>>Kate, that's a lie and we both know it. You're better than that. You wouldn't just stroll outside in the winter just to feel some rain. Unless you're a lot less smart than I've given you credit for. What really happened?

Kate looked up into Andrew’s eyes and sighed. How was she supposed to explain this to him? How was she supposed to explain this to anyone?

“Actually that was really it. I was tired of feeling… or rather not feeling things. My mother died having been trapped in my house for 16 years. Never going outside and always being afraid. Afraid to live. I don’t want my life to be like that. I don’t want to die without having lived. I can’t live the way I have been. That’s not a life.”

Kate poked at her half finished eggs and suddenly she wasn’t so hungry. Sure it sounded crazy but that was how she felt. She didn’t want to live her life in a bubble anymore. It was time for her to push her limits and experience life. It was time to break out of her prison.

Tired of not really living her life huh? Andrew could understand that. The way her mutation forced her to live couldn't be easy.

"I get that. It's not easy being a mutant and having to deal with the power. But that's really no excuse do something that could have easily killed you. Your mother wouldn't have wanted that I'm sure."

He pulled out one of the chairs nearby and sat down in front of Kate.

"You can live your life without risking it like that. The last thing I'd want to do would be to have to attend your funeral."

Andrew grimaced. He wasn't sure whether any of what he was saying made a lick of sense to anyone but him.

"I guess what I'm saying is you don't have to lock yourself up in fear of living but you don't have to put yourself at risk so easily. Just be careful."

>>I get that. It's not easy being a mutant and having to deal with the power. But that's really no excuse do something that could have easily killed you. Your mother wouldn't have wanted that I'm sure. You can live your life without risking it like that. The last thing I'd want to do would be to have to attend your funeral. I guess what I'm saying is you don't have to lock yourself up in fear of living but you don't have to put yourself at risk so easily. Just be careful.

“Gawain said the same thing, you were a little more graphic then he was but the same basic idea. So, I think I should tell you the same thing I told him. The problem with me is that there is not much that won’t hurt me in some way or another. I can take precautions but there are always risks in a lot of the things I do that aren’t safe and still keep me within in own 4 walls. My mutation takes a very large toll on my life and makes it so I can’t do a lot of very normal things. Like…” tears started to well up in Kate’s eyes as she thought about all the things she was missing in life, “I want to go ice skating or have a snowball fight or… go outside in the winter. So many things that people do that I will never get to experience.”

Kate sipped her tea and looked out the large windows into the dark of the cold winter night, “Andrew you chose to separate yourself from the world, I didn’t. I was put into this prison without any choice in the matter.”

Kate whipped the tears that had fallen from her eyes and moved to put her plates into the dishwasher and tried to avoid Andrew’s gaze so he wouldn’t see her loose of control. She had promised herself after she woke up from her short coma that she wouldn’t cry anymore and here she was crying again.

Apparently Gawain had already beaten him to the punch on that speech. It honestly sort of irked him that he had. Of course Kate countered by pointing out just how limited she was. That was a valid point. He'd concede that much. However he wasn't going to give up that easily.

"We'll find a way then. This is a school full of mutants with a techno room that lets Sam beat up people that don't even exist. If we can't find a way to let you do those things in this place then we just aren't trying hard enough."

Kate moved to put her plates in the dishwasher and thus turned away from him. Andrew stood up and followed her. It sucked to see her hurting like this. His hands settled onto her shoulders.

"I know that but you aren't alone in that prison anymore. You've got friends and the door is wide open. We'll be there to help you every step of the way."

>>We'll find a way then. This is a school full of mutants with a techno room that lets Sam beat up people that don't even exist. If we can't find a way to let you do those things in this place then we just aren't trying hard enough.

Kate tried to say thank you but nothing came out. She had lost the control and wall she had so diligently kept up since this whole thing started and the emotions were starting to flood her as the dam in her mind fell.

Kate put her face into her hands as she felt the pressure of Andrew’s hands on her shoulders.

>>I know that but you aren't alone in that prison anymore. You've got friends and the door is wide open. We'll be there to help you every step of the way.

All Kate could do was whimper and gasp in response, as her crying became more intense.

Oh great. He'd gone and made Kate cry again. Either he was good at it or just had horrible timing. Andrew thought it might have been a bit of both. Still, Kate was a daughter grieving for her mother and a person crying for the freedoms that life had seen fit to deny her. He'd been serious in what he'd said though. He cared about Kate. The least he could do would be to help her come up with a way to have the life she couldn't.

While Andrew was standing there awkwardly a clock chimed in the next room. Andrew glanced over to the wall clock and realized that it was indeed just now midnight. It was Christmas no less. Andrew moved so that he was standing beside Kate and gave her a one-armed hug.

"Hey Kate, Merry Christmas."

Andrew moved over to the counter where the last of his cookies were done cooling and shifted them from the cooling rack to one of a few plates along with the others. He then proceeded to finish cleaning up the kitchen. Seeing as he wasn't quite sure what to say to Kate to stop the crying Andrew figured getting the kitchen tidied up after the last of his baking was done would be the best thing to do.

Kate took a minute to regain herself. She hated crying like this in front of anyone let alone Andrew. She had worked so hard to keep her emotions to herself and so far had done great. It had been over a week since she had really cried and she had really hoped that the worse was over but somehow talking to Andrew about it had broken the dam she had so diligently built brick by brick.

>>Hey Kate, Merry Christmas.

For some reason Andrew’s hug and response brought her right back to reality and she found herself standing firmly in the kitchen once more.

“Merry Christmas.”

Andrew plucked a cookie off of the top of one of the stacks he'd made. It was shaped like a snowman and Andrew held it out to Kate.

"Cookie?"

Yeah it wasn't much but it would do. After all, he just wasn't really good at handling these situations. Cookies spoke better than his words ever could.

"You going to be ok?"

If she needed to cry some more he could quite easily be used as a tissue for the tears. Andrew paused this line of thinking to loose a string of curses more foul than he thought he would ever use at whatever it was that had seen fit to give Kate this sort of misfortune. Only within his head though. It just wouldn't have been entirely proper to do so out loud. He didn't exactly have anything specific to curse about himself.

>>Cookie?

“Thank you.” Kate took the cookie.

>>You going to be ok?

Kate’s eyes were stilled filled with unfallen tears that she was fighting to hold back. She really hated crying and crying in front of someone just made it worse, “I’ll be fine. I just haven’t cried for a while and I guess the combination of that and being a little tired just got the better of me. I apologize, it wasn’t very proper of me to lose it like that.”

Kate slowly ate her cookie and tired desperately not to make eye contact, feeling like a complete idiot about crying in front of Andrew again.

Andrew gave a well meaning shrug to Kate.

"Hey if you need to cry, cry. It won't do you any good to bottle it up."

He was speaking from experience on that point. It was hard enough for him to deal with bottling it all up. The statement was pretty hypocritical of him and he knew it but he wasn't perfect. He'd keep bottling things up to prevent causing trouble for his friends.

"And if you're tired then go to bed silly."

Which was something he probably should do soon. After all, he really only stayed up like this to bake and tonight's baking was done. However Kate seemed to need a friend at the moment so he'd stay up with her.

>>Hey if you need to cry, cry. It won't do you any good to bottle it up. And if you're tired then go to bed silly.

“Your probably right. If Jensen finds me down here when he comes to make me food he will just shuffle me off to bed anyway. I mean that man seems to think that I am more then fragile. I may still not be fully recovered but I am far from fragile. Thank you for the cookie.” Kate started moving to clean up her food and tea. She hadn’t eaten much of it but that seemed to be the case lately. IT seemed that she just wasn’t as hungry as she should be and she once again made a note to go to ProfDoc about it at some point, a note that she would probably forget before she did it.

Andrew moved over and helped Kate clean up. She didn't seem to have eaten much. Maybe she just wasn't all that hungry. He shrugged it off in either case.

"Take care of yourself Kate and don't mention it. I made a lot anyway. Christmas and whatnot. They'll probably be gone before lunch tomorrow."

Jensen was something Kate would have to deal with herself. He'd help if he could but she'd have to tell Jensen to step off a little on her own most likely. Andrew gave a mental shrug in regards to it and waved to Kate as he exited the Kitchen to head for his room. He'd have to start thinking of ways to let Kate do all those things she wanted to but couldn't.

Such thoughts took up most of his mind. However some small part saw fit to note that the awkwardness that had been there before she'd left was pretty much gone. That just left the trial to go. Once that was done everything would be fine.