Looking Forward to the Future - Part 3

Posted on Thu Jul 11th, 2024 @ 7:34pm by Scott Summers & Jean Grey

3,342 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 5: Days of Fortune Past
Location: Baxter Building
Timeline: October 5, 1990

Now The Continuation...

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This was a new frontier. They weren't kids anymore. Playtime was over, or was it? Scott stood up, marched through the door into the office suite, and found Jean right where she'd said, going over notes in the conference room.

“Fancy running into you here,” he said, still keeping up his ruse. “I have a 5 o’clock coming up soon.”

Scott walked around the conference table, sizing her up from every angle and making no attempt to hide it. When he came up behind her, Scott pressed his hands against her shoulders and leaned over her right side.

“Don't mind me,” he said, nearly cheek to cheek, as he reached for a spare pen and blank sheet of paper. “I just need this.”

Before he stood back up all the way, he paused at the nape of her neck long enough to let out a hum of approval. The breath of his mouth rolled across her skin like fog in the morning.

Jean suppressed her smirk as Scott leaned in and casually brushed against her. The games they played with one another created palpable tension. Slightly competitive but always collaborative they enticed each other until one of them surrendered and begged for sublime release. The payoff was greater, but it took time and patience, variables they didn’t always have but today seemed to provide that luxury.

As Scott returned to his full height, Jean spun around in her office chair so she could face him. That passive and doe-eyed look up at him was almost enough of a tease on its own but Jean leaned back in her chair and rested her elbows on the table behind her. An intentional arch to her back as she displayed and presented herself to him creating toned curves that begged to be touched. The buttons of her blouse across her chest strained from the position causing them to gap and expose a hint of the lace underneath.

“Who’s your meeting with?” Jean asked in her still cool tone before she very slowly crossed her legs, the movement deliberately causing her skirt to hike up her thigh.

“You'd like her,” Scott said, visibly swallowing against Jean’s presentation. “Real up and comer.” His eyes darted across the table to the multi-line phone. “It’s, uh, a phone call. I’d better make it now.”

Scott sat down and punched keys without hesitation. Cradling the receiver in his shoulder, he prepared himself to take notes. “Hello. Yes, this is Scott Summers calling. You did? Great, glad to hear it. So, about the… yeah, yeah, we still need that. Think it’s doable? Alright… What does that mean? Uh-huh. Yeah. I see.”

The vague responsive language went on and on in a bored monotone. Meanwhile Scott was taking his sweet time with his notes. Whatever he was writing seemed to be some kind of shorthand because it was all over the page.

Jean stood up and slowly paced the confines of the conference room as Scott proceeded with his absurd phone call. She looked at him with a predatory gaze, like a caged tigress waiting for her meal as she listened to his boring banter.

Her idle hands began to fuss with the buttons of her blouse, and she slowly unbuttoned one after the other as she walked the length of the room. More and more of her skin was exposed with each pass she made in front of him. Once she ran out of buttons, Jean slipped the blouse off her shoulders. The delicate lace of her bra and the formal cut of her high waisted skirt created a dichotomy of appearances, provocative and professional.

His gaze could have lingered on her longer had Jean not bunched up the discarded shirt and threw it at him. The cloth unfurled and perfectly draped across his head, obscuring his vision and covering him in soft white fabric that smelled faintly of her perfume.

“Yeah. I hear you. Understood. What about the other one?” Scott made no effort to remove the blouse. If anything, it gave cover to the mischievous grin he had been biting back the entire time. While still talking through his one-sided conversations, he held up his notepaper for Jean to see.

It contained a single word written out in big bubble letters: GOTCHA.

While she read the word but before she could process it, Scott was already over the table and on her like a pouncing cat. Somehow, he had already lost his shirt. He'd flung it to land where it would while his strong arms took Jean around the hips and pressed her against the wall. Even though her legs needed no guidance, Scott's hands pulled them around his waist anyway.

~My appointment?~ Scott's head weaved back and forth as he matched Jean's passion for passion in the entangled mesh of their lips. ~It was you. Always you~

~* ‘I know, you’re a terrible actor.’ *~ A lilt of laughter moved through her as Jean hungrily kissed him. ~* ‘You always have been.’ *~

She recalled a time when they had been required to perform a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Scott and Jean had of course picked something from ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Scott’s lines had been delivered with sweaty palms and a cracking voice as he leaned forward and kissed a slumbering Jean, a reenactment of the star-crossed lover’s death scene that should not be remembered.

But Jean’s playful giggles abruptly stopped as Scott’s kisses traveled down the side of her neck and his grip on her hips and thighs tightened. The ravenous desire building in him combined with his urgent touch elicited a moan from Jean. Good natured games dissolved into heated heavy petting that made her unravel.

~* ‘Thankfully you’re much better at other things.’ *~ Her thoughts were starting to become flustered and singular. ~* ‘So much better.’ *~

Scott's ambling fingers made quick work of Jean's skirt. Unclasped and ready to fall away, it shimmied out of position from their unbridled grinding.

~You’re definitely a better peacock than I am an actor~ Scott let his mind run wild with the pent-up desire Jean had evoked with her sexy march. ~Now I'm going to make you pay for that~

With lips still clenched against the sweet spot on her neck that made Jean tense up from head to toe, Scott pivoted on his heels. Jean found herself spun away from the wall and splayed out on the conference table in an uncanny reenactment of her earlier teaser trailer that she planted in Scott's mind. Her bra was already undone by his fingers and held on only by force of habit, its straps laid out across the tabletop instead of her shoulder blades.

Scott stepped back to admire Jean's position for only a second before he stopped down toward her middle. Hungry teeth bit the lace of her panties. And with a hungry snarl, Scott pulled them free from her hips clear to her knees. Idle hands slid her panties to her ankles before wadding them up and tossing them aside as well. ~Remind me to fake an appointment again~ The thought brought out his laughter in raspy chuckles. ~I like it when you’re feisty~

~* ‘Or schedule a meeting with Reed Richards.’ *~ Her temperament had been thistly since that visor had been stuck on his face. Scott was about to reap the benefits of hedging and finally releasing all of her frustration. ~* ‘But no, I don’t like waiting, especially after you get me all hot and bothered.’ *~

Jean reached out for him and buried her fingers in his hair. She guided him back up her body so they could look one another in the eye. She gazed past his ruby lenses and into his eyes. Jean was grateful for the mental bond they shared because she didn’t think she could ever find the words to express how deeply she loved him.

“The hold you have on me…” Jean murmured as she admired him. Her fierce desire to protect him turned into the fiery passion he ignited in her, it was all an expression of her adoration for Scott.

Scott knew she had been worried about Reed's eccentric behavior and even more eccentric contraption. ~Hey, I've had my head stuck in tighter spaces for far longer~

He quirked his cheek in what passed for a wink between them. The lewd innuendo was less than subtle. But he turned serious for a moment. “Thank you for looking out for me, Jean. Sometimes I spend so much time focusing on responsibilities and taking care of everyone else that I let my own situation get ignored.” He looked away for a moment. ~If I wasn’t like that so much, maybe… Aurora… would never have happened~

“I’ll always look out for you.” Jean affirmed as her arms wrapped around his waist but her face soured a little as he thought about Aurora.

~* ‘I’m sorry that happened too…’ *~ It was the most reasonable and compassionate response she could manage.

Despite her answer Scott felt a sharp gash of pain through her chest that it made it hard for both of them to breathe. Her thoughts were suddenly filled with dark, choking despair, a stark contrast to the loving sunshine that she normally projected. They hadn’t re-established their psychic bond the first time he had told her about his infidelity and since then they had avoided the topic as much as possible. But now he could feel the physical and mental duress the topic created inside of her.

Scott didn't shy away from it. This pain was his doing. Every storm cloud, every scar, every tear was a stain on his ledger.

~I won't fail you again~ Scott's resolve was a raging fire that burned away his gloom and her own by extension. ~I will know my limitations and seek help whenever I feel lost. I'm no good all on my own. I know that now. Even finding you took help. Now that I have you back, I'll take all the help I can get to make sure I keep you~

Even though Scott shared Jean's pain, he didn't try to cover it up or banish it away. His arms held her close to him, both her body and her pain.

~This isn't going to be your burden to carry all alone. Not anymore~

~* ‘It was never my burden, it’s just been my torment.’ *~ Jean’s chest tightened and he felt the dagger of her anger. His promises to do better and be better seemed to fall of deaf ears at that moment.

“I can’t talk about this when we’re like this.” Their naked bodies still entwined from preparing to make love suddenly felt like a terrible reminder of what had been damaged. Jean protested and freed herself from beneath him. She began to pick up her discarded clothes in an attempt to distract herself from the tears she was fighting against.

“I want to forgive you, Scott, I want to move past this and build our lives together but you have to give me some time because it still hurts.” She swallowed hard in order to stop herself from saying more, from saying the damning angry things that still paced and crawled inside of her.

Scott retreated inside himself for a moment. He watched her flee from him, gather her clothes, turn away from him. This was hard to see but he wouldn't look away. The truth was that he deserved so much worse. And he knew it.

“I'll give you anything you want,” Scott said at length. What more could he say? He'd already given her everything he had to offer. Or had he? “Whatever pound of flesh it takes, I'll give it willingly.”

His request for penances seemed to upset her even more. Jean squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her head back until she was looking up towards the sky, as if she were pleading with some greater power to help her find her resolve.

“I’m not looking to take anything from you, Scott. I’m not looking to make you pay or punish you.” Jean’s anger suddenly turned back to heartbreaking sadness. “I love you, Scott. I love you with everything that I am and ever will be. But this hurts in a way I never thought you would hurt me.” She finally broke in that moment, heavy sobs that made her whole body heave and jerk. “Why did you have to do it?”

That was the million dollar question. It haunted Scott in his private moments when there was nothing to distract him from the shadows in his mind. Without an answer, Scott felt more naked and exposed than ever.

“I don't know…” The admission brought a slump to his shoulders. “I wish I hadn't.”

But wishing didn't do a thing. It didn't turn back time. It didn't mend the wounds of betrayal. It didn't wipe away Jean's tears. Standing there, Scott wanted more than anything to hold her. Jean was right there. All he had to do was reach out, take her in his arms, and never let her go. Instead he lowered his head. “I'm sorry,” he murmured into his chest. “I'm just so sorry…”

“I was gone for months, not years, and in that time you knew I was still alive. You spoke of me regularly…” Her tears continued to fall as she clutched her wrinkled clothes to her body. “You said you would love me forever and yet the moment I was gone you decided to love someone else, make a life with someone else. Everything about it was so unlike you…”

Jean reached out for a tissue from the box on the table. She dabbed her nose and wiped her eyes to help stave off the total mess she was becoming.

“Do you see why I hate her? Why I have to focus on the things she did and the role she played? Why I have to point out how she manipulated you?” Jean’s voice became so small and broken then. “Because without that, you’re just a man who betrayed me.”

Scott nodded in both acknowledgement and regret. There was no excuse for his actions and he made no defense.

“But that's what I am,” Scott said flatly. “I betrayed you in the worst way. My attempts to fix it only made it worse because I was such a damn fool. Nothing about what happened was right. We were both guilty, me and Aurora. But if there is anyone to be blamed…”

Deep breath, gag reflex, hard swallow. No sniffle. That would only hinder what needed to come next. “... it's me, Jean. I did it. If you're going to hate anybody, hate me. I'm the one who deserves it.”

“I don’t hate you, Scott.” Jean inhaled deeply and centered herself enough to stop crying. “I love you.” He felt the cracks beginning to form in her defenses. Finally being able to say the words she had held back and then seeing the pain and regret on his face. She couldn’t deny that there was something cathartic in administering and facing those ugly emotions. Jean took a single step towards him as she absent mindedly clutched her clothes to body. “I’m working on forgiveness but I’m also grieving what was lost. That path isn’t always a linear one. I want us to be like we once were… no… I want us to be better than we once were.”

Her shoulders softened a little as she considered things that she hadn’t thought about before. “Maybe that’s why I’m struggling? I’m trying to restore something that’s gone forever when I really should be trying to build something new.”

“I agree,” Scott said, still averting her eyes. “What we had before is gone… taken from you and squandered by me. We can't get it back. The future can only be better or worse. It can't be the same.”

Daring himself to look up at her, Scott's voice filled with determination. “All these changes reflect that, I think. We have a new home, new mission, new purpose.” He briefly glanced through the ceiling. “New neighbors…” That made him chuckle briefly before returning his attention to Jean. “We're already building our new tomorrow. I just hope to keep sharing it with you.”

She nodded her head in agreement and took another step towards Scott. Jean was close enough to touch him now. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Still holding her clothes, Jean merely leaned forward and rested her head on his chest. The sound of his beating heart filled her ear and their close proximity made her sigh in content. “I forgive you.”

“Thank you.” That repressed sniffle from before came back with a vengeance. Scott didn't hide it now. If anything, it was only stronger than before.

~If only I could forgive myself~ It wasn't necessarily meant for Jean. Some things in Scott's mind were declarative rather than expressive. Receiving Jean's forgiveness was a balm to his aching heart, but it only made the sting of his own unforgiveness all the more poignant.

But his arms came to life with renewed vigor. His earlier paralysis had melted away in the warmth of Jean's head against his chest. When he took her in his arms again, he seized her even more firmly than when making love. Scott clutched her like a life preserver, like a jackpot lottery ticket, like the long-lost love she had been. “I've always loved you,” he whispered into the top of her head. “In my darkest, dumbest hour, that never changed. And it never will.” His voice finally cracked. “Just please don't leave me…”

“I won’t leave you. I’ll never leave you ever again.” She nuzzled into him and he felt the tension leaving her body as he held her close. Jean noticed that she felt lighter after finally sharing the pain she had been holding onto. It had felt cruel to say these things earlier, when he had been so broken and raw or when things were so good between them. But as their strength and fortitude had returned, Jean realized that holding onto her pain was a disservice to herself and to him as well.

They needed to face these horrible things, she needed him to know how much it had hurt her. If they truly wanted to move past this moment in time, Jean had to open up and share her anger and not just her love. Both feelings were valid and needed, she shouldn’t hide herself and he shouldn’t avoid her. This had been a hard but necessary conversation. “I will always love you, Scott, you are my forever.”

He felt her conviction and her honesty as she spoke those words. While love was the dominating emotion there was also exoneration and hope. Knowing that she meant those words and she believed in them, it provided some relief from Scott’s personal damnation.

~* ‘You’ll forgive yourself in time, and until that time you can depend on mine. *~

Overcome by emotion as he was, all Scott could do for the moment was nod. ~Forever and again…can also mean starting over~

Forgiving himself would be hard, but for now that was the best he could do. Today he had withstood the pain and ire of a jilted woman and passed through the other side. As much as it had hurt to be confronted, Scott felt relieved and in some ways victorious.

“Till death do us part,” Scott said. Then, remembering their conversation from years before when they'd made passionate love behind a billboard, Scott recalled Jean's hopeful thought of an afterlife together on the Astral Plane such as only powerful telepaths could achieve. “And maybe not even then.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

 

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