Things That Go Bump In The Night (Atten: Cyclops)

[lexusdale]

Jean tossed and turned in her bed. Her silken night gown getting tangled up with her soft cotton sheets. She was having another nightmare. She had been having them all week and they only seemed to be getting worse. She was afraid of another power flux but it seemed like the nightmares hadn't reached that level of severity just yet. Problem was she had a feeling they weren't far off from starting to effect her powers. She hadn't had nightmares like this in years, not since she had first come to the Institute. She had thought that the horror was gone forever, now it seemed she'd never be able to shake it.

She screamed out as the horrors within her dreamworld continued to frighten her. She saw miles and miles of burning landscape, ruined cities, a world collapsing in on itself. Bodies littered the ground, some charred some still burning. The worst part of all was those laying by her feet were faces she recognized, friends calling out to her as their bodies were ravaged by fire and pain beyond comprehension. She wanted to help them but she couldn't, she seemed to be above it all, watching. There was a horible laugh echoing through the land, louder than any cries of agony. Jean suddenly realized the laugh was coming from her own parched mouth. She felt her heart squeeze itself, her chest tighten as she came to know the truth. She was the reason for all this, she had caused this destruction, she had killed her friends.

She screamed as loud as her lungs would let her and sat upright in her bed shaking, a layer of cold sweat quickly spreading over her body. Every loose object in her room was spinning around, she knew she was the one doing it but for the life of her couldn't cause them to stop. She was frightened beyond belief. She suddenly felt like that scared little ten year old who had watched her best friend die all over again. She called out again this time making out a singular name, the first that came to her mind, "SCOTT!"

[sporadicenigmatic]

Scott was dreaming, dreaming of stratagems and victory. He knew he'd be waking up in the coming hours with a shower and then the routine danger room simulation that he took part in every morning. It was so strange when his dream which wasn't about anything too important was broken by the call of Jean Grey. It was so vivid it was like she was in his room. He blinked, sitting up he looked about his dark room, tinted dark red thanks to his glasses. "Jean..." he blinked, it was like she had yelled at him right inside of his room. She had to be having a nightmare or something how else would she be able to do that. Hearing her voice in his head like an alarm clock. He pulled a t-shirt over his head and walked to the door of his room.

The hallway was really quiet but at this hour Scott wouldn't expect to find anybody dwelling about. He silently began to stalk down the hallways. Jean's dorm room wasn't too far away from his. If his hunch was right maybe she was having a nightmare. He wasn't even dreaming about her so for her to interrupt his dream in such a fassion meant something had to be happening. He wanted to check on her. It was strange, if she was having a power spike or something why would she call out to him?

Her dorm room sounded silent, he knocked quietly. "Jean?" he whispered, he hoped nobody would wake up. The last thing he needed was for this to turn into something awkward and have to keep this on his mind the whole time. Maybe it was part of his dream, maybe he was just being weirded out but Scott had a feeling it was more than his mind playing tricks on him. Turning the door handle slowly he creaked her door open a crack.

"Jean, everything okay?"

[lexusdale]

Jean was sitting upright in her bed. The sheets and blanket were twisted all over the place giving the impression that she had been wrestling with them. Her own silken nightgown was also slightly out of place given the amount of tossing and turning she had been doing. Her face was soaked with tears that were still running fast down her cheeks and dropping off onto her chest. She was rocking slightly and looked as terrified as she's ever looked.

All the objects in her room were still spinning around creating a circle around jean herself. Anything that wasn't bolted down safe for her bed was now flying about. She wanted it to stop but she coudn't concentrate. She was far too upset and the object only seemed to be getting faster. She could feel them whip past her and it only made her appear more upset rocking a little more noticably now hoping she wasn't going to get knocked out by her own jewelry box.

Scott had only opened the door a small creak but as soon as she heard his voice the knob was ripped out of his hand and the door flund open so fast and hard Jean thought it was going to fall off it's hinges. She looked up to him with bloodshot eyes, her arms hugging her knees to her chest. Goosebumps were visible on the large amount of skin that was showing due to the small nightgown she was wearing.

"Scott, please, help me." Her voice was trembling and held none of it's usual confidence. It somewhat reminded her of the last time her powers had spiked and Scott had been the one to help her come out of the darkness.

[sporadicenigmatic]

Terror assaulted him as he saw the scene before him. She was having a horrible nightmare, she had to have been but for her to cause such a power surge as she had he wondered just how badly the dreams were. She called to him specifically. Woke him up in the middle of the night, she knew he could help her somehow, but what could he do to help her now?

Scott walked into her room, closing the door behind him, her things were encircling her. She was trembling, she sounded horrified and he had to think of something to do. Her hair was up in the air and he could practically feel the energy that she was projecting. "Jean." he said looking to her. "Listen to me, close your eyes Jean I want you to close your eyes and focus please." He wanted to try and get closer to her but the objects were moving at such a speed that he didn't exactly want to test being in the way to stop their motion. Whatever happened, she was horrified. She needed to calm down and Scott was going to talk her down if he had to.

"I know your scared but I can't help you with everything flying around the room like this. I need you to sit cross legged on your bed, and I need you to put your hands calmly on your legs Jean... I need you to close your eyes and I need you to take a few deep breaths and try to calm yourself down. Everything is fine okay Jean? You're okay. You're in control." If he could manage to calm her down enough to slow down the speed of the moving objects he might be able to get close to her, however if she managed to calm herself down she'd probably be able to put everything back herself. He had confidence in her he was sure she just needed to believe in herself for a moment.

[lexusdale]

Jean could hear him but she still couldn't help herself. She was still frightened beyond control and even with her best efforts she couldn't calm herself down. She needed more than just her voice, she needed him. The connection they had made a few months back was what was drawing her to him and was likely the only thing that was going to help her through this.

"Scott I can't. I just - oh god - I can't stop it." She shuttered again and closed her eyes. She was still rocking and despite her voice sounding a little stronger tearswere still streaming down her face in a constant wave of moisture, "Help me Scott."

The object in her room were still spinning but their movements seemed more sporadic. They move out in a wide circle and up toward the ceiling. Despite how fast they were moving they were now relatively out of the way. If Scott saw fit he'd be able to make it to the bed without getting knocked out by flying objects.

"I can't I just can't.' She was mumbling now rocking ven harder than she had before, "I killed them all Scott, it's all my fault."

[sporadicenigmatic]

Jean was frantic and Scott had to act quickly. She was in shock about something and as he saw the opening he needed he took it. Diving under the moving objects he rolled, getting to her bed in virtually a single motion. He sat beside her and put his hand on her shoulder and her knee. "Jean, everything is fine... Nobody is dead. You're fine." She seemed frightened beyond reason. Whatever was the cause of this was something truly horrific he was sure.

He needed to help her and he felt that there was something he could do, maybe if she felt his contact she'd snap out of whatever state she was in. "Take a deep breath Jean..." he said, hoping she'd be able to focus with his help. "Nothing is wrong, you're just having a bad dream." A really bad dream... Scott wanted to know what to do, he wanted the answers. He needed to help Jean, she woke him up in the middle of the night.

"Every thing's okay, breath for me Jean." Scott wasn't sure if she would calm down or not but at the very least he was hoping that he'd prevent her from getting any worse. She was having what he would call a pretty serious episode.

[lexusdale]

Once Scott arrived on her bed the objects went back to their original place whipping around the bed at head level. It was lamost as if they had done it on purpose, like they wanted Scott to come closer, however now that he was there, there was no way he'd be able to leave anytime soon. The objects spun faster so that they were a mere blur blocking out every other detail of the room. For now it was just Jean, Scott and the bed. Everything else was out of sight and out of mind.

When he put his hands on her bare shoulder and bare knee Jean stopped rocking and opened her eyes. She looked at him with fear evident upon her angelic features, "Oh god Scott." She shifted ever so slightly and flung herself into his arms. She wrapped her arms tight around his neck and threw her body into his lap.

She was still shaking in his lap but at least she seemed to have calmed down. She didn't appear to be crying anymore, "Scott, I'm so scared. There's so much destruction, so much death and it's all my fault. I killed them, I killed them all." She tucked her head into the crook between his head and his shulder pressing her body hard against him shaking almost violently.

She was breathing heavy as her body shook. Despite the heat in the room her bare skin was still covered in goosebumps. She held onto Scott like her life depended on it. She didn'tthink she had ever been this close to him before, in his lap pressed so tightly against him. She knew if there was anyone that could help through this, it was him.

[sporadicenigmatic]

She was shaking in Scott's arms, paralyzed by fear and preoccupied by an event that never occurred. Scott felt like he needed to help her realize it was only a dream. She was covered in goosebumps. She wasn't crying any longer thankfully but things had gotten back to normal with the telepathic freak out. "Jean, there is nothing to worry about. Everybody is fine you were only having a nightmare. You're okay, everybody is alive. You didn't hurt anyone."

He held her firmly, she was shaking so much. He ran a hand casually through her hair as he tried to calm her down. She had been completely taken out of context and he had no real idea how bad things were. "Everything is okay Jean, you can trust me." He'd never seen her so uncomposed and he felt a bit bad for her. His mutant power didn't cause him such greif. "I know you can focus Jean you need to work with me. Take deep breaths." he said as he looked to her. "Inhale through your mouth and exhale through your nose."

She needed to know things were okay but she seemed kind of out of it. Maybe now that they were close Jean would be able to focus a bit more on what he was saying and maybe help herself calm down. "Everything's okay... you haven't killed anyone." What if she had? Scott didn't know much about her past, what if there was something she was running away from. Something severe like that? Scott couldn't imagine Jean capable of such a thing but the way she was acting meant nothing was out of the question...

[lexusdale]

Jean was still shaking but at least holding onto Scott was helping her steady herself, "I'll, I'll try. I just need . . ." She tried to calm her breathing and shifted her body. She moved around so that she was straddling Scott, her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, her own chest pressed hard agianst his. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing. She could feel Scott's heart beat through his chest and was using that as a focus for her to calm down.

Ater a few minutes of concentrating on Scott's heart beat the objects in the room started to slow their spinning and in the span of ten minutes or so finally returned to their proper places around her room. It seemed that all the choas had calmed down at least to a somewhat normal level.

Her breathing wasn't quite back to normal and she was still shaking but it seemed the worst of her problems had passed. She opened her eyes and moved back slightly so that she could look into Scott's eyes, or at least into his face with his sunglasses blocking his actual eyes,"Oh god Scott, it was horrible."

She pressed herself agains him again absent mindedly rubbing his back, "There was so much fire and destruction and death. Oh god I caused it all." She moved back to look at his face again, "Scott I don't think it was a nightmare, I think it was, I dunno, the future."

[sporadicenigmatic]

Their posturing was borderline erotic but Scott was trying his best not to let his mind wander from what was truly important at the moment. The objects in the room were slowing down and Jean was calming down. Things were going the way that they needed to be and Scott felt good he helped Jean with what was going on. The scene he encountered was not encouraging but the sign that they could figure things out together without The Professor's help was a good sign.

"It was just a dream Jean, I know what it's like to have horrible nightmares. I dream of the night my parents died saving me and my brother all the time. I feel like I need to blame myself but I don't Jean. The mind is a very powerful thing. You have a large power inside of you and your mind is the center of that. I think with the professor's help you'll start to understand that." Scott smiled confidently, he had faith in Jean, and Charles Xavier. The three of them shared a vision but Scott knew Jean had a lot to deal with.

Scott wanted to be able to help Jean with that.

"I don't want to say it wasn't the future, given the kind of things i've seen since I arrived in this mansion but I don't think we'll hang this over our heads either. In the morning, why don't we tell the professor about your dream? He'll know if we need to worry about it or not."

[lexusdale]

Jean leaned back slightly so that she could look into his face again. As she repositioned herself half of her mind was conscious of the amount of pressure now focused on her lower body and how it was pressing down on his lap. If it wasn't for her racing heartand goosebumped skin due to the amount of terror flushing from her system she might have fully realized how intimately they were sitting.

The objects settled and were no longer a threat t the best friends on Jean's bed. With Scott there she was finally calming down enough to be considered her normal self again. There was just something about Scott, no matter how crazy she got he was always there to bring her back down to earth. He was her best friend and maybe even something more but this wasn't really the time or place to be thinking about her budding feelings for him.

"Scott," She blushed slightly, "Even if whatever I saw was really the future or not, I just . . . I'm just not ready to tell the Professor. He'll find out eventually anyway it's just been so long since I've had nightmares like this that I'm really not ready to let him know I'm flaking again."

She looked into where she suspected his eyes were behind his sunglasses and touched his cheek gently, "Please, promise me you won't tell the Professor?"

[sporadicenigmatic]

Scott was pretty much completely aware fof the intimacy of their current positioning. Thoughts running in his mind he was careful to try not and project them to her. He was always fighting to try and be steps ahead of what was happening but when it came to Jean Grey, Scott always felt as if he was miles behind her. Completely unaware of what awaits him up the road. Had the situation been any different Scott may not have objected against any actions based upon pure emotion.

She didn't want to tell the professor and part of that had surprised him. If he trusted anybody it was the Professor and it was always his first instinct to go to him. Jean's reasons were sensible and he didn't want to disrespect her wishes. "Don't worry Jean, if you don't want me to mention this to the Professor then I wont. I promise." He was looking into her eyes as he spoke, he wanted her to know he was speaking the truth.

"But Jean, you need to promise me something. Logan, he's going to be hosting a Meditation class its open so you don't have to go. I think it'd be a good idea though if you gave it a try." He held her hand as he spoke, he hadn't parted since she calmed down and it was now that he'd noticed. Scott really didn't want to let her hand go but given how they were seated on her bed he had a feeling she wouldn't say anything. "If you don't like it you don't have to go again... I promise. Logan swears there will be absolutely no combat..."

"Not sure I believe him." he said with a soft laugh. He wasn't exactly the funniest guy around but he was just trying to get her mind off of what had just passed.

[lexusdale]

More than once the thought crossed her mind that she should move, detatch herself from Scott and go back to a more discreet position on her bed. Yet everytime the thought came up it was quickly squashed, there was no one around, no one to think that they were being indecent and a strong part of her really just want to stay as close to Scott for as long as possible. She knew she had developing feelings for him, feelings she knew were growing the more time they spent together she had just never realized how strong they were getting.

She suddenly felt bad that she had made him promise not to tell the Professor. Charles had always been a very important part of their lives. He was their mentor, their teacher, their friend and for some of them the a father figure they could actually rely on. It felt strange even to her that she didn't want to tell him about it but she wanted to be strong, she wanted to get through this on her own. If this was something she was going to have to deal with for the rest of her life then she migt as well learn to do it on her own, there was no sense in havng to constantly rely on someone else to pull her through. What would happen when she was in her twenties, her thirties and still having these nightmares, would she still be relying on the Professor to help her through it then?

She let a small smile touch her lips as Scott chuckled softly, "Alright, I'll try it out. For you." Actually the more she thought about it the more it seemed like a good idea. If there was anyone that knew how to deal with inner demons and nightmares it was Logan. From what she knew of the wild man he had had to deal with his own for many more years than she had and occassional raging aside he semed to be doing fairly well without the Professors help, "To be honest I think Logan might actually be able to help me more than the Professor can on this one."

She focused back on Scott's face, she knew she was looking into his eyes and that he had been doing the same. It felt good that they could do this. It should how much they had grown over the years, that they could rely on each other to get through things without having to run to the 'adults' for help. It was a great feeling knowing that they would be able to move on, continuing to grow up and yet always be there for each other. Jean thought about how much Scott meant to her, how much she knew she needed a friend like him in her life. She would feel almost incomplete if he was suddenly not around.

As her thoughts wandered as did her eyes. They moved along thecurve of his cheek and down to his mouth. She had never really paid attention to how it looked. It suited his face perfectly and for the first time she noticed how soft his lips looked, "Scott I just . . . I want to thank you for coming here." As her eyes continued to take in the sight of his lips a rather powerful thought came over her, she suddenly imagined herself kissing those lips. She was shocked at how powerful and vivid the imagine in his mind was and unfortunately in her slightly weakened state that one singularily powerful thought was passed onto Scott, imprinted in his mind so powerful and vivid it was almost as if the kiss had actually happened.

"You didn't have to come here but you did. I know that no matter hat time it is or wherever we might be, you'll always be there for me when I need you."

[sporadicenigmatic]

Their closeness failed to allude Scott, it was all he could bring himself to think about. She smelled great, she looked great, she was on top of him and he was trying his best to be the good guy. H e knew how inappropriate it was to make a scene here, but he wanted to just grab her and kiss her right now. Her lips were practically teasing him and Jean's eyes were searing into his, even through his shades he could feel her looking into him, like she was seeing Scott in a way that nobody else did.

He was happy she liked the suggestion of meditation class. She seemed to have a bit of vigor towards the idea, that meant it was a good one. "Scott I just . . . I want to thank you for coming here." She began to say, he was listening to her before an image assaulted his mind. Vivid and powerful Scott felt like it had actually happened and they just shared an intimate kiss, right there and now.

Scott was dragged back to reality as Jean continued to speak. She knew she could rely on him and truth be told Scott liked that she knew that she could count on him if she had to. He liked having Jean know that he wanted to be there for her, she was probably coming to figure out on her own that he liked her in a more fruitful manner than friendship but he didn't exactly feel the time was right for that, regardless of the searing image of an very emotional kiss ripping his mind. Scott felt somewhat out of place, he just smirked. "Jean, I'll always be there for you."

[lexusdale]

"I know. It's makes me feels safe knowing that you'll always be there for me." She smiled and leaned in for a tighter hug. She took in a deep breath of his scent and pulled back slowly. She looked deep into his eyes and this time as she leaned forward again she actually gently pressed her lips to his for a very small almost friendly kiss.

"Thanks again." She removed herself slowly from his lap almost unwillingly breaking away from him. She shivered slightly with the lack of body heat he was providing and smiled once again sitting herself next to him and placing her hand gently on his knee, "I should probably get some sleep. I suppse to start flying lessons tomorrow with Roxy, not that I really need them but you can never train too much right?"

She looked around her room. You'd never know that mere minutes before the place was looking like a psychic battle ground. Luckily everything made it's way back to their rightful places and nothing seemed to be broken. She'd have to investigate further in the morning to make sure nothing actually did get broken but at the moment things seemed to be back to normal and that was god enough for her.

She looked up at Scott and bit her lip a little nervously and hesitantly before speaking, "Scott, do you think maybe you could stay, at least until I fall asleep to make sure I don't have any more nightmares. I mean my bed is big enough for both of us to fit."