Scott and Jubilee, Friday evening

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Jubilee finds Scott assessing the damage to his car. Then she finds out about the damage to his marriage.


Forge was right. This was catastrophic.

Scott sighed and crouched down beside the car to get a better look at the damage. He'd known it would be pretty bad as soon as he struggled out, after the crash. It really was something of a miracle that he hadn't been hurt, he thought, rubbing at the bandage on his forehead. He owed the seatbelt and the airbag hearty thanks, he suspected.

"Wow, Dude. Who totalled your car?" Jubilee asked, scanning the wreckage from the doorway.

Scott looked up, blinking, and then mustered up a slight smile. "Hey, Jubilee. That would have been me," he said, dropping his attention back to the car, "although I blame the tree equally."

"You did this? The man who was so totally against me doing anything stupid in a car drove his into a tree? Wait, let me get the camera, I've so got to make a note of this for next time I get a speeding ticket." Jubilee replied, moving into the room and standing beside him.

Scott sighed, shaking his head. "Don't joke, please," he said, rising and going over to pop the hood. Or try to pop the hood. "It's not funny, it's sad. My poor car..."

"So, what happened?" Jubilee asked, taking a closer look at him. He seemed...tired. Although she wasn't sure why. Unless he and Jean had been getting up to a lot more late night 'stuff she didn't want to think about in regards to her elders' then was healthy for them.

"Jean left me."

Jubilee was so shocked by that simple statement that she was completely lost for words. She wasn't entirely sure what to say. Jean was... well, she loved Scott, there hadn't been a time when she hadn't, as far as Jubilee could remember. This just so didn't compute. "Um...huh?"

Scott leaned forward, resting his hands on the smashed hood of his car. "She loved this car, you know," he said quietly, staring at what was left of the windshield. "Only right I total it the night she tells me she's been living a lie for months, I suppose."

The things you miss when you're not paying attention, or weren't here to do so... Jubilee moved closer and put her hand on his shoulder. "Which parts exactly?"

It didn't make much sense, the Jean Jubilee knew wouldn't do that kind of thing. She was the strong type, that said what she meant and stood by her convictions. But if Scott believed it... Wow, just wow.

Scott took a deep, slightly unsteady breath, forcing himself to smile raggedly at Jubilee. "Pretty much all of it, from what I understand. The school, the team, me."

"And you checked...Well, of course you checked, you're you. But, she's not like possessed, or under mind control or just batshit insane?" Jubilee asked, looking for something to explain the sudden change.

"I... it's her, Jubilee, the link's still there," Scott said uncertainly, looking away. "I can feel her there. So angry, but she's there. And how many times can we write off these things to possession or mind control?" he asked tiredly. "She accused me of letting what happened with Betsy color things."

"Bitch," Jubilee replied, shocked for a second time. How could Jean do that? "So, not only does she break up with you, she brings up Betsy, just to twist the knife. She was really goin' for the pain, wasn't she? Tell me you called her on that stuff, Scott. Tell me you didn't just let her cut into you and then walk away?"

"I... it's not that simple, Jubilee," Scott said after a moment, flushing at the last of the questions, in particular. "I think back and there are all kinds of things she said that should have made me realize she wasn't happy."

"Like what, exactly?" Jubilee asked, curious.

Far as she knew, Jean had been completely giddy over being married to Scott and couldn't have been happier. But she was also aware that the face you put on in public wasn't always how things were truly. Still, Scott did have a history of blaming himself over things that he couldn't possibly have predicted.

"That it was all too much. That she wanted to run away from home and join the circus." Scott gave a soft, cracked laugh. "It just... all these little bits and pieces, over the course of months." He finally got the hood open. It was a painful sight. "I rushed her," he said quietly. "And... Seattle, was the straw that broke the camel's back, I gather. She stayed with me after because she pitied me."

Jean had stayed with him out of pity? How low a blow did you have to hit someone with before you could honestly be told you were a 'Right piece of work' as Amanda would have said it.

"Just give me the word, dude. I'll go break her legs for you." Jubilee replied, smiling to lessen the harshness of that statement. She was hoping it'd get a smile out of him, at least.

It did, for a moment, but his real eye was suspiciously bright as he looked away. Scott took another unsteady breath and then let it out. "I need to pull myself together," he said quietly. "Get my head back on straight, do my job..."

"Or, you could take a few days off and take the time to take care of yourself." Jubilee replied gently, tugging lightly on his shoulder to draw him away from the car. "Come on, this can wait and you look like you could use a good strong cup of coffee and one of Lorna's chocolate muffins."

Scott let himself be pulled away from the car. It was going to take a very, very long time, that car. If it was possible in the first place. And oddly, he didn't really feel the urgency to Start Right Now.

"I... have been sort of subsisting on coffee this week," he said after a moment, bemusedly. "That's probably not a good thing."

Jubilee grinned - typical Scott. Look after everything else first, then himself. "Thought so. You know, for a smart man, you can be hella dumb when it comes to the food input type stuff. And, before you say it, totally know I'm bein' a hypocrite considerin' my past sins. Had you guys beat it out of me durin' all that trainin' though. Sides, I'm totally behind the times with the gossip in this place and I need an old and venerable type like you to catch me up."

Just the right teasing note, hopefully. She didn't want to offend Scott, just get him thinking of something else besides Jean for awhile.

He never thought there would ever be a day when he'd consider Jubilee's chatter soothing. Funny how things changed. "I am feeling quite old this week," Scott said, "so hopefully I'll do."

Jubilee laughed and led him up the stairs. "Well, we'll just see how you go. If you don't meet standards, we could always see if the Professor is around, he's positively ancient."