Title: The Tree

Fandom: X-Men Universe comics / movies

Pairing: Jean G./Emma F.

Rating: PG-13

Notes: I hope I'm not too rough with Jean's powers here. Let me know.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, but I do love them.

The blonde took a deep breath closing her eyes putting her thumb to her temple and her index and middle finger to her forehead massaging them. Her headache continued to get worse as her heart began to race almost painfully. Her hands began to tremble as she closed her fist so tightly she almost drew blood from her palm. She wasn't sure if it was fear or anger she was feeling.

She sat parked at the bottom of the hill for 30 minutes trying to compose herself. Why was she having such a strong physical reaction all of sudden? Just seeing the redhead couldn't be affecting her so intensely.

Inside the mansion…

Jean looks around the foyer closing her eyes inhaling a deep breath, taking in the scent she had come to miss. Memories flash past her mind of joyous funny moments she'd had with the team. It felt good to be home, in spite of the circumstances that caused her to leave her long time residence.

The redhead slowly opens her eyes as she walks quietly toward the stairs when an all too familiar mental presence gets her attention. She grits her teeth and takes in a deep breath as her ex-husband walks in from the pool shirtless with a towel draped over his shoulders.

Summers stops in his tracks and swallows so loudly it almost echoed through the foyer. He opens his mouth to speak but the redhead lifts her hand telekinetically stopping his mouth from opening. She takes in an irritated breath and shakes her head softly laughs at the serendipitous irony of it all.

To encounter her unfaithful ex-husband and his mistress the exact day and moment she decides she's ready to return home, the gods were obviously testing her resolve. She was well aware of the blonde's presence when she first arrived onto the school grounds. The redhead wanted to hurry inside, just thinking of the woman was giving her a massive headache.

She turns to look at the dejected face of her ex-husband. "Scott, I'll say this once and only once…" The man is the picture of fear as amber eyes begin to glow staring into his adulterous soul. She speaks slowly and deliberately as her body wafts with so much heat it's almost suffocating. The mansion begins to gently tremble. "You two…. will stay… the fuck away from me…..for as long as… I… need you to. Do…you… understand? If…. I catch either of you….within earshot of me….."

The redhead is interrupted as Charles, Ororo, and Rogue call out to her. 'Great…now what' She thinks to herself as she closes her eyes breathing deeply trying desperately to control the raging fire within her. Ororo floats down the stairs as Jean releases Scott from her telekinetic hold.

Her caramel best friend quickly moves to take the redhead into her arms, but Jean stops her holding up one hand telling her to wait a moment. Jean takes a few more deep breathes, using the techniques she learned from Dr. Banner to control her emotions and quall the blood thirsty force inside her. A few minutes go by and the mansion stops shaking. She opens her eyes revealing emerald orbs and gives Ororo a smile taking the woman into her arms. "Hey Ro, I missed you."

Ororo softly rubs her friend's back kissing her on the cheek as students begin converging on the redhead from every imaginable direction to greet her. Her little scare tactic earlier had inadvertently awakened the whole school.

"All right everyone, let's all calm down and return to your rooms. We are all happy that Jean has returned home, but it is quite late. It would be better if we had a more formal welcome home get together some other time." Charles says as all the students begin "awing' in unison as they go back to their rooms.

~ Charles, I don't want a party or anything special alright. I just want to get back to work. ~ Jean mentally whispers to him.

He nods his head and smiles gently at her as he takes her hand. "Whatever you wish. It's good to have you home. Get some rest and if you feel up to it in the morning, the AP telekinesis class needs to prepare for finals."

Jean takes a deep breath and smiles at him. "That'd be great Charles. Thank you."

Institute Road…

Emma sits quietly in her car now parked at the front gate breathing deeply as her headache spikes into a migraine, a drop of blood falls from her nose onto her white pants, the ground is shaking. The blonde holds the armrest tightly and grabs some tissue as her headache suddenly subsides.

She looks out the tinted windows to see the lights in the mansion turning on one after another. No doubt everyone knows the redhead is back now. The blonde cleans her nose and begins to rub her face with both hands. Her body had begun to settle down and she felt more like herself. She wasn't going to sit outside all night she knew if she felt Jean's presence then the redhead surely felt hers too.

The commotion in the mansion got louder and louder. The blonde wasn't going to sit idly by and let the redhead think she was avoiding her. She had nothing to be ashamed of. Emma went over this week's schedule with the driver and got out of the car with her briefcase.

She held her head up high as the noise in the mansion began to die down the closer she got to the doors. She took in a deep breath and put on her most nonchalant expression and slowly opened the doors. The redhead was standing next to Charles when she looked up as the door opened meeting the blonde's cool blue eyes.

Green eyes were locked into blue for a full minute, until the redhead turned away speaking to the professor. "Thanks again Charles. I'll be there bright and early tomorrow." She begins walking up the staircase as her duffle bags float behind her. Scott runs over to his girlfriend as fast as he can waving his arms and shaking his head back and forth frantically. The blonde furrows her brow and steps aside as he tries to grab her tripping into the door.

She watches as Jean walks up the stairs. "I guess you found out you aren't the center of the universe Miss Grey. How does it feel?" The blonde says as the redhead continues walking up the stairs. Scott finally grabs his girlfriend and covers her mouth as the blonde hears Jean's dark voice as it echoes through the foyer.

"Don't forget what I said Scott." The redhead says as she reaches the top of the staircase never even bothering to turn around as she disappears down the hallway. The blonde yanks his hand from her mouth. "What has gotten into you?" She asks him completely appalled by his behavior.

He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. "What's gotten in to me? What the hell are you thinking saying something like that to her?" He says sternly trying to keep his voice down.

"Is it a crime to speak to her now? Is she a saint, so holy that she can't bear to hear my voice?" The blonde fires back.

"Just stay away from her Emma. Don't even try and talk to her, please for everyone's sake." Scott says trying to reason with his irate girlfriend.

"I'm so sick and tired of everyone treating her like she's untouchable just because of that thing inside of her. Maybe if people were honest with her instead of walking on egg shells every time she breathes, she'd be able to control it." She says with her eyes piercing into Scott's ruby glasses.

"It's not that simple Emma. Don't you understand, she could destroy the planet in the blink of an eye if she wanted to. We can't take that kind of threat lightly." Scott says almost trembling not sure if Jean can hear them or not.

The blonde drops her gaze and heads toward the staircase as Scott grabs her arm. "Where are you going?!" He almost yells. She yanks her arm from his hand. "I'm going to my apartment Scott. Why don't you go to yours? As a matter of fact, why don't you give me my key back while you're at it? It's nothing against you, I'm just deathly allergic to cowardice." She says holding out her hand as his jaw clenches trying to ignore her remark.

He stares at her hand and back into her eyes as she waits with a stark expression on her face. "Emma, look I'm just saying -,"She interrupts him as she turns and begins walking up the stairs. "Slide it under my door when you have some free time. We can talk about this later. I feel a sneeze coming on."

Scott stands frozen at the bottom of the stairs as the blonde reaches the top and heads down the hallway. She passes the redhead's room staring at the door as she walks by. She stops and raises her hand to knock, but can suddenly feel her headache reemerging and changes her mind walking away.

The blonde reaches her door as the headache subsides. The redhead was definitely the cause, she was sure of it now. She goes inside and heads for the bathroom. Leaning onto the counter staring at her reflection, she takes a deep breath examining her porcelain face. A drop of blood falls into the sink. The blonde shakes her head and looks into the mirror with a confused expression on her face. Her nose had bled again as her hands began to tremble.

She looked into the mirror and smirked. "So you heard me after all, little firefly. Don't you worry one little bit. I'll make sure Scott and I give you all the attention you want from now on."

The blonde jumps slightly as her mirror cracks. She laughs. "I'll replace that just like I replaced you." She cleans up her nose and walks out into her bedroom. She takes off her clothes and shakes her head staring at the drop of blood on her pants. She sighs and tosses them into the hamper then goes to lie down in bed.

She looks up at her ceiling taking in a deep breath with her hands under her head. Her eyes slowly close as she begins mentally sifting through her duties for tomorrow. She wants to make sure she can keep Sophie focused for her tutoring session. So more conservative attire is called for, then she has a meeting with her stockbroker to make the weekly changes to her portfolio….

The blonde's eyes quickly open and she grits her teeth. Her mind flashed with a thought of the eye contact she had with the redhead downstairs. Jean's eyes were as green as the finest polished jade her expression was soft yet fierce.

The blonde quickly shook her head, took a deep breath and refocused her mind. She needed to call the governor of California to discuss her military contract with the National Guard there. Her head jerks slightly as she sees the redhead's full rose kissed lips moving as she spoke to Charles when the blonde first walked in.

Emma quickly sits up in bed and breaths in and out through her nose impatiently. What the hell was going on with her? Why couldn't she focus? Sure Jean was back but she didn't care, she despised the woman with her self-righteous attitude thinking everyone should treat her like she's special. The blonde took another deep breath puffing out her chest as she shakes her head. 'This is ridiculous.' She thinks to herself lying back down onto the bed.

As soon as she closed her eyes she saw herself watching the redhead as she walked up the stairs. Cataloging every sway of her hips with each step, she sat up almost in a panic. "Christ I'll be worse than Sophie at this rate." She needs to do something to get her mind off what happened earlier. So she gets up from bed and heads to the dresser pulling out a swim suit. Then she slips on a pair of white cashmere sweats and heads toward the door. Just as she's about to open it, she hears knocking.

She rolls her eyes knowing who it is. "Aah aah ah, chew. My allergies are really intolerable tonight sweetie would you mind not standing so close to the door." She says pretending to sniffle sarcastically. She crosses her arms waiting for Scott to leave.

"Em, look, I get it okay, but this isn't about you and me anymore." He puts his face to the door and whispers. "If she goes out of control who knows who she'll hurt. Please just be reasonable." He pleads hearing the blonde sneezing again. He shakes his head bends down and slips the key under the door. "I hope we can talk tomorrow okay. Just stay out of Jean's way." She sneezes again as he walks away.

She leans with her back against the door until she is sure he is out of range and she can get down to the pool. If there was one thing about Scott that she couldn't stand it was his constant need to try and appease his ex-wife, not just him but everyone. It infuriated her to no end to witness such high levels of in-authenticity from grown adults. If they were employees at her company she'd have fired them by now.

She leaves her apartment and walks down the long hallway stopping in front of Jean's door again. She looks at the door with a satisfied expression on her face as if she knows the redhead is standing right behind it staring back at her. To her surprise her head doesn't begin to ache this time. She mouths four words and winks as she walks off down the stairs toward the pool.

The redhead takes a deep breath gritting her teeth as she walks away from the door. She got the blonde's message clearly. "See you soon firefly."

TBC….