Playing Jean (Redone)

I can feel my body has changed. I know I have heightened stamina, agility, healing, and increased mental capacity. I know this because I had a chat with a little girl who was very happy to meet me, she said she had been alone since the beginning of all. I was either nuts or I managed to breech the speed-force within this verse. This is beyond what I was expecting.

"What you think chuck?"

"I am unable to find out anything about our guest, Logan. He has very strong mental shields, stronger than my ability to slip past."

I heard the conversation fading as Professor X and Wolverine got further from me. I thought I would be in the medical area downstairs, but it seems I am in a bedroom upstairs, guess they are being careful.

I am about to open my eyes when I feel like I am not alone in the room so I gently try to sense who is with me but am greeted with a gentle voice, "Ah, you're awake. You are in a school not far from your accident."

"Jean? Yeah, I know. Thanks for the info. Have you been taking care of me?" my eyes open to see a girl who looks about 16, she has red hair and very pretty green eyes, she also happens to be good looking and I suddenly understand people's obsession with her. Jean Grey is a woman with a tragic life but an amazing soul, oh, and body.

"You know my name? Are you a Telepath?" Jean asks me in surprise, crap, I did just say her name out loud.

I forgot I am not supposed to know her yet. I need to think about what I say before I speak.

"Kinda yeah, I was half-awake, sorry. I am Joel and you can look into my mind if you like" I try for the, "accept the blame and hope for the best" strategy, I hope to hell she does not accept my offer.

Jean gives me a semi-smile "It's okay, I do that a lot, the Professor is helping me with it."

Oh, she gives me an in, "Helping? Is that why you have those blocks stopping your emotions and memories?"

Jean's smile freezes, she looking at me with a fixed stare and I hope I never blew it. I just know the Professor is protective of her and so I am rushing to do this while I am alone with her.

Jean drops her smile and I get ready to run, literally. She signs deeply and seems to relax,

"He thinks I don't know about them. I have been slowly clawing away at them since I felt them," Okay wow, I am guessing she needs to share.

"Want help?" this is pushing my luck; I am asking a girl I just met if she is cool with me entering her head. I am relying on the fact the Professor made it a casual thing when it is certainly not!

Jean looks at me with slight confusion, "You mean you think you can break them?"

"Nah, not break, I can add vents. Think of it this way, you had them all your life, they are like a dam, and there is a lot of pressure behind them, so if we break them it could hurt you a lot. So I think we put vents in them to start releasing the pressure until it all equals out, then we smash em." I try the psychological thing of making this a "we", so she sees this as a joint thing she also wants, it's a small trick but it works more than you think.

Jean lowers her head slightly; I have to wonder about how she has been raised here. Any normal person would have said no, so now I am worried about how much access the Professor has to her mind, and if what he taught her is okay.

I mean to me getting into someone's head seems like a personal thing, that is why I am glad I got to use the Professor's ability to add a shield. I might lose the ability when I leave them, but the shields will remain thankfully.

Do not misunderstand, I do not see myself as a good guy, I will use what I have but being underage is off-limits to an adult in my mind.

Jean looks up and nods with a look of determination, so far so good.

"Okay, putting vents in is easy since I am stronger than the Professor. What happens after that is what we need to be careful of." Until this point I have been on the bed with my back and neck raised up with pillows and Jean is sitting on the edge of the bed, so I reach out and take her hands in mine, the girl does not even react. I want her in contact with me when those vents open, I need her to associate me strongly with the return of her freedom.

"Once the vents are there, you are suddenly going to feel a lot more than you ever have in ages, you might experience hate, fear, or anything like that. Just listen to me, and I will reassure you, it should only last a few minutes at most and then you will be fine."

Jean nods and I squeeze her hands as I move my mind to enter hers, I am expecting resistance, something. Even if you are willing to open your mind to someone there should be some resistance, right?

I am starting to get a little annoyed now, I want Jean as she is a useful tool, but she is still a person who is young and trusting. If I saw this in a 20-year-old, I would not care, hell I would use it to my own advantage. Even I have my limits, hell I am planning on getting a power that lets me control people, just not anyone as young as Jean was when this started.

Slipping in to find the mental blocks is easy, Jean leads me right to them. I create a mental dagger and slowly start to cut vents into them. The process is so easy because I am encountering no resistance from Jean, she is helping me, and cutting along her previous attempts helps.

I feel a little strange as I ease out of her mind, something is different with my body. I was so busy working in Jean's mind I never noticed. Jean is currently kissing me, like real kissing, but she is also crying at the same time. I have no clue about her emotions this time, so I hold her close and gently kiss her, after a few seconds she breaks away and I use one hand to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks as I keep holding her other one.

"I should have felt it was wrong to let him keep entering my mind as he did. I should have felt uncomfortable with the way Scott kept touching me and never left me alone. I can see it now." Jean is not asking for my input, she seemed to be reliving events and seeing them with more emotion attached to them now, so I just hold her and start gently caressing her hair as she processes this.

Even though it is only a few minutes, I am surprised we have been left alone so long, maybe they underestimate my healing with it being a combination of Wolverines and the Speed Force.

"Jean, if you want to relax and think everything over, I have spare rooms at my place. I am only saying this because I think you need a chance to think everything over without being here." With her new emotions I am kind of taking advantage now but at the same time I mean it, she needs to process all these things without the cause of them hovering around her. 

"How? There is nothing left of your bike, Logan said he found you in a hole with some pieces of a bike around you."

I grin at Jean, "I no longer need a bike to get somewhere fast. Write a letter to them and I will take you to my place. You can stay in a spare room until you have sorted out your new feelings."

This is my best time to push, at this moment in her eyes, I am the only one who helped her without taking advantage of her. This is the Professor's home and she no longer trusts him, Scott is not here and if I am guessing right, she is not looking forward to him returning. I am playing on this to get her away from here and into a place, I have more control of. I suggested the letter to give her a feeling of security, I am showing her I will not take advantage of her because she can let them know anything she wants in the letter without me knowing.

Taking a breath Jean nods slowly, "Let me go to my room, I will leave a letter there then." Jean seems to suddenly realize that we have been cuddled in close for some time, she blushes slightly but moves away normally, to me it's a good sign.

As we walk out of the room, I see someone cleaning the mansion and stop dead, Jean looks back at me slightly confused.

I lean close to her and whisper "It's okay, this needs to be something you do alone, it's personal and I don't want to influence you."

Jean smiles at me and nods as she heads to her room a little faster.

As I walk forward, I recall what I sensed when I came close to the mansion.

Arriving in front of the cleaning woman she looks up at me with a questioning gaze, I respond to her gaze with a smile and a statement, "I think you are much more beautiful in your natural blue."