Of course Kevin still thought that the X-Men were cool. Lee would have been fooling herself if just that would have been enough to talk Kevin out of liking them…and probably still wanting to be one when he was older.

But, Kevin had been showing so much maturity and rational thinking recently for a 13 year old that maybe, just maybe by the time he was old enough that he could decide to join that he wouldn't just rush into situations without a thought.

Kevin seemed skeptical that the reason Tarin and Shin had talked had been because Tarin had had problems with his powers. "Everyone has problems with their powers at some point, Kev," Lee pointed out gently. "And not just when you first get them. Including me."

"Can I eat in my room tonight?”

Lee nodded, giving her son a slight smile. "As long as all the dishes come out. Tonight," Lee told him, then nodded toward the kitchen. "Go eat."

Tarin had been leaning against the counter, arms crossed, thinking about the whole situation when Kevin entered the kitchen.

”Mum says I can eat in my room tonight.” he said and Tarin nodded. Kevin would have never been dumb enough to say that if it weren’t true, so Tarin turned and started pulling the containers of food out again and simply set them on the stove, removing the foil so they could see what there was to eat.

It was a testament to how good the restaurant was that the food still looked so good.

Soon enough, Kevin had grabbed a plate, dished himself up a hearty amount of food and made his way out of the kitchen and back towards his room.

Lee hadn’t followed Kevin into the kitchen, so Tarin carefully covered the food again and put it back into the already warm oven then made his way back out of the kitchen.

Lee was still on the floor and Tarin walked back over to her and sat down again, close enough that they were touching. ”Hi.” he said simply.

Lee just sat where she was on the floor after Kevin had gotten up and made his way to the kitchen. As she heard them moving around in the kitchen, Lee closed her eyes. She was just tired

Not physically. Lee always siphoned more when she was upset, so that combined with the hugs, Lee's energy was fine. But emotionally and mentally, Lee was tired.

After a few minutes, Lee felt Kevin making his way out of the kitchen and toward his room. She knew it was Kevin because she knew that Tarin was still in the kitchen, but another minute later she felt him coming out again as well.

Opening her eyes as Tarin reached her, Lee reached her hands out for his once he had sat down. "Hi," she replied, trying and mostly succeeding to give him a small smile.

Tarin knew that Lee absolutely hated when people thought of her that way and he’d have never said anything to her out loud, but Lee looked so small sitting there and she looked so very tired, which was something that Tarin wasn’t particularly used to seeing.

Lee reached out for his hands and Tarin obliged, she said hi back to him and he returned her small smile. Kevin had seemed alright when he had come into the kitchen, but Tarin had heard their voices going back and forth the whole time he’d been gone.

”I know you’re not okay…” he said softly, they were going to work on that, ”How’s Kevin?”

Even if she had thought to try and pretend that she was alright, Lee knew that Tarin wouldn't have believed it. Not with what her mother had said. Not with what she had said. Not with how she had cried once they had left. In front of Kevin.

Tarin didn't beat around the bush, he came straight out and said that he knew she wasn't alright. She pressed her lips together in a line as she looked down at their hands.

But then he asked how Kevin was and Lee looked up at Tarin again. "Confused. Hurt. Upset," Lee said softly. "Doesn't know what he's supposed to think or feel about all this. But considering what happened, he's doing as well as he can be."

Tarin could tell by the way that Lee’s eyes dropped that she didn’t love that he’d clocked immediately that she wasn’t okay. Of course she wasn’t okay, how could she be okay after what had happened. They were still sitting on the floor.

She looked up though when Tarin asked about Kevin and Tarin looked back steadily at her as she explained how Kevin was doing. It was as expected. Part of Kevin’s world had been flipped on its head and no matter how impressive Kevin was…it was a lot. Kevin was young though and he would adjust. Things would be a little different, but he would adjust.

Tarin didn’t look away from Lee after she stopped talking, ”You know you didn’t do anything wrong, right?” he said, frowning slightly. ”Your feelings are completely valid.”

It was rich for this to be coming from him, Tarin knew, but he also knew a thing or two about the cost of keeping things like this suppressed. ”You don’t need to be okay.”

Tarin was trying to tell her that she did nothing wrong. Well, she partially believed that. With what her mother had said, she deserved to hear what she had said.

"I could have done things," Lee took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before looking at Tarin again. "Better…somehow…with Kevin right there."

And Tarin was trying to tell her that she didn't need to be ok. Lee knew that. She had had many times over her life when she had not been ok.

It was THIS that Lee didn't know how to do; being not ok with people around and awake.

"I…I don't know how," Lee finally admitted in a whisper. "Before, everything smaller…Kevin wouldn't have seen me cry like that…just push it down and move on…"

”Right as you walked in I was about to tell your Mother and Father that any time we don’t wake up together you have to drink a pot of coffee to get out of bed.” Tarin said, ”So yes, there were probably other ways to get the message across, but it happened how it happened.” he wasn’t trying to be funny. The whole situation had been absurd and so had the fact that either of them had had to try to explain.

Lee was talking again though, saying that she didn’t know how to not be okay. She’d have never let Kevin see her cry like that in the past and Tarin kept looking at her, ”That’s okay…” he said, ”I get it…I really do. But just so you know, you don’t have to do it that way anymore.”

Tarin hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not he should say anything but deciding that more information was always a good thing.

”I do think your Dad gets it though. At least now. You’re under no obligation to either of them for anything though. Not after what they did. Even if they’re the best people in the world now. They didn’t do their one job.”

Yeah…Telling her parents that she drank a pot of coffee to get out of bed, then drank more would have been better. Kevin already knew that, and it would have still gotten the point about her energy and sleep across.

And rationally, Lee knew that she didn't have to deal with this all on her own; the emotions she was dealing with, the fall out (if any) from all this, helping Kevin…

She knew this all rationally. They had spoken about this very thing a few times. How Tarin didn't have to deal with everything post-merge on his own, how he didn't have to deal with what happened during the collapse on his own. How she didn't have to deal with the merge and post-merge on her own.

But that didn't stop Lee from wanting to disappear off on her own until she could get a better handle on how she was feeling.

"I just…I thought they were better. More accepting," Lee finally said softly. "That they understood, now. That's the only reason that I even let them meet Kevin."

It was quiet for a while as Lee either worked through what Tarin had to say, or just didn’t know what to say in response.

Finally she spoke and Tarin shook his head. It was wild that Lee’s parents were both still so willfully ignorant about everything to do with Lee’s powers…with powers in general. Tarin found himself thinking yet again that Robert made a lot more sense now.

”I don’t think they know how.” Tarin said finally and a little helplessly, thinking about how Lee’s parents had glossed right over the fact that Kevin had powers to focus on the fact that he was learning to fight. They really hadn’t even acknowledged how excited the teen had been when he had shared the news.

”It’s like they just want to ignore anything that has to do with powers or being a mutant. I know he’s younger than you had hoped, but Kevin does deserve the full picture and to make his own decision…”

After that, Tarin just sat for a moment, then shook his head, ”What can I do?” he asked, ”Do you want anything to eat? Talk more? Want to take a walk to clear your head? I can manage putting things away if you do.

Lee's eyes closed as she nodded. That did explain a lot. As soon as they all realized she was a mutant, all the doctor's visits stopped, but she was taken out of school and they told people she had chronic fatigue. As far as she knew, they hadn't even really looked for her after she left. They had only tried coming into her life well after she had reconnected with Robert and Rachel.

For more than just a single dinner only after she had lived with Rachel. After they would have had proof that the exhaustion 'problem' she caused wasn't an issue anymore.

They'd been friendly with Kevin's father, they would come to visit, but there had never really been any talk about powers, hers, his, or what Kevin's might be, when they might happen.

"Yeah, he doesn't want to see them tomorrow," Lee said softly as she opened her eyes to look at Tarin again. "He's still trying to make sense of it all. But I told him that it's up to him what he wants to do going forward with them."

"And, I'm probably going to regret this," Lee continued with a shake of her head. "But he said that he hated finding things like this out like this, and I told him that I'd answer his questions, without telling him he wasn't old enough for the answers."

Yeah, that was definitely going to come back and bite her.

What could Tarin do? Lee simply shrugged her shoulders at first. What was there that could be done to even attempt to make things, to make just the night, better?

"Coffee?" she said after a few moments. "I'm not really hungry, but if you are, go ahead and eat. I'm not sure if I'll want to or be able to talk about it more, so maybe just some tv?"

Tarin nodded as Lee filled him in on some of the conversation he’d missed while he’d been in the kitchen. It was no surprise that Kevin had decided to pass on the time he’d been expected to spend with his Grandparents the next day. A lot had happened tonight and it would take time to sort through the mess and figure out what was next.

The next thing Lee said had Tarin looking at her, brows raised in surprise as she explained that she’d given Kevin carte blanche to ask questions and that she’d give honest and complete answers. The next few days were going to be a journey. Lee’s reasoning made sense, but Tarin could tell by the look on her face that she was not happy about the implications of that offer. ”Let me know if I can help…” he said on a bit of a sigh.

Tarin didn’t know if Lee would even ask him for anything but she had two requests, Coffee and TV. Both things that Tarin could do. A few moments earlier, Lee had said that she didn’t know how to not be okay, but she seemed to be doing an alright job of it right now. It sounded weird to say that, even in Tarin’s head, but sometimes you had to not be okay. Sometimes things were really bad and you couldn’t just pretend like they were fine. He was learning that slowly.

Did he want to eat? Kind of, but honestly not really. The day had been full of tense, nervous energy and his appetite wasn’t all that great. The food could be put away though, it would reheat any time.

So, letting go of Lee, Tarin climbed slowly to his feet, but offered his hands again as he stood, intending to help her up, ”I’ll handle the coffee, you get comfortable. We can find something appropriately mindless.”

Lee nodded when Tarin offered to help with Kevin's questions. "Well, he's already asked what you and Shin talked about at the end of the tour," Lee said. "I told Kevin that you had been having trouble with your powers and Shin offered to help because they have a special room designed for power training. But he seemed skeptical that you would ever have problems with your powers."

After she'd made her request for coffee, Tarin was climbing to his feet then holding his hands out to help her up. Taking his hands and letting Tarin help her to her feet, Lee nodded again.

It did feel a little strange to not be making the coffee herself. But Leemade her way over to the couch, sitting down and leaning her head against the back.

Kevin had already asked a question that pertained to him. It had been a doozy too. Tarin’s eyes widened slightly at that, but he just nodded and took a deep breath, ”Okay.” he said, trying to figure out exactly what he’d say if Kevin asked him what exactly those troubles with his powers were. It didn’t matter, he and Lee could talk about it later.

Tarin offered his hands and Lee let him help her up, then she was heading off to the couch and Tarin was heading to the kitchen.

As he was getting the coffee out and looking at the coffee maker, Tarin realized that he hadn’t really done a whole lot of this on this side of the rift, but he did his best and soon enough there was coffee in the coffee pot. Would it likely be the best coffee Lee had ever had in her life? No. Was it something resembling coffee? Yes.

Grabbing a mug and pouring a generous amount, Tarin carried the mug carefully out to the living room where Lee had sat down on the couch. That was an improvement over the floor, but she still just looked so sad. It was to be expected after what had happened. Tarin desperately wanted to do something to help, but knew there just really wasn’t much to do at this point. Just be there, or not be there if Lee needed space.

Sitting down on the couch, Tarin held out the mug, ”Here you go.” he said, and when Lee took it, he reached out for the remote and turned on the TV. The Home Screen was advertising some kind of nature documentary about the different kinds of animals that lived in extreme conditions. That was about as mindless as it got, Tarin figured and clicked the button to turn it on. Soon enough, the dramatic music and slightly droning voice of the narrator was playing. ”Let me know if you’d rather watch something else…”

Lee's eyes had slid closed as she sat on the couch, but as she felt Tarin approaching she opened them again. And took the coffee when he handed it to her.

Lee didn't even take a sip as Tarin sat, grabbed the remote and worked on getting something playing, she just held the mug between her hands. It's not like she needed the caffeine anyway. With Tarin there through the day, Lee didn't need coffee beyond getting up.

Even in the mornings now, when she woke up with Tarin, coffee was almost more habit than necessity.

"No, this is ok," Lee said, leaning her head against Tarin's shoulder as she curled her legs up beside her on the couch.

A few moments into the documentary, her coffee still untouched, Lee spoke softly. "They didn't even tell Rachel and Doug. They were told that I was sick, too. Rachel didn't find out I was a mutant until she was in university."