Savage: Finally Home

August 22, 2016:

Jean and Scott try to acclimate themselves into the school again.

Jean's Office

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Getting back home from the Savage Land has been an adjustment. They'd been cut off from the world, stuck to only themselves. Nothing had blown up while they were gone - the mansion was still here, the team still running. Nobody had died.

It was a good reminder that maybe, just maybe, the urgent things they rushed around about weren't quite as urgent as they thought.

Of course, it was also summer - most of the student body was home with their families, those that could go home to their families. Scott had gone for a run early, trying to get back into his routine, knowing that Jean would be in her office by the time he got back. And sure enough, there she is, as he arrives with cups of coffee and an array of pastries.

Unlike Scott, Jean wasn't the busy body that she pretended to be. She was still under the weather from being wrongly dosed; her skin an unnatural shade of pale but slowly, she was getting her strength. Sadly.. the paleness allowed a hint of her freckles to be shown which she immediately covered with a smooth foundation and a little bit of a blush. And while Scott was out, Jean did absolutely.. nothing. She showered a little. Did her makeup of course. Had a cup of coffee to wake herself up.

She even wandered through the halls like a phantom in a business suit.. and went right back to her office which.. was an unholy shit-hole of a mess.

Papers were stacked high and piled up to where signatures were needed, books shoved into the corner and.. Jean just sighs. Unbuttoning her jacket and settling into her chair to get right to work. But there was a godsend after an hour, for once Scott comes bearing gifts, she looks a haggard mess. Though that doesn't stop the smile that's upon her face.

"My hero.." She quietly murmurs.

Scott Summers sits down across from her and takes a sip of his coffee, "Hardly. If it's the pastries, your real hero is the kid down at the bakery. He's the one who woke up before dawn to bake these," he says.

He sighs as he looks across at her. He can tell she's frayed and not entirely herself (although, in some ways, that is herself). He doesn't push, just lets her feel him, to know that he's there. She'll talk when she's ready and there's no point in him being pushy about it. It would only make her feel worse.

"I need to get started on new training scenarios for the Fall," he says. "Summer's almost gone."

Jean was quick to reach for her coffee. For once, she bypasses all of the amenities that she'd add to it. She drinks it black. This actually brings color to her cheeks, mostly from the heat and the bitterness that leaves a reminder upon her tongue. "Mmh. For all of it. Everything." She finally comments.

With a lean back within her chair, she smiles softly. "I think.. so far? Fifty new enrollments. New graduates from elementary to middle school.." The pen that was in her hand was tossed upon the desk. She was giving up for just a few minutes. "Do.. you want to come back? To teaching.." Yes. She could feel him, but..

Scott Summers considers and nods, 'Yeah, I think it's time," he says. "I'll take up the History classes again and get the working group going for Tactics," he says. Young would-be leaders would get a chance to get insight from Scott directly and learn how to strategize and organize teams. "Do you think we should to the…school Houses thing? Like in that Harry Potter stuff? The kids keep talking about it every year…"

There was a little smile that draws upon her lips as she holds out her hands, leaning forward to push forward a stack of papers into his direction. He said yes. So he was going to help her clear this mess as an official member of the faculty. "I suppose something could be done for the fall months.."

She leans back into her chair again, her fingers pressing over her eyelids to keep them shut.. and quietly, he could probably hear it. The sniffles and the quiet fall of her tears from being completely, and utterly overwhelmed.

Scott Summers stands up and moves around the desk. He puts a hand on her shoulder and pulls her against him, just wrapping his arms around in an embrace. In some ways, the Savage Land had been an escape, a chance to clear themselves of the burdens they carry. She carries more than he, to be sure.

"You don't have to do it," he says. "Any of it. Seriously, you say the word, we'll go and get on another plane and go where we need to go," he says. "I'll help however you need. I'll do whatever you need me to do."

She leans against him, her shoulder against his middle as he embraces her. Her head lowering as her fingers remain pressed to her eyes, her shoulders shaking in racking sobs as she finally lets out a breath. "No. We have to.." She finally says, pulling away from him to lean forward and snatch a few kleenex from her desk. She even dabs away at her eyes, turning her chair to fully face him as she puts on a smile.

"Let's just.. start small. Get the desk cleared. Then we'll talk about everything else after. A little bit at a time. Alright?"

Scott Summers nods quietly, his eyes always hidden behind those crimson lenses, but she knows he means it. "Clear the desk," he says. He moves around behind her, leaning over and looking over her shoulder at things, "Pick half of it. Give it to me," he says. "That'll be a good start. If you can't bear to organize it, just grab a bunch and hand them over and, if I'm missing anything I need, I'll come back for it. And vice versa," he says.

"We're partners, you and me, and that means you never have to handle anything alone. Not this. Not anything. Not ever," he says, kissing the top of her head.

As he moves behind her, Jean finally tosses the used tissues into the garbage, taking in those few little quick breaths to survey the damage that was done to her office. It was nothing.. horrible. But.. it was just stacks upon stacks that she was already swamped with to begin with. All of the students and teachers needed their assignments, classrooms needed cleaning and pencils ordered..

So she just does it. She grabs the stack directly in front of her, then lifts it up slightly over her head. "Just.. take this one. Pull up a chair.." She needed to order at least another desk just in case someone wanted to work.. "Something.. I don't know, but lets start."

Scott Summers grabs the stack and moves to grab the seat across from her, "I will work in here with you today. Of course, my office has the little refrigerator full of Monster energies, which I'll just have to do without. The things I suffer for love," he says. He pulls over one of the end tables and kicks his feet up on it, starting to go through one of the folds and snatching a pen off her desk to get to work.

"Maybe we should go to your office.." Jean comments a little too happily, reaching for her glasses to quickly slide them on as she drags a random stack towards her with an insufferable sigh. It was back to work.. just like that. No mention of the Savage Land and what happened. Just.. bottled emotions.

Until now.

"I would have let you." She states. "If you had to, to save those people. I would have let you kill me." She flips the page faintly, then begins to scribble. "I know you wouldn't have. Just.." She shakes her head. "And I think the newling you found is adjusting well."

Scott Summers looks up, "I know you would have. But I never would. Not to save them. Not to save me. Sorry. That's just not something I'm going to negotiate with you. Which you know. But still. I'll keep saying it, just to remind you. Mind you, I wouldn't sacrifice me either. I would sacrifice me for you, for the team, for the family. But I'm becoming a bit more…tribalish in that regard. I like my life. I'm not so eager to hand it over," he says.

"And I'm glad they're adjusting well. Who are they again?" he says with a smile.

"I thought we agreed to call her Jenny. Jennifer Grey-Summers. We were going to adopt her, remember?" She leans back, then offers up a little grin. "Unless you're rethinking this entire thing. You do realize that we already have like.. two illegitimate time displaced children.." Three for him. "This new girl should be a cake walk."

Scott Summers considers for a moment, 'You know Jennifer Grey's the girl from Dirty Dancing, right? Don't put baby in the corner and all that? I'm not sure we should throw that kind of pressure on her so quickly - she might not even know how to dance," he says with a slight smirk. "I think she'll be just fine."

Jean couldn't help but laugh at this realization, her head shaking as a pen is thrown in his direction. "The students are going to be a little bit too young to remember that fact. But.. alright. Compromise. Let's call her Kimberly. Kimberly Summers-Grey. I'll fix the paperwork and send the documents to Mr. Murdock. But until then.." She sighs at the looming stack of paperwork.. "Let's finish this and head out for lunch."

The rest of their morning was wrapped in silence there after, there was much that needed to be done, and much to get right back into.

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