Scott: “There were times I was lost, and you found me.”
Jean: “There were days which were heavy, and you lightened my heart.”
Scott: “Though it all, since the day when we met, there was you for me, and me for you. That hasn’t changed. That will never change.”
***
"Through pain and passion, through sorrow and hope. Through death and through life, Whatever tomorrow brings, we will face it together." ~the wedding of Scott and Jean, X-Men #30
***
Jean (to Elaine): "You're one-in-a-million, you know that?"
Elaine: "Actually, I was thinking the same thing about you."
Jean (to Rachel): "But I have to tell you, if today's wedding means that there's even the slightest chance -- That tomorrow I'll have Rachel Summers for a daughter -- Then that makes this [wedding] twice as much of a blessing."
The mansion and it's surroundings is warm and sunny despite being in the middle of winter, thanks to Storm. Meanwhile, in another part of the mansion, the men (Alex, Hank, Warren and Bobby) are trying to figure out the bow tie problem for Scott.
Hank: "Bobby, we seem to have encountered an opponent far more dangerous than Magneto -- More devious than Mr Sinister -- More dastardly than --"
Warren: "Hank, give it a rest and give it to me. It's a bow tie, for crying out loud! How hard could it be to figure out?"
Alex: "Gee, I don't know, Warren Worthington, society-boy -- Didn't you always used to just wear clip-ons?"
Scott: "I'm doomed. I swear, Alex, squaring off against any villain you pick is less nerve-wracking than this morning has been!"
Alex: "Big brother, contrary to what Bobby says, this is the first day of the rest of your life!"
It is at this point in time when Charles Xavier enters the room and easily handles the bow tie problem. He hands it to Scott, as well as his blessings. All leave the room together. While Xavier switches from his hover chair to a normal wheelchair for the benefit of guests who do not know. In the process, he drops a note from Wolverine. Rachel picks it up for him.
All the guests are seated. Scott and Alex take their places at the altar as groom and best man respectively. The crowd is still restless, until Lila Ceney begins the wedding march. Maid of honour Storm makes her way down the aisle and takes her place at the altar. Jean is then accompanied by John Grey, her father, down the aisle.
Xavier: "As Jean walks down the aisle with her father, the one shining thought beaming from Scott is as simple as it is truthful..."She is the most beautiful woman in the world.""
Before the couple take their vows, the minister ties both their wrists with a sash, serving as "a symbol of the martimonial ties. The sacred pact [they] make before God, an exlamation of love, which will serve [them] through good times and bad". The wedding vows, by the way were written by Scott and Jean themselves.
Scott: "There were times I was lost, and you found me."
Jean: "There were days which were heavy, and you lightened my heart."
Scott: "Though it all, since the day when we met, there was you for me, and me for you. That hasn't changed. That will never change."
Jean: "Times have been good, and times have been good, and times have been bad, and still, our love has endured and truimphed -- I take Scott Summers to be my lawfully wedded husband."
Scott: "I take Jean Grey to be my lawfully wedded wife."
Both: "Through pain and passion, through sorrow and hope, though death and through life. No matter what tomorrow may bring, we will face it together."
Xavier: "And what a kiss we see indeed! The hoorays start with Jubilee; the applause, I realize, much to my surprise, starts with me."
Scott and Jean take to the floor with the first dance to U2's "One". Then Jean turns to dance with her father.
Outside, Sabertooth watches, maybe with ill intent. He is attacked on the back by none other than Wolverine.
Inside, the guests mingle at the wedding reception. Friends, lovers, even enemies Cable and Valerie Cooper. During the bouquet tossing, Rogue catches it with the aid of her powers. Then there's the garter tossing for the men, which Gambit lays claim on it to put it on Rogue. There's cake smashing by the bride as well. At the end of the day when most of the guest, except close family and friends, have left, Jean shares the last dance with Xavier with the aid of her telekinesis.
Jean (to Xavier): "My mother taught me to save the last dance for the man who brought you to the ball. And that man, dear Charles...would by you."
Before leaving for his honeymoon, Scott pays his respects to Xavier in his study. He voices how grateful he is to Xavier for his "guidance" and "courage...for the sense of purpose [Xavier's] given [him]" and that he loves him.
After Scott has left, Xavier goes through his mail. He comes across Wolverine' note which just states "Dear Chuck, Lighten up. Yer Ol' Pal, Logan". Suddenly, all the tension and melancoly is dissipated as Xavier's laughter echoes through the house.
***
Scott Summers returns after taking a brief leave of absence to clear his mind regarding recent events, his inflatutaion with Psylocke (see X-Men #20) and his strained relationship with Jean Grey. He visited his grandparents in Alaska, and told them the truth about his ex-wife Madelyne (see X-Factor #38) and his son Nathan who was sent into the future to save him from the techno-organic virus (see X-Factor #68).
At Westchester County Airport, Jean is there to greet him. Jean is lost in her thoughts as she wonders around the airport. She worries about how recent events have impacted her relationship with Scott, and how in this time of "further tragedy" will affect them.
But when the two meet face to face, there are no words as the couple lock lips in a deep kiss.
Scott: "I'm sorry, Jean -- For everything -- For not having seen how I was hurting you for leaving."
Jean: "Shhh -- Scott -- It's all right -- We don't have to talk about it --"
Scott: "No -- Jean, please. It's not all right, and we do have to talk about it! I want to talk about it! No psychic rapport, no mutant gimmicks, but good, old-fashioned communication."
Jean: "Okay, good -- Great -- So I'll drive and you'll talk and I'll listen -- And we'll find each other again, Scott. But you have to promise me that no matter what happens in the future -- no matter how painful -- how difficult -- We face it together."
Scott: "That's a promise, Ms. Grey. I'm never leaving you again."
Back at the mansion, Scott tells Xavier about his run in with Mr Sinister during his visit at his grandparents', and what he knows about the deadly Legacy Virus that has claimed the lives of mutants including that of Colossus' sister, Illyana.
Scott and Jean retire to their shared quarters for the night.
Jean: "So what now, Scott? The dream we've held inside our hearts for so long keeps skipping a beat. Everything around us seems to be falling apart. Where does that leave the two of us?"
Scott: "We come together, Jean. Like I promised at the airport. More than ever before -- I need your help to make my way through the tough times. Lord knows we've had enough of them."
Jean: "We'll protect each other, Slim. We'll make it through the coldest of nights, m'love...The darkest days...Together -- No one on earth will ever take that from us -- No one..."
***
Scott and Jean return from their bizarre honeymoon in the future, but that's not all that's install for them.
Scott and Jean were returned to their present timeline by Mother Askani just two hours from when they were taken from their bodies and transplanted to host bodies in the future to raise Scott's son, Nathan. When they awoke, they discovered themselves on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarrier. Nick Fury explains that their unconscious bodies were found on St. Barts beach where they were supposed to have spent their honeymoon.
Meanwhile, Fury wants to enlist the help of Scott and Jean to stop an immediate crisis. A local mutant Sunset Grace (Grace Lavreaux, 59, widowed) has caused an "inter-dimensional fissure" which is growing exponentially and would soon "swallow the whole blasted planet" in a matter of hours. Jean requests to seek help from the other X-Men, but Fury tells them they haven't got the time to do so, and that "Sunset Grace asked for both of [them] to help her".
The three trek through the jungle to the mobile operations base S.H.I.E.L.D. had set up. Fury informs Scott and Jean that S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent agents into the rift, but had lost them. Before losing contact though, he heard Grace telling the agents "only Charles can help [her]".
As the couple approach the rift, Jean hears Grace telepathically calling out to her. Jean is simultaneously pulled into the rift. Without a second thought, Scott recklessly jumps into the void after Jean. They find the missing agents, and discover a "world" in the void. The reunited couple embrace.
Jean: "The very air in here feels...charged somehow -- with so much sadness, such an overwhelming loneliness."
They return the missing agents to the real world. Jean puts them in a telekinetic bubble and while Scott uses his powers to blast them through the rift, he thinks back to the years they spent in the future where Scott had complete control of his powers in his host body. Jean knows he misses that terribly, but Scott tells her "[he'll] be fine". She probes deeper, and he tells her it "hurts" in his gut and he needs to learn how to "get through it all again" with Jean's help. On the other hand, with Jean regaining with the "mental connections opened up again by [her] telepathic powers", she felt whole again, except that Grace's "anguish is tearing through [her] heart".
They finally find Grace. The latter tells them all this happened because of them. Grace: "But you children in a way, you made me open up a part of myself...I thought I'd closed under lock and key." Grace had encountered Scott and Jean on the beach collecting shells during the latter's honeymoon when the latter's "souls were being wrenched from [their] bodies." Grace: "I could feel it, tearing my own heart apart -- And in that instant, as both of youu were thinking you were going to die -- All your confusion...all your fear...was focused on the one thought that you were being robbed of a life together -- and that thought...so full of regret and love...opened up feelings, emotions -- inside o' me --" Grace hadn't attempted to use her "gifts" in a long time till she couldn't use it anymore and thought it gone because she had become "so afraid" of it. She couldn't hold back her powers anymore and it opened up at the same spot she had last used them.
Grace's powers enabled her to open up a rift in time, which she dubbed "Neverneverland". But as she grew up, reality got in the way of fantasy. Marriage and children "have a way of taking from you, as much as they do of giving to you". When time took away her youth and innocence, Neverneverland disappeared. One fateful night, she and her family met with a car accident. Grace was flung out of the car, but her husband and son went over the cliff in the car. In a moment of desperation she summoned the rift and sent her loved ones to Neverneverland where "things like death couldn't happen". But Grace couldn't find her way back because she didn't believe in her make believe world anymore. She became a vegetable, and it took a young Charles Xavier to draw her back into the world, but she still couldn't find Neverneverland.
But it was Grace's guilt reflected in Scott and Jean's cause which triggered the former's powers. When Scott and Jean went to the future to raise Nathan, "it was a chance to give life -- and meaning to Nate -- To provide him with hope that his life has a greater purpose". Something that Grace couldn't do for her son and family. Jean urged Grace to look past the guilt, and find them in her heart. And as she did, her husband and son mysteriously appeared.
Jean: "Take them -- Let them back into your heart. Let them in as you let us out..."
And Grace closed the rift behind Scott and Jean as they left, choosing to remain with her family in Neverneverland. Jean later reveals to Scott that Grace's husband and son had indeed died in that accident, and Grace knew it.
Jean: "Grace didn't find Neverneverland, Scott, she made it. And when given the chance, she made reality suit her dreams, her hopes. She had her husband and son once more, just as she always hoped they would be. That's probably why the professor helped her block her powers."
Scott: "Who knows what kind of things a mutant that powerful, in the grips of a lifelong depression, may have accidentally done? But the life she's going to lead, Jean, inside that fantasy world --"
Jean: "--Is a life some people could only dream of, Scott...A chance to be safe, happy and whole with the family you love."
***
Captain Philip Summers is having a flashback. During World War I he was a fighter pilot assigned to take out the German fighter pilots. Despite having to fight in the war, Philip is still as passionate about flying and he will fly "until the day he dies".
While trekking in the Canadian Yukon wilderness, Adam comes across a burning plane that had crashed in the woods. He quickly rushes to the aid of the unconscious pilot, an old man. Adam barely gets the pilot to safety when the plane explodes.
Back in Westchester, New York, Hank finds Jean in a daze on the pier by the boathouse. Jean blames herself for not finding her sister, Sara in time before the Phalanx destroyed her. Just then, Jean senses that Scott has received some bad news through their psychic rapport. His grandmother had called to inform Scott that his grandfather, Philip Summers, is missing after he went flying. Scott packs hastily to rush up north to help look for his grandfather. Jean offers to tag along to help him look.
Jean: "I'm coming, too. I might be able to scan for Philip telepathically -- And I'll be able to help you, as well."
Scott: "Me?"
Jean: "When you found out that Mr Sinister had been surveiling your grandparents -- you tried to get them to move away from Alaska and closer to you. Their refusal has been eating at you ever since, hasn't it?"
Scott: "It's tough being married to a telepath, you know."
Jean: "It's tougher being a telepath married to such a painfully guarded man, you know."
Scott: "I guess that's why we work so well together."
Jean: "Scott...I know we'll find Philip -- And he'll be all right. He has to be."
Adam trudges through the snow with the old pilot on a makeshift gurney, trying to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. While taking a rest, the pilot awakens. He tells Adam his name is Philip Summers. Adam and Philip take shelter for the night and talk among themselves. Adam is envious that Philip has a family while he grew up "alone" and "outcast". Philip says that Adam reminded him a lot of his grandson, Scott. Adam is worried that Philip might not make it through the night.
In Israel's Negev Desert, David Haller wonders through the sand dunes in search of a man named Charles Xavier, his father. He is driven by visions to fulfill his "destiny".
In New Orleans, Bella Donna, daughter of the late leader of the Assasin's guild, rises up to the occassion to take her father's place. She seeks revenge, especially against Gambit.
Back in the wilderness, Adam tries to keep a weakening Philip warm. Philip senses that Adam is not from this world, that he is an alien. Philip asks Adam to show him "the star where [he] came from". Adam finds that Philip's pulse is weakening, and he makes one last attempt to save Philip's life, with his healing powers.
In the morning, a rescue chopper finds Philip and Adam. Philip is rushed to a hospital in Anchorage, Alaska. Two days later, Philip is recovering steadily, but has lost his eyesight. As Scott, Jean, Deborah (Scott's grandmother) and Mr Ridge (flew the rescue chopper), Jean telepathically picks up Adam's signature in Philip's ward. Adam wishes that Jean, as a telepath, would let Philip see the stars through his eyes and mind.
Scott comes up later to find Jean staring out the same window Adam had been a few moments ago before he simply vanished.
***