Tomorrow

August 07, 2015:

Scott and Jean finally reunite.

Jean's Office

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Its mid morning. Tensions are running high at the Xavier Institute. Word is that Scott and Rachel were released, and had arrived the night prior, but save for a brief sighting in the kitchen, Scott has been not around.

Until now.

Jean's phone will chirp at her with an incoming text message from Scott. 'I'm home. Need to see you.'

Not long thereafter, he opens the door to her office without knocking, looking around to see if Jean is here.

Tensions were in fact high, Jean had just returned possibly hours later to sit inside of her office to contemplate what she was going to do, what she was going to say. In her mind, she was upset. Everything played by so fast and she tried her best and ultimately failed, on all accounts. In fact, it felt like a set-up job when it really wasn't. It just made things all the more worse. She imagined yelling, screaming, throwing things, her leaving..

Hell, did she still even plan to leave? But the very thought of them being home made her heart skip a beat and everything that she was ready to put upon the table, gone. Especially by the buzz of her phone upon the desk.

She swipes it, reads the message, then puts it back down, fingers steepled as she presses her lips against her pointer fingers, her eyes narrowing upon the door as she tries to still the rapid beat of her heart, steady her breath, draw her mind to a blank..

"Scott?" She asks as the door was opened, her hands pressing against the desk as she slowly draws herself to a stand.

"Jean?" The name comes in near synchronicity. Sight of the woman serves to drain most of the weight from Scott's face. There is but a momentary pause, before he rushes over and reaches for the woman, immensely relieved to see her.

There wasn't going to be a repeat of names. She was angry, she had her speech prepared, she was ready to finger wag.. until she saw him. She moves her way around from the desk, his arms outstretched fit her perfectly, for once they nearly slammed together her arms draw around his waist to pull him tight against her bosom.

She missed him so much, and it showed with the way that she hugged him, even how she lifts upon the tips of her toes to mash her lips against his, her hand drawing up to sink against the back of his head, to pull and grasp his hair just to make sure that he was really real, and that this wasn't an all too real dream sequence that left her awake in his bed at night, in tears and unable to sleep.

Its real. Quite real. In spite of the uncanny series of events that have taken place in the last eighteen hours, this has all been very real, both the good and the bad.

For now, this is the good; one of the things that had driven him to come home, to stay. "I'm -" Scott tries, but he's interrupted by more mashing of lips. "Mm - mm. I'm - I'm sorry it happened this way."

Paws. All of them, he was real and right here standing in front of her. She tried her best, it wasn't good enough, but that didn't matter. He's here. And he's apologizing.. all of the anger she felt towards him? It just went out of the window. Because he's here..

"I hated you. I wanted to hate you. But then I wanted you back.." She was so close to tears, her face burying into his chest, unable to look at him due to her own shame. Her fingers grasp his shirt tightly, wanting to hit him but.. not.

"There were so many things I wanted to say to you, to.. to.. yell and to scream and to.." She lets out a breath. She just couldn't do it. "I missed you so much.. I've never.. I wish.." Gah. She could kiss him again. But she didn't.

"But you couldn't, could you?" asks Scott. "You tried, but something was blocking you." Of all the telepaths in the world, Charles and Jean were among the most powerful, and they'd both been silent. "They were blocking your powers, weren't they?"

Scott had a lot of time to think about such things, to weigh the variables and make some calculated guesses. He does need the confirmation, from Jean, that this guess is in fact true, but he already knows the answer in his gut.

"Which presents a whole new slew of problems." Stepping away, Scott rubs a hand through his hair, pacing nervously. He was already jumping back into leadership, when he should be fixing the problems he caused in his family. It's like an addiction to him.

"I need you to tell me everything that's happened since I went away, Jean."

Her head shook; it wasn't too often when she felt vulnerable, became vulnerable. It was usually around only him. Usually, she kept a stoic and gentle demeanor, but there was nothing but fragility within her bones. "Yes.." She admits. "..when I tried to reach you, it was like.." She lifts her hand to wave. "..dead space. Nothing was there. Not even when you are sleeping, I could still feel something, some form of comfort and knowing. But, I felt nothing at all. Not even from Rachel."

With the confirmation in the air, she chews upon her lip as he steps back, a slight nod given as she lifts a hand to press to her temple, her head slowly shaking as she snaps her fingers twice to point towards the chair. "No." Plain, and simple. "You don't get to do this. You do not get to demand information from me so that you can ignore the pain that's still in my heart, even though it's yearned to see you. You don't. Now sit down."

The confirmation draws a darkness over Scott's demeanor. No one needed to give voice to the obvious; the government now has a way of blocking even the most powerful telepaths. It is a most disturbing development, and partly the reason why his reaction to her is delayed.

"What?" He turns back to Jean, frowning. A complaint creeps to his lips, but it never finds its voice. Instead, his shoulders slump, and he quietly claims the seat as requested.

She says nothing but wipes the tears away from her eyes with the tips of her fingers, her gaze gone to the ceiling as she tries to avoid the wounded look upon his face. And once he settles, she finally sets her sights upon him, her mouth opening.. and closing.. and opening again. Only to close. "Ung.." She finally lets out, her own slumping as well as she follows the path he marked, pushing him back by the shoulders to settle into his lap as she usually would.

"For a month. That's how long I've been without you. For an entire month. This isn't the same as you leaving after your loss of the children. You were free. You could breathe the fresh air and see /life/. And you had my love. And you were absent of it for an entire month, just as I was for you." She pauses, trying her best to find the words.

"And now that you're back?" Her head shakes. "You're leader. Yes. And you also have the Primal Force. And you also have the troubles that you and Rachel have been though, and don't think that I cannot feel how heavy your heart is, Scott." She reaches up to touch his cheek, her gaze sad, focused into the ruby lenses that he wears.

"I never thought I would have to say this to you outloud Scott. But stop." Beat. "Just.. stop."

"I was without you, too," Scott points out. It wasn't pleasant. With Emma gone, his shields are down and the emotions are clear to see, with eyes both physical and otherwise.

The loneliness. The silence. The claustrophobia of a small, Ruby Quartz prison. The disgusting fascination of watching his dedications creeping down a tube of rose red.

The loneliness.

The long hours of quiet planning, of fear at the telepathic silence, of anger, of disappointment in Rachel's decision; but worst of all, the defeat. They were prepared for them; not only mutants, but them, specifically. The betrayal; SHIELD must have turned over files on his powerset.

When she tells him to stop, he closes his eyes and lowers his head until it's resting on her shoulder. "I can't."

"We were without each other.." She doesn't fire those words back, but she made it clear. For years and months they were apart, together, but apart.. yet this time was different. The absolute silence even when she was surrounded by the noise of the school and cities didn't help her loneliness. And she could feel his too.

Her arm drapes around his shoulder as her fingers creep up the back of his neck, dragging nails lightly through his hair as she lets out a shudder of a sigh, her chin lowering to press a kiss upon the top of his head as she glances towards the lone picture upon the wall.

"You have to.. you haven't been back for but a day and you're already.." She takes in a deep breath, then releases.. "..you won't spend just a moment in peace with me.. you.." She purses her lips tightly, then leans away. "You're going to lose everything Scott. If you don't stop. If you don't stop and -think-. And rest. And just.. be quiet and patient and still."

She was right. Of all the complicated thoughts and emotions that have built up inside over the last month, Jean possesses the power to cut through all of them, without a shred of telepathic influence.

He pulls her closer, seeking her comfort. But… in spite of it all… he keeps going. For just one more.

"You need to know something," Scott explains. "It's Emma… she's given us three days to… come up with something. I won't." He looks up to her, shaking his head. "I won't. This time, I'll leave it to someone else. To Elizabeth. But Jean… tomorrow, there's one thing we absolutely must do. For the children, the students."

With that said, he lowers his forehead into her shoulder again, and for a few moments, he's trembling. Then, as if someone cut a string, his frame becomes something more like jelly.

"Tomorrow. Not now." For now, they have all day.

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