Sam sighed as he walked towards the mansion gates. ‘Home sweet home’ thought Sam. But why wasn’t he thrilled to be home? Was it the fact that his life would be decided once he enters the mansion and is in front of his old teammates? Or was it because everyone would view him as an abusive drunk? Whatever it was it was preventing Sam from taking another step. Neena said she wanted him home right? So why was it so hard to enter. Sam stood outside the gates as several moments passed by, a voice ringed out in his head voicing their concern, ‘What’s the problem? She said they would decided if you still have a future here when you arrive, if you don’t go in you won’t have a future.’ Sam hated it when the ice golems were right. Sam still waited there until they spoke again, ‘why do we fall? So we can pick ourselves back up’ Sam frowned as he thought, ‘you got that from Batman didn’t you?’ Sam pushed open the gate and took a deep breath as he stepped forward into the courtyard.

Each step he took towards the big familiar doors ate at him more and more, he wanted to leave run away from this run away far away anywhere was better than here. Here he was nothing more than a drunk, or a criminal. So many years of trying to make amends for the past and in one night it was thrown away from one action, life seemed so cruel some times. Sam got to the front door and put his hand on the handle ready to open it but then decided against it. Two years, two long years he had been gone. This place will always be his home but right now it wasn’t for him to decide it was for everyone else to decide. He after all betrayed them for his own selfishness that lead to his incarceration.

Sam slowly let go of the handle that opens the front door and decided to knock instead. Sam took a few deep breaths ‘Okay, been two years, how awkward is this going to be?’ thought Sam as he waited for someone to answer the door.

Alice was off playing outside with a couple other kids. Yes, despite how over protective she could be regarding her daughter, Lee did sometimes let the six year old out of her sight.

Today had been one of those days. Tarin had had to teach, and Lee had needed to get a paper finished for her own class. But Alice would not settle down, so finally Lee had sent her daughter outside so she could actually get some work done. Now that she was finished, however, it was time to go searching; Alice had her own homework to do, which she'd hopefully be able to sit still long enough to do now that she'd worked off some of her energy.

Lee was just approaching the front door, planning on making a trip around the mansion as she looked for Alice, when she heard the knock. Lee frowned. Why was someone knocking? Didn't people normally just walk in or ring the bell, not knock?

The slight frown still on her face, Lee reached the door and pulled it open, only to have her frown be replaced a moment later by a surprised smile. "Sam?" She asked, the smile growing. Stepping through the now open door, Lee reached out and gave the man a hug. "Welcome home!"

"Welcome home!"

Sam tensed up as he felt the hug come in, “It’s good to be home.” Said Sam with a little hesitation in his voice. He didn’t move that much while Lee was hugging him the only attempt he gave to show his appreciation was putting one arm around Lee in a hug. The right hand remained at his side. After the hug Sam smiled a sad smile and asked, “How’s Al?” Sam had the pleasure of meeting Lee and Tarin’s kid once or twice but it had been two years since he had seen anyone except for Neena so he felt a little out the loop.

After a few minutes of Sam feeling extremely awkward, not about Lee giving him a hug but coming home, he still wasn’t sure if everyone would be as happy to see him as Lee was. “Mind if I come in?” normally he would just walk in but it had been two years since he had been home and the circumstances which got him in trouble might be warrant enough for Sam to be unwelcome at the house, they were after all a peaceful school how would it look if they housed a ex-convict.

Lee felt Sam tense in her embrace, returning her hug but not fully. Lee knew how that felt, being uncomfortable with being touched, tensing whenever someone else touched her. She'd gotten over it herself years earlier. Understood it, knew how it felt, but didn't know why Sam was reacting this way.

Pulling away from the hug, Lee cocked her head slightly as she looked at Sam. As he asked how 'Al' was doing. "Al?" Lee couldn't help but question as she wondered why he was looking so sad. Wasn't it a good thing that he was home now? Then it clicked. "You mean Alice?

"She's doing good," Lee continued, her smile growing as she spoke. "Aced her last two spelling tests." Yes, Lee was not only an over protective mother, she was also a very proud mother.

“Mind if I come in?”

"Not at all," Lee replied, stepping out of the doorway. "I was actually on my way to find Alice, though. She's got to get her math homework done."

Then Lee had an idea, and she grinned at Sam. "How 'bout you help me hunt her down, then we can catch up once I drag her back into the house. Unless, of course, a six-year-old is too much for you."

"You mean Alice?” "I was actually on my way to find Alice, though. She's got to get her math homework done." "How 'bout you help me hunt her down, then we can catch up once I drag her back into the house. Unless, of course, a six-year-old is too much for you."

Sam nodded, ”Right forgot you hate Al,” Sam laughed a little as his sad smile faded, “don’t think I ever called her Alice…” Sam made a mental note trying to remind himself to start calling her Alice not Al. Sam laughed a little harder as he turned from the mansion doors and looked out at the vast courtyard, “I think I can do that, been a while since I’ve been here…” Sam sighed as he put his hands on his head breathing in the fresh air holding back the water works, “a lot has changed hasn’t it?” Sam was successful in holding back the tears but his voice let out a small crack as he finished off the last sentence. Sam hid the crack with a confident laugh, “Hell, two years in prison I think I can help you find a little girl…”

Sam walked from the porch and waited for Lee to join him, “So you still doing that over protective mother thing?” Sam said as he turned his head with a smile. Sam had nothing against the over protective mother thing in fact he was happy for Alice that she had a mother. Sam looked back around scanning the courtyard again still not over the fact that he was the last one in his blood family. Sam swallowed the lump of pain and bottled it up for another time and place, one where he was alone.

Sam started to speak in a clear and his usual tone, “So have I missed anything major while I was locked up?” Sam kept pace with Lee figuring he’d let her lead the way figuring who better to find her daughter than the mother, not to mention it had been two long years since he had seen little Alice…

"Can you blame me for not liking the name?" Lee asked, glancing over at Sam as she spoke. Why was he looking so sad still? Shouldn't this be a good day, a happy day? He was finally back home. "You're using a boy's name for my daughter. If you're going to shorten it, could you do something like Ali? At least that still sounds feminine."

Then all Lee could do was shake her head at Sam. He thought two years in prison was enough to make him capable of hunting down a six-year-old to get her to do her homework? Ha!

But down the porch steps he went, and Lee followed him, giving Sam a slight glare. "What over protective thing?" Lee asked as she started walking. Yes, Lee knew she was more than a little over protective at times, but there were reasons for that, such as the whole miracle that was Alice herself. Lee definitely did not want anything to happen to her little girl, but it wasn't like she really overly sheltered Alice, and she was a very smart and fairly well socialized girl for her age. Lee was simply making sure that she was...safe.

Turning so they started to make their way around one side of the mansion, Lee shrugged slightly as she looked sideways at Sam. "Same old, same old," Lee started simply. "The mansion gets its haywire cases every year. Terrifying, though not so bad as if we were in the city. We've managed to luck out so far, thankfully.

"The usual gossip among the students," Lee continued, turning her eyes to scan the field for her daughter. "Who's dating, who broke up, who's powers went out of control when and around who. Since he's teaching, Tarin tends to hear more of that, though Alice is spending more time around some of the younger students, so we're hearing it from there, too. Neena's pushing, again, for me and Tarin to take a vacation. The usual sort of stuff going on mission-wise, I believe, but since we're not actually on the team, we don't actually officially hear about that."

"Can you blame me for not liking the name?"
"You're using a boy's name for my daughter. If you're going to shorten it, could you do something like Ali? At least that still sounds feminine."

Sam smiled as he followed Lee, “Ali it is but just a warning met it’s not as feminine as you think, met a few guys in the clink named Ali.” Sam let out a small laugh after saying the joke. ‘Lot of guys with girls names…’ thought Sam.

"Same old, same old," "The mansion gets its haywire cases every year. Terrifying, though not so bad as if we were in the city. We've managed to luck out so far, thankfully.”

Sam listened intently as she talked about the going ons of the mansion, “have you, Tarin, or Alice had an outbreak yet?” asked Sam as he had a flash back to his very brief episode of the haywire, luckily for him it was his ice powers that activated and luckily for him his golems did most of the Sam stopping. They really did come in handy when powers were at a loss.

"The usual gossip among the students," "Who's dating, who broke up, who's powers went out of control when and around who. Since he's teaching, Tarin tends to hear more of that, though Alice is spending more time around some of the younger students, so we're hearing it from there, too. Neena's pushing, again, for me and Tarin to take a vacation. The usual sort of stuff going on mission-wise, I believe, but since we're not actually on the team, we don't actually officially hear about that."

Sam nodded with a smile, “How’s Tarin and the teaching job? Still love it? And what about you?” Sam asked in curiosity, “anyone from the same old group here?” Sam hasn't seen anyone let alone heard from anyone other than Neena so the questions seemed to pour out. Sam let out a sigh and said, “sorry for all the questions, been a while and well, haven’t heard that much from anyone except Neena and well she’s not really the gossipy type with me…” Sam looked around and spotted a group of kids off in the distance and waited to see if Lee recognized anyone of them.

"Lee can be a guy's name too, you know Sam," Lee said, glancing over at the man beside her. "But the important part is that it is also a girl's name. Al, on the other hand..."

Lee's voice trailed off as she shook her head. And then Sam was asking if she, or Tarin, or god forbid Alice, had had an outbreak yet. "Thankfully, no," Lee said on a sigh, not looking at Sam as she spoke. "I know it's only a matter of time before we're exposed, before at least one of us gets infected, but I'm hoping it never happens."

Swallowing the lump in her throat that had suddenly appeared, trying to swallow the fear sitting in her chest, Lee listened as Sam continued speaking, asking even more questions. It really was only to be expected, Sam had been gone for quite a while.

"He's still enjoying it, though not quite so much when he has to do a class in the morning," Lee told Sam, though that really wasn't any kind of change; Tarin never really had been much of a fan of early mornings, at least not as long as she had known him. But really, Lee didn't understand how anyone could be a fan of early mornings.

"I should be set to be able to graduate in the spring," Lee continued, looking sideways at Sam with a smile. "Finally. It's only taken how many years now?"

Her expression sobered slightly when Sam commented that Neena hadn't really been all that gossipy when she had visited him over the last couple of years.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Lee said softly. "I just really didn't think I should be taking Alice there..."

Speaking of Alice, Lee caught sight of the dark blond curls of her daughter ahead and off by some trees. "Alice, come here please sweetie!" Lee called over.

"But mummy..." Lee heard the whine in her daughter's voice despite the distance between them. "We're in the middle of a game..."

"Alice Adele Brooks!" The use of the girl's middle name did the trick, and she reluctantly ran over. "Time to go do your math, Alice."

"After we finish?" Alice asked again, directing pleading eyes up at her mother. "Please mummy?"

"No Alice, math first, then you can come back and play."

(OOC: hope you don't mind me jumping in here. Anyways, for those who are too lazy to check my FP profile here *cough* CS *cough*, Iesland spent a few years at the mansion before he was kidnapped and went insane. You guys may or may not have met/become friends with him in that time, but I'll leave that up to you.)

Shiva had been walking through the countryside in a wandering, meandering, crooked and circular path that would have confused anyone looking at the footprints so thoroughly it probably wasn't even obvious that he was human. Or, close to human. He came to a stop, giggling, his bare toes wriggling happily in the dirt. Swinging his head around to look at his surroundings, his long beard and hair flapping with the movement, Shiva saw something a few yards away that elicited a small flicker of recognition within his mind. There were gates, with a wall around them, and beautiful grounds beyond. Something about that, and the mansion in the background, drove a small, nagging probe through the veil of madness that covered his mind, compelling him to check it out.

So, Shiva took of at a strange, loping, limping run, one that ran him into a tree in the first six steps. Shaking it off, he stopped and looked at the obstacle in his way, trying to decide the best way to continue on his chosen course. After a moment of contemplation, he smiled, clapped his top pair of hands, and grabbed onto the trunk of the tree with all four arms. With a slight strain, and a series of grunts, Shiva slowly pulled the small tree out by its roots, and threw it to the ground a couple yards away. He nodded, smiled, and continued on his way.

Soon enough, however, another obstacle presented itself: the wall. The though to climb it was not considered, so Shiva took slow, measured steps around the wall, giggling and snorting, looking for a place to cross. When he didn't find one, even after making his way to the side of the mansion, he grew frustrated. "Ggglhalahh!" he muttered darkly, and pulled himself over the wall. Once over, he didn't notice the two adults nor the children, as he was pressed with the sudden question of why there was a wall holding him in, and how could he escape? How had he gotten there?

"I should be set to be able to graduate in the spring," "Finally. It's only taken how many years now?"

Sam patted Lee on the shoulder and said, “That’s fantastic! You excited?” after Sam had to think about the answer to Lee’s question… ”Don’t want to upset you but I kind of forgot… last two years I was gone and the year and a half leading up to that…well I wasn’t in the right state of mind…” Sam thought that was a nice way of saying that he was either drunk or off in his own world.

"Yeah, sorry about that," "I just really didn't think I should be taking Alice there..."

Sam just nodded, “yeah I understand, prison isn’t really a place you want to show a kid,” he thought back to the kids who always seemed so sad whenever they were there. It was like there was a permanent cloud in the sky above the prison that sucked out all the joy in the kids face, the fact that they only saw there fathers once a month didn’t really help either.

"Alice, come here please sweetie!"

Sam smiled, “target sighted, wasn’t so tough…” said Sam as he watched the kids playing. A sad smile fell upon his face as he had a drop in the pit of his stomach as he realized that odds were he would not have a kid of his own… Sam loved kids but the whole father thing was a blur to Sam, it didn’t really help that he never knew his.

"But mummy..." We're in the middle of a game..."

Sam coughed when he heard her response, “So I take it she takes after you?” he said with a grin to show he was only joking with her.

"Alice Adele Brooks!"

Sam looked at Lee still surprised that she could sound so full of authority. He smiled as he had the feeling things were going to go Lee’s way after all that’s how it should be right? Daughter listening to mother… “Think she still remembers me?” asked Sam without actually thinking about what he just said.

"Well, I had already started taking classes before we came back from Texas, so that's at least 6 years," Lee said softly. In reality, she had forgotten just how long ago she had started with the classes, but what that comment really meant was that she knew it was before Alice was born, so she had to have been taking classes for at least the last 6 years.

"Ahh, but finding is only half the battle," Lee replied softly to Sam's comment. He really hadn't been around kids much, had he? That was not the end of Sam's commentary, though, and Lee shot Sam a small glare when he said that Alice must take after her, which faded into a smile at seeing his teasing grin. "Tarin seems to think so," Lee said softly as she watched her daughter running over to them. "He can be just as stubborn, though."

After Lee had laid the law down, she saw the pout starting on her daughter's face. And then there was a slight flash in her eyes, and Lee inwardly groaned; this girl was too smart for her age sometimes. The six-year-old was already schooling herself in the arts of diversion and subject-changing, at least when it came time to do homework.

"Who's that, mummy?"

"This is Sam," Lee said, giving her daughter a look that said 'I know what you're trying, and don't'. "He's an old friend. Now inside, Missy, and get your math stuff. If you don't, you won't be able to have lunch with Uncle Rupert after church on Sunday because you'll have to come home and do homework."

At that threat, Lee saw the look in Alice's eyes change; she adored her godfather, and didn't want to miss any time with him, especially if that time meant food. "We'll meet you in the lounge, ok sweetie?" Lee said. "And no doddling. If I have to come find you..."

Lee left it at that, the threat hanging, as she gently nudged Alice in the direction of the mansion.

"Who's that, mummy?"

Sam had his answer, which made senses seeing as she was only four when he last saw here. If she was anything like him the memory tended to fade as he got older the only memories he had of his childhood was that one day at the picnic before he kidnapped and went threw hell. Sam put on a smile and waved to Alice as he said, “Hey Ali!”

After Alice left Sam looked to Lee and asked, “So did you and Tarin finally join up with the team or are you guys just living and working here?” Sam had been a little curious to see if the team had new members or lost the old ones. As far as he could remember most of the old team had left only leaving a few behind Sam was once included in, but after the whole pissing on a federal building and assaulting an officer, Sam wasn’t sure that they would be cool about that or not.

Part of him wanted to know so he could ask her if she was thinking Sam still had a shot at being an X-man. Everybody deserved second chances right?

Lee had glanced over at Sam as she had introduced him to her daughter, had seen the look on his face. "Don't worry about it, Sam," Lee told him after Alice had gone on her way toward the house. "She was a lot younger the last time she saw you.

"And no, we still haven't joined," Lee said with a shake of her head as she stared back toward the mansion herself, though much slower than her daughter had just gone. "I am kept a little preoccupied most of the time, after all. So yeah, I just kind of live here, unless you consider occasionally cooking or watching some of the kids to be working here."

Lee shrugged slightly as she kept walking, then glanced sideways over at Sam. "So are you really home to stay now that you're back?" Lee finally asked after a few moments of silence.

After many futile attempts to walk through the wall that was trapping him inside this horrid place, Shiva turned a slow circle and moaned at his bad luck, at that strange cloud, at those people over there...


Wait!

People?

Maybe they could help Shiva find his way to the outside! Yes, that was it. So Shiva slowly ambled up to them. A tree bumped into him, she he kicked it, and then glared at it for several minutes, just to tell it that it can't go bumping into people. When he finally got to where the people where standing and talking, he saw that two of them were taller than the others, and headed their way, figuring that if they were taller they could climb higher in the trees so he could escape.

He went up to the woman, and said "Nggghaah, aaahggagghannha? Ghaaheeeeya!" and pointed to the ground, then a tree, then the kids, and then spun in a circle until he fell on the ground, with the world spinning around him. He then got up and tried to walk in a straight line, but ended up walking into another tree, and his butt hit ground again.

"So are you really home to stay now that you're back?"

Sam smiled as he heard the question looking up, “Yeah if I am still allowed here I don’t plan on leaving for very long.” He looked back to lee and said, “I did break the whole trust with my little stunt.” The words pained him to say it but he swallowed and said, “there’s a good chance I won’t be allowed back on the Team…” Sam was about to continue but then stopped.

"Nggghaah, aaahggagghannha? Ghaaheeeeya!"

Sam just looked at the four armed fellow and blinked not sure what to think, a ‘what’s wrong lassie thought popped into his head as he watched the man dance. Sam didn’t really respond to him but looked to Lee and said, “think he is trying to tell you something.”