This was the first time that Kealey had stayed in a hotel in New York City. She’d arranged for her first apartment before she’d arrived, and since then happenstance and the Mansion had eliminated the need for a temporary place to stay.

Until tonight.

The apartment building they lived in, above the Iris Clinic, was a crime scene. It had almost felt like a miracle that she and Shin had been allowed in to get a few things before the police closed everything off. Something had happened in Ghost and Sebastian’s apartment, and from the amount and grave nature of the police at the scene it looked serious. Kealey was worried, Ghost and Sebastian weren’t just their landlords, they were friends. If something awful had happened, Kealey wanted to know!

Pulling rank as an X-Man hadn’t helped either. These police weren’t interested in credentials unless they said NYPD. So here they were. At a hotel.

It was a nice hotel, but Kealey found that she didn’t have it in her to be excited about much. She was too preoccupied with what was happening back at the apartments. Still. They needed a place to stay.

They'd checked in, and dropped Thor off at the kennels the hotel provided. An electronic key was slid through an electronic lock, and the door to their room swung open. Kealey and Shin carried their bags in and the blond bee-lined for the bed.

Once there, she flopped, face-down with a dejected and worried sigh. There just wasn’t anything to say.

His stomach was in knots. Something, anything, was better than worrying about Ghost.

Shin flounced the bed and flicked on the television. A cartoon meerkat and boar appeared, center-stage.

Hakuna matata! What a wonderful phrase! One began.

Shin blinked. Shin stared. More singing. Apparently, it meant no worries. Off went the TV at that.

Okay. He supposed he'd been wrong. That had just made him worry more.

"So, TV's out..." He muttered, chin digging into the covers of the bed as he lay there, on his chest. "Everything's making me worry, even things specifically designed not to."

Kealey heard the impact of a body on the other bed. The TV flipped on, Pumbaa sang, and the TV turned off.

They were really going to have to figure this hotel thing out the next time they stayed somewhere…two beds was impractical when they just ended up squeezing into one

Shin’s muffled voice came from the same direction the body flop had and Kealey ”Mmhm’d” into her own covers.

She thought about it for a moment, then lifted her head to look across the space between the beds.

”Everything is going to be okay though…isn’t it?” she asked. Hoping for reassurance, but knowing from the emotional climate in the room that she was unlikely to get it.

"... I don't know." Shin said dully.

He hated indecision. And not knowing. And feeling like, just maybe, if he'd been there... this wouldn't have been his fault.

"Why weren't we there to help when we were needed..." He muttered.

Shin spoke again, and Kealey sighed. That hadn’t been the answer she’d been hoping for. It had been the answer she expected.

The feelings Shin was projecting were the same ones he always felt when something happened that he wasn’t able to stop, and Kealey shook her head as he spoke.

”There was nothing we could have done.” she said. ”And if whatever happened was bad enough to cause problems for Sebastian and Ghost…we probably would have been in the way or gotten hurt too.”

Yes they were both X-Men, but that didn’t mean they were limitless. Sure Shin could make bulletproof stuff with his mind…but Sebastian was an immortal unicorn guy with healing powers. If something had been able to take him on….

”Maybe we can help figure out what happened though…”

>>”And if whatever happened was bad enough to cause problems for Sebastian and Ghost…we probably would have been in the way or gotten hurt too.”

Shin sighed.

"That doesn't make it okay." He muttered quietly into the bedding. This hotel had good sheets.


>>”Maybe we can help figure out what happened though…”

That was a silly idea.

"What. Like private eyes?" Like Detective Conan? Like Phoenix Wright? Like Professor Layton? Like a detective...? Wait. Derp. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling wistfully. "I guess I could ask around at the station~"

Kealey frowned as Shin spoke. Now she was the one who felt helpless.

Shin was being persistent though, and she could tell by his emotions that her words hadn’t done anything to help.

Being unable to help made Kealey frown. It really was a bad situation…and Shin didn’t think her idea about figuring things out made any sense either.

Man…

Wait…his emotions shifted slightly, and Kealey picked up her head and looked at him across the space between the beds as he made a suggestiong.

”I guess. I was thinking more, like X-Men, but we’d probably have to do some investigating. Asking at the station would probably be a great place to start.”

Kealey paused. ”It has to be better than doing nothing.”

"Yeah." Shin agreed.

It was better. Better than feeling helpless. Better than feeling directionless. He generally felt a bit better, now. Though only as much as one could expect while dealing with what they were dealing with, right now.

He looked over at Kealey.

"I love you, Kealey. Thanks." She was his rock.

Kealey had to smile just a little when Shin looked over at her. She’d felt the shift, the subtle move that meant that everything was going to be okay. Well…at least as okay as it could possibly be.

”I love you too.” she said, propping her elbow up so she could lean her head in her hand.

”We’ll figure out what happened.”

"Yeah, we will." He agreed in a breath.

And that was that.