Alice had been quiet that day. Not out, not running around, simply seeming to prefer to stay in her room and draw. Not that Lee minded that every once in a while; it actually allowed Lee to do her own homework without having to wait for her daughter to be asleep.

Alice was so quite, so laid back that day in fact that Lee actually managed to finish up one of her larger assignments, something she hadn't expected to happen till later that week. So after packing all her things away, tidying up her and Tarin's room, Lee went to go check on Alice. Despite how well Alice had been doing keeping herself quietly occupied that day, the six year old was going to need to get some exercise.

Opening the door to Alice's room, Lee saw her daughter's drawing supplies (and those were plentiful for such a young girl) scattered over her small table and the floor surrounding it.

But Alice wasn't there with her pictures, wasn't pinning a drawing to the wall, or even adding to the wall mural she and Tarin had finally allowed the girl. Instead, Alice was laying on her little bed, but looked up when Lee walked into the room.

"Mummy, I don't feel good..." Alice said, her voice sounding whiny.

"You don't feel good?" Lee asked, walking over and sitting on the edge of Alice's bed. Reaching out, she put the back of her hand over Alice's forehead. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"I don't feel good."

Leave it to a six-year-old to think that that explained everything. Though, Alice did feel a little warm to the touch. "Alright, let's go see DocProf, shall we?" Helping her daughter up off the bed, Lee grabbed her hand and together they made their way out of the room to head down to the infirmary.

Whistling while he walked the halls. It was something that Tarin had become very fond of since he and Lee had moved into the mansion however long ago it was. Tarin would have to ask Lee for that info if he really wanted it, details weren't his strong suit. Hell, he had trouble remembering how old he was without Lee reminding him every birthday. Anniversaries were slightly easier, but mostly because their wedding anniversary was so close to Christmas. The kids smiled and waved at him or called out greetings. They were always amused by the fact that he had such an outlandish appearance and taught a subject they thought was as mundane as psychology had to be. Tarin loved it. He'd always loved the misconceptions people had.

Right now though, he was on his way to see his wife and daughter after a morning schedule of classes. The kids had been good today, but most of the kids were always good. Except the ones who were disturbed, and Tarin felt particularly for them, but had faith because that's why they were where they were. The school existed especially for those kids, at least in Tarin's opinion. Sure, all the mutant kids who lived in the expansive building were getting educations so they'd be able to do whatever they wanted regardless of their powers. The real crux of the situation, though, was that it was there for the cast offs, the few kids they could grab up when there was nobody else. The kids they could save before they got themselves mixed up with the wrong people.

Lost in his thoughts, Tarin rounded the corner and nearly ran right into Lee. "Oh!" he exclaimed, slightly surprised at her presence. She was walking in the direction he was coming from...and not stopping. Turning and falling into step next to Lee, who was holding Alice's hand, Tarin cast his wife a quizzical look, "I thought you were working on your paper?" he said, "Wheres the field trip to, and why wasn't I invited?"

Lee was slightly preoccupied as she walked through the hallways with Alice. She kept glancing over at her daughter as they went, trying to figure out just how sick her daughter was, or if it really wasn't that bad and this was just a child's exaggeration.

So distracted, in fact, that Lee didn't hear the familiar sounds of her husband's whistling coming through the halls ahead of her. A sound she would have recognized in an instant if her brain had registered hearing it in the first place. It hadn't taken too long after they had moved to the mansion for him to start it, maybe somewhere around the time that they had found out she was pregnant, so about 7 years, give or take.

But Lee didn't hear the whistling, so she was quite surprised when she and Alice rounded a corner to just about run right into Tarin. But she hadn't figured out about Alice yet, so she just kept walking, grabbing Tarin's hand with her free one as he fell in step beside her.

"Finished it," Lee said simply in response to Tarin's question about her paper as she looked her daughter over again while walking. There really wasn't anything else to say about it. There was, however, stuff to say about their daughter. "Alice says she's not feeling good, so I thought we'd go visit DocProf for a bit."

As Tarin entwined his fingers with Lee's, they made their way down the hall and Tarin watched the backs of some of the students he'd just passed. They were walking in singles or pairs, a few in small groups and they were presumably heading to their next class or lunch. Lee was finished with her paper, and Tarin couldn't help but grin. If she was finished with her paper that meant she'd have free time later on in the evening. Tarin liked free time. A lot.

Lee continued, explaining the field trip she and Alice were going on and Tarin frowned slightly. The infirmary was not a very fun place to go in the middle of the day. Especially with a sick kid. Oh, Alice had had the usual contingent of childhood illness and Tarin had fully experienced the joys of cleaning vomit out of bed sheets and off carpets. The problem was, with the haywire virus still plaguing mutants and humans everywhere, there was just no telling when a kid started to feel sick.

"I better not have to get a shot..." Alice said, and Tarin stopped, picking her up to carry her down the hall instead of making her walk. "Well, hopefully you're not sick at all." he replied, noting with slight worry that her cheeks were uncharacteristically red and her eyes a little too bright. "If that's the case, then Doc will just call Mommy a silly worrier again and we can go back to our rooms.” Alice nodded her head and laid it on Tarin’s shoulder and he could feel the heat from her forehead. She was a little warm.

Tarin was a little worried. Since their scare at the zoo, both he and Lee had been even more paranoid than usual about keeping Alice out of the general population. Rupert, however, still insisted that she go to Sunday school and church every week, there was every possible chance that she could be around people who were sick. Tarin pulled himself together. There was no real, conclusive evidence that this was the case. They’d just wait until the Doc had seen Alice.

Lee could feel Tarin frowning when she told him where she and Alice were going, she didn't need to see it. She'd known Tarin after just six months, so after 10 years of marriage, Lee didn't need to see him to know he'd be frowning after hearing certain things.

It was at that point that Alice chose to open her mouth again, and Lee couldn't help the small smile that appeared there as she watched Tarin picking their daughter up. It was annoying how DocProf so often told her she didn't have to worry so much, that she worried too much, but Lee thought it would be best to err on the side of caution.

"How about I make you something special for dinner?" Lee asked Alice, since looking at her daughter's head resting on Tarin's shoulder, Lee was really starting to worry that something was wrong.

Walking into the infirmary a couple moments later, Lee glanced around and saw the room was empty. DocProf must be in his office. Turning back to Alice, Lee kissed her on the forehead. Alice was really feeling warm now. "Why don't you and daddy sit here figure out what you want to eat tonight?" Seeing Alice nod slightly, Lee turned to Tarin, and gave him a kiss as well. "I'll go grab the doc. Back in a minute hon."

Walking to the back of the room, Lee knocked on DocProf's door before going in to talk to him about Alice.

Lee was nervous. Tarin didn't even have to hear her talk or look at her face to know that she was worrying. Tarin didn't even need 10 years of marriage to know it. Lee just worried. Lee had always worried. Lee was always going to worry. It was just one of those facts of life, like night following day and the last line of your favorite song playing the second you turn on the radio. Lee worried, Tarin tried his best to make her feel better. Except when it came to Alice. The standard still held most of the time, Lee worried, Tarin tried to make her feel better. But on rare occasions, Tarin worried too. Then it fell to Doc or Alice to make them feel better about the situation.

They were at the infirmary now and Lee was offering to cook Alice something for dinner, "I'll even help, so it's edible." he told her as Lee was walking away to get the Doc. Alice grinned back at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. Tarin really started to worry, teasing Mommy always made Alice smile. "Maybe some tacos or nachos?" Tarin said, and Alice just nodded.

Lee wasn't gone long and she came with a weary looking DocProf in tow. The poor man had seen Alice so many times in her short life and 98.5% of the time, she'd been perfectly fine. He was used to it now, so he just grinned at the slightly apologetic look Tarin cast his way. "I think she might actually be coming down with something this time..." he said, "She feels really warm, and she's a little listless." Doc Prof looked at Alice, then bent down for a closer look and actually frowned. Tarin's heart jumped into his throat.

"She does look a little peaked. Come on kiddo. Let's go check you out."

"Only if daddy carries me." Alice said, then sighed and rubbed her eyes, "I'm tired."

"Of course I'll carry you." Tarin said, then picked up his daughter and took her back to one of the cots to lay her down while doc started looking her over.

Lee's arrival at DocProf's office brought much the same reaction as it had for most of the last four years: a sigh, a slight roll of the eyes, and the comment that he'd be right out. He had given up trying to shoo her off before the problem had been examined before Alice had even been born, and had given up trying to convince Lee that she didn't have to bring Alice down to see him for every single little thing by the time Alice had turned two. Now he seemed to just go along with it, if sometimes seemingly reluctantly, probably figuring it was easier than fighting with Lee. It probably was.

So a couple minutes later, after he had finished whatever it was he'd been in the middle of working on, DocProf left his office, Lee in tow, to go take a look at Alice.

And frowned after he'd bent down to take a look at her. Lee's heart was pounding as she watched Tarin carry her to a bed so the doctor could examine her further.

~~~~~~~~~

Twenty minutes later, DocProf was off running various tests from the swabs and blood samples he had taken from Alice. And though she hadn't been at all happy about the needles required to get those blood samples, Alice was now dozing, if not outright sleeping, on the on the hospital bed that Tarin had laid her on.

"I don't like this, Tarin," Lee said in a whisper as she wrapped her arms around her husband and pressed her cheek against his shoulder. "It can't be too serious, can it? I mean, DocProf would have known right away, wouldn't he?"

Alice was sleeping. Well, dozing was really a better explanation but it was a difficult one to apply to a six year old. Six year olds usually didn’t doze. They ran until they couldn’t run anymore, then they pretty much just passed out wherever they were. The fact that a six year old…correction his six year old was dozing on an infirmary cot did nothing to calm Tarin’s quickly fraying nerves.

Tarin checked the clock. It really hadn’t been that long since he and Lee had brought Alice down here to be checked out. But it was much longer than they usually spent down here when Lee was just worrying and there was nothing wrong with their daughter. That’s why Tarin was still nervous, and that’s why he hadn’t said anything for a few minutes.

Alice had handled the needles well, too well for a child that usually fought with the fury of a thousand hounds of hell when she had to get a shot. That was worrisome too, so Tarin just sat by her on the infirmary cot, running his fingers through her light hair as she dozed.

Tarin heard the footsteps before the doctor returned to their little corner of the infirmary and while his face was relaxed, Tarin knew instantly that something was wrong.

“I’m so sorry, but I’m going to have to run another couple of tests.” The doc said, a tense smile coating his features, ”I’m not going to count on Alice to hold out for another round of blood drawing as well as she did this time, so Lee, why don’t you go and grab her a toy or something to distract her and we’ll let her sleep a little longer.”

Lee hesitated, but after a moment she left the infirmary to get the requested toy. Doc was only quiet for a few seconds, then he spoke, ”I don’t need to run any more tests Tarin. I’m just waiting for one more to confirm what I already know, god help me.” It was all he needed to say, Tarin’s blood ran cold in his veins and his hand stopped running through Alice ’s hair, but stayed there on her head.

“You’re wrong Doc, you’re wrong.” But Doc just shook his head sadly.

“You think, knowing how Lee reacts, that I’d say anything before I was sure? That’s why I sent her away for a minute Tarin. I’m still waiting on that last test, but I’m sure enough that we’re going to need to get Alice into isolation. I’m not sure Lee would allow it, so I’m going to ask you to help me. We can’t risk either of you getting exposed. Your powers…”

“Oh god…oh god…” Tarin said over and over again, staring at Alice in the bed as what Doc was saying really started to sink in.

”Tarin, I’m so sorry…but we need to move.” Doc hesitated and Tarin could see the sympathy on his face, ”You’ll also need to stop touching her…I’m so sorry Tarin. I’ll take her, you’ll need to tell Lee.”

Tarin’s hand froze, wouldn’t move from Alice ’s head, as he digested what the Doc was saying. AND he wanted him to tell Lee…without letting her see Alice first. It was a hell of a dilemma…a hell of a dilemma and Lee was going to be furious. But there was also the chance that Lee wouldn’t let them take Alice …and as heart wrenching as it was, as much as it made Tarin’s eyes well up to even think about it. They had to take her.

Tarin nodded, but sat on the bed, “ Alice , honey…” He said, pulling her upright and into his lap for a second. “Doc’s going to have to take you on a little trip, but he’s going to make you feel better.” Tarin’s voice cracked on the last word and he took a deep breath and held it, not wanting to scare Alice even more than she was already going to be.

She looked up, staring at him intently for a few moments, her little flushed face dark with concern, then she nodded her head and turned to Doc. “Well, let’s go then. Mommy is going to flip though. Love you daddy, tell mommy for me.” Then doc picked her up and they were gone. He could hear Doc talking though, ”You’ll be able to talk to them again soon Alice . You’re just going to a special room for a while that’s going to make you better.”

It had happened so fast. Lee had gone, Doc had told Tarin that their daughter had…had…he still couldn’t even think the word. It was too much. He sank down on the bed and put his head in his hands, willing the momentary loss of emotional control to go away. Lee was going to be back soon and god only knew what was going to happen then, one thing was for sure though. At least for the time being, Tarin wasn’t going to have the time to deal with his own emotions.

Lee heard DocProf come out of his office, heard his footsteps walking through the infirmary, felt his energy getting closer to her where she stood by Tarin and their daughter, her eyes on Alice's face. She really was starting to look more than a little flush. She only turned to look at him once he had reached where they were, though.

And was shocked and scared when DocProf said that he needed to run more tests. Then horrified at the suggestion that she leave, while Alice stayed there, even if it was just to get a toy for Alice. Lee most certainly did not want to leave her daughter's side, didn't want to be away from her. Lee was worried about doing that at the best of times, so now, when Alice was clearly sick, the idea truly scared her.

But as Lee's eyes turned back to Alice's face, seeing how she was laying there, remembering how she had been during the needles, Lee knew that having a toy would help Alice, and that in turn would hopefully help her and Tarin a bit.

Plus, it almost had to be her to go. Sure, Tarin could go to Alice's room and just grab something, he did know what she played with, but Lee had a better idea of what Alice's favourites were, she would have a better idea of which one would help Alice the most there in the infirmary.

So taking a deep breath, Lee nodded to the doctor. Leaning over, Lee gave Alice a soft kiss on the forehead, then hurried from the room. The faster she went, the sooner she'd be back, after all. And so Lee pretty much ran the entire way back upstairs to Alice's bedroom. Unfortunately, she'd spent most of the day on her own working on her paper, so Lee didn't have the energy to go nearly as fast as she would have liked. Still, it didn't take that much time to get back upstairs.

Bursting into Alice's bedroom, Lee searched around. It took a minute or so, but finally Lee found the stuffed purple bunny Tarin had won for Alice at a fair when they were in Texas. Tarin had told her that it would always protect her, its long ears could hear anything, and it was the toy Lee always found Alice clutching whenever she had a nightmare.

She was already halfway back out the door when Lee had another thought. Alice was sleeping then, but if she woke up, and was actually feeling awake any time soon, Lee figured she'd be wanting to draw. Tucking the rabbit into the crook of her arm, Lee stooped down and grabbed a handful of crayons and markers. Paper they could get from the doctor, but Alice would need something to draw with.

Then Lee was moving again, rushing back down to the infirmary. She was in the door and halfway across the room before she even realized something was wrong, that something had changed since she'd last been there.

Tarin's head was in his hands, the bed beside him empty, and Lee could only feel him there in the room with her. Her eyes widening in fear, her heart pounding in her chest, and not from the run she'd just had, Lee started forward again, faster this time.

"Where is she?" Lee asked, tossing the load in her arms on the bed next to the one Tarin was sitting on as she reached him. She wasn't really hearing her voice, but the panic there had to be audible. "What's happened, where's my baby?"

Things were still happening too fast. Tarin hadn't quite pulled himself together when he heard Lee's voice. The panic was obvious and the words didn't even sound like anything Lee would usually say. Part of Tarin just wanted to stay there, like that, instead of facing what he knew was going to be a mother's fury.

Letting his hands fall into his lap, Tarin looked up at Lee. The anguish and his own panic had to be present in his features and he didn't have a clue what to say for a long moment. Then he moved forward and grasped Lee's wrists gently.

"Lee. She's fine...right now she's fine. We'll take her the toys in a minute. Doc had to take her though."

Tarin paused...surely Doc would take Alice her toys while she was in isolation. They'd let Isis bring the stuff when they'd had the last scare and it wasn't like their daughter was a prisoner.

"Here's the thing..." Tarin said, "They didn't need to run anymore tests. They had all the results they needed..." his voice got more and more gruff as he talked and Tarin had to pause for a second to pull himself together. It was hard, one of the hardest things he'd ever done, but if Tarin knew Lee...and Tarin knew Lee...she was going to need him, not a stupid bunch of nerves and emotion.

"They've all but confirmed without a doubt that she's got haywire." The words still sounded fake when they came out of his mouth, but Tarin knew that was denial. "Doc sent you away because they were worried you wouldn't let her go. They had to take her to isolation...our powers Lee...they had to get her away."

Tarin was up and moving toward her, grabbing her wrists. Not her hands, not wrapping his arms around her, but holding her wrists. And the look on Tarin's face as he looked at her...Lee's legs almost gave out from under her before Tarin had even opened his mouth.

Then Tarin was speaking, and Lee was shaking her head. No, it couldn't be. Alice just had a bit of a fever, was just sick, not...not that...

The rational part of Lee's mind told her that it made sense, told her that the doctor was right to take Alice away as soon as he knew, to get her away from her and Tarin to limit the exposure there.

But there was another part of her that just wanted to pull away from Tarin, rush through the halls until she found where DocProf had taken Alice, to pull her into her arms and not let go until her daughter was feeling better.

Instead of doing that, Lee collapsed against Tarin, tears falling from her eyes before she even knew they were coming. "How could he just take her like that?" Lee asked through her tears. It didn't matter that they were probably right and she wouldn't have let the doctor take Alice had she been there. She was her daughter, after all, her only child, her miracle child.

The look on Lee's face as Tarin explained the situation was almost enough to break his resolve to hold himself together. Lee was expressing the same disbelief that he had at first. Tarin knew how she felt, exactly how she felt. He still didn't want to believe it either. But Doc had taken Alice, they'd ran the tests, and it was true.

Lee didn't pull away when Tarin was done talking, she didn't run, she didn't explode with angry energy. Instead, she did the last thing that Tarin had expected.

When Lee fell against him, Tarin let go of her wrists and wrapped his arms around her as she cried. Tarin wanted to cry too, something he really wasn't used to doing all that often. He held it together, they couldn't afford for both of them to completely go to pieces. There would be time later for Tarin to let it out if need be.

Lee was asking how Doc could do that, take Alice away like he had. "Once they were pretty sure...that....was what she had, they had to get her into isolation fast." Tarin pulled back a little bit, "They know how we are with Alice, Lee, and Doc was afraid if you were here they wouldn't be able to get her where she needs to be."

Tarin paused for another moment, letting the words sink in to Lee before he continued, "They had to take her away because we both know what would happen if either one of us came down with Haywire. The risk can't be taken."

Lee just stood there, clinging to Tarin, her arms clutching him as she cried and he tried to explain. Rationally, Lee knew everything that he said, she knew that what had been done was the right thing to do given the situation they now found themselves in. But Lee couldn't help but think how wrong it was.

"I know that," Lee said, the tears still flowing from her eyes. But she gave Tarin one last squeeze then pushed away from him. "But she's going to be so scared, Tarin. She's not going to know what's going on on, and we're not going to be there..."

Pushing the rest of the way away from Tarin, Lee took a couple steps away, grabbing for the toy and crayons off the bed. Then Lee was moving, walking, no rushing, in the direction she was sure the doctor would have taken Alice. She had to see her daughter.

At least she wasn't mad at him. Tarin couldn't help but think, but instantly felt bad for the selfish thought in the midst of everything going so suddenly and unequivocally wrong. It was a relief though, and for what felt like the umpteenth time, Tarin felt himself losing control of the tenuous hold he had on his own emotions.

Lee really wasn't okay though. Not by a long shot. She was talking now, talking about how scared Alice was going to be. Tarin couldn't help but think though, how well Alice had taken everything in stride so far. Lee was running off though, running off with the toys she'd grabbed for Alice.

Tarin took off at a run, a sprint in fact, to get in front of Lee and stop. It didn't matter if she ran into him. He wanted to stop her, "Lee." He said, hands out in front of him, palms up. "When Doc picked Alice up and took her out of this room, the only one she was worried about was you."

He stopped for a moment to let that sink in, "She wasn't worried about herself, and once she was sure I was okay, the only thing she had to say was 'okay, but mommy is going to flip.'" Another pause.

"Now. If you go running in there like an avenging angel. You're going to scare her more." Tarin looked at Lee levelly, this was it, the penultimate moment, his emotions were firmly in check. At least for the time being.

"If you think this isn't absolutely ripping me to shreds too Lee, you're sorely mistaken...but I'm not going to let you rush in there in an absolutely panic and make things worse." Maybe Lee would be pissed at him now, maybe she wouldn't. Tarin knew he was right though, and as rare as they were, this was one of the times he was going to put his foot down with Lee.

"Now. Take a deep breath, dry your tears and let's go take Alice her toys. If you want to panic and freak out later when she can't see you. I'll be there for you a hundred percent. Right now, though, you're going to pull yourself together or you're not going. Can you do that?"

Tarin didn't move now, just waited for everything to sink in as they stood in the hallway.

Before Lee knew it, Tarin was in front of her. And before she was able to stop herself, she was running into him, his body stopping her forward momentum.

The moment that she had caught her balance, Tarin was talking. And talking. Lee had known that their daughter was too smart, too mature, for a girl of six, but this was a little much. Alice had been more worried about the fact that she was going to 'flip' than about the fact that DocProf was taking her away and that her mum and dad weren't able to come with her.

Closing her eyes, Lee took a shaky breath. Tarin was right, again. If she actually went rushing in like she was about to, if she was actually able to, she would just end up scaring and freaking Alice out even more than she was already going to be.

Not only was Tarin right, though, but he was also putting his foot down, something he rarely did with her, or with Alice for that matter. Most of the time, if he was asked the right way, both Lee and Alice could get Tarin to agree to almost anything. But there were times, like this, when he stood his ground and would not back down. And with how he was speaking, Lee knew that Tarin would do everything in his power to keep her away if she didn't calm down.

Tucking the bunny in the crook of her arm again, Lee raised her hand to wipe the tears off her face. There were a lot more there than she had thought there would be. Finally taking another deep, shaky breath, Lee opened her eyes and looked up at Tarin. She needed to be strong for Alice. They both did.

"Ok," Lee said in a whisper. "Let's go. Alice is going to want this stuff."