Looking Forward to the Future - Part 4

Posted on Thu Jul 11th, 2024 @ 7:48pm by Scott Summers & Jean Grey

5,123 words; about a 26 minute read

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

Now The Conclusion...

Jean tilted her head upwards and kissed him. The gesture felt comforting and reassuring. Like any physical contact between them, the kiss helped to confirm all the things they meant to one another.

~* ‘Let’s go home.’ *~ An easy request to make when their condo was only steps away. But it was also a request to return to a space that belonged to the both of them. Their kiss continued and that spark between them returned. Jean murmured against his lips at the welcomed sensation. ~* ‘Take me to bed.’ *~

In the way that she always had, Jean breathed new life into Scott. Her kiss only sealed it. He swept her off her feet and clutched her body against his chest.

~I never did carry you over the threshold~

The merry thought returned a smirk to his face. As he carried Jean back to their condo, Scott revealed in the realization that they didn’t have to run from the past any longer, not when they were running toward the future.

Having left the door ajar, Scott kicked it open with ease. He marched Jean through the living space, past the kitchen, and into the master bedroom. When he laid her down atop their bed, Scott stood over her tall and proud, his clothes still where he’d left them in the conference room.

But that was where his confidence faltered. When he looked down at her, laid out before him, the guilt of hurting Jean took hold once more. Now that they were here, Scott collapsed onto the bed next to Jean and buried his face against her shoulder. The soft press of her bosom, the comforting scent of her hair, the familiar cadence of her breathing, all came together in a haven of flesh and enfolding peace that calmed the outer walls of Scott’s mind. The loving reassurance Jean had given him plunged the depths of his soul and brought forth a torrent of grief and sorrow that he had held back ever since Muir Island.

Scott clung to Jean as a cherished stuffed animal in the aftermath of a nightmare. Arms and legs entangled her in a spidery clench while Scott openly wept into her bosom. Pent-up emotions such as these were beyond words. Nothing could express their meaning. They could only be released in one baleful sob at a time.

Jean wrapped her arms around Scott as he clung to her, her chance to be that anchor for him as the swell of his emotions overpowered him. Another piece of Scott had fallen back into place and with it, another surge of cathartic tears. She ran her fingers through his hair and down the nape of his neck like she had always done when he sought refuge in her. It was a comforting touch that managed to penetrate his distress enough to remind him that she was with him.

“It’s okay,” she whispered next to his ear over and over again, creating a soothing rhythmic melody of her voice in hopes that she might help lull his heavy sobs to something more manageable.

Jean had pushed him to face his grief all over again. She had torn into him with as much venom as Jean could muster and Scott had weathered it with remorseful grace. His sorrow wasn’t just for hurting her but also for hurting himself. Scott had destroyed what mattered the most to him and that momentary loss of character had marred his soul and made him fundamentally question who he was, self-inflicted wounds that still bled. So Jean let him weep against her breast, his heavy breathing heated her skin and his tears wet her skin and hair as she kept a tight grip on him.

~* ‘I love you.’ *~ Jean cooed into the tempest of his grief and sorrow. ~* ‘Nothing will take my love away, you are my heart and soul.’ *~

There was still an aquifer of misery deep inside him, but his tears were spent for the time being. Jean’s comforting words soothed Scott’s heartache enough to bring his sobbing to a lull. Eyes puffy and sinuses stuffed, Scott looked like hell even hidden behind his glasses.

“That’s not what I’d planned when carrying you in here…” Scott laughed at his condition and wiped his wrist across his nose. “I’m a mess.”

Jean handed him a tissue that she had summoned from the bathroom so he could clean himself up a little better.

Flopping onto his back next to Jean, he pulled her onto him. He didn’t want to let their embrace end. “Nowhere but up from here, right?”

“A necessary low though.” Jean draped an arm and a leg across him while resting her head on his chest. Her hold wasn’t as tight as his had been, but it still provided a familiar press of her body to his own as she laid partially across him.

“We can’t truly move past it until we face it. As other things get easier, some stuff will get harder.” Jean couldn’t help but kiss the line of his jaw as they lay together, it seemed to soothe both of them. “And some stuff may hurt all over again when touched upon. But sooner or later it will all get better and none of that remorse will happen again.”

Scott gripped her thigh under the knee and pinned her against him.

“Of course all of that takes time.” Jean placed her hand over his heart. “But we’ll do it together. We’re stronger together.” Her palm radiated heat into his chest. Laying next to her brought out so many feelings he had been avoiding. In the light of day when she had been both enraged and encouraging, Scott felt brave enough to face himself.

“It will take a while, I think, but I'm okay with that.” Scott rolled his head so he could meet Jean's lips with her own. They came together in a soft and sweet peck that lingered with a faint tease of passion before releasing. When they parted, a smile returned to Scott's face. “There's nothing I won't face when you're with me.”

Even just the quiet comfort of her presence was proof of her words. One second bled into the next and she still wasn't leaving or taking back anything she had said. It was becoming as sure of a foundation to stand on as could be. Her anger, her pain, her mercy, her love all came together in a solidifying force that Scott absorbed and took in as hungrily as the scent of her hair.

Adult Content Warning

~I’m ready to take you to bed~ As far as his thoughts went, it was a quieter one. Yet, for all its mild vibe, there was an iceberg quality that signaled a submerged tenacity that floated beneath the disorganized superficial chaos. ~I mean, I'm if you're still…you know~

~* ‘We’re already in bed.’ *~ Jean softly chuckled from her own teasing observation. But she understood the underlying context, his desire to return to that place where they fit together so perfectly. Intimacy restored everything that had been lost and fortified everything that remained. Lovemaking had been their go-to response to facing all the ugly and hard things in their lives.

She sat up and shifted her body to straddle his waist. Taking her position above him, Jean placed her hands on his chest and took a moment to observe him. For all their talk of moving forward and starting fresh, she couldn’t help but think of the past, of their history together. Scott had always been her steadying presence. He was the person who pushed her to do more and be more. But when it got to be too much, he was her place to seek refuge. They had always seen the good in one another and never shied away from the bad. Scott had once seen himself as merely a force of destruction, but Jean saw beyond that to the dedicated and resilient person he was. He had lost himself and hurt her in those moments. But ever since he had found her, Scott had made the choice to fix things between them and to make things right for everyone involved, including himself. Jean loved him for that, his devotion to her and to who he really was. Her presence in Scott’s life amplified who he was, he could endure and accomplish anything with her by his side and because of his true character, that meant he could do beautiful and powerful things.

Of course, Jean would forgive him because she loved who he was and what he could be, nothing would ever change that.

~* ‘Do I know?’ *~ Jean playfully provoked him and his sheepish choice in words. She leaned forward and kissed him, the gentle brush of her naked body and her lips against his own. Jean was gentle and soft against him, a soothing presence that warmed him.

Jean’s psychic presence filled his mind, her thawing radiance dissolved the dark clouds of self doubt and loathing that their conversation had created. The sensation was filled with her acceptance and forgiveness of him. Between the heat of Jean’s body against him and the fire of her mind engulfing his thoughts in passion, Scott felt tears well up in his eyes again. These weren’t bitter with the reek of remorse. They ran with joy like blood from a wound, somehow cleansing in their pain.

~You always know~ There was laughter deep inside Scott that hadn’t yet made its way to the surface. ~That’s what I love about you. Sometimes even before I do, you always know~ Scott drew Jean in by her hands and kissed her again. This time there was more than an apology or gratitude. Now his mouth was full of celebration bubbling over from his heart which couldn’t contain the gladness that built up within it. It pressed through him into Jean in an emotional osmosis that mirrored and complemented her own radiant induction into him. In that prolonged kiss, they cycled love between one another in an exchange that grew more and more heated.

Jean interlaced her fingers with his as Scott pulled her into him, her hands felt small in his grasp, a sensation that she had always found comforting. In moments of conflict or adversity, Scott would often reach out and hold her hand. It became a simple reminder that he was present and by her side. So now, as they tumbled back into one another, it provided her with that same feeling of love and support. He was here with her, now and forever.

She couldn’t help but moan in response to that feeling of closeness and shared adoration that now circulated between. A guttural and hungry sound that told him of her building desire.

~* ‘I know what I’m going to do to you’ *~

Jean leaned into him and pressed the full weight of her body into his own, a crush of her curves and her warmth that he craved in his moments of duress, the sensation now felt lascivious as the building fire between them turned from a spark to a flame. ~* ‘Does that count?’ *~

“Uh huh…” Scott said as much as gasped. It had been him at the wheel when they first entered the room, but after his moment of contrition where he bared himself and his grief to her for perhaps the first time since their reunion, Jean had assumed control. He yielded to it, too emotionally spent to assert himself beyond the confirmation of their shared love and the connection it forged.

His hand squeezed hers in a tight, affirming grip before reaching up and holding her by the waist. It was a bracing gesture, not exactly holding her down, more like assuring himself she was really there. Even after the past month, it still felt like a dream come true.

~You can do whatever you want~ Scott completely surrendered himself. ~I’m yours, Jean, body and soul, forever and ever~

~* ‘I will.’ *~ Playful, mischievous laughter followed her cocksure statement and Jean felt his whole body tense and jerk beneath her in response. He was always delighted by her assertive side in the bedroom, a place where Jean devoured him in all the best ways possible.

She kissed her way down his jawline and neck before traveling to his chest. Firm and heated kisses that lingered on his skin and left an imprint on his soul. Jean moved over him like a force of nature, unbridled and resilient. A cleansing and purifying presence that washed away his misery.

Wonder began to stir inside Scott and no small amount of arousal with it. Jean brought serenity to his storm only to reignite it with an erotic thirst. As she moved down his chest, he brought his hands to either side of her head in gentle, encouraging caresses.

There was still so much pain inside him and not just from his indiscretions. Jean’s absence had taken a toll on top of the horrific memory of being ripped away from her on the first trip to Krakoa in the first place. Helping Jean through her recovery from unspeakable torture had made him sideline his own troubles. It didn’t feel right to focus on them when she needed him to be her rock. But in times like the present, Scott let himself be unwound and exposed so that Jean could lavish healing love as only she could give.

~I trust you~ Scott opened his heart and let Jean hold it in hers. ~Even if you hurt me with the truth, I know we will only be stronger in the end. Don’t hold back, Jean. From now on, I can take it~ He twirled his fingers in a lock of her hair. ~No matter how bad it might seem, I know it comes from the same place as here and now~

~* ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’ *~ Jean’s kisses traveled down the length of his torso as she took her time exploring the contours of his body and the cut lines of his physique. It was a slow rediscovery of his form as she allowed both of them to savor the feeling of her soft lips across his skin.

~* ‘I want to love you.’ *~ Jean stopped at his navel and slowly swirled her tongue over it before she returned to lavishing kisses. ~* ‘Don’t you want me to love you?’ *~

~YES!~ And a resounding yes it was. Jean's mouth and tongue were enough to make Scott squirm in anticipation and delight. ~I want all of you!~

~* ‘Good.’ *~ Jean laughed a little from his excitement, the sound creating a faint hum to her lips and chest.

It was all Scott could do to lie still. Passion was building up inside him to take back control, to pleasure Jean, and to bring them both to the point of climax. But he had already committed to Jean having her way with him. She knew he needed her love more than just her body. There was nothing for him to prove. He couldn't earn what Jean had already given him.

That mouth of hers was going to be the end of him though. ~You’re driving me crazy!~ It wasn't a complaint but more of a confession and a plea for more.

“That’s the point,” Jean murmured into his skin as she continued her descent. Her pace became painfully slow, letting him experience every inhale and exhale for her breath that both cooled and warmed his skin before her lips placed another kiss upon him. She maintained the deliberate pace until Scott was practically whimpering in anticipation.

Once she reached her desired end point, Jean pulled back for a moment, leaving Scott wanting and waiting for the return of her lips to his skin. Another long and deliberate pause to drive him wild from the wait. Only when he began to squirm did Jean finally return. She sweetly kissed the length of his arousal. Small and fleeting presses of her lips to his body with the same teasing approach that she had used to get her. When she reached the end of him she began her return upwards. Jean licked rather than kissed her way back towards his head. A slow and languid movement that created a single deep shutter inside of Scott. She savored that first tremble of his demise before she returned to her heady kisses down the length of him once more.

Thighs quaking, hips bucking, face stuck somewhere between ecstasy and overload, Scott let out an unintelligible moan. Try as he might to hold still, he just couldn't. It was like fighting a little war with himself. His body just wouldn't listen. Each involuntary shudder was a revolt against his considerable force of will.

“Oh, Jean!” At least his mouth still worked as it was supposed to. For now. Scott ran his hands over Jean's head in loving encouragement and gentle urging to continue.

Jean relinquished some of her torment over him as she advanced on Scott and took the full length of him into her mouth. Soft and inviting warmth enveloped him and Jean felt him twitch and spasm from the sensation. She allowed him a moment of reprieve as he hissed and squirmed from the feel of her, but that momentary hesitation didn’t last for long. Jean worked him over with painfully slow strokes that traveled from tip to base. The crawling pace allowed him to blissfully savor the act but failed to provide him with enough satisfaction to climax.

All of this was just more of a terrible tease. He had offered himself to her, submitting his will to her whims and desires and this was what she had decided to do with him. An achingly slow administration of pleasure that almost felt like a punishment that served as a reminder of who she was to him and what she could do to him.

~* ‘More?’ *~ Jean looked up at him as she asked the question she already knew the answer to. Amusement and delight present in her green eyes.

~Please!~ The desperation was unfiltered in his mind. Scott could barely breathe, much less speak. Being torn between a burning desire for release and a deeper longing that never wanted this moment to end, there was no clear expression inside Scott's mind except for more. He wanted the all powerful finish. He wanted to be unraveled stitch by stitch as only Jean could do.

“M-more!” Scott wanted more. Each agonizing stroke sent him to the heights of pleasure only to send him crashing in the milliseconds before Jean began the next one. Caught as he was in her grasp, Scott couldn't even grin. The surges of raw pleasure confused his facial muscles between expressing joy or pain. If anything, his face alternated between them both.

Jean couldn’t help but smirk in self-satisfaction from his whined request for more. His unraveling was an aphrodisiac for Jean, that feeling of yearning for her that made his thoughts painfully singular. It created a focused and intense feeling of anticipation within Scott that Jean wanted to simultaneously indulge and prolong.

~* ‘I’ll give you more.’ *~ Jean sat up straight and shifted her hips back into alignment with his. The movement caused her sex to softly graze against him, which made both of them faintly shudder in delight.

~* ‘But I won’t give you everything, at least not yet.’ *~ She ran her hand down the length of his arousal as she momentarily savored the feel of him in her palm before she gently guided him into her. Jean’s hips rose and gently fell as she welcomed him and enveloped him in her own aching desire.

A sharp gasp flared through Scott's teeth. As gratifying as Jean's painstaking oral pleasure was, it paled in comparison to the merging that he now enjoyed. Each rise and fall added layers to the satisfaction that Scott craved. Like brickwork, it stacked higher and higher, filing him with a desire beyond just the physical.

The subtle undulations gave way to a fluid rhythm. Scott rested his hands on the curve of Jean’s hips and let them slide about over her steady movements. Feeling her find the right cadence in her calculated ebb and flow with his own hands made his arousal even firmer than before. The increased sensitivity sent a jolt through Scott that rocked his head back and cry out Jean's name.

~You’ve overtaken me~ Scott had dragged her name out into a moan. ~I’m losing myself in you~

Another buck of his hips erupted from the pulse that shot down his spine. Rather than resist it, Scott gripped Jean's hips and pulled her down while his hips shot up in a second involuntary motion. The pinned position drove him even deeper.

~Sorry~ Scott grinned with a half-hearted apology. ~Couldn’t be helped~

~* ‘So impatient.’ *~ Jean’s tone was lighthearted but he heard the faint strain of her own desire. That building need for more was tugging at Jean and Scott felt her teetering on the edge of.

She left her position on high to bend forward and kiss him. A more urgent and demanding press of her lips to his as Jean claimed his mouth in the same manner that she had claimed the rest of him. She took some delight in that sensation, that feeling of him dissolving and begging for her. Jean wanted all of him and in response to that want, Scott had laid himself at her feet. It was an offering that reaffirmed everything she was to him and it made her want to give herself back to him in return.

Jean’s hips finally found that fervid pace that would cause both of them to topple into one another. She hungrily kissed him one last time before she sat up straight once more. She leaned back and placed her hands on his thighs, freeing herself to roll and crash into him with a fluid and intoxicating rhythm.

“Ugh, yes!” Between her visually tantalizing arch to the aggressive angle of penetration, everything about the new position Jean had assumed was stunning. Scott couldn’t hold back his affirming cries any more than the faint grunts and groans that overflowed from the slow-burning buildup Jean had lavished on him. Hands flowed like water from her spread thighs to her breasts which flew high and proud like banners over them.

~I need you!~ It was an expression formed by all of the other fragmentary thoughts and feelings broken apart and reforged on the anvil of their love. Nothing else could hold in his mind in the throes of passion. Any other thought was snuffed out like a candle in the wind. There was nothing and no one else except for the two of them joined as one.

Forever and again, Jean clapped against Scott like peals of thunder. Amidst the torrent of fire and lightning which surged between them in the only way he could, Scott reacted the only way he could. He screamed her name.

Jean finally relinquished all the pleasure she had been withholding, like a broken dam she flooded Scott with her joy and her ecstasy. That tangled merging of their bodies and minds ensnared them both and they couldn’t help but drown in one another.

This was what forgiveness felt like, a great release of pain and guilt. Those heavy emotional burdens were shed until the only thing that was left was their exposed and vulnerable feelings for each other. In that raw and vivid state there was only love between Scott and Jean. Powerful and inspiring that feeling of total devotion and adoration moved through them both until they were panting and moaning in sheer delight from one another.

Jean succumbed to all of that unifying pleasure with Scott until her body felt spent and heavy. The carnal movements of her hip slowed and her lewd moans turned into heavy gasping breaths.

“Scott…” Her voice was a breathy whisper but her call to him was magnetic.

Turned inside out and back again. That condition left Scott panting for breath as he clutched the back of Jean's head and held her body against him. Pleasure and catharsis made for an unusual but not unsatisfying combination.

“I know…” Scott whimpered in reply. “I love you too, Jean.”

The kiss he planted against her head landed against the lobe of her ear and a lock of her hair. Within it carried all of his adoration and assurances that he'd ever promised. “You're my world,” he added gingerly.

Jean melted into him as fatigue took over, the amount of emotional and physical energy that had been expelled left her absolutely exhausted. But there was a peace in that emptying of herself because it left her free to be filled with their love.

“Scott Summers, you are my everything.” She ran a finger down the length of his jaw. “I will love you forever and when forever has passed, I will do it all over again with you by my side.”

“I don't know what that means exactly, but it sounds good.” Scott's voice was a little airy himself, still riding high from their lovemaking and emotional achievement. “Count me in.”

Chuckling at his own love drunk wit, Scott kissed Jean again. This time it was on her forehead.

“Tell me more about forever.” He smiled at her, admiration for all that she was saturated in his voice. “And when forever has passed.”

“Forever is not just about our lives but the people whose lives we touch. When we’re gone and those people remain, that’s how we continue and we find our own type of forever.” Jean’s idea of eternity sounded an awful lot like Xavier’s dream of reaching as many people as possible and changing their hearts and minds for the better. It was through those connections that one could make a difference in the world and in the future.

“But someday that connection to people will fade and our forever will end. Even suns die. There is an end to everything.” Jean’s voice became distant as she spoke like she was remembering something. She spoke as if she knew about the elegant design of the cosmos.

“But when no one else remembers who we are, I will still know you because you are part of me.” She looked at him as her tone became dreamy.

“I would know you in total darkness, were I deaf and mute. I would recognize you in another lifetime, in different bodies and in a different time. I will love you in all of this until the last star has burnt out into oblivion.” Jean reached out and touched him, gently caressing his check as she gazed up into his eyes. “That is what I think forever is and how I know you and I will find it again and again.”

“And that's how I found you,” Scott said, adding to her thoughts, “in the middle of nowhere, in hell on earth itself.” He mulled over everything she said and ran it all together in his mind. “I think you're onto something there, Miss Grey.” A smirk teased at his mouth. “Put that to paper and they might make a professor out of you too.”

“Oh sure, I’ll get started on my dissertation right after this registration act becomes a law, and one of us gets trapped in Reed's next invention, and then we’re whisked away to the other side of the globe for a mission, and…” Jean hesitated before she finished her train of thought. “and… we raise a baby.”

Scott felt the weight of her responsibilities bearing down on her, so he kept it light. “Don’t forget about a wedding to plan. You agreed to plan on marrying me, remember?” He didn’t bother holding back his chuckle this time. They hadn’t made it official with a proposal and engagement ring. Not yet. They really had been that busy, but it was good to have a bright spot. Scott knew in Jean’s heart that getting married really did outweigh all the rest. Bottom line thinking was a cold comfort though. “Let the new kids do the globe-trotting missions. We have more important things to do right here.”

“Oh yeah that too…” Jean said with a short laugh. “I can’t believe I forgot to add it to the list.” But despite the overwhelming amount of work and responsibilities that was hanging over their heads Scott didn’t feel any distress or tension coming from Jean. “I have to admit that staying here in New York and setting up roots is appealing. And the work we’re doing, I really believe in it. I think we can help a lot of innocent mutants. Marrying you, it is just the start of so many wonderful things.”

While she talked, Scott thumbed a stray hair out of her eyes and smiled. He couldn’t argue with any of it.

Jean let out a sigh but it wasn’t one of frustration, it was one of satisfaction. “We really do have our whole lives in front of us, don’t we?”

“We do,” Scott agreed. “And seeing as how we were lucky enough to get ours back, we should make the most of every day.” He let out a sigh to match her own. “Today was a pretty good example, truth be told.”

~And I don’t just mean the sex~ The teasing thought floated through their shared psychic space along with a new vein of openness that had been forged between them. Forgiveness was a powerful force, second perhaps only to love itself. It had brought them together in a new way that held potential to be stronger than before. ~Let’s promise to be open with each other again~

~* ‘I’m sorry I withheld what I was feeling. Just because they might be negative or hurtful emotions doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be shared and that we can’t find some good in them.’ *~ Jean nuzzled into him, finding that place in the crook of his neck where she often fell asleep or merely sought comfort. “I promise I’ll be open with you. It makes us better.”

“It's a promise then.” Scott took a deep sigh of contentment and held her all the tighter.

- FIN -

 

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