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Summary: Well…..no RoLo here. But helps the plot line by clearing up the ‘other’ couple.

** ** indicates telepathic communication.
‘ ’ indicates thought
“ ” indicates spoken words

The day was finally here.

“Do you Scott take thee Jean Grey to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others? As long as you both shall live”

“I do,” answered the smartly dressed groom, his ruby quartz glasses reflecting the mid morning sun.

“And do you Jean,” the priest addressed the veiled white clad bride, “Do you take Scott Summers to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others? As long as you both shall live.”

“I do,” the bride’s answer was equally confident and true.

The best-man, the groom’s younger brother promptly handed over the rings.

“By power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you, man and wife. You may kiss your bride,” those fateful and much awaited words were finally spoken, garnering hoots and claps from the gathering, as the veil was lifted and the newly married lovers joined their lips for the first time as husband and wife.

----

“What are you thinking?” he tilts his head sideways to look at the love of his life. Finally they are together….one.
“Nothing,” is the first and automatic reply. “Just about us.”

“What?” she leans over and rests her head on his shoulder, her sleep mussed, flame colored hair spreading over his back and arms.
“About how I almost lose you….” even as he speaks, he can feel her tense. The thought ‘She didn’t read my thoughts,’ sounding somewhere in the deepest recesses of his mind. “….Not once but so many times.”

When she doesn’t answer, he can instinctively sense what her thoughts are, about her mistakes and also his.

“I love you Jean,” he breaks the silence. “And I am sorry for everything that happened with….in the past.”
“I love you too Scott,” she responds both verbally and through their psi-link. “I never wanted it….” she doesn’t want to say the words, trying to forget it….her indiscretion, just as he is trying to forget his.

They have overcome a lot…many almost insurmountable difficulties to reach at this juncture. She even fought and defeated the largest of them all….death.

And although they are thankful for their current state of happiness, and they want to forget some of the events of the past year, they don’t….won’t forget the lessons they learnt.

They will not forget how close they came to losing one another.

----

“How long did this go on?” he had asked her.
“Four months,” she answered truthfully, her own emotional turmoil, mirroring his.

“Four months,” he repeated the words as if trying them on for their weight. “Four months.”

The silence that lay between them wasn’t comforting in the least, its invisible claws threatening to tear both of them apart.

“Scott….” She started from her bedside perch. She had finally steeled herself to confess to him, aware of the danger that it might pose to their relation….severe enough to end their union even before it was formed. At his non-response she grew silent again.

“Why?” Was the first word out of his mouth.
“I wanted….” She started only to stop and rephrase her answer. “I needed love…..”

“So you went to HIM,” he spat the last word out, not as much as of anger from the revelation that she had stepped out of him, but with whom she had been. Not that her being with any other man would make it easier to bear or hurt any less, but the principle of the matter that she went to the one man who had rankled her enough to make her think about it.

“And what do you mean, you needed love?” He caught onto the verbal part of her answer. “Wasn’t my love enough for you?”

“It was-it is,” she corrected herself. “But….”
“But WHAT Jean,” his voice rose in crescendo. “You wanted-needed love. So instead of coming to me, you went to Logan.”

“You weren’t there,” she lashed back, her emerald green eyes flaring momentarily before losing their light. “You weren’t there…with me….for me.”
“What do you mean I wasn’t there?” his anger carried the barest of confusion….and something more. Guilt.

“We both know what I am taking about?” She didn’t want to speak it out herself. She wanted that just as she had confessed, so should he.
“I don’t….” he started to deny it, but stopped at the pleading look in her eyes. “Its not the same.”

“Not the same, NOT THE SAME,” it was her turn to go on the offensive. “Why? Because you didn’t physically involved. Maybe if you would have then it would have placed us on even footing. You wouldn’t be taking this morally condescending tone with me.”

“Jean….” He didn’t have any words to explain his behavior. Everything she had said so far had been true.
“Scott, I came back for you,” tears stained her smooth cheeks. “All that time, under that water, the only thing I wanted was to be with you. But what do I get when I come back? Oh, you were glad to see me alive, your love was still there, but your fear and distrust was mudding that. You were scared of me….some part of you still is.”

“I am not…” he started, but was silenced by a hard look from her.

**Don’t even try lying to me** she sounded in his head.

--

Turning her face away from him, she continued.

“When I came back I was in an emotional fragile state. I needed you, but instead of being there for me, you went to her. Instead of confiding in me, like you used to, you turned to her.”
“It wasn’t like that,” his brow furrowed in tension.
“It was for me. You don’t know how violated I felt having the love of your life be with someone else. To have those visuals in your mind.”

“I didn’t…..I do now,” he spoke through clenched teeth. “Is that why you went to him…slept with him. To one up me?”
“No,” her voice sounded tired and broken. “I wanted to feel wanted. Everywhere I looked, everyone was afraid of me, of what I have become. I could sense their fear, their suspicion. I could sense it all. He was the only person who wasn’t like that…..not even the Professor.”

“Why didn’t you tell me all of this?” He tried again.

“Tell you,” she chuckled sarcastically. “Why didn’t you tell me about your *therapy *sessions with her,” she noticed him flinch at the word they had set for their telepathic meetings. “Why didn’t you tell me about Ororo?”

That threw him for a loop. “How did you…?” He started in confusion.

“One of the students,” she answered his incomplete question. “She captured your projections. I got them one day in class. I was thinking about you and that drew out those memories.”

“Jean, nothing happened between me and Ororo,” he felt stupid giving an answer similar to the one he had given earlier. “It was only a kiss….a single kiss.”

“A single kiss,” she spoke as if in wonder, before going cold. “It was only a kiss because she was able to stop herself and leave the room. You wanted more than that. You wanted to feel and she was the one you turned to….and just a month after my leaving.”

He had no answer for that. He knew the reason he had turned to their snow teammate. She was there. She had lent him a considerate ear….until one night things almost got out of hand. She had been consoling him after he almost fell apart during dinner. One thing led to another, and before either of them realized it, they were kissing. Being inebriated didn’t help his thinking either. It had only been because they heard Jubilee, Kitty and Rogue talking loudly and giggling outside as they walked down the hall that they….Ororo stepped back and let herself out of the room.

“I don’t blame either of you for what did or didn’t happen,” the redhead answered calmly. “I would have liked to learned about it from you, instead of catching it from the stray thoughts of a young girl not old enough to discern them…but that is a thing of the past and I don’t want to live my life in the past.”

--

“What do we do now?” she had been the one to ask that question, urging him to voice his thoughts.

“I-I don’t know.”

“Scott,” she spoke after a heavy sigh. “You were and are the only man that I want as a life partner…..the only man I want to marry. When you game me this ring, that was the day I decided to come clear with you. I had hoped that you would do the same…..that I wouldn’t have to corner you and draw it out forcibly. However, as we both know, that I has not been the case. I want us to be together as much as you….but not like this.”

“Jean…” he tried to response but was silenced by a raised hand from her.

“I am going to my parents,” her words shook him. “I am not breaking off with you, nor am I ending our engagement. That choice will be yours. If you feel that you can forgive me, just I as I have forgiven you, then let me know. Otherwise….” the words trailed off as she got up and left the room, heading towards the Professor’s office to let him know about her decision to visit her parents during the upcoming summer vacations.

-----

It had taken him two weeks to reach a decision…..and three months after that they were married.

“I am sorry Jean,” he whispers softly.
“Me too,” she draws back and turns to face him. “But that is all in the past. Only one thing matters now.”

“What?” He asks with a smile, gently drawing her towards him.
“This,” she says as their lips meet in a light kiss. “We have each other.”

“We are finally together.”

Note: Hope you liked it. Sorry to all those Jean and/or Scooter bashers.

What do you think about this development? Let me know through your reviews!!