Haller, Jean and Scott: The Truth Will Out Part 2 (backdated)

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Plagued by the discovery of an altered memory Haller and Scott go to Jean for help, but no-one expects what she discovers.


Whatever phase their relationship might have been in at the moment, Jim's suspicions had visibly unsettled Jean. Thanks to Jack's malicious email she had been one of the first to learn the truth of Haller's parentage. It had been at his request that she'd let him tell Scott on his own terms, and once he'd finally gotten up the courage to do so he'd made sure she knew the topic no longer needed to be avoided -- and so they had found that Jean, too, recalled pieces of conversation Scott did not. 

Until that point it had been obvious Scott thought it was Jim's mind that had been altered. Now, with Jean's corroboration, his confusion had not only grown, but taken on a tinge of alarm. 

They had avoided the potential awkwardness of picking one of their suites for privacy and instead convened in Scott's office. The couple had settled onto the couch after Jim had hurriedly supplied Jean with his memory of their first conversation on the subject: with that as a starting point, Jean would not only be able to locate the corresponding memory in Scott's mind, but determine what was missing. 

Jim had pulled out a cigarette. He didn't allowed himself to light it in Scott's office, but it gave his hands something to twist and teeth something to clench while he waited for Jean to complete her diagnostic. If the Genoshans had altered Scott's memories, who was to say they hadn't done the same to the rest of them? Could it be everyone who'd been interrogated now had a hole they didn't even realize? And worse -- if someone had inflicted a form of telepathic tampering, could it have been Betsy? 

Her actions as Magistrate Braddock were no more her fault than her actions as Kwannon had been, but Jim didn't believe she would take it that way. <I>Please,</I> he thought as Scott and Jean continued to sit in silence, <I>please don't make me have to tell her it happened a second time . . .</I> 

Jean, sitting perfectly still across from Scott, opened her eyes, as if waking from a dream. Sometimes getting immersed in memories could do that, disconnecting one from reality and causing a bit of disorientation. 

Two faces stared at her when she glanced over,  both with a look of expectation, one with a hint of fear.  She paused. 

"Well," she said. She let out a breath. "I have good news and bad news." 

The look of expectation started to slip into one of worry and concern. When people said they had good and bad news it wasn't normally a good sign. Scott took a deep breath, "Let's hear the good news first." 

Choosing to study the ceiling, Jean closed her eyes after a moment and rubbed her forehead. Goddamnit. 

"Scott's mind has been tampered with. But it wasn't Betsy who did it." 

Jim released the breath he'd been holding, but his relief was short-lived. The solemn expression on Jean's face had not changed. 

"Then . . ?" 

The air was still, quiet, tense. Jean slowly looked up at Jim. 

"It was you," she said softly, but certain. 

"Long, long ago." 

Scott looked between Jean and Jim in confusion, "Jim did it?" Scott blinked owlishly as he tried to wrap his head around Jean's statement. He slowly turned to face Jim, "What did you do?" he asked coldly, his shock transforming into anger. The older man pushed himself out of his chair his fist clenching into fists by his side as he glared at Jim. 

Jim looked from Jean to Scott, then back to Jean. "What?" he said dumbly. He'd heard what she said, but it had come so out of left-field his brain was simply refusing to process it. 

But the certainty on Jean's face had not wavered. 

The telepath's head snapped in a shake. "No. I don't play with minds. I <I>don't,</I>" Jim stressed, his vehemence rising in the face of Scott's anger. "David's telepathy is too stunted for casual influence, and none of the others can use it." He jabbed a finger at his temple, daring Jean to disagree. "I didn't do this! Look for yourself!" 

"I wish I was wrong. I'm sorry," Jean said. She knew what the implications were. 

"I can show you." 

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." Jim recognized what she was proposing: access to whatever she'd gleaned from Scott's mind that had lead her to her conclusions. That was fine with him. 

He shot Scott a look as he took a seat in preparation for the memory; he flushed at the look the older man was giving him, but tightened his jaw and said nothing. Jean must have misread something. It was a mistake. 

Jim locked to Jean's green eyes, and the link was established. To his surprise, the memory he found himself in was the same one he'd supplied Jean for comparison. It was some hours after he'd made the admission, but before the group had left Harry's. 

Through Jean's perceptions, Jim watched the scene in question unfold. Both he and Scott were clearly inebriated; his own movements were looser and less coordinated, and he was being freer with physical contact than he normally was. Squeezing Betsy's hand, playfully nudging Lorna, even landing an ineffectual punch on Cain's arm. Like many people, alcohol lowered his natural inhibitions. 

At this particular juncture he and Scott were playing pool. As was usual, Scott was winning with embarrassing ease. The older man stepped back to admire the results of a perfectly-executed trick shot, stumbled, and was caught and steadied by Jim. Hands still resting on the other man's shoulders, he heard himself saying something about them being so drunk they'd be lucky if they even remembered this night-- 

And then he felt a ripple. Distortion -- not a part of the memory itself, but something affecting the memory, something neither he nor Scott had felt, but was obvious to Jean's trained perceptions. It was the placing of a suggestion, and through Jean's own senses he knew, with the same certainty that one knows something in a dream, that the power laying it was his. 

Jim wrenched himself from the memory with such force he overturned the chair in which he'd been seated. He stumbled back and threw his hands to his head, as if by covering his ears he could block out the implications of what he'd just seen. 

As the world barged back in, Jean looked up at him, slowly easing back down after the abruptness of Jim jumping up from his chair and the loud clatter that followed. 

"I'm sorry," she echoed.  The suggestion was so subtle it was hard to notice...until now. 

Scott's stalked towards Jim his fists clenched into fists at his side. He had hoped that it was a mistake, as unlikely as it was Jean might have mistook what she had seen or there might have been a reason. But the look on Jim's face put paid to that as the last light of hope disappeared from Scott's mind. "You messed with my mind," he said softly, having to hear the words before he could accept the idea. Scott's face contorted with rage as he grabbed Jim, slamming him into the wall "Why?" 

Jean rose from her chair. "Scott--" 

Any other time the attack would have triggered Jack. Not this time, and Jim knew he wouldn't. 

Jack didn't intercede when it was something Haller felt he deserved. 

"It wasn't on purpose," Jim managed. "I didn't realize -- I don't know why I did it!" <I>Liar,</I> whispered the treacherous little voice that could have been Jack, or his own conscience, or both. <I>Don't you?</I> 

Scott looked at Jean, everything he could see and feel from her urged calm and restraint. But Jim, his so called <i>friend</i> had violated his mind. Just reading someone's mind without permission was bad enough but to actually alter someone's memory like that. Scott wanted nothing more than to blast or punch Jim, to take out all of the anger he felt. He remembered talking to Jim about the importance of memories and then he turned around and did this. 

As Scott hesitated, muscles in his jaw twitching as he fought with himself over what to do next, Jim was suddenly seized with blind panic. Scott's hands on his shirt, holding him against the wall -- touch, one of the factors he knew strengthened his telepathy-- 

"Don't touch us!" Jack snarled, and the older man was hurled back by an invisible force. Scrambled by Jim's fear, the blow sent him only to the floor and not through a wall. 

Scott blinked in surprise from his position on the floor, his anger boiling over; it wasn't enough for Haller to mess with his mind. Now he was using he telekinesis to throw him around. He narrowed his eyes and launched himself off the floor with a yell. In that moment the anger he felt overwhelmed his reason, all he wanted was to hit Jim, to let out all the anger and frustration. 

It took Jean everything she had not to pulled the two of them away from one another telekinetically. In lieu of that she quickly stepped between Scott and Haller, prepared for the consequences of that decision, for better or worse. 

"Please, stop this. The both of you..." 

She knew what Scott was feeling, and she knew she probably would've done the same thing, but either way it was not the best idea. 

Jean's urgent plea pulled Scott to his senses and he pulled himself to a stop before he got within arms reach of Jim. If he had continued forward Scott wasn't sure that he could have stopped himself despite Jean's presence. Scott sucked in a deep breath and turned his back on Jim. "You're not worth it," he ground out ice frosting each word. Only Jean, looking at his face could see the anguish and anger painted across Scott's face at his friends betrayal. 

Jack had dissipated the instant Scott's hands had left his body, leaving Jim shaking and drained. He couldn't believe that Scott hadn't hit him. He wished he had. 

Legs still trembling, Jim struggled to right himself against wall. "I'm sorry," he croaked to Scott's back. 

Scott shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. Walking towards the door he slammed his fist into the wall as he passed it.

Glancing between the two of them, Jean shook her head. It was never something any of them could've really thought of, or expected. Which made it almost worse. She felt sympathy for both, knowing what a telepath who made bad decisions could do...having done them herself once upon a time to the very man standing in front of her. Even if she had been mentally unwell at the time it still did not negate the fact that it had happened 

And Scott...to be violated that way...the man she loved, the man she pledged her heart and life to...Not only could she imagine what he was going through...she could feel it through their link. She had a play by play. 

This was something that could put a rift between Scott and Haller, a gaping wound. Something that needed mending. 

"We need Charles."