Yes, it wasn't supposed be like it was for Lee. How she never actually was able to process things when they happened, that she always had to wait until later. Wait until things were dealt with, the danger was over, the situation was solved before she was able to start processing.

But that was how her life had always seemed to be. It would be great if that was different, if that were to change, but it hadn't.

"I'll agree you're the reason I have something to process," Lee allowed as she looked at Tarin. "And I'm glad because of why that is. But that's all the fault you're allowed to take, ok?"

In the short silence that followed, Lee turned her attention back to her phone to call Rachel. As the phone was ringing, Lee heard Tarin speak again. "I know you would, Tarin," Lee murmured, giving him a small smile. Despite having not fully processed everything, Lee wasn't sure Tarin understood how much she really appreciated what he had done.

Just then the call connected and Lee heard her sister's voice. "Hey Rach. I was hoping you'd be able to come over today. We've got an issue we're trying to figure out, and I was hoping you'd be able to help us with it."

That was all the fault he was allowed to take?

Tarin looked at Lee, trying to muster the energy or wherewithal to argue with her about the fact…but that would have meant arguing with the person that what he had done was affecting and didn’t seem to make all that much sense in the grand scheme of things.

If Lee didn’t blame him. Didn’t want him to take fault then he would bow to her better judgement in the matter and let it go. “Well, if you’re going to get bossy about it…” he said with a small smile. This was how things tended to go with them when stuff got serious or when bad things happened. They’d slowly start to smile, to tease…and things would get easier.

And then Lee smiled right as Tarin was thinking he didn’t care if what he’d done was abhorrent and that she was good enough for the two of them and said she knew he’d do it again like it was a good thing.

God I’m lucky he couldn’t help but think as he watched her on the phone. Ther was no way Lee had any idea how profoundly Tarin understood that particular point and he was still trying to sort out how to word it when the call apparently connected.

An “issue?” That was a pretty massive understatement. The way Lee was talking about things it sounded more like they needed help deciding how to rearrange the living room…not help figuring out whether or not Tarin was going to unintentionally implicate himself in several homicides simply by being in public or going to work.

”Context?” he said quietly as Lee waited for her sister to reply, ”Context is probably important here…”

Lee saw Tarin's smile as he called her bossy and returned it, though a little wider than his own. "Well, if you're not going to listen the first time," she teased in return. "What choice do I have?"

But the fact was Lee didn't think it was Tarin's fault. It wasn't anybody's fault. This was just how life was for her. Maybe it shouldn't have been, but it was.

Lee was asking Rachel to come over when she heard Tarin's voice again. Turning to look at him, she smiled as she waited for her sister's response. She was lucky too, she thought. But this wasn't the time to tell him that.

Then Tarin was reminding her that context was important. "Of course it is," Lee told him, not keeping her voice low. "But the context doesn't matter if she can't come over anyway."

"Context? What's going on Lee? Matt and I were going to go shopping this afternoon, but if it's important of course I can come over."

"Well, we think Tarin's powers are growing or changing," Lee said, hoping her explanation would make sense to Rachel. "And I'm able to hear some of his thoughts. I really don't care about that happening while he learns to control it, but we need to know if it's just me or if it'll happen with other people too."

Well. Apparently it wasn’t just when he was stressed out. They were learning all sorts of fun things about this new power.

The way Lee smiled at him while she sat there on the phone she’d definitely heard at least some of what he was thinking. How much and what, exactly, he didn’t know…but it had been more than nothing.

Why did it make him so anxious? Tarin couldn’t figure it out as he sat there and fidgeted with his hands as Lee spoke to her sister. It wasn’t like he hadn’t said absolutely wild things to Lee…sometimes it was like he couldn’t stop words from coming out of his mouth when they were together. Like all the things he’d spent so long not saying wanted to get out at once. Why was this so different?

As long as he’d known what he could do, Tarin had done everything he could to keep other people out of his head. Literally and figuratively. It had become vital when he’d come to New York and it was just hard to know that he had no control over the flow of information.

And if it wasn’t just Lee…

Tarin took a deep breath as Lee loudly responded about context and subsequently filled Rachel in on plenty of details. Apparently they were doing this right now. Tarin supposed ‘the sooner the better’ had indicated that any time would be appropriate.

Waiting until Lee hung up, Tarin sighed again, ”How soon?” He’d seen himself in the mirror just a little bit ago, if Rachel was coming over right then he’d need clean up if he didn’t want to seem like the absolute basket case he was.

The call with Rachel didn't last much longer, and shortly Lee was hanging up and turning to look at Tarin again. Who looked nervous? Anxious? Uncertain, definitely.

"About thirty minutes?" Lee replied gently. "They don't live all that far and she was already getting ready to head out so it won't take her long to leave."

Giving Tarin a small smile, Lee scooted closer to him and gave him a kiss. "It's all going to be alright," Lee then told him. "We're going to figure this out, you'll learn how to control it, and you'll get good at it."

"Did you want to go shower and get dressed before she gets here?" Lee asked. It wasn't a great distraction, but it would give him something to do beyond worrying.

Thirty minutes.

Why did that feel like such little time? Rachel was a force of nature as it was, Tarin needed to get into a better frame of mind if he was going to be any kind of host fo the person who was going to help them answer a very important question.

There was that confidence Lee had again. As she scooted over to kiss him Tarin gave her a wan littl smile and nodded slowly. Lee was convinced that he could do this, Tarin wasn’t going to turn this into some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy situation where he failed simply because he was convinced he would do so.

”Wouldn’t want you to have to get bossy again…” he said ”At least not about that…” he said with a small grin.

Lee suggested showering and getting ready and Tarin laughed a little and shook his head, ”That bad, huh?” he said, leaning over for one more kiss before he got to his feet and headed back towards the bedrooms to get his clothes and do his best to get ready for whatever happened next.

The shower felt good…he hadn’t taken one when he’d gotten home the night before. Everything had been too much and by the time he was done, the headache had further retreated. Tarin had a feeling it was too good to be true to think that it was well and truly gone, but he’d absolutely take the reprieve.

Emerging in genes and a simple thermal shirt he’d grabbed from his closet, Tarin made his way back to the living room, hair still damp, but looking at least mostly human again.

”Done with time to spare I guess…” he said, dropping back down onto the couch next to Lee.

Lee rolled her eyes when Tarin mentioned he didn't want her to get bossy again, but there was a bit of a smile on her face at the same time. "If people would just listen to me the first time, I would never have to get bossy as you say," Lee replied, but her tone was joking.

Yes, she could get demanding and insistent that people do what she said, but the majority of those times she ended up being right. And when she knew that she was right, it was hard to watch people, especially those she cared about, do something she knew to be wrong.

Even if that made her appear bossy.

"No, not that bad," Lee told Tarin with a shake of her head. "But I also like you looking like you just rolled out of bed."

Tarin then gave her a kiss and almost before she knew it, he was out of the room to shower.

Which left Lee unsure what to do with herself while waiting for Rachel to get there.

If it wasn't just her who was able to hear Tarin's thoughts, this could potentially be a very bad thing. Especially after what else had happened the previous night. While she completely meant it when she had told Tarin she knew he would learn to control this power, that he would get good at it, Lee had no idea how long that might take.

What were they going to do, how were things going to work, until he could control this? Because Lee was still nervous and worried about venturing outside on her own because of the adapted that was hanging around the building. But if Tarin couldn't control thoughts being sent to other people, he wasn't exactly going to be able to walk with her as he had been doing.

Grumbling to herself, both because of the situation and the lack of solutions, Lee got up to go make herself some more coffee.

After what felt like forever, but in reality really wasn't all that long, Tarin returned. "Looks like it," she answered. "You didn't need to rush."

Why was it so cute when Lee rolled her eyes at him? By all rights it shouldn’t have been because it meant that she was at least feeling vexed by him…but she was smiling and Tarin could tell by her tone that she was joking.

”I secretly like it.” he admitted, because it was true. Lee was smart and she thought things through, and if she had rolled something over in her mind enough to voice a strong opinion about it 9 or more times out of 10 she was absolutely right. It hadn’t taken Tarin long to figure it out.

She also liked him looking like he just rolled out of bed?

”Wish I’d have known that months ago…” he said on his way back to his room, ”I wouldn’t have spent nearly as much time primping….” he said, knowing full well that he almost never did anything that could be considered primping. Except for the night of the rooftop date. He’d primped that night and it had paid off.

By the time he’d made his way back out to the couch Tarin had half expected Rachel to be there but Lee pointed out that he hadn’t needed to rush.

Tarin shrugged, ”I didn’t really rush. Besides…didn’t we just establish a little bit ago you like it when I’m a bit disheveled?” Was Tarin laying it on a bit thick? Absolutely. Was it because he was an absolute wreck about Rachel showing up any second? Also yes.

Checking his watch and sighing a bit, Tarin leaned back, ”Guess we’ll wait then…” he said right as a knock sounded at the door.

“I have to give her credit…since that first morning she hasn’t let herself in a single time.” Tarin said, trying desperately to think of the most benign things possible.

Lee couldn't stop the laugh when Tarin when Tarin admitted that he liked her being 'bossy'. "That's good to know," she said. "But it's not much of a secret now, is it?"

And he wouldn't have spent so much time 'primping' if he'd known she liked him looking a little disheveled? Lee shook her head as she watched Tarin make his way toward the bedrooms. "Oh, but I like that too," she called back to him. "Time and place."

But once Tarin was back, he was claiming that he hadn't rushed getting ready. "Oh, I do," Lee said softly with a grin as she leaned closer to him. "Especially how your hair looks when I've had my hand in it…"

Was this the best time for this kind of thing? Probably not, but until they had figured more out, distraction was good. To keep Tarin from spiraling, of course.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, there was a knock on the door very soon after that.

Letting out a sigh, Lee gave Tarin a much quicker kiss than she had wanted. "That's because she thought she'd discover a secret that morning," Lee pointed out as she got up and made her way to the door.

"Thanks for coming, Rach," Lee said when she opened the door.

"You can hear his thoughts?" she asked as she walked in. "Anything good? Any grand proclamations of feelings or things like that?"

Lee rolled her eyes as she closed and locked the door now that Rachel was inside and made her way back to the livingroom. "Good? Definitely some of that. But no 'grand proclamations' as you call it because that already happened months ago."

Lee leaned close and for a moment Tarin forgot to be anxious because he’d forgotten most things that weren’t vital to survival. Again, the tone of her voice, the way she was smiling as she got that much closer. The way her talking about her hand in his hair made him think about her hand in his hair.

Hadn’t she said something about time and place a while back? Maybe that had been related to how he dressed…or looked…or something. Tarin didn’t know. He really care because this was a much better way to pass than time before Rachel got there than worrying.

The knock broke the spell though and as Lee kissed him he wondered if maybe Rachel would just go away if nobody answered. Then again she did have a key…as he’d just mentioned.

Lee pointed that Rachel had thought she’d figure something secret out the morning she had let herself in and for the hundredth time Tarin wondered what she would have done if she had walked in on something.

What a weird thing for her to have done.

Speaking of weird things…the second Rachel walked into the door she was digging for info on exactly what Lee had found out by being privy to Tarin’s thoughts.

Grand proclamations?

Feelings?

Lee handled the answer to that one and Tarin found himself unsure where to look or what to think or what to do.

”I’m right here.” he settled for saying, ”And Hello to you too Rachel.”

The Mets…Tarin was going to think of the Mets. The Mets were safe. And the game that Lee had gotten them tickets to. The game after the double header that they’d only managed to watch the first half…nope.

God. Baseball wasn’t even safe…but now his brain was running away with him and he was thinking about Lee being so damn close right before Rachel got there and how Rachel had watched Kevin that night and was asking now about grand gestures.

Oh god. He looked at Lee.

”I don’t know what to think about….” he said a little helplessly.

Rachel stopped and turned so suddenly when Lee said that the 'grand proclamation' had been months earlier that Lee actually ran into the taller woman.

"What do you mean months ago?" Rachel asked in shock. "You never told me about any of that! Oh, hi Tarin. So, spill Lee. What happened? What did he say?"

Lee shook her head as she stepped around Rachel to continue her way back to the couch. "He said he loved me," Lee replied simply. "I already knew he did, but that was the first time he actually said it. At the moment, I was a little more concerned about the house collapsing on him."

Rachel was following Lee into the living room now. And Tarin was looking like he was getting closer to panic now that Rachel was there.

"You knew? Don't tell me you've been hearing his thoughts for months."

Lee sighed as she sat down again, giving a small shrug as she looked at Tarin. "Running? How terrible I am at cooking?" Lee suggested before turning back to her sister.

"Of course not. You can tell someone you love them, sometimes more effectively, without using the words 'I love you', Rachel."

And there they were just casually discussing the day at the construction site. The day the building had collapsed. Tarin didn’t particularly care because hell, Robert had been there when it had happened. It wasn’t like it was a secret.

It was the casual dismissal from Rachel that made Tarin roll his eyes a bit. She was here to help him figure out his powers.

Lee kept talking though, explaining how she’d known for a while that he loved her.

Now Rachel thought Lee had been hearing his thoughts for months?

Running? Running was a good thing to think about. Lee was right. Running was a perfectly safe topic. Him and Lee ran almost every day. It was excellent exercise and stress relief and it was even better when they had time to come home and take a…nope.

Cooking! Cooking was safe. They’d had several successful cooking escapades now. They’d even managed to cook chicken Alfredo that was so good that Kevin thought it was from a restaurant. Yes. Cooking was a perfectly safe topic.

”You’re not a terrible cook though…you make amazing pie. And Alfredo. And pork chops…” he said, some of the anxiety banking as he looked at Lee and knowingly fought a losing battle.

Then she was talking about love and how sometimes you could say it without saying it and Tarin took a deep breath and let it out slowly with a smile. “I just have a latent flare for the dramatic…” he said. ”Didn’t want you to forget the first time I said it.”

"You? Cook?" Rachel asked, sounding even more surprised as she looked at Lee. "Since when? You burn grilled cheese more often than not."

"Not when I set the timer on the sandwich press," Lee said, a blush quickly covering her face. "But this is not even close to the reason we asked for help."

"We need to figure out if I'm the only one who is somehow hearing Tarin's thoughts or not."

"Yes, you said that Lee. I haven't forgotten," Rachel replied. "But we can still talk, can't we?"

Lee supposed that was true, they could talk. It's just that Lee didn't think that the things Rachel seemed to want to talk about were the most appropriate.

Tarin spoke though, and Lee blinked at him. "Dramatic?" she asked, her voice a little skeptical though there was a smile on her lips. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

"Though, I doubt I would forget no matter when you said it…" [/Lee continued, her voice softer.

”She hasn’t done that for ages.” Tarin said, scowling slightly at Rachel as she disparaged Lee’s cooking.

Lee had been the one to bring cooking up, but now she was changing the topic back to why they’d asked Rachel to come here.

Rachel, with her usual dogged determination, didn’t seem to care and was attempting to continue her talk with Lee. It had been a while since the two of them had spent any real time together. In fact, Tarin had been the last one to spend any real time with Lee’s sister when she’d helped him pick out an outfit for that rooftop date. God that had been a trip.

Lee didn’t want to talk though and Tarin rubbed his eyes as he sat there on the couch. ”You two needs to have a girl’s night or something.” he said with a deeper sigh.

The conversation had moved on now and Tarin smirked slightly as Lee asked if they were calling the way he’d announced his feelings dramatic now.

”It’s much better than, ‘stupid’ or, ‘reckless’….” he pointed out a bit sheepishly.

Lee didn’t think she’d have been able to forget regardless? Tarin grinned at that, but shook his head and chuckled, “Who knows when it would have been if all that hadn’t happened…” he said, momentarily forgetting Rachel was there as he thought back to that night…

The good with the bad.

Tarin came to the defence of her very minor cooking skills, and Lee realized that he was right. They didn't really cook often at all, but it had also been quite a while since she had burned anything.

Rachel didn't say anything about that, but she did get excited about Tarin's suggestion about having a girl's night.

"That's a great idea, Tarin," Rachel said, turning to look at Lee. "How about next weekend, Lee? We could get dinner then go for a few drinks."

Normally, that kind of suggestion would not be a problem, but at the idea of likely leaving the apartment and then coming home, especially later at night, alone, Lee tensed slightly. She hadn't really thought about it that day because of everything else going on, but there was still the issue of the mystery adapted outside the building.

And Lee wasn't sure she wanted to admit this fear of hers to anyone other than Tarin.

"Uh, how about we play it by ear?" Lee suggested. "See how things are going with Tarin's powers."

And speaking of Tarin, calling that declaration of his dramatic did sound a lot better than calling it stupid or reckless. Both of which he was pretty sure she thought at the time, if she hadn't actually said it out loud.

That wasn't all that Tarin said about it, and as he continued, Lee turned to look at him, a smile on her face. "It didn't matter to me when you actually said it," Lee told him, her voice soft, quiet. "I knew how you felt. That was the important part."