Backdated: Jamie and Jean

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Jamie finds Jean on the aniversary of her death and they bond. Unsurprisingly, he suggests they form a club.



Jean had relaxed a bit, and was no longer sitting with her legs clutched to her like a shield. She has, however, gone back to staring out at and past the ocean, lost in her own thoughts. The sound of the waves crashing on the rocks was faint, but still noticable, and it would be hard to guess, from her expression, whether the view and her thoughts pleased her or upset her. It was clear, however, that her mind was miles away.

Jamie was wandering--well, more precisely, one of him was wandering.  Muir Island was incredibly beautiful and he wouldn't have missed the wedding for the world, but the fact remained that he was an entire ocean away from a good half of his usual pastimes, so he kept finding himselves with too many empty hours.  Searching the castle for secret passages had sounded fun--but then his third trip past a particular upstairs window in as many hours showed Dr. Grey still sitting all alone on a rock, and that didn't seem right.

That part of the island was isolated enough that she probably knew he was coming before he got three steps outside the castle, but Jamie still cleared his throat awkwardly and gave a little wave when he got close.  "Um, hi, Dr. Grey.  Are--are you okay?" It was a little weird to wish he'd gotten hurt or sick or something by now, he thought, but at least that way they'd have talked more and it wouldn't feel as much like he was interrupting something.

Partly it was the, well, difuseness of Jamie's mind, spread between so many dupes, but mainly it was the internal focus of her own thoughts that had kept her from noticing him approach. She didn't actually start at his voice but, turning to look at him, it was clear she had been unaware of him. "Oh, um... Jamie. Hello." He'd asked a question, hadn't he? "I'm... fine?" she hazzarded - that was the usual question.

Jamie didn't even try to hide his dubious expression.  "It's just you've been out here kind of a while.  And I have a weird brain but I still can't usually sneak up on telepaths.  I just . . ." He smiled wryly.  "Okay, I know this is a little weird since we haven't really gotten to know each other at all, but would it help to talk at all?  I do a really good sit and listen, you can look at the lecture classes on my transcript."

"I don't..." Jean started, thinking to simply put his mind at ease, but she paused then sighed. "Honestly, I don't know if it would help or not, although I do appreciate the offer. Do you... Today is the two year aniversary of the day I died, did you know?"

"Oh."  Jamie thought for a second.  "Yeah . . . yeah, I guess it would be, wouldn't it?"  That explained kind of a lot.  He took a seat nearby, on another rock, and gave her a thoughtful look.  "I don't know if you've gotten that far yet with everybody's medical files, that's gotta be a lot of pretty complicated reading.  Anyway, I dunno how the timing works, if you remember seeing it on the news, but about four months or so after you died, a hurricane took a walk through downtown Manhattan, and we all went out to give emergency aid.  About six of me were helping with a refugee shelter, and I ran out after this kid who ran out after his dog . . ."  He swallowed.  Almost two years later and it still wasn't easy to talk about.  "And the kid ran right underneath this wall that was about to collapse, and I got him out of the way, but . . . not me.  Caught about half a ton of brick with my spine, and it's only because of my powers, having spares around, that I'm still here."  He smiled faintly.  "So it's a sucky, horrible coincidence that I wouldn't wish on anybody else, but you're not the only one who's had to deal with surviving their own death."

"I saw it in your file, yes," Jean told him. "I would have to agree about it being a horrible sort of thing to share, and yet, it is a bit reassuring to know someone else who really understands. And, from your file, you also had trouble using your powers afterwards, right? It's interesting, in a terrifying sort of way." Her gaze had shifted back to the ocean spread out before them.

"That was how Doc MacTaggart first figured out I could control how hard a hit I needed to dupe--I had my threshold cranked up way high because . . . well, a bunch of reasons that boil down to I was messed up in the head."  Jamie scratched his chin, following the direction of Jean's eyes as he looked out to sea himself.  "It was the nightmares that were the worst part, I think.  Reliving it over and over, and my imagination working overtime coming up with ways to make it worse. Wasn't a whole hell of a lot of fun."

"I think that is the understatement of the year," Jean said, voice mild. "Charles thinks I may be ready to sleep without my inhibitor soon, and things are getting under control, but... I must admit, I'm a little wary of either projecting that to the whole school or destorying my room. Which I guess means that, once my nightmares are under control we'll start work on my self confidence where it comes to that." She turned back to the boy and offered a wry smile. "Difficult doesn't even begin to cover it, does it."

Jamie snorted.  "I still go see Doc Samson pretty regularly.  Although, okay, mostly it's not the dying anymore, it's some of the stuff that happened after.  But yeah, it's hard.  Takes a while."  He nodded at the water.  "This, though, this is pretty damn good progress, if you ask me.  Been what, about two months for you?  Two months after my thing, I was still jumping at vaguely-thunderish noises, and let's not even talk about actual thunderstorms.  And almost a year later, I was out on another hurricane cleanup with Red X, and I probably would've had a complete panic meltdown if Paige hadn't been there to talk me down.  I hope you don't mind me saying, Doc, but the way you're holding it together is impressive as hell."

"Don't mind at all, but technically it's been two years. Admittedly, I've only remembered why I'm afraid of large bodies of water for two months, but I've been dealing with the fear longer. And it is nice to no longer have to wonder why I had that reaction."

Jamie waggled a finger at her.  "You don't get off that easy.  Now you're just adding in the whole recovering-from-amnesia to the whole package.  Really, you're a shining example to all us death survivors, which is to say me."  He grinned.  "Y'know, we should start a club or something.  I used to be a pretty regular customer at this make-your-own-T-shirts website, we could have some made up, something like 'I Came Back from the Dead and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt (And A Sam's Club Coupon for 50% Off Jumbo-Size Emotional Problems.)'  What do you think?"

Jean couldn't help it - it wasn't a day for laughing, and she certainly hadn't been in a mood for such, but there was just something about Jamie and his outlook on life which inspired, at the least, amusement and, often, downright joy. As soon as she had managed to contain the brief set of giggles, though, she did manage to say, "It seems a bit wordy for a t-shirt, I'm afraid."

"Well, you put half of it on the back.  But yeah, it's kinda cumbersome." Jamie winked.  "Worked, though, you laughed.  That's what helped me the most, after.  Finding things to laugh about, and having people to laugh with.  The school's a good place for that, most of the time, even with all the drama."

"You are a very wise young man, Jamie Madrox," Jean said, a proper smile on her face. "Thank you."

Jamie snorted.  "Now there's something I don't get called very often. Glad I could help, though.  You gonna be okay out here, or can I bring you a sandwich or something?  I bet I could make a pretty awesome sandwich out of the wedding leftovers."

"I'll be fine," Jean said. "If I'm fed I'll have even less incentive to go in again. But I appreciate the offer."

"Heh.  Gotcha."  Jamie bounced cheerfully to his feet.  "Think I'm gonna go see if I can track down my girlfriend, then.  Feel free to take me up on the sandwich offer whenever."

"All right. Have a good day, Jamie, and thank you."