New York was losing its charm. Tarin thought, leaning on his forearms on the counter and watching the holiday shoppers milling up and down the street. Then he rephrased, New York was still amazing, still the place that felt more like home than anywhere else he'd been in all the years since leaving Texas. It was the way he was living in New York that was getting old.

Tarin was tired...tired of lots of things. Tarin was tired of feeling like a time bomb waiting to go off and take out a city block. Tarin was also tired of waiting for another spirit to figure out how weak he was and taking him over to do whatever sick things it thought were a good idea at the time.

The only thing Tarin wasn't sick of was Lee. Lee had been great, especially since the last merge. Her support had been exactly what he'd needed at the mansion. That part of his life, if nothing else, was good. Lee was good. Lee was going to stay good.

Nobody had been into the shop for a while. It was almost the business lunch hour though, and people usually dropped in at that point while they were doing their shopping and being haunted by their individual ghosts of Christmas past. Things had been slow all morning, so she'd taken off on a walk.

Things there were good, better all the time in fact. They still weren't where they'd been though, and while he wasn't going to complain about a good make-out session on the couch during movie night. Tarin couldn't help but wonder sometimes when or if Lee was going to be ready to take it to the next level again. She was wearing the engagement ring, but there hadn't been any more real talk about a wedding in quite some time. Tarin had meant it when he said he'd wait, but that didn't change the fact that he hoped he didn't have to.

Then there was the mansion. What was he supposed to do about the mansion? Sam was at the mansion, and Tarin's jaw clenched slightly at the thought. There was an opportunity for help though, and help he definitely needed. The tone had changed so dramatically when they'd gone from speaking about the hypothetical to the actual.

Tarin sighed and dropped his forehead down between his forearms, resting it against the cool counter top. There were just too many thoughts flitting around in his head. What was he going to do?

Things were definitely different after this last merge. Not the same as things normally were after Tarin had a merge, he wasn't withdrawn from her, he wasn't exactly moping, but things had definitely changed from how they had been.

And what was worse was Lee had no idea how to fix it, in part because she was also worrying about the merge, worrying about what would happen next time. What if there was another merge she couldn't deal with on her own? What if there was no help that time, or what if it didn't get there in time?

But something needed to be done to knock Tarin out of his funk.

Lee wasn't sure whether it would really work or not, but she had been tossing the idea around in her head for a couple of days. And it was something that they had talked about on many occasions already, something Tarin had said he was wanting to do at some point. Maybe, like with calling Josh, this was something she was going to have to set in motion to get done.

That morning had been slow, slower than normal. So Lee had decided, told Tarin she was going for a walk. And then once she was out of the store, made sure that she had the card that would allow her access to the bank account they had set up for that million dollar cheque. A bank account Tarin had insisted she have access to, not just him.

Then Lee proceeded a few blocks away, to a travel agency, to set her plans in action. A couple plane tickets to Texas, to spend the holidays there. It would be a long visit, much longer than they had originally planned to go for, but with that little account they had set up, it's not like they couldn't afford the shop to be closed over the holidays. Plus, that would make things so much easier on Tarin, who seemed to hate working at this time of year more than any other.

The travel agent had asked one very interesting question, though: did she need a rental car for their trip? This had prompted a quick phone call to Josh, asking if he'd be able to pick them up from the airport when they came to visit. When their plane landed in Dallas. In two days.

Josh had seemed quite surprised by the suddenness of the visit, but had readily agreed, had seemed quite happy to agree to pick her and Tarin up.

So Lee had finished up, paying for the trip, getting all the paperwork and ticket vouchers and everything, then ventured back out into the cold.

It really hadn't taken very long for Lee to walk back to the shop, and by the time she got there, all the papers tucked into her purse, Lee was grinning almost ear to ear. Pulling the door open, Lee slipped inside to see Tarin with his head down on the counter. "Bad morning, hon?" She asked, a bit concerned. Flicking the lock and turning the sign off, Lee walked over to him. "Maybe we should take a bit of a break."

The bell above the door jingled and Tarin almost groaned. The last thing he really wanted was to work at the moment. There were too many other things rolling around in his head. He was just about to plaster a welcoming smile on his face when the visitor spoke and revealed herself as no visitor at all.

Tarin lifted his head and had a real smile, albeit a small one for Lee and he shrugged his shoulders, "No worse than any other morning. I just can't stop thinking lately is all. All the negativity is getting to me though. I need to make the little black cloud that's following me around...go away."

Lee suggested a break, even as she was turning off the sign and locking the door to the shop. Tarin looked at the crowds passing by the shop, the owner in him railing against closing shop in the middle of the busiest time of day, and gave into his baser instinct and nodded his head. "A break would be nice. Really nice. How was your walk?"

Lee was glad to see the smile, a real smile that actually touched his eyes, on Tarin's face when he finally lifted his head to look at her. It might have been a small smile, but Lee was more than happy with a small, real smile than a wide, fake one.

Lee simply nodded when Tarin said that his morning hadn't been any worse than normal, just that he couldn't stop thinking. Now, thinking on its own wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but in this case, with what Lee assumed Tarin had been thinking about for the last week, since the merge, it was.

"Yeah, I've kind of noticed that cloud," Lee said softly as she stopped on the opposite side of the counter from Tarin, reaching her hand out to hold his hand. "But it's so dark so much of the time during the winter, so many grey clouds, I haven't figured out which one we need to get rid of."

Lee took a breath and let it out in a bit of a dramatic sigh. "You know, I think we need a bit of a change of scenery."

Lee agreed about the cloud, Tarin wasn't surprised. If it was bad enough that he was acknowledging it, it was surely bad enough for Lee to notice. She was optimistic about it though and that gave Tarin a small sliver of hope that despite the way the weather was this time of year, the little black raincloud would stop following him around...eventually.

Lee had grabbed his hand and he looked down at the fingers entwined, then picked them up and kissed the back of Lee's hand.

Lee pointed out that they needed a change of scenery. Tarin missed the drama in her voice and moved his gaze back to hers, head tilted slightly. "Really?"

Tarin hadn't moved from behind the counter, and he leaned down again, keeping Lee's hand clasped firmly in his. "Where did you have in mind?"

Lee couldn't help the tiny blush from creeping across her cheeks as she felt Tarin's lips softly brush the back of her hand. It was a small gesture, it was simple, yet it felt significant. Small things, like people who knew about her powers simply touching her in any way had always meant so much to Lee, but for Tarin to be still doing even little things like this while he was still in his merge funk...It meant more than normal.

But Tarin didn't react to her comment that they needed a scenery change other than to ask where she had in mind. Not exactly the reaction she had been expecting, but he was almost constantly distracted these days.

"Well," Lee said. "I was thinking, it's been forever since I last saw the stars. And with the cloudy winter weather, there's not much chance of that here now.

"Plus," Lee continued, her brow furrowing the slightest bit as she thought back. "Didn't you say your mother would kill you if she didn't meet me before we were married?"

The stars. It had been years since Tarin had really seen the stars and he was distracted for a minute as he thought about an inky rural sky littered with stars. Lee mentioned how little chance there was of seeing them in New York with the cloudy winter skies and Tarin nodded. "We couldn't really see the stars here anyway with all the lights." he said, voice light with memory.

Lee was hinting at something, and so far Tarin had missed it, but her next comment made the connection and Tarin's gaze snapped from the space it was off staring at to Lee's. Not only had she just said that she thought they should go to Texas, but she'd mentioned the fact that she needed to meet his mother before they were married.

"I did say that." Tarin said slowly, still digesting what he thought he'd heard a moment before, a wider, more excited grin spreading across his features, "So are you suggesting a holiday trip? You really want to go?"

"We couldn't really see the stars here anyway with all the lights."

Lee smiled somewhat sadly at that comment even as Tarin was off in his own little world. Wasn't it a comment like that from her that had brought up the whole idea of him taking her out in a pickup in Texas to go look at the stars? And now that same comment wasn't even bringing to mind what she was getting at.

At least her comment about his mother made Tarin clue in as his eyes shot to hers once again. "Yeah, I was thinking exactly that," Lee told Tarin with a nod. "It'd get you away from the shop, get us out of here for a while. And your mom's been wanting you to visit forever, you know. Josh reminded me of that again when I called him earlier today.

"And he agreed to pick us up from the airport, so we don't have to worry about renting a car."

Initiative. That's what had been lacking in the plants to Texas. Tarin couldn't take complete blame for that, though. Not too long ago Lee had been hesitant to allow him to touch her at all, and had been all but denying the fact that they were engaged. Not exactly the situation you wanted to walk into when you were introducing your "fiance" to your mother. (who you hadn't seen in 15 years) Tarin had resisted the desire to force the trip on Lee, worried that it would be too much and topple the fine stack of normalcy they'd built up once again.

Now Lee was in the shop, once again making the leap for the two of them. Tarin supposed it was right that way, if he'd been the one to make any of these decisions in the relationship they'd have never gotten anywhere.

She'd spoken to Josh? Initiative wasn't even the right word for it in the long run. Suddenly, Tarin was laughing, laughing longer and harder than he'd laughed since the most recent merge. Since he'd been forced, once again, to try and figure out what he was going to do with himself.

"You've got a point." He said when he'd regained his composure, "There aren't enough people where my mother lives to cause me too much trouble...plus, I've wanted to show you off for some time now."

Tarin pulled Lee across the counter and met her halfway, kissing her soundly, "So, since you've got everything under control...when will Josh be picking us up at the airport?"

Once she had mentioned the fact that she had talked to Josh about picking them up from the airport, Lee heard Tarin laughing. Laughing a lot. Much more than she had heard him laugh in a long time.

Lee honestly wasn't sure what Tarin was laughing at, though. What was so humourous about the fact that Josh had agreed to pick them up from the airport when they visited. She hadn't even mentioned the fact that the date for that pick up had been set yet.

Unless this last surprise had just been the last straw on the camel's back that had sent Tarin over the edge. Which caused Lee to look at Tarin carefully, her expression growing more and more concerned as time went on.

At least until he spoke, and her concerned expression was quickly replaced with a blush as he said he'd been wanting to show her off. Before she could actually say anything, before she could do anything but blush in response to Tarin's comment, Lee felt him pulling her closer, across the counter. Leaning in, Lee smiled a bit as she felt his lips pressing against hers.

Finally pulling back, the blush and smile still on her face, Lee looked at Tarin for a moment as her mind made slow work processing his question. It was somewhat amazing how much of an effect simply things like a kiss could have on her.

"Uh, I think I asked him to be there for 3:30 on Thursday," Lee said slowly, trying to remember what exactly she had asked Tarin's brother.

"Thursday?!" Tarin exclaimed, standing up straight when Lee explained that Josh was picking them up at 3:30 pm on THURSDAY. That meant all kinds of things. That meant they were going to be in Texas for Christmas. Tarin almost started laughing again.

"You're something else Lee, you know that?" he said, shaking his head slowly and running his hand through his hair after extracting it from Lee's grip.

"I guess that means we're going to have to do a bit of Christmas shopping." Tarin said, starting to feel slightly dazed and overwhelmed by the prospect. Tarin sank down again, leaning on the counter, "What do you get for your mother when you haven't seen her in fifteen years?"

Lee bit her bottom lip slightly as she watched Tarin shoot upright when she said that they'd be in Texas, that his brother would be picking them up from the airport, that Thursday. It was a little sudden, was more than a little unexpected, but she had to do something, hadn't she?

Then it was Tarin's turn to surprise and shock Lee. Christmas shopping? Presents for his mother? Yes, Lee had realized that with when she had planned the trip, it would be over Christmas, but she hadn't actually thought about presents or anything like that. Wouldn't finally seeing her son again after so many years, and meeting her future daughter-in-law, be enough?

"Honestly, hon, I have no idea," Lee admitted. "I stopped thinking about ever giving my parents anything when I was 15." Taking a breath, Lee thought for a moment as she leaned toward Tarin on the counter. "What do you remember her liking to get?"

At that, Lee straightened up and grinned at Tarin. "Come on," she said. "We're already closed, let's go shopping. Maybe we'll find something."

"I did at 17...in fact, you're about the first person I've bought a Christmas present for since I left home. It's not something I'm very good at." Lee asked what it was he'd liked to give back then, when his life was "normal" and Tarin shrugged, "I was just getting to the age where I really put thought into it. I can't even remember the last present I got her." Tarin shook his head, this was really going to be difficult to pull off.

Now Lee wanted to go shopping. Tarin glanced out of the shop again at the crowds of people moving down the streets of New York. He'd been avoiding crowds like the plague, and he didn't really want to stop now. What if he merged again? It had been bad enough in the middle of a rally, the anti-mutants in the news media were having a hay-day already. If he went crazy in the middle of a Christmas shopping crowd, things would be even worse.

"I don't know Lee..." he mumbled, the darkness settling over him again as he dropped his gaze back to the counter he was leaning on. "Do you really think it's a good idea for me to go out around all those people? I don't think we can deny the fact that we got lucky last time. I was thinking to do my shopping on the off hours." Tarin paused for a moment and shook his head, "I think we should at least wait for the lunch crowd to go back to work."

Lee nodded as Tarin explained that he really didn't know what to get for his mother for Christmas, that he couldn't even remember the last present that he had gotten her. "I'm sure we'll figure something out," Lee told Tarin, a note of certainty in her voice. "Plus, we're getting there early enough that if we really need to, we can ask Josh for some help coming up with something."

Damn it, damn it, damn it. That little dark cloud hovering over Tarin, which had seemed to disappear as they were talking about their trip, was suddenly back. Damn!

He was worried about going out around people. Yes, Lee knew that Tarin often tried to avoid large groups of people if he could, but that was so he didn't have to deal with as many spirits, not because he was afraid to be around them, like he was now.

"Does New York have off hours?" Lee asked, truly curious. The city, even in the middle of the night, almost seemed busier than anywhere else she had been regardless of the time.

But then she heard Tarin's request to at least not go out shopping then, in the middle of the lunch rush, and she had to agree with him. She had already sprung the trip to Texas on him, was going to make him go out to shop, the least she could do was not force him outside now.

Instead, Lee grabbed Tarin's hand and pulled him around the counter, gently dragging him toward his armchair in the corner of the room. "Ok, hon, we'll wait," she said softly, settling herself on the arm of the chair once he was sitting. "And I'll be there, so it'll be fine. It's never happened any time I've been there with you, remember?" Well, other than that one time, in the camp, but Lee tried not to ever remember that. That had been a totally different situation than any other merge, anyway.

Tarin brightened, if only slightly, when Lee pointed out the fact that Josh would be there to help. Tarin also knew that he would do it without ire. That was only if they couldn't find a present in the city though, Tarin was still holding out hope in his gift selection abilities.

"I don't know about off hours exactly...but hours when there aren't huge crowds of people." he said, his voice not quite deadpan, but less animated than it might a been a little while before.

Lee wanted him to move and Tarin obliged as she led him to the chair that they'd so often sat in over the time they'd been together. Tarin slid an arm around Lee's waist as she sat and leaned his head into her side. She said she'd be there, and pointed out that a merge had never happened when she'd been around....except once. The unspoken words ran as clearly in Tarin's head as if they'd been spoken. They didn't talk about that anymore though, they'd never really talked about it. They probably wouldn't ever talk about it.

There wasn't really much to say. She was right, as Lee most often was. "Alright, then, we'll go after lunch." he said simply, leaning his head into Lee's side until they were ready to go.