Jean and Xavier: Abundance of Caution

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Jean calls Charles Xavier to catch up and get his advice regarding taking action on some recent news she had received about Warren Worthington's company.


The Bailey family had a modest brownstone in New York City. It was enough to house Sara Grey-Bailey, her husband Paul, and their 6 year old twins, Gailyn and Joey for the last 8 years. For nearly a month, however, it also played guest to Sara's younger sister, Jean Grey.

Jean was used to living in less than comfortable conditions while traveling around Europe for X-Corps, so sleeping on Sara's couch was almost a luxury.

It was early in the morning, and Jean sat in the kitchen reading the paper as she waited for her cup of tea to steep. Sara and Paul had just headed off to work and to take the twins to school so she had the brownstone to herself. The family's case of food poisoning was luckily a mild one.

Once she was certain everyone would be gone for awhile, Jean pulled out her cellphone and pressed #1 on her speed dial for Professor Charles Xavier. She turned the page on the newspaper, studying an ad for an outlet store in Brooklyn as she listened to the phone ring.

"Xavier Institute, Charles Xavier speaking." The voice on the other end was warm and familiar.

Jean eyed the cat clock she had bought Sara for Christmas as she added two tablespoons of sugar and a spot of cream to her tea, stirring it.

"Good Morning," Jean said with a smile. "I would ask if I woke you but I knew you're usually up before dawn. How've you been?" She always liked a little bit of small talk before settling down to business. It was nice to check with Charles from time to time since she couldn't visit as much as she'd liked.

"Jean." His voice became more animated, even with the single syllable. "It's wonderful to hear from you, as always. I'm well." It was only partially a white lie - true he'd had the stroke that had reduced his powers, but otherwise, he was recovering well. "And you? How are things?"

Laughing, Jean took a sip of her tea. "You sound like you haven't heard from me in years. Someone's excited. It can't just be me. So what happened?" She sat up straight.

"Wait. You met someone didn't you? I kept telling you you needed to get back out there. It's been what? When Reagan was in power? You deserve a little happiness. What's she like?"

"I'm not allowed to be happy to hear from my favourite student?" he teased back. "And I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I remain most decidedly single. The school reopening is plenty of distraction for me."

"I can only imagine," Jean said. She tore off a bit of croissant and popped it in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully before speaking. "I spoke to one of my underground contacts, a friend from school. She was approached by an employee of Worthington Industries. They suspect that the company has been working on technology that could be used to capture or kill mutants. Georgia, my contact, saw my picture in the society page with Warren Worthington...long story short he approached me and asked me out. Someone got a picture. But she was thinking perhaps I could get close to him and try to confirm the employee's suspicions and what exactly the project entails."

Jean shook her head. "He seems like a nice guy. But he doesn't know I'm a mutant. If he did...he might not be so nice. I just don't want to bring fire and brimstone down on our heads if I'm wrong. What do you think?"

There was silence on the other end of the line as Charles thought it over. Certainly they needed all the information they could obtain about potential threats, but Jean was right - a misstep could be disastrous. "I don't want to make you feel you have to do something you're not comfortable doing," he said at last. "But I can't deny that information on Worthington Industries and their projects would be invaluable. Tell me, Jean, what do your instincts tell you about this Warren?"

"I don't know," came the immediate answer from Jean. "He's...charming. But I don't know if I'm letting my bias override my general instincts. At first glance I think he's a good person. I get that sense. I don't know if he truly knows what's going on. But I don't want to be wrong. I don't want to bring a threat to our doorstep, or hurt the few mutants there are left by unleashing this potential danger."

"Jean." For a moment, Charles saw in his mind's eye a younger Jean, unsure of herself and her abilities. A Jean from a vanished world. "You need to have faith in yourself, in your abilities. You're personable, trustworthy, easy to talk to - let those skills speak for you and gain Warren's trust."

Jean was silent for little while, staring into the milky brown bottom of her tea cup. "I know. I know what I have to do. I've just never been that type of person, lying to people, good people, to get information. If he's good, like I think he is...then it makes it harder. It's toying with someone's emotions. But...the needs of the many."

She let out a breath. "Someday I'll be James Bond," she mused with a faint smile.

"There's another side to this that you haven't considered," Charles replied, although the last remark had him smiling too. "If Warren is the good person you think he might be, you could actually be helping him. There's a chance he won't know what is going on in his family's name - and if he finds out, he could use some support."

"Hopefully," Jean said, the emotion in her voice mirroring the word. "But until I get the definitive answer, I'd rather be careful." She'd thought about reading his mind but that wasn't her style.

"Careful is our watchword these days," came Charles' reply, with a soft sigh. "Don't take too many risks, Jean - we do have other ways of getting this information."

"Right now this seems to be the easiest way," Jean said quietly. It wasn't, by far, the cleanest, by any means, when it came to a person's emotions. But it meant keeping people safe.

"I should let you get back to your tea. I still haven't finished mine yet. I'm only here for another couple of weeks before I head back to Europe."

"Please visit us before you leave? There have been so many changes - you won't recognize the old place."

Jean laughed. "I've only been there a handful of times. There won't be much to recognize. I don't know it inside and out like you." Even if she had wanted to. But they both knew her father had, for a brief time, allowed his emotions to rule his decisions and that never happened.

"Then you definitely must visit before you go."

There was a tone in his voice that went beyond their normal conversation, something laced with a underlying wistfulness. It had her curious. She smiled.

"Alright. If you insist," she said. It would be nice to see him again, in person, and not just in the astral plane.

"Goodbye, Charles. See you soon."