”Or you could get takeout and hang out here. I can clear out for a night…” Tarin said. He could always stay at the shop if need be, or come home late. Maybe by then they’d have figured out who the adapted outside the apartment was and why they were bothering Lee.

It didn’t matter. They’d sort it out.

Just like they sorted everything out. Just like they would sort things out with his powers.

Tarin was feeling much better about things now and starting to wonder if maybe it was just Lee who was susceptible to his new powers.

She turned then and smiled at him and Tarin smiled back as she spoke.

How had they not talked about this before? The hey talked about so much…how was it all coming out now and in front of Rachel?

Oh well. Lee’s sister had been starving for details since the very first morning she’d shown up and barged in expecting to stumble onto something salacious.

But we outsmarted you, didn’t we? he thought, looking right at Rachel for a moment before turning his attention back to Lee.

”Good. Because I do love you and I want you to know it all the time.”

Lee had been hesitant about agreeing to have a girl's night with her sister the following weekend. Even with everything that was going on, Tarin must have realized the reason and came to the rescue by suggesting simply having the girls night there. Even saying that he could disappear for the night. All without any mention of Lee's recent hesitancy or worry about going outside, particularly by herself.

"That's an idea, too," Lee replied, giving Tarin a smile before turning to look at Rachel. "We can figure out details this week."

Lee's attention was fully back on Tarin, to the point that she was almost forgetting that Rachel was even there, as they were talking about the first time they'd said 'I love you'. This was a much nicer way to talk about it than it could have been, and there was a smile on Lee's face as she listened to Tarin speak.

"I love you too," Lee murmured. "And I do know. Always. I've never questioned it…"

"What do you mean you outsmarted me?" Rachel asked, her voice bringing Lee back to where they were. And the fact that they weren't alone. "Wait, is this that thing you were talking about, Lee? Is that what just happened??"

Oh no.

It had been nice to forget, for a few moments, that Rachel was there. It had been nice, for a few moments, to forget why Rachel was there.

Then it happened.

Tarin legitimately didn’t care about what he had thought. In fact, in the grand scheme of catastrophic ways this could have gone down this was fairly benign.

But it wasn’t just Lee.

Tarin’s mind was grasping for straws as he tried to convince himself that it had something to do with genetics…because they were sisters maybe Rachel was easier for him to broadcast thoughts to…

But Tarin shook his head. No. That couldn’t be it. There was no way he’d accidentally said that out loud either.

”Oh my god…” he said, eyes finding Lee, regret evident in his look. Lee had been emphatic that Rachel not know that her scheming had ultimately led to him and Lee getting together. Looking back he knew that it had been an inevitability, but it still felt like a betrayal for him to even allude to the fact…

There was still an opportunity to turn it around, but Tarin’s head was spinning a bit again and he knew he wasn’t going to be much help.

”What are we going to do?” he said instead.

Rachel asked a question about something and he had absolutely no idea what she was referring to. So obviously it had just happened where Rachel heard one of Tarin's thoughts.

Not that Lee needed to be confused to know that. It was obvious by the look on Tarin's face.

"Yes, Rach, that's 'the thing'," Lee replied. But she was looking at Tarin. Watching the panic building on his face. And something else. Regret? Lee wasn't sure what the reason for that was but it was not something that they needed to worry about at the moment.

Reaching her hand out, Lee grabbed Tarin's hand. "We're going to do the same thing we were going to do anyway, Tarin," Lee told him. "We're going to figure out how you're doing it so you can control it. But the good news is it seems to be only to one person at a time."

"But what did you outsmart me about?" Rachel asked, clearly frustrated that she didn't know.

"Rach, the important thing at the moment is that Tarin's sending telepathic messages."

Calm. He needed to stay calm. Tarin was trying. He was trying his absolute best to stay calm and not panic but it was also surprisingly more difficult to breathe than it had been a few moments ago.

Tarin hadn’t even known what he had done when he’d done it. He had no control over this telepathic thing that was happening and he didn’t even know when he was doing it. He was absolutely reliant on others to tell him when it happened.

I can’t control it..

I’m gonna end up in jail…

Gonna drag Lee down with me…

Tarin knew he was probably broadcasting all of that to someone and that he needed to calm himself down, but it was so hard to do…

Where can I go?

”Yes, Rach, that’s ’the thing’,”

Lee hadn’t heard what he’d thought, but Rachel had? What did that mean?

When Lee’s hand grasped his, Tarin almost pulled back, wanting to mentally and physically curl in on himself until he could straighten things out and figure out what was happening. Until he could breathe again, until he knew it was safe to do anything else. It was like Lee could tell he was shutting down though and then she was talking.

They’d do the same thing they were going to do anyway.

They’d figure out how he was doing it so he could control it.

He’d said we when he’d asked what they were going to do, hadn’t he?

It seemed to be only one person at a time.

The vice that had closed on his chest seemed to loosen its hold a little bit and Tarin took a slow, if shaky, breath as Lee explained to Rachel what was happening.

”I’m sorry.” he said, blinking and shaking his head slowly, ”I’m just scared.”

I can’t control it..

I’m gonna end up in jail…

"Hey hey hey," Lee said softly, lifting her free hand up to Tarin's face to make him look at her. "It's going to be fine. That's not going to happen, and we will figure this out."

"'Drag Lee down'?" Rachel interrupted. "What the hell is going on?"

Lee glanced over at her sister briefly. She was going to have to explain, at least something, but it was going to have to wait. She wasn't helping to be able to answer Rachel's questions without Tarin panicking more when he was already like this.

"Just.. Hold on, ok?" Lee said before turning her attention fully back to Tarin.

"You don't need to go anywhere. This is going to be alright, we're going to figure it out. But right now I need you to just breathe, Tarin."

That said, Lee just sat there looking up at Tarin, one hand holding his, the other on his cheek hoping, willing him to calm down. At least enough that he wasn't outright panicking.

Finally, Tarin seemed to pull himself together enough to apologize, and Lee shook her head slightly. "I know you are," she said, rubbing her thumb across his cheek. "But it's ok. It's going to be okay."

"Lee, Tarin, what the hell is going on? Even I know this is more than just about new powers."

Oh yeah, a whole lot of all of that had gone out. For a moment it made everything worse to hear Lee, and then Rachel responding to the panicked thoughts that were rolling around in his head.

The gentle pressure from Lee’s hand on his face made him look at her and he nodded as she spoke. That was kind of the worst part of this whole thing. He knew he was panicking, he knew that the thoughts rattling around in his head weren’t actionable. He just couldn’t stop them from forming.

”I know….” Tarin breathed, ”I know…I didn’t say any of that.” But if he wasn’t at least thinking about it on a more than subconscious level, why was he panicking so badly? Why did it feel like he couldn’t breathe?

Lee spoke again, he didn’t need to go anywhere…but should he? At leasat until he figured all of this out? What would that mean for the shop though?

Closing his eyes, holding Lee’s hand, Tarin focused on Lee’s hand in his…her other hand on his cheek. The way her thumb felt as she rubbed it across his cheek. It was quiet, he could hear the ambient sounds outside, but not much more. It was dark because his eyes were closed but he knew if he opened them he’d see Lee right there waiting. After a few moments he opened his eyes again, his breathing far more normal. Nodding, Tarin took a deep breath. ”Told you I like it…” he said gratefully, huffing out a little sound that was halfway a laugh. ”Thank you…”

Rachel had questions now and Tarin shook his head, how…what was he going to say? It wasn’t really up to him. It was up to Lee how much she wanted to bring Rachel in. “What do you want to know?” he asked, stalling to give Lee a chance to let him know what he should…and shouldn’t say.

"Told you I like it…”

Lee smiled. At least Tarin was calming down now. That was very good. Very, very good. Hopefully he wouldn't start panicking again.

But Rachel had questions. Honestly valid questions considering what she had heard. This is also why Lee had suggested Rachel, though, because while she had questions, Lee didn't think it would go beyond that.

Since Tarin was calmed down, Lee was about to turn to start answering questions for Rachel when Tarin went ahead and asked her what she wanted to know.

That was a brave thing to ask, considering this was her sister.

It only took a moment for the floodgate to open.

"What do you mean you outsmarted me? When? About what? And why are you so scared? I get that it would be weird and very uncomfortable to have people actually hearing your thoughts. Even embarrassing, but not like it's a terrifying thing. And what the hell do you mean about bringing Lee 'down with you'? What the hell is going on?"

As Rachel spoke, Lee turned to look at Tarin again, to make sure that he didn't start spiralling again. "It's fine," she whispered once Rachel had finished. "But you did ask."

Only then did Lee turn to Rachel. "No clue what he was thinking about with outsmarting," Lee deflected. Which was technically true, Lee didn't know for sure what Tarin had been thinking about when he'd thought that. "But this is such a scary thing for him because of how private he's been his entire life and because of what his other powers are."

"Tarin sees how people died each time he connects with a spirit. That, plus what happened in the spring, all it would take is a singe wrong thought heard by the wrong person, and we could have a whole lot more issues than simply me hearing his unfiltered thoughts."

Tarin Brooks was generally not in the business of telling people they could ask him anything they wanted to know. The only person he did that with regularly was Lee and he had gotten used to the way she got the information she asked but never pushed. It made it easy to talk to her.

Rachel was not Lee and this was the second time he had made this mistake.

Tarin was going to blame his panicked mind, but my god did Rachel have a lot of questions.

Good questions.

Fair questions.

Tarin was about to start answering those questions to the best of his ability when Lee started to talk.

And talk well.

It was a testament to his mental state that Tarin hadn’t even considered trying to deflect or make something up. Apparently he had zero sense of self preservation and was instantly grateful for Lee and her brilliant mind.

What she said made sense and he nodded slowly.

”I have panic attacks sometimes…” he said candidly because that was true. ”And I’m working on it.” Also true.

As for the rest of the thoughts that had slipped through. Tarin was going to hope Rachel would find something else to focus on.

”It really scares me to think that proximity to me could cause problems for your sister.” Also very true.

Lee watched Rachel carefully as she spoke, and when she finished, to try and figure out whether her sister was buying what she was saying. Technically, everything that Lee was saying was true, she wasn't lying about anything. She was simply not giving full disclosure on everything.

And really, that was the best way to do it, Lee thought. If there were no lies, you didn't have to remember anything that wasn't true to be able to confirm it later if asked. And if everything was true, it couldn't be disproven later, either.

But Lee wasn't sure how much Rachel was buying the reasoning. She wasn't looking all that convinced.

Tarin chimed in then, mentioning that he had panic attacks, which Lee thought had to be obvious to Rachel by now.

"So you're worried because he has panic attacks and because of what he sees?"

Lee nodded. "Pretty much," she replied. "If something happens because the wrong person heard the wrong thought, Tarin's liable to have a panic attack, even though those have been getting a lot better until today. And if he's panicking, it's probably going to be more likely that people will hear more thoughts. Kevin's father was questioned by police for far less."

"Wait what?!" Rachel exclaimed. "When did that happen? Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Because it was before I met him," Lee explained. "He tried to give the police a tip to catch a murderer in Chicago, and they brought him in for questioning thinking he knew too much."

Tarin nodded as Rachel spoke, not exactly skeptical, but questioning.

Lee was clearly speaking from experience and the scenarios she was bringing up were things that Tarin hadn’t even thought of. She was right though.

Tarin wasn’t going to panic though. Not anymore. Not right now. He felt wrung out from the last time and it wasn’t going to solve anything.

Rachel exclaimed another question and Tarin just watched Lee as she explained why she knew that the scenario she’d described as a threat.

Tarin shook his head at the story. That was one of the biggest reasons he’d been taught to never use his powers like that. Using your powers, talking to the police opened you up to the attention of the police. The police in a lot of places did their level best, but they also tended to never have enough resources and the system was just set up for misuse of power and desperation to solve cases.

Knowing too much drew attention. On Tarin’s side of the rift the mistake that this Tarin had made would have likely been fatal. Talking to the Police absolutely would have been in the group.

Still, Tarin couldn’t help but be impressed by Lee and how well she was handling all of this. He hoped she wasn’t just coping though…holding it together because he was a mess.

A problem for later.

”Things were pretty rough on the other side of the rift. It’s tough to remember it’s different over here sometimes.”

Rachel just stared at Lee for a couple moments after she told the story about what had happened in Chicago. "They actually thought he was the murderer?" she asked in shock. "That he could actually do something like that?"

Lee just looked at her sister for a moment. The shock on the younger woman's face at the idea that someone even thought it was possible that Kevin's father was capable of killing was one of the reasons Lee hadn't shared most of the information in the folder for years. Both of them had killed people in Columbia, and whether intentionally or not, neither of them had felt bad about it.

"Until they got confirmation that he wasn't even in the state when the murder happened, yes," Lee replied. "And while there's proof that Tarin has only been on this side of the rift for 6 years, that might only help so much."

At that point, Tarin brought up how different things had been on the other side and Lee nodded as she turned to look at him. "It's hard to relearn behaviours from when you were growing up," she said, her voice a little softer than it had been. "But we're working on that, too."

There it was again. That weird disconnect between Lee and the rest of her family.

Lee had done so much…been through so much and Rachel and Robert just kind of wandered around in their little bubble of normalcy…doing the things that normal people did…thinking the things that normal people thought.

Like the shock that someone would believe someone else capable of killing.

That topic veered too close to home and Tarin steered his mind away, listening instead to the story and justifications that Lee was weaving around what had happened to her ex.

Again, Tarin had to marvel a bit at how good Lee was at this. How smoothly she had shifted the subject to something different that was true. There wasn’t a lie here, Tarin was sure if they talked about it later, this would be something that had absolutely happened. The story had completely taken the focus off of him though and shifted it to someone who wasn’t even in this universe.

Rachel didn’t say anything when he brought up the other side of the rift and Tarin was honestly grateful for the reprieve. ”Something like this would have been a really big deal.” he admitted quietly. ”And a whole new round of practice and training.”

God, it would have been awful. The lack of control alone would have been considered massive risk of exposure.

Tarin wasn’t there though. And he nodded when Lee spoke. ”And it’s getting easier all the time.”

When Tarin spoke again, Lee looked at him in shock. She hadn't even thought of that, of what would have happened had her still been on the other side when this happened.

"Another reason to thank god you're not still there," Lee whispered.

"Wait, things were that bad?" Rachel asked. "I heard things weren't great for mutants, but I didn't think they were that bad."

They really didn't need to go into this, not now. But, Lee thought, maybe she could settle Rachel's curiosity without talking about anything that had actually happened to Tarin.

"During the Registration Act, I seriously considered never leaving the apartment," Lee told her sister. "That's how worried and scared I was. I'm pretty sure I would be more scared there."

As an adult, if this had happened on the other side of the rift, Tarin absolutely would have ran.

There way no way he’d have stayed in New York with something like this happening. He hadn’t had anyone to help, to make sure he was safe or that he wasn’t going to put himself in a position he couldn’t get out of.

Where he’d have gone, Tarin didn’t have a clue. Probably the island before SUPER had found him there. There had only really been spirits there and it was far enough away…

Or was it? Tarin heaved a bit of a sigh. They were going to have to figure out just how far out he could do this…but it was another question they couldn’t answer until he was able to discern when he was actually sending these telepathic messages.

Lee was working hard to skirt the issue when Rachel asked for more details and Tarin somehow loved her even more for it.

Had it been that bad?

”It wasn’t that bad for everyone…” Tarin said, ”Big cities were worse and it depended on your powers and how visible they were. If they involved psychic abilities…if you had a support system and people who cared about you or if you were on your own.”

It had been complicated and the group he’d found himself in had only focused on the really scary parts of what happened if you got out of line.

”Something like this would have been really dangerous in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was taught for a long time that any powers on display were unacceptable. It was an extreme view, but I learned the lessons well.”

If Rachel could understand this…if this would get her off the trail of the rest, Tarin could talk about it. It wasn’t like Lee’s sister was digging for details or anything.