The kid took Rebecca’s offer easily, apparently more starstruck than struggling with his new mutation. Her personas as Lodestone and Pixelbecky were both public, and she made no effort to hide one from the other. It was clear how the boy recognized her when he called her Becky. She chuckled, accepting that she might have to deal with a fan in her classes. It was funny how the luster of her stardom washed away after a few homework assignments.

Ami dismissed the boy, who should have counted himself lucky for a passing mole man. Finally alone again, the Officer reflected on their first foray into crime fighting. ”Sae much better, and Ah still smell fine. Tha’s a plus,” she joked. They had come a long way from those days, as two inexperienced teenagers, with Rebecca tossing around marbles.

With fighting in the past, the two women finally had a little time to catch up. ”Ah’m guid, actually! Back in th' states, obvioosly.” The moment she said it, she realized how silly it was to point that out when she was clearly in New York. ”Ah’m teachin' at th' mansion noo. an' Ah… e'en hae myself a new girlfriend,” she said, almost cautiously. It was years ago, but Agnes and Rebecca did not advertise their breakup, so there were plenty of people from her past who might have not known.

”Hoo abit ye? Th' job's clearly gonnae weel. Got a special girl in yer life? Mebbe... a blonde?” Her face was suspicious, because her “guess” was clearly well-informed. She did not know if Serena and Ami had reached the point of dating, but after Rebecca’s conversation (and stuff) with her, she believed the lovely Brit might have finally worked up the courage to make her move.

Amelia laughed at the joke, but not at the remembrance of scents lost. Some of those sewer scents would have made you wish you'd lost your sense of scents... which was nonsense, but there it was. And some of them actually did kill the nose. At least for a time.

She nodded, listening to the answer, catching up with an old friend. Some of it, she actually might had already known, due to the online video blog and word of mouth, but it was better to hear things from the source... in person. Not on blog.

She hadn't really known about the teachings. That was interesting. And Rebecca wasn't with Agnes any more. For some reason, Amelia had thought those two would be together forever. What did one say to that? "Good for you" seemed kind of lame. Amelia nodded, instead, and said "I see."

She changed the subject so fast, Amelia hardly had time to ask more about this mysterious woman. And the distraction lead interesting places.

Amelia's preference for women wasn't a secret, at least to mansion goers. After all, she had dated a gender shifting individual, and unlike some of his her past relationships, she had not avoided one of the two genders that were the essence of Mirror's duality. She'd met one, A really smart girl, who had only dated Gawain. The woman had spurned giving her affections of 'Maya days'. That had not seemed smart to Amelia. No, she hadn't commented on that one. He was a big boy. He could make his own mistakes. For some reason, he didn't seem to be with her anymore. What a strange coincidence.

As far as Rebecca's insight into Amelia's personal life went, she seemed to have an inside track on things... which meant... Amelia smiled at her, skeptically humorous about the whole situation. "You know Serena, then?" She asked. "Small world. Maybe I know your special someone too. Wouldn't that be interesting?" She chuckled. "How do you know Serena?"

Rebecca’s hint did not go unnoticed, (because it had all the subtlety of a hand grenade.) Ami made the right assumption that Serena and Rebecca crossed paths before. In hindsight, it was funny to think of how entwined that meeting was in getting them to where they were now. ”Yeah, Ah ran intae her at th’ Mansion when Ah got back intae th’ States. Ah main hae encooraged 'er tae make a move wi' ye.”

It was nice to see things worked out for the happy couple. Serena was a sweet young woman who needed to be sure of herself. ”Ah mean, if she coods be confident enaw tae snog a lassie she jist mit, she coods talk tae th' gal she really wanted tae be wi'.” Ami was attractive, and but Rebecca always thought she was down to earth. Certainly not the kind of girl one could not be honest with and admit feelings.

Speaking of honesty, the reality of what Rebecca just said eventually caught up to her. Rebecca hoped Serena might have shared the anecdote of their meeting already. ”Nae ‘at it was much ay a snog, mind ye.” A stellar defense from Miss Rebecca Grey.

”Nae loch th’ Gawain thing,” she added with a nervous chuckle, and oh my God, why was she still talking?

That was interesting. Very interesting. She "may have encouraged Serena to make with the moves"? How much did Rebecca know? Amelia's face didn't change from its previous look. It was temporarily stuck that way, and gave no hint at what she was thinking. Even so, one could practically taste the uncertainty.

And then Rebecca saw her uncertainty and raised her paranoia. And much, much more. "Snog a lassie she just met?" She asked, once Rebecca was done digging her own grave. "Gawain thing?" She went on.

Now her face was a storm cloud. Not much of a snog, Gawain thing. Lassie. Why was there a sinking feeling in her gut like she'd just missed her exit, and the detour would be a pain?

"What about Gawain's thing?" She concluded, eying Rebecca with all the suspicion in the world. And really bad phrasing.

Ami did not know about the Gawain thing, because she had no reason to know about the Gawain thing. Apparently, she was also not informed of Serena’s meeting with Rebecca. Once again, why would Serena have mentioned something like that. “Oh, do you know that redhead who used to live at the Mansion with you? Totally made out with her.” In hindsight, obviously, that story was a private anecdote.

Unfortunately, not responding now would only make things awkward and suspicious. Well, more awkward and suspicious. Which one did she even start with? ”Ah mean, Serena an’ Ah ran intae each aither at th’ Mansion. We shared a wee moment ay kissing, afair we stopped, an’ she admitted she hud a crush oan ye.” She shrugged, hoping the explanation would suffice.

”Ah encouraged her tae gae fur it.” All awkwardness aside, it was nice to think of her two friends being happy together. Dating could be a challenge for girls who liked girls, as Rebecca knew all too well.

”An’ th’ Gawain thing… ‘at was efter ye tois broke up an' efter Agnes an' Ah broke up... th' first time.” Rebeca hated that her and Agnes had more than one breakup under their belts, like they could not make up their minds. ”We hud... a moment. A thing... oan th' X-Jit. It was jist ance, thocht. Naethin’ serioos.” Rebecca hoped she could keep that one vague. She was not looking forward to elaborating that she screwed Amelia’s ex-boyfriend.

Oh, just a wee moment of kissing. That was all. That was fine. NOT! The casualness of the way she described it bugged Amelia far more than the actual kissing. Regardless of when, or how it may have revealed hidden desires, which Rebecca may or may not have given a cheesy 90s thumbs up about, the casualness. Oh, the casualness. That was the killer. Serena didn't just casually kiss women. Except, apparently she did. According to Rebecca. That was interpreted as Rebecca calling Serena easy. An insult, to say the least.

And Rebecca just kept on keeping on. Gawain had had a "thing" with Rebecca, after she had dumped him. A moment. A "thing." Nothing serious. That, Amelia believed.

Her lips grew pressed tighter and tighter together as she listened. When Rebecca stopped talking (miracle of miracles), Amelia spoke. Her voice was thin and tight. "What Gawain and you did in the semi-privacy of the school fighter plane is between you. He's a big boy, and that was a long time ago. I'm not upset about that." She looked Rebecca dead in the eye. "What I am upset about, Becky, is you calling Serena easy. And--" Her face was a thunderhead. "Insulting her kissing ability. What the heck?" Not much of a snog, indeed. The nerve.

She crossed her arms.

Well, those explanations went over like a lead balloon. Suddenly, Rebecca was missing the comparably relaxing sensation of avoiding chain gun fire. The more words escaped her mouth, the more she could see Amelia’s expression tighten. Amelia was a very pretty woman, but in that moment, she was too intimidating to give much thought to her beauty.

There was a small saving grace when Amelia admitted she was not upset about Rebecca’s tryst with Gawain. It was indeed a long time ago, so in a rare moment of good fortune and anti-karma, keeping quiet about that one-night stand for so long turned out to be the right decision. Who knew?

What was not the right decision? Literally everything she said about her encounter with Serena. If there was a seminar on “speaking in a way that is open to misinterpretation,” Rebecca could teach the advanced placement course. ”Whit? Ah mean, nae! Nae, Serena isnae easy, an’ she’s definitely nae a bad kisser!” Maybe reel that one back there, Becky. ”Ah mean, it was a nice kiss.”

She took a breath to compose herself, because she was feeling like a train off the rails. ”It was a kiss. It was nice. Bit Ah realized Ah wasnae over Agnes, an’ she admitted she was jist nervous abit trying tae make a move oan ye. Ah told her tae gae fur it, coz yer a stoatin’ gal, Ami.” Okay, this time, reel back the Scottish, lassie. ”An awesome gal. An’ Ah’m jist glad yer th’ oan she’s snogging these days.”

Rebecca held her breath, hoping she made some progress toward undigging the grave she made for herself.

A vein in Amelia's forehead didn't twitch, which was a crying shame. First, Serena was a bad kisser, now she was a great kisser. It was a nice kiss. Rebecca spoke with far too much knowledge of Serena's kissing capacity for Amelia's liking. But then, why the hell was Rebecca supposed to say? It was a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Maybe she should have considered that before she had kissed Amelia's not-yet-girlfriend. That wasn't quite fair...

She almost turned the other cheek. She almost forgave and forgot. Rebecca was rally trying to make it right and she certainly couldn't predict who and when Amelia would date someone. The Gawain thing kind of hurt, but it was a hurt she could easily bury. Rebecca had hooked up with Mirror. She, herself, had hooked up with Maya when Gawains last girlfriend had vanished into schoolwork and life. And it had been Gawain. Not Maya. Which was something. But then Rebecca said something that really made Amelia annoyed.

"A stoatin' gal?" she asked dangerously. "Now you're hitting on me?" That was too much.

"Becky, Becky. You're a nice person." Amelia said. "And youre trying really hard to make amends. But you need to learn to quit when you're behind."

Learning to quit while she was behind? That was a noble concept and one Rebecca Grey was historically bad at. She was not always conscious of it, but she did have the habit of trying to communicate or explain herself to make herself understood. This was not always a bad thing, but there were many times when the right choice of action was to put away the words and just apologize. It was clear now she was in one of those moments.

”Yoo're reit,” she admitted in defeat. ”Ah’m sorry, Ami, fur mah dumb mouth an' aw its sins an' transgressions.” She figured it best not to list all her mistakes again to the annoyed woman. Enough of them revolved around her mouth: kissing Serena, kissing Gawain (and other things not involving her mouth that were not worth mentioning,) and saying every wrong thing in her pursuit to defend herself.

Sure, Gawain and Serena were both single at the times of those infractions, but it did not put Rebecca in the clear. It was crappy to sleep with someone so fresh off a breakup, and it was just poor form to kiss a woman when she was not entirely aware if there was a potential girlfriend in the picture. Just because something was not completely wrong did not make it completely good.

”It was guid seein’ ye again, Ami,” Rebecca admitted with a weak smile. ”Fur th’ record, ‘stoatin’ is jist Scottie fur ‘awesome.’ An’ Ah’m pretty sure ootsmartin’ a killer robot earns th’ renk ay ‘awesome.’” The fight was unconventional, but they certainly did achieve victory in the end, making the team of Becky and Ami two for two when it came to taking on mutant threats. That kind of synergy was worth something.

”Hopefully Ah’ll see ye around sometime?” Regardless of the awkwardness, Ami was a good person to have around, and Rebecca hoped they could see eye to eye again soon.

A simple apology is sometimes better than making excuses. Furious back pedaling only gets you so far. Actually admitting your mistake? It takes humility. Amelia appreciated it when Rebecca finally realized what she'd been doing, and changed tactics.

"Thank you," she said. Her voice was tight, but she'd accepted the apology. They could move on from there. For Amelia, forgiveness might not be instant. But it would come. She wasn't going to hold Rebecca's "sins and transgressions" against her. Nor would she hold Rebecca against Rebecca. But she might just consider the woman a mess when it came to conflict resolution and self-editing. It was good the woman wasn't a police officer with a gun. Amelia had the sinking suspicion Rebecca would inadvertently shoot herself in the foot.

"I see," she nodded. Stoatin is awesome. Okay. "You did pretty stoatin yourself." She conceded. Now that it wasn't flirting, it wasn't weird.

Rebecca hoped she'd see Amelia around.

"Yeah," Amelia agreed. Now that they'd hashed out apologies and she was movin on from conversation train wreck, she felt a little awkward, and she was sure Rebecca was right there with her. She threw the woman a bone. "I'll see you around. You're probably the best X-man I know. It was good working with you, Rebecca. Take care of yourself."
That said, Amelia nodded, turned, and left. She'd handle the paperwork and call in that the situation was resolved (if she hadn't already). Back on duty. Crime waits for no man.