Shadow King: Sweet Child o' Mine

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Evening in the suite the ladies Grey have claimed for their own.



There had been a brief attempt at watching television earlier in the evening, which had resulted in Jeannie throwing the remote control across the room, bursting into tears and fleeing into the bedroom she'd been given at the realization that every show she liked to watch was off the air, and that MTV had become complete trash. It wasn't so much the tv, of course, as the yet further proof that this wasn't all some horrible joke, that twenty years really had passed that she just couldn't remember. Now, an hour later, Jeannie had calmed down and was ready to face the world. Or at least her mother. Slipping quietly into the main room of the suite she toed at the ground with her sneakers before finally looking up. "I'm sorry, mom. I shouldn't have flipped out like that."

Elaine looked up with an expression of absolute patience on her face; whatever annoyance she might've felt at Jean's tantrum she was well past it now. "That's okay, sweetheart. Are you feeling better?" She set down the book she had been reading on the arm of the couch and scooted over, patting the cushion beside her as an invitation for Jeannie to take a seat.

"Yeah, I guess," she said, clambering over the back of the couch to sit down, paying no attention to her shoes. "It was, you know, weird. Also lame - tv now officially sucks."

Realizing what she'd just said, Jean winced, glancing at her mom out of the corner of her eye. "Sorry."

Chuckling, her mother reached out to pat her knee. "You won't hear me arguing. It's definitely not what it used to be. Your father and I hardly turn on the TV anymore, except to watch the news. And even that's changed."

"Ew, news," Jeannie said, miming an exaggerated yawn. "Bet it's still snoozeville, regardless." She paused for a second, then tilted her head at Elaine. "How is daddy?" she asked quietly.

"Oh, your father's fine. He's not working now, which means he's always underfoot at home," Elaine replied, shaking her head. "And he's taken up golfing, which means, for some reason, that he needs a dozen pairs of the most ridiculous-looking socks known to man. It's really a shame."

Jeannie snickered at that. "I bet. And the stupid plaid pants, right? And how's Sarah?"

"Your sister is... fine," Elaine said vaguely. "Everybody is fine, Jeannie. Don't you worry about them."
"Everybody but me is fine," Jean amended. "I'm crazy. Also old."

"Believe me sweetheart, you are not old. Older, perhaps, but not old." Jean's mother shifted a bit on the sofa, re-settling so that she could look at her daughter more easily. "You have grown up into such a lovely young woman. You should be happy, and proud of what you've become."

"I didn't get the chance to become anything," Jeannie argued, frowning. "And now I'm not going to - it's not like I can go back and finish the sixth grade like this. So much for 'be cool, stay in school'."

"Maybe not. But you are in a school," Elaine pointed out. "I'm sure if you wanted to, you could continue studying here."

"Yeah," Jean said slowly, mulling over the idea, "but it'd be weird. More weird, maybe. I mean, I look like I'm thirty." She wasn't exactly keen on school, but it was better than working at the gas station or whatever.

"Jeannie, there are blue people here. I don't think you looking slightly older is going to seem too odd to the people who live here."

"Yeah, that's a point." She fell silent a second, and then finally worked up the nerve to ask, "Mom... why do I live with blue people? What was I doing here?"

Though she had been expecting this question for quite some time, Elaine still hesitated with her answer. Finally, however, she spoke. "You're a teacher and a doctor here, Jeannie. This school... it helps mutant children. You went to school here, and then when you graduated, you came back to work here."

"Why did I go to school here, mom," she pressed, knowing she probably wasn't going to like the answer. "I'm supposed to go to Fowler High after middle school..."

"Jeannie, it's very hard to explain... but you manifested as a mutant before you got to high school. You came here for school to learn how to be safe as well as all the rest of thing things you study in high school."

"So it's true?" she asked, face falling. "I really am a freak, with a side order of freak sauce..."

Elaine's frown deepened and she shook her head emphatically. "No, honey, no. You're not a freak. You have a... gift, one that makes you special, but not a freak. Don't say that."

"I don't believe you." Jean scrunched down further into the couch looking sullen. "It's not a gift if it took me away from home and you and dad and my friends."

"You made plenty of friends here, sweetheart. And it didn't take you away from your father and I - I'm here right now, aren't I?" Elaine raised her eyebrows. "I know it's different, and not what you're used to, but it's a good place, with good people. You like it a lot."

"Yeah, well, I kind of just have to take everybody's word for that, don't I?" Sighing, Jeannie tipped over sideways, ending up curled on the couch with her head on her mom's lap. "Don't like it here that much now."

"I know, sweetheart. But you have to give it a chance." Whether consciously or not, Elaine found herself echoing the same words that she had used to console her daughter back when going away from home was still a scary proposition, and leaving her parents was akin to venturing out in the world completely alone. She stroked Jean's hair slowly, brushing it back from her face with one hand.

"I'll try, mom," Jean whispered.