Columbia University

10:00 AM
Columbia University, New York, NY

It is a cold rainy morning in New York City as Jean Grey has just finished one of her morning classes at Columbia University.  Dressed in her favorite pair of jeans and a loose fitting sweatshirt, Jean holds her textbook close to her chest with both arms as she bundles up for the walk across campus back to her dorm room.  Finally Jean felt free in this time in college.  She was happy in a way with the parting ways of the X-Men.  No more fighting, No more stress, and hopefully no more drama about becoming a crazy fire bird entity that might destroy the world.  Apart from a few 'Hi how have you been?' texts between random X-Men, her only real contact with ANY mutants was with her boyfriend Hank McCoy, the Beast.  He lived across the city with Bobby & Bobby's older self and between classes and his work, there wasn't a lot of physical hanging to be had, but lots of texting and telepathic banter whenever Jean felt like stretching the old brain muscle.

Originally having a team of all boys swooning over her... well besides Bobby, was way too overwhelming.  But as the telepathy came in to play and Jean was able to listen to the thoughts of the boys around her, it was easy to fall head over heals for Hank.  Now having these totally healthy feelings for a boy who reciprocates and not having to worry about COMBAT over these eight months, Jean has grown to feel like a new person and enrolled herself into Columbia where she currently studies on her first semester.  

She was making her way across the courtyard towards her dorm building when she saw her roomate Abby, standing at the buildings exterior door with a big smile on her face.  "Hey Jean!  How are you?!"  She said as Abby leaned in to hug Jean, who took the hug with a cringe.  Abby was always too touchy feely for her taste.  "Hey Ab, why are you so EXTRA gleeful this morning?"  Jean asked, brushing some wet and windswept red hair from her face as they walked inside and starting making their way up the stairs to their third floor room.  "Well, I know that you had lost most of your family and that you didn't really like to talk about family.... BUUUUTTTTT, You didn't tell me that you had some visiting!"  She said as Jean's eyes grew large as she stopped on the stairs and felt her heart racing.  "What are you talking about Abby?"  Jean said with legit worry in her voice.  "Oh stop being a drama queen Jeannie!"  Abby said as she took Jean by the elbow to get her moving up the stairs again.  "Your aunt and uncle!  I don't know why you never mentioned them!  They are SO nice!  And by the way... Interracial couples are SO CUTE."  Jean raised an eyebrow and tried to play along.  "Uh yea, they sure are... Um, do you mind giving me a few minutes?"  Abby already caught the hint and she gave a thumbs up and went down the hallway to the public lobby room as Jean made her way to her dorm's door.

Jean had no idea what to expect as her eyes began glowing with pink psionic energy as she reached out and opened her door to find two of the senior X-Men who stayed behind at the Jean Grey School... Storm and Colossus.  Storm, Ororo Munroe the leader of the X-Men was wearing a tight fitting sweater and a shawl wrapping her head to cover the very noticeable white mohawk of hers.  Next to Storm stood the six foot six inch bearded russian, Colossus, Piotr Rasputin standing in his human form, wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

Letting out a sigh, Jean closed the door behind her as telekinetically, her textbook floated out of her hands and in to her bookcase.  "Aunt and Uncle?  Really?  You're lucky that Abby is so gullable."  Jean said as she stood with her hands in her pockets looking up at the two older mutants who looked at eachother with a smirk.  "What exactly do you want?  Showing up in a very public college isn't the smartest thing you've ever done."  

Ororo's face went stern as she looked down at the shorter Jean.  "Piotr and I are putting the X-Men back together.  You are the first person we came to see.  It's time you come home.  We can give you all of your college courses from the Jean Grey School."  Jean frowned as she looked at the ground.  "I don't know why I asked, as soon as I saw your face, I heard your thoughts scream it out to me.  And, I don't want to go.  I'm happy being normal."  Jean said, having a hard time to make eye contact.

"Whether you want to admit it or not Jean, you are not normal.  You are a mutant.  Omega level at that.  You must come, train.  You have no right to be selfish and sit around at college, not working on your powers.  You could hurt many people if you go unchecked for extended periods of time.  You need to be an adult."  Piotr said as he ran his hand over his large beard, speaking in a strict tone.  He is well aware with how to deal with troubled teen's at this point, having years of experience with Illyana.  "Yeah, train to take out people like Cyclops?  His image hasn't left either of your thoughts."  Jean spoke out with annoyance.  "If you're going to read our minds.  Go all the way inside Jean.  Our intentions are clear."  Ororo said as she stepped forward, allowing Jean to touch her forehead with her right hand as the past eight months came rushing to the forefront of Storm's thoughts.  Jean could see mutants all around the world being hunted and killed.  She could see that there was no intention to kill or do anything morally wrong against Cyclops.  He was just a focal point of their thoughts since he stopped the Terrigen Bomb from going off and becoming a celebrity.  

Contemplating for a moment, Jean stepped forward and reached out her arms hugging both Storm and Colossus.  "Let's go home."  Ororo and Piotr made eye contact and smiled as they hugged her back.  "Good girl.  Pack your things, we've got a lot more to meet with."  Ororo said as her and Piotr let Jean start to round up her belongings and return back to the X-Men.