Baby Talk

Posted on Sun Jul 21st, 2024 @ 10:05pm by Scott Summers & Aurora Summers

2,373 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 5: Days of Fortune Past
Location: Breakstone Lake
Timeline: October 10th, 1990

With all the revelations going around in her head, Aurora had headed out into the mansion grounds, to her favourite spot by the lake. The anger she felt towards Scott was diminishing now she understood a little better. It seemed fate had a cruel plan, or at least Nathaniel Essex had. She heard footsteps not even bothering to turn around to look and see who it was. “Hello, Scott, is Jean alright?”

"No," Scott said plainly, hands in his pockets while he strode toward Aurora. "She's not. But she will be, given time." Talking to someone's back wasn't the most ideal conversation. "You've changed your hair."

Aurora turned around to look at Scott. “Yes I have, I needed to...” she paused. “Separate myself from Jean. All everyone saw was the flameheaded girl who resembled her, even the Professor. I had a...short break from the Mansion to sort myself out, now I’m starting fresh. From now on it’s just me and my...our, son.”

"Right..." Scott took a breath and let it out. "I'm glad you mentioned him. There's something I wanted to tell you." He stepped forward to stand at her side. Both of their eyes scanned out over the lake without actually taking in the sight. "I've made some arrangements. Your pregnancy is not a normal one. Moira has agreed to see you for monthly prenatal exams. I'll fly out to Muir Island with you, be by your side for each trip, be at ground zero for whenever the baby decides to come." He hesitated for a moment, unsure of how she might take his next offer. "Also, Jean and I are setting up a condo in the city. It has a room for the baby. You're welcome to come see it when it's ready, just so you know where he will be when he's with us." Turning to look at her for the first time, Scott asked, "How does all of that sound?"

“If you’d have asked me that before today, I’d probably have told you exactly what to do with your idea, but...” Aurora paused. “It’s not fair to put our son in the middle of a battleground, besides that part of me is gone and she won’t be coming back. Thank you for speaking to Moira. Please tell her that I’d be happy to attend, and I’d appreciate you coming with me. As for the condo, I’d like to see it please.”

Scott nodded and let out the small breath he'd been holding. "I'm glad to hear you say that. We're getting things rearranged now, but I'll come get you as soon as it's ready."

His weight shifted on his feet ever so slightly, signaling another hard topic.

"I know our last private conversation was not what you were expecting. You were shocked, hurt, rejected, and abandoned..." There was no easy way to say it, so he just did. "I'm sorry I used you, Aurora. I was so lost without Jean that I failed everyone, not least of all myself. I owe you a debt I can never repay. I'll understand if you never forgive me. But I am sorry all the same."

Hearing it stung and it showed, but Aurora knew she had to be better than giving a bitter response. “To be honest, it hurt like hell, but somehow I knew you wouldn’t come back for me. I seriously thought about just packing up and leaving, but my short break from the Mansion, and the fact that both Bobby and Connor came looking for me proved to me that I have a home here. Plus the world isn’t ready for mutants, and that would put our son at risk. I have to protect him above all else, he’s all I have now. As for forgiving you...” she gave Scott a look that said it all. “I can’t, not yet, maybe at some point in the future. I don’t know yet.”

“Those are all wonderful reasons to stay. This place was my home for a long time and it still means a lot to me,” Scott said. “I want you to find your home, too, Aurora. I know you thought that home would be with me, but that man, the one who said he loved you, he wasn’t real. I will always regret meeting you when I thought that’s who I was.” He took a breath and sighed. “You’ll find your home, just not with me. Thank you for hearing me out.”

Aurora nodded. “I’m not the grudge holding type, Scott. Besides I wouldn’t have our son if it wasn’t for you, so he’s the positive thing to come from all of this.” She smiled. “I can’t say I’m not jealous of Jean, because I am, but I can’t blame her for what’s happened. I just hope the Professor can make some sense out of all of this. So, how soon do I need to see Moira?”

All of that gave Scott pause. Was it really going to be that easy? After everything, Aurora was just going to let it go and allow bygones to be bygones? Scott took a breath. He hoped everything would be that simple. But something told him it couldn't ever be so.

"Jean is doing her level best under the circumstances herself," Scott said, putting the matter of Moira aside for the moment. "She and I have been together since we were kids. We pledged our lives to each other years ago. Nothing was ever going to change that." His voice steeled a bit with conviction. "You saw what she went through, Aurora. She shared the pain of what happened in her captivity, but she withheld the pain of what she endured afterward. It was the heartbreak of finding out her soulmate had chosen faithlessness. I honestly don't know how she is still here right now, but that is the kind of person she is. She forgave me." Pausing for effect, he concluded, "Give her a chance, Aurora, and she will forgive you too. That's the only way this crazy family we've created is going to work."

Aurora gave Scott a shake of her head. “I said I don’t hold grudges, I didn’t say I’d be forgiving Jean anytime soon. She more or less accused me of telepathically manipulating you! I didn’t...Yes, I was in your mind in your dream, but I didn’t manipulate anything! I saw you in pain, and I...” She paused. “It doesn’t matter, it’s in the past now. I’m going forward from here, it’s going to take time for me Scott. All I want now is to be a good mother to our son, to be honest I’m not sure just how comfortable I am with our son having a future stepmother.”

"I don't understand," Scott said at length after replaying Aurora's words over and over in his mind. "You don't hold grudges but won't forgive. That sounds like a contradiction. I don't blame you for my mistakes, Aurora. But what we did...it was a mistake."

As heavy as that was to admit to her face, Scott couldn't let up now that he'd said it. "Something beautiful will come from it and I am grateful for that. But you and I... we hurt each other in ways we should never have. I've had to work on forgiving the both of us because I refuse to let the future belong to pain and resentment. Whatever you may have done to me, Aurora, I did as bad to you on top of doing it to myself. It's easier to hold Jean's understandable opinion against her but there's no healing to be found hiding under that rock. It will twist you as it was twisting me, Aurora. Please walk this road to healing with us."

He reached out for her hand as he once had before, letting go of his tightly wrapped emotions so that there would be no way for her to miss the emotional substance inside his plea. "You aren't abandoned. Don't abandon yourself. Jean will be our son's stepmother, but you will always be his mother. Nothing will ever change that. For all our sake... please hear what I'm saying."

Aurora sat for a moment, as much as she wanted to hate Jean for taking away the man she loved, she knew she couldn’t. She paused before finally reaching out to take Scott’s hand, no matter how much it hurt she needed him and she knew it. “Alright, I’ll try.” She stood up, looking at Scott. “I won’t put our son in the middle of an argument, it’s not fair on him.”

"I'm not patronizing you, Aurora," said Scott with an emphatic squeeze to her hand. "Please don't patronize me. I don't have to be a telepath to see the look on your face and know what you're thinking. Jean didn't take anything away from you. I offered you something that wasn't real. I conned you, Aurora, despite what you may think. I need your forgiveness and I'll do whatever it takes to earn it. But..." he paused for a moment. "I'm going to give you mine first. We knew what we did was wrong as we did it. We questioned ourselves every step of the way. But there's no undoing it. Now we're going to be part of each other's lives in a permanent way. There needs to be forgiveness all the way around, but that can't happen if you're going to be angry at Jean for what we did."

“I’m not angry at Jean for what we did Scott, I’m angry because...” Aurora paused. “The first time she met me, she automatically assumed I’d attached myself to you like a leech! She showed me every memory from my own thoughts and twisted it to make me the bad person. I didn’t need to be a telepath to see and feel her anger.” She sighed. “I just need some time, Scott.”

Scott sighed back and rubbed his face. This wasn't going to be productive. "You got off lightly, Aurora, compared to what I was forced to confront in order to make things right. But I'm not here to make you see that. You're a good person. Even good people can make mistakes." He sighed. "You've got all the time in the world. Your word that you'll try is good enough for now." Looking back over his shoulder toward the mansion, his thoughts returned to Jean and the larger issues at hand. "This is hard," he said, looking back to her. "But we'll figure it out."

Aurora nodded. “I will try, I promise.” She paused. “As much as I might have wanted to hate you, Scott, I can’t. I honestly loved you, I still do, but you have the woman you want now. It’s just going to take time for me to move on.” She offered a brief smile. “Anyway I have class soon so we should get back inside.”

"Sure..." Scott trailed off, not knowing what else to say. Would he always care for her? Absolutely. That would only grow in the days and years to come as the mother of his child. But it would always be complicated by the entanglement of something that should never have been. These were matters that went beyond love into right and wrong, fate and destiny. He had taken the wrong path, left to forever wonder what would have happened if he had stayed the course. Now Aurora would be part of his life's journey. That would always matter, just not in the way she wanted. And it broke his heart for the fool he had been.

With no other words to say, Scott returned to their last point of business. "Moira is preparing a medical suite now. We can have your first checkup in a week." He paused, hesitating at the weight of the following gesture, but then proceeded anyway. "Just you and me. Jean will watch over things here."

Aurora almost breathed an air of relief at not having to have to face time with Jean, but she didn’t. It would still be awkward between Scott and herself, but she nodded. “That’s fine, I’m looking forward to finding out more about this pregnancy, and our son.”

The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife, so Scott could see her relief at Jean not being present for the prenatal care. That would change later on. For now, though, Scott would take what victories could be had. "All right, then. Sounds like a plan."

Aurora nodded. “Okay, Scott, I guess if this situation taught me anything it’s that I have to be extra cautious when it comes to being with someone. If I can become pregnant my first time then there must be something in my genetic makeup that makes me more susceptible to it. Perhaps it something Moira will be able to advise on.”

"Caution," repeated Scott. "Yes." He took a breath. What had he been thinking, giving in as he had? This whole thing was becoming too much. "I think we'll all have a lot to learn from this in the days to come." He nodded his head back to the mansion. "I'll let you get back to it."

Aurora nodded. “Thank you, Scott.” With that they started back towards the Mansion. Aurora’s head was still spinning, it hurt to be around Scott but at the same time she wanted to spend time with him. To say she was confused was an understatement.

When they'd returned to the mansion, Scott held the door open for her to enter. But that was where they parted ways. "Goodbye, Aurora," he said amiably. His thoughts were already returning to Jean and the newfound mysteries that had presented themselves. "I'll be in touch."

“Goodbye, Scott.” Aurora turned to leave before looking back and said, “Thank you.” With that she hurried on her way to class.

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