The school semester was over, but there was still plenty of work for the staff to come in a couple of times while the students enjoyed their vacation. Non-teaching staff in particular, like Gemma, had plenty to do since they were also heavily involved in the residency traits of the school. From there, Nate just had to keep a careful eye on the Counselor's schedule and show up at her office on a day when she would come in and have less work to focus on.

Okay, so maybe Nate was planning out the meeting a bit too much like a heist, but he did not want to leave anything to chance that he did not have to. As it stood, he was taking quite a risk with his plan.

Gemma was one of the de facto heads of the school. Additionally, Gemma Taylor was one of very few people who at one point heard the name Stephen Graves. It was a topic the two had never discussed after that incident, but it was finally time.

Nate approached the wood door of the office and knocked. "Excuse me Gemma, are you around?" She was; he made sure of that, but he had to ask anyway.

>>"Excuse me Gemma, are you around?"

Gemma looked up at the knock on her door. Counseling season was over with exams and stuff done, but she still had a lot of paperwork to do, to keep the Mansion running and the bills paid. Just because they seemed to have an unlimited source of money did not mean they could be careless with housekeeping.

"Sure, Nate, come in" she called, setting the files down and reaching for the mug of tea, half colled down on the desk. She wondered what the young teacher wanted. They had not had a lot of chance to talk for the past weeks.

Nate entered the room and took a seat across from Miss Taylor. Now that he was right there taking one of the top five greatest risks in his life, he was realizing he had no idea how he was supposed to go about starting the dialogue.

So as a stalling tactic, he would open with small talk. "Feels like we haven't really had a chat in a while." The kid incident being the last one-on-one talk they actually shared. "You're looking fantastic as always. How goes wedding planning with Jorge?"

Jorge was a great guy, which was difficult for Nate to say about most cops. They shared a bizarre RPG-themed adventure where the rogue in no way, shape, or form overstepped his boundaries or annoyed the veteran detective. "Hope he's doing well; haven't seen him in a while." It was quite possible that was Jorge's intent.

>>"Feels like we haven't really had a chat in a while. You're looking fantastic as always. How goes wedding planning with Jorge?"

"Trying our best to make some time for it" Gemma chuckled. Wedding plans had been developing slowly with everything else Jorge and her had to deal with in and outside the school.

>>"Hope he's doing well; haven't seen him in a while."

"He has been busy with all that's happening in the city" she nodded. Being a mutant just got harder in the past weeks, and Jorge with the rest of MRC was right in the middle of it. Still, he was also part of the X-men, so he showed up at the school whenever he could.

"How have you been, Nathan?" she asked. He was right about them not having a chat since the child incident, and she did like the young teacher, he was polite and easy to talk to. And of the few who actually stuck around the school for a while.

>> "He has been busy with all that's happening in the city"

"I figured as much. God bless him." With the turbulent state of New York City and the tension between the mutant and human parties, there were few jobs more stressful and more dangerous than that of an MRC Detective.

>> "How have you been, Nathan?"

There was no point in avoiding the reason he was in her office anyway, so he sighed and found some place to start. "I've been... fine. Just... finally feeling like my roots are setting here." With everything that happened in the first year or so in New York, the Mansion was becoming a safe place for him, and as much of a home as he could remember having.

"And that's why I want to get things off my chest." No turning back from this point on, to be sure. "I'm sure you have not forgotten meeting me as a kid. When I was Stephen." His own birthname still felt foreign on his lips.

>> "I've been... fine. Just... finally feeling like my roots are setting here... And that's why I want to get things off my chest. I'm sure you have not forgotten meeting me as a kid. When I was Stephen."

Gemma nodded, allowing him time to organize his thoughts. She did remember the meeting, although the details were still confusing. The entire thing with people randomly turning into children was confusing, and left a lot of open files at the MRC office. Then again, what didn't.

"I remember." she said; the sentence hung in the air open. She was going to listen to whatever he had to say, and exactly as much as he wanted to say. That was how counseling worked.

Gemma did nothing but affirm the memory, but he was not expecting much more than that. She had yet to bring it up before this, so he had to believe she was willing to give him the chance to explain when he was ready.

"Stephen Graves was the name I was born with. It's... still my legal name, actually." It was not like Nate ever took the time to go through any paperwork between North Carolina and New York.

"Nathaniel Holloway is an alias I made up since being in the city." Not even his only one actually, considering the few early encounters he had as Andrew Burrows. "I've been using fake names for years, and in that time I've been a thief. And a forger. And a conman."

Nate's eyes were focused tightly on Gemma, but her phone was still within his vision. "And if you're going to call the MRC, I'd love a minute or two to plead my case first."

>>"Stephen Graves was the name I was born with. It's... still my legal name, actually. Nathaniel Holloway is an alias I made up since being in the city. I've been using fake names for years, and in that time I've been a thief. And a forger. And a conman."

Gemma's face was unreadable as she heard the confession. She did not expect that. There are many reasony why a man may change his name, and although Gemma was not naive enough to not consider the more shady ones, she had known the young teacher for quite a while.
She was shocked.

>>"And if you're going to call the MRC, I'd love a minute or two to plead my case first."

It must have taken a lot of courage for him to come to her. Everyone in the Mansion knew that she was on good terms with MRC. Heck, she was dating MRC. She wondered why he decided to tell her anyway, and why now.

"Go on."

>> "Go on."

It was tough to get a read on Gemma as she was stonewalling him, playing her reactions close to the chest. She was not yet reaching for her phone and she was not pulling out a can of pepper spray, so the only thing he could do was continue.

"It's been... well, a pretty different year for me. I'm not used to having connections and roots. With the school, and with a real relationship, for a while at least, I've been living a life I almost lost."

Nate sighed, feeling the pressure of his situation and the demand to speak wisely. "I've been on the straight and narrow, and I've been happy for the first time in a long time. I wanted to be honest here; this place does good work teaching mutants how to live the right way, and part of that means being truthful about who you are and who you have been." He was pretty sure he understood the mission statement.

"I feel like I have more to offer these kids than I have been."

>>"It's been... well, a pretty different year for me. I'm not used to having connections and roots. With the school, and with a real relationship, for a while at least, I've been living a life I almost lost."

Gemma listened carefully. She was willing to give Nate the benefit of the doubt after his initial confession, but that did not mean he was off the hook. Her first repsonsibility was to the children in the school.

>>"I've been on the straight and narrow, and I've been happy for the first time in a long time. I wanted to be honest here; this place does good work teaching mutants how to live the right way, and part of that means being truthful about who you are and who you have been."

That was also true. It was not like everyone in the school had a snow white past. That happened to be the rare case, actually.

>>"I feel like I have more to offer these kids than I have been."

She nodded slowly as he paused in his speech. He was obviously waiting for an answer, or at least a reaction. Gemma considered her thoughts for a moment before she spoke.

"I appreciate that you came forward with this." she said finally "You are a good teacher, and the person I came to know is a trustworthy man... but I have to tell you, you caught me off guard here a little bit. I am responsible for everyone's safety and education in this school, so you have to understand that I can't just let this slide, even if I want to. It needs more... talk, before any decision is made. If you are willing to talk more about it."

>> "I appreciate that you came forward with this. You are a good teacher, and the person I came to know is a trustworthy man... but I have to tell you, you caught me off guard here a little bit. I am responsible for everyone's safety and education in this school, so you have to understand that I can't just let this slide, even if I want to."

It was not as though he was expecting to slide out of the situation without any repercussions, but that was certainly the dream. Nate's real desire was to avoid actually getting himself into a jail cell. Anything less than that was peachy keen in his book, so he felt like he was keeping his goals set low enough.

>> "It needs more... talk, before any decision is made. If you are willing to talk more about it."

It was certainly a start. "Of course I am. I love talking. Heck, that's like, half of being a conman." A pause. "Alright, probably a bad time for jokes. I'm pretty nervous here." A reasonable reaction when coming forward with a nearly two decade-long rap sheet.

>>"Of course I am. I love talking. Heck, that's like, half of being a conman... Alright, probably a bad time for jokes. I'm pretty nervous here."

Gemma smirked. The guy was definitely not all what she thought he was. She wondered how much of his previous behavior had been pretense, and how much was honest. She wondered if he himself knew.

"So... what exactly did you do as a conman?"

It was probably a colorful history. Gemma knew enough about counseling a school rules to know what to look for. Even at Xavier's, that was a safe haven for all kinds of mutants, she could not allow anyone to be around the children if they had a history of violent crimes. For example.

"You have to know that I have contacts at the MRC, but I'd better hear it from you. All of it."

>> "So... what exactly did you do as a conman? You have to know that I have contacts at the MRC, but I'd better hear it from you. All of it."

Nate was comforted by the counselor's smirk, but he was not naive enough to accept that as a sign of safety. "I'm not sure if I should be offended by you implying that I've been caught." To his knowledge, the sum of his crimes were still covered in question marks. He was not some comic criminal who left behind calling cards or clues. Still, probably best to tone down the hubris. "Aaand joking again, of course."

Nate surveyed the scope of his record in his mind. "When I was a kid on the street, it was mostly running numbers and information to and from older people. Just to keep myself fed. Then it was card tricks and pickpocketing. Not proud of that, but it was better than starving." He was a young teenager, and he had a a strict "look out for yourself" philosophy.

"When I got older and more talented, it was art and forgery, and when I was looking for a payday, corporate stuff. I was getting to the point where I was less worried about survival, so I could pick and choose to steal from those who could afford it." Plenty of companies had shady business practices, making them great targets both morally and with the knowledge that they would be less likely to report suspicious activity.

"So it was a lot of art and a lot of sneaking and acting. But nothing violent and nothing that didn't fit a code of sorts. I had no interest in taking from people who were worse off than me." He was by no means Robin Hood, but he was not some thug bully.

"I'd be lying if I didn't say some of it wasn't because of the rush, but these days? This place provides all of the rush my health can handle." An adrenaline junkie would seldom be bored at the Mansion.

>> "I'm not sure if I should be offended by you implying that I've been caught... Aaand joking again, of course."

Well, he was quick, she had to give him that. Possibly one of the qualities that made him a con man. Gemma did not know much about con crime, but she imagined it would be easier for a man with high social skills.

>>"When I was a kid on the street, it was mostly running numbers and information to and from older people. Just to keep myself fed. Then it was card tricks and pickpocketing. Not proud of that, but it was better than starving."

He was a mutant. A bad childhood and a dark past were not at all surprising. If anything, Gemma was surprised that he pulled through without becoming something much worse than a con man. Then again, her threshold for bad had been set by Aura, so it might have been slightly off.

>>"When I got older and more talented, it was art and forgery, and when I was looking for a payday, corporate stuff. I was getting to the point where I was less worried about survival, so I could pick and choose to steal from those who could afford it."

That was... something. Once again Gemma was sure it still fell well into the real of crime, but having a moral code did make things look a little better. She liked to think she could read people well, and Nate/Steve had never seemed like a man without limits.

>>"So it was a lot of art and a lot of sneaking and acting. But nothing violent and nothing that didn't fit a code of sorts. I had no interest in taking from people who were worse off than me... I'd be lying if I didn't say some of it wasn't because of the rush, but these days? This place provides all of the rush my health can handle."

"No kidding." Gemma smirked. Leave it to a con man to end up at a school full of mutant teenagers for kicks. It was sometimes more kicks that Gemma could handle. Sometimes.

"So... with all that in mind. I realize that it can't be solely your decision, but I am inclined to ask you anyway. What would you like to do from now on?"

>> "No kidding. So... with all that in mind. I realize that it can't be solely your decision, but I am inclined to ask you anyway. What would you like to do from now on?"

It was a question Nate was ready for and he had an answer, but the tricky part was finding out if Gemma would get on board with him. "Well... first, I plan on keeping on with this name. It's the name the students know me as, and for all intents and purposes, it's my name now." Stephen Graves was no teacher.

That did not mean he did not have lessons worth teaching. "Among the classes taught here, we offer the kids combat. Obviously a reason is self-defense, but then there's the other reason: the X-Men.

"Being able to fight is important, but so is talking a way out of trouble. Or sneak out of trouble. Or knowing the X-Men," he could not help but smirk the tiniest bit, "Sneaking into it. I want to teach a class-- a new one. Not sure of the course title yet, but I've been mulling around 'Subtlety and Subterfuge.'" He wondered what she would think of the name, especially with such a close nod to covert tactics and spy work.

"And... I almost hate to say this, but that isn't the most daring request I've come up with." He pulled his glasses away from his eyes to clean them on his sleeve. "There's one other thing..." The big thing.