((Continued from Inside I think I'm Dying))

It had definitely been a bad day, and certainly an interesting trip to the mansion. Riding on the back of an ice...thing hadn't exactly been comfortable, never mind normal. But then again, nothing about that day had been normal, from the inital run in with Rupert to start the day off, to seeing the news report that let her know about what was going on in Times Square, to actually going there to try and stop Tarin in the merge.

But the merge was ended, and they had shown up at the mansion, a place that she and Tarin had only been on one other occasion, an other occasion when Tarin had been hurt. At least this time Lee knew why, knew what had happened.

The DocProf had already seen to Tarin, healing what little he could, but there really weren't all that many injuries that Tarin had sustained that the DocProf could take care of. Tarin still wasn't completely there, though; he was still at least partially unconscious, mumbling things about a woman, and children, and killing.

Lee really didn't know what to do. Before, she had had problems trying to help Tarin through this, and now he wasn't even fully awake, and had just gone through another merge. But Lee couldn't even reach out to brush the hair out of Tarin's half open eyes as she sat at his bedside because she had been too worried to leave, even for the couple minutes it would talke to have DocProf heal her burns. Which made Lee feel even more useless. She hadn't been able to do anything other than get hurt while Tarin had been merged, and she still couldn't do anything

His muscles still weren't responding as he felt they should. Tarin could only compare the feeling to what it was like the time Ash had convinced him it would be an awesome idea to stick a fork in a light socket. The pain had faded, but his limbs still felt heavy and twitchy, and consciousness kept ebbing and flowing.

He could remember what had happened, why he'd gotten so upset. The mere thought of the memory brought it flooding back and Tarin groaned, trying to cover his eyes with his hands. How had he done that to someone? How had he done the things he'd done to the people in Times Square. What had happened to the other guy...the one who'd only wanted to help him up?

His eyes opened, they'd moved. They were somewhere familiar now, they were in the mansion...the infirmary. The doctor had been there, he'd healed what he could...it wasn't everything. There were some things that the good doctor didn't have a prayer of healing.

Tarin's eyes focused and moved around the room. Lee was there, looking worried, looking to be in one piece. One small sliver of relief ran through his body, sort of soothing the other odd feelings conflicting.

"Lee..." he said, softly, his hand groping the empty air beside the bed. He wasn't going to shut her out this time, she was all he had. "You okay?"

Lee must have dozed off, or the pain from from her burns making her not fully paying attention, or something as she sat beside Tarin, because he was reaching for her and speaking before she even knew he had woken up more.

"I'm here, Tarin," Lee told him quietly, making her voice as soft and gentle as she could through her pain. But she didn't reach out to him. Lee knew that if she did, Tarin would grab ahold of her, and with the blisters on her hands, the angry red blotches elsewhere on her arms, legs, neck, and face, that wouldn't be a good idea.

"I'll be ok," Lee went on to tell Tarin. "Everything's going to be alright." Somehow, she silently added.

"All right, miss, let's see what I can do for you," DocProf said, coming to a stop at the foot of Tarin's bed. "Ah, good, and you're awake. How are you feeling?"

Even before he had finished speaking, Lee was shaking her head, a couple of fresh tears springing into her eyes, though they didn't fall. Especially now that Tarin had just woken up, there was no way Lee was going to leave his side, not yet. Plus, she hadn't been of any help in Times Square, so why should she get help with injuries she inflicted on herself?

Lee acknowledged him, but she didn't reach out to meet him halfway with her hand. Tarin frowned, vision clearing more as his thoughts unmuddled themselves slowly. Tarin jumped instantly to the conclusion that maybe this time had finally done it and while she was comfortable enough to make sure he was alright, things were goning to change. Then his eyes focused further and he saw the burns, "Oh my god..." he said, horror reflected in his features as he withdrew his hand and covered his eyes. Lee said everything was going to be okay, Tarin didn't have a clue how that was going to be true but he didn't argue. He didn't deserve to argue at this point.

Tarin heard another voice and realized that they were in the infirmary, that was a relief if nothing else. The doctor asked him how he was and Tarin hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Unfortunately, I think I'm going to live...just take care of her." he said, hand still firmly over his eyes so he didn't have to see what he'd done.

Tarin waited what had to have been an appropriate time while Lee apparently argued about being healed then dropped his hand and turned his head towards her, "Don't be stubborn Lee. On top of everything else...just let the man heal you." Tarin was exhausted, Lee being difficult was only going to compound things. "You just told me everything was going to be alright. How's that going to work if you don't let this poor man just do his job. I'm sure he's got his hands full."

Lee saw Tarin frown when she didn't reach out to take his hand, and that added even more pain, though of a different kind, than what she was already feeling from the burns. It was almost inevitable that after a merge, Tarin thought she wouldn't want to be around him, would be scared, would be wanting to run for the hills and get as far away from him as possible. And while yes, this time she was scared, maybe more so than other times because she hadn't been able to do anything, she still wasn't wanting to leave.

And yet she wasn't touching him.

That must be what Tarin was thinking, Lee realized as she saw the frown and look of pain on his face. Because she always touched him after a merge, if briefly because of how much energy she had taken from him.

And then Tarin noticed the burns. Lee couldn't think of anything else that would have given him a horrified expression on his face like the one that had suddenly appeared, at least not while he was looking at her.

It took a couple attempts to swallow the lump that suddenly appeared in her throat, though. "I'm ok, Tarin," she finally managed. "Really."

But then both Tarin and DocProf were ganging up on her, Tarin not even looking at her any more now that he had seen the burns. Was it really that bad, Lee had to wonder. She hadn't exactly looked in a mirror since leaving Times Square, and she knew that almost every inch of her skin was tender after all that heat, but that bad that Tarin couldn't even look at her?

"Fine, let's get this over with," Lee muttered as she fought to push herself up out of her chair without touching her hands to anything. She didn't want to leave his side, but if Tarin couldn't even look at her...

"Sit back down, give me your hands, and try to relax," DocProf said.

With a sigh, Lee plopped back down into the chair, mainly because to do so slowly would hurt her knees too much, which were burned worse than her hands were. Bitting the inside of her lip and fighting the tears that were still sitting in her eyes, Lee raised her arms, her hands held out to DocProf.

The moment that DocProf took her hands, depsite his gentle touch, Lee's eyes squeezed closed and she was only just able to stop the whimper of pain from escaping.

As time passed with DocProf holding her hands, it seemed to get easier. And her hands, and knees, seemed to be feeling warm. Not that painful, burning heat that had been present since well before getting to the infirmary, but a soothing, comforting heat that felt good even with the burns there.

"There we are, all done."

Lee opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. Then her knees. The blisters were gone, the red was gone. Other than her clothing, which was still singed and burnt, Lee couldn't tell she had been burnt in the frist place.

"Didn't I tell you from the start that it wouldn't take long?"

"I just didn't want to leave in case he woke up," Lee explained, glancing over at Tarin, then up at DocProf again. "Thanks."

She was okay...Tarin wanted to laugh, hysterically laugh. Lee was okay. She always said that she was okay. She was absolutely fried because of him and she insisted that she was fine.

Lee finally stopped arguing and sat down for the doctor to work. Tarin chanced another look in her direction and saw her holding the doctor's hands. Tarin winced for Lee, it looked like she was in so much pain. Pain he'd caused, again. The old feelings were surfacing, the ones that told him that the best thing to do would be to run. He fought them this time though, nothing good had ever come of running. Resignation, that's what he was feeling.

The doctor was talking to Lee and she said that she'd stayed where she was because she'd wanted to be there when he woke up. Tarin couldn't help the rush of warmth that coursed through him then. She was still going to be there.

"You're sure there's nothing I can do?" the doctor said, turning his attention back to Tarin, concern marring his features.

"I think you've already done everything you could." Tarin answered, shaking his head, "And believe me...I deserve anything that's still wrong with me."

The doctor stared at him for a few moments, frowning, then spoke again, "I'm going to want to talk to you about this....whole thing...later. You really should rest now."

Tarin winced, as the doctor walked away, that wasn't a good thing. Tarin turned to Lee again, studying her for a few moments, assuring himself that she was okay. Then, gingerly he moved his sore muscles as far to the edge of the far edge of the bed as he could, then patted the mattress next to himself, inviting Lee to join him. "So...how bad was it?" he said, his voice and face as somber as the question.

Once she was taken care of, the DocProf turned his attention to Tarin, again. And, he wanted to talk to Tarin about 'all this', but thankfully not then, he wanted Tarin to rest first. But with everything that the DocProf must have heard from everyone that afternoon since getting back here, it really was no surprise to Lee that the man would want to talk to Tarin.

Though, wasn't that what Tarin had wanted in the first place? Well, he wanted to talk to people here at the mansion to see if there was a way to deal with his merging powers, try to find a way to control them better. It just wasn't an ideal situation to be talking to them as a result of a merge, especially not one as public as this had been.

"It's not your fault, Tarin," Lee said, getting up and moving to the side of his bed after DocProf had left. But he was shifting over, apparently still much more sore after the DocProf had finished healing him than she was.

And then patted the mattress next to him. Lee simply looked at the empty space on the bed there for a moment, then glanced up at Tarin's eyes. Just as he asked how bad it had been this time.

Immediately, Lee's eyes dropped, not all the was to the floor, but to the mattress that Tarin had just patted once again. Here she was, having wished that she could have touched him earlier, that she could have at the very least brushed his hair out of his eyes, but hadn't been able to because of the burns and blisters on her hands. And now, she was better, not injured any more, Tarin wasn't laying passed out because she had taken so much energy from him, and he wasn't pulling away, distancing himself from her after a merge, and yet she was questioning whether to actually lay down beside him.

Taking a breath, Lee climbed onto the bed beside Tarin, not exactly the easiest thing to do considering the small size of the hospital bed and the length of her skirt. But manage Lee did, and shortly she was curled up on the bed beside Tarin, her head resting on his shoulder.

"It was terrifying," Lee whispered against Tarin's neck. "I didn't know what to do, I couldn't get close to you, the fire was everywhere..."

The hesitation, the hesitation Tarin could handle, as long as it ended with Lee staying. It was amazing how things worked out that way, not too long ago he'd been utterly convinced that the only way to keep her safe was for him to go. Now Tarin knew better, he needed her, just like she needed him. When they were apart, things just weren't right. They might be weird or messed up when they were together, but apart it was cataclysmic.

It wasn't his fault. Tarin mulled over those words, mulled over them as he watched Lee's eyes drop to the mattress. The hesitation. It seemed like ages, then she laid down.

It took a few moments for him and Lee to arrange themselves in a way that was conducive to both of them staying in the bed, but then there it was. Lee snuggled into his neck and Tarin wrapped an arm around her waist as she started to explain what had happened. Flames...of course, that would explain the burns. Tarin wanted to ask, needed to ask, but it too several tries and a few minutes before he could.

"Did I kill anyone this time...." he said softly, his voice hoarse with emotion at the mere thought. "I'm not going anywhere Lee...but I don't know what I'm going to do."

Tarin thought for a few moments, waring with himself over what to say next. They had promised each other at some point that there were going to be no more secrets. "I remembered." He said softly, and a little brokenly, "That's what started all of this. Those were her kids on the podium...I remembered everything."

Feeling Tarin's arms around her, Lee snuggled into him more, her eyes closed against his neck. They were taking their time, as if it was just as hard, if not harder, for Tarin to get the words out as it had been for her. Though, considering the problems and issues he dealt with after every merge, it probably was a lot harder for him to get the words out.

Then Tarin asked if he had killed anyone this time, though his voice just kind of trailed off rather than asking a concrete question. Lee just shook her head against Tarin's shoulder at first, then expanded on that. "No, not that I saw or heard," Lee said after a couple of moments. "As far as I could tell, Sam got the worst of it.

"And what we're going to do," Lee continued in a whisper. "Is talk to DocProf. But first, rest."

That wasn't the end of Tarin's talking about the merge. He remembered. At those first couple words, Lee felt her breath catch in her throat. He hadn't needed to expand on what it was he remembered, Lee knew what it was. And, based simply on what she had seen in the apartment that day Rupert had called her, Lee had hoped that Tarin wouldn't remember. But he had. Everything.

Forcing herself to start breathing again, Lee wrapped her arms around Tarin as well as she could with how they were laying on the bed, her head burying even deeper into Tarin's shoulder. "Oh Tarin!" She breathed.

But really, what was she supposed to say to something like that? "Rest, hon," she ended up settling on, loosening her grip on him and trying to get a bit more comfortable. "We'll talk to DocProf, we'll figure it all out."

Tarin nodded against Lee's head as she said that they were going to talk to the doctor. "Yeah...we'll talk to him." he said, his hand finding Lee's hair and twirling it slowly around his fingers as he thought. Was this going to be it? Had he waited too long to come for help, and now the rabid dog nightmares were going to come to fruition?

"Have they said anything about what's going to happen?" He asked into her hair, eyes closing as he tried to puzzle through what had happened and trying to figure out what was going to happen. Lee said he should rest and Tarin shook his head, "I can't rest Lee. I'm not tired, I just feel like I've been someones punching bag."

At least nobody was dead...at least from what Lee could remember. "Sam?" he said, quietly, unable to quite hide his chagrin at the fact that it was that guy who had managed to slip in and save the day. In fact, he'd probably saved Lee.

She handled the information about what he'd remembered well, all things considered. In fact, all things considered, he was handling things well himself. Then the memories surfaced again and the nausea manifested itself, Tarin swallowed hard but couldn't suppress a hard shudder that ran through him.

Lee managed to get her arms around him, and Tarin snuggle into her as she sympathized as best she could. It helped to know that she was there for him. There were even suggestions as to where to go from there. Tarin frowned as he rested his chin on the top of Lee's head, they could talk to the Doctor, yes.

"We'll do something Lee." Tarin said, then lapsed into silence for a few moments as he thought about what had happened in the last few hours. Then back to the night Lee had come back. Rupert had let him go, let him go so he could have this chance with Lee when he should have taken him straight to jail. Tarin owed it to all of them to make it work. "If you think talking to the people here is really going to help, even after what they've just seen, I'll talk to them."

Lee shook her head again when Tarin asked if she'd heard 'them' talk about anything regarding that day, regarding him. "Nothing that I've heard," she said. "But I have been over here with you the entire time, and I have seen some of them talking...

"And I didn't say you needed to sleep, hon," Lee pointed out, her voice gentle. "Just rest. There is a difference. Believe me, I know. Plus, how do you know I'm not tired?"

Lee heard the tone of voice Tarin used when she said that Sam had been the one who probably got it worst that day. Really, after everything else, he was still upset and jealous because of Sam?

"Yeah, Sam," Lee confirmed in a whisper with a slight nod against his shoulder as she closed her eyes. "I didn't know what else to do. I mean, when I saw the fire, saw the flames shooting everywhere..." Lee paused and took a breath. "I mean, ice. I thought it might have worked, so I called him..."

They were quiet for a while, just laying there. There had been a lot of silence so far, but then again, they had a lot to think about, a lot to digest, didn't they? "To tell the truth," Lee said slowly. "I'm not sure we're going to have much choice in talking to them after today, but if nothing else, DocProf seems to want to help..."

It made sense, Lee had said that she wouldn't leave his side when the doctor was in there earlier. She had seen them talking though. Paranoia attempted to surface and Tarin fought it down stubbornly, freaking out at this point and trying something stupid, like running, would only make him look more unstable. Something had to be done about him, after all, they couldn't have people possessed by evil spirits running around killing defenseless mothers, or crazy people turning into fire flinging psychopaths. New York was a big city, but not big enough that things like that could go completely unnoticed. They'd also put themselves at pretty great personal risk by bringing him and Lee here. If the police did get involved, there had been enough witnesses to see what had happened and who had taken off with him.

Lee was explaining that resting didn't necessarily mean sleeping and Tarin just nodded, unsure of what else would be appropriate to do at that point. Then Lee said she might be tired, "Are you?" he said, pulling back slightly to look down at her, "You probably did have to use up a lot of energy. You should be fine in a while." he paused, "It's always weird to me how...normal I feel after this happens." he mused quietly, "What happened at the end? I don't remember a whole lot, just that it hurt like hell."

Tarin wanted to bite off his tongue for the way he'd reacted to Sam's help. "Stop." he said, voice cold and much more harsh than he'd intended, his face was rigid, but he relaxed after a moment. "I'm sorry..." he said, far more contrite, "I just would be better off not knowing all the gory details at the moment...and about Sam...I'm glad he was there. You were smart to think of him, I'm sure the ice thing was a great help."

Lee mulled over what he'd said about talking to them, then spoke and Tarin nodded his head again, once more trying to ignore the paranoia that was trying to surface, "Yeah...that was a little too over the top to ignore, huh? Do you think I should be scared?"

Lee felt Tarin pull back from her as she said that she might be tired even if he wasn't. And then she heard him verbally question it. "Well, maybe not tired, but worn," Lee whispered. "Definitely worn."

Then Tarin went on, saying she'd be feeling fine in a little while, because she was so close, because she was touching him. Sitting up on the bed, Lee looked down at Tarin, tears springing unbidden to her eyes. "I'll be fine in a bit, will I?" Lee asked, her voice a tad hoarse as she fought to keep herself from crying even more. Where had the tears come from, anyway? "I don't need to rest because I'm touching you and will have enough energy to stay awake soon?

"Do you know how hard it is when all you want to do is be able to sleep, but you can't?" Lee went on. It was getting harder and harder to fight the tears filling her eyes. "How hard it is to go for six days without sleep, and then only pass out, not because you're able to sleep, but because your mind can't take the strain any more?

"Once, just once, I'd like to be able to sleep and wake up rested, energized. Not because you were there, not because I was stealing energy from you all night, but because the sleep actually did that for me..."

Taking a shaky breath, Lee shook her head. "I'm sorry," Lee whispered, her eyes closed, not looking at Tarin for the moment. Before she was able to say anything else, though, Tarin was telling her not to go into details, that he didn't want to hear them. And then he asked if he should be scared.

"I don't know, but I am," Lee finally whispered, opening her eyes to look down at Tarin again. "Terrified of what they might do, but just as scared about if we don't try to get their help."

Sam had just had a run in with DocProf again and once again the cheery old man was thrilled to see him again. ‘If only’ Sam thought as he healed the burns on Sam’s body. “That Fella must have been pretty hot to be burning you huh?” asked DocProf. Sam just nodded as he pulled his shirt back up. “Thanks Doc” said Sam as his body had given a small shudder to the feeling of his skin healing from the burns. Never before has he been burned and never again does he want at to happen. The feeling of every nerve in his body screaming from the heat knowing that all the ice in the world wouldn't help in the slightest. Never before had Sam had been so thankful for his ice armor; with out it he would be a pile of ash along with half of the city by now…. No that’s not right Garret had stepped in… he stopped Tarin Sam was only a convenience for him. Meaning that Garret had saved his life. ‘Defiantly going to have to thank him’ thought Sam as he hopped down from the check up Table.

After DocProf gave the ‘I don’t want to see you in here soon speech’ Sam just nodded and said “Right I’ll try to hold off till next week.” He laughed and walked down to where he helped drop off Tarin. Sam was eager to see how he was doing. Sam walked to the area where they were and stopped short. They were talking and Sam being Sam held off for a second trying not to interrupt anything.

"Once, just once, I'd like to be able to sleep and wake up rested, energized. Not because you were there, not because I was stealing energy from you all night, but because the sleep actually did that for me..." "I'm sorry," "Terrified of what they might do, but just as scared about if we don't try to get their help."

Sam hesitated for a second as he pretended he didn’t hear anything as he started walking towards them making it seem like there was no way he heard what they were just discussing. Sam walked over to Tarin’s bed with a smile, “glad your finally up, how ou guys holding up?”

A blank stare was probably the best description of the look on Tarin's face when Lee sat up and started to rant about how hard it was for her to have to go without sleep. Tarin blinked, then blinked again as the tirade continued, doing everything he could to bite his tongue. Determined to let Lee have her say, especially after what had just happened, Tarin settled for staring over Lee's shoulder at the far wall. She talked about how nice it would be to actually sleep though and Tarin shook his head and sighed.

"Yeah...well...all that sleep I apparently get is pretty much useless when I'm tossing and turning, waking myself up every night because all I can see when I close my eyes is all the horrible things that I've done. You have no idea how much I wish I had an alternate source of energy sometimes that I could tap into." The words were soft, not bitter or angry, and Tarin took a deep breath when he'd finished speaking. "I don't want to argue though. I was just pointing out a fact."

Tarin heard footsteps and when he looked up he suddenly wished he was back in Time Square with whatever had happened happening again. Sam was there, grinning in all his frat boy, varsity quarterback glory.

He was glad Tarin was up, and asking how he was. Alright slightly peevish from the recent conversation with Lee, Tarin's first instinct was to snap back a snarky reply and tell Sam to kick rocks. Then he remembered all the guy had done that day. If it hadn't been for him, chances were they wouldn't have ended up in the infirmary...hell, they might not have ended up anywhere at all. Tarin sighed again, he couldn't muster pleasant, the guy would have to settle for contrite.

"Thanks. I'm doing alright." he said slowly, mulling over the day in his head, "Thanks by the way...Lee said you took the brunt of what happened. I guess the good Doctor has been to see you already. Is everyone else alright?" Tarin didn't really want to know, didn't want the factual knowledge of how much damage he'd done to the people who'd been trying to help, but he felt compelled to ask anyway.