Lee had decided that Tarin had been right, that she should tell Rachel about what she'd actually done in her life. What she was actually capable of.

But Lee hadn't been sure how much of it that Rachel would actually believe if Lee simply told her about things. Even after all these years and the many times Lee had told her, Rachel didn't seem to believe Lee was all that strong, afterall.

So she had done some research and found that there had actually been a number of articles written about the events she had been involved in. None, thankfully, had actually identified her in any way (which was good since a lot of things had not exactly been legal).

Lee had printed those articles out and added some notes of her own, gathering them all into a file. She'd even shown Tarin, both to get his opinion about whether to show Rachel and as a way to tell him some of the things.

That had been a month and a half earlier.

So after Kevin had left for Texas with Josh (and after she and Tarin had gotten that weekend together), Lee had finally invited her sister over to talk to her about everything.

Which left Lee sitting quietly on the couch as Rachel read through the folder for the third time.

The first time had been pure disbelief from Rachel. The second there had been questions, but Lee could tell her sister was still having trouble believing.

This time was silent.

So Lee sat there waiting for the next round of questions.

Today…well…today was honestly pretty awesome. A couple of clients were on vacation so the day that usually would have ended around 7 pm was ending much earlier. Normally cancellations would have had Tarin sending Lee a text to see what she was up to but since it had just ended up meaning an early end to the day, he was just going home.

They’d had that whole weekend together, just him and Lee and that was another thing that had Tarin positively chipper as he walked the distance between the shop and the apartment. He’d realized it Friday night when Lee had come to the shop to bring him the phone he’d left at home when he’d practically ran from the whole Josh fiasco, but the rest of the weekend had absolutely confirmed that what Tarin was feeling for Lee was deep on a level that had been initially terrifying. Love. It was a word he’d hardly ever even thought, but Tarin knew that it was what he was feeling. It wasn’t terrifying now, but it was overwhelming still. He hadn’t said anything, didn’t know if he even could if he tried. Not yet. It had been there for a while, he realized, but it still felt very new and very fragile and he didn’t know how to put it into words.

Still. It made him smile as the building came into view.

Lee had Rachel over and Tarin assumed that meant that Lee was showing her the folder so there was a chance that the mood in the apartment would be pretty somber when he got there, but that was okay. Lee had been planning to tell her sister about all the extraordinary things Lee had done for a while. Tarin knew that some of the stuff in there was tough for Lee to talk about, but it was time that Rachel really knew just how capable her sister was.

Soon enough, Tarin was unlocking the door and making his way into the apartment. Dropping his backpack on the bench by the door and moving further into the apartment, he could see Rachel and Lee on the couch. Rachel was quiet, which meant that things were pretty somber and he could see the folder on her lap.

”Hey” Tarin said, moving to the side where Lee was sitting and sitting down on the arm.

Lee watched Rachel as she slowly turned through the pages in file.

It really was very strange, Lee thought. Rachel was never this quiet. Ever. To be honest, Lee really wasn’t sure what to make of that fact. Was her sister quiet because she was actually processing everything she was reading?

Or had it broken her brain trying to make the information in the folder fit with what she thought she knew about Lee?

After sitting silently on the couch for what felt like forever, but was actually earlier than would be normal, Lee heard the door opening and the familiar sounds of Tarin making his way into the apartment after work. Very soon, Tarin was sitting on the arm of the couch beside her, and Lee looked up the much further distance than normal to give him a small smile as she gave his knee beside her a quick squeeze.

”Third time through the file,” Lee told him softly. ”I think things might be clicking in.”

Rachel’s head snapped up to look at Lee. Then Tarin before moving back to Lee. ”Wait, he knows about all of this?” Rachel asked in a loud whisper. Lee wasn’t sure if Tarin was supposed to hear it, but the whisper was definitely loud enough for him to hear.

Rachel was so quiet. It was enough to make Tarin wonder if the woman had somehow been a little broken by the information in the folder. Tarin would have understood if Rachel had been, it seemed like no matter what Lee said both of her siblings insisted upon criminally underestimating her abilities.

Rachel finally spoke and it was in a whisper so loud that it was almost comical.

”He knows all of this. ” Tarin said, dropping his hand down on Lee’s shoulder. ”Incredible, isn’t she?”

Lee smiled when she felt Tarin’s hand on her shoulder and heard his answer to Rachel. Though, even after everything, talking about this whole folder, and other things she had done and been through. Even Tarin making her say that she was proud of herself…

Lee still blushed slightly when Tarin asked Rachel if she was incredible.

For her part, Rachel just stared at Tarin for a moment after he spoke. ”But,” Rachel started saying as she turned to look at Lee. ”How did you do this? When did you do all of this?”

”How?” Lee asked calmly. ”Most times out of necessity when things went so far beyond what we’d expect could possibly happen. When? Well, it’s not like I wrote all of this down in a calendar or anything, but I expect that most of the articles are dated only a day or two after things happened, so that would be when. It might be easier to answer how and why for specific things, though, Rach.”

”Columbia? Romania?” Rachel asked, clearly still in shock. ”You didn’t even tell me you were leaving the country and you went to do this? Twice?”

”For Columbia, I barely had time to wrap my own head around it before we went,” Lee told her sister. ”I barely had a week to get us ready to go, and that included getting the shots we needed and working with someone at Slate’s company to help get us the visas quickly. Plus, I thought we were just going to deal with some spirits and help build a school.

“Though, to be fair Rach, I did tell you we were planning to go to Europe.”

Rachel’s eyes widened in surprise. ”I thought you meant London, or Paris, or something like that for your anniversary, Lee. That’s what most people would think.”

As the sisters spoke Tarin stayed where he was, hand on Lee’s shoulder as she answered Rachel’s questions.

Tarin wasn’t there for commentary, but if all Lee had told Rachel was that she was going to Europe it was understandable that Rachel had misconstrued the situation.

Still. Now Rachel knew, and she seemed to be having a hard time believing. If nothing else she had a lot of questions. Tarin supposed that part was fair, he had too.

Tarin wanted to comment though, to say that the when and how didn’t necessarily matter. That it was far more important that now Rachel knew.

”But she wasn’t just visiting Europe for a vacation. She was changing the world.” Tarin said by way of compromise, emphasizing the point that Rachel should be getting.

”She does that a lot.”

”She does that a lot.”

That slight blush came back as she heard Tarin speak. ”I wouldn’t say a lot,” Lee said looking at Tarin.

Then Lee looked back at Rachel. ”But after what happened here, I couldn’t just sit at home when there was something I could try to do to help and try to stop it from happening again?”

”Lee, you could barely talk about what happened to you when you were put in the camp here. Why would you go running toward that again?”

Rachel then turned to the folder her in her lap, flipping through the pages. ”And what does this mean?! ‘I was shot just as we found Tarin and died in his arms’? You obviously didn’t die, you’re here now.”

Lee just looked at Rachel for a moment. ”Why would I lie, Rachel?” she asked. ”And it means exactly what it says. I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but that’s my life, apparently.”

”A lot of times doing is much easier than talking.” Tarin added when Rachel expressed confusion about how Lee had done things like Columbia and Romania when she’d hardly been able to talk about the camps in New York.

Tarin still hated to even think about the story that Lee had told him about Romania. The first time Tarin had heard it, he’d had a hard time believing that it could be true. The second time it had horrified him to think about the fact that if it wasn’t for something barely short of a miracle Lee wouldn’t be here. The third time they’d been looking at this folder and Lee had explained more. Tarin squeezed her shoulder a little bit in what he hoped was a reassuring way.

”Extraordinary things happen when you’re surrounded by extraordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.” Tarin said, not sure how else to be helpful.

”Extraordinary things…” Rachel said slowly, a frown on her face. ”I’m not trying to downplay what you went through, Lee,” she continued, her voice soft, thoughtful. Nothing like what it normally sounded like. ”Are you sure that you didn’t just pass out and were healed? I’ve heard there are mutants with healing abilities that seem like miracles. Even human doctors can bring some people back when they seem like they’re already dead.”

Lee’s eyes closed as one of her hands reached up to her shoulder, taking a tight hold of Tarin’s hand. ”Rachel,” she breathed, her voice barely a whisper. Then her free hand reached up and touched her chest, just off center. ”I was shot. Here. At first I thought I was punched, but there was no one there. Then I was falling, I couldn't breathe and couldn’t make myself move…

“I hadn’t gotten to him, but suddenly I was looking up at Tarin, but it was blurry, and there was just…white at the edges of my vision, creeping in. And cold, so much colder than it had been a few minutes earlier.”

Lee paused, taking a deep breath as her hand that was still touching her chest clutched her shirt slightly. ”I don’t remember this part as well, but the next thing I know I’m standing and I can see him holding me. Then, as I’m turning away, he looks up and there is just sheer horror on his face.

“I think there’s more that happened, but the next thing I remember is that everything just hurt and my lungs burned until I managed to gasp. The wound was gone; not simply healed, but gone as if it had never existed. But my entire body hurt, like just being back in my body was a painful thing, and for a while all I could do was just lay there trying to breathe.”

Rachel continued to question Lee, to doubt what Lee had experienced in that camp in Romania. It was so condescending, even if it was unintentional…

Tarin’s eyes narrowed slightly at Rachel as Lee’s hand gripped his and he was just about to say something when Lee started to speak.

When Lee had shared about this particular experience previously she hadn’t gone into nearly so much detail. That had been fine, Tarin hadn’t ever wanted the details. For Tarin it had been terrible enough that it had happened at all, that she’d come so close to just being…gone.

Hearing it now, seeing how Lee clutched at her chest as she spoke, feeling her cling to his hand, Tarin could only watch and listen in mute horror.

Lee finished talking and Tarin took a deep, shaky breath. ”If he saw her…like that.” he said softly, ”Then we are all more lucky than we can possibly imagine.”

Another deep breath, ”Every time I connect with a spirit I can see what they saw and feel what they felt…it’s…it’s like that.”

Tarin sat for a moment and let the words hang, “And you should have believed your sister in the first place.”

Lee just sat there silently once she had finished speaking, her eyes still closed, hand still tightly holding on to Tarin’s by her shoulder where she had grabbed it.

And continued as she heard Tarin speaking, explaining that if her spirit had been seen like that, outside of her body, that she had most certainly been dead. Completely, fully dead, and beyond what any healer could hope to fix.

If Lee’s eyes had been open, she would have seen that Rachel’s mouth was hanging open slightly in shock as she looked at her older sister, eyes wide. But otherwise, Rachel wasn’t moving or speaking either.

Then Tarin went on, telling Rachel that she should have just believed Lee to start with.

Lee tried to swallow and found that a lump had formed in her throat.

”My god Lee…” Rachel finally whispered. ”I’m so sorry. I…” Rachel turned, leaning in to give her sister a hug.

Before she had even opened her eyes, Lee released Tarin’s hand and shot up to her feet. ”I need a drink,” she said as she turned and made her way to the kitchen.

The moment that Lee was around the corner and in the kitchen, she leaned heavily against the wall, biting her lip as she could feel tears filling her eyes. She had managed to explain what happened, she had chosen to explain it so Rachel would know. But it had been so much more difficult than she had thought it would be, even as she was speaking.

Rachel seemed to get it now, but it was definitely too late.

Lee was up and out of the living room before Tarin could say or do anything.

He watched her go and his shoulders slumped as he looked over at Rachel and shook his head a little.

” I know it’s hard to hear and sometimes even harder to believe…” he said softly, ” But you need to take everything you know think you know and shift your perspective.” he added as he stood.

”She’d have gone her whole life and never told you any of it, let you continue thinking…whatever it is you think. This was the only way she thought you’d believe her...and she still had to do all of that” he added, firmly but not unkindly, knowing he was terrible at this and hoping it all made at least a little sense as he went after Lee into the kitchen.

Coming around the corner, Tarin stopped when he saw Lee and how she was standing, the tears in her eyes.

”What can I do?”,he asked quietly, ”Can I help?”

Rachel knew that a hug was never going to be enough for what Lee had just explained, but at that moment, she also didn’t know what the right words were. A hug would be good to start, though, she thought.

Yet as soon as Rachel had started moving toward her sister, even though she was sure that Lee’s eyes were still closed, Lee was up and out of reach, moving toward the kitchen for a drink, apparently.

Rachel was still looking in the direction that Lee had gone when she heard Tarin’s voice. Yes, this was all hard to believe. That’s why she had questioned it. It was a hell of a lot to take in at once. How was anyone supposed to believe all of this, she wondered.

Except that, Rachel realized as she now watched Tarin walk away, he had only known Lee a couple of months and had not only learned about all of this, but believed it.

But this was the only way that Lee had thought she’d believe it? Rachel glanced back down at the file open on her lap.

That was when Rachel realized what all this was: evidence. Lee had thought she needed evidence in order for Rachel to believe what she had done in her life, and Rachel still hadn’t believed her sister.

---

Lee had come to the kitchen with a plausible excuse for being out of the room for a minute or two, so she could be alone to try and pull herself back together.

So Lee was quite frustrated when she felt someone approaching really not long after she had left the room. Surely after all of that, Rachel hadn’t decided to follow her.

She didn’t even realize that she had tensed up until she felt the relief at realizing that it was just Tarin. Before he had even finished speaking, Lee had stepped close to him, wrapping her arms around him as she buried her head in his shoulder. ”This was a horrible idea…”

Seeing the way that Lee tensed when he approached, Tarin wondered if he had made a mistake in following her. Lee was fiercely independent and it was understandable that she might need a few minutes to herself.

Tarin was wrong though and hadn’t even finished speaking before Lee was moving. As Lee wrapped her arms around him, Tarin did the same and held her close, resting his chin on top of her head.

”This was a horrible idea…”

Tarin nodded and sighed, guilt flooding him because this had been his idea, ”I never should have pushed you. I’m sorry.” he said, then just stood in silence for a few moments.

”You want me to ask her to go?” he said, ”You want me to go for a while? he offered.

It was kind of strange, Lee couldn't help but think as she stood there in Tarin's arms. She'd come to the kitchen to avoid a hug, yet that was the first thing she did, that she wanted, when she realized that Tarin had followed her.

Though maybe that had more to do with this hug being Tarin than anything else.

But the fact was, Lee was glad that she had shared all of this information with Tarin, that he now knew these things about her, and she most likely would never have been able to tell him half of it, especially so soon, without the folder.

”You, no,” Lee whispered, her arms tightening around him for a moment. ”But that might be best. Thanks.”