Tarin couldn’t help but think as Lee agreed that maybe it would be best for Rachel to go that it was sorely disappointing that things had gone this way.

Was the general public really so insulated from things that they had no idea that the things that had happened to Lee happened to people, specifically mutants, all the time? Well, Rachel was learning now that willful ignorance came with a price.

Giving Lee one more squeeze, Tarin unwrapped his arms and stepped away with a simple, ” Be right back.” and headed back to the living room.

”Hey…” he said, “I think Lee is done talking for the night and that it might be best if you headed out.”

Lee held on to Tarin for as long as he was there with her, her head against his shoulder. But then he was letting go of her and saying that he would be right back.

Letting her arms fall away from Tarin, Lee nodded as she lifted a hand to wipe away the few tears that had escaped her eyes. She was glad that he had made it home before Rachel had really asked any questions.

Because by this point, Lee wasn’t sure how she would have done any of this without him there to cling to.

---

Lee had left the room, followed by Tarin, but his words before he left ran through Rachel’s mind. Lee hadn’t told her about any of this at the time, would have never told Rachel according to Tarin. That this folder and the information it contained had been the only way that Lee had thought that Rachel would believe her about all of this.

Rachel’s petite, controlled though outspoken, often overly anxious older sister.

Though if Lee had really gone through all of this, it was really no wonder why Lee tried to control everything in her life, why she was anxious about what might happen, especially as things related to Kevin.

Turning back to the folder, Rachel saw cause after cause of what at the time Rachel had thought were unwarranted anxieties. And Lee had gone through it all on her own.

No, Lee hadn’t been on her own, there were clearly people she had known and trusted as she did these things. But Lee hadn’t felt like she was able to tell her own sister.

And Rachel had just proven that Lee was right in that belief.

”Hey… I think Lee is done talking for the night and that it might be best if you headed out.”

Rachel jumped slightly when she heard Tarin’s words; she’d been so engrossed in the papers and her thoughts that she hadn’t heard him come back into the room.

Closing the file, Rachel nodded as she stood. ”Alright,” she said softly. ”Can you ask her to call me when she’s ready?”

Rachel was still looking at the folder when Tarin spoke and he felt a little bad that he had startled her like that.

Tarin wondered what was going on in Rachel’s head now. It wasn’t that Tarin was unsympathetic, but the thought that someone who knew Lee as well as Rachel should have questioned what she said just sat wrong. Lee was one of the most practical and competent people Tarin had ever met, the idea that she would make up or exaggerate what was in that file was just wild.

As he waited for Rachel to respond, Tarin readied himself to argue with her. Rachel was every bit as persistent as Lee, but in a more outspoken way.

Rachel didn’t argue though, she just nodded and stood and asked Tarin to have Lee call her when Lee was ready.

”Alright.” he said, following behind Rachel as she made her way to the door, carefully but casually keeping himself between Rachel and the kitchen as she opened the door.

” She has been through a lot. “ Tarin said softly as Rachel stepped out into the hall, ” Maybe I made a mistake when I encouraged Lee to tell you, but all of those things made her who she is and I couldn’t help but think that you…and your brother… are missing key pieces of the puzzle that keep you from really being able to know her. I hope I didn’t make things worse. I’ll tell her to call.”

Rachel quietly made her way to the door with Tarin following her. She wished that she could say goodbye to Lee, apologize. But if Tarin was the one telling her it was time to leave rather than Lee, it had to mean that Lee didn’t want to be there to see Rachel out.

Out into the hall Rachel stepped, and she was about to make her way down the hall when Tarin spoke again. Tarin had been the one who thought that Rachel should know these things about Lee, so that she could truly know her sister.

And Rachel had questioned and not believed what Lee had said. ”She’s been through more than I could have ever imagined,” Rachel replied, her own tone matching Tarin’s in volume. Then she glanced over his shoulder toward the kitchen before looking at him again. ”Can you tell her I’m sorry, too?” she asked, before turning to leave.

Tarin just nodded when Rachel responded, then stood for a moment as she walked down the hall and towards the elevator before he shut the door with a sigh.

The walk back to the kitchen felt very long and as he walked, Tarin tried to figure out what to say or what to do to make things better. The problem was…how did you make that better?

You didn’t.

“She’s gone.” Tarin said softly, walking into the kitchen, “She asked me to have you call when you were ready.”

Lee stayed in the kitchen with her back to the door as Tarin went to talk with Rachel. And while she could hear their voices, Lee couldn't make out what was being said.

And then, much sooner than Lee would have expected, she felt the two of them getting closer. Making sure that she was facing away from the entrance to the kitchen, Lee waited while they talked, and then Rachel was gone.

Taking a deep breath, Lee slowly turned to face Tarin as he approached. ”Thank you,” Lee said as she stepped close to Tarin, hugging him again.

Lee turned in the kitchen and approached and as she wrapped Tarin in another hug, he hugged her back. Now that it was just the two of them he let himself think back to everything Lee had said when she was describing what had happened.

It was terrifying to think about. He hadn’t been there, but Tarin would have sworn that he knew exactly what had gone through the other Tarin’s mind and he understood how the other man had moved heaven and Earth to change things.

Just thinking about seeing Lee like that, as one of the distant, semi-lucid spirits he interacted with on a daily basis almost made Tarin sick and he shuddered as he held Lee a little tighter and dropped his chin back onto her head.

“I’m sorry.” he said again, not really knowing what else to do.

Lee had thought that telling Rachel would be hard. It had been hard going through all of this with Tarin. It had been so much harder this time with Rachel, and Lee wasn't sure whether it was because she'd had to go into more detail, or because Rachel hadn't believed her.

But then Tarin apologized and Lee pulled back slightly to look up at him. ”What are you sorry for?” she asked softly. ”You have no reason to be sorry that she seems incapable of believing me. At Least about anything that she hadn't directly seen.”

And that seemed to be the issue. All Rachel seemed capable of picturing Lee as was her older sister living the so called ‘glamorous’ life in New York. And the furthest away from that she appeared to be able to imagine was Lee stuck in the camp here with that collar around her neck.

There really was no way to show Rachel anything beyond what Lee had already done with the file, though. And very few people that she was still in contact with who could corroborate anything.

Honestly, Lee wasn’t even sure if Rachel actually believed about how strong or fast she was able to be yet.

Lee’s head tilted slightly then as she looked up at Tarin. ”Maybe she should see me spar at some point,” Lee said thoughtfully. ”Do you think that might help?”

Lee pulled back and Tarin looked down at her seriously as she spoke.

”I told you that you should tell them…” Tarin said, ”I had no idea that she would react that way. Though…”

Tarin paused and took a deep breath trying to decide if now was the time to share the rest of what Rachel had said, ” I do think she finally got it…she also said to tell you she’s sorry. ”

At the suggestion that they spar, Tarin had to smile just a little bit, ”Does Rachel even know how to spar? That would definitely get the point across...”

Lee actually laughed when Tarin asked if Rachel even knew how to spar and that it would get the point across. ”I’m pretty sure Kevin could have kicked Rachel's butt by the time he was ten,” Lee said, then shook her head.

”No, if she saw me spar. I mean, she's never once even come to the gym with me and Kevin. “

Lee leaned back into Tarin again, her head coming to rest comfortably against his shoulder as she thought. It would have to be planned properly, that was for sure.

Michael definitely wasn't the right opponent for this one, not with how her powers compensated for Lee's speed by moving even faster. And with what Lee was trying to show, to prove, Lee wasn't sure Rachel would appreciate how she'd used Michael's speed against her the last time.

Plus, Lee was not eager to have that level of bruising and soreness for it not being guaranteed that Rachel would understand.

Tony being unable to feel would pose other challenges, but he did seem to be the better option. Lee would just have to make sure that she had far more energy this time. Without taking it from Tarin.

It might work, right?

Ah, it was good to hear Lee laugh after how upset she’d been a little while before and Tarin had to smile when Lee compared Rachel’s skill level to Kevin when he’d been 10 years old. That’s what Tarin had thought…despite the fact that she was quite a bit taller than Lee, Rachel did not seem like a gym rat.

Lee laid her head back down against his shoulder and Tarin stayed right where he was, content to stay that way as long as she wanted or needed to do so.

It was clear that Lee was thinking though, she hadn’t said anything in a little while and Tarin couldn’t help but be a bit curious.

”Penny for your thoughts?” he said

”Penny for your thoughts?”

”Hmmm?” Lee asked at first. She'd been wrapped up in her thoughts enough that it took a couple moments for her mind to realize what Tarin had actually said.

”I was thinking that it might be good to invite Rachel along the next time I spar with Tony,” Lee replied. ”But I'm definitely going to need more energy than I had the last time. Especially if I'm going to really show her. But you're not an option for that much energy.”

Lee said there quietly for a few moments before she shrugged. ”Just a thought. Honestly, I don't know if that'll help any more than anything else…”

It took Lee a few moment to pull back from her thoughts and when she shared her idea Tarin had mixed feelings.

On one hand, Lee was still quite confident in sparring with Tony. The plan had worked out well and hadn’t freaked her out. Tarin liked that, he also liked that she was speaking practically and comfortably about her powers and whether or not it was practical for him to provide the amount of energy she needed to accomplish what she needed to do. Good.

On the other hand, Tarin was a bit apprehensive about Rachel seeing what he did. To this point, outside of what Lee had shared about the state she had found him in, Tarin didn’t think his powers or how they worked had come up a single time…until today. He’d shared a bit more, but that hadn’t been the focus of the conversation and the last thing he needed was Rachel freaked out about something related to him. Granted, he didn’t know how much she’d seen of the other Tarin’s powers either, so maybe it wasn’t a big deal.

Still..Lee seemed to like the idea, even if she wasn’t sure of its validity in convincing her sister. [cololr=dodgerblue]”Let’s do it then.” [/color] Tarin said, ”Let’s figure out a time and place and do it.” when he’d said he’d do anything to help, he’d meant it.

”For what it’s worth…I know it shouldn’t have ever been this hard, but I really do think Rachel was at least starting to understand…” he said, ”She barely said anything when I told her it was time to go and she looked like she was really thinking.” he added, hoping that he might actually help the situation.

Tarin was up for giving it a try. That was good. They'd talked about trying things with Tony a few more times before doing anything with Kevin around, but between everything at school, Kevin getting his powers, and then heading to Texas, they hadn't actually done anything else.

But then Tarin went on to say he thought that Rachel was starting to get it because she had been very quiet when he had gone to see her out. Hearing that, Lee thought back. While she had heard some talking between the two of them, now that she thought about it, there definitely hadn’t been the amount of talking that she would normally associate with her sister.

”I sure hope so,” Lee replied. ”Though I guess I’ll need to figure out what to do if she still doesn’t after seeing me spar.”

Lee took a deep breath and pulled back to look at Tarin again. ”But I’m ready to have a nice, quiet night now. How about you?”

She will…she has to, right? Tarin said, “How could anyone see you spar and not.”

It was wildly impressive to see Lee fight. Even if it made Tarin a bit of a wreck, there was no questioning Lee’s skill, even if she lacked formal training.

So it was decided. They would do some more sparring and they would invite Rachel to try and drive home the point that Lee was amazing.

Lee mentioned being ready for a quiet night and Tarin nodded. ”A quiet night sounds absolutely perfect.” he said.