Lee hadn't really been able to think about Robert having been at the building project much. Even though he'd been completely civil to Tarin. That day, she'd been too annoyed that he was even there to start with, and then when the building collapsed, he was the last thing on her mind unless he was directly speaking to her.

But Rachel had talked to him. And according to Robert, Lee and him needed to talk.

There was only one thing that Rachel could have talked to him about that would not only make Robert decide he needed to talk with her, but that he was also willing to do so with Tarin there: the folder.

At least Lee had forgotten about Robert until she ran into him on the way to the music store. Where he had pushed to set a time that they could talk.

So Lee told her brother to come over on Friday afternoon. That would give Tarin the holiday Thursday to relax, and they would still have their entire weekend ahead of them free.

It had seemed like the perfect decision. Until she was sitting on the couch on Friday afternoon waiting for Robert to get there. ”How likely is this to go well, do you think?” Lee asked Tarin as she looked over at him. ”It’s not too late to cancel, is it?”

Today was going to be interesting one way or another.

When he had spotted Robert at the volunteer event, Tarin had instantly feared that they were in for more conflict and hostility. With the exception of the hockey game the night that Tarin had met Robert, every interaction had been full of animosity and both potential and realized violence.

Things had been pretty okay that day though…at least until the building had collapsed. Robert had been civil, he and Lee had agreed to talk, and Robert had pretended like Tarin wasn’t there. That was fine, they didn’t need to be friends, but he wasn’t going to take sucker punches or threats.

Maybe the fact that Tarin had saved Robert during the collapse would help. Maybe.

Lee was nervous…or reluctant for Robert to get there and asked Tarin his thoughts and if he thought it was too late to cancel.

”I think that if he wasn’t interested in a real conversation he wouldn’t be coming. You were pretty clear…and yeah, I do think it’s probably too late.”

Tarin did have a point. She had been very clear about the fact that Tarin would be there through the entire conversation if Robert came. And she had been clear previously about how she was not going to accept the behaviour from him that Robert had shown the last few times he had been to the apartment.

Lee had even reiterated the fact that Tarin was going to be present when she and Robert had made the plans to talk.

Hopefully Robert’s desire to have an actual conversation would last the entire time he was in her home.

Lee knew that it was too late to cancel. She really did. But if Tarin had even hinted that it wasn’t, she might have used that as an excuse to cancel anyway. But Tarin was right.

And was proven right a few moments later when there was a knock on the door. Reluctantly, Lee walked over to the door. Opening it, sure enough, Robert was standing there.

She didn’t say anything at first, Lee just stood to the side, holding the door open to give Robert plenty of room to enter.

”Hi Em,” Robert said as he entered, glancing toward the living room before standing a little awkwardly in the entryway.

”Go sit,” Lee said as she closed the door. ”Because if this conversation is going to be short enough to be a ‘doorway talk’, I’m going to be annoyed you didn’t just spit it out last week.”

And just like that, there was a knock on the door.

Tarin couldn’t help but be a bit apprehensive as Lee opened the door and Robert entered the apartment.

Robert seemed to be waiting for something, and Lee eventually told him to come in and sit and Tarin gave a quick wave as Lee’s brother entered the room and sat a bit awkwardly at the other end of the couch. Maybe they needed another chair or something…

”Robert.” Tarin said by way of greeting, just a little bit warily.

”Tarin.” Robert said in return.

Well. That was an improvement.

Lee was a little surprised, though she didn’t say anything, when Tarin and Robert actually greeted each other. Well, not so surprised when Tarin did, but quite surprised when Robert responded. And he sat on the couch, Lee noticed as she followed the man into the room. Though he was about as far away from Tarin as he could get while sitting there.

Lee, however, moved past the couch, pulling the chair away from her desk and sitting on that as she looked at her brother.

And the three of them sat in silence for a minute. Not at all productive for having this talk with Robert and getting him out of the apartment.

”So, what did Rachel tell you that made you decide that we needed to talk?” That was probably the best place to start, Lee thought. If she found out what Robert did and didn’t know from their sister, Lee could decide what else he still needed to know. Though she had no intention of telling Robert nearly as much as she had Rachel.

Lee made her way back into the main part of the apartment quickly enough that things didn’t get awkward.

She pulled the desk chair over though instead of sitting on the couch and Tarin wished that Robert had thought about that instead of sitting on the couch.

”So, what did Rachel tell you that made you decide that we needed to talk?”

Robert actually looked a little uncomfortable for a moment before he spoke, ”I don’t know, Em… she called me one night and had all of these wild stories to tell. She said that you had proof that you were some kind of local hero because you stood up to a drug cartel?”

For his part, Tarin didn’t say a word. He was there to support Lee, and maybe turn on the Mets game later if things didn’t get weird or heated.

With the look on Robert’s face when she asked her question, Lee was starting to wonder if he was actually going to answer the question.

But then he did start talking. And it was the big ‘story’ (that Rachel knew) from Columbia. Go big or go home, right?

At least it wasn’t about how she’d died. Lee could only hope that meant that Rachel hadn’t told Robert all of the stories.

Tarin wasn’t saying anything either, though it wasn’t like Lee was expecting him to. He was there for her, not to help convince Robert of anything.

Lee took a deep breath then dove in. ”Well, not local here,” she told Robert. ”I’m not sure I’d say a ‘hero’, either. Those villagers in Columbia refused to come anywhere near me the entire time we were rebuilding the school.

“And, I mean…” Lee trailed off for a moment, her eyes drifting to the ceiling as she tried to figure out exactly how to word this. ”It’s not like it was the whole drug cartel. There were less than 20 men.”

Robert just stared as Lee described her point of view on what had happened in Colombia. Tarin almost wanted to laugh, but he knew for a fact that it wouldn’t help matters. Tarin also empathized with Robert’s surprise right up to the point where Tarin knew that Lee had tried to tell Robert that she had done things and could handle herself.

”Twenty men” Robert questioned, eyes widening even more in surprise, ”Surely it wasn’t….” the other man bit off his words with an almost audible closing of his mouth. Tarin could remember Lee establishing that if they were going to have this talk, Robert needed to listen and believe. Robert sat for a moment, thinking, then nodded his head as if deciding something before speaking again.

”Then again at Rockefeller Center? During that whole hostage situation? Em, you didn’t even tell me you had been there.”

”Twenty men? Surely it wasn’t….”

Robert stopped his disbelieving question, and once it became obvious that he was trying to believe what she was saying, Lee shrugged. ”I was a little busy to stop and count. But there were at least a dozen, including the two I drained their energy before making it to the square, the four holding him and Slate plus the one torturing them…”

Right on the end of that, Robert was asking about The Rockefeller Center. It was true, she hadn’t told either of her siblings about that at the time, had she? ”Maybe because it felt like the worst part of it was that our attempt at a nice, normal dinner was ruined? Honestly, I wasn’t going to do anything, we were talking about how horrible our luck was with going anywhere or something like that.

“But then they called me up to talk to the cops on the phone.” Again, Lee just shrugged slightly as if the fact that the hostage takers making her talk on the phone was reason enough for everything else that happened in that restaurant.

Tarin kept his eye on Robert as Lee spoke. It was clearly difficult for him to see Lee in the way she was describing. Things made much more sense now, Robert really did seem to see Lee as the same kid he had grown up with.

When Lee mentioned draining the soldiers of energy Robert frowned and Tarin wondered just how much Lee’s brother knew about what she could do. The other man shook his head in somewhat mute surprise, ”I didn’t even know you could do that.” he said.

If nothing else, Robert was listening as Lee spoke and not questioning the validity of what she was saying as much as just being shocked that any of it had happened in the first place.

It was Tarin’s turn to stare at Lee in mild surprise. The worst part of that night was their dinner getting messed up? The bad guys had called up Lee to talk to the police? She hadn’t mentioned that when she had showed him the folder.

Robert was staring again and shook his head. ”Rachel said it was a lot…but Em…you broke up that whole hostage situation and didn’t even think to mention it?

Robert sighed and scratched the back of his head, clearly trying to figure everything out.

”Rach said it got a lot worse…”

”I didn’t even know you could do that.”

Lee just blinked at Robert for a moment. ”What do you mean you didn't know I could do that?” Lee asked. ”Did you honestly think when I told you that when there was a merge, I would be sitting there for hours until he passed out? No, if I'm actually trying to take as much energy as possible, I can make them passed out from a lack of energy within minutes. Less if I'm not worried about taking to much energy.”

Then Robert was asking about how she’d done all that at the restaurant and hadn’t thought to even mention it. ”I just kind of…started things,” Lee explained. ”Something happened on the other side of the restaurant that distracted everyone. The cops were taking forever, so I used the opportunity. That’s when SWAT decided to finally show up. So I really didn’t do all that much.”

But why hadn’t she mentioned it to Rachel and Robert? Thinking back, and trying to remember the dates on the articles she’d found, it all really had happened very quickly; Columbia, Rockefeller Center, Kabal…

”And, I probably didn’t think to mention it because there was so much happening at the time,” Lee explained. ”That was not long after we had gotten back from Columbia. And remember how I had that consultant job? That started in around that time too.”

”Rach said it got a lot worse…”

That it did. Lee’s eyes darted to Tarin quickly before she looked back at Robert. ”It did…” Lee said slowly. ”How much did Rachel tell you about it?”

When Lee mentioned a merge, Robert’s eyes darted over to Tarin for a quick moment before returning to Lee as she explained how quickly she could use her powers.

”It makes sense Em…” her brother said with a wince, ”I just didn’t realize.”

Tarin was still equally as surprised as Robert when Lee pointed out that she’d had to take action at Rockefeller Center because the police had taken so long. The last thing Lee needed was for him to start questioning her actions, but hadn’t she said she’d disobeyed the police when the building had collapsed too?

”I wish I’d have known…” Robert said, ”It’s like you’ve been this whole other person I didn’t know. ‘Taking down’ soldiers…breaking up hostage situations.”

At least Robert believed Lee, Tarin thought. In fact, Robert’s reaction seemed fairly reasonable to this point. Tarin didn’t miss Lee’s look after Robert asked how things had gotten way worse.

Things had gone well so far and Tarin hadn’t said a word, but as Lee asked Robert what he had heard from Rachel, Tarin took a deep breath.

”If you’re not ready to hear this, don’t ask for more details.” Tarin said softly, looking at Lee while he spoke.

Robert turned to look at Tarin and Tarin looked back steadily for a moment before looking back at Lee.

”You don’t need to do this.” Tarin said.

Robert chimed in then, ”Don’t tell her what to do.” he shot towards Tarin and Tarin sighed. Things were apparently not sunshine and rainbows between him and Robert.

”She didn’t tell me anything, but she said to ask you about Romania.”

Robert hadn’t realized what she meant when she said she’d siphon until he passed out. Maybe if he had actually listened in the past…

And then Robert said that he wished he’d have known. Lee shook her head ever so slightly as she looked at him. ”You didn’t want to believe what I said I was capable of before any of this stuff happened,” Lee said quietly. ”Why would I have thought you would have believed any of this?”

When Lee asked Robert what he had been told about Romania, it was Tarin who spoke first. Warning Robert not to ask if he wasn’t ready to hear more. And saying that she didn’t have to do this, either.

”Don’t tell her what to do.”

Lee’s eyebrows shot up as she stared at Robert. ”He’s not telling me what to do,” Lee told him, a bit of an edge to her voice. ”He’s looking out for me.”

But then Lee was really surprised, because apparently Rachel hadn’t told Robert anything about Romania. ”Well, I don’t know how much you know, but Romania had its own Mutant Registration Act,” Lee informed him. Because she would not have been surprised if Robert had no idea. ”We, as in a number of mutants from New York, went over to see what we could do to help, to get mutants out, lobby for the law to be overturned.”

”You have to admit that it’s all pretty unbelievable, Em.” Robert said, and immediately followed it with, ”I believe you, it’s just a lot to take in.”

Tarin didn’t say a word when Lee came to his defense with Robert. It was true, and hopefully Robert would understand why Tarin had said what he’d said once Lee was done talking.

And she did want to talk about it, it seemed.

Lee started from the beginning and Robert nodded that he knew what she was talking about.

”You walked into that country after what happened here with the camps?”

He paused for a moment, ”Em, tell me you weren’t there at the bombing that happened..”

Was it really all pretty unbelievable? Four months ago, she would have just said that it was her life. Tarin’s reaction, after the uncomfortable life he had lived because of SUPER on the other side of the rift…She had realized just how wild everything had been. That year in particular.

”And that’s exactly why I didn’t tell you when you didn’t even believe the more mundane things that happened to me?” But at least Robert was listening now. And trying to believe. That was better than at any point in the previous two decades.

It turned out that Robert had been paying attention to things better than she thought he would as he even remembered hearing about the bombing.

”I did go,” Lee admitted. ”I wasn’t just in survival mode anymore like I had been for the rest of my life, and Slate had been lobbying for months against the act. So we went.

“And god Bobby. I’m not a terrorist,” Lee told him when he asked if she’d been at the Senate bombing. Of course she hadn’t been there to do it. Though it had been part of Slate’s overall plan. ”I think I was actually sleeping when that happened. ”But he was with Slate when they heard about it, and they were captured for helping the victims, because Slate was healing them.”