She was having difficulties. Max watched as Noel started listing to one side. She waved her arms and then curled up in pain as she headed back towards the kitchen. Was she hurt? She moved like she had an injury in her side. How had she gotten hurt? Max was about to ask when he saw her bump against the refrigerator and then rocket off towards him.

Sometimes it was easy to forget that people did have the same experiences as you. For Max years of practice and precision training had made him acclimated to moving in all types of gravity. He made it a practice to work out under boosted gravity to build his body's muscles and flew frequently to make sure he was used to the feeling of "falling" in multiple directions.

As Noel approached him Max flipped upward. As they were if she collided with him they would both go into the wall. And if he reasserted gravity on himself to brace against the impact she might get hurt. Instead as he found himself facing down and Noel floating quickly beneath him he reached out and grabbed the back of her shirt. He placed the slightest pull of gravity on himself headed downward and then matched it going upward on her to stabilize them in midair.

"You alright? Do you want down? Sorry." He said.

She went toward him, but there were no brakes. There was nothing to hold onto. She hesitated with one arm tucked up like a T-rex and the other ready to flail while Max course adjusted like the pro he was.

Okay. Fine, collision course averted, but now Noel was headed for the wall. There was nothing in reach until she got there and she'd already stretched until she hurt once. Noel was really not willing to do it again.

Something, must have been Max, grabbed the back of her shirt. Her momentum changed and her course altered until it was Max and Noel standing in a not normal direction and not exactly facing each other.

He said something that triggered a Jorge memory.

"Want down?" His momma pointed at the ground, but why would he want to stand when it was so much fun to be carried?

Noel shook her head just as Jorge had but also let some of the tension out of her body and sagged into the nothingness that was supporting her weight. This was hard. Admitting that gave her the mental reboot she needed.

"Got hurt. Is okay to see for you." It wasn't too high up just below the ribs and it was probably better that he was behind her. She hiked up her pajama top to show off the big bandaid covering a relatively small scab with some bruising around it. Her stitches weren't yet dissolved, but there were only 2 of them. She had a matching one on the front and another at the side, but neither of them were as colorful as the one at her back.

She had not exactly been nice at the hospital. They had not exactly been nice back. Noel called it a draw.

"I did some bad choice, Maxwell. Still having a learn from it." Yep. She had put herself into this hole. "Would be easier," she lamented, "if English was not bad language."

Noel lifted her top and Max saw the wound. It was healing, but he had to imagine the injury had been nasty. He felt his free hand slid down to touch the edging just outside of the bruising. The wounds didn't look accidental and he felt a surge of concern. He had just met the girl but a primal desires to protect her sprang up.

"..Would be easier if English was not bad language."

Max nodded and tried to adjust their body positions so he was facing her.

"Trust me. Everyone makes bad choices sometimes. It's how you rebound from them that matters. I'm sure you will," He said sincerely," and if you need help with English I have about twenty years of experience. I'll help."

He didn't like to be the hero. He didn't like to swoop in and offer help to every girl that had a problem, but Max found himself truly wanting to assist. Maybe it was his recent return to life, but he believed everyone deserved a second chance.

She smiled for Max when he managed to rotate her around. The movement sent them both spiraling slowly through the unoccupied space of the living area. This power was nicely relaxing, but she was glad to face who she was talking to. Looking into someone's eyes helped her judge how sincere they were being. Sure, she could taste a lie, but her power did nothing to help her take the measure of a person's motive.

And right now, she really wanted to make sure he was incredibly sincere.

"You help?" She tried not to get ahead of herself or over excited. He should know what he was getting into and she had to think about how to do that without imposing on his good intent.

"I taste yesterday." She reminded him. "You have 20 years experience. I taste 20 years experience. I have 20 years experience for me."

So. Did that make sense?

Noel frowned realizing how much pointing she had done and how that had affected their rotation. They seemed destined to bounce into something eventually, but nothing imminently.

"You help?"

The words rang in Max's ears as he looked into the hopeful eyes of the girl. The earnestly in the question melted his heart. She asked as if the idea of someone helping her was completely new. He didn't know her, but he could imagine the difficulties that must have made that surprise evident.

.. I have 20 years experience for me."

Something clicked as she finished. Maybe it was the gestures she was making to her mouth and then to her head, maybe it was wishful thinking, or maybe he was dead wrong. His pulse quickened as he floated there looking into those big eyes.

"You taste yesterday? Like memories right? You can taste memories? I know how to speak English so you could taste me," a weird shiver ran down his spine, not unpleasant but unfamiliar, "You can learn to speak too right?" He asked.

It seemed strange, Stranger than even finding himself steering the pair around the room in their weightlessness. But he had offered help and if she had the courage to ask for help how could he reject that. He steeled himself, this was some good he could do in the world.

"Whatever you need Noel." He said finally.

He did not understand. There was no way he could understand the full ramifications of what he was about to do. Noel frowned, a small crease forming between her eye brows.

"I taste every about you. Nothing hiding." But he was still sure? Still okay? He really had nothing to hide?

She moved slowly, still skeptical that he wouldn't change his mind as she drew him close. Noel stopped with her nose just barely out of reach of Maxwell's. This was far more... just more. It wasn't usually like this. She held him close, afraid they might spiral apart because of his power. "May be long taste. English is bad." She could only really focus on his eyes from here. This was his last chance to bail.

But nothing he did or said seemed to indicate that he was backing out.

Okay then.

One last deep breath to clear her head and find her focus. She pulled memories topically. If she wasn't properly focused, she wasn't going to get what she wanted from this.

Noel pressed her lips against Maxwell's, soft at first, but quickly deepening.

English. She wanted to learn how Maxwell had learned.

While Noel got a rush of prep schools and tutors, Max wouldn't feel anything beyond a more personal kiss than someone typically shared on a not-even-a-first-date.

Eventually she had to come up for air and the kiss was broken, but the mental connection persisted. Eyes closed, Noel leaned her forehead against Maxwell's forehead. Or Max. Max was what his friends seemed to call him and surely they'd reached that point by now.

She was quiet and still while she sorted through the memories she'd absorbed. This was the delicate moment she'd messed up before that had left her languages scrambled.

"I taste every about you. Nothing hiding."

Max felt a pang of unease. She made it sound very intimate. He was a pretty forward guy, not one to keep secrets but at the statement he thought of one thing. Haven. Noel was in the facility so she had to know some things, but if she wasn't clued in on all of Havens operations he could be letting the cat out of the bag. He couldn't let that happen.

Haven valued secrecy and to that end they had members whom participated in covert affairs trained on mental defenses. Max didn't know exactly how Noel's power work but he did what he had been taught in hopes it would work. He created the image of a crate in his mind. A box of secrets that he had learned from Haven. Part of the exercise was taking the time after learning a secret to hide it inside. Then you threw the crate into the farthest reaches of your mind and wrapped it in disjointed, paradoxical thoughts. For Max he wrapped his crate around a loop of "The Song that Never Ends". The attempted result was to catch anyone trying to peirce the veil in a loop of thought. His approach was unorthodox, but practical.

Back in reality she was nose to nose with him and his pulse kicked it up another notch. She warned him it could take some time but he didn't back down. Her lips met his, gentle st first but then increasing in intensity. He was acutely aware how rediculous he looked in an apron and sweatpants.

The kiss seemed to go on and on. He kissed back, unsure of what else to do. He wasn't sure if it was working or not but he allowed it to continue. His body reacted and he felt himself struggling in a tug of war with his primal side. He wanted to kiss her more, the evolutionary desire to escalate the situation screaming in his ears. Instead he began furiously reciting a single thought in his mind, over and over again like a wall.

"This is to help her learn English. This is to help her learn English. This is to help her learn English "

Finally they broke apart and she rested her head against his. Part of him was relieved to be done, part of him was sissapointed. She seemed focused, eyes shut tight and as they spun Max's attention was brought to the pot steaming in the stove.

Idiot.

He didn't want to break her focus so he gently pulled them to the kitchen. They hovered above the stove and Max gingerly reached a hand down and turned off the heat. At least dinner was ready, though Max found his appetite was not as important as he had found it a few moments ago.

It took her some time to get everything settled and once she was confident that she could pull things on command, she tried it out.

"So that's..." She cleared her throat and had to try again. The words were coming a bit stinted, but at least they were flowing with pretty normal pacing and grammar. "That's how my power works."

And they were totally still touching. She grimaced and opened one eye, almost afraid to look. She felt like she should be... in trouble, somehow. "I didn't speak English and this cop was shouting at me so I tried to learn English from him." She shrugged, perpetually unashamed. "How was I supposed to know he'd been raised in a bilingual household?" The more she practiced, the easier the words were flowing.

In the kitchen. In mid air. In her pajamas.

Her stomach growled and Noel rolled her lips together to keep from laughing at the absurdity of it all. "Could we... start over? Like, maybe on the ground?"

Max saw her flinch away from him slightly as they hovered there. It was no surprise, the transfer of knowledge had been oddly intimate and now in the piercing silence that followed he found himself turning a bit red.

"How was I supposed to know he'd been raised in a bilingual household?"

It was the longest sentence he had heard her speak and it startled him. It was proof enough that her power had worked but from his perspective he found the sensation strange. She was using his memories to speak, and as he focused on what she had said he picked up on some of his own vocal cues. The slight elongation of vowels in the middle of words, the nonchalant and popping p at the end of the word "cop". All together it was a tad unsettling.

He stomach gave a loud growl.

Could we... start over? Like, maybe on the ground"

He gave a hearty laugh and lowered them to the kitchen floor, his feet settling on the cool tiles.

"Of course. Wanna grab some plates and I'll put everything together." He said.

He started stirring pasta and sauce and assessed his own feelings. Aside from a rather pleasant make out session the use of her ability had not been anything that really effected him. The implication needed to be addressed however.

"So," He began giving her a nervous look out of the corner of his eye, "did you just like download my life history? Now that we can communicate I'd love to hear how it works"

He looked surprised and impressed. Noel supposed that it was surprising and impressive, but most of all it was convenient. He had no idea what gift he'd given her and all the problems he'd solved, all with one kiss.

"You'll stay, then?" He helped them both to the ground at her request and then went back for the cooking. If the food wasn't ruined, Noel was ready to dub him a kitchen wizard. Heck. He made the water boil without setting anything on fire. That was half a wizard level already. "I need to practice. The more, uhm," ugh, even knowing English it was still hard to explain, "The more words we can say, different ones, the better chance I won't be reading dictionaries again all day tomorrow."

He asked her to get the plates and set the table. She got a flash of little Maxie and his mother pressing a plate into his pudgy kid fingers. 'Take this plate with two hands.' Mom reminded him.

"I downloaded the moments when you started to associate an object or meaning with a word. So, it's little snippets at a time. Nouns are mostly young ages. Your mom is very pretty." She only had a taste of the sentiment that Max did in regards to his parents, but their relationship didn't seem terrible from the few glimpses she got. He was lucky. Well, she was lucky too.

Noel set the table as Max's mother had taught him. Napkin, fork, plate, cup, and knife.

"I don't have everything, don't worry. And as soon as I sleep anything I didn't try to review and reinforce in my memory will be gone." Review and reinforce both conjured to mind long hours at school. "So just don't bring up anything embarrassing and I won't remember it." Of course, even just saying the word embarassing brought up a moment in gym when he'd been pantsed in front of the volleyball tryouts.

Noel flushed pink, also embarrassed, which wasn't an emotion she usually let herself indulge in.

"Uhm. I'm gonna go put on some real clothes because suddenly I know that 'pantsing' is a thing." Noel slipped into the bedroom, off balance from the flood of memories of a life that felt like her own.

. Max threw some frozen garlic bread into the toaster oven as Noel explained how her power worked. What she had borrowed from him.

Your mom is very pretty."

Max nearly fumbled as he stopped shocked for a moment and nearly dropped the small tray of bread. She sounded sincere in her compliment and the truth of what she was able to see started to dawn on Max. He put the bread in the oven and then picked up the pots of sauce in noodles just in time to see Noel flush a brilliant shade of pink.

"Uhm. I'm gonna go put on some real clothes because suddenly I know that 'pantsing' is a thing."

She scurried off to the bedroom as Max felt his own face burn. He knew what she had seen, you didn't easily forget embarrassing moments in high school. He felt off balance, confused and violated. He was glad for a moment alone as she changed to get himself together.

It was as he placed the pots of pot holders in the middle of the table and began to dish out servings that he found himself looking at a perfectly set table. Fine dining was an aristocratic right of passage akin to rising a bike. Max had been raised in prep schools, taught the things that high society stiffs thought were important. This was one of those things.

He finished making the meal, got the bread and placed it on plates and took a steadying breath. He removed the apron and put his now dry shirt back on, somehow feeling exposed without it, though he had little need for cover now, Noel could know anything she wanted with a thought.

It was a strange and one aides intimacy. He barely knew her, yet there she stood able to make remarks and comments on even the most personal of experiences he had. It was like she was a friend he had known all his life but forgotten. She knew him, but she was a stranger to him.

"But you helped her." He whispered to himself as he took a seat at the table.

It was true. She seemed to be speaking very fluently. The objective had been met. She had warned him that he wouldn't be able to hide anything. It wasn't her fault he hadn't realized juat how deep that well was. At the end of the day he had two options, be freaked out and change nothing, or grow a pair and get over it. She had said she wouldn't remember things she didn't review before sleeping, and he doubted she would want to take the time to shift through two decades worth of experiences for the juicier moments of his life.

They were friends now, no matter how weird the introduction. That meant it was time to act like it.

He counted to ten, easing the tension out of his body as he did and waited for his dinner company to return.

She gave herself a moment to let her heart hammer and then went fishing through her clothes. Jeans, probably, were the appropriate attire. Hell. Max wasn't even wearing a shirt. And with that thought, Noel decided she would bring one out to him. He could probably squeeze into whatever was on hand. It wasn't like any of this was hers. Everything she had at this point was provided from Haven and from the good graces of Devon Hadden.

Noel caught a brief glimpse of Devon from Max's memory. It wasn't more than the moment when he learned the man's name, smiling. Goodness, was everyone here so charismatic? It made her feel rather like a cut log of wood by comparison: stiff and disconnected.

She stuffed her body into some clothes and her feet into some shoes and then peeked around the door to see Max sitting and waiting for her to return.

"It isn't always so awkward." She tried to reassure him as she took her seat and handed over the shirt. Was she getting this weirdness from him? Noel tried to shake it off and come at this from her perspective. "Thank you for the gift, Max. You let me shortcut a lot of work. I can lay off the commentary if it makes you... uncomfortable? Squeamish? I just thought you'd like to know when I knew something... extra. In a few days, I'll have associations of my own." Though, in reality, she might still make connections long afterward. It was hard to say. Memory was not an exact science.

"So... why were you wandering around shirtless?" That was a harmless opener, right? Noel went to dole out the food.

Max felt himself blush as Noel thanked him for for his assistance with her English issue. He donned the shirt she offered. It was a bit of a relief to be honest that she understood what it had cost him. He felt himself give a little shake of his head as she offered to not discuss what she had obtained from him.

. In a few days, I'll have associations of my own."

"It's fine I'd rather know," He said with a little sigh, "I mean no point in exchanging small talk about things if you already know. When things pop up it just means you know me better, just means i need to put in the time to get to know you back. can't really complain about that."

She inquired about what brought him to her apartment shirtless. A question that would have probably come up instantly in any other circumstances. He let out a laugh.

"I was practicing. I'm a dancer and sometimes I head down to CLASS to work on choreography. I worked up a sweat and since I live a few doors down was headed home to take a shower when I saw you. Sorry for barging in by the way, in hindsight was a bit less than tactful"

"Oh." She made sure there was pasta on her plate and then passed the bowl automatically. "Can we still do the small talk thing? I can probably pretend to be normal for half a second." Same for the sauce: grab and pass. And the bread. It was like she was used to being at a bigger table with more family members present. She just didn't think about it while she set up her plate and chatted.

"For instance, I might know that you learned about spaghetti when you could hardly sit high enough to see your plate, but I don't know where it sits on your range of favorites. And, I might know how much I lucked out with your schooling history, but I don't know if you actually enjoyed your time."

She took a bite of bread after dipping it in sauce. Oh. The frozen stuff turned out to be pretty good. "Plus. Where'd you learn to cook?" There wasn't exactly one memory she could lock onto for the word, but she had it in her head. Cooking was something that went on in the kitchen.

I can probably pretend to be normal for half a second."

Max smiled and took the offered food. He understood Noel wanting to have a normal conversation. As he scooped out pasta and sauce he couldn't help but imagine this kind of thing was as weird for her as it was for him.

but I don't know if you actually enjoyed your time."

Max placed the food back on the table and began stirring the sauce and pasta together on his plate. His stomach gave an appreciative grumble as the smell of the food washed over him.

"I'm always good for pasta. Easy to make and goes a long way so I'd say it's in my top ten food wise," He said smiling' "As for school, well considering I grew up in a place where the mutant population was basically me and Jacob the guy who spontaneously combust it could have been a little more bearable"

It was true that despite the large number of mutants in the world the prep school he had attended had severely lacked x genes. Perhaps it said something to the social standing of the world, or perhaps it was coincidence.

She asked where he learned to cook as he took a fork full of spaghetti and ate it. Noodles were not perfect but it was a decent meal, the sauce more than covered up for it.

"My nanny, Mama J." He said after swollowing.

Even saying her name brought back memories of the elderly, plump, black woman. His parents had been present as much as they could, but that woman had really raised him.

"My parents taught me what they thought was important, social obligation, manners, education," He continued," Mama J taught me practical things, cooking, sewing, how to throw a punch when the bigger kid on the playground takes your toy. I've found myself using more of her lessons then theirs over the course of my adult life "

He let out a little laugh at the thought before returning his attention to Noel.

"What about you? Where are you from?" He asked not wanting the conversation to be all one sided.