[A/N]: New week, new grind! Let's set our goal at 200 Power Stones for the next bonus chapter. Let's make it happen! đź’Ş
Now focusing on his real reason for being here, Jay tried scanning the crowd for Domino, but the party had gotten more crowded as the night wore on. People were moving around constantly, forming new conversation groups, heading to the bar, stepping out onto different balconies for air. It was like trying to find someone in a shifting maze.
 Then Scott Summers appeared beside him like he'd been waiting all night.
"Jay, can we talk? It's about Jean."
Jay glanced around at all the heavy conversations from tonight. "Man, everyone's picking tonight for the serious stuff, huh?"
"This is different. Please."
Something in Scott's tone made Jay stop his search for Domino.
They found Jean sitting alone in a quieter corner, her hands resting on her stomach. Both of them had that hollow-eyed look of people who'd been losing sleep for weeks.
"It's the baby," Jean said without beating around the bush. "We're scared something's wrong."
Scott sat down heavily. "Jean being a clone, the Phoenix energy still in her system and our combined genetics. We don't know what we're dealing with."
Jay could hear the fear underneath Scott's controlled tone. "You want me to take a look?"
"Would you?" Jean's voice was small. "We've been driving ourselves crazy with what-ifs."
Jay reached out with Sage's DNA Perception and his Healing Aura, focusing carefully on the life growing inside her. The scan took several minutes as he sorted through the complex readings.
"Kid's fine," he said, and watched the tension drain from both their faces like water from a broken dam. "Healthy even. But he's already showing telepathic activity, as you may know. Strong stuff, too, considering what you're both packing in the genetics department."
Jean's hand went to her stomach. "I can feel it, but how strong?"
"Strong enough that delivery's going to be rough on everyone involved. The trauma of leaving the womb, the pain of birth, and an untrained telepathic baby is going to broadcast all of that. You'll need serious dampeners and containment protocols, or every person in a fifty-mile radius is going to experience the agony of born but amplified."
Scott rubbed his forehead. "Of course it's complicated."
"Speaking of complicated," Jay said, "any luck tracking down Sinister? Or even Sublime for that matter?"
"They're completely off the grid," Scott said grimly. "No trace or leads, we have nothing."
Jay's face got serious. "Scott, you need to understand something. A baby with Summers and Grey DNA? That's Sinister's holy grail. He's been trying to create the perfect mutant for decades, and your kid might be exactly what he's looking for."
The blood drained from Jean's face.
"We were hoping..." Jean started, then stopped, looking at Scott.
"Would you deliver the baby?" Scott asked quietly. "Your power suppression could keep things stable, and if Sinister shows up, you'd be our best line of defence."
Jay hesitated. Something in his gut told him the timing for the delivery was going to be terrible. "I can't promise I'll be available. Things have been getting complicated lately."
Scott was quiet for a long moment, then suddenly dropped to his knees right there in the middle of the party. Several people turned to stare.
"Scott, what are you doing?" Jay hissed, embarrassed.
"I've been wrong about you. From the beginning." Scott's voice was thick with emotion. "I called you a liar, a manipulator. I accused you of using us when all you were doing was trying to do what was best for the Morlocks. I let my pride and my fear turn me into the kind of person I swore I'd never be."
Jay tried to pull him up, but Scott stayed down.
"I've watched you risk your life for Ben, seen you take hits meant for us, and I still treated you like the enemy. My unborn son might owe his life to you, and I've done nothing but show you suspicion and hostility." Scott's voice cracked. "I'm asking you to forgive me. Not as Cyclops to whoever you are, but as one man to another."
The sincerity in Scott's voice hit Jay like a physical blow. Around them, the party had gone quiet, people pretending not to watch this intensely personal moment.
"Get up," Jay said softly, helping Scott to his feet. "You're making me sound like some kind of saint here when I'm really not. I can't guarantee I'll be there when you need me, but I'll try. Get Hank to work out the medical protocols based on what I've told you, then call me when you have a plan."
Scott gripped Jay's hand. "Thank you."
Jay watched as Scott walked away, noting how the man's shoulders seemed lighter somehow. Around them, other partygoers had witnessed the exchange with varying degrees of interest.
Some looked moved by Scott's display of humility, others seemed uncomfortable with such raw emotion on display.
Sue Richards approached Jay as Scott rejoined Jean. "That was brave of him," she said quietly. "Scott doesn't apologize easily. His pride usually gets in the way."
"Yeah, well, becoming a father changes a man's priorities," Jay replied, still watching Scott comfort Jean across the room.
Sue smiled softly, her hand moving instinctively to her own belly. "It certainly does."
Jay nodded and headed back into the crowd, still scanning for white skin and a familiar smirk, but now carrying the weight of another promise he might not be able to keep.
As he came out, trying to look for Domino again, the countdown to New Year began echoing across the balcony.
The energy in the room shifted instantly. Conversations paused, people began moving toward the windows and balconies for the best view of Times Square, couples found each other in the crowd.
His heart hammered against his ribs as he pushed through the crowd, scanning desperately for that distinctive white and black dress.
"TEN! NINE! EIGHT!"
Panic started creeping in. Not just about missing the countdown, but about missing her. After everything tonight - the reconciliation, the emotional conversations, the feeling of finally belonging somewhere again - the thought of spending New Year's alone felt unbearable.
"SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!"
And then, like luck itself responding to his desperation, familiar fingers grab his shoulder, spinning him around with that same urgency she'd always had. Like she was afraid of missing her chance.
Domino stood there, chest heaving like she'd been running through the crowd looking for him too. Her usually perfect composure was completely shot.
"I've been looking everywhere for you," she breathed, her voice rough.
"FOUR! THREE! TWO!"
For a split second, they both hesitated. The weight of their history, the hurt between them, the way she'd walked away when things got complicated. But then Domino's mismatched eyes met his, and he could see everything she couldn't say written there. The regret, the longing, the fear of losing him again.
"Screw it," she whispered, and launched herself at him just as he reached for her.
"ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
Their lips crashed together with months of pent-up emotion, desperate and hungry and a little bit angry. It wasn't the sweet reunion kiss from movies. This was raw, messy, full of everything they'd been too stubborn or scared to say.
She tasted like champagne and something uniquely her, something that made his chest tighten with want and relief and a dozen other emotions he couldn't name.
Fireworks exploded overhead in cascades of silver and gold, but neither of them noticed. The crowd's cheers faded to nothing. There was only this moment, only her pressed against him like she belonged there, only the way her breath hitched when he deepened the kiss like he was trying to pour three months of missing her into it.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Domino kept her eyes closed for a long moment, her forehead pressed against his.
"Happy New Year, Jay," she whispered, her voice rough with emotion.
"Happy New Year, Dom."
As another cascade of fireworks painted the sky in gold and crimson, she pulled him back down to her, and the world exploded into light and color and the perfect promise of new beginnings.
[A/N]: This chapter was heavy to write. Getting the emotions right took a lot out of me, but with it, we've finally tied up the loose ends Doom left behind.
I want to know your favourite moment. Was it Ben's speech, Scott's apology, Johnny's confession, or the New Year's kiss with Domino? Let me know in the comments.