Emma Frost #17

Issue Date: 
January 2005
Story Title: 
Bloom Part 5: Better Days
Staff: 

Karl Bollers & Carlo Pagulayan (Writers), Dennis Chrisostomo (Inks) Transparency Digital (Colors), Virtual Calligraphy’s Rus Wooton (Letterer), Greg Horn (Cover Artist), Stephanie Moore & Sean Ryan (Assistant Editors), Mike Marts (Editor), Joe Quesada (Editor in Chief), Dan Buckley (Publisher)

Brief Description: 

Emma confronts Ian regarding his relationship with Christie. She tries to discover if Ian still has feelings for her and this encounter ends in a passionate kiss between them.
The next morning, Astrid informs her that Max was kicked out of the University for his attack on Emma. Back in the dorm room, Christie confronts Emma about Ian. The two girls decide they can no longer be room mates. Astrid agrees to switch rooms with Christie and she moves in with Emma. Of course, this switch was all Emma’s idea according to Astrid. During a telepathic conversation in the afternoon Astrid plants the first seed of doubt in Emma’s mind by saying that she could have won Ian over utilizing her unique mutant abilities. No matter what Emma does the rest of the day she can’t seem to shake this thought.
That night, while walking through Central Park with Ian, Emma learns he has broken up with Christie. Suddenly, they are held up at gunpoint by a gang member. Emma does use her abilities to take control of the gang member. In the middle of the robbery the gang member turns his gun over to Ian for safekeeping, takes off his clothes, and happily walks back into the thick foliage of Central Park. While Ian is puzzling over this turn of events, his cell phone rings with Christie’s number showing on caller ID. He quickly agrees to meet with her in his office back on campus in thirty minutes because she convinces him it’s an emergency. Ian arrives at his office on Campus only to be threatened by Christie. Christie claims she will go to the administrator about his improper relationships with students if he does not break up with Emma.
Ian gets angry and starts to strangle Christie. Christie is able to fight him off and run out of his office and down the hall. She does not look back as he calls her name frantically. Around the corner, hidden from their view, is Astrid, listening to this whole scene.

Full Summary: 

Empire State University, the Dorm Room:

Ian gives Emma a shocked looked and stutters “What?” in reply to her very forward question. Emma repeats her question telling him that she really does want to know if he is romantically involved with Christie. Ian lowers his head and looks at the floor as he tells Emma that they have only been seeing each other for two weeks. Emma silently probes his mind with her telepathy only to discover that he has told her the truth.
Ian hesitantly asks Emma if Christie has told her anything about their involvement. Emma assures him that Christie did not say anything but that she somehow just knew. Ian asks her if this news bothers her. Emma does not reply right away. Ian tells Emma that he really had no idea that she still had feelings for him. He explains that he thought it was just a high school crush and she had definitely gotten over it by now. Emma thinks silently to herself that is was a high school crush at first, but then it turned into something much more than that to her.
Emma takes a chance and asks Ian if he stills has feelings for her. Ian looks her straight in the eyes and denies that he ever felt that way toward her. Emma, frustrated, reminds Ian that he is no longer her teacher and asks him to just admit it. Ian tells her that it was wrong of him to have any feelings at all for her as she was a minor but it did seem to him like they were on the same wavelength and she was unlike any woman he had ever known. Emma approaches Ian, places her hand on his shoulder, reminds him that she is a grown-up now, and asks him if this situation still feels wrong. Ian responds by grabbing her and kissing her and she lets him.

Washington’s Square Park. The following Morning:

Emma and Astrid are conversing via their telepathy while taking their morning jog through the park. Emma tells Astrid that she kissed Ian and he actually kissed her back. Emma also tells Astrid that Ian has always had feelings for her and Christie was really no competition. She thinks he was dating Christie as an unconscious way to get her attention. Astrid accuses her of being very “full of herself”. Emma states that she is only telling the truth as it is.
Astrid tells Emma that she is glad she is with Ian after all they have been through to be together. Astrid says she is glad that she will not have to listen to Emma be angry about Christy and Ian. Emma reminds her she will still have to listen of tales of her and Ian. Astrid says she won’t mind as long as Emma is in a good mood, especially after what happened on her date night with Max.
Emma asks Astrid if she knows what happened t Max after that night. Astrid tells Emma that he was kicked out of the University because of the attack and she is glad to see him go. Emma confides to Astrid that she has no idea what happened to Max’s personality. She says he changed after she told him she wanted to take the relationship slower and that just made him very angry for some reason.
Astrid tells Emma that Max probably thought of her as just a trophy that he deserved to win and then he got angry when he lost the contest. She assures Emma that it is common for athletes to think that way about women they want. Emma tells Astrid that she did try to control his mind to get herself out of the situation and even with pushing her abilities to their limit she still failed.
Astrid tells her not to worry as she is still new at using her talents and she probably could not concentrate properly while the situation was happing to her. Astrid further assures Emma that she would not have been able to do any better in the same situation. Emma suddenly asks Astrid if she meant what she said when she accused Emma of being full of herself. Astrid tells her to take it as a compliment and follow her or they will be late for class.

Later, the Dorm Room:

Emma enters, sees Christie sitting on her bed, and says hi in casual conversation. Immediately, she picks up Christies thoughts of calling her a backstabbing tramp. Emma realizes that somehow Christie knows everything about her and Ian. Still, she asks Christie what is bugging her. Christie tells her not to act like she does not know what is wrong. Christie stand, faces Emma and looks her squarely in the eyes. She tells Emma that Ian has told her everything. She asks Emma how she could do such a thing. Emma inquires as to what she has done. Christie shouts and point blankly accuses Emma of stealing her boyfriend. Emma politely reminds Christie that she never told her that Ian and Christie were dating. Emma also reminds her room mate that she did ask her over and over again and got the same response each time. Christie tells Emma that her relationship with Ian is none of her business. Emma says the same back to her.
The two girls stand in the middle of the dorm room and glare unhappily at each other for many minutes. Finally, Christie breaks the silence by telling Emma that she can’t share a room with her anymore and wants to know what they are going to do about it.

Astrid shows up at the door to the dorm room with her arms full of boxes of her stuff. Telepathically she tells Emma she hopes she is not a “neat freak”. Emma assures her that is not the case as she helps Astrid get settled in the room. Astrid congratulates Emma on the idea of a room switch between her and Christie. Emma tells Astrid she appreciates her doing this as everyone will be much happier. Astrid tells Emma that they are more than mutants, they are like sisters. Emma tells Astrid that the situation with Christie had become to awful for words. She accuses Christie of being resentful that Ian picked her and tells Astrid she should have heard the things Christie said. Astrid asks Emma if she can really blame Christie for feeling that way and reminds Emma that it is possible her mutant abilities helped sway Ian in his decision. Emma laughs at that thought and tells Astrid that would be unthinkable. Astrid reminds her that it was just a theory and nothing more. Emma tells her that is was a very highly speculative theory at that.

E.S.U Swim Class:

Emma is doing laps in the pool and finds her mind wandering back to Astrid’s comment. She assures herself that Ian’s love for her is the real thing

E.S.U. Cafeteria:

Emma reminds herself that she seems to be very weak in utilizing her powers of the mind to control anything.

E.S.U. Library:

Emma is working on a paper in the library when her mind wanders once again and she realizes that she doubts herself. What if she had used her mutant abilities to sway Ian to see her side?

Central Part - A Week Later:

Emma and Ian are walking arm in arm in the cool night air. Emma asks him why he decided to break up with Christie. Ian tells her that he could not conceive of himself dating the two girls at the same time. She asks Ian if he felt like it was a conscious decision. Ian laughs and tells her that he was brainwashed by space aliens.
He is the middle of asking Emma about her strange line of questioning when a gang member holding a gun shows himself from the foliage at the side of the path. Emma tells Ian about the gun in a shaking voice. Ian offers the gang member money. The punk says he will take the wallet and tells Ian to be quick about it. Emma is shocked that Ian would give up his money so quickly. Ian reminds her that the kid holding the gun is very serious.

Emma looks the kid in the eye and reminds herself that she is also very serious. Seconds later, the kid puts the gun down as Ian hands him the wallet and tells Ian that won’t be necessary. The kid gives the gun to Ian, takes of his clothes and laughingly walks calmly into the park in his underwear. Meanwhile, Emma is trying to stifle her laughter but Ian sees her before she can get a handle on herself. Ian asks Emma if the situation was odd or if he just missed something. Emma replies with a simple yes but his cell phone rings before she can become too detailed on what actually occurred.
The call is from Christie and Ian answers it. He tells Christie he will be there in thirty minutes and ignores Emma’s glare at him as she is standing at his side. After he hangs up she asks him where he is going. He tells her that Christie says something has come up and can’t wait. He apologizes to Emma and tells her he will see back at campus. Silently Emma thinks a sarcastic “see you” as he leaves her there in the park alone. Emma looks up at the full moon is disbelief and loneliness.

Empire State University, Ian’s Office:

Ian knocks lightly on the door and enters. He asks Christie what all the emergency is. Christie tells him that he has broken her heart. He reminds her that they only dated for two weeks. She reminds him that he still hurt her. Ian attempts to apologize but Christie interrupts him. She tells him that she is going to report him and Emma to the school administration if he does not break up with her. Ian asks her not to make such a threat. Christie only repeats her threat. Ian calls her a hypocrite and tells her that it won’t stop them from being together.
Christie tells him to think it over as she will give him until tomorrow. Ian gets the strangest look on her face and tells her has thought it over and adds the phrase “luv’ onto the end of his sentence. Ian reaches his arms out and grabs Christie by the neck and begins to choke her. As Christie is strangling, he asks her if she can’t live with his decision?

Christie fights back by kicking him and wins her freedom. As she stands there rubbing her neck, he tells her that he does not know what made him do that. Christie, however, is now frightened and in fear of her life. She says she will definitely mention this to the school administrator. As Christie flees from his office, Ian frantically attempts to call her back.

In the hallway, peaking around a corner, taking in the whole scene is Astrid Bloom. Silently, Astrid tells herself that everything is going according to her plan.

Characters Involved: 

Emma Frost
Astrid Bloom
Christine McDermott
Ian Kendall
Other people of the city out enjoying the morning in the park
Gang member in Central Park holding gun

Story Notes: 

Ian Kendall first appeared in Issue #1 when Emma attended the snow Valley School for Girls.

Astrid Bloom introduced herself in Emma Frost #14.

Issue Information: 
Written By: