((Continued from I recall, Central Park in the fall))

They had been back at the mansion for hours. Well, not the mansion, the special Haywire Infirmary that had been built behind the mansion. DocProf and the nurses there had already done a number of tests on them - Alice certainly hadn't liked the needles, though Lee hadn't exactly been a fan of them either - and were now off somewhere figuring out the results.

So far, they said, it looked like they were in the clear, but they had only been exposed about an hour before they had started the tests; there was really no way to tell for sure yet. So Lee hadn't started siphoning again yet. Because of that, she was starting to get rather tired as they simply sat there. Lee wasn't sure if it was because of the effort of stopping herself from siphoning, or if it was because she wasn't pulling in more energy, but she hadn't had all that much to start with, and it'd been hours since she had last siphoned.

But at that point in time, there really wasn't anything else to do. One of the nurses was somewhere, another room with a monitor, or behind a curtain, Lee didn't know, observing them, while the rest of the staff was finishing the tests. So Lee was sitting, curled up on one of the beds, her arms wrapped around Alice, as she tiredly quizzed her daughter.

"How about 'nut'?" Lee asked, her eyes slipping closed as Alice answered.

"N-u-t," the six year old answered confidently. She had spelled the last twelve words correctly already, and had only missed three since they had started practising.

"'Seven'?" Lee asked, her head drooping slightly against the side of Alice's head.

"Seven...seven..." Alice mused quietly, thinking. This was one of the longer, harder words, after all. "S-e-v-i-n." She finally announced, though she spelled it much slower than she had other words, puzzling it out a bit as she went.

"Good job, sweetie," Lee murmured softly, not even catching through her weariness that Alice had spelled the word wrong.

Neena sat quietly outside in the waiting room. Her unseeing stared straight ahead, while the rest of her senses took in the world around her. Sound; she heard voices, some clear, some muffled by distance and walls, and the happy melody of canaries and finches singing on the upstairs level, just above where she sat. Smell; lavender and chamomile candles to calm, an orange-geranium-bergamot potpourri blend to battle depression, and under it all, the disturbing hint of mustiness that followed around pill bottles and chemical medicines. Taste; a sense that actually worked with her nose, as most of the smells encountered left it’s own residue on the back of her tongue and throat. Feel; vibrations traveled up her guiding staff into her fingers, from the floor into her feet, and down the bones in her ears, while the air around her bubbled and flowed past her skin. The complicated network of sensations supplied a vast array of information, allowing her to form a visual picture of her surroundings, almost as good, if not more accurate, than if her eyes still worked normally.

And right now, she was only interested in one part of the picture. She continued to wait, unmoving, until two familiar sets of footsteps entered her field of ‘vision’; Tarin and the DocProf. However, she gave no hint of recognizing until addressed. In the meantime, her thoughts turned to Lee and Alice

Poor Lee. The young mother was so terrified of the Haywire virus, and had all but driven the medical staff batty with her worry all through her pregnancy. Even a healthy-borne Alice hadn’t cured the mother’s paranoia. And though Neena passed her anxiety off in public, inside she acknowledged that Lee’s worry was well-founded. It wouldn’t take long for an out-of-control energy siphon to literally suck the life away from those around her. Even more worrisome was the fact that rendering her unconscious might not stop the siphoning. Other mutants could be tranquilized, until the virus wore off. With Lee, it wouldn’t matter. Neena wasn’t sure about Tarin. She assumed his merging wouldn’t be affected by unconsciousness either, but she’d rather not find out.

And little Alice. Poor thing was caught between a rock and a hard place. They weren’t even sure if she was a mutant, so no one knew what to expect from her if she ‘went Haywire’. And if she wasn’t, the virus still held the possibility of killing her outright. And if that happened....

Neena rubbed her eyes wearily, and tried bring those anti-depression smells to the fore once more.

"Tell me again exactly what happened." DocProf said as he walked next to Tarin down the halls of the isolation wing that had been built onto the mansion.

"I've told you doc..." Tarin said, voice muffled by the mask he wore to protect the doc from possible infection and weary as he looked at the doctor. "We were watching the penguins...." The rest went on in a monotone, the same monotone that he'd told the story in 20 times since they'd gotten back to the infirmary. As he told about the penguins Tarin wondered if they were going to be okay. Could a penguin be revived after it had been frozen?

The last few hours had been stressful to say the least. Alice had been terrified of the nurses in all of their isolation gear and the tests had been difficult on her. Lee had a way of calming Alice that Tarin had never been able to touch, so he'd left them to help Doc Prof with what he needed.


Lee was terrified too and Tarin wasn't in the best of spirits about what was happening to them. It would be an absolute relief when they were finally given the all clear. The all clear. Tarin just kept repeating it in his head, over and over again. They were going to be fine, even if the kid had fallen with Haywire they hadn't been exposed enough to guarantee infection.

Tarin refused to dwell on the possibility of infection, it was just too horrifying to think about.

"Alright Tarin." Doc Prof said, "You can go back in with Lee and Alice, the tests should be done soon and we'll let you know where we go from there when the time comes."

Tarin nodded and went to shove his hands in his pockets but stopped short when he remembered he didn't have any pockets. Standard issue infirmary gear, not a backless gown, thank god, but clothes akin to scrubs. Pocketless scrubs.

Tarin turned the corner and found himself in the waiting area of the isolation wing and greeted with a familiar face.

"Neena?" he said, keeping his distance across the room, "What are you doing in here? You know it's probably not the safest place to be...especially right now."

"Neena?"

She heard Tarin's footsteps coming, then pause across the room.

"What are you doing in here? You know it's probably not the safest place to be...especially right now."

"Safe? Now you know me better than that, m'friend. Since when have I ever worried about what was a safe place to be? Especially when my friends need support."

She patted the chair next to her. "Have a seat, m'friend. They checked me for weapons before letting me in, and I promise I won't bite," she teased with a smile.

"You look rough." An odd remark because, blindness aside, she wasn't even looking in his direction. "Any news yet? Good or bad?" she asked, her teasing tone now replaced by quiet concern.

Tarin shrugged and moved to sit by Neena on the chairs in the infirmary. He didn't even notice that she'd made a bit of a faux pas as far as her sight was concerned. Yeah, Tarin knew that Neena couldn't see in the traditional sense of the word, he'd known that for years. The fact of the matter was, though, that she could really see better than most people he knew.

"Ah Neena, I'm not worried about weapons. I'm worried that I'm going to go Typhoid Mary on you or something."

Then she asked the question, the question that Tarin wanted to know the answer to more than Neena did, probably more than anyone did with exception to Lee.

Lee...Alice. Tarin glanced towards the door that separated him from his family. "Neena...I don't want to just leave on ya...but I want to go check on Alice and Lee. I think if you go now you can catch Doc Prof or one of the nurses and get some gear...I'm sure Lee would love the company to take her mind off things."

Tarin turned towards the door, then realized he hadn't even answered Neena's question, "I don't know anything yet...the tests are still out. It would be nice to have someone wait with us though."

That said, Tarin turned and opened the door just in time to hear Lee quiz Alice on her largest and most difficult spelling word. Alice spelled it, wrong, and Lee congratulated her on her good job. Tarin pulled the mask off his face and walked up to them. "Actually honey, I think mom's teasing you. It should have been E-N." Lee looked frankly exhausted and when she spoke to him, Tarin tilted his head.

"Lee, don't do that to yourself. There's no reason to right now. You need all your strength to help me out here. Just go on with business as usual."

Alice was quiet, she'd figured out the serious nature of the situation a long time ago, probably when the first nurse came at her with a needle. Tarin reached down and ran his hand through her hair and she smiled at him. "I think I've got it now. S-E-V-E-N."

"Beautiful!" Tarin said with a bright grin, "You're so going to ace that test."

"Ah Neena, I'm not worried about weapons. I'm worried that I'm going to go Typhoid Mary on you or something."

Neena nodded solemnly. She'd caught the Haywire Virus once before, but it had little more effect than the flu on her, due to her passive mutations. Though she had packed one of the Mansion trucks with a parachute and bungee cords, and told one of the other teachers she was going to climb the Empire State Building without a net.

Should Tarin or Lee catch the virus, jumping off of the ESB might not be necessary.

"Neena...I don't want to just leave on ya...but I want to go check on Alice and Lee. I think if you go now you can catch Doc Prof or one of the nurses and get some gear...I'm sure Lee would love the company to take her mind off things."

Again she nodded, and stood up as his steps headed for the room Lee and Alice occupied. The sounds paused, and she tilted her head in his direction.

"I don't know anything yet...the tests are still out. It would be nice to have someone wait with us though."

"I'll help however I can," she replied, and smiled. She waited for him to enter the room, before going in search of a set of scrubs.

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

"Knock, knock!" she called out and tapped on their door, a short time later. She opened it a crack and poked her mask-adorned, smiling face in, her body following a moment later. Her hair stuck out in several directions, as she hadn't put for the effort to fix it after donning the scrubs.

Her eyebrows knitted together in a thoughtful frown. "I believe I received a delivery order from this room? Something about.... animal crackers?"

She pulled her arm out and shook the small box in her hand, and winked in the little girl's directions. "Now then, who should I give the bill to?"

She cocked her head towards Mom and Dad.

"Is there anything I can get for you two?" she asked warmly.

Lee started slightly, her head lifting up off of Alice's when she heard Tarin's voice in the room. The voice was soft, not meant to startle, but Lee had been half passed out, hadn't heard him enter, and because she wasn't siphoning, hadn't felt him enter.

Next thing she knew, Tarin was walking up beside them, telling her not to do 'this' to herself. Lee was exhausted, there was no doubt about that, but as she raised her head, Lee shook her head at Tarin. Yes, she was going to need strength and energy too, but there were limits to that. "Not from her," she replied simply. And to Lee, it really was that simple.

Tarin seemed to have helped Alice with her spelling more than she had, though, considering the fact that Lee hadn't caught the spelling mistake her daughter had made since she was falling asleep there.

Somehow, Tarin was still able to grin at Alice as she fixed her mistake. Something that Lee wasn't able to do because of both her low energy level and worry. "Of course she's going to ace it," Lee replied, reaching out to pull Tarin closer to her . Even if she wasn't siphoning from him, she still wanted to feel him close to her.

Looking up at Tarin, Lee couldn't help the frown that came to her face. "Any news yet?" She asked.

Before she got an answer, Lee heard the door open again, and saw a masked Neena poking her head in before following the rest of the way with her body. Bringing animal crackers for Alice.

"Coffee would be amazing," Lee said with a slight sigh. And, though coffee had once been almost her life blood, something she couldn't possibly get through the day without before, she hadn't had more than a very occasional cup in years. "Absolutely amazing."

Tarin frowned, but sighed and shrugged his shoulders, when Lee was stubborn like this there was absolutely no arguing with her. "Well, you're not going to do her any good when you're passed out on the floor." Oh well...Tarin still couldn't help himself most of the time.

They were back to Alice's spelling test now and Lee had agreed that of course Alice was going to ace her test. Tarin couldn't help but wonder with a moment of stark fear if Alice would even be able to go to school. He shook it off, optimism was key. He smiled instead and tried to put his hands in his pockets for the second time.

A voice made his head jerk up, Neena hadn't meant to startle them, but for someone waiting on fishhooks for word on tests that could change their life forever it was startling. The startle wore off quickly though, and it was replaced by warm feelings as Neena swept in, animal crackers in hand to save the situation.

Alice squealed and skittered over towards Neena, bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation of the animal crackers. "Are there Tigers Neena?!" she said excitedly, "Maybe we can pretend they're real ones since daddy didn't get to see them today. I saw frozen penguins Neena, but they're used to the cold so I think they're going to be okay! Can I have the cookies now?"

Tarin smiled and cast a look at Lee. Alice was handling things so much better than they were, but then again it took an adaptive child to grow up in a home as...exciting as Tarin and Lee's had been. Alice also didn't know that there was a possibility of the Haywire Virus hanging over her head like a dark cloud.

Lee asked for coffee and Tarin cast her a withering look. Coffee had been a poor substitute for energy ten years ago, why Lee thought it would be better now, he couldn't guess.

"I'm good Neena, thanks for asking though. How are things on the outside? I know it's only been a few hours...but damn it feels like weeks."

Neena smiled at Alice's exuberance, though she raised an eyebrow in Tarin and Lee's direction. "Frozen.... penguins? Erm, well, I guess you'll just have to plan another trip to the zoo to find out. Later. But as for the tigers...."

She leaned down and handed the little one her box, with a sightless wink. "The only way to find out is to open them, right?"

While the youngster concentrated on her treat, Neena nodded to Lee's request. "Coffee I can do. Black, right? You want that with or without grounds?" she added lightheartedly.

Tarin's question came as her hand touched the door handle. She simply shook her head and sighed, then left the room.

She returned only a few minutes later, her scrubs sporting a fresh, though small, spill mark on her smock, and a plastic baggie hung on her wrist. She held two cups of coffee awkwardly, but managed to make it into the room without spilling any more.

She set one cup on the table by the bed, and handed Lee the other.

"Well, no new yet," she said, as if finally deciding to answer Tarin's earlier question. "But the DocProf did send these to Alice. And he was smiling. Smiles are a good thing, right?"

She emptied the bag's contents besides the little one's zoo-ish looking crackers; a small notepad and a small box of crayons. Then she folded her legs under her and sat on the floor.

Alice was up and out of her arms so fast that Lee wanted to reach out and grab for her again. Because of her worrying, Lee wanted her daughter right there, where she could hold and feel her, not across the room with a box of animal crackers. At the same time, Lee knew that doing exactly that would be better for Alice; she was worried and uncomfortable because of the situation they found themselves in, trapped in the Haywire Infirmary, but she didn't seem to know what the reason was. Best to keep her as distracted and upbeat as possible.

So instead of reaching out for Alice, Lee pulled Tarin closer against herself, snuggling into his side as he stood beside the bed she was sitting on. And because she was snuggled so close against him, Lee didn't see the look he directed toward her. She could, however, hear a bit of that look in his voice.

And then Neena was gone, and she was alone with Tarin and Alice, who was busy searching through her animal crackers for tigers. But now that Neena was gone, and Alice was distracted, Lee looked up at Tarin. "I just can't siphon from her, not now," Lee explained in a whisper.

Turning her head, Lee watched Alice pouring over her crackers. Was it really worse to not siphon right now? She was feeling rather worn out, short of energy. Would it be bad to siphon a bit from Tarin now that Alice was away from her? If nothing else, that would help her get through the rest of this already extremely long day.

Lee was just starting to siphon again, ever so slightly, when Neena came back into the room carrying a couple mugs of coffee. "Thanks so much, Neena," Lee said, reaching one hand out toward the coffee while her other arm remained wrapped around Tarin.

Lee was taking a sip when Neena then dumped out the crayons and notebook for Alice, which resulted in some squealing. But before Alice started her drawing, she was up on her feet again. "Here's your tigers, daddy," Alice said, holding out a handful of animal crackers. "I can draw you some, too. Then you can see tigers every day!"

"Because it's going to be so much better if she really needs you and you're too exhausted to be there for her?" Tarin said, just as softly as he wrapped an arm around Lee's shoulders and held her close. It was kind of a brutal realization to bring Lee to, but it was the truth. If Alice did end up with Haywire, Lee would need all the energy she could muster. Holding herself back now wouldn't do anyone any good.

Lee was happy about the coffee, of course she was. She'd lived on temporary energy fixes for a long time. Tarin smiled at Neena, "Yeah, thanks so much."

Alice was back now, with a hand full of tigers and Tarin grinned brightly at her, moving his arm from around Lee's shoulders. Bending down to Alice's eye level like he had that morning, Tarin nodded his head to her offer to draw him a picture.

"That would be SO cool." he said to Alice then reached out and hugged her tight. "Then we can look at the tigers you draw and I'll tell you about your mommy and all the adventures we had before you were born." he said into her hair, then pulled back, grinning at her excited squeal. So what if he exaggerated a little from time to time and their daughter would probably grow up thinking her parents were some kind of superheroes.

Alice ran off again to start drawing and Tarin watched her, troubled thoughts creasing his brow as he wondered what was going to happen next. Neena had pointed out that Doc Prof had been smiling when he'd handed over the animal crackers and there was something to be said about that. As good as he was, Doc Prof's face had always been an open book. Tarin had hope and he relaxed a little as he made his way back to Lee.

"Smiles are always a good thing Neena. So are crayons, animal crackers, and other distractions." Tarin said, and he meant every word. It was nice to have Alice so distracted, it gave him and Lee a chance to breathe a little in the chaos that had been their day at the zoo.

Reassuming his position next to his wife, Tarin sighed and put his arm back around her shoulders. It was going to be a long afternoon.

"Distractions are godsends," Neena chuckled slightly at Tarin's remark. "And not just for those with short attention spans."

Her eyelids drooped a bit as she began focusing on other sounds from beyond the room. Mainly she was searching for the DocProf's footsteps, or possibly one of the nurses, coming in their direction.

This summer had been kind to the Mansion, in that the Virus had only affected a small number. So far the only truly concerning episode had involved a young dreamwalker. His was the first 'catch of the season', and because of the nature of his mutation, it had taken nearly two days for them to link various nightmares, dayscares, and hallucinations to him. Six more students and one teacher followed him into the Haywire ward, but all with minimal reactions.

"So, with the intentions of promoting said distractions, when are you two gong to take some time off for a vacation? I've been planning a sleepover party for the little ones for at least six months. But we can't very well go ahead with it if Mom and Dad are constantly looking over our shoulders and spoiling our fun, now can we?"

Silly and random as the question was phrased, there was a point to what she said; Tarin and Lee needed a vacation. A day, a night, a weekend, whatever. They needed some time to themselves.

Her ear twitched slightly as they picked up a familiar set of steps headed in their direction. Her head turned towards the door, giving the family a head's up that they had a visitor.

Lee smiled when Tarin told their daughter he'd like her to draw him a picture of tigers. Tarin's immaturity worked so well with dealing with the six year old, and they were so cute together.

But then Tarin went on to promise to tell the girl stories about them before she was born, and the smile disappeared from Lee's face. At least off the top of her head, Lee couldn't think of any stories that would be even remotely interesting that was also appropriate for a child to hear. But Alice was already rushing off to start her drawing, so Lee would have time to talk to Tarin about his plan.

And speaking of distractions, Neena again brought up the question of when she and Tarin were going on a little vacation so she could actually do the sleepover for the kids she'd been planning. Maybe the woman did have a point. Though Alice was allowed off on her own a fair bit around the mansion, Lee did have a tendency to check up on her fairly frequently. But a vacation, without Alice?

"We'll talk about it after this," Lee said. Postponement was a good thing.

Before anything else could be said, Neena turned toward the door. Turning as well, Lee saw the door open and DocProf walk in a moment later.Holding her breath, Lee bit her lip as she shrank against Tarin, trying to prepare herself for the worst.

"So, how bad is it?" Lee asked when DocProf hadn't said anything by the time he reached them.

"It doesn't look bad, actually," DocProf replied. "You really need to stop worrying so much. How many times do I need to tell you that?"

"At least one more time," Lee answered. It was the same answer she had had for him since before Alice had been born. "And what do you mean it doesn't look bad? How are the tests?"

"They look good. No trace of Haywire in any of you. You should be ok to leave whenever you're ready."

"What do you mean? You can tell already? Doesn't it need to incubate or something first? What if it's too early to tell?" Yes, Lee was being a bit of a paranoid worrywart. She was just like that.

Alice was off already, dumping colors out onto the table and pulling papers from here, there, and everywhere to start her Tiger drawings. It really was an adorable thing how sorry she felt about the lack of tigers in their trip to the zoo. Tarin sloughed off the worry from earlier, they'd definitely have to take Alice back to the zoo once this was all over...if this was ever over.

Tarin almost laughed at the look on Lee's face, which was a nice change from the tension that had previously ruled the atmosphere. "There's plenty of stories I can tell her. How her mom's fought off countless spirits, how time after time mommy has saved daddy from the bad guys." Tarin did grin then, he'd gotten over his protector complex years ago, after all.

Neena had an idea though, and Tarin's thoughts on the stories he'd tell Alice were cut short. Eyebrows rose infinitesimally and he glance towards Lee to see her reaction. To say that Lee was an overprotective mother was the understatement of the century. Convinced that Alice's existence was some wonderful fluke of nature, Lee was dead set against even allowing the possibility of more children. Alice was rarely out of Lee's site for a couple of hours, let alone the duration of a vacation.

Neena had a point though and Tarin grinned like a teenager who's prom date had just said yes when Lee didn't dismiss the idea outright. If she was considering it in this situation, if everything worked out there was a great chance of it happening.

Neena's head was somewhere else now and Tarin's head jerked up as the door to their room opened and the doctor walked in. Lee spoke and Tarin simply wanted to shake her, the pessimism was a little much at times, but he couldn't move over the nearly paralysing anticipation that had gripped him.

Doc Prof spoke, though, and Tarin's breath rushed out in a whoosh. He hadn't even realized he'd been holding it. Lee spoke again and Tarin burst out in laughter, so what if there was a slight nervous edge to it?

"Lee...at some point Doc's going to stop telling you anything. You've been questioning his diagnosis for years and he's never been wrong yet. Just take his word for it and start celebrating." As he spoke, Tarin wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave a squeeze.

"I for one, really want to get out of these clothes and back into my own...and we need to talk about that whole vacation love. You're way too tense."

(OOC: Sorry for the delay, and lack of content. Kind of braindead. ><)

"We'll talk about it after this."

Neena made no comment or reaction, positive or negative. If nothing else, perhaps she and Tarin could connive a way to get Lee to take some time away. Surely she'd enjoy herself.... once she calmed over being conspired against, that is.

"So, how bad is it?" She could practically hear Lee restraining herself from leaping out of her chair. Hopefully the Doc had some good news....

"It doesn't look bad, actually. You really need to stop worrying so much. How many times do I need to tell you that?"

Neena rolled her eyes upward and silently mouthed, 'Thank you!' She heard Tarin's tandem sigh of relief.

"At least one more time. And what do you mean it doesn't look bad? How are the tests?"

"They look good. No trace of Haywire in any of you. You should be ok to leave whenever you're ready."

"What do you mean? You can tell already? Doesn't it need to incubate or something first? What if it's too early to tell?"

Neena shook her head as Tarin laughed.

"Lee...at some point Doc's going to stop telling you anything. You've been questioning his diagnosis for years and he's never been wrong yet. Just take his word for it and start celebrating. I for one, really want to get out of these clothes and back into my own...and we need to talk about that whole vacation love. You're way too tense."

"That is an understatement," Neena quipped, though still smiling. She stood and went to help Alice gather her supplies, and the few uneaten animal crackers. "With as much as you flip between spring-loaded high-strung and knuckle-dragging exhaustion, its a miracle you can see straight."

In an aside, she pointed to one of the pictures Alice had drawn, having spared an look through xray, and smiled at the little girl. "Now that is a beautiful tigger, kiddo. You're a natural artist, ya know?"