"Hi, Mr. Corydon! It's Ghost from The Full Circle Bookstore. I'm not sure what you may have seen in the media recently or what you know about the situation, but I figured you as my chief investor deserved an update. If you're amenable, give me a call back and we'll set something up. I hope that you don't mind me calling. I needled Sam into sharing your current contact information. Looking forward to it!"

Kaz pulled his phone from his ear and looked at it as if it were a writhing creature. Checking the number of the caller didn't tell him anything, he didn't recognize it. If the woman who left the message was who he believed it to be, that wasn't surprising, it had been years since he had spoken to her. Even then, most of their exchanges had been in person.

Kaz played the message again. It was definitely her. Vega. Even if he hadn't seen her, and heard her, recently, he would have recognized her voice. He was sure, beyond a doubt it was that momentary meeting when she caught himself all but yelling at Sam in his office. That had been mortifying. He had hoped to see there or find out how to get in contact with her, but after that, he hadn't been able to bring himself to ask after her or look for her.

Once again he pressed play on the message. He listened to it, not what she said, but how she said it. Ghost was her name, the one she seemed most comfortable with. He never did believe 'Vega' was her actual name, or a name that fit her, and he remembered how vehemently against Maya she was. Though, perhaps it was that she didn't want him to call her Maya. Possibly, but that didn't fit with what he had felt that day.

Just as he was beginning to pull the phone away again, he heard what he thought was abnormal breathing. Was she nervous? Possibly, hell he was a bit too. Any meeting could easily, probably would be, a bit awkward. He may have been the chief investor, but he had also fell of the face of the planet for almost six years. If he hadn't, then whatever had happened, and it seemed to have been big, he might have been able to prevent or mitigate any damages. At the very least he could have helped.

Kaz pulled Vega/Maya/Ghost's number up from the log and didn't do anything. What was he going to do? Vega had been quite composed, like she had spent the time to figure out what to say, and how to say it. He could believe that it wasn't easy for her to call him like she did.

Pouring himself a drink Kaz set his phone down and tried to think through what he would say when he returned her call. After a few minutes Kaz sighed, threw back the rest of his drink and pressed Call. A part of him hoped she didn't pick up so he could just leave a message. Play a bit of voicemail tag. Even as he thought of it he knew it was childish.

The line connected and Kaz paused expecting to hear a message explaining what he should do to leave a voicemail. When it didn't come he realized it was live. ”Ah, I'm looking for Vega..Ghost..or Maya? I have to admit I'm a little confused.” He waited a moment before continuing. In short order he explained, in few words, that he did not have any details beyond what he saw in the store's window. They worked out where and when to meet up. He allowed Vega to choose the date and place, and he choose the time frame while she choose the specific meet-up time therein. Kaz offered to have a car drive her to and from the meeting if she wished, he would be driving himself.

That is how Kaz found himself sitting at The Lemontree Lounge. He had picked a table that was out of the way from most customers, but was not private. Vega/Maya/Ghost had wanted to be in a public setting, this was the best he could do without setting his own paranoia into overdrive.

Kaz was sitting in the chair, his back to the wall, a red button up shirt un-tucked, the top and bottom most buttons were undone. On someone else, it might have looked sloppy, on Kaz, it was fashion. It was tight enough across his chest and abdomen to show off without being constricting. His black slacks were of a similar cut, a professional cut that still allowed freedom of movement. Even the long black coat he had draped over the back of his chair seemed to point out it's excellent quality and style with a devil-may-care indifference for those who viewed it. Kaz's boots were the only things that did not seem to fit at first glance. They were big, clunky, and matte black. They, like the rest of his outfit was well made and of high quality, but it was obvious role of his boots was function, to be used, and abused and they did not try to hide it. Kaz's cool red eyes were not covered by his hair, something that happened often enough. Instead his hair was pulled back and bound in a tail, leaving only a few strands on either side of his head loose.

He had showed up early to their meeting, something he liked to do. He had ordered a drink while he waited. When he saw Vega/Maya/Ghost, he stood up and bowed to her slightly. ”Ghost is your preferred name I take it?” He motioned for her to sit, sitting only after she had. He let out a breath, ”Before anything else, I want to say, I'm sorry, that you walked in on....That was not how I had hoped to meet you again.”

Why the Lemontree Lounge? Because it had an easy to recognize sign out front when ghosting. The doors opened for nothing more than a cloudy breeze. Ghost did a quick sweep of the room. She gently ruffled shirt collars and tickled through hair until she identified her table.

"Mister Corydon. Good evening." It didn't take her long to form up into a ghostly version of herself. What took the most time was coming into her weight. Ghost touched down onto the toes of her shoes and sank fully onto her feet as her opacity increased.

> ”Ghost is your preferred name I take it?”

After returning the slight bow, she took a long blink that made the transition in her sight types easier. "Ghost is my X-man handle. Probably my most known name. When you called me Vega it was so surreal." She breathed out a laugh and shook her head as she took a seat across from Kaz. "We must have met when I was still so scared of everything. My family, the registration, oh man, everything was terrifying when I was Vega."

She was obviously a lot more comfortable with herself now. She sported the Maya Special. Today that meant a dark blue cardigan that was longer than her ruffled and tucked denim skirt. Her nod to the weather included tall brown boots and a turquoise scarf made of something indecently soft. Her hair was almost mannishly short before, now she wore it long in two messy braids.

Kaz's apology made her smile. "I certainly didn't expect to see you on there. Sam would have gotten carried away with or without you, honestly. お久しぶり. It's been a really long time." Her tone wasn't accusatory, simply an acknowledgement of time passing. She dipped her head again in greeting as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Looking over Kaz she got the distinct impression of sameness and differences that she just couldn't put her finger on. They just hadn't gotten to know each other well enough before. "I tried to reach out to you a few times, but when I couldn't get a hold of you, I assumed you might want to remain a silent partner. Not that it exactly matters right now."

She smiled warmly to the server that arrived and accepted a menu. This place was all about cocktails and little bites to eat. They didn't sell any heavy or awkward to eat foods, it was perfect for fast paced New York meetings or catching up with a friend. This felt like something a little between the two so it'd seemed appropriate.

"Goodness. I'm so sorry. I've been so anxious to talk to someone other than Sam about the bookstore that I skipped right over being polite. How have you been? Are you well?"

Kaz learned a something as soon as she made her presence known. Not only was she a mutant, but she was in fact an X-man. She was also quite open about using her powers, which he had never seen her use before. When he watched her coalesce into herself he was too surprised to think about it, but after they sat, he admitted to himself he was surprised she was able to do her little trick while keeping her clothes. He wouldn't expect someone like Vega...Ghost...he was gonna have to have her pick a name to be called...to do that if she would reappear naked. Not everyone who could do similar things could take clothes with them. Point in her favor. He'd always wondered why two mutants with similar abilities could differ so much.

”Family?” Kaz found himself looking for a ring, ”I didn't know you had a family Ve-...” He smiled a bit sheepishly, ”For my own sanity, I'm going to ask you to choose a name for me to call you by. It feels like Vega is inappropriate now, besides, I never believed it fit you well. You were so against Maya...And Ghost is so..new. I'm at a loss here.” He may have been at a loss, and unsure, but he was not upset or annoyed or put-out in any way by the name situation.

Mutants all over the world, seemed to pick up names easily. Some did it to hide, some did it to identify themselves, and others did it to make a statement. It could be a chore to keep up with those that kept changing that aspect of themselves, but Kaz understood. It was another part of mutant society he wondered about; Isolated mutants chose names for themselves just as often as mutants surrounded by other mutants, was it somehow wired into their DNA?

Kaz gave a soft chuckle, ”I'm sure that's true, he was already drinking when I showed up. In this case though...” Kaz paused as he searched his head. He was sure he knew the words, he could get by with them, but he was unsure if he would put them together correctly. She had done it, like she had done years ago, he was going to attempt it. ”私の責任です. I should not have gotten as...excited...about it.” Kaz shook his head a little, closing his eyes as he did. With a slight sigh, ”It wasn't the place or the time, not with kids and students close enough to overhear.”

Grimacing he looked at his hands, clasped together on the table, ”Yeah...I..It wasn't my intention to cut ties with everyone, but after Romania, I wasn't in a position to do much. Personally I mean.” He looked up from them, ”In hindsight, I wish I had been in contact these past years. When I saw the store..I was affected more than I realized I would be.”

Kaz cut himself off as he saw the server approaching. When he opened the menu he was surprised to see what they offered. 'Finger foods.' Inwardly he sighed heavily. He had kind of hoped they would have actual food. 'I'll have to get something more to eat later.' It didn't take him long to figure out what he would order, before the server left, he ordered deep fried cheese curds and mini corndogs with a strawberry-kiwi long island iced tea.

Kaz chuckled waving away her 'impoliteness'. It hadn't seemed impolite to him, just a natural flow of their meeting. Proper politeness could get in the way of things, it may be used in formal settings to set the tone, but it wasn't necessary here. ”Es ist in Ordnung. It's alright. I'm well, better than I have been in years. Back when I joined with you guys, I was..lost, trying to find a place for myself. I never did, but I made one. Until recently, it's kept me out of the States.“ That wasn't exactly true. It hadn't kept him out, but he had deliberately not begun anything in the States until about a year ago. “It's been a few months since I came back. I had meant to stop by earlier, to find and talk to you..“ Kaz raised his hands in a helpless 'You know' gesture, “Nerves I guess. And work. They don't need me breathing down their necks, they can do the job just fine, it's why I employ them, but I do check up on them often.“

"If you can't stomach Ghost, Maya is fine." Only people who were close to her called her Maya, but it was fine. Kaz didn't know her as Ghost and he sort of had earned the inside track to being her friend by helping her take over the bookstore in the first place. "My family is all on board with mutants now and the government is already all over my stuff. I've got no one left to hide from."

> ”he was already drinking when I showed up."

Maya was not surprised that Sam had been drinking alone in his office that early in the day. She was disappointed to hear it, though. "Sam hasn't been the same since... I don't even know any more what it was. Or is. Or maybe it's everything." She threw her hands up about the whole thing. Maya could not fix Sam. She could only try to mitigate the damage to him and by him.

She showed her ID and ordered one of the menu feature items, a cheery yellow drink that was some kind of frozen hard lemonade. Also a savory, vegetarian pastry.

> "but after Romania..."

"I have no stones to throw. I was there. It was worse than the American camps." Maya swallowed compulsively. The X-men had tried and failed in one of the initial liberation strikes. They were in a rush to get in mistakes were made. She had been in the group of mutants who, when the actual liberation push succeeded, was in the gas chamber, trying to keep the breathable air separate from what was trying to kill a whole room full of people.

And then, she'd been aspirated by the big red guy...

Her shoulders bunched until she realized that she'd been dwelling on Romania instead of the here and now. Once she realized that was her problem, she let the tension go. They weren't in the camps anymore.

> "When I saw the store..I was affected more than I realized I would be.”

"I will drink to that." The waiter helpfully even supplied their drinks. "If I didn't have a hundred other things to also be upset about, I might be more worried, but I think I'll get the store back once they comb through the financials properly." Wait. Did he even know about any of that? "Six years is a long time. I've been married, adopted a kid, had my own kid, divorced..."

> "I had meant to stop by earlier, to find and talk to you... Nerves I guess."

"Am I intimidating?" The thought was amusing and distressing all at once. Kaz was not the first and probably would not be the last person to be intimidated by her, but Maya just didn't see it.

And she tried not to feel neglected by Kaz not checking up on her. Instead, she tried to take it as a compliment. That he trusted her to take care of things. "For what it's worth, the bookstore doesn't turn a whole lot of profit, but it's probably because I pay people too much because I try to hire the people who need it and if I'm doing that I can't take advantage of them by gimping out earnings." Maya huffed, unaware that she'd just spouted a serious run on sentence without bothering to stop and take a breath.

"I've kept the lump sum of what you gave me as an emergency fund of sorts. Most of it's in investments that I try to only tap into when someone comes through and destroys things. Which only happened a total of two times, to be honest. We keep the peace pretty well. Well. We did." She was sure it was fine now. Probably.

“To be honest, I can't blame Sam. I don't know what he's gone through, not exactly or in detail, it's not my place, but I think I get it.“ Kaz waved a hand in a 'so-so' way, “I can't explain why, or how, but I don't think he and I are too different. If I could make it easier on myself by drinking, I would. Unfortunately, alcohol does nothing. I just like the taste.“ The neutral smile he had worn fell into something like concerned, understanding.

“I will drink to that.“

Kaz picked his drink up and saluted Maya and took a sip through the provided straw. “Mmm, that's good. They don't always get the flavor mix right, this place did though. Gonna have to tip them for it.“ Looking at Maya, “I'm gonna take a guess here, whatever happened with the bookstore, happened a few years ago, didn't it?“ Kaz was about to take another sip when he let the straw slip from his lips as he quirked a brow at Maya. Blinking, “You have a kid..kids? How old? What happened..if you don't mind me asking..“ Maybe they were unrelated, but Kaz had a feeling they weren't, not with how she put it right after mentioning the store.

“Am I intimidating?“

Kaz pursed his lips. “If you had asked med that before you ghosted your way in here today, I would have said no.“ He smirked, he was joking, or trying to. “Honestly it wasn't just you. I had joined with you guys, had made a commitment to help, to work with you all, and teach at the school. I had done that partially to repay someone, someone I hurt.” Kaz paused, unsure if he should continue. After taking a breath, ”In fact, you probably knew her. Iris.” Kaz twirled the straw in his drink, ”And then there was Kat. I had wanted to be around for her, as well as you, to help any way I could. It was..It took a while for me to get up the nerve.”

Kaz waved a dismissive had at the talk of profit. ”Maya, I may have given you the money to get the place up and running, but it was..is, your business. How you spend that money and on who, is your prerogative. And I respect you want to pay people a decent wage, not enough business owners do that. I make sure to pay my people more than what their jobs are actually worth, because they deserve it, and I have the funds to do it.”

He looked up as the server brought over what he had ordered. The server asked Maya if she would like anything else.

Kaz waited until the server left, ”I'm surprised you still have some of that money. Granted I have no idea how much it costs to start up a bookstore.” Kaz snerked and popped a few cheese curds into his mouth. Washing them down with a sip he continued, ”Assuming you don't have to fix too much when you get the store back, do you have any plans for the money?”

”Like you said earlier, six years is a long time. Could you tell me what happened with the store and why it's apparently locked up by the Feds?”

In answer to his question about when the bookstore was damaged she sighed again. "When we first opened, people tested my neutral ground policy. I got plate glass after that so bricks just bounce right back. The other time was only just a year or so ago. The riots after that news caster got beat up? I hid humans inside and stood at the door myself." With nothing more than her power and a broom in hand. That had been scary. "Had to replace the rotating door because of damages."

> “You have a kid..kids? How old?"

"Jude is adopted. 16. He's less my child and more someone who needed a way out of his situation when he was 9. You can't do that without an adult. We have... a truce. Kind of. If he keeps on top of his studies and stays out of trouble, I stay out of his business. I just... teenagers! I can't even.

He's a good kid, but his powers have him thinking that he can short cut the rules. And it's even more irritating when he's right! He just needs to know when it's appropriate to. If you're at the Mansion again, look him up. He could use... help? Guidance? I could use the help too because, seriously, teenagers." If her hair were not already white, she would have grays because of Jude. Seriously a lot of grays.

"Rowan is mine. He's never... no, let me phrase it this way: his father has never deigned to meet him. He's three and he's already started manifesting as a visible mutant." She would have spared him that if she could, but he didn't know any different. He was also growing up surrounded by mutants who were not only allowed, but encouraged to use their abilities.

"He's so excited to see what he can do which so far is nothing above what every other 3 year old claims he can do. We'll just have to wait and see." She shrugged. Well, the Mansionites would wait and see. Maya suspected she would be long dead by the time he got laserbeam eyes or bad guy trapping powers like Rowan hoped.

Maya sipped her drink and nodded in sympathy at Kaz's reasoning. "The Iris Apartments. Sebastian named our building after Iris." And of course Katrina. That little girl wormed her way into just about every heart in the Mansion. "We all managed somehow. I'm not saying we couldn't have used the help, but please don't feel guilty about the past."

> ”Maya, I may have given you the money to get the place up and running, but it was..is, your business."

And that was such a relief to hear. Without having drawn up the most formal of contracts, Maya had always been a little afraid that Kaz might come back and expect some return. "My dad's a part time Economics teacher at the Mansion. I'm used to debating the ROI of business with him. I think he's just glad we have some common ground."

> ”Assuming you don't have to fix too much when you get the store back, do you have any plans for the money?”

"Probably the same. Invest and save for those destructively rainy days. Without the confidence of a fall back cash reservoir, I would never have taken the risk of moving into more specialty books and community events." They had a lot of mutation and genetics subsections as well as special editions of popular book sets. Artsy stuff people would be proud to display on a shelf rather than something to consume and discard.

> ”Could you tell me what happened with the store and why it's apparently locked up by the Feds?”

Maya opened her mouth and shut it again. She hadn't been expecting to talk about her failed marriage today. That was silly since Sebastian was the reason that the bookstore was tied up in a federal investigation in the first place, but it still managed to surprise her. She swallowed and fidgeted with her drink for a moment as she debated where to start.

"I accidentally blew out the window to his store clinic. That's how I met a healer that needed a green card. Marriage doesn't give you any advantage in the green card lottery unless you can prove that you're an actual couple. It was almost a joke when I proposed the idea to him, but he- we decided it wasn't a hardship to actually like each other. Love each other." Maya was done crying over Sebastian, but that didn't mean that the whole thing didn't make her incredibly sad.

"We got married in the Danger Room and picked up Jude on our honey moon. It was easy and cordial and I, at least, loved him enough that I wanted to try for kids. Our own kids. He was pretty great with Jude already.

I don't know. Maybe he snapped or... I mean being pregnant was a huge stress through the whole process. I just don't know what went wrong. He's somewhere out there right now doing terrorist things and I haven't seen him in 4 years which is now longer than we were living under the same roof. When he left, he just left. He didn't touch our accounts or his clothes or anything. Just. Gone. And so I carried on and hoped he'd... I don't know, come to his senses?

Whatever he's into now, I'm not touching it with a 10-foot pole. But it's made the Feds mad enough to seize all his assets and freeze his accounts and spending. I don't think he's tapped into our joint accounts, but that's what happened. I only bothered to get divorced because they were making the argument that my things were actually "our" things because of marriage." Well, not the only reason, but a good one besides the fact that Cafas had convinced her that she was actually allowed to be happy with the time she had left to her.

"That means the Iris apartments that we lived in, his clinic which was just gathering dust, and the Full Circle and all their accompanying assets. Actually... Wait. What's today? Wednesday? I guess it's gone through in absentia since he didn't protest the paperwork." She took a long sip.

"Happy divorce day!" Her faux cheer was not supposed to be convincing.

'Riots? Kaz thought about that while Maya spoke. Yes, he remembered hearing something about riots in the city, but he had figured it had just been the standard rioting. A group of people, humans mostly, getting upset because their sports team lost or some other stupidity. Those riots didn't tend to get reporters assaulted though. He was going to have to look into that. ”That..sounds very risky Maya. Were you okay? Wait, humans? Why were you hiding humans?”

Kaz was able to suppress his laughter, mostly. ”I can't imagine it's easy having a kid 10-ish years younger than you, especially a teen. Even if you are basically just supervising him. A lot of mutant kids feel like rules don't apply to them, how is Jude different? What is it that he does that turns your hair white?” Because of how frustrated Maya seemed about Jude, Kaz had a hard time keeping a straight face. ”I could,” he stressed that word, ”Talk to him, but I don't know what I could do. I'm not a great role model myself.”

”..his father has never deigned to meet him.”

Kaz exhaled slowly, he was sure if he were in her position, he wouldn't want someone's pity, but he couldn't stop himself. ”I'm..sorry. I..” Kaz shut his mouth, took a breath and took a sip of his drink. ”What is Rowan showing so far? Might be some indication of what he can do later.” Kaz tilted his head and bit his lip for a moment, ”Have you ever though of getting him tested?” 'Okay, that sounds kind of bad.' ”What I mean is, bring him to another mutant who can tell what abilities a mutant has, or could have?” When Kaz's people had identified a kid who was a mutant but hadn't manifested their abilities, he had had them checked out. So far only a few of them have showed their abilities, of those, the guess had been about 75% correct.

Kaz didn't like the idea of a kid growing up not knowing their father, whether or not that 'father' was biological or not. As much as his parents gave him whatever he wanted and let him do anything he felt like, they were basically absent in all other ways. He wondered if growing up at the Mansion would fill in the void of not having a dad.

At the same time he thought of all that, he found he was jealous, and irritated. He hadn't had a chance to have a kid, and his life now didn't seem like it would allow for a family. He couldn't understand how the guy could abandoned his own kid. Kaz sometimes felt like he would give anything to go back in time, change is path, and have a family.

Kaz was glad that people hadn't forgotten about Iris, wherever she had gone, he hoped she was doing well. To the rest of it Kaz just nodded and made non-committal sounds. Even if she said he shouldn't feel guilty, she did also say they could have used the help.

When Maya began to explain what had happened, at first he thought she had misheard him or had gone onto something else, but as he listened he started to get the picture. She had met Sebastian and decided to help him become a citizen. In the course of that, they had fallen in love, or at least she had. Married and pregnant, then Sebastian snapped and became some evil guy. Or had always been one, and had just been good at hiding it.

Kaz felt irrationally angry at the guy for just that. The rest seemed like it was an obvious progression of events. Though if they knew that the guy hadn't touched their accounts, and they had to by now, there was no reason for them to keep everything frozen, especially not Maya's stuff.

”Happy divorce day!”

Kaz raised his glass as she said this and then drained it, waving at the server for refills for both of them.

Sighing, ”This is one of those reasons I wish I had been around for. Do you want your store back Maya? I can start putting pressure on them from my side. With a bulk of the money coming from me, as a major investor, and with my own connections and...talents. I think we could get this resolved quickly.”

> ”That..sounds very risky Maya. Were you okay? Wait, humans? Why were you hiding humans?”

"Of course it was risky. It's like everybody was on crazy pills. Humans were being actively hunted, especially the police. I've never seen the residents of the Sanctuary so happy." She got goosebumps just thinking about it. "I've never closed my doors to anybody except that day."

> "A lot of mutant kids feel like rules don't apply to them, how is Jude different? What is it that he does that turns your hair white?”

She shook her head at Kaz, but Maya was smiling. "He's a copy cat. He doesn't have a power unless he picks one up from someone else." Maya let that sink in for a moment. "Yeah. I don't have to worry about just one power, I have to worry about them all."

> "I'm not a great role model myself.”

"That was something I was surprised about having kids. They can bring out the absolute worst in you and the absolute best. If there's anything that'll make you want to be a better man, it's having someone to set an example for."

And Jude so craved positive role models in his life. He'd bounced around between following almost all the male X-men at one point or another. He'd imitated Sebastian, when they first met. "He needs stability, I think. Consistency. He's not had a lot of that in his life." She shrugged. Maybe Kaz wasn't the best at consistency, but if Maya could set up even just one more person to help Jude after she was gone, she was going to do it.

> ”What is Rowan showing so far?"

Maya frowned. "He's been tested as thoroughly as I have. When I first noticed, I thought he was sick." She'd been paranoid that her genetic defect might have been passed down. "He's not sick. He's just... you'll just have to see. With the nose and ears, our best guess is dog." She cringed. "He looks like, I mean, his face is sort of... like a puppy. A little. Like I said, he's growing into it so we're just going to have to wait and see." If anything, the best word to describe Rowan's appearance was "unfinished."

> "Do you want your store back Maya?"

"I was hoping the divorce would help things along, but I know the financials are a tangle. I'd never run a business before and those first few years I kept finding things you're supposed to pay for that nobody tells you about until it's over due. There's not exactly a check list for that kind of thing. And I did use profits from renting the Iris Apartments to help prop the business up when we needed it." She heaved a sigh and wondered where her pasty was. Kaz's food had arrived. Maybe she should ask.

Of course, she hadn't exactly answered Kaz's question either. "I both want it and I don't. I don't want someone else to have it and mess it up. I've put in a lot of hours, blood, sweat, and tears there. But, now that I've been forced away I'm realizing that it's nice to have time for other things. I don't know. Maybe it's a balance issue."

She was careful, very careful not to mention the fact that she was fading away to Kaz. That was her personal favorite theory on why Sebastian had snapped and for a man like Kaz who was used to swooping in with answers and solutions, to find out there was a problem that he couldn't fix might just drive him nuts too.

Knowing full well that she was a lightweight and that she was getting on Cafas and Sam's cases, both, for drinking and the embarrassing after effects, Maya still accepted another drink. That was not at all what she was thinking about. She was thinking that despite her best efforts to believe in everyone that she was, in fact a terrible judge of character. "Thank you. For listening to me ramble." Everyone else was too close for objective input. In that way, Kaz was ideally unique.

She didn't let the server go until she'd asked about her pastry. Vega never would have had the nerve to ask.

Maya was pleased to have a fresh pastry delivered with cute little asparagus poking out the side. Cafas would be happy that she was eating. That was supposed to mitigate the drinking, right?

Kaz frowned, not liking what Maya was saying. Humans being hunted, Sanctuary residents...He had gotten upset with Sam for blaming the Order for the bots. 'Well...damn.' Now he felt like an idiot. Of course he hadn't known what had happened in the city, but maybe he should have looked into it before returning. ”What was the cause of the riots? Something had to set it off. How did it end?”

'A copy-cat huh? Might be best to keep my distance from him. Who knows what he'd do with my power.' The idea of a teenager running around with Kaz's skill set bothered him. The only upside Kaz could see to Jude copying him is that the kid wouldn't have Kaz's mass, so he wouldn't be able to do a whole lot. Kaz had to work at gaining as much mass as he had, he had packed on almost 250lbs in a few years. Without that, he knew he would never be as effective as he was. ”Hmm...” Kaz rubbed his chin a bit, as he spoke in a soft voice, not realizing he was speaking out loud. ”If he switches often, there's no chance to...wouldn't be too dangerous...close to a healer....”

Kaz huffed a small laugh, ”A better man huh...I've heard that before, from a number of parents, and now you. I don't think I'm slated to have a family Maya....things have never worked out in that area.” 'Yeah, understatement there. They either die or disappear or they aren't available or don't want to settle down.' And yet he knew, or at least felt, that Maya was correct.

Sometimes he remembered fragments of a dream from years ago, a dream of Nicki and himself sometime in their future, with kids, two boys and a girl. It was so domestic that Kaz felt a disconnect with the dream. He was not that guy, he couldn't...didn't know how or understand how he could be that man with that family. He could remember the swelling pride he had felt for his first son when he held him in his arms for the first time, the excitement when they had found out he, like them, was a mutant. Kaz closed his eyes as flashes of the dream enveloped his mind.

With an act of will he pushed the images away, wishing he could burn them forever from his mind. Looking at Maya, ”I'd be willing to meet Jude, but I haven't had much experience with kids. Even as a teen I kept to myself most of the time, so, ya know, no promises or anything.”

Kaz found himself grinning as Maya talked about her son Rowan. ”He sounds adorable.” Kaz couldn't understand Maya's expression. She seemed..unhappy? Disappointed? When the word hit him, he looked at the woman across from him and thought to himself, 'There's no way she's ashamed....' That thought did not sit well with him at all. How could he say it...even ask it? It bothered him too much to not say something, but even he knew he wasn't known for his tact. In a soft voice, ”Maya...” He glanced away from her, his face showing his discomfort. ”If I didn't know better...I mean, when you were...” Sighing, he looked her in the eyes, deciding it was better to get it out quickly, ”You cringed when you described him.....” He couldn't do it, he couldn't say it. Kaz hoped he was misreading it all, that there was something he was missing, something completely unknown to him.

She tried not to look too self-satisfied when Kaz made no promises. He'd already betrayed his interest. She'd seen his brain kick into overdrive when he inevitably got to the thought "What happens if the kid takes my power?" She saw that a lot.

"Rookie mistake, Kaz. No teenager thinks of himself as a kid." Jude especially. Maya was, of course, teasing. "I would be obliged if you just keep an eye out for him. I'm not asking you to adopt." Crap. Adoption. She had adopted Jude, but she wasn't sure how things had ended up with Sebastian on that front. Maya hadn't thought about that. She grabbed her phone to text her lawyer.

>”He sounds adorable.”

She was glad that she was looking at her phone as Kaz went on to ask about her apparent prejudice.

> "You cringed when you described him.....”

How to explain it? Maya set down her phone and felt like her heart could break. Kaz was too astute for his own good. "Some day, I hope that Rowan grows a tail like his daddy." She looked at Kaz and felt angry tears prickling her eyes, but she was determined not to let anything fall. "I want his ears to telescope and tune in different directions. I don't care if he wants to stick his head out the window or lets his tongue hang out when he's happy, but Kaz..." She took a breath to steady herself, "He doesn't do those things yet. He's somewhere between human and mutant since it's still manifesting. He has no discernible benefit or evolutionary advantage to speak of, just aesthetic changes that make him a target." And that had her balling her fists. It was good she'd put down the phone. Really good.

"I want to say that it doesn't matter what people think, but it does because people act on what they think. And Rowan is still learning what it is to be a person, let alone what it means to be a mutant." He was 3 years old. It wasn't fair that people offered him milk bones and teased him about how he looked. It wasn't fair that the internet had suggested things that made her angry enough to smash poor unsuspecting students in the face with their own laptops. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair!

Maya's shoulders sagged as she tried to let go of that anger, but it only made room for despair. "Not even counting all that, Kaz, he doesn't look like me. At all. I love him, but I see his dad in his features and it makes me worry that he's... That he might..." Turn out like Sebastian? Follow in dad's terrorizing footsteps? That also wasn't a fair assumption to put on a 3 year old that had never met the man, but she just didn't know what had made Sebastian snap.

Crapcrapcrap. She'd been doing so good before. Her mistake was letting go of her anger. The anger had been staving off the sadness.

Kaz had apparently poked a very sensitive subject to Maya. More-so than he would have expected. He saw her eyes sparkle from unshed tears, could see her making the effort to hold them back. When he mentioned her reaction, he had thought it would be something simple, but apparently there was a lot more going on with Rowan. People making fun of him because of his looks, treating him like a freak, like a dog. Kaz knew how normal it was for people to treat people like that, just because they were different. He didn't like it, but for some reason it's what humans did.

It had been done to him, repeatedly. When he was very young it hadn't been terrible, at least from what he could remember at that age. It had gotten progressively worse as he got older, the comments, the hate, the beatings. He had been put in the hospital multiple times, broken bones, lacerations, suffocation, internal bleeding...

What bothered Kaz most about what Maya said, was the possibility that mutants were doing it to the boy. She hadn't said who was doing it, just 'people', but to her, people included both humans and mutants. Kaz could deal with humans acting that way, but mutants...He was sure that any mutant who treating Rowan like that should be killed, or at least severely beaten. They had enough problems from humans, they didn't need to make it worse.

Kaz reached across the table to put his hand on hers. He wanted to give the woman a hug, it seemed like she could use one, but there was a table in the way, and that might be too much, too familiar a gesture. Holding her hand, and giving it a gentle squeeze was the best he could think to do.

Kaz had never raised kids, never spent a lot of time around them. He didn't know what to say to help, didn't know if there was anything he could do to help. He was lost. Saying, 'Everything will be fine', 'It'll work out', 'He'll be okay', those things all sounded shallow, sounded like lies to himself. False hopes that he himself didn't believe, so how could he expect Maya to believe them? Kaz doubted she would be so upset about Rowan's situation if she could believe and take comfort in those well-meaning lies.

”You're afraid he'll turn out like his dad. That he'll become some evil terrorist or something similar. Afraid that what these people are doing and saying to him will hurt and scar him, that it will affect who he is and who he could be as he grows up. Worried about how he'll see himself, what he'll think of himself, that maybe because of how he's being treated right now, that he'll think less of himself. That he's less human, less of a mutant.” Kaz's tone wasn't one of statement, the words had a questioning feel to them. He was attempting to see if he understood where she was coming from, to see if he was correctly guessing her fears and concerns.

Kaz took his hand back as he spoke. ”I'd love to tell you that it will all be okay, that he'll turn out fine, and all that jazz, but that would be a lie. Of course it will affect him, change him, mold him.” Kaz shrugged, ”Take it from me, someone who went through similar treatment. It does change how you see yourself. But he has something I never did, a mother who cares, who loves him, who wants the best for him.”

”I've never had kids Maya, probably never will, so I have no experience in that. But I know how important it is to have people who care about you and support you. Judy and Nicki showed me that, gave me that. Rowan has you, and unless I'm completely off the mark, he's got the others from the Mansion as well. People who care about him, and can show him it's alright to be different, who embrace that difference.” Kaz knew he wasn't helping. His words were too cliche. ”If the little bit of support from two women did so much for me, your support as he grows up will help him more than you can imagine.”

”I wish I could do more for you and Rowan...” Kaz sighed and made a very small shrug. He had no idea how to help.

Their part business part personal catch up was fast turning into mostly personal. Kids tended to do that. Maya's hand felt cold in Kaz's, partially from the chilled drink and partially because she was feeling cold inside despite the alcohol.

”You're afraid he'll turn out like his dad..."

Kaz asked the questions and Maya nodded. Nodding was so very much easier than articulating. The more he spoke, the closer to home it all hit.

She wasn't going to be there to help him through it all. Before the despair could bowl her over in spilling all the rest of her personal problems, Maya clung to that thought that she could leave these little breadcrumbs of hope in other people. In free agents like Kaz or in the residents of the Mansion. Anyone who her kids had access to, could be a vessel for her to deposit knowledge so that they could pick it up along the way.

"The best thing you can do, that anyone can do, is to make our struggle your struggle. You're already doing that. I can't possibly ask for more. You and the Jacobs & Jacobs team both gave me the means to have and keep the Full Circle bookstore which is pretty much the only thing that got us through being alone. It was income, it was passing that help along to others, it was everything I needed it to be when I had it.

"Now, though... It's hard to be in a rush to get it back. Granted, I'm living on charity at the Mansion, but I can't believe what a difference it is to have Rowan there instead of in daycare." For that alone, it was worth getting ousted from her comfort zone. "I don't think I would have left if the Feds hadn't booted me. I would have just kept plugging along uphill by myself."

Kaz watched as Maya seemed to put herself together and bring her emotions under control once again. He couldn't help but wonder how often she was doing that. How much was she bottling up? She had listened quietly, only nodding to what he had said, not correcting him or adding more or...anything. From her response, or lack of it, he was left to assume what he had guessed had been correct.

On one hand he was a bit proud he had guessed so well, on the other hand, he knew he wasn't that good at reading people or situations. There had to be something else. Something to explain the why she was so upset.

Or maybe it was just because he had never had kids, so he couldn't understand how deep that feels hole went, or how big it was. Kaz had to admit to himself that that was probably the real reason for his lack of comprehension. That and his constant paranoia and suspicion. Even if there was more going on, Kaz couldn't honestly expect Maya to tell him everything right now. They hadn't seen or spoken each other in years, and even before he left, they hadn't exactly been close. Kaz was honestly surprised that she had told him as much as she had. She hardly knew him, but she felt comfortable enough to confide in him, at least a little.

Kaz wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that. He felt good about it, warm, like he deserved that sort of trust, but at the same time he felt like he didn't deserve it. He hadn't been around when it mattered, hadn't helped when he could have made a difference. Kaz couldn't help but wonder if he had never left, would she have ever been in her current situation?

Kaz shook off those thoughts. They didn't matter now. It was the past, it happened, it was done, he couldn't change it, couldn't fix his mistakes. All he could do now was go forward, do what he could do to help now, be there if he could.

Reaching out for her hand again, ”I'll help any way I can Maya.” Smiling a little, ”You'll have to let me know if or how I can though, I'm inexperienced in this area. If you need someone to talk or vent to, to get things off your chest, let me know. Or whatever else, just let me know, I'll do what I can.”

”I know what it's like to have to keep going on by yourself, doing what you have to to keep moving forward. It's all we can do sometimes to keep sane. I'm sorry you had to go through that yourself.”

Maya worried at her lower lip in order not to tell Kaz about every single burden she bore. He'd shouldered enough of her worry. She couldn't possibly offload any more. Kaz's hand got a little squeeze.

"Thank you. I mean it. Even if there are some things I just have to do for myself, you've helped me a lot and I'm forever in your debt." Her free hand went to her lower lashline where her eyes were still damp. Stupid tears. Stupid crying. Cafas probably wouldn't say anything when they met up later, but she was sure her eyes were red.

"Please tell me you've had a better time than me in the last few years?" She gave his hand another little squeeze and retreated. If she could move their conversation on, then she could maybe recover some small sliver of dignity.

Kaz gave Maya a slight smile as she squeezed his hand.

What was it about a simple touch, a little squeeze, a slight pat on the shoulder that allowed those actions to convey so many things while still being relatively ambiguous? Those little gestures could give support, thanks, reassurance, warning, threat, show affection or trust, and so much more. It held so much meaning, more quickly and simply than words could convey in a similar amount of time. Those actions, unlike words, crossed boarders and worlds. It didn't matter where someone came from, whether they were rich or poor, spoke similar languages or not, what culture they're from, everyone understands.

Those little things are what really mattered, not a someones ethnicity, their country of origin, political ideals, religious beliefs... These things they could all relate to were the proof of their connection, of what was important.

Shaking his head a bit, ”You don't owe me anything Maya. I help where I can, and if I sometimes show special interest and attention to someone, or a friend, then..” Kaz shrugged one shoulder.

”Please tell me you've had a better time than me in the last few years?”

Kaz watched as Maya gave his hand another squeeze before taking her hand from his. He knew what that had been, but he couldn't help but feel a very small twinge of loss when their hands no longer touched. It was so much easier knowing what mattered, to feel connected when in contact with another person.

'Of course that's another way Tara got to you.' That thought caused Kaz's eye to twitch in time with the small flinch that Kaz tried to turn into a shrug. ”In some ways yes and others, not so much.” To give himself a little time he popped a few cheese curds into his mouth and chewed. They had cooled off considerably since they had arrived, and he assumed the mini-dogs would be the same way. 'Oh well.'

After chasing the food down with a long pull from his drink Kaz let out a breath. ”There's a lot that I don't remember for about a year...maybe two years..after Romania. I wasn't in control of my own mind, or body, for much of that time, and the little I do remember is quite jumbled. Once I was in control again I didn't feel right, didn't think I should come back, and until recently I hadn't planned on returning.”

”I had never really thought about mutants outside of the US, but that changed after Romania. I realized that mutants all over were being put in similar situations, even if the operations were much smaller. Whenever I heard of or found out about mutants being imprisoned, killed, or slaved out..I stopped it, and offered what help I could to the mutants who had been used and abused.” Kaz looked at his glass and smiled faintly. ”At some point I realized that I could do more to help if I stopped acting like a violent vigilante. I began focusing my money on buying businesses in a number of countries, then employing any and every mutant I could and putting them where their abilities could be best used.”

Looking at Maya again, ”That eventually lead to me having a number of mutant only communities built in a few countries, including the most recent here in New York, where mutants live together, protected by their own, and given the same opportunities humans are. With all of the companies I own taken into consideration, I don't think it would be far from the truth to say I am the single largest employer of mutants in the world. I prioritize mutant over human employees regardless of skills or knowledge. I..uh..” Kaz felt his ears heat up a bit, ”I'm tooting my own horn now....sorry.”