She could come with him tonight, but he was going to find a new bar. Lee bit her bottom lip as she walked along beside Jason. ”I wasn’t going to be leaving with anyone,” Lee said, her voice still a whisper, her eyes lowered slightly as they walked. And she hadn’t been planning to, didn’t even want to.

Then Lee took a deep breath. ”But unfortunately, that’s all it can be,” Lee said, not even realizing that she had said the ‘unfortunately’ out loud. ”I don’t do relationships, they never work out, they can’t. Your powers don’t affect everyone around you. Mine do.”

"Maybe not tonight. Maybe not even soon...but one day. And I don't think I can deal with that. So...I need to leave." He finally looked over at her. "I never expected you to talk to me. Much less what happened. I felt like we...clicked. That's why I left the note. I thought there was something....special."

He paused, looking away again. "I really don't care what you can do. You're what I'm falling for. And I don't know how to stop. It may sound weird but I was attracted to you the first day I saw you. But I never got the courage to speak to you in time...but despite all this...I regret nothing.
No matter what you decide or want, I'm glad I found the confidence."

One day. Yeah, eventually she probably would, that’s why she had started doing this, having the one night stands, in the first place. So she could actually touch someone, be touched, not feel so alone all the time. Eventually she’d be lonely enough, feel cut off enough, that she would. But it couldn’t be Jason again, that would just lead to more feelings, and even though she hadn’t intended it, there were already more of those than she wanted.

He felt like they had clicked, like there had been something special. The problem was, he wasn’t the only one; if they hadn’t ‘clicked’ like he said, Lee never would have still been in his apartment for him to be able to make breakfast for her.

But she didn’t say any of this, it wouldn’t help. It would only give false hope that would make things harder, more painful.

And then Jason continued, and Lee’s eyes shot over to look at his face even as he was looking away. He didn’t care what she did? Yeah, Lee thought with a shake of her head, because he didn't know what that was. Followed by... ”You’re...How are you falling for me after just one night?” Lee asked, her voice still a whisper. She couldn’t seem to make it go any louder.

But then Lee’s eyes dropped again, a shiver running through her still quite chilled body. ”And you say you don’t care, but that’ll change once you know.”

"I told you I've seen you in the bar multiple times before that night I talked to you. Noticing people is what I do, after all. It may be childish, but I'd had a crush on you for awhile...Once I was able to talk to you, at least you saying no would bring closure. But..." he smiled. "You didn't."

By this point they were right at his apartment building, but he stopped dead in his tracks at her words. "Okay then. Give me what you got. Let's hear it," he said, his voice almost firm, challenging. As if he was in the interrogation room, or reaching the end of a case.

He’d seen her other times. Of course, he had told her that, hadn’t he? But that didn’t stop Lee from blushing as he heard Jason say he’d had a crush on her for a while. Blushing and looking away, hoping that Jason wouldn’t see the blush. Or if he did, would at least think that it was from the cold.

And then they got to Jason’s apartment, and he stopped, not going inside. He was simply standing there. And had moved in front of her, looking at her.

And challenged her to tell him what she had.

Lee shook her head, eyes dropping as she frowned. ”Not out here?” she asked, almost pleading. ”I’ll tell you, maybe then you’ll understand, but not out here.”

He conceded rather quickly, merely nodding and leading her up to his apartment in what was almost a sensation of deja vu. But it was different this time. There was this odd...silence. And this time he was certain that once she left...that was it.

Once inside, he let her in first, then shut the door and sat in his recliner."Alright. Let's see if you really can drive me away," he said a little more gently than he had outside.

At least he wasn’t pushing her to tell him right there, in the middle of the street. He may have shown his powers out in the open, but it had been in an alley, there wasn’t much chance of people happening along and seeing it.

It really didn’t take long to get inside and upstairs. Then into Jason’s apartment. But rather than to the loveseat, Jason sat in the recliner. Lee followed much more slowly, sitting on the loveseat.

But Jason’s words, and the tone he used, shocked Lee enough that she looked up at him again. Right into his eyes. And then she dropped her eyes to her hands she clasped in her lap. Then she took a deep breath.

”My powers work all the time, I can’t turn them off, can’t stop them,” Lee finally said, not looking up. ”I siphon energy from people. Everyone I’m around, all the time.”

He chewed his lip a little as she explained. He'd seen a vast assortment of powers over the years, but nothing like what she was describing. He nodded, giving a low whistle. " That's pretty interesting. I've never met anyone like that to be honest. And I've seen some stuff." He gave another smile.

"How much do you siphon at a time? What kind of effect does it have on...let's say somebody whose been with you til sunrise?" he asked after a moment. He leaned forward, propping his head on his hands.

Lee shook her head but didn’t look up at Jason as he said that her siphoning was interesting. ”You won’t think so when you’re constantly exhausted,” Lee whispered.

And then Jason continued, asking questions, wanting to know how much she siphoned. Lee shrugged. ”I don’t know, it’s not like it’s a gas gage.” Lee took a deep breath, and then had to swallow before she was able to speak again. But she didn’t see that he had leaned forward, that he had propped his chin on his hands like he was interested. ”It’s stronger the closer I am to people, even more so when I touch them.

“I know it feels worse the longer people spend with me. After days, or weeks, of being exhausted…”

"I still think it's interesting," he murmured as he moved to sit next to her. "I can't hold your mutation against you. It's not like mine, where if I shift and bite someone it's my fault."

He gave a slight shrug as he looked at her. "At least that night with you I actually got some good sleep. When I finally slept. I told you a piece of my past, and let's just say some of it still haunts me, and leave it at that," he said quietly as he leaned back.

Lee only finally looked up when she felt Jason moving closer to her. To see him coming closer to her, sitting beside her. Yet, she frowned as she looked at him. ”You may think that now,” Lee whispered before her eyes dropped to her hands again. ”I doubt you’d think it was so interesting if you were passing out from exhaustion, passing out because I took your energy.”

Then Jason said that he had gotten a good night’s sleep after being with her, and Lee’s eyes closed as she swallowed again. ”Even if you think it’s no big deal, but that feeling wouldn’t last.”

He sighed as he looked at her, shaking his head. "This doesn't change how I feel. I'd figure something out if I had to," he murmured, realizing he probably sounded desperate. But he really didn't care.

"I wouldn't just bail on you. I didn't think I'd get this far. I didn't think we'd hit it off at all, much less as well as we did. I wouldn't throw something like that away." He looked away, biting his lip a little. He felt this was going nowhere.

But he couldn't explain how he felt. There were no words that did it justice. Maybe he was just meant to dream, but damned if he wasn't at least going to try.

Lee’s eyes slowly moved up to look at Jason sitting beside her as he spoke. But she was frowning, despite what he was saying. ”But what could you figure out? I mean, there’s no changing what my powers do.”

Lee’s eyes dropped again at the same time that Jason looked away. ”You may think that now,” Lee said, a note of pain in her voice. ”But everyone leaves. These single nights are just the least painful way I’ve found, because I won’t go through my whole life without any contact...but anything else is more painful.”

"Hey, if there's something I can do, it's figure stuff out," he said, almost defensively in response. "Maybe not, but you've learned to live with it. Who's to say I couldn't?" he asked, his voice losing its edge on that one. He gave another deep sigh, before looking back to her.

"Maybe everyone else has, but I'm not everyone else. I usually end up alone, too, but more because of my job, or because I can turn into dogs. I know it's not the same as yours, but...I still think the other night meant something. If it just meant I now get to spend the rest of my life chasing a pipe dream, or being miserable, then so be it. I do know..." He paused for a moment.

"I know that the night we were right here, I didn't fight insomnia, or the other things I usually deal with by drowning them in alcohol. I told you how I went out on a limb, and took a chance for you. I told you I was sure you'd turn me away, but I still tried. I respect whatever you say here, but at least consider. What if this time is different?" He let that hang for a moment, before finally standing up.

"While you're here....you want some coffee? Because I do." With that, he went into the kitchen, starting the coffee pot, leaning on the counter and looking at Lee while it brewed.

Lee looked up at Jason when he said that maybe he could learn to live with her powers. Which meant that she was looking at him when he said that he wasn’t like everyone else who had left her before. Lee’s teeth started worrying her bottom lip. But she didn’t say anything to what Jason had said. At least not until he asked if she wanted some coffee.

”Coffee would be great,” Lee told Jason with a nod.

And even though she hadn’t said anything to Jason about everything that he had said, she was thinking about it. How did he know he wasn’t like everyone else? How did he know he wouldn’t feel horrible after being with her and bail?

But at the same time she knew that something had been different that night, he was different, how they connected had been different. Otherwise she wouldn’t have talked with him as much as she had, wouldn’t have stayed as long as she had. Wouldn’t be here again.

By this point, Lee could smell the coffee starting to brew, but she couldn’t feel Jason returning yet. So Lee turned in her seat to see Jason leaning on the counter looking back at her. ”How would I even know if this time is different?” she asked, her eyebrows drawn together.