Jean and Scott

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Taking a pair of days off, Jean and Scott head out to go to their favorite little B&B. It's, surprisingly enough, very cute.



They had agreed that Jean would drive the car. Mostly because between the broken hand and the still-sore shoulder, Scott had figured that driving would be a little more awkward than it needed to be. Besides, he trusted Jean with the car. She was first on a very short list of the people he did trust with the car. And she was keeping well within the speed limit, and driving with noticeable care.

Scott smiled, letting his eyes flicker sideways to her. "You know, you don't need to worry about jostling me. The bruises are going away nicely. And the car is making petulant noises."

A smile tugged at the corner of Jean's mouth. "You can't blame me for wanting to take care of you," she said, not at all embarassed to have been caught out. But the speedometer slowly edged up and her smile widened at the happy pur of the engine. God she loved this car.

"That's better," Scott said contentedly, relaxing back into the seat. "Sounds much happier." He grinned suddenly, almost mischievously. "We need to do another real epic road trip again," he said. "One of these days. Just... take off, and wind up in Florida or something."

Jean laughed. "Yes, we ought to. But this time I refuse to stop and see the world's largest rubberband ball." She wrinkled her nose.

"I still like the picture I got of you posing in front of it," Scott said firmly. "You had such a disgusted look on your face..."

"I just don't see the fascination. It's a massive ball of rubber." She smoothly passed someone who was going entirely too slow.

"I wanted to figure out how they did it!" Scott protested, trying not to laugh too hard. His ribs were still a little tender. "It wasn't immediately obvious. You know me and engineering-tyle puzzles..."

"I do, I do, but, Scott... They're rubberbands. They stretch," Jean said as if this explained everything. "It would have been more interesting if you'd let me see if it bounced. I probably could have lifted it a couple inches."

"Can't you just see Charles? 'So did you do anything interesting on your roadtrip?' 'Yes, actually, we accidentally destroyed a national landmark.' 'Ah, so par for the course, then.'"

Jean laughed. "Yes, that's exactly what he'd say." Their exit had arrived, and Jean steered them almost without a thought down one of the winding country lanes the northeast has so many of, intimately familiar with all it's curves and turns. "Honestly, I think he was almost surprised we hadn't gotten into any trouble. Which really just goes to prove that it was always Hank or Ororo's fault. On our own we never get in trouble." She grinned at him.

"We were the perfect children," Scott said with a deadpan look. "... you're not laughing." He chuckled and reached for his water bottle. "At least we've perfected the act."

"As evidenced by the fact that he hasn't preemtively grounded us when we started talking about leaving the school in years. Although that may be at least in part due to the fact that there are now so many students who are so much worse."

"Nice kids, most of them. Just... chaos moves in their wake, or something." Scott's eyes were drawn to the scenery rushing past outside. "I don't think I've been this relaxed in weeks," he volunteered suddenly. "This was a really good idea."

"Very, very glad to hear it. Although, of course, I fully intend to make you relax even more yet." She flashed a smile at him. "And yes, it was a good idea. Thank you for letting Al and I talk you into it." He hadn't even protested that much, which was a sign of just how much he needed the time off.

"It's a couple of days," he said with a chuckle. "Maybe in a year or two we can work up to, oh, a full week of vacation. Overseas. Something really daring like that." He was grinning at her, though; he couldn't help it. "Have I mentioned lately that I love you and you have the patience of a saint?"

"Ooooh, overseas. If we're working up to that, I would like to put in a vote now for Fiji, or somewhere equally sunny and beachlike." She smiled back at him. "And I am in no way saint like, simply completely and utterly crazy about you. Makes the patience thing much easier with incentive like that."

"Bora Bora?" Scott suggested, only half-diffidently. "I like the pictures." And the idea of that much sun was... well, kind of intoxicating. "You know, though, I might get out of hand someplace like that," Scott pointed out. "Too much sunlight."

"Bora Bora works for me, yes. And I have to admit, I kind of really want to see you hopped up on sunlight, love. I promise I'd find a use for any extra energy you had..."

"Did Maddie tell you about what happened when I spent too much time under the sunlamps on Jamie's artificial beach back in the fall, though? My optic blasts started strobing."

"Yes, there was a note on your file. A fascinating effect, that. I wonder if it was just energy overload or if it might have been related to an imbalance in the radiation. Sunlamps are good, and put out far more energy than normal ones, but they still don't cover the whole spectrum that reaches through the atmosphere."

"I tell you, though, my general mood got a lot better when Maddie ran around changing all the bulbs in the office and my suite... I think it helped." He grinned a bit ruefully at Jean. "You remember that experiment we tried, keeping me out of the sun? I think I was doing that to myself last fall. In a more gradual sort of way."

"And without the sex to improve your mood."

Scott choked with laughter. "And yes, without the sex to improve my mood. It does wonders, by the way."

Jean shot a smug look at him as the Bed and Breakfast's entrance came up. "Well, you know, just trying to help."