The Scott and Jean Archives
At the school assembly, Jean is presented with the ‘Most Valuable Player’ award by Principal Kelly. While Jean gives her thank you speech up on stage, she suddenly starts to hear voices from the audience staring at her from below; from both friends and strangers. She gets too overwhelmed by the noises, loses her concentration and stumbles over the prize table. Her statuette falls to the ground and the head of it breaks off. Scott shows extreme concern and worry for Jean. He finds Jean alone in the auditorium when everyone has left. They make small talk about her ‘stage fright’. Jean mentions Duncan’s party that night, to which Scott was left out on the guest list.
Greatly annoyed by not being invited, Scott decides to crash the party (for obvious reasons). Dashing out of the bathroom, he meets with a string of bad luck (Kitty’s stink-bombed shirt, falling down the stairs on his behind) and slipping and falling over the iced road at the front porch.
Scott is greeted by a soccer ball (out the window) to his head upon arrival. He walks in, ball in hand, seeking out Duncan, who is resting against a pillar with Jean. The two guys battle it out with a game of table tennis. When the game gets too rough, Jean uses the TK to stop the ball in midair, concluding the game. Jean drags Duncan to a corner to have a talk with him. Scott’s anger is fuelled. Jean starts hearing voices again, mostly negative comments from the party-goers. Gripping her head in her hands, Jean runs out to the balcony in an attempt to get away from all the people. Scott is on the balcony too, and approaches Jean. Jean reacts defensively and accidentally flings Scott over the balcony with her TK. Jean comes to her senses and catches Scott with her TK just in time. She loses her concentration and hence her grip on Scott when Duncan catches her off guard. Scott falls into the pool.
Scott, dripping wet, and Jean return to the Institute arguing over what happened. They are greeted by Xavier and Kurt. Rogue and Risty enter, followed by Kitty (through the wall) and Logan (passing through to grab an apple with his claws). Rogue is upset over Risty’s unscheduled visit causing somewhat of a surprise to Risty as well as other inhabitants of the Institute. She thinks out loud in response to Xavier’s comment about scheduling visits, and Jean catches that thought unknowingly. Jean tells Rogue she isn’t getting special treatment from Xavier and Rogue, and Rogue rebuts that she did not give Jean “permission to go into [her] head”. Xavier finds a troubled Jean sitting in one of the mansion’s internal open areas. Xavier offers help to deal with Jean’s expanding telepathy, but Jean reassures her mentor that she’s probably just fatigued. Xavier is skeptical of her situation.
The next morning at the Track and Field tryouts, Scott and Duncan are still competing (over Jean). While running on the track, Duncan elbows Scott, causing him to fall out of pace, stumbling and rolling over onto the centre field. He loses his glasses. Dr Hank McCoy, overseeing the tryouts, calls Duncan off the team for misbehaviour. McCoy goes to Scott’s aid. Meanwhile, Jean is trying out for the javelin when the voices bombard her again. She sends javelins and shot puts flying. Scott catches Jean in his arms when she collapses over in tears. Fatigued, she passes out.
Scott immediately brings Jean back to the Institute. Xavier instructs him to bring Jean to set Jean on the examination table of the Med Lab. Equipment is sent flying within the lab. Xavier orders Scott out of the lab for his own safety. Scott has to be dragged out by Logan. Xavier attempts to communicate with Jean telepathically, but Jean’s mind is too confused and cluttered with thoughts, and the impact throws Xavier out of her mind, and with her TK, destroys the med lab. Scott is flustered, and the team quickly piece together a plan: Getting Rogue to drain some of Jean’s power and get her to focus on Scott.
There is total chaos in the Med Lab as the team tries to get Rogue near enough Jean to make contact. Rogue barely accomplishes her task and is flung away. Scott catches Rogue, who becomes a medium for Scott and Jean to communicate.
Scott: “Jean! It’s Scott! Listen to my voice! Focus on it!”
Jean: “Scott?! Where are you?”
Scott: “Jean?” (Turns to Rogue.)
Jean: “Help me Scott!”
Scott: “I will Jean. Just focus on me.”
Jean: “I...I can’t. I’m losing you.”
Scott: “No! Don’t tell me what you can’t do. I know you better than anyone has, or ever will. Come on, you can do this.”
Jean/Rogue: “Scott?”
With her powers under control, the Med Lab returns to a state of calmness. Jean collapses on the table and opens her eyes. Scott runs to her side.
Later in the day, Scott finds Rogue to thank her for her selflessness in saving Jean. He then finds Jean out in the gardens on a bench, and brings her a bouquet of roses (from Duncan). He hands her the crushed card from Duncan as well. Scott and Jean talk about the recent events, and Jean’s glad she didn’t remember most of it. The two fall into a comfortable truce. As Scott lounges on the bench, Jean turns to leave.
Jean: “You know, that’s what I like about you Scott. You know me better than anyone has, or ever will.”