What was present now past

[BENNU]

Jessie sat on a stone wall on the outskirts of the grounds listening to the water of a stream flow by. It was a peaceful moment for what been a long an turbulent time in the fiery young Phoenix's life. She had fulfilled part of her reason for being created in the first place and that was to protect. With outside forces at play it had brought her mother at direct odds with Kari which had been brought to the very edge of destroying everything but Jessie was the one to bring the balance. It had been a huge mental undertaking but something that was in her DNA and something she was meant to do.

She had helped bring the balance back to the universe but it left her almost a shadow of her former self. Her lover and friend Ewan had been there to help Jessie along but in the aftermath she felt so isolated. She had barely spoken to her sisters or her other mother Emma who had been dealing in her own way with the aftermath of the past six months. She hadn't turned her back on her daughter but the White Queen dealt with things the way she knew best. Madelyne Pryor had also been there to help her daughter as she needed it but had wisely chosen to keep her distance especially with Jean's subsequent rebirth and return.

The peace Jessie was feeling even if it was only brief was something she desperately needed. 

[Phoenix]

Jean Grey, no longer calling herself Summers, had been having her own conversations with Emma and Scott about restarting the school, but it seemed Logan was the one having the most luck, for once, in bending Scott's ear about the need to give the students some sense of stability after what Kurt called "der ewige sturm" or "the everlasting storm."

While the mutant world knew one day Jean would be back, no one had bet on the cabal that had been pulling the strings to get mutant and mystic goddesses, for lack of a better word, to come to blows on a battlefield of their choosing as they tried to restart all creation in their own image.

The only thing that had stopped what could have been Armageddon was Jessie, and Jean thanked heaven she had been there to step in and avert disaster.

"We are all going to have a lot of work to do if we hope to pull this off," Jean said as she walked up behind Jessie. "But we would have nothing to pull off if it had not been for you," she said as she sat down next to her daughter. "Have you seen the plans Hank has for this place? They look like something out of a Ray Bradbury novel."

 

[BENNU]

A smile formed on Jessie's face as she felt the presence of her mother walking up behind her. Jessie always felt at ease when her mother was around even when times were at their worst. The two were connected far beyond their relationship as mother and daughter. "We do have a long path left to walk mother but I do feel like better things are just over the hill."

She leaned over and gave her mother a hug. "I've seen parts of the plans and I think it will look amazing when its all done."She responded to Jean's question. "How are things progressing with the rest of the staff?"

[Phoenix]

"That is going to be more work than actually fixing the building again," Jean replied as she looked around at what was left of the mansion. It was still in very bad shape after the last attack that sent the X-Men to San Francisco. "Some of them aren't happy with the growing mix of mystics among the mutants."

The "800 pound gorilla" in the conversation was the fact that Emma, more often than not, was the one pushing for the mystics, aside from Magik and Pixie, to have their own home far, far away from the X-Men.  Jean did not want to get Jessie in the middle of that mess with Emma, but she feared it might be unavoidable.

"But I'm hoping time will sort it all out. I know a few people want to stay in San Francisco, and I'm sure we all will be going back and forth as needed anyway. Bobby wants to come back east, and if Logan comes out here, Kurt will as well. I know Ewan will go anywhere you want to go, so what were you considering, Jessie?"

[James "Jamie" Madrox]

Jamie and his dupes were busy cleaning and helping with some of the rebuilding, duplicates were scattered everywhere as Jamie himself stood with two other duplicates surveying the landscape. He mindlessly traced the "M" tattoo on his face as he began to lose himself in thought about all that transpired. His attention was drawn by the two scarlet reds further out which sketched a smile across his face, then began walking toward the two. The two dupes standing with Jamie looked at him, then further passed him to see Jessie and Jean. Jamie raised a hand waving the two off, "You two take over for a bit, need to go see some special ladies."

The two dupes shook their heads smirking "Yeah yeah, sure you just want to get out of actually working."

Jamie stuffed his hands in his pockets nearing Jean and Jessie, his coat fluttering about behind him as he looked up "Jean, Jess.. how you two ladies doing. Didn't know you two made it back, place isnt quite up to par yet."

Jamie without taking his hands out of his pockets took a jump from the ground, taking a step on the wall then pushed himself up to the top. He looked across the manor grounds then back toward Jean and Jessica

[Phoenix]

"Jamie," Jean said with a smile as she reached over to hug Multiple Man. "It is great to see your smiling face again. I've been trying to make the rounds since I got back..."

Jean's voice trailed off as she thought about all that had happened in the last six months since she returned to this plane of existence. There were so many old friends she had not seen yet, and Jamie was one of them. She looked at the M tattoo over his eye and winced a bit inside. That was something she had missed when she was in the White Hot Room. So many changes. So many deaths. So much pain...

But then Jean thought about the happier moments she likely had missed as well. Birthdays. Night's out at Harry's. Weddings.

Time never stood still around the X-Men.

"What have you been doing since I exited stage left, Jamie?" Phoenix asked as she referenced an old Snagglepuss cartoon line. "I think someone mentioned detective work, or am I wrong about that?" 

[BENNU]

"Mother I wouldn't worry too much about the Emma situation I have been preparing myself for quite some time after what happened I might have to be the voice of reason. After all whether she likes it or not I am as much apart of the mystical world as I am mutant." She responded as she thought about her mothers question on where she would go.

"Honestly I have not thought that far ahead. My attitude is wherever family is that is where Ill be....Me and Ewan still need to discuss some things out." She finished as she saw Jamie walking up to the two of them.

"It's good to see you Jamie!" Jessie responded with a smile as she turned her head towards him. Any warm faces were a welcome.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it Jamie the scenery suits us just fine for the moment." She added

[Phoenix]

OOC: RL is biting James a bit, so will work around that a tad...K

IC:

"Is Ewan going to be at that wedding in San Francisco? I can't keep all the extended MacFeorais family doings straight. People used to joke about the Grey and Summers families being huge, but I think we all take second place now," Jean said as she grabbed Jessie's hand. "I'm sure you and Ewan will be able to figure out whatever needs to be addressed."

"Jamie!" Rahne Sinclair shouted from one of the low stone walls on the other side of the building area. "Those things you ordered from Salem Center arrived!"

"That has to be a good sign," Jean said as she continued to sit with Jessie as Jamie walked off. "And I'm hoping we have many, many more soon. I'm wondering, though, how this will all work out? I have no idea which team members will live where. With Charles gone, things are so unsettled."

Jean closed her eyes for a moment to see if she could focus a bit more on the extended area around the campus. She knew SHIELD was likely hovering on the edges of everything now. "Jessie, do you think we have to worry about SHIELD coming back here and poking their noses in things at the school?  I met Maria Hill and Phil Coulson, but they were both extremely hard to read. And I don't just mean telepathically. They remind me way too much of Nick Fury."

[BENNU]

"I would be very surprised if he wasn't mom. Ewan is big about family."She responded as she let out a laugh at Jean's comment about Kari's family. "I guess it's not too surprising then that I found love within that family."She smiled but her smile quickly disappeared as Jean mentioned Shield.

"I hope they don't mother I really don't.....I understand their concern after what happened but they must find that balance between protection and paranoia. I've seen too many events in my many times to know that paranoia can lead to catastrophic events. " She said looking at Jean her eyes locking with her mothers. "I know you know more then anyone mother but what happened pushed me right to the very edge. I know I exist for a reason but I nearly fell into the abyss along with you and Kari."

[Phoenix]

Jean hung her head as she thought back to the day everything almost blew up. Jessie had saved not only the X-Men but the entire world with her common sense, compassion and, truth be told, a few well-placed shots from her own cosmic blasts. "The whole world could have gone into the abyss that day, Jessie. What bothers me about it is that we have not been able to find the ones who set the whole thing in motion. Scott thinks it's some Phoenix-related death cult, and Hank said signs pointed toward some mystic group trying to push Kari over the edge. Warren is sending out feelers to see if Hellfire might have been involved. Whoever set it in motion, I want them found and dealt with."

As Phoenix continued to watch the dupes and other workmen that Jamie was supervising, she could not help but think back to others who could have had a hand in this.  For once she knew it wasn't Maddie, and Jean was quite glad about that. "Has anyone heard from Selene in my long absence, Jessie?"

[BENNU]

"Actually mother Selene was very interested in me before you came back to us....It was Maddie who pulled me back from Selene's dark grasp"She responded as she thought back to her time with Maddie. "The truth is Maddie is as much apart of my life as anyone....I think she just chooses to keep her distance for obvious reasons.....But she was there when it counted."

She thought back to what had happened and it still made her angry. "I hope we do find who was responsible....You know me mother I don't condone death but then again there are things much worse than death and they do deserve it." Jessie's anger was starting to get the best of her and as much as she tried she couldn't get her head back on straight. There was an immense amount of magic around them. It had been like that for as long as she could remember but it was now at levels they hadn't seen before. 

She kept thinking back to Emma and how to handle the situation when it seemed like the universe had other plans. The phoenix started to form around her and she lifted just off the ground. An immense amount of power radiated around her and on her right another fiery form started to take shape. Slowly but surely taking the form of a woman. As the fire started to dim the new beings features looked strikingly familiar. She had blonde hair with a fiery tint. Her shapely body covered by an outfit that looked very much like Emma during her hellfire club days except there was a Phoenix symbol on her chest. As the Phoenix faded from around both of them the new being looked at the two redheads. "Jessie? Jean?"

"Claire?" Jessie said as she still felt her connection with the Frost line but it was more of a connection to the now physically appearing Claire Frost. 

[Phoenix]

Jean felt the backlash from what was going on with Jessie, and she was sure anyone else with a Phoenix felt it as well. Power of that magnitude was not easy to ignore, and the Earth shook in response to Claire's arrival. "Claire?" Jean asked as she tried to figure out how this young woman fit into Jessie's life and the expanding Grey/Summers/Frost family tree as well. "Jessie, are you OK?"

As she looked around, Jean could see Jamie and Rahne start to come over. {{I've got this, guys,}} she telepathically to her fellow X-Men. {{ Thanks for handling the repairs. And before you ask, I have no idea what's going on}}

"Do you need me to get you both to the med bay back in San Francisco?" Jean asked as she watched both Jessie and Claire. She did not want to use any form of telepathy on them in case it might hurt them.

   

[BENNU]

Jessie looked at her mother with an exhausted smile. "I don't know about Claire but I am fine." She said as she looked over at Claire who looked at her hands and over her whole body. "Claire was one of the people that formed me when I was created. I guess you could say she's a half sister? Her reality ceased to exist and her spirit was one of many that helped form me."

She said looking over at Claire. "How are you doing Claire?" She said as Claire looked up at her. "Honestly Jessie I don't know....This is all so alien to me....I feel so overwhelmed right now."

[Phoenix]

As Jean stood and looked at Claire and Jessie, a voice seemed to be whispering to her from the center of the universe, and the words it spoke made her very uneasy. If Jean had been alone, she would have flown off to address this uninvited commentary, but she locked it at the back of her mind and chose to call the one person who needed to be there.  {{Emma, I know you are in Manhattan, and I know Megan is with you. I need you in Westchester. Now}}

"Jessie, I'm getting Emma here as quickly as possible" Jean said as a pink shimmer formed near the three women. Pixie had opened a portal for Emma, and now Megan was left holding the bags from Emma's trip to Tory Birch, Celine, Prada and Missoni. "Emma, thank you for getting here so quickly," Jean said as she nodded to the White Queen.

"I'm just going to sit down way, way over here," Megan said as she moved Emma's wares to the side and sat on a tree stump. "I'll pop everyone back to wherever you need later," she added as she opened a bottle of Ethos water she had gotten at Starbucks while she waited for Emma to try on another pair of Manolos.

"What is going on?" Emma asked as she first looked to Jean and then Jessie. "And who might you be?" as she finally turned to Claire. "Your taste in clothing is not tame. Are we related? And Jean, why are you trying to buffer my psionics? That is rude."

"I'm not," Jean replied. "At least not actively."


 

 

[Firechild]

"That is me."Jessie responded as she looked at Emma. "I felt it was important for her to introduce herself. Remember when I told you I was created from the Grey, Summers and Frost family lines....Well I guess you could say she is me."

Jessie then shut up and let the young Blonde say what she needed to. "She's right mother.....My memory is foggy but she is correct. My name is Claire Summers Frost....I am your daughter. My spirit is in part what created Jessie who I guess is kinda my sister......I am a manifestation of Jessie's emotions. It may be not the right time to say this but she felt like it was going to be difficult to speak to you about recent events and well I guess the universe felt that rather then her doing it it was time your flesh and blood got to do it instead.....Her inner turmoil resurrected me."

She said as a flicker of flame could be seen in her eyes but her body language was warm and loving.