How happy and excited Kevin appeared at finding out that not had his father learned how to fight, but that he had actually beaten Lee sparring a few times warmed Lee's heart. She knew that Kevin likely had fewer memories of his father than he should have, they had only moved back to New York less than a year before the ride had closed when Kevin was just 7.

So being able to tell him something good, something simple about his father that made Kevin this happy almost made up for all the negative things he was learning.

"People don't normally like talking about the things that they're scared of," Lee gently pointed out to Kevin.

And everything was ok, because she found Tarin. Eventually.

"I did find him," she confirmed slowly. "And did get him out of there after some time. But, and I hope this is something you never learn yourself, being saved doesn't mean everything is ok right away."

Kevin’s mind kept going back to what his Mum had said about his Dad and the sparring and everything else, ”Why did you need to know how to fight?” he asked.

As his Mum kept talking Kevin found himself frowning again as he thought about what she said. It was really hard to talk about things that were scary. Sometimes it was embarrassing or just plain hard for people to know what made you really scared.

The next thing his Mum said was hard for Kevin to figure out though. It was something that she hoped he didn’t have to learn? Sometimes being okay didn’t mean everything was okay?

”Tarin seems okay though. If Uncle Robert hadn’t said something I would have never known…” Kevin said, “Why wouldn’t he be okay after he wasn’t in the small place anymore?”

Why had she needed to learn how to fight? There were so many reasons… "Well, I should probably stop volunteering for building projects because they never go as planned," Lee said, joking slightly. "Your father and I went to Columbia to help rebuild a school. And your father helped settle some very restless spirits."

"One of the drug cartels down there didn't like what was happening, and they captured your father and a friend. Then after we got home, we went out for dinner, and the whole restaurant was taken hostage."

Lee paused as she watched her son's reaction before continuing. "Things just seemed to keep happening to us, no matter what we did, so I felt like I needed to learn."

Yes, Tarin seemed to be ok now. And he was doing better. But it had taken time and work to get him back to the place he was when Kevin got home from Texas.

"Because some things have lasting effects in your mind," Lee explained. "Like after I got out of the camp. I didn't touch anyone for six months."

Every time he asked a question and his Mum answered, Kevin’s got more and more surprised by what she said. His Mum and Dad had gone to Columbia?. Kevin knew from a movie that it was a country somewhere down south.

They’d built a school? And his Dad had helped spirits? By this point, Kevin had gotten kind of used to hearing about things his Mum had done. It was hard to admit sometimes, but she was a really good fighter and she had survived being in the camps…but he’d never even thought about all of these things with his Dad. Sure his Mum had mentioned that they’d both been in camps, but Kevin had never really made the connection about what that meant.

There were drug cartels in Columbia? His Dad had been held hostage and gotten away? Kevin’s head was spinning a little bit. A whole restaurant had been taken hostage?

”You guys weren’t X-Men were you? I’m not going to go to school and find that out, right? You did all of that big stuff…” that brought up another question from his list, ”Why don’t you want people to know you helped with all of that? With the building collapse?”

And Kevin still didn’t really get what his Mum was trying to say about being okay, but apparently sometimes bad things could make things hard in your mind.

Kevin still didn’t quite get it though. Tarin didn’t seem like he was having any trouble. But his Mum had not let people touch her for half a year? ”Because of the collars?” he said, that made sense. ”But nothing happened in the collapse….”

Lee laughed slightly when Kevin asked about whether his parents had been X-Men, wanting to make sure that he wasn't going to discover that at school. She had already told him that she wasn't an X-Man, and why that was.

"No, you're not going to find that out at school," Lee assured Kevin. "Neither of us were."

Lee knew why she didn't want the attention from the building collapse making her out to be a hero. She had done too many things in the past that were in the legal grey area if not outright illegal for her to be comfortable with that kind of attention.

"Do I seem like I would want a bunch of reporters around?" Lee asked Kevin instead. "I just don't want that much attention."

Lee just nodded when Kevin asked if it had been because of the collars. Even when she had started allowing contact again, she had still flinched away for a few months when she wasn't expecting a touch. She had been out, saved. She had been okay. But it had taken almost a year for her to be okay again.

"And no, nothing happened thankfully," Lee said. "Because I got in there to him."

Kevin nodded when his Mum insisted that neither she nor his father had been X-Men. Sure, she had said it before, but a lot of these stories sounded very much like the X-Men. It didn’t hurt to be sure that there wouldn’t be any surprises.

The whole not wanting to be a hero after doing heroic things made absolutely no sense to Kevin. If you did something good you deserved to hear good things about what you’d done. “Maybe not reporters…” Kevin allowed. His Mum did not seem like the kind of person who would want all that chaos around.

She didn’t want to talk about the camps anymore, Kevin decided when his Mum just nodded in response to his question about the collars. The whole thing still made his stomach hurt if he thought about it for so long. Not being able to touch anyone for six months…that would have been terrible.

And her answer about the building collapse really wasn’t an answer at all and Kevin scowled a bit at the way his Mum had said what she said.

“What do you mean because you got there?”

The distinct sound of a key in the door rattled into the apartment then and Kevin looked up and into the entryway as Tarin entered the apartment.

Tarin, for his part, was definitely ready to be home today. It had been a tedious and somewhat obnoxious day at work and he’d been ready to get out of there as soon as the last client had finished talking.

Lee and Kevin were on the couch, which was kind of odd, but everything looked like it was okay. ”Hey, “ he said, after dropping off his keys and backpack and made his way over to stand by the couch. ”Am I late for a meeting?”

No, definitely not reporters. Though it had been kind of nice in a weird sort of way to see a couple of the things she had done be in newspapers, none of those had identified her. If she was to come forward for recognition, even just to the people she'd helped rescue, word of her involvement would likely go much further than that.

And Kevin had caught on to the fact that there was a lot more to the story with her mention that everything had been fine because she was there.

But right at that moment, the door was opening and Lee used the fact that Tarin had gotten home as an excuse to delay, if not 'forget' about the last question Kevin had asked.

"Not really, no," Lee said as she looked up at Tarin. "Kevin was ready with his list of questions, so we were just talking about them. And he even learned some things about his father."

Yes, that was a blatant subject change in another attempt to move away from that last question.

Lee confirmed that Tarin had not, in fact, missed any meetings and he nodded his head.

Kevin had been ready with his list of questions? It took Tarin a moment to catch up to what exactly that meant. Oh boy….it had been quite a while since Lee’s parents had come for dinner and they’d both kind of hoped that Kevin had forgotten about the questions or had decided that he didn’t want to know.

Apparently that wasn’t the case though, and Tarin suddenly felt the desperate need for some context. Lee had just mentioned that Kevin had learned some things about his Father and Kevin was nodding enthusiastically.

”Did you know that my Mom and Dad fought drug cartels in Columbia?” Tarin nodded, he had definitely heard a different version of that story than what Kevin was relaying, but yes he’d heard that.

“And that sometimes my Dad could beat my Mum when they were sparring.” Tarin raised an eyebrow and looked at Lee then, ”I hadn’t heard that one, but it’s very cool.” he said.

”And my Mum was just telling me about the building collapse and how everything was okay because she got to you.”

Kevin looked at Tarin for a moment, ”I didn’t know you were claustrophobic.” he said, then thought for a minute, ”Is that why you always take the stairs instead of the elevator?”

Oh wow. Tarin just looked at Lee for a second, eyes a little wide and silently begging for some of that context. What were they telling Kevin about all of this? What she already told Kevin about all of this?

”Yeah Kev, that’s why I always take the stairs.”

"That's not quite what happened, Kev," Lee pointed out. "It was one cartel, and not the whole thing, that came to the village we were building the school in."

But drug cartels were apparently closely followed by the fact that Tarin's father had been able to beat her, sometimes, when they'd spar. "It was just after Columbia and the restaurant,," Lee told Tarin with a shrug. "We were learning. No powers, and it wasn't like what we've been doing with Tony, so he did manage to win sometimes."

And it seemed that Tarin getting home and her subject change did not move Kevin away from the building collapse.

"He asked what happened, so I told him about the spirits there, and how you had them save his uncle and I," Lee told Tarin. "About how I used my powers to figure out where people were in the house after and how we got you out."

"Kevin didn't really understand how I could save you but you weren't necessarily ok, so I explained how long it took me after getting out of the camp."

"Though I still don't quite understand why you don't want people to see you as a hero."

Lee paused and glanced at Kevin before looking back at Tarin. "It's been quite a talk this afternoon. The list started off asking about what happened the weekend he went to Canada and learned about spirit merges."

Lee corrected Kevin about some of the finer points of the stories that she’d told, but Tarin had a feeling that Kevin had his version of events and nothing Lee said was going to change that.

Lee was also quick to point out that the only reason she hadn’t been able to win the sparring matches against Kevin’s dad was that they weren’t using powers and she was still learning. Tarin had to shake his head and chuckle a bit at that, Lee was so competitive.

Tarin wasn’t particularly worried about any of that right now though…Lee and Kevin had been talking about what happened when the building had collapsed. In detail.

They’d talked about how Tarin had saved Lee and Robert.

They’d talked about how Lee had used her powers to find Tarin and other people in the rubble.

They’d talked about how Tarin hadn’t been okay after everything had happened.

They’d…talked about spirit merges.

Tarin just stared at Lee for a minute after she said that. There was absolutely no way on any Earth that Lee had told Kevin everything. She wouldn’t have done that.

”Uh…okay…” Tarin said, obviously incredibly uncomfortable, looking at Kevin quickly before looking back at Lee.

”Anything I need to clear up?” he said.

“I think I get it.” Kevin said, “But I’m not sure what that has to do with the building collapse.”

It had certainly been an afternoon. Tarin did not look at all comfortable as he said there, but he also tried to avoid all mention of both the merge and the climate whenever he was able to. So Lee could understand why Tarin would feel uncomfortable, especially without knowing how much detail Kevin had been given.

And Lee couldn't exactly tell Tarin what she'd left or with Kevin sitting there.

"That doesn't have anything to do with the collapse. I was just filling Tarin in on what else we had talked about," Lee told her son.

She then sat looking at him for a couple moments before she spoke again. "Not everyone wants to be a hero," Lee said softly. "I don't think there's been a single thing I've done in my life that I've done thinking it was heroic. I've simply done what I needed to do or thought I should do in terrible situations to protect myself and those I love. And if there was any recognition I felt I needed, I have gotten it from the people who matter."

Kevin was apparently kind of stuck on the idea of being a hero. Lee was explaining to him what she’d explained to Tarin multiple times, what she’d explained to her brother and sister, and what she had explained to her parents. For Lee, it wasn’t about being a hero, it was about doing what she thought needed to be done to make things safe for her, the people she cared about, and people down the line. It was something fundamental about Lee that people seemed to have a really hard time understanding.

Kevin looked at Lee, a serious look on his face as he clearly put some effort into understanding exactly what Lee was trying to say.

Tarin was still standing behind the couch, something he tended to do when he came home and walked into a mess. His mind was still reeling a little bit as he tried to figure out exactly what Lee might have said to Kevin about merges.

Still trying to figure out exactly what he could or should contribute to the conversation, Tarin made his way further into the living room and sat in the chair by the desk rather than try and shove in on the couch.

Finally, Kevin said, ” I think I get it Mum, I still think I’d like some rewards or something though if it was me.” and Tarin hoped for a long long moment that maybe that was going to be the end of the entire conversation.

“You also didn’t answer my question.” Kevin said, having locked on to the fact that this was the only thing his Mother had really tried to distract him from all night.

Kevin was really thinking about what Lee had said, about her reasons for doing what she had done. And the reasons why she didn't care if people thought she was a hero.

After a short while, Kevin said that he thought he understood. He thought that he would like that recognition, though.

Lee nodded. "And it's perfectly fine wanting to be recognized for what you do," Lee said. She just didn't care about getting more recognition than she had already received. "But we do things because they're right, not just to get rewarded, right Kevin?"

"Well duh," Kevin replied, actually rolling his eyes a bit. "It's not like I'm going to get a cat stuck in a tree down and expect to get paid."

Well…that was definitely an answer, wasn't it, Lee thought.

Kevin was not leaving the collapse alone. Lee looked over at Tarin, who had made his way over to sit in the chair by the desk. Lee had hoped to never have to tell Kevin about this, not since his father had disappeared and it wasn't a concern any more.

But Kevin's earlier words about not wanting to be surprised about his parents being X-Men, and finding that out at school, came back to Lee. And there were people at the mansion who knew about the merges.

Since she had offered to answer his questions, he deserved to hear it from her rather than to be surprised by it at school.

Lee took a deep breath as she leaned back on the couch, glancing at Tarin before looking back at her son.

"If your father was still here, we probably would have told you about the spirit merges before now," Lee admitted to Kevin. "But since it wasn't something we needed to worry about, I didn't want you to have to think about that about your father."

"But there was something else possible with your father's powers. He was able to…in very emotionally stressful situations, often quite dangerous ones, his powers would cause his body to…" Lee paused a moment in thought before continuing, lifting her hands and bringing them together to interlace her fingers. "Merge together with someone else if he was touched, creating an entirely new being. Unlike with the spirits, neither individual would be in control; this new being would have its own mind and thoughts and goals."

"Your father was able to feel if this was going to happen, and he would do everything he could to keep anyone from touching him, but he wasn't able to stop it."

Lee paused again and took a breath as she glanced over at Tarin again. "It's never happened to Tarin before," she continued quietly after a moment, turning her eyes back to her son. "But it's possible that that might have happened during the collapse if anyone has touched Tarin."

Tarin had to laugh a little at Kevin’s reaction to Lee driving home the point that it was important to do good things simply because they were good and not because of the rewards of doing so.

Kevin seemed to have the right idea though, even if his description of it was a little bit dramatic.

The smile slid from Tarin’s face when Kevin kept pushing about the building collapse. Part of him knew that Lee was going to explain everything, and part of him didn’t want her to. Part of Tarin thought that it was his business and that it should be his decision whether or not to explain all of this to KEvin.

The thing was, though, he’d made a choice to involve Lee, and Kevin in his life and not all of his decisions were completely his own to make anymore. That was part of this whole thing, trusting Lee to know what was best for her and her son. Knowing that Lee would have never explained any of this if there had been another reasonable option.

Tarin held his breath a little as Lee started to explain. Things very quickly veered into the twilight zone that sometimes existed because Lee knew so much about his powers, maybe even more than Tarin did still.

The way she explained that second type of merge, the way she spoke as if she knew exactly what she was talking about.

None of it was completely related to him, Tarin knew, because he’d never experienced that type of merge. Still, the description, the memories from that day at the build site, and the way Lee was so certain about what would have happened made Tarin’s hands clench on his knees a bit as he waited for Kevin to digest all of the information.

”I don’t understand…” he said, glancing over at Tarin quickly before looking back to Lee.

”What kind of….being.” the boy asked, taking his mother’s words.

Kevin didn't understand, didn't know what Lee meant that the merge created a new being.

That was understandable. Even more so than the spirit merges, this was the hardest part to wrap your mind around. At least with the spirit merges, a comparison could be made with possession in horror movies to help explain.

This was unique.

"A completely new being. New person. Mutant," Lee tried explaining further. "One that had never existed before and that stops existing when the merge ends.+

"It doesn't look like your father or the person he merged with, but looks completely different. With different powers. And you have no control over what it does. But you can see what is happening, hear what's going on, like you're in its head. Can even feel some of what it feels, emotions, powers. Hear its thoughts…"

As she had spoken, describing her memories of the merge during the camp breakout, Lee's eyes grew distant, her voice gripping a little quieter.

"How do you know all that?"

Kevin's voice brought Lee back to the present and she blinked as she looked at him again. "Because your father merged with me during the camp breakout here in New York," Lee replied, her voice still quiet.

"That might not have been what happened to Tarin in the collapse, your father was never able to properly explain to me the feelings he got before a merge. It may have just been an anxiety or panic attack. But it's better to be careful."