A sister…that would have been something else. Tarin didn’t know why the idea was so interesting to him, or why he thought it would have been so different than growing up with brothers with barely more than 2 years between the oldest and youngest. They’d been super close but as Tarin had been telling Lee…they’d been a mess. How Tarin’s parents had done it, he didn’t know.

Well. They’d been close pretty much right up until Tarin had left.

Lee pointed out that she knew that things were different in Texas, but that she knew Josh had things well in hand…and that he was teaching Kevin to drive.

”I’d imagine that driving in New York is a whole other thing than driving in Texas.” for one thing there were speed limits, traffic laws, and parking spots. Kevin would get the basics though. “I never even tried. I hated even having to have an ID, I used an address right before I moved. I didn’t want car registration or any of that documentation…”

Tarin paused his paranoid rant for a moment, ”Also would have had to be able to afford a car…” . That had not been a thing he could have done until recent years…not without financing and that meant more documentation.

”I know it sounds crazy…” he said a bit self-consciously

Lee nodded again when Tarin commented that driving in the two places would be very different. "Very true. But I'd hate to have to try and teach him the basics here,"

And it was true. Lee didn't really want to teach Kevin how to drive at all. That was one thing that Lee did not feel capable of teaching her son.

But then Tarin went on to describe how he'd never tried to get his licence. In part because what was the point in New York City on top of being able to even afford to get a car. But also because of the amount of documentation that would create, ways to find him.

"You're right, on its own it does sound crazy," Lee said simply as she looked across the small space between them. "But I understand. I was illegally in the country during the Registration Act. And with how things were over there, it makes sense. I probably would have done the same."

Yeah, the last thing Tarin would ever want to do was try and teach someone to drive in New York. Thinking back, Tarin didn’t think he’d ever driven on a city street before. If he had, it had been very brief and in Texas. Definitely never in New York.

Lee agreed that all of Tarin’s paranoia did sound a little crazy, but qualified that it made sense with context. Lee even thought that she might have done something similar if she’d been there dealing with SUPER. Tarin was glad she hadn’t been, having dealt with the Registration Act was more than enough. Tarin knew there’d been people from this side who’d wandered over and gotten mixed up with SUPER and some of them hadn’t gotten out.

That thought made Tarin wonder if there had been a Lee on his side of the rift. If there had been, they’d never met. Tarin had to think that if they had… he’d remember. Then again, maybe not.

It didn’t matter. Not even a little bit, and after a moment he smiled. ”You probably would have had a much better handle on things than I did. They eventually tracked me down, after all.”

Tarin thought that she would have been better off than he had been with keeping herself under the radar. To have stayed away from SUPER's attention.

And maybe she would have. Maybe she wouldn't have. The thing was, Tarin only knew her now. He didn't know what she had been like ten, fifteen years ago. He didn't know what she had been like when she'd first come to New York. He didn't know how much less control over her powers she'd had at the time.

"I was a paranoid ball of nerves during the Registration Act," Lee told Tarin quietly. "After my collar bone healed, I didn't get another job. I just hung around the shop 'working'. I seriously considered just staying in the apartment, not going out at all."

Lee paused and took a breath before shaking her head. "I siphon more when I'm angry. Or scared. And it was worse back then. SUPER probably would have found me years before they did you."

Lee didn’t have the confidence in her ability to stay under the radar that Tarin had in her. She explained and Tarin frowned slightly as she explained that after she’d been hurt in that merge she’d hardly left the shop. Lee thought there’d been something wrong with that, Tarin thought it made sense. Lee had been scared and she hadn’t needed to be out…why risk it?

Tarin didn’t argue though, over the last few months he had learned that there were things that Lee wasn’t open to discussion about. The way she’d handled things in the past tended to be one of those things and Tarin hadn’t been there so ultimately he didn’t have a leg to stand on to argue.

Would SUPER have picked up on Lee? Tarin honestly didn’t know enough about the way they’d worked to know for sure. ”They targeted people who were alone…runaway kids, visible mutations, people who made a spectacle in public.” .

Tarin shook his head and frowned, leaning his forehead against Lee’s ”It’s hard sometimes. I wouldn’t have stood a chance on my own.” For so many reasons, the biggest of which being that he’d just been too young. He hadn’t thought about how he’d work, where he’d stay…he’d been so dumb.

Lee nodded when Tarin explained who SUPER had targeted. Well, at least that's who they were seen to target, Lee thought. The fact that they had followed Tarin to Hart Island told Lee that they did a whole lot more than just that.

But Lee didn't really want to argue about their thoughts on SUPER, or who would have fared better trying to stay off their radar. Especially not here and now.

When Tarin leaned his forehead against hers, Lee started to smile a bit, thinking that this was the end of all that. Realizing that, the smile slowly slid off her face as she took a breath. "And that's the only reason I'm glad you found people so quickly when you got here," Lee whispered.

They had managed to keep Tarin alive, and for that Lee was grateful. But that was all. For every other thing, in every other respect, Lee hated that cult Tarin had found his way to, and its leaders, and that would never change.

”Exactly.” Tarin said when Lee expressed her feelings about him finding the people he’d found in New York.

They had provided all of the things that Tarin would have never been able to provide for himself. He’d been relatively warm, fed, and he’d been safe from SUPER. Those promises hadn’t been lies, not at all. The cost had been so very high though.

Lee knew and the way she had reacted the first time he’d told her the story would be something Tarin remembered for the rest of his life. Lee had been ready to hunt down any of the leadership who had made it through the rift well before anything romantic had happened between Tarin and her. Just like he had a plan in the back of his head for what he’d do if he ever managed to find the sicko who had snatched Lee off the street when she’d been pregnant with Kevin.

”None of it matters though. I know you probably wish the rift had never happened, but I thank every entity I can think of every day that I had the chance.” and that he had taken that chance. He hadn’t meant the statement melodramatically or to suggest that Lee would choose to send him back or pick others over him…but the rift had cost her a lot, her feelings had to have been complex.

These were all moot points though and dark thoughts for laying in bed together in the afterglow of the previous activities of the evening.

”I dunno how we got here…but can we go back to talking about my hands in your hair instead?” he asked,

Lee closed her eyes, still leaning her forehead against Tarin's, when he talked about how he was sure she wished that the rift had never happened.

That was…That was very complicated.

If the rift hadn't happened, Blaine's doppelganger (or whatever you wanted to call it) would have never been able to cross over, and that entire mess would have never happened. Blaine would have never had to leave, and he would have never disappeared the way that he had.

Then there was Kevin's father. The timing of his disappearance had always put the rift high on the list of reasons. But the fact was, Rupert finally doing it and pulling the trigger had been right up there as well.

Though, the more time that passed without Tarin coming across his spirit did make the rift more suspect.

But, without the rift, Tarin wouldn't have been able to get here, and there would have been no possible way they could have ended up like this. Sure, Lee wouldn't have known the difference if there had never been the rift in Central Park

Lee did know the difference, though. And despite all of the pain and problems the rift had caused, Lee wasn't sure she could see her future now without Tarin.

Before Lee had been able to figure out how to get those thoughts and feelings out in words, Tarin spoke.

And Lee laughed. "Yes please," she replied as she opened her eyes to look at Tarin again. "Though, another demonstration might help get us both on the same page again quicker."

Lee didn’t answer and Tarin honestly hadn’t expected her to. Like he’d thought before, things had always been more complicated for Lee in regards to the rift. Tarin knew how Lee felt about him and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind about those feelings. If the rift had never happened though, neither of them would have known any better.

It was only because the rift had happened that everything else had. The two options were an easy choice for Tarin because he’d left nothing and gained everything by walking through that hole in the universe. Lee, and Kevin, had lost a lot. So much that Lee had practically given up on a life outside of Kevin and her job.

There was no need to make Lee make choices in hypotheticals that didn’t and wouldn’t ever exist. Lee didn’t owe Tarin any insight into those complex feelings and he didn’t need to hear any explanations. The fact of the matter was that he was here and everything that had happened. When he’d spoken, Tarin had made a choice to share his feelings.

Tarin had also made a choice to change the subject and when Lee opened her eyes and laughed, Tarin grinned back.

Another demonstration might help? Tarin could definitely oblige that request. Slowly letting his hand follow the same path it had just a little while before, up her arm and shoulder, then her neck and back into her hair. His fingers tangled there gently and it was a very simple matter for Tarin to close the almost nonexistent space between their lips for another kiss.

There really were too many thoughts and feelings, and things that had happened as a result of the rift for Lee to have even an answer to whether she wished the rift had never happened or not.

That thought was not in her head long, because almost as soon as Lee said that a demonstration would be good, Tarin's hand was moving again. Fingers slowly sliding up her arm trailing goosebumps. Moving onto the side of her neck.

And into her hair.

Despite the conversation of the last few minutes, a small noise almost immediately escaped Lee's throat, and Lee was already leaning in to return Tarin's kiss as he closed that space between them.

This was more like it, Lee thought as they kissed. This is what they should be worrying about laying here in bed together. Not SUPER, not the Registration Act, and not the rift. Just her, and Tarin, and what they could be doing together.

That little sound escaped Lee and Tarin just had to smile against her lips even as he deepened the kiss. This was good, this was very good. Tarin didn’t need to think about leaving home, what had happened when he’d gotten to New York, the years after that, or the rift. He didn’t need to think about his brothers or his parents or anything further away than Lee was, and that just wasn’t very far at all.

They kissed and the world narrowed down to just the two of them. For just a little while, there was only him, and her, and the pretty much negligible space between them. It just felt right to be like this. They both had so many things in their pasts, so many things they could get hung up on. When they were like this though, it was hard to think about anything but each other and everything else became secondary.

To that end, Tarin wrapped his free arm around Lee, pulling her even closer, ”This is much better…” he said, barely pulling back far enough to speak.

It really didn't take very long for all of those thoughts to be completely out of Lee's mind as she lay there kissing Tarin. Not with him being so close. Not with his hand in her hair like it was.

Wrapping her arm around Tarin, Lee let her hand run up his back as she leaned into the kiss. Slowly, Lee's fingers slipped up, higher, gradually moving into Tarin's hair at the base of his skull.

After a while, Lee heard Tarin speak, his lips still brushing against hers as he did, and she smiled. Even as Tarin was pulling her closer, Lee was breaking the kiss.

And letting her lips trail across Tarin's jaw, up to his ear. "Much better," she whispered.

Lee’s arm was wrapped around him now and Tarin shivered from head to toe as her fingers trailed up his back, goosebumps following in their wake. Those same fingers continued their way up and found his hair and Tarin practically melted against Lee, his breath catching more than just a little.

That was nothing compared to what happened a few moments later when he spoke though, and Lee responded…but then she broke the kiss. For a moment, Tarin was disappointed, he’d liked where this was heading and the night was still very young…

Lee wasn’t breaking the kiss to talk though and as she kissed her way up his jawline Tarin thought he might expire right there on the spot when she whispered into his ear. What did you even say to that? What did you do?

Tarin had quite a few ideas and not a single one of them involved a puzzle or a cooking show. Had that even been tonight? Tarin didn’t have the brain power to remember right that moment because every fiber of his being was focused on Lee, the way her lips felt against his ear, the way her skin felt under his hand as it moved slowly up and down her back. If the perfect place existed, this had to be it and he had no intention of leaving any time soon.

Lee smiled as she felt Tarin shiver under her hand, under her lips along his jaw. Yes, they seemed to have these times, like that night, when they were just incapable of keeping their hands to themselves, but Lee still loved getting these reactions from Tarin.

She loved getting these reactions from Tarin, but he was also extremely good at getting similar reactions from her. Which he did as his fingers were trailing up and down her back as she shivered.

Though Tarin didn't say anything in response to her whispered comment.

Licking her lips as she gave Tarin another moment, to see if he was going to say something, Lee then leaned in that slight little bit and nipped his earlobe before she kissed down the side of his neck, her fingers still playing slightly in his hair.

Tarin’s entire young adult and adult life had been about control. Control of his emotions, control of his powers, control of his surroundings to whatever degree he was able. Tarin had always prided himself on how well he handled things, how well he was able to put himself outside of any situation he found himself in.

It had taken Lee all of 36 hours to shatter most of that carefully cultivated emotional control and less than a week after that to completely demolish the rest.

Sometimes Tarin had a feeling that Lee didn’t realize just how different she made him and sometimes it was still wildly overwhelming.

Tarin wasn’t really thinking about any of that though. No, at the moment, there wasn’t a single solitary thought in Tarin’s head. Between Lee’s fingers in his hair and the way he could feel her breath on his ear, he was having trouble remembering to breathe and that was not a thing that people generally needed to remember to do. If he was supposed to be doing or saying something, it was completely lost on Tarin.

And that was all before Lee nipped at his ear and Tarin gasped a little and it was his turn to have a strangled little noise escape him as Lee kissed down his neck. It was going to be one of those nights. One of those nights where sleep was wildly overrated.

Tarin’s hand was still in Lee’s hair and he gently exerted a bit of pressure to try and get her to look up at him, ”If you don’t stop that we’re going to end up right back where we started…” he half heartedly warned.