Evelyn didn't need the echoes to sense her presence was unwanted at the high end apartment building and moved to enter the private elevator leading to her parent's loft. The doorman gave her a strange look, as did the guard, but perhaps they sensed blocking a child from returning home was a bit extreme, given the circumstances. She rode in silence to the top floor, and stepped into the living room, familiarity clashing with a sense of change. Furniture had moved, carpet had aged, photos that once were came to be no more. She wandered forward and touched a few of the frames, hating the way her heart thundered as she did so. Her father and mother together at a banquette, at a conference, with friends on a boat, with famous people. Not a single one showed a daughter. Not a single photo was there proving she existed at all.

It had been years, she knew that. The falling out involved her dating Mirror, and if stories were correct, some type of assassination attempt. She had felt it extreme when she first discovered the lengths they went to removed the x-men from her life, but now, she realized it was less about Mirror, and more about the embarrassing situation altogether. They never liked having a mutant as a daughter, and with time, it seemed they didn't like having a daughter at all.

Being here was confirming everything she had come to deduce. She was living at the mansion because this home had long since closed to her.

"So you wandered back, huh?"

Evelyn looked up in surprise, and turned, facing the stoic man in the doorway. He was older, his eyes dark, hair grey, a scowl and a beer belly new to her. Well, the scowl wasn't so strange. He just was more polished in the past, and now that seemed to be gone. He looked down at her, and shook his head once. [Surprise, amusement, confusion. Rage.] He hadn't seen her since she de-aged, and it must be as odd for him as she was feeling.

"I had to see for myself. And, I needed my records. You still have my birth certificate and medical files. I'd like them transferred to my school."

"Still as businesslike as ever, I see? Huh, expected losing all those years would have knocked a little sense into you," he growled. He fished in the jacket of his vest and pulled out a cigar and a lighter. Evelyn watched, finding it hard to stop the confusion coming from seeing him smoke. He never smoked before. And his eyes never looked this hateful. She lifted her chin, forcing her voice to stay calm.

"I am solving a problem for you. Evidently, you don't wish to have a daughter. I am offering a chance for her to disappear. No one will connect your adult mistake to me in this body, and if I have my records, I have no reason to return." Emotions were the enemy here. She masked them, keeping her face calm.

His eyes narrowed at her. [Resentment, frustration. Dislike tone of voice.] He saw her actions as chess moves against him. She was not afraid, but he was the adult. He was larger, more powerful, and looking down on her like an ant. But she had been on missions, she had faced scarier monsters than him now. She didn't waver.

"You think I'm just going to do what you tell me to like an obedient child? When did you ever display an ounce of obedience."

Evelyn wavered momentarily. She had some memories of arguing with her father, but this...this felt darker. This was the man who actually had hired a mercenary. He saw the spark of fear and laughed, stepping forward. She took an automatic step back, and he laughed more. "You don't get to make demands, Evelyn. I don't care what hoax you freaks came up with, but I won't play your games. I decide what I want to do about my disgraceful, ungrateful child. Oh, and guess what I found today," before she could react he grabbed her wrist and was dragging her toward the study. Evelyn yelped, scrambling to keep up, eyes watering at the pain. The door slammed open and he threw her forward so she had to catch herself against the desk. There were footsteps, a lone shadow in the doorway the only sign her mother had joined them, answering the sounds of yelling. Evelyn was staring at credit card statements, a chill sinking in her gut. Oh.

"You think you can just wander around and spend my money, make demands, act like you still have a right, a place in this family?" Her chin knocked against the desk as she was pushed closer, the numbers staring up at her. Money, of course it came down to money. Money and status, that was all they cared about, wasn't it?

Tears splashed on the papers, courage forgotten. This wasn't home, it would never again be home.

---

She snuck back into the mansion, avoiding any adults, slinking for her room with red eyes. Arm and back were bruised, enough she could have called the cops, but she didn't. Her saving grace had been her mother, that stuck up heiress who only spoke to remind him the legal repercussions his actions could have. Whether it would be child abuse, or domestic, they just wanted to keep him out of jail. Ha. That's why they hired thugs to do their dirty work, right? To keep their own hands clean in the end.

Evelyn tried to scoop up the memories in her mind, find a corner to collect them in, hide them. She piled pillows, blankets, stuffed animals into a corner and crawled there with them, while mentally taping shut the fear. The mansion was home now, there was no going back to adult Evelyn, no going back to a time when her parents disliked her, but would never hurt her. Her friends re-aged, the world continued on, but she would have to start here, in this dark lonely place where she was reminded how unwanted she was. She hadn't even managed to get her records, wondering if she would ever get the legal freedom to escape that past.

Hugging a teddy bear, she cried for the first time since she became seven years old. She didn't want to be an adult today after all. She just wanted to be normal, and just wanted to be loved.

Some things changed, not everything but some things. He was a friend with Eve when she was dating Mirror; he was a friend with her when they split. He de-aged and so did she and somehow they became friends again. It was when he re-aged and he learned about his time with her he realized how his younger self took advantage of her powers. He was pissed about the whole situation. It wasn’t her fault she just wanted to help his younger self and his younger self took advantage of that and in turn ended up putting a target on her tiny back.

He’d deal with Rime later. Now he had to check on a friend. Currently he had been avoiding everyone since he re-aged. Rime had that kind of effect on his life. Made him want to avoid everyone except a select few. Eve happened to be one of the few.

Approaching the door he knocked a little louder than he might have intended but he wanted to be heard. She’d probably be upset that he was older. Rime’s journal entries talked about Eve quite a bit. She was a troublemaker and apparently his only student so he tried to keep an eye on her. Funny his younger self had a student.

”Hey V.” he waited for a second, ”It’s Sam.” he paused again hoping the kid was in her room. He checked the library first but figured if she wasn’t there she’d be here. ”You got a minute. Need to talk to you.” this was going to be awkward.

Evelyn heard the knock, and the echoes verified who it was [Sam. Older, reaged.] Not Sam her friend, and teacher. The other Sam. The one who knew her before, not now. That made her hug the bear harder and bury her face against the wet fur. "Go a-a-away!" She sniffled. She turned her back to the door and scooted closer to the wall. She had found a spot to sit wedged between the nightstand and the wall, wishing she had brought a blanket with her. Her arm hurt. Her back hurt. Now her eyes hurt.

She didn't want to talk. She didn't want to think about what she was missing now, and how she had no one anymore. She pulled her knees up and heard the door open, because of course it wouldn't be locked. [Desire comfort.] Even the echoes knew she wanted someone to be there, even if she was running away. She looked up with red eyes, and there was older Sam. He had an eye patch, and a more worn face. She looked away before she could focus on the concern, tugging at her sleeves. That wouldn't do much good, she was several inches short of fabric to cover her arms.

>>>"Go a-a-away!"

He stopped for a second and was about to then he had a set of flashbacks of his daughter. The one who didn’t exist and his jaw clenched. He heard the falter in her voice and knew immediately she was crying. More concerned for her than her privacy Sam knocked again this time opening the door. She was kid crying. She needed someone. ”V… I’m coming in anyways.” he said entering.

She was hidden in a corner hugging a bear crying. Sam went into dad mode and walked over to see if he could try and help her. That was when he spotted some bruising on her arm. His fists tightened again and the air around him started to drop. Before he could turn it off it might have reached her. This wasn’t the time.

”Hey kiddo…” he said as he took a few steps towards her and crouched his hand reaching for one of hers. ”What happened here?” he had seen those types of bruising before his stomach clenched as hard as his jaw did. It was more of a comforting touch than anything else when he touched the non-bruised area.

What happened here?

Evelyn didn’t think to push him away when he reached out. Even the cold air hadn’t registered. The moment he made contact with her skin the memories came rushing to the surface. There was her dad’s angry accusing, then pain, and fear. She flinched at how vivid the playback was, and started crying worse. Dignity forgotten, she threw her arms around Sam and buried her face against his shirt. He could have tried to get away, but she didn’t want to let him. It wasn’t the Sam she knew, but he was all she had.

”Why’d you have to g-get old again? N-now I have n-no one! They d-don’t want me and no one here unders-stands me.”

Waves of emotions were rushing through her. She was accusing him of growing up and leaving her while simultaneously holding on for dear life.

He saw it all. What she went through her father grabbing her, dragging and throwing her. The air went colder as Sam’s body reacted. This wasn’t mind control though so there wouldn’t be little ice clones of his not real kids or an ice clone of himself ready to stab him and wake him up no, these were memories. Her memories and because of her ability to playback they were now his.

His jaw clenched for a second before he could say or do anything. She was hugging him, crying and blaming him for growing up. His heart sank and he wrapped his arms around her trying to give her some comfort. ”Sorry kid. I’m so sorry.” she was a child. No child should have to go through this. He wanted to yell and curse her father’s name go to his mansion kick down the door and give him a taste of his own medicine this was the final straw. He already attempted to kill Gawain/Maya now he was abusing his daughter like that.

Sam pushed the thoughts, Eve didn’t need someone to go beat up her father. Not now at least he’d circle back to his current thoughts later. Now she needed him. ”Might not be a young me. Old me is still here though.” he hugged her tighter, trying to fight back tears himself. ”And as long as you need me V I’ll be here. Promise.”

Evelyn couldn't remember the years with Jensen as a father figure. She couldn't remember the years at the mansion with friends. In her mind there was a painful loneliness that kept her distant from everyone. And now there was pain, and fear. The fear of being too small to protect yourself from someone bigger and stronger. When she was with young Sam she enjoyed being useful, and when she helped Jude and Ranger she liked being more of an adult.

Today, she didn't want to be a grown up. She curled up in the hug until she ran out of tears, and Sam's shirt was wet, probably with snot as much as from the crying. It felt like water had leaked from everywhere on her face, not just her eyes from crying so hard.

Evelyn rubbed her eyes, aware of how much they stung now, and sniffled a few more times as her emotions settled. "You shouldn't make promises. W-what if I always need you around? Who is going to be my teacher, and show me how to throw snowballs and sai?"

The older icemancer ignored his soaked shirt. He had more, it was easy to change a shirt it wasn’t easy to have to deal with a young Eve and not say what he was thinking about her father about being alone. She wasn’t alone though, they were friends before and after the de-age and re-age and this moment right here just showed him she needed a friend more than anything.

”I try not to make promises. They seemed to happen anyways. Where do you think I’m going?” he asked forcing a smile to try and cheer her up. ”You think because I lost an eye and got older I suddenly have somewhere else to be?” he asked trying to laugh. ”and he called you Sherlock.” Sam said trying to make a reference to her code name. His younger self had nothing but great things to say about her.

”I still got my job here to. Can’t really leave now that my only student right now needs me. What kind of teacher would I be?” his hands iced over a little bit so he could pat her on the head. ”If you always need me I’ll always be around right? You know where I live. You got my number and I got a jet so I can pretty much be where ever you need me to be.” he knew the more he talked the more trouble he’d get in if she tried to call him on any of his promises. She had a perfect memory meaning even if he forgot she wouldn’t. Then again she could make it so he never forgot either.

”V I got too much to teach you anyways.” he said, ”Like proper care. You want to go see Doc and we can have those fixed up?” he asked.

Evelyn focused on what Sam was saying, while being somewhat comforted by this older version of her teacher. Somehow the eye patch and the age made it easier to listen. This wasn't the young reckless man who took her to New Zealand, or convinced her she needed to learn to have fun, but it was someone tougher, someone who felt like he could keep her safe. When she returned to the mansion she hadn't thought of it as home, at most just a place to hide. She momentarily wished she had different parents, a different place to be, and someone a bit more like Sam to watch out for her.

"I didn't think you had somewhere else to be, just, maybe someone more important to be with. You had other students before you became young, you said. We won't get to do cool missions and stuff." She swiped a hand across her eye again. She nodded a little at the codename, and then paused at the mention of the jet. "We aren't allowed near the jet anymore. We stole it once, and then you stole it again for Hawaii. And Gemma hasn't forgiven you for all the guinea pigs I let loose so you could go to Hawaii," she hiccuped once trying to relay the story, poorly. She could share the memory sometime so he could at least see the guinea pigs. It had been pretty impressive. And the snowball fight. Would he want to see the snowball fight?

The cold hand on her head told her he was more careful with her powers now, and maybe that was a sign he wouldn't want to see them. She looked at her hands, and then he mentioned going to see Doc. Evelyn wanted to argue, but moving hurt, and she didn't want memories of injuries and bruises taking up more space in her head than they would already have.

"Yeah...We can see him."

Evelyn was quiet as Sam led her to the infirmary. When they entered Doc must have sensed this was an unusual visit. Evelyn didn't look at him, and Sam was there. He raised one eyebrow, and then gave him a slight nod. "Glad to see your back to yourself. Not tying up my time for your own interests..." It was clear they would have to discuss what type of medical records his younger self had been after before, and to do a checkup on the now re-aged ice mutant.

For now, he approached Evelyn. "I know I generally say I won't heal bruises, but I feel this may be a time I eat my words. Why don't you come have a talk with me." He was abnormally gentle today, and that made Evelyn back into Sam, pulling her arm away. It took some convincing for Evelyn to let him take records of the injuries first before healing them away. Reports would be needed, especially when DocProf started healing at got the memories of what had occurred. While the arm was more visible, the back had been worse, and Evelyn stayed quietly in the other room while DocProf pulled Sam aside when he was done.

"I....I'm sure you realize this brings a number of legal issues into play. She can't be back allowed near her father again. And I know you probably have a lot you're dealing with already. But this sort of trauma and her type of powers.... She looks up to you. Frankly you have been about the only adult in this mansion who could get the kid to listen."

”V, I’m a teacher. I’ll always have more students. You however aren’t just a student. You’re a friend too. Don’t forget that. I always got time for my students and even more time for my friends.” he didn’t remember everything he had done with her but his younger self was pretty free on giving out the details. Guess he had to talk to Gemma next after this was all said and done but everyone also had to keep in mind he was a hormonal teenager. It wasn’t an excuse but he was willing to work up to gaining everyone’s trust and respect again.

The icemancer gave her a sincere smile when she said it was okay to go see the doc. Good, he wanted her not to hurt physically anymore. She had some other healing to focus on and without the constant pain from her injuries it might give her something else to focus on.

On the walk down Sam tried to give her small words of comfort, ”While I can’t bring you on missions with me, I can train you for them. I’d be a bad adult if I brought you on another mission. V. I’m glad you could help me save Po. Though. It means a lot to me.” he said truthfully. ”Who knows might have a few in mind you could help me on.” he said trying to come up with a few ideas for her.

When they got to the infirmary Doc was more than happy to point out what a relief it was he wasn’t young. ”We can talk later about it.” Sam said scratching the back of his head and nodded to Eve, ”I’m glad I’m back as well.”

”It’s okay kid. Doc’s a good guy. He fixes me up all the time. Dontcha Doc?” he said trying to gently nudge Eve forward. She didn’t want to be touched. Sam got that, but at the same time Doc needed to see.

When it was time to talk with Doc Sam’s fury was starting to roar back to life. ”Don’t have t tell me twice. That man will never set foot on mansion grounds while I’m alive.” he said the air around them getting colder. The glass that separated them and Eve started to frost up before he realized what he was doing. Sam took a breath and the room started to go back to normal. ”Blessing and a curse.” he said knowing that there were way better adults in the mansion than him to talk to.

”Not sure how to go from here. What to say or do, this just… sucks.” he looked to Eve on the table and waved to her and smiled and gave he a thumbs up. He was forcing it. ”I’m gonna keep my eye on her. She’s too good to deal with this ####” Sam said. ”I think you me and Gemma might need to talk about this.” he said sighing.

The door between them opened back up and Sam kept smiling for her. If she was anything like him she didn’t want pity just someone there. ”Now… there was talk about throwing some snowballs?” he said as he formed one and tossed it too her.

Evelyn sat in the room while Sam and Doc talked, staring at her hands and trying not to think. She tried to find an empty corner of her mind, somewhere she could run to, something that didn't remind her of her parents and the memory now written into her brain. She should have asked someone to go with her, she should have behaved for once. She had a new start at things and already her mind was filling up with memories she didn't want. She shut her eyes, imagining little boxes in her mind. Lock it up. Just find some way to lock it up.

She wasn't sure when she noticed it getting colder, but found herself looking over when it did. The window seemed frosty, so she couldn't see Sam, and that made her feel even more upset. As if sensing it, Sam waved and gave a thumbs up. [Fake.] He was trying to hide how upset he was, and Evelyn looked down at her hands. Then, there was a snowball. Evelyn jumped and caught it, giving a half-hearted smile.

"I don't think Doc likes snowballs in his office," she warned. Doc gave a small cough and motioned they should take it outside, but otherwise, he didn't scold them. Her stomach twisted worse. She poked the cold snow and scooted out the doorway, feeling the strange numbing sensation on her fingers where they held it.

"Am I in trouble?" Evelyn asked outside the door. She looked up, trying to read his face. The anger was still there, and her heart and her powers were conflicted now. He wasn't mad at her, but he was angry. She felt like there were too many unanswered questions now.

Eve caught the snowball with ease, the sphere sat in her hand and she started looking out for Doc. ”Doc doesn’t like me in his office either.” Sam said nodding his head to Doc before walking towards Eve and then the door. ”Let’s not give him another reason to make him upset then.” Sam said walking out the door. He’d talk to Doc later about this more, especially when Gemma was involved. He didn’t want to force Eve to see her but he knew it would help. She did help.

Looking down at her he took a breath and crouched down so he was level with her. The snowball reformed in her hand when Sam got closer. ”Why would you be in trouble V?” he said his face still a little conflicted. On the one hand he was probably more upset than he had ever been in his life and on the other he didn’t want to scare her or make her feel any more alone than she probably already did.

Sam reached out and put his hand gently on her now healed shoulder, he wanted to avoid touching her, not because of her powers but he didn’t want to make her remember anything. ”You kid, are good.” he said and offered her a sincere but sad smile. Sam’s mind flashed back to his memories of his daughter who wasn’t real.

”You are not in trouble.” he said standing back up. ”and you won’t be. Not while I’m around.” he said reassuringly, ”Cause I’m going to make sure you are so busy with practice you won’t have enough energy to get into trouble.”

Evelyn pokes the snowball a couple times and the echoes pointed out Sam’s emotions. Concern for her, anger for what happened.

”Well I snuck out of the mansion and bribed a taxi to give me a ride so I could get my birth certificate and stuff from my parents. And then I got p-punished because I used my parents credit card to buy art supplies and backpacks and guinea pigs....” she sniffed once, swiping at her eyes. The tears betrayed her. She wanted to be tough about this but perfect memory was amplifying the fear.

Without wanting to she felt her lip trembling again and she gulped, ”I don’t understand why they hated me.... I didn’t ask to be a m-mutant. I didn’t ask to be a freak, they just always blamed me for not being normal!” she tried to be comforted by the contact but she felt empty. She felt worse than an orphan because she still had two parents that she could never be rid of.

Sam mentioned training and Evelyn looked down, ”I like training, but, maybe we can play too? I don’t think I want to be an adult today....”

She recounted why he should be upset with her, he wasn’t in fact while he should feel anger that she snuck off to meet with her parents only turned to pity. Sam knew she could read him like a book. She could read everyone, he didn’t try to hide his feelings right now with a false smile like he normally did in situations like this. It wasn’t about him. It was about her.

”V, I’m gonna be honest here, so listen good to what I got to say. Sometimes things happen, we don’t’ have any control over them. They might not seem fair or right but they just are. We can’t change everything.” he crouched down again knowing now she needed it more than she wanted to let on. ”You aren’t a freak.”

The icemancer did something normally didn’t do an pulled Eve into a hug, a big one where if he wasn’t careful he could have squeezed the air from her lungs. However he was careful, careful not to hurt her and careful not to activate any playbacks from her. ”You are you.” Sam said not sure what else to say to her. He knew she needed words of comfort but didn’t know exactly what to say in this situation other than ‘your parents are garbage’ he knew she didn’t need to hear that though. She was smart.

When he let go of the embrace he smirked and laughed, it was a sad laugh one that he had to force a bit but he was trying now to keep her from thinking about everything that happened, ”V, I very rarely want to be an adult.” he grinned and stood back up again. ”We can do whatever you want today.” he said smiling, ”We can train later.” he said his smile becoming more sincere.

”What do you want to do today V?” Sam asked, ”You got me all day.”

Sam was genuine, which was all Evelyn could have asked for. She hated when adults tried to sugar coat things, and her friend didn't do that. He had anger, and frustration, but not at her. When he hugged her she found it hard not to cry more. She didn't realize how much she needed a hug, something missing from her childhood with distant parents.

You aren't a freak. She tried to hold onto the words, put them in a place in front of the bad memories. Tried to replace those moments with the new one. She had friends, and she had people here at the mansion who would be there even when she had been a brat lately. Even when she annoyed the adults here, she found peace that this was somewhere she could run to.

"Everything is just different. I just...I don't want to think about it today..." She was vague, but it was hard to explain. Sam was different, so were her parents. She was at the school, and not at home, and the world had changed. She had fun for awhile, but now she just felt disoriented and lost. And alone. She felt very alone.

What do you want to do today V?

Evelyn blinked, and tried to think of things she had seen other kids do for fun. Not fires, and science experiments. Some of them played video games, and colored. "We could....draw a picture?" She tried offering. She looked at the ground and fidgeted a little. "Or is that dumb? I don't hang out with the other kids. But they color sometimes. Or draw. Or play board games, but they say it's not fair if I play because the echoes cheat." Well, it was sort of true, but she didn't have a way to turn off her brain to play fair.