Chapter 136 – Dinner

[2009 – September]

Jean continued to stare at the TV screen though her gaze was a bit unfocused, her thoughts circling around the fact that Gwen's father had died at the hands of Dr. Curtis Connors, who had attacked the school this afternoon.

She and Gwen weren't close friends or anything like that but they still had been schoolmates for a few years, and Jean had always thought that it would be nice if they could be closer as they seemed to have similar interests academically.

Though knowing that Gwen had just lost her father, left Jean at a loss. She knew how painful it was to lose a parent, and her heart couldn't help but ache when she thought of this.

Suddenly Elijah's warm hand came to rest above her own, gently prying the remote from her tight grip as he shut off the TV.

Jean heard him sigh quietly, his arms wrapping themselves around her waist while she turned to face him, not moving out of his lap.

"Let's get you something to eat, my love.", he voiced out softly before lifting her up and carrying her into the kitchen, setting her down on the small aisle that separated this part of the room from the rest.

Caressing her cheek with his fingers, Elijah placed a loving kiss on her lips, his other hand brushing softly over her thigh and up to her hip, her own hands pressed against his chest, tightly gripping the fabric of his dark-red sweater, feeling his warmth and heartbeat pulsing beneath.

"I will cook something for us.", he whispered, a gentle light shining in his deep green eyes.

Jean only nodded quietly in response, watching as her love stepped back and grabbed a few ingredients from the refrigerator and cupboard. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she rested her head on her arms as continued to watch over Elijah, her thoughts still circling around the news report.

Clenching her fists, she couldn't help but whisper as unshed tears started to fill her eyes, blurring her sight for a moment: "He didn't have to die … We could have saved him … I could have saved …"

Pulling up the large hood of the light-grey sweater that she was wearing, Elijah leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers, his eyes glowing softly. His warm hands came to rest atop hers, his thumbs caressing the back of her hands which were still balled into fists.

"It's okay to feel sad about his death but blaming yourself for it is not, Firefly.", he voiced out quietly, his nose brushing past hers as he looked at her tenderly.

"Gwen's father was a police officer and I am sure that he knew the risks of his vocation. He could have died any other day at the hands of some mugger, a bank robber, or some drug dealer while he was doing his job.", Elijah continued, "This isn't any different. He did what he thought was right, and his death was a consequence of this choice."

"His death, is not your burden to carry, my love."

"You can admire and respect him for the choice he made, and even be sad for Gwen's loss, but you cannot feel guilty about it as that would be selfish, and it would undermine his sacrifice.", he ended, leaning forward and placing another kiss on her cheek.

Caressing said cheek with his palm, Elijah turned back to preparing supper. And while his words reverberated in her heart, the tenderness of his actions struck her even deeper.

Her breath got caught in her throat as she caught a glimpse of the fathomless care and love in his eyes. Tears escaped the corners of her eyes while everything inside her just yearned for his warmth and affection.

Reaching out with her right hand while still sitting on the kitchen aisle, Jean grabbed the corner of Elijah's sleeve while he was cutting up some vegetables beside her.

"I love you, Elijah.", she said while gazing at him with glittering eyes.

Tender joy and deep love burning brightly in his shadowed green eyes, he replied quietly while taking her hand in his, his other hand coming up to her face to gently brush away her tears: "I know, my love."

…

Dinner consisted mainly of rice with strips of tender beef in a mushroom/onion sauce, along with a bowl of salad and some watered-down grape juice.

We ate directly in the kitchen as we fed each other directly from the pan, and Jean slowly brightened up again, tiny smiles appearing on her lips as we fooled around with the food.

Her sadness and the underlying conflict in her heart had not disappeared yet, obviously, but it had shrunk considerably. I knew that she would be struggling with this for some time but this was something that she had to face eventually.

She wanted to help others but there would always be people that needed to be saved. If she could not learn to accept that she simply could not save everyone, I feared that she would never really be free to just be happy.

Arya was also by our side as she had woken up from a rather lengthy nap, the tiny princess eating some specially prepared food from her own bowl. She was a bit grumpy though and I knew that the reason for this was that Jean and I had woken her up several times while indulging in each other.

Normally, I shielded her from this kind of noise with a barrier so that she wouldn't be disturbed by us but I had forgotten to do so in the heat of the moment.

I managed to pacify her eventually while promising an unending stream of head rubs and caresses, not to mention a lot of playtime. Thankfully, Arya didn't really understand the concept of 'a lot' and was mostly just happy that I promised to spend time with her.

While we finished up our meal, I also informed Jean that I was ready to use Self-Creation again, which caused her to frown deeply while an unwilling and worried look appeared in her eyes. She didn't say anything but I knew that she did not like it when I used this power.

The reason was rather simple, as Jean didn't want to see me hurt as much as I did not want to see her suffering.

Still, I didn't plan to use it right away, instead, I wanted to wait for tomorrow as school had been canceled for the rest of the week. Considering that it was Wednesday already, it wasn't much extra free time but it still gave me an opportunity to go through with my plan to power up without having to wait for the weekend.

Before we could settle down on the couch together and put on one of the series that we were watching together, I got a message from Emma and another one from Laura. The latter asked me to pick her up while the former wanted me to come to her office.

Activating Farsight, I followed the direction of the small ethereal barrier that I had placed around Laura. It didn't have any function and was solely a way for me to find her.

She stood in front of the X-Mansion and I directly enveloped her in a barrier from the distance before manipulating the space it occupied, causing her to appear beside me only a moment later.

I had gotten much more proficient with spatial manipulation over the last few weeks as this was what I had been working on the most when it came to my barrier powers.

Blinking a few times, Laura quickly adjusted to the shift in location as she smiled ever so slightly while looking up at me.

"Thanks, Elijah.", she said with her usual quiet, slightly raspy voice.

"No problem.", I replied with a smile before continuing, "We just had dinner but there is still some leftover if you want some."

"Dinner?", Laura voiced out quietly, her eyes glittering with a bright luster as she leaned to the side and spied around me, her gaze directed at the kitchen while her little nose curled up slightly.

"Come, I will warm it up for you.", Jean said with a small smile as she took Laura's hand and pulled her towards the kitchen.

My heart was a bit more at ease now that Jean wasn't alone with Laura being around, I quickly slipped into a pair of sneakers before 'teleporting' myself and Arya into the corridor that led into Emma's office.

Knocking lightly on the dark wooden door, Emma's voice sounded out from inside, calling me in.