Title: Bent
Author: L. Burke

Bent

If I fall along the way
Pick me up and dust me off
And if I get to tired to make it
Be my breath so I can walk

“Scott?”  Ororo asked sticking her head in to Scott Summer’s bed room.
Scott Summers continued to pack, not bother to look up snapped, “Go away. 
I’m busy right now.  If you have any more questions about the X-men, I’ll
answer them before the funeral tomorrow.”
Storm sighed out loud, “So it’s true.  You’re leaving tomorrow after Jean’s
funeral?”
Scott stopped packing and for a moment Ororo saw the mask of command slip.
For a moment Ororo thought the man was going to break down.  “I can’t stay
here.  I can’t say here not after what’s happened.  Everywhere, every room,
I go in to all I can see is Jean’s face.  I have to get out of here.”
Ororo raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “Are you running away to deal
with this Scott, or are you running away so you won’t have to deal with it?”
Scott threw something in to his suitcase and turned to glare at her. 
“Both.  Neither.  You tell me.”
Storm stuck her chin up stubbornly and glared right back at him. “I think
your running away so you don’t have to deal with what happened.  You haven’t
said anything since we collected you from that singed blackened spot on the
moon.  She killed herself Scott.  She killed herself right in front of your
eyes and you haven’t said one word to anyone.”
Scott narrowed his eyes at her, “And what would you know about not running
away.  You’re still playing the part of Goddess.  You’re still holding
yourself up above the rest of us so you don’t have to deal with it either. 
Jean was your best friend, the sister you never had, and you haven’t said
one word either.  Don’t talk to me about not dealing with it.”
“I’m not the one that’s woke up screaming every night, for the last three
nights.”  Ororo fired back at him.
“No you’ve been too busy getting things ready for Kitty.  Why don’t you
just move her in to Jean’s old room Ro?”  Scott sneered.
Ororo set her jaw and the sky started darkening outside.  “You know Scott
you can be a worse bastard than Logan sometimes.  Don’t even think you’re
going to chase me off, Scott.  We are going to talk about this.”
“What would you like to hear about Ro?  Would you like to hear about the
last words she said to me before she made herself a smoldering pile of ash? 
How about what she looked like as it was happening?” Scott roared at her. 
Then suddenly the mask slipped completely, his face crumbled,  and his knees
gave out from under him.   Scott just fell to a heap in to the middle of his
floor.  There were tears rolling out from under his glasses.  “Oh, God Ro,
Why did she do it?  There was nothing I could have done to stop her.  Why
wouldn’t she let me try to help her?  I would have done anything.  Why
didn’t I see what Jean had planned, Ro?  Why did she think killing herself
was the only answer?”
Ororo ran up to him and gathered him in her arms.  She just held him to her
breast like a mother would a child.  Tears running down her own face, she
whispered, “I was her best friend and I didn’t see it coming either.”


If I need some other love
Give me more than I can stand
And when my smile gets old and faded
Wait around I’ll smile again

Scott heard her walk out on to the balcony.  “Would you mind some company,
Scott?”  He heard her ask.
Scott glanced in her direction and smirked.  Her back was to the light the
living room was casting off.  Even in the dim light she looked beautiful.
“Never say no to a beautiful woman, especially if she’s a friend.”
Ororo just smirked back for a moment.  “I have never been more proud of
you.  You said what was in our hearts, both here and at the garden.  I thing
for a moment you unnerved the Professor—You became the teacher and he, the
pupil.”
Scott felt a blush creep up in to his face, and he replied gruffly “Labels
again.  The Hell with ‘Em.  He was in need.  I helped him.  As he would me.”
  He felt Ororo kiss him on his check, and Scott felt his face get a little
redder.  Ororo snuggled close to him.  “That’s what it’s all about.  Really.
  Needing and caring for one another.”  Ororo snuggled a little closer and
Scott wrapped his arm around her as he continued, “And from that caring
comes love.  Which makes the world go ‘Round.”
He heard Ro sigh as she laid her head on his shoulder, “If only that were
so.”
Right then Scott turned around and faced the rest of the X-men that were
gathering out on the balcony.  Before anyone could make a smart comment,
Scott asked,  “Any one up for some ice cream?”
“Did you say ice cream?  I thought you said ice cream?”  Kitty asked.  “I
looked earlier.   We were all out.  Logan and Kurt ate the last of it.”
Kitty stated pouting.
Scott just raised any eyebrow at Kitty and asked, “Did they get the stuff
in the green Tupperware containers I marked ‘liver’?”
“It’s all mine!”  Kitty shouted at the top of her lungs.  With that she
bolted back indoors, running towards the kitchen.
“Don’t count on it, you pig!”  Illyana shouted after her, “Come on Peter!”
Illyana grabbed Peter’s arm and went running after Kitty.
“Port you there?”  Kurt asked Logan.
“You better or we won’t get any.”  Logan grumbled.  “Kitten can eat a
gallon of the stuff all by herself.”  With a ‘Bamf’, Kurt and Logan were
gone.
Shaking his head Xavier stated, “I should get in there, and make sure
everyone remembers how to share.”  Xavier rolled himself back in to the
house, leaving Scott and Ororo once again on the balcony alone.
Ororo just turned and looked at Scott for a moment.  “You are welcome to
stay up in my room tonight.  I could use the touch of a friend.  Every time
I close my eyes, I see myself back in that tube.  I could use someone to
drive off the nightmares.”
Scott was quite for a long time and just studied her.  Suddenly, Scott gave
her his impish half smile and asked, “If I go up there tonight, am I going
to find out the real reason men worshipped you as a Goddess?”
Ororo gave him a coy look back and said, “I suppose, you are just going to
have to find that out for yourself.”

This shouldn´t be so complicated
Just hold me then
Just hold me again.


Can you help? I’m bent.
I’m so scared that I’ll never
Get put back together.
You’re breaking me in.
And this is how we will end
With you and me bent

Scott Summer´s carefully tried to make it across the roof in the driving
rain.  Praying he didn´t slip and break his neck, before he reached her. 
´Damn you Forge.´  Scott thought bitterly.  What he was planning on doing to
that man, if he ever got his hands on him.  Scott was carefully trying to
make it out to the outcropping where Ororo was sitting with tears running
down her face.
"Ro?"  He asked quietly hoping that her sharper hearing could hear him over
the driving rain.
She didn´t look up.  "He asked me to marry him and leave the X-men.  I was
going to say yes.  Then Forge took it back and left with Raven."
Scott tried to keep his balance as a large gust of wind tried to blow him
off his feet.  He replied, "That´s his loss, Ro."
She looked at him then, tears running down her face.  Not even the driving
rain could hide them.  "He called me a broken little girl.  He said that´s
why I´ll never leave the X-men, because I´m so broken.  I´ll never grow up. 
Forge accused me of still being that scared broken little girl trapped under
the wreckage clutching to her mother´s body.  He´s right, I am still that
scared little girl even today."
Scott just looked at her, "He´s wrong.  You´re a beautiful courageous
woman, who has had the strength to survive through a very tough life.  A
woman I am very honored to call a close friend.  You´re not broken, you´re
strong and maybe Forge is scared of that."
Tears started running down Ororo´s face harder, "He didn´t understand that
the
X-men are my family.  They´re the only one I´ve ever known.  Asking me to
leave was a big decision for me.  I needed time to make it."
Scott just sighed, "Maddie never understood it either.  She wanted me to
curl up in my little corner of Alaska and forget that the rest of the world
existed.  I couldn´t do it.  I had too many friends, and family, still in
the middle of this fight.  I just couldn’t  forget about it.  That was the
one issue Maddie and I just couldn´t make our marriage work around.  The
reason you´re here Ro is not because you´re hiding.  The reason you´re here
is because you realized you couldn´t hide.  You were grown up enough to know
that the world is a whole lot bigger than your own little corner of Africa
or a Dallas penthouse.  You are grown up enough to realize what that happens
in one part of the world will eventually reach you.   No matter where you
hide. If Forge wanted you to go hide with him, maybe it´s better this way. 
Hiding is not in your nature, Ro.  That´s why you´re here.  That´s why you
make the tough calls.   That´s why you risk your life everyday for a world
that doesn´t appreciate it.  Not because you´re scared and broken."
  Ororo was quiet for a long time.  "All my dreams were so close Scott. 
All I ever wanted was a family of my own, a child of my own I to hold.  For
a moment I held that all in my hands, and then it was gone like a puff of
smoke."
Scott carefully made it to where she was sitting and sat down next to her. 
"I´ve been their Ro.  When I had to let Nathan go, I realized, no matter how
much I wanted it.  I was never meant to have a family of my own.  The X-men
will always be my family.   I´ve held that dream in my hand and watched it
turn to dust.  It´s never a easy thing to deal with, or to let go."
Ororo studied him for a moment; "Does it get any easier?"
Scott looked up in to the driving rain for a moment and replied. "No. I
wish I could say yes, but it never does. It never for a moment gets any
easier."


If I couldn´t sleep could you sleep?
Could you paint me better off?
Could you sympathize with my needs?
I know you think I need a lot.

It was good to be home, Ororo thought.  Two long years she had been gone. 
Two long years she had been gone searching for Destiny’s diaries.   It
seemed like forever.   Two long wasted years, that had lead to nothing but
the death of two of her teammates, and the diaries being destroyed.  Ororo
just sighed thinking of Elizabeth.  Betsy had destroyed them before she had
been killed.  Ororo didn’t even want to think about Remy. Remy’s death just
hurt too much; Remy had died saving her life.  For what she thought
bitterly, so I could fail at my mission?  She refused to let herself think
about it tonight.
Ororo crept up to the hanger quietly.  Charles had told her Logan and Scott
were in the hanger.  For some odd reason Ororo really needed to see their
faces tonight.  As she crepe up closer, she heard voices.  Ororo decided to
hang back and just listen to what was being said.
“You know Drake, that’s no way to talk to a lady.”  That was Emma Frost’s
voice.  What was Emma doing here at the mansion?
“You mean there’s a lady around here, Emma?”  Bobby’s Drakes voice fired
back.  “You better get her the hell out of here before she wrecks the rep
you’ve tried so hard to build around here.”
Ororo heard Logan laugh at that comment, “You know Drake.   You really are
a fire eating son of a bitch.”
“I’m the fire eater, I’m not the one that’s sleeping with Frost.”  Bobby
fired back.
Ororo heard Logan laugh again, and Emma reply, “You’re just jealous Drake,
because Logan is the only man good enough to smoke in my bedroom.”  Ororo
felt the shock slam in to her.  Emma and Logan together?  By the Goddess she
had been gone a long time.
Right then Logan’s voice announced, “It can’t be.”
“Can’t be what?”  She heard Scott asked.
“Sandalwood.  It’s Ro.  She’s back.”  Logan announced excitement mounting
in his voice.
Ororo walked out of the shadows, “I could never sneak up on you Logan.”
Logan was a blur as he raced towards her.  The next thing Ororo knew she
was in his arms getting spun around.  “Ro I haven’t been so happy to see
someone in my life.  How you been?”
Ororo felt a smile come across her face for a moment before the memory of
Remy’s and Elizabeth’s faces chased it off.  “Not as well as I hoped.”
Logan seemed to read her mind, put her down, and asked, “Who?”
Ororo sighed, “Remy and Betsy are both dead.  It’s been a rough couple of
years.”
Logan’s face went completely blank, “Jesus.  Did they at least take the
Bastards with them?”
Ororo gave him a sad look for a moment, “Yes, they did managed to do that.”
“I sorry to hear about Betsy and Remy, Ro, but we’re all happy your home.” 
With those words Scott walked out of the shadows.  He’s changed.   Ororo
thought.  The first thing she noticed was he was wearing black, not his
usually blue.  He’ looked slimmer too, like life had whittled all the softer
edges away from him and left Scott with a much harder edge.   Then Scott
asked, “How long are you staying?”
“The diaries were found, but my team was not able to retrieve them before
the diaries were destroyed.  We are home for good now.”
Scott took that information in, but nothing showed on his face.  “How many
effectives do you have?”
That’s Scott, Ororo thought amused, Always down to business.  “I have
three, right now.  Rogue, Hank, and Myself; Rogue’s going to need time.”
Scott nodded at her,  “Okay everyone that’s enough for tonight.  Ro, why
don’t you stay here, I’ll debrief you.  Bobby head up to the mansion and
inform Kurt we still haven’t got this bird flying yet.”  Ororo could tell
Scott was rolling his eyes behind his glasses.  “That elf needs to stop
crashing my birds.”
Logan smirked at Scott, “That’s never going to happen; Kurt’s going for the
record.  Hey Sam how long until you think this hunk of junk will be up and
flying?”
Sam Guthrie limped out of the shadows supporting him self with a cane.  “I
think it’s going to be another couple of days.”  With the hand not
supporting him with the cane, Sam handed Scott a part.  “This sucker is
blown.  It’s going to take a few days to fix it.  Nice to see you’re back
Miss Storm.”
Ororo just nodded to him.  “I’ll see about getting another part, Sam.”
Scott addressed him quietly.  Then he turned to everyone else in the hanger.
  “Why don’t you all call it a night everyone and we will all come back at
first light.”
“Speak for yourself Summers” Emma announced.  “I do not do manual labor,
much less mornings.”
  Scott, Ororo could tell was rolling his eyes behind his glasses again. 
“Thank you for informing me of that well known fact Emma.  That goes for
everyone else, time to quit for the night, Storm and I have a lot of
catching up to do.  Dismissed.”


I started out clean but I’m jaded
I’m just phoning it in
Just breaking the skin

Ororo waited till everyone had left to ask, “How is Jean doing?”  Scott’s
body stiffened for a moment and his face was an expressionless mask.  All he
replied was “Jean’s gone.”
Ororo just felt like someone had hit her in the stomach.  No by Goddess,
not Jean please. “Jean’s dead?”
Scott just shook.  “No, Jean left about three months after that disaster
with Magneto.  She blamed herself for Dazzler’s death.   Jean was tired of
the violence and the bloodshed.  She just couldn’t take it anymore.  She
wanted me to go with her and start a normal life.”
Ororo studied Scott for a moment, “Why didn’t you go with her?”
Scott gave her a bitter smirk for a moment.  “Besides the fact that Logan’s
and my profiles were broadcast on national T.V.?   My face was a little to
well known after that for me to move in to a nice quiet middle class
neighborhood.”  Scott’s face suddenly turned very serious. “You were gone,
there just wasn’t anyone I would trust to turn the X-men over to.  The X-men
needed me at the time.  Jean gave me the ‘the X-men or me’ ultimatum.  She
left, I didn’t, end of story.  I just got the divorce papers three weeks
ago.”
Ororo studied him for a moment, “Scott I’m sorry.”
Scott was very quiet for a moment, and then he shrugged.  “It’s as dead as
crow food now, spilt milk.  Jean’s getting her P.H.D, and dating a doctor
now, she’s happy.”  Scott suddenly got his bitter smirk back on his face. 
“I had my shot with Jean, Ro.  Apparently I missed it by a mile, but at
least I had my shot.  I’m not even bitter about it.”  Ororo raised an
eyebrow at him.  Scott scowled at her, “Okay maybe I’m a little bitter.  I’m
bitter on the whole marriage deal.  Two failed marriages, and even I finally
got the hint.  I think you summed it up best by saying it’s been a rough
couple of years.”
Ororo was quiet for a moment, “Is there a reason you wanted to know how
many effectives I brought home with me?”
Scott sighed, “You want the list?  You might not want too.”  Ororo nodded. 
Scott took a deep breath.  “Dazzler, Longshot, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Multiple
Man, Forge, and X-force are dead.”
“Forge” Ororo chocked out.
Scott nodded, “I’m sorry Ro.  I know you and Forge had a lot unsettled stuff
between you.  Anyway, Jean’s gone.  Sammy we pulled out of the rubble of the
government bunker of where X-force fought its last battle.  Sammy survived
it barely, but busted up his leg badly.  Sammy will never walk with out a
cane again.  Charles is running back and forth to Washington D.C.  Nathan
took off and no one knows if he’s alive or dead.   That leaves Logan, Bobby,
Warren, Emma, Kurt, Jubes, Hank and Myself.  That not a lot of bodies
considering the fact that right now, we’re fighting on two fronts and trying
to run a school here at the mansion.  The schools ranks are swelling bigger
every day.   Right now I need every person I can get.  Things have not been
going good for us Ro.  You have no idea how happy I am to see you’re home.”
Ororo nodded to him. “I’m happy to be home, Scott.  I’m going to head back
to the mansion.  I have two years worth of events to catch up on.  I’ll see
you in the morning and we’ll sit down and figure out how to tackle this
mess.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.”  Scott just shook his head, as he watched her
leave.  Then he looked down at his wedding ring.  He hadn’t taken the ring
off once in two years.  For two years he wore it as a reminder that some
dreams were not meant to be.  Scott, the day that Jean left him, realized he
wasn’t the marrying kind.  Scott had known at that moment he was never meant
to live a normal life, no matter how much he wished he could, or how much
Jean had tried to bully him in to it.  Jean would never realize exactly how
much he regretted how things turned out.
Now Ro was back.  Ro had no idea how much he had been thinking about her
lately.  Watching her retreating form head for the mansion.  Scott studied
the wedding ring on his finger.  As Scott studied the ring he realized that
maybe sometimes dreams don’t die; they just change.  For the first time in
two years, Scott Summers took the wedding band off his finger and slipped it
in his pocket.  Maybe it was time to see where this dream led.


Start bending me
It’s never enough
Till I feel all your pieces
Start bending me
Keep bending me until I’m completely broken in

Scott Summers snuggled a little closer to the warm body, sleeping next to
him.  He was looking up through the skylight up at the stars, thinking about
how the years go by.  He just lay there and wondered when to friends become
lovers and lovers became friends?  Ororo and he had been companions in arms
for years, siblings and friends later.  Later they had become co-leaders
together.  Later they became lovers.  They still fought like hell sometimes,
and neither of them liked to lose at anything.  The funny thing is he was
starting to enjoy the fights.  Ro kept him on his toes.  Scott smirked to
himself; he still hadn’t managed to beat her at handball yet.
What he felt for Ororo was not like what he had felt for Jean.  Jean and his
relationship had been a burning passion.  That burning passion of your first
real love, on the other hand, Ro was more like a safe harbor to drift in to,
when the world got too ugly to bear, or when the weight of command just
became too much.   Ro thought the same of him too.  He didn’t ask for any
commitment and neither did she.  They were both willing to just live in the
moment and they were both happy that way.  Was this love?  He wasn’t sure.
“What are you thinking about?”  Ororo asked sleepily, as she snuggled a
little closer.  Through the years Ororo had come to appreciate the
directions the man’s mind could drift when they were alone.
“Us.” Scott replied.  “I was just trying to figure out how we both got
here.”
“Don’t,” Ororo whispered in his ear.  “Life is too short and happiness to
fleeting to question what we are doing here.  The Goddess is kind enough to
send some happiness, and a few moments of peace our way, who are we to
question it.  You know as well as I do that happiness can be snatch away
from you in a moments notice.  Don’t question it.  Happiness could be gone
tomorrow.”
Scott just smirked at her, “Have you ever considered making a honest man
out of me?”
Ororo snorted disdainfully, “I will never understand what Christians find
so fascinating about a ceremony that has a woman promise to ‘love, honor and
obey’.  I find the whole concept ridiculous.  A man and a woman should
always be considered equals, why should the woman obey the husband?  Why
can’t the husband obey the wife?”
Scott chuckled, “That’s usually how it works out anyway.”
Ro gave him an indignant look, “That’s not the point.  If a man and a woman
love each other why do they need a silly ceremony to prove that?  Are vows
said in a Christian church any less binding than vows said in front of the
Goddess?  It’s the vows that a man and woman make to each other, the
commitments, are the important part.  Not where you say them or how.   Then
of course there is whole European concept of the woman giving up her last
name.  Why does she have to give up her identity?”  Scott smirked at her. 
Ororo rolled her eyes, “Like I said I find the entire European concept
ridiculous.”
Scott just pulled her a little closer.  Ro was right; happiness was just to
fleeting in this world to question it sometimes. “Your right, it’s the vows
that count, not where you might say them or how.”  Scott pulled her a little
closer and whispered his vows to her, looking up at the stars.  Looking up
at the stars, Ororo whispered her vows back.

This shouldn’t be so complicated
Just touch me and then
Just touch me again