Title: Eve

Fandom: X-Men Universe comics / movies

Pairing: Jean G./Emma F.

Rating: PG-13

Notes: The shoe is on the other foot this chapter.

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

Its 5 pm and Jean Grey lays in bed meditating. She focuses on peace and calm quelling the fire within her. Her breath is slow and calm, the room is quiet, the birds are chirping outside her window. These are the moments she missed while she was away from the institute.

About fifteen minutes into the meditation an all too familiar image flashes into her mind. It's the blonde. Jean takes a deep breath as her inner fire suddenly surges within her, she can feel the heat emanating from her body threatening to burn her alive from the inside out. She quickly gets up a runs to her closet and opens the secret compartment again. She picks up the piece of hair and sniffs it like she's a drug addict going through withdrawal.

As her eyes return to their normal green color she closes the closet and goes back to the bed. She sits down and hangs her head down low as she whispers to herself. "It's getting worse." She blinks back tears as she lies back on the bed and closes her eyes remembering when these intense feelings started.

Three years ago….

Emma Frost arrives in the medical bay from Genosha. It had been attacked by sentinels; the blonde was a teacher there when it happened. She tried unsuccessfully to protect her young mutant students when the buildings came down, her secondary crystal mutation kicked in. The blonde had gone into shock by the time the X-men found her.

Jean was on medical duty that day with Hank and immediately went to work sending calm soothing, loving thoughts into the blonde's mind, trying to get her to retract the beautiful diamond like crystal that covered her entire body. The redhead even projected her mental body into the blonde's mind and saw the woman reliving the events trying to protect her students. Jean holds her ethereal body in place still sending her calming thoughts.

Eventually Jean could feel her calming as the blonde's skin began slowly returning to normal revealing, soft smooth, porcelain skin. The redhead couldn't take her eyes off the woman's face. The blonde's eyes slowly open cerulean eyes lock onto the heavily lidded emerald orbs of the redhead. Jean's heart immediately flutters and intense heat fills her heart, she rapidly blinks and shakes her head as she tries to get up and allow Hank access to the blonde. To her surprise Emma grabs her wrist; the woman was still in shock as Hank gives her a sedative. "Stay please…don't…go." The blonde's voice barely a whisper. Jean automatically sits back down and takes her hand; her body feels like a quilt on cold winter night. She'd never felt so much comfort flowing from within her before.

Over the years Charles had the redhead monitor Emma. She didn't find it at all unpleasant. She was intensely curious about the blonde's life. The things she saw in her mind were incredible. In comparison to her the blonde was a heathen, wild and reeking of debauchery, a sex crazed, narcissistic nymphomaniac. To make it worse the woman seemed to be proud of it.

The redhead thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone's jaw drop when Emma walked into team meetings inappropriately dressed. Every meeting she seemed to show more and more skin. She was everything the redhead wasn't. Jean enjoyed that she had time alone with Emma Frost exploring her mind and allowing the blonde to walk through her mind as well. It was an extremely personal thing for telepaths to share their minds. It took a certain level of trust. Jean found herself eagerly anticipating her weekly meetings with the blonde.

She actually began spending less time with her husband in favor of her new teammate. Then the professor changed the team assignments and suddenly Scott was spending more time with Emma and Jean went on more and more away missions. Her inner fire becoming fiercer the more time she spent away from the institute.

Then everything changed in the blink of an eye. She came home tired from a mission. It was particularly difficult for her to calm the Phoenix that day, but she managed it. Upon returning home she saw that Scott was asleep in bed and decided she'd wake him telepathically. That's when she walked in on Scott and Emma having sex in his mind.

She felt numb as she saw the blonde smiling at her and her husband trying to explain the situation. The Phoenix inside immediately took over her psyche and pushed Scott from the room mentally. She and the blonde stood face to face as her blood boiled with anger.

"Come on Tiger, don't pretend like this a surprise. I'm sure you've noticed how distant Summers has been lately. Weren't you the one who suggested that I start counseling him?" The blonde asks with a raised chin and arched eyebrow. She reaches out to touch Jean's cheek. The redhead closes her eyes at the mental contact. "That's right Tiger, this is just a thought projection after all, nothing to get upset about. I'd be happy to give you a few pointers, to keep Scott's attention, all though I'm not sure you could keep him as entertained as I have." She says with a smirk as Jean grabs her wrist tightly and her body is covered with the Phoenix cloak.

Emma's body is in physical pain as she falls to her knees looking into the redhead's golden amber eyes. Her head begins to ache intensely as Jean overwhelms the blonde's mind forcing her to relive her most painful moments. She wanted the woman to suffer. How dare she take her husband away from her? How dare she choose -,"

Jean's Apartment Present Day

Jean feels herself back in her bedroom as her head begins to ache intensely. She knew what it meant. Emma was home. She looks over at her clock and decides to head down to the cafeteria to eat so she doesn't have to encounter the woman. She can already feel her body heating up, she needed to hurry. She took a deep breath before opening the door as her headache got worse suddenly. Her body began reacting. She quickly runs back to her closet, the bundle of hair is gone. She begins frantically looking through the closet. Where could it have gone?

Jean learned a lot after her divorce. She ran into Dr. Bruce Banner who had similar issues containing a ferocious beast within himself. She studied with him for an entire month. She found she had an intense amount of emotion built up around the blonde. He taught her to focus on the version of Emma that she knew prior to what happened with Scott. The version that brought her peace, the one that was her friend. His method of focus was a vision board as well as stimulating other sensory responses in order to appease the emotional beast within.

Dr. Banner kept a piece of clothing from his ex-wife on hand whenever he felt the Hulk trying to make an appearance. For the redhead it was the pieces of the blonde's hair she had discreetly collected one day when she and Emma were still cordial toward one another. She allowed Jean to brush her hair. She loved the scent of Emma's hair and in an odd moment asked her if she could borrow her brush. The blonde thought that was strange, but when Jean explained that she loved the feel of the bristles, the woman agreed after all it was a $3500 brush, she could understand how the redhead felt.

The redhead hears a knock on the door as her eyes begin to flash amber gold. "Don't be her. Don't let it be her. Please don't let it be her." She repeats to herself over and over again. The blonde had been making purposeful efforts to get her attention lately. But she couldn't allow herself to go there, for fear of what the Phoenix would do. She didn't hate the blonde, but having her around was causing her nothing but grief.

"Hey Jean its Ro, I thought we could have lunch at Thai the Thai today." Jean sighs as she finally finds the blonde's hair and inhales the scent. She had never been so happy to hear her friend's voice. The Phoenix's desire was getting worse.

She gets up and places the hair back into the secret compartment and closes the closet. "Yeah Ro, that'd be great. I'll meet you downstairs." Jean takes a few more deep breaths. This was good she could stay out of the blonde's way. She gets to her door and hears the woman's voice down the hallway.

"Munroe, you're looking fetching today, do you have a hot date." Emma says. Ororo laughs. "Yes the hottest, Jean and I are going out for Thai tonight." The blonde practically gags as Jeans puts her forehead against the door. "Is that so, I'd love to tag along, do you have room for one more?"

The redhead bites her bottom lip so hard it almost bleeds as she sends a thought to her best friend.

~ No Ro. ~

Ororo smiles at the blonde. "Sorry Emma, Jean has some things she'd like to talk to me about tonight maybe next time." The blonde pouts feigning sadness.

"Oh well, aren't you lucky having her all to yourself. Do tell her that I'd like a few moments of her time if she can spare it….you know what. I'll tell her myself."

Jean swallows hard as every footstep the woman takes down the hallway causes her heart to beat harder within her chest. She can't move as her head begins to ache painfully. Her eyes are golden and lidded.

Emma feels lightheaded the closer she gets to the redhead's door. She blinks back the vertigo that's suddenly seizing her body as she stops in front of the woman's door and tries to knock, but her arm isn't complying.

Jean stands on the other side licking her lips. The blonde can feel a powerful ache beneath her waist; she grabs the wall to keep her balance and shakes her head as she stares at the door.

She can't quite find her voice as she leans closer to the thin piece of wood separating her from the redhead. She can feel Jean on the other side of the door as she whispers. "Tiger….I've missed our talks."

Jean can feel her blood burning as she leans in wanting to get closer to the blonde, she can almost smell the mint on her breath. She can feel her body trembling as she closes her eyes.

The blonde is in pain as she can feel her nose beginning to bleed. "I'll see you soon Jean. I'd love to have you for -," She's interrupted hearing something large slam against the other side of the door. She steps back and blinks rapidly and turns to head toward her apartment.

Jean's fist is still against the door as she finally regains mobility and almost has to crawl to the closet. She thinks to herself. 'Why can't she just leave me alone?' She grabs the hair and stares at the pictures of the blonde remembering the conversations they used to have. She takes slow deep cleansing breaths caressing her face with the hair as her eyes begin to flash from gold to green.

She turns quickly toward the door as she hears knocking. "Jean, is everything alright? I got your message." Ororo says through the door. The redhead sighs as her eyes turn green. "I'll be down in a minute Ro." She gets up and puts her things back in order and heads out the door.

The blonde stares into her bathroom mirror having cleaned her nose again. "It's you isn't it Jean. You're doing this to me aren't you? Why won't you just talk to me? I know you want to. You can feel me, just like I feel you can't you?" She sighs and closes her eyes as her voice takes a very serious tone. "I have a good idea about where a certain someone's fantasies came from as well. How long have you felt this way Tiger? How long have you wanted me?"

The blonde walks out of the bathroom and sits on the bed as she stares at the ceiling thinking of the redhead. She slowly closes her eyes and sighs. "I really have missed our talks."

TBC…