Blaine caught the shirt, but seemed to have trouble getting it straightened out to put it on. Right, because he couldn't feel the shirt in his hand as he tried to straighten it out. It was going to be a lot harder to get used to Blaine's powers than Lee had thought. Remembering that the man didn't feel pain was relatively easy. Surprising, but easy. Remembering that he didn't feel, that was harder.

And then Blaine asked her is she was ok. Yeah, just what she needed, him to not only notice her blush, but to bring it up…

”Yeah, I'm fine,” Lee replied, frustrated by the fact that she knew it never went away very fast when she blushed. ”Just the sudden realization… I'm not exactly used to being around guys when they're shirtless.”

Then Blaine was thanking her for the help, and commenting that his powers were as much curse add gift. Lee frowned. ”I think I understand what you mean,” Lee whispered.

He chuckled at her answer, but the smile faded as she continued and he thought some things over. "I don't think you do," he said, maybe a little harsher than he intended. Then, he turned to the door, but didn't walk out.

Blaine put his hand on the door frame, staring at his hand against the wooden structure. Of course he couldn't feel it. He gave a long sigh. "I didn't mean it like that. I just...sometimes I think about things like this. Being able to feel. What eating would be like if I could pick up temperature and texture, not just flavor...I'm an isolated guy, but a lot of my lifestyle was chosen for me," he explained, but he didn't turn to look at her. He kept his eyes fixed on his hand.

Lee was a little taken aback when she heard Blaine say he didn't think she did. The tone was harsher than anything she'd heard come out of his mouth to this point. And then he was turning, walking to the door.

But Blaine didn't walk through the door. He stopped just short leaning a hand against the door frame, as he explained. Lee frowned as she listened.

When Blaine finished speaking, Lee took a moment to think before she slowly started walking closer. ”Of course I can't really understand,” Lee said softly as she moved closer. ”I've always hated that I siphon energy from people. And then I ended up in the mutant registration camp.” Lee stopped as she came up beside Blaine. But she didn't touch him, didn't look at him. She just stood there and closed her eyes, the frown still on her face as she continued. ”Everytime someone would touch me, of be shocked. And then with the breakout…”

Here, Lee had to pause and she took a deep breath before she was able to continue. ”It took almost 6 months before I stopped flinching every time someone touched me, expecting to be electrocuted. I withdrew, hid, didn't willingly touch anyone.” Lee finally opened her eyes but she didn't look over at Blaine. Instead she looked at his hand on the door frame, reaching hers out to rest beside his. She would have touched his hand, but given the current subject matter, Lee wasn't sure how he would react to that.

”I know it's not the same,” Lee continued in a whisper. ”But I remember how alone and depressed it made me feel. I know it's not the same, but it's the best I have for understanding.”

He listened quietly as she spoke, hanging onto what she said. Like him, Lee had also been through a lot, and though her story wasn't the same, it was similar enough to where she'd at least have an idea what it was like. He nodded, looking at her hand as it rested next to his. On the surface, her hand was small, especially compared to his. His knuckles were scarred from all the hitting they'd done over the past two decades, while hers were damn near perfect.

"Okay, so maybe you're the closest anyone can get to understanding," he murmured. Carefully, he slid his hand over so that it was resting on hers. He was using a lot of focus and effort as he did this, because he didn't want to put any pressure on it. After a moment, he slid it back to its original position. "Sometimes I wish it was only pain I couldn't feel. Even then, when I think about it, I probably feel more pain than anyone." He paused at his little revelation. He didn't know if she'd catch what he meant, but to him it was like a light-bulb went off.

Lee watched as Blaine very carefully moved his hand and placed it on top of hers. Glancing over at his face for the first time since he had walked to the door, Lee saw the intense concentration there, and she frowned slightly.

”I’m so sorry you had to be alone like this for so long,” Lee whispered, moving her hand this time on top of Blaine's. And she really was. ”No one should have to be alone like that. Though, I know for people like us, it's a lot harder to find someone with the patience and understanding to make it worth not being alone.”

He stared at her hand resting on top of his, focusing on everything from how it was lying to the details in their hands. "It's easy to be alone when you can't feel anybody there," he murmured. A part of him wondered what led him to let this conversation get as deep as it had, what made him let his guard down like that. He was getting into things he'd never told anyone, and yet...maybe it was time to let it all out.

"I think maybe I was meant to tough this out on my own...If I don't have anyone, then I can't lose them," he said sadly, shaking his head a little, then he took a breath.

"I think maybe I should get back to work," he said after a moment. Then, he very carefully and deliberately pulled his hand away before starting to walk out of the door.

At first Blaine didn't say anything when she placed her hand on top of his, he just continued to look at their hands.

But when he did finally talk, Lee nodded. Other than the difference of Blaine actually not being able to feel her beside him, in her case it was almost the opposite, she had felt the same for years. ”And though it's hard, and it's painful to be alone, you believe it's better than the pain of losing someone you care about,” Lee whispered, her eyes sliding shut. ”And I can't argue that is not painful to lose someone, it is. But by not risking it, you end up losing out on so much more.”

Taking a deep breath, Lee turned to look up at Blaine again. ”But take it from someone who has loved and lost. If go with love again.”

But by this point, Blaine was pulling his hand away, saying he should get back to work. And Lee couldn't really argue that, he was still on the clock. Plus, Lee didn't have much chance to do anything about it since Blaine was already pulling the door open to head back out to the bar.

Then he was gone, leaving Lee with the clean up on the office.

He made his way back to the bar quietly, thinking over what had happened back there. Sometimes he wondered what it was like to those who made any kind of physical contact with him; was it like touching a brick wall, or a statue, that couldn't react? Sure, it helped in a fight, but it had very little social value.

"....I'd go with love again." Her words echoed in his head, but was he even capable of love? Sure he was emotion-driven, deep down, but he kept those close to his chest. And while he loved art and fighting, and a good plate of hot wings, could he love someone ? What was love without feeling, anyway?

He pushed those thoughts to the back ofbhis mind and found his spot against the wall, occasionally greeted with awe by someone who had seen the ordeal with the bottle. He'd acknowledge it, but stay vigilant as he continued his shift. But his mind still wandered back to those five simple words.

Blaine was out of the office, presumably to head back to work, which left Lee starting at the closed door for a couple of minutes with a frown on her face. Is this what Tarin had seen in her when they first met, a person so scared of being hurt, of people leaving because of powered they couldn't control that it had seemed better to just keep everyone away?

As she stood there, thinking back, Lee was pretty sure she had been.

Having realized that Lee turned to clean up, the frown still on her face. Though it had been quite a number of years, and though this was a very different place, at one point messes like this had been uncomfortably common place.

At least the intervening years hadn't caused her to lose her efficiency. But then she Lee was left with nothing to do. Well, she could have done some paperwork, but Lee was feeling too antsy to actually sit still. That was the problem for Lee with spending time at a crowded bar. Too many people quickly meant too much energy to sit still.

So up Lee got again to head back to the main area of the bar. Not that she had much to do out there, but at least she could walk.

It was going to be a long night.

Blaine was thankful for a peaceful night, but after earlier who would have tried anything? After awhile, he saw Lee reemerge, but he couldn't get to where he could talk to her.

The rest of the night dragged on, but eventually, people had left and things were starting to die down for the evening. Then, Blaine sought out Lee, and he walked over to her. "Hey, you need anything else before I leave? " he asked, then he had a thought. "Also...I've never seen anyone so calm while patching my wounds. How were you so relaxed through all that?" He paused, folding his bare arms across his chest.

The night dragged, but at least there were no more problems and everything ran smoothly. Finally, though, the bar was emptying and things were winding down.

And then Blaine was walking towards her. Honestly, with the way that he had walked out of the office, it surprised her a bit. To his first question, Lee simply shook her head. But before Lee was able to say anything, Blaine went on to ask how she had stayed that relaxed while dealing with his wounds.

Lee simply shrugged. ”Once I got a chance to look at it, it really wasn't all that serious,” Lee replied. ”To be honest,I was more worried about you unknowingly bleeding out here than about it being bad. Didn't I tell you that my life was pretty ****** up?”

He gave a slow nod. "Yeah...that's a thought that scares me. I could bleed out and be none the wiser." He shook his head at the thought. But then he smiled.

"Yeah, but you must've seen some **** to keep that calm," he commented, then looked around.

"Anyway, I'll see you next time. Have a good night. With that, he turned to leave, not looking down to realize he had on just his tee shirt, and he'd left his jacket in the back.

That … That was quite the thing to be worried about, and based on his lack of reaction that night, Lee realized that it was quite possible.

But when Blaine went on, commenting on what she had to have seen before for her to have been that calm, Lee's eyes dropped to the floor. Yup, that was one way to put it. But it had also been the frequency that she'd need to deal with that sort of thing in the past that had made it so easy for her to deal with.

Before she knew it, even before she had raised her eyes again, Blaine was saying good night. Looking up, Lee saw that he was already making his way to the door. ”Good night,” Lee called after him then turned to the bar. She still had the tools and the liquor count to take care of.

A moment later, a thought crossed Lee's mind and she stopped, looking towards the door. Just in time to see Blaine walking out in his t-shirt without a coat. And it was cold outside.

Shaking her head, Lee changed direction, hoping to catch him, but as she looked outside, Blaine was nowhere to be seen. ”Damn it,” Lee muttered ass she stepped back inside. She could always come in to do the work tomorrow, Lee thought as she stared across the bar. The only reason she had originally planned to do it that night had been because she wasn't going to sleep anyway.

She did have a couple things that she absolutely had to do before she left, though, namely kicking the tills in the office and looking up Blaine's address.

Twenty minutes later, Lee was walking down the street, heels clicking as she set a brisk pace. She had her own leather jacket on and done up against the cold, her laptop bag with all the paperwork she had needed to take home was over her shoulder with Blaine's jacket hung over the strap.

About 45 minutes later, and Lee realized that she had gone soft while she'd been in Canada because at one point she would have considered that to be a short walk, Lee came up to the address she had jotted down. Stepping up to the front door of the building, Lee was able to pull it open, so she walked in. Checking the slip of paper for the apartment number, Lee made her way up the stairs, coming to a stop and knocking when she found the right door.

To Blaine, the 45 minute walk home was nothing, even though people thought he was crazy. But to him, it didn't really matter, because the only effect it had on him was he had less energy. Once home, he unlocked the door and stepped inside, taking off his shirt and sitting on the couch with a beer and turning on the TV. Some fight was on, but he wasn't really watching it, he was mostly just thinking about Lee's words that night, how much they'd shared. She had him wondering if he was even capable of love, of having someone. To be honest, he didn't think so.

He wasn't home for a half an hour when there was a knock on his door. He set his second beer down and walked over, unlocking the several locks--which took a few moments--and then opening the door. And there was....Lee?!? He blinked a few times, wondering what she was doing there, but not outright asking. "Uh, hey," he said, "Everything alright?" Yeah, it was lame, but that was the nicest way he knew how to say it. And he did figure something was up if she was showing up on his doorstep.

It took a few moments, it was unlikely that Blaine was expecting anyone to knock at his door at this time of night, but sure enough Lee felt someone approaching from the other side of the door. Then heard the sound of a lick turning. Then another couple. This was New York, but the number of locks Lee heard sounded like a bit of overkill, even for this city.

Finally, Blaine opened the door a confused expression on his face when he saw her standing there. And for the second time that night, Lee was seeing him shirtless.

But Blaine didn't seem to notice that fact. He simply asked if everything was alright. Not that that was overly surprising, she would be confused if her boss showed up at the door an hour after leaving work, even more so if she lived this far away.

”You forgot your jacket,” Lee told him as she pulled said jacket of from where it had been hanging on her bag. ”Is supposed to be even colder tomorrow, so I figured you would need it before work.”