Yeah, Rachael didn't say that she wouldn't have tried to set up a meeting between her and Tarin, just simply that she hadn't. Because she hadn't had a way to get a hold of him. Yeah, that made Lee feel a whole lot better about the situation. Maybe Rachael hadn't done it, but she would have if she'd been able to.

"Uh, yeah," Lee said as if it should be completely obvious. "That was my plan, until you dragged me back here." That had also been the plan with Toronto until she had finally gotten over Ryan. Plus, as far as she knew, he was still gone, so there wasn't the chance of her running into him there anymore.

Before Lee was able to actually make it back to her bag to finish packing, Rachael had jumped on top of of it. Lee blinked. That was her act of desperation to keep her there? Then she stared at Rachael for a moment as her younger sister told her that in order to leave, Lee would have to move her first. Pretty obvious, wasn't that?

"Like I said, I'm not going till the morning," Lee said as she shook her head, a slight smile on her face. How easy would it be to move Rachael. Sure, she was taller, but she really wasn't that large. It'd really be no problem to move her out of the way if she wanted to.

Again, Lee just blinked at Rachael when she suggest that she go talk to Tarin if she had such a problem with what she had seen that night, only this time her face showed complete shock before she wiped it clear to hide the pain that was bubbling up. "Yeah, cause that'd go over well. 'Sorry to interrupt, just thought I should tell you how much what you're doing right now bothers me.'"

Lee took a deep breath and turned to make her way to the bathroom. "Never going to happen, Rach. Go to bed, promise I'll still be here in the morning."

Rachael's eyes narrowed and she blinked back the sudden tears that filled her eyes, "No Lee, I brought you back here because you're my sister. Again...I know our parents and brother haven't done right by you Lee, but I never did anything...and I'm really trying here."

Rachael sat up on Lee's bag and faced her sister again, "Yeah, I kind of hoped you'd see him, and I probably would have tried to run you guys into each other...but Lee you're so miserable can you really blame me? You were happy when you were with him..."

Lee's next words made Rachael sigh, then laugh softly, "Well, it would get your message across if you did..." she said simply.

Lee was going into the bathroom, and she promised she wasn't leaving until the morning. "You're not leaving at all..." she muttered as the door shut.

Rachael waited for another minute, then hopped off of the bag and rifled through it, finding every single pair of shoes her sister had brought and hiding them in various spots around the room.

"Just a little insurance..." she said to herself, then climbed into the bed to wait for Lee to reemerge.

"And I wish you'd try a little less," Lee said softly. She'd been taking care of herself for a long time, now. She didn't need Rachael trying to look after her.

She was happy when she had been with Tarin? Of course she had been, and of course she wasn't now that she was no longer with him. Lee wouldn't have done everything she had, wouldn't have wanted to m-

Lee cut off that thought, her hand instantly reaching up to the chain around her neck. It was far too dangerous a thought, far too painful.

Once she was in the bathroom, with the door closed, Lee leaned against the counter for a few minutes, her head down, eyes closed. She would not cry, she told herself, not again. But the tears didn't listen to her, they started leaking out from beneath her lids. As if it weren't bad enough that she had seen Tarin there that night, and worst still that he had had his arm around some woman, but Rachael actually thought she should go see him? As if that thought weren't enough, to see him that very night? Not a chance in hell, not with everything she knew about Tarin.

Finally, Lee took a deep breath and turned to the shower, turning the water on. She had far too much energy, and far too much time to kill before the night was over. She even took the time to blow her hair straight after she got out of the shower, actually feeling a little calmer and more relaxed when she finally opened the door and made her way back into the main part of the hotel room.

-------------

Lee couldn't help but think that this was one of the longest night she had ever sat through as she sat on her bed, her arms wrapped around her knees as she sat, trying not to think. Finally, at six, Lee had had enough. Climbing off the bed, Lee quietly got dressed, then searched for a pair of shoes. Apparently that had been another of Rachael's 'drastic measures'. After Lee had found three shoes, none of them matching and all of them for the left foot, Lee started to grumble to herself. All she wanted was a cup of coffee, something to relieve the boredom of the last few hours, and she couldn't even do that because Rachael had hidden her shoes.

Finally, Lee found a match to one of her shoes. By this point, Lee was just frustrated and annoyed. She didn't even bother to put her shoes on yet, just grabbed her purse and made her way toward the door.

Rachael had decided with absolute conviction to stay awake the entire time that Lee was in the shower. She was going to stay up ever second that her sister did, and if she insisted on leaving, Lee was going to have to walk all the way to the train station with her younger sister wrapped around her leg.

Rachael yawned...yeah, she was going to stay awake, convince Lee that she was being an idiot. Okay, so maybe going to talk to Tarin tonight wasn't the best idea...that would be embarrassing to everyone involved. But really, Lee was being insane. Another yawn and she shook her head, Lee was really taking a long shower.

Rachael's eyes started to droop and she listened closely, eyes narrowed slightly as she listened to the sound of the shower. Rachael decided that it wouldn't possibly hurt to take a quick cat nap while she was waiting for Lee to be done...surely she'd hear the shower shut off and Lee coming out to go to bed....

...low grumbling and moving around filtered through a light vail of sleep and Rachael turned over on her back and cracked her eyes open to see Lee grabbing her purse and heading out the door, "HEY!" she said, suddenly awake and tangled in her sheets, staring at the clock and realizing it was after six...she'd fallen asleep hours ago.

"Please don't leave Lee...stay through the day."

Lee was already across the room, her shoes and purse in one hand, the door handle in her other, when she heard Rachael's voice. "Chill, Rach," Lee said, not even bothering to turn around. "I'm just going for for coffee. I was ever going to bring one back for you, so just calm down."

Well, there really was no point in trying to sneak out at this point, Rachael was already awake. Letting her hand fall from the handle, Lee set about putting her shoes on. "So, are you getting dressed to come with me, or are you going back to sleep till I get back?"

As she waited for Rachael's answer one way or another, Lee opened the door and stood there. Taking a deep breath, Lee let her eyes drop to the floor, where the paper the hotel provided was sitting.

Lee froze, her eyes scanning the headline on the paper at her feet. Apparently, they had a sketch of the man who attacked the woman in the park a while back. There were a lot of differences, like the eyes were too dark, too shadowed, and the chin too squared, but Lee knew the man who's face was on the paper.

Lee's eyes widened, her breath catching in her throat as she stared at the sketch of Tarin on the front of the paper. No, there had to be some mistake, Lee thought in a panic, still not moving, unable as of yet to swallow the huge lump in her throat that was keeping her from breathing. There's no way that Tarin would, that he could...unless...

Lee inhaled sharply at that thought, that if Tarin was involved, that he had merged. But he hadn't seemed...off...the previous night at the bar. Shocked and surprised, to be sure, but he hadn't seemed...not himself.

It took three attempts at swallowing before she was able to clear her throat enough to be able to speak. "Fine, I'll stay," she said, hoping her voice wouldn't betray the panic that was building in her. "At least for today. So, are you coming?"

Coffee...Lee was going for coffee, and bringing some back for Rachael. That didn't sound too bad...not too bad at all. If she was getting coffee, and getting Rachael some, that meant she was coming back to the hotel room. Rachael smiled in spite of the huge yawn struggling to escape her. Did she want to go?

"Heck yeah I want to go." she said, leaping out of the bed, two right shoes tumbling out of the covers with her. "Here ya go." she said, tossing them in Lee's general direction so they landed on the floor near her.

As she scrambled around the room to find a pair of decent jeans and a top that wasn't too rumpled to throw on over her head, Rachael didn't pay much attention to Lee, who had stationed herself by the door of the room.

"That's good! I'm glad you decided not to leave." she said after Lee commented that she was staying, at least for the day. Rachael would convince her to stay the remainder of the week later. For now, this was a major victory and Rachael was so busy congratulating herself on the brilliance of her shoe idea to see the shock, or hear the panic in her sister's voice after she looked at the paper.

"Ready!" she exclaimed, pulling on one tennis shoe as she made her way to the door, then hopping on one foot to get the other one. "Where we going? Want to get breakfast too?!"

Despite her not getting much sleep, really just a few hours, Rachael was sounding quite eager to get up at 6 in the morning to go get coffee. Or was it because she felt that if she went with Lee, she could keep her from leaving? But Lee had more pressing things to worry about than Rachael's lack of trust in her, namely the possibility that Tarin had merged.

And then the guilt hit her as she stood there staring down at the paper, at the oh so familiar face. If she had been around, if she hadn't left, she could have stopped this from happening. Sure, she hadn't always known right away when a merge happened, but she would have figured it out by now, would have figured it out and done something about it before anything really serious had happened.

Hearing Rachael say she was ready, Lee grabbed the paper off the floor and quickly set it, upside down, on the little table that was set not far from the door. "Sure, breakfast works," she answered. Did her voice sound normal, or was it too tense, too strained? Lee couldn't tell any more.

Breakfast was a very subdued affair, Lee too lost in her thoughts to really even try and keep up with the conversation Rachael was trying to have. She had to figure out what she was going to do. She had to do something, she knew she did. If he was still merged, Lee had to do something to end it, and if it was already over...well then she'd have to beat Tarin for still being around and putting himself in danger of being caught like that. Something, but how?

When Rachael was finally finished, Lee had ended up eating less than half of her breakfast, she dragged them back to the hotel, still off in her own little world, planning.

And then Lee remembered about the taser Tarin had gotten for her, the second one since the first had been lost. He had tried to get her to promise to use it, to not hesitate if anything happened, anything like what seemed to be happening. But Lee had left it when she moved out, buried in a box in the closet. Really, what else would she have needed it for? If she could get that, she'd be able to at least drop Tarin so she could safely get close enough to siphon. Hopefully.

By this point, they had reached the room again, Rachael opening the door for them. Lee hurried in, making sure the door was closed and locked behind them, before grabbing the paper from where she had left it and sat on the edge of her bed.

"I'm going to have to go see him," She announced. It was almost more words than she had said since first leaving the room that morning. "When I do, you cannot come with me," Lee continued, raising her eyes from the sketch on the paper to look at Rachael seriously. "Promise you won't follow me."

Lee was distracted, confused, or something similar. All through breakfast, she avoided Rachael's attempts at conversation. It wasn't a brooding silence, or an angry silence stemming from the events of the night before. This was something else, when she looked closely Rachael could almost swear she could see the gears turning in her sister's head. What was she thinking about though? Rachael didn't ask, not after last night, though it seemed that she'd actually made some progress. Lee had decided to stay.

They got back to the hotel quite a bit quicker than they had left it and Rachael watched in slightly amused silence as Lee shut and checked the door. What on earth could she have to say that couldn't be said with the door open. It's not like they hadn't any deep dark secrets anymore.

When Lee started to speak, she couldn't help the immediate smile that flashed across her face when she said she was going to see Tarin. The smile faded almost immediately at the look on Lee's face though, and the next words to come out of her sister's mouth. Something was wrong here, really wrong. Lee didn't look apprehensive about going to see Tarin...she looked positively grim and serious.

"Lee?" Rachael said tentatively, tilting her head to one side and settling down on her bed to see what it was Lee was going to say. When she said nothing beyond that Rachael couldn't go with her, Rachael shook her head, "Nuh uh, not this time Lee...why can't I go with you...and why are you going to see him?"

Lee was looking over at Rachael, to try and import the severity of her command, so she saw the look of confusion and lack of understanding on her sister's face.

"Why can't you come with me," Lee repeated, as if to herself, as her eyes dropped back to the paper in her hands. Before she said anything in way of an answer, she tossed the paper across the small distance separating the two beds. "Cause I can't be worrying about protecting you while dealing with him."

Lee knew she needed to explain that more, knew she needed to explain it quickly before Rachael called the cops to turn Tarin in. But how was she supposed to explain it? Standing up again, Lee ran her hands through her hair and looked up at the ceiling as she started pacing across the room.

"Remember what I told you about that merging thing?" Lee settled on starting with. She had at least somewhat told Rachael about the merging, at least how it had happened during the breakout. That was a start in the right direction, right?

"Most of the time, 99.9% of the time, he has absolutely no control over it at all," Lee continued, still pacing back and forth. "He can't stop it from happening, can't control what happens when he is merged, isn't always able to stop it once it's happened."

Lee stopped pacing and turned toward Rachael, though her eyes were closed. "With all that," she said with a slight nod, meaning everything that was in the paper, everything that had happened to have caused the newspaper coverage. "He can't stop it himself. I've at least been able to stop it when it's happened before."