had befriended a mutant for so long without knowing what he really was. He was angry, too.

"Really?" Emma gasped in surprise.

"Yeah." Paul didn't want to talk about it, but Emma gently brushed the heel of her Manolo Blahniks against his calf. She seemed to be hanging on his every word, so he added belatedly, swallowing, "And that's Jean Grey."

"The redhead?"

"Yeah."

"She's very pretty, don't you think?"

Paul thought she was 'smoking hot', but all he did was scoff outwardly, "She's a freak. They both are- ow."

Emma dug the heel of her shoe into the meat of his leg, and smiled apologetically in response. She disliked the 'f' word. "Will you introduce me, darling?"

Paul resisted. "They're mutants." He said it like a curse, as if they had some sort of contagious disease. You should be so lucky, you imbecile.

Despite her growing impatience in the face of this boy's profound idiocy, Emma retained her flirtatious composure. "They're famous, Paul, and you know them. I would like to meet them," she insisted, curiosity seemingly getting the best of her. She gave him a look of faux reproach, "You aren't afraid, are you?"

"Of course not," he insisted, emboldened by the prospect of impressing Emma, "I'll take you over there right now."

"Would you?" she repeated in her very best 'oh, what a treat!' voice. He stood up and she waited until he remembered to pull out her chair. Then she took his arm and the two of them crossed the dining room together.

Scott noticed his former friend before her date managed to stutter two words together. "Paul?" There was pain in his voice, and in the memory of a friendship lost. From what she gleaned from Scott's mind, Paul had distanced himself from known association with a mutant - he was hardly the only person to do so, but it hurt more because this rejection came from someone Scott thought of as a friend. Emma found herself feeling uncharacteristically sympathetic towards the handsome X-Man. He does wear those glasses well, doesn't he? It made her look much less favorably on her date as well. She still hadn't decided what she going to do with him once this was all over.

"Summers," Paul replied stiffly, barely acknowledging Jean at all.

"How... how've you been?" Scott asked with a forced smile.

"Good."

The silence stretched between the two couples until it was nearly uncomfortable.

"Hello, Scott," Emma said, warmth in her voice and her gaze. She was intimate enough with his first name to surprise Jean. "My name is Emma." She offered him her hand and after a moment of uncertainty, he shook it. "I feel as though we know each other already, seeing as you went to school with Paul."

"Oh, uh, really?" He was confused by the coldness of his friend juxtaposed against Emma's friendly introduction.

"Yes." She gave Scott her most charming smile, all white teeth and sparkling eyes. Then she turned to the redhead, still smiling but with less warmth. "And you must be Jean. It's a pleasure."

"Emma, is it?" Jean smiled back, somewhat unsure but still amicable, "Nice to meet you." The words seemed genuine. Emma didn't pry. She didn't want to give herself away so soon... although she was curious. Jean was a telepath like herself. What did she have that made her so special? She wouldn't even read her own boyfriend's mind. She was the one Sebastian was interested in, but Emma could think of at least three X-Men who were far more intriguing than the redhead.

But she supposed it was nice to put an introduction with the face.

"Well," Emma touched Paul's arm gently, "We don't want to disrupt your dinner," she spoke for her date and telepathically induced him to remain quiet. He had done his part. "I only wanted to say hello." She looked at Scott as she spoke. "I hope we see each other again very soon." With a parting smile to both X-Men, Emma returned to her dinner table with her date. Sitting across from him - and utterly ignoring his presence - Emma took out her cell phone and redialed a blocked number.

"It's me," she said in a low voice, rearranging her silverware on the table as she spoke until they were perfectly spaced apart, "She returned today with Charles Xavier. There will no more trips. He will continue treating her at the Xavier Institute in Bayville." This was the information she had taken from Scott's mind, and which she now passed on to Sebastian. "If there's nothing else?" Her tone suggested there better not be 'something else' because she was quite fed up with this charade, and then he told her that she looked beautiful in Louis Vuitton. She smiled slowly, but knew better than to look around the restaurant for him. He wouldn't be here in person. "Flattery will get you everywhere," Emma replied smoothly, and Sebastian wished her good night. Emma slid her phone back into her clutch.

"Who was that?"

She sighed. She'd almost forgotten about Paul. "No one you need concern yourself with, dear," she replied, "Shall we get the check?" She was eager to be rid of him now. He had served his purpose, so the next time she 'bumped' into the X-Men she wouldn't need an introduction. Or even a re-introduction. Emma was quite confident. No matter how brief the exchange, she always left an impression.