The blush, which had been starting to fade, came back in full force as Tarin continued. Not only because for some odd reason, he thought it was hot when she got angry, as long as it wasn't at him, or as he said, as long as it wasn't enough that she wanted to rip his head off, but also because of his mention about how anger wasn't the only thing that caused her to yell.

Now really, how in the world was that far? With Alice there, there really wasn't a whole lot of options for how Lee could react to these things that Tarin was saying, and she was sure he knew that. Probably part of the reason he was grinning so widely. She'd have to find a way to get back at him, though with Alice, that had become so much more difficult than it once was.

Tarin had just rolled his eyes when Alice complained about her hair getting messed up, calling her and their daughter both vain. "We're not vain," Lee said, giving Tarin a small glare before a smile spread across her face again. "We just want to look good for you. Isn't that right, sweetie?"

Alice nodded her head in agreement, looking up at Tarin because he had been messing her hair up.

Down the path they started, Tarin mentioning the tigers. They really were his favourite, Lee realized. Every time they had ended up going to the zoo, they had gone to see them, whether there had been the cubs like the first visit or not.

Apparently, tigers weren't to be the first stop that day though, since Alice wanted to go see the penguins, even going so far as jumping up and down, tugging on Tarin's hand she was holding.

"I think penguins sound fun," Lee said, looking across Tarin as they walked toward their daughter. "We'll need to see the tigers too before we go for lunch, or daddy won't be very happy."

By this point, they had reached the zoo, and after paying, walked in. "Which way are the penguins again?" Lee asked Tarin. He'd always been more familiar with the zoo than she had been.

Bright red. Score. Tarin grinned brightly at the way Lee's cheeks pinked up again. He was so going to get it later, but it was worth it. Tarin knew there was very little Lee could say in front of Alice, and he knew where anything she said without Alice in the room would lead. Mission accomplished.

Alternate motives were an amazing thing, Tarin thought as he made his way down the bike path and Lee and Alice pointed out the fact that they only tried so hard so that they looked good for him. Tarin grinned, "Ohhhh, I understand now. In that case I'll be sure to leave your hair alone from now on. " Alice grinned up at him as they walked and nodded her head, then turned back to the path in front of them.

Finally they were at the zoo, then inside the zoo and Lee made sure to point out that they had to see the tigers before they left. "Yeah...I definitely want to see those tigers. You know Alice...those very same tigers were babies the first time your mom and I came here together."

"Really?" Alice said, her eyes widening as Tarin guided them towards where the knew the penguins were and Tarin nodded, "We went on what ended up being our very first date that night." he continued and grinned as they made their way towards the building that held the penguins.

The air inside the building was much cooler, and three sides of the room were made up of glass. Then penguins were there and as soon as they were inside, Alice pulled her hand free and ran up to the glass, pressing her hands and face against it to watch the birds diving in and shooting through the water.

"She's something else...isn't she?" Tarin said, moving closer to Lee and wrapping an arm around her shoulders and sticking his other hand in his pocket.

Lee grinned as Tarin describe their first visit to the zoo to their daughter. And a very brief and vague description of what had turned out to be their first date the night after the zoo, which included their first kiss. Which Alice seemed quite excited to hear about.

At least she had seemed excited to hear about it until they entered the building that housed the penguins, at which point she pulled away from Tarin's hand and rushed up to the glass.

That excitement...That was one of the many things Lee loved about her daughter, not just how excited she got about little things, but how that happiness and excitement was contagious, just like how her father was.

Leaning her head against Tarin's shoulder when she felt his arm wrapping around her, Lee smiled happily. "She really is," Lee agreed, her smile widening. "I'm still amazed every day because of her."

Tarin stood, watching his daughter as she stood and followed the penguins with her eyes and her head and even her fingers as she traced the paths of the birds swimming through the water.

It was the same as with Lee, sometimes when he was with Alice or around Alice it seemed like the rest of the world ceased to exist. It was a completely different way, but it was still just as amazing. This was one of those times. Tarin was still standing a few feet behind Alice, with Lee, and paying absolutely no attention to the other people in the enclosure. That's why he didn't see the shivering youth three or four feet away.

It was cold in the enclosure, it housed penguins after all, so Tarin didn't notice at first. Neither did Alice, that is until he exhaled and saw his breath in a dense fog that left his mouth. Tarin's eyes widened slightly and his eyes instantly started scanning the assembled people. The little boy next to Alice had his hands on the glass too, but his body was wracked with shivers that looked more and more like convulsions and ice was slowly spreading from his hands up the glass and into the water.

The penguins didn't notice at first, didn't notice until the water started to freeze, faster and faster, one bird was caught and Alice screamed. The little boy heard her and turned trying to hold his hand out. Tarin rushed forward and grabbed Alice's arm, jerking her away from the little boy as he fell to the ground, body jerking and shaking. Tarin only knew one possibility...but all of a sudden it was so cold

"Daddy..." Alice wailed, "The penguins....the penguins...what's wrong with that little boy? What's wrong with him?"

"Don't look Alice...." Tarin said, hand closing around Lee's upper arm... "We have to go...now we'll call for help when we're outside..."

Lee couldn't have said how long she and Tarin had stood there watching Alice watch the penguins when Lee noticed she was shivering slightly. The tank top she was wearing didn't exactly provide a lot of cover. Though, it was cold in the penguin enclosure there, the birds were from a much colder climate than they were currently in.

"You don't think it's too cold for Alice, do you?" Lee asked, moving slightly under Tarin's arm to pull her jacket from where it was draped over her bag. The last thing she wanted was for the six year old to get sick because they had stayed in the penguin enclosure too long.

Before he was able to answer, Lee heard a scream that pierced her heart with fear, just like every time she heard it. And while she was quick to react, moving forward toward her daughter, Tarin was quicker.

It was only then, as Tarin grabbed a hold of Alice that Lee noticed the boy near her as he fell, shaking, to the ground. Lee blinked, and then her eyes widened as the temperature in the building dropped further. And Alice had been right beside him.

Hearing Alice's frantic question and feeling Tarin's hand on her arm, Lee let him turn her around toward the exit. As soon as they were moving, Lee reached out, grabbing Alice and lifting her up into her arms. "It's alright, baby," Lee murmured to her daughter as they made their way outside. As she spoke, Lee exchanged a worried glance with Tarin. What could that have been other than Haywire, Lee wondered, and their daughter had been right beside him. "We're going to find help for him."

Panic. For the first time in almost as long as Tarin could remember, he was panicking. Alice had been so close to that kid, and all the worst case scenarios were falling over themselves in Tairn's head to manifest in his panicked state first. Lee had picked Alice up as they'd hurried to the exit and Tarin scowled at the ground ahead of them, not even meeting Lee's worried gaze. They both knew what that had been.

Lee said that they were going to get help for the boy, but Tarin wasn't sure that was the best idea. Exposure meant quarantine and that would be much more effective, and hospitable, at the mansion than in the state ran medical facilities.

Moving closer to his wife and crying child, Tarin leaned to Lee's ear and whispered, "We can't bring the attention to the situation. Let the police handle it. We weren't the only ones in there. We need to get back home. Now."

On they walked, and Tarin couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next. Another shard of panic shot through him as he thought about the implications for a human with haywire. Genetics would suggest that Alice was a mutant, even if she was far too young to be showing any powers. Did that mean she would be safe from Haywire? At least in the most deadly form or because her mutant gene hadn't been activated yet, was she at risk?

The questions were too much and Tarin had to push them out of his head until they got back to the mansion, and a doctor who could tell them what to do next.

Alice had calmed down now, almost seeming aware of the direness of the situation and she sniffled quietly. Tarin felt a pang of guilt, their beautiful day at the park had been ruined. Tarin just hoped things wouldn't get worse.

Lee's mind was racing as she and Tarin walked quickly. Haywire. They had all been in the same room as the boy when his powers had started going crazy, Alice had been right beside him. By the time that Tarin leaned to whisper in her ear, Lee had come to a similar conclusion; scared as she was about what might happen now, terrified even, she was not going to let the state separate her from her daughter for the sake of quarantine. She was already scared and crying. At least the mansion was familiar enough that the quarantine there wouldn't be absolutely terrifying for the six year old.

So Lee nodded to her husband as she whispered comforting words to her daughter. No, she was not feeling those comforting words, didn't know whether they were true or not, in fact she might have been more scared than her crying child was, but she had to be strong for Alice's sake.

It was that thought that really brought the full weight of the situation down on Lee. Alice was calming down now, not really crying, merely sniffling a bit, but she'd been exposed, she was going to need her all her strength to try and fight it off so she wouldn't actually get sick, if that was at all possible. And here Lee was carrying her. Yes, she siphoned less than she once had, but she still siphoned energy. At least unless she consciously turned it off, something she actually didn't do that often.

This was going to be one of those times. Lee focused her mind as best she could despite the fear and panic, and suddenly she didn't feel her daughter in her arms. Well, she felt her daughter because she was holding her, touching her, but Lee no longer felt Alice's energy slowly seeping into her. Nor did she feel Tarin's from right beside her.

They had been walking much quicker than previously, both of their worries pushing them ahead at a much faster pace than would have been possible had Alice been walking herself, so not only had they already left the zoo, but they had managed to just about reach the edge of the park already.

"Cab, or should we call someone?" Lee asked, glancing over at Tarin again. Both options had their benefits, but both certainly had their down sides, too.

They were both worried, and Tarin could only imagine how much worse it was for Lee than it was for him. Lee's fear of Haywire was the reason they'd left New York, the reason they'd spent those blissful months in Texas before the pull of the big city had been too much to resist. Now they'd been in an enclosed space with someone who couldn't possibly have had anything else wrong with them. It had to be Haywire.

Tarin looked at Lee and saw the rapt concentration on her face, and wondered what it was she was thinking about. He couldn't ask though, not in the very public setting they were in. It was so easy to think that they should simply lock themselves in the mansion, where they were safe. But the simple fact of the matter was then, Alice would never see anything ,ever experience the things that had made New York such a great home for him and Lee.

All that was in the back of Tarin's mind now though, if it would keep their daughter safe, they could just lock her in a room for the rest of her life. In fact, that was looking like a better and better idea. Rupert and his new found religious fanaticism be damned. He could bring church to Alice if it was that important.

Lee was asking Tarin what they should do now and he frowned slightly, "Use the cell. Let's call someone, I'd rather get this taken care of as quickly and out of hte public eye as possible. They'll want to make sure we saw what we think we saw. Though I'm not sure it could have been anything else."

Once she wasn't feeling Alice or Tarin any more, or any of the people surrounding them in the park, Lee glanced over at Tarin, saw his questioning expression. But he didn't ask anything, didn't say anything about what she had just done. He probably didn't even know she had done what she had, shut off her siphoning. She did it so rarely, normally only ever when she found she had too much energy, and most times when she did shut off her siphoning Tarin was sleeping anyway. Or about to fall asleep. And, other than the concentration she needed to do it, at least initially, there really was no way to tell what she was doing.

Lee nodded as she heard Tarin's answer to her question. It did make the most sense, the only thing she really didn't like about it was how long it was going to take for someone to get there from the mansion to get them before they could head back. But his reasoning did make sense. So Lee shifted Alice around in her arms, moving her over to her other hip, so she could dig her cell phone out of her bag. Not exactly the easiest thing to do, but Lee had gotten quite a bit of practise doing similar things while Alice had been a baby.

So, cell phone out, Lee quickly dialled the number to the mansion, and listened to the phone ring once, twice....Lee was starting to panic all over again when someone finally picked up after the sixth ring.

After letting out a huge breath, glad to hear Neena's voice on the other end, Lee started to explain in a quiet voice what had happened in the penguin enclosure, about the boy, about how they needed to get back to the mansion to be checked out by DocProf as soon as possible. And the whole time she was speaking, Lee's eyes were locked on Tarin, the arm that wasn't holding the phone to her ear hugging her daughter tight against her.

At the Mansion, Neena clicked off her cellphone. She paused for a moment digesting the information Lee had given her. She sighed, then hit one of her speed dials. She stared out of the window of her room. Had she been able to see normally still, she would have seen the roof of a building, built on the edge of the estate, peeking out above the trees.

Ever since the initial outbreak of the Haywire virus, it became clear that infected souls needed to be quarantined, as had Influenza victims after World War One. Fortunately the virus wasn't as deadly as it had been nine years ago. But because of its possible effects, precautions still needed to be taken, especially in a place made up almost entirely of mutants.

Still, she hated the thought that little Alice might now have to deal with this. Although, truth be told, she wasn't sure to be more worried about the six-year-old, or her parents. Especially Lee.

A voice picked up on the other end. "Donna, Neena. I need you to make a pick up for me. The Brooks family, near the zoo. It looks like Alice may have been exposed to Haywire. I'd go myself, but...." She laughed at the woman's vehement protests on the other end, and the click! of being hung up on.

She didn't understand why people got upset. After all, Neena wasn't totally blind. She could still see in infrared, and other types. Even her xray still worked rather well. And driving in New York was like playing bumper cars anyway, and that was with fully sighted people. So why the fuss?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A small car slowed as it approached the edge of the park. The copper-haired woman behind the wheel searched carefully for her party. Spotting the family, she leaned out the window and whistled, and began waving to get their attention.

"Tarin! Lee! Alice! Over here!"

Donna, one of the nurses that usually helped in the Haywire Wing at the Mansion, had a very unusual mutation, that made travel a very unique experience. She was able to turn herself, and anything she wished within a thirty-foot radius, two-dimensional. This enabled her to slip between a crack only inches wide. It was an odd sensation, to be sure, but handy when it came to getting around traffic jams and other road blocks. The trip back to the Mansion would be decided odd-feeling, but much quicker than a normal drive.

Lee had made contact with someone at the mansion and apparently a ride was being arranged to come and get them. Then it was to quarantine. Would all of them be quarantined so that they could stay together? Tarin sure as hell hoped so, because nothing was going to keep him from his daughter. Especially if she ended up sick and he was going to hate bringing down the house if the need arose.

There was very little being said until Alice leaned back from her mother and looked at Tarin, "Daddy...I'm sorry we don't get to see the tigers..." she said trying not to succumb to a fresh bout of tears.

"Oh honey..." Tarin said, taking the little girl from her mother and holding her close, "It wasn't anything you did, and I'll bet those tigers will be there next time we come to the zoo. We're going to go on a whole new adventure when we get back home too. So the day isn't completely ruined."

Alice's face brightened slightly, but a suspicious look crossed her features. "Is this like the time you told me we were going on a big adventure and it turned out to be the doctor's office?"

Tarin couldn't help but smile a little bit before his frown overtook his features, "It's not quite like that honey...but it's still going to be an adventure."

The mansion had it's own quarantine area, and to Tarin's knowledge, Alice had never seen it. So hopefully they could swing the situation to their advantage and make things not quite so scary for the six-year-old.

Tarin looked at Lee over Alice's head, what were they going to do?

Once the ride had been arranged, Lee hung the phone up and stuck it back into her bag. She had been doing well so far, keeping her fear and panic at bay. Or at least reigned in enough that they weren't overly noticeable to Alice. Lee held no illusions about Tarin not seeing it in her.

At least she had done well until Alice leaned to look over at her father and apologized for not getting to see the tigers. That was too much for Lee; tears welled up in her eyes even as she fought against them. Luckily, Tarin had decided to take Alice, hugging her close to him as he told her they could always see the tigers the next time they came to the zoo.

Lee tried to sniffle quietly as she fought against the tears, not wanting her daughter to see her crying. The good news was she seemed too interested in what Tarin was telling her about how they had another adventure in front of them now. The bad news was she was probably too smart for her own good as she realized that another time her father had told her about an adventure she was going to go on, it involved going to the doctor's. Even though the fear, worry, and tears, Lee couldn't help but laugh slightly at that.

Much quicker than Lee was expecting, simply based on how far the mansion was from where they currently were, Lee heard hers and Tarin's name's being called from the direction of the road. Turning, Lee saw a woman leaning out a window waving in their direction. She didn't know the woman's name off hand, but Lee knew she had seen her around the mansion on many an occasion; one of the nurses, or so Lee thought.

And so the quarantine and observation starts.

"Come on, hon, they're here," Lee said softly. Thankfully her unrequested tears had ended and dried already by that point. Reaching out, Lee grabbed Tarin's hand and started toward the waiting car, not feeling anything other than the direct skin to skin contact.

Tarin was proud of the way that Lee was holding it together. Haywire was probably the biggest fear Lee had in New York City. Already afraid of the effect that her powers had on people, the possibility that they could rage out of control was sometimes too much for her to handle. That's why they'd fled New York when the Haywire outbreak was at its worse. It had settled into a more seasonal routine, but the fear was still there. So trips to the city, or anywhere densely populated were always a risk, and were limited. Tarin shook his head, Rupert was going to flip, but he was seriously questioning the wisdom of Alice being in the city every Sunday, if everything was okay.

Tarin fought off his own panic again at the thought as they stood, and he explained to Alice that the tigers would be there next time. Lee's eyes were full of tears, but she was holding them back. Alice's accusation about the adventure loosened up some of the stress and soon enough they could hear their names being called from a car on the street.

Lee grabbed his hand and he shifted Alice to his hip so he had a better grip on her as they walked. Tarin vaguely recognized the woman who was driving, but it was one of the mansion cars, so she had to be legit.

Settling into the back of the car, Tarin put Alice between Lee and himself where she immediately reached for the lap belt. "That's a good girl..." Tarin said, reaching over to help her snap it and adjust it.

The driver had taken off almost immediately after they'd gotten into the car and now they were moving through the streets of New York at a fairly fast clip. "Is everything alright as far as the immediate is concerned?" The woman in the front seat asked, Tarin appreciated her discretion.

"Yeah, there may not be any real reason for real concern...but considering the circumstances we figured that erring on the side of caution would be best."

As they got into the car, Lee was glad to see that Alice immediately reached for the seatbelt. Proud of her little one, despite everything else that was going on at the moment. Still, she was glad Tarin had turned to help their daughter with her seatbelt right away, because as they had gotten into the car, Lee found her hands had started shaking so badly she was having a bit of trouble just simply getting her own seatbelt done up.

They were already moving, weaving in and out of traffic faster than Lee would have thought possible in New York, when the woman driving asked about the situation.

There might not be real reason for real concern? Lee silently repeated Tarin's words. What, was he now questioning what they'd seen in the penguin enclosure, or simply hoping it wasn't what it had to have been based on what they saw? But Lee didn't say anything about it at that moment; the more they said about it, the more Alice was likely to get scared, and there was already more than enough coming that would scare the poor girl.

"Tell me the moment you start feeling it," Lee ended up saying to Tarin, her voice quiet but serious as she looked over their daughter's head at him. "I might not necessarily notice it when I start siphoning again..."

"Yeah, there may not be any real reason for real concern...but considering the circumstances we figured that erring on the side of caution would be best."

Donna nodded, and didn't ask anything further, gathering that the couple didn't want to alarm their little girl. To help distract Alice, Donna T smiled the child in the rearview mirror, and winked.

"Alice, honey, would you like to help me drive? You see, I tend to have this really strange reaction to...." She paused and looked out the window, and spotted an old volkswagon two lanes over. "....orange cars. Everytime I see an orange car, I seem to get thinner!"

She checked to be sure she could get over safely, then changed lanes. As she drew closer to the old orange car, she concentrated on flattening her body, until she appeared to look like a paper cut-out doll. Her mutation allowed her to maintain her weight and strength, so she could easily drive normally.

As they pulled away, Donna allowed her body to return to normal. "It's just so awkward for me. Could you help me, honey, by keeping an eye out for orange cars while we drive? Until we get home?"