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Beneath The Floor Boards
DISCLAIMER: The
characters belong to Marvel, and are
used without permission for entertainment purposes only.
"Jean listen to me. We all know what you're going through.
" Kitty Pryde pleaded looking right in to Jean Gray Summers
green eyes. "We all miss him." "Kitty with
all do respect" Jean snarled back at her "YOU have no idea
what I am going through right now. I just lost the man I love, my
best friend and my husband of about thirteen years. Don't even
pretend to know what I am going through. I just people would just
leave me alone." "Jean don't block us out." Kitty
pleaded again, "You dealing with it alone would be the last thing
Scott would want you to do." Jean just ignored her and
continued to look out the window of the home that she had shared with
her husband. Jean was tried of hearing how sorry the X-men
were. She was tired of hearing how sorry Charles Xavier was.
She was tired of hearing that Cyclops had given his life to save the
spinning planet. She was tired of hearing Nathan tell her how
sorry he was that he never really took the time to get to know his
father. She was tired of it all. She was tired of the whole
spinning fight. She was tired of getting up everyday to save a
world that would rather see her dead. She was tired of trying to
figure out why she was still here. Above all that she was tired of
trying to figure out what she was fighting for anymore. She
realized at that moment she was just tired and something in her
snapped. She spun around and met Kitty Pryde's eyes and said
"Get out. I am tired of everyone telling me how I should handle
this. Get out of my home. I will deal with this in my own
way. Now just get out!" Right at that moment the coffee
mug she had been holding flew out of her hands, like it had a will of
it's own, hit the far wall in the other room, broke in two large pieces
and hit the floor with a strange 'thunk'. "Damn." Jean
muttered softly "I haven't done that in a while." She
flinched inwardly thinking what Professor Xavier would have said if had
seen that display of her temper. "Jean look over here."
Kitty called from where she was picking up what was left of the coffee
mug. "The mug didn't sound right when it hit the floor.
I think there is something under the floor boards." Jean just
looked at her in surprise. "There can't be anything under
there Kitty. The floor boards are fit to close." Kitty just
looked at her "Yup, there's something here alright. I am
going to need a knife or something to get it out though."
It ended up being a group project which all of the X-men participated
in. Logan and Kitty ended up using claws and a knife
respectively to loosen the floor boards, Jean and Nathan ended wedging
the small section of floor up with their telekinetics , Bobby and Gambit
quickly stuck something underneath and Rogue with her super strength
lifted the floor boards up so they could see what was
inside. Kitty had phased through the floor earlier and all she
could tell them that it was a box. It was to dark to see what was
in it. "If I didn't know better I would swear that Scotty planned
this." Logan grumbled out loud "It certainly took a team
effort to get the damned thing. You want us to open it Jeannie or
do you want for us to leave and you can do it by yourself later?"
"Open it Logan. I have never seen a box like that before, I
have no idea what Scott could have put in it." Logan just smiled at
her "World War II ammo locker. They were designed to take a
pounding like nothing else. You want me to cut or pick the
lock?" "Pick it." Jean replied to his
question, "I don't know what is in it. Let's try to damage it
as little as possible okay?" "Got ya." Logan
replied as he started picking the lock "Lets see what Scotty
thought was so important that he had to hide it."
At the top of the pile was of course Scott's will. Why was she not
surprised, Jean quickly read it all Scott's worldly possessions went to
her. There were times like this she really hated her overly
responsible husband. There was a lift insurance policy in
her name, she would be able to collect it in three years when, they
could declare him legally dead. It was for enough that she knew
even without her money she could live comfortably on it for the rest of
her life. Dated three weeks from the date of his
"death".
'You were right to hide this from me damn you Scott if I had found this
in a drawer. I would have kicked your ass. I had no
intention of becoming a widower and you knew it.' Jean thought
bitterly. "My guess he hid it from you Jeannie because he knew you
would kick his ass if you found it." Logan said out loud
almost reading her mind. "Oh, God look at that." Bobby
Drake choked out as he reached for something inside the box.
"I didn't think he kept it. I was going to college at the
time, and one of my classes was going to Europe. I didn't have the
money to go and my dad was giving me a real hard time about giving it to
me because we were fighting about what I was going to major in at
school. When I got a letter from Scottie saying have fun, with the
check in the amount I needed to pay for my trip. He just asked me
to send him a miniature of the Eiffel Tower and here it is." Bobby
choked "I didn't think he kept it. I never really did thank
him for the trip. I really had the time of my life." Bobby
looked up and Jean could see that he had tears in his eyes, "Can
I? I mean would you mind if I kept this? Something to
remember him by and all." "Go ahead Bobby. I have
a feeling that Scot wanted you to have it." Jean replied.
"Hey look at that." Warren grumbled pulling what looked
like a picture out of the box and addressing Hank and Bobby.
"Do you two remember that ski trip?" Hank just
nodded. "It was the first time the four of us got together
after we thought Jean had died. We got together in Denver and did
some skiing." "Yeah," Warren added in suddenly
"Drake covered up the triple black diamond sign with snow. So
you and I had no idea what we were skiing when we blasted down that
slope." Hank just grinned at his long time friend "I guess it
was a good thing that Scott was a little more cautious than we
were." "Yeah, he was." Warren smirked back at him
"It was good thing to. He was the one who signed us in to the
Emergency room when we literally hit the bottom." Hank just
laughed "He protected Bobby from us when we got out of
traction to."
"Oh man, are you two still holding a grudge about that?"
Bobby grumbled with some laugher starting to come in to his eyes. "
I told you I was sorry. It was supposed to be a joke. And
if I remember correctly Warren, Scott covered for you when Candy caught
you flirting with that cute little sky bunny." Warren looked over
at Jean, "Could I have this?" Jean just nodded at him
chuckling to herself, "I think I would have loved to be there to
see your expressions." "Oh you missed a hell of a time
alright." Warren said looking thoughtful. This time it was
Cable who pulled something out of the box on the floor. It was a
book he picked up very gently. The cover said "Arabian
Nights" "I remember," Cable started softly "The
night he brought this book home. I was about five at the
time. I think he must have paid at least two months pay for it or
more. To this day I have no idea where he could have found a copy of it.
He taught me to read with a copy of this book. I fought him every
step of the way. I didn't think that learning to read was very
important, and it was a skill I would never have any use for. When
I finally got in to the stories I couldn't put the book
down." Cable smirked up at Jean "Remember I got grounded
for a week for neglecting my chores because I was to busy reading to do
them?" Jean just nodded and said, "I remember. Keep the
book Nathan I think your father put it here for you." Cable
just nodded to her. "I remember this," Kitty whispered "I
wanted to go to a move premiere in the city and all the other X-men were
to busy to take me. So Scott ended up taking me. We
ended up standing in line for five hours in freezing cold weather but I
did get my autograph. Poor Scott, I think by the time we got home
he thought he would never get warm again." Kitty just laugh
"He didn't even rub it in when I got the worst cold of my
lifetime." Kitty held the ticket stub in her hand "Jean
can I have this?" Jean just smiled and nodded at her.
There was something that everyone wanted in that trunk.
Hank took the magic eight ball, but would not explain the story behind
it. Gambit took a hurricane glass, muttering something about
buying Scott one down in New Orleans when blue team took and the Brood.
There was a recipe for Rogue. By the time that everyone was done
the box was empty. Except for a picture and a piece of paper.
"I was wondering where he hid this. I had it on my desk, up
to the moment I left for space. I was wondering what he did with
it." Charles Xavier said more out loud to himself than anyone
else in the room. It was a picture of Scott in an elf
costume. "It was at the Children's Hospital Annual Christmas
Party. Scott never had any family to go home to visit.
So he always volunteered for the party. That year Santa's elf was
sick, and Scott was the only one there skinny enough to fit in to the
costume. To say the least he was not very happy about that series
of events. That year to make things worse the director of the
Annual Christmas Party wanted to recognize Scott for all his hard
work. Scott being Scott bolted for the door when they asked him to
come up in front of the crowd so that everyone could thank him for his
hard work. If I hadn't been a telepath and knew he was going to
bolt we never would have caught him. I caught him at the door just
in time. I managed to get the picture sent to me
later. Scott always tried to 'lose' the picture but I would never
let him." Xavier chuckled softly, "I guess he saved it
for me." Jean reached for the last piece of paper at the bottom of
the trunk. She knew this was a message for her when she read
it. It was a poem.
From Prometheus Unbound
To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;
To love and bear; to hope until Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing that it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
This. like thy glory, Titan, is to be Good, great
and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory.
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
It was a poem describing the virtues that would make the
Titans victorious again Zeus and the other Gods. When Jean read it
she just started laughing until she couldn't stop, Prometheus like the
Cyclops had been a Titan and maybe Scott was right. Maybe, just
maybe, those virtues would be enough to be Apocalypse's down
fall. Maybe a Titan would rise again.
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