She did run into him and Tarin took a step back with a slight 'oof'. His wife was always a little stronger than she thought, and the collision had been a little more intense than she probably thought it was.

He'd made his point though, and while he kept talking, he could see the disbelief written clearly on Lee's face. He returned it with a knowing, eyebrow raised look of his own. They'd known a long time ago that their little girl was anything but normal. She'd grown up quickly in a home where daddy had gone from loving father to possessed crazy person too many times. It was more than that though. Tarin figured this was what his mother had meant when she'd called a serious child an 'old soul'. Alice was an old soul, and she understood things way more than she probably should. Lee knew this, and the moment she let herself think rationally, she understood it too.

At least Lee wasn't to the point where she couldn't be reasoned with. Tarin could see his victory written on her face, but in spite of hismelf he felt guilty for doing what he'd done. Lee understood though, and they could both deal with this in their own ways later, when Alice wasn't counting on them to be strong for her.

Tarin watched patiently as Lee pulled herself together, wiping the tears that had streaked down her face as she panicked. Then she spoke and Tarin smiled at her, weakly and reached out to grab her empty hand and make their way to the isolation rooms.

By the time they got there, Doc already had Alice carefully ensconced in one of the glass enclosed cubes that represented an isolation room. It was a sterile looking place and Alice was currently laying in the bed that sat in the middle of the room. It looked like she'd fallen asleep again. They walked up and Tarin could see the concern on the Dr.'s face.

"Don't worry." Tarin said, "We talked, and Lee realized the wisdom of the choices that were made. Even if they don't make her particularly happy."

Doc just nodded and Tarin frowned, Lee hadn't been what he was concerned about. "We need to talk about what's going to happen next. " he said without preamble, "We've caught it early, so we do have a better chance of treating the symptoms."

A better chance. Tarin frowned, he knew the reality of haywire, the statistics. It made him shudder to think, but he nodded anyway, "Well, anything we can do." he said, turning and putting a hand on the glass. "She's sleeping now...are we going to be able to see her when she wakes up."

Doc nodded, but still frowned "Tarin, Lee, she's going to get very sick. You..." Doc paused, looking at the ground, and Tarin realized that this must be hard for him too, especially considering how well he'd known Alice since she was born. Even before she was born. You just need to know...and be prepared for the worst."

Tarin didn't turn away from the glass, or the room where it looked like his daughter was sleeping so peacfully. He just nodded, "We're always prepared for the worst Doc. Always have been, because that's what we always end up with."

Tarin smiled at her and grabbed her hand. It wasn't a happy smile, wasn't a full smile, but it was still a smile, one meant to reassure, and it helped Lee finish pulling herself together. It and his hand in hers.

Then they were walking, not quite as fast as Lee had been before she had run into Tarin, but still rather quickly.

Walking into the isolation area, Lee stopped dead, her eyes focused on the sleeping form of her daughter inside the glass room as DocProf approached them. They'd caught it early? That sounded promising, but Lee still didn't like how Alice was again sleeping, in the middle of the day.

Then DocProf's voice got a bit more concerned, and said that they needed to be prepared for the worst. At that, Lee finally turned her eyes back to the doctor as Tarin was speaking.

Yes, they were always prepared for the worst, at least in the back of their mind. They had been prepared for the worst pretty much since the very beginning of their relationship so many years ago. And even with Alice...there had always, always been the risk that something might go wrong, and she had learned at a very early age that if daddy ever started acting strange, to come find mummy.

This was very different, Lee couldn't help but think as her eyes drifted back over to Alice. "Why does everything always have to go so horribly wrong for us, though?" She asked. This was one thing that Lee couldn't even try to protect her from. "This is so different from all those other times, though."

“This isn’t going to go horribly wrong.” Tarin said, still not turning to look at Lee or the Doc. “It looks like it could go horribly wrong, but it’s not going to. Alice didn’t inherit our luck Lee. We’ve talked about it before. She’s going to come out of this just fine, no matter how bad it looks like it’s going to get.” So much for keeping a hold on rational emotion. Tarin didn’t care though, Lee had a point. Everything for them seemed to spiral downward from time to time, in the most crushing ways. This was not going to be one of them.

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

It had been several hours now, and neither Tarin nor Lee had left the windows where they could watch after their daughter. Long ago the infirmary assistants had taken Alice the bunny and her colors, though she hadn’t touched the latter. In fact, the only time she’d been awake was the brief time that Doc, decked out in full isolation gear, had gone in to personally take Alice the things Lee had grabbed for her.

She didn’t look all that sick yet, Tarin thought, as he kept up his vigil at the glass. He’d stopped staring a few times to talk to Lee and Doc, but for the most part, since he and Lee had gotten to the isolation room, Tarin had watched Alice.

The statistics on haywire were horrible. Humans got very sick, very very sick and it made mutant powers go crazy. Tarin couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to a mutant child ho got the virus. Chances were high, very high, that Alice was indeed a mutant and Tarin was clinging to that, as strange as it sounded.

Doc Prof had long ago retreated to his office to do some of the other work his station as mansion health professional demanded and Tarin finally moved away from the window to prop a shoulder against it and look at Lee.

“If she’s a mutant, she won’t get as sick. Right?” He said, brow furrowing as he thought about the possibilities. “And I mean, really, is there any way she couldn’t be? Two out of my parents’ three kids were mutants...and just because you’re the only one in your family doesn’t mean the genetics aren’t still strong.”

It was thin, but it was hope. The statistics stacked against a human child were just too demoralizing to consider. Alice simply had to be a mutant.

Lee was at a complete loss as to what to do with herself. For Alice's entire life, Lee had always been there, every single time that Alice had been sick before this, Lee had all but never left her daughter's side. In fact, that was even how Lee had discovered she was actually, somehow, able to stop her siphoning, at least for a time. Alice had been sick, and Lee hadn't wanted to leave her, but at the same time she'd been extremely worried about being there, because of what she was doing to Alice.

Sighing, Lee rubbed her hand over her face. She wasn't allowed to actually be with Alice now, because of the danger if she, or Tarin, were exposed to Haywire. Yet, Lee couldn't even really think about the idea of leaving.

Then Lee saw Tarin move, and she looked over at him as he started speaking. For the first time either of them had spoken in Lee wasn't sure how long.

It did make sense, if Alice were a mutant, she wouldn't be effected by the Virus as badly, it wouldn't be as dangerous for her. Haywire wasn't really that deadly for mutants, it just horribly effected their powers. Which is where the danger did come from with her and Tarin.

"But she doesn't have powers to go berserk," Lee said slowly, a deep frown on her face as she looked at Tarin. "Not yet, she's still so young, Tarin.

"How can anyone know what to expect with Alice? Kids her age, if they get Haywire...they think they're human since there's no powers...What if, because she doesn't have any powers yet..."

Lee looked as lost as Tarin felt, and he was sure she was thinking the same thing about him. Then she was nay saying all the hope he had and he just had to shake his head again. For Tarin, at least, optimism was the only option in this situation. Anything else, and the thoughts that came with it, were simply too much to bear.

Tarin turned back to the isolation room, where Alice was still sleeping. Lee had been adamant. Alice was an only child. She was going to be an only child. Nothing bad was going to happen to her. Now Lee was trying to worry that hope away.

“Just because she doesn’t have them now, doesn’t mean that she won’t in the future Lee. Not to brag…but neither of us have very latent, weak powers. She’s going to be like us, and she’s going to be strong.”

Tarin shook his head and as Lee pointed out all the little things that could go wrong, even if the child in question was a mutant, but hadn’t had their powers manifest yet. His hands automatically went to his hair and he took a deep breath, shaking it back and forth.

“Just stop Lee.” He said, “Earlier, I said it for Alice . Now I’m saying it for me. I know you worry, I’m pretty sure it’s in your DNA somewhere.” He paused for a minute to look and make sure Alice was sleeping. Tarin knew she couldn’t hear them, but still…

Once he was sure he closed the space between him and Lee and gently grasped her arms just below her shoulders.

“ Look..I need to be optimistic here and I need to go over all the reasons in my head why this is going to turn out okay. Otherwise, I. Am. Going. To. Lose it. I don’t think I can stand another ‘what if’” His voice was getting gruffer as he spoke, the careful control he’d build, crumbling around the edges, “You think I don’t know how dire this situation is? That’s my baby in there too…” He paused, letting go of Lee’s arms to rub his hands over his face, clinging desperately to the shred of control he had left. “So hope with me, just this time. Please.”

Tarin did have a point. Both of their powers were quite powerful, often in the background with the siphoning and spirits, but quite powerful. And they were strong, thanks in large part to what they had lived through, both together and separately. Even at the young age of six, Alice was already very smart, very sure of herself, very strong willed. Alice was bound to become a strong, confident, powerful woman. She just had to reach that point...

Then Tarin's hands were on her arms. Looking up at her husband, Lee blinked. This was strange, how he was touching her, even stranger than how he had been holding her wrists earlier that day. The slight shock was enough to stop Lee for a moment, to shock her brain into actually looking at Tarin, seeing the pain there in his eyes, the barely controlled terror.

And she realized that Alice wasn't the only one who needed her to be strong. She was the one who was always worrying about Alice, who was so over protective that she forgot how worried Tarin could get, forgot about the fact that he did worry.

His voice was rougher as he finished speaking, and then he let go of her arms. Reaching out, Lee wrapped her arms around Tarin's neck, hugging him tightly, and nodded.

"I just don't know what else to do, Tarin," Lee said softly in his ear as she felt tears springing to her eyes. "Last time she was sick like this, I could at least be there with her. Any other mother would be able to go in, even only briefly..."

As it turned out, Tarin sucked at the emotional restraint thing. At least in this situation, at least when it was his daughter in the isolation room facing what had proven to be a deadly and devastating disease for an almost incredible amount of people. There was nothing wrong with being a mutant, but until this point a small part of Tarin hoped that by some genetic fluke, Alice wasn’t one. It would have been nice to spare her the drama that came on top of regular puberty, but now he was hoping with every fibre of his being that his and Lee’s genes proved true and Alice was indeed, just like them.

He was panicking right now though. Unknowingly, Lee had tripped the trigger on his emotions and his face was still in his hands when her arms wrapped around his neck. Those hands fell, and Tarin’s arms wrapped around his wife as he held his breath. Masculine ego was a strange thing, even though it was his only progeny in the bed, some Darwinian force made him bury his head in Lee’s shoulder to stifle his momentary loss of control. He wasn’t supposed to be the one crying anyway.

Lee spoke and Tarin listened, nodding against Lee’s shoulder. He didn’t know what to do either. This was so completely unlike any situation they’d ever been in before. After a few more moments, taking the comfort that Lee was offering to him, Tarin pulled back and composed himself more completely.

“At least we know that she’s somewhere she’s loved and cared about Lee.” Tarin said, “Doc might as well be another parent with as much time as he’s spent with Alice over the years…and everyone knows her here. She’s the most rational six year old on the planet.”

He felt better, Tarin almost hated to admit it, but he felt better now. He also felt slightly guilty though, he had been the one who was supposed to hold Lee together and he’d completely lost it. They were still close, almost touching and Tarin reached out and hugged Lee again, “We’re going to get through this. All the bad things that have always happened…we’ve found ways to beat them…against huge odds sometimes. This is the same. Alice is ours Lee. It's all going to work out. ”

It was not supposed to be like this. Tarin was not supposed to be the one breaking down as her arms wrapped around his neck, he was not supposed to be the one burying his face in her shoulder and falling apart. But then again, Alice wasn't supposed be in that bed.

But somehow, as Tarin was falling apart, Lee found another shred of strength, pulling herself together again. Not completely, and the tears were still in her eyes from mere moments earlier. But Tarin needed her to be strong, if they both fell apart at the same time...

The doctor did care about Alice, though. Lee was sure of that after all these years. Maybe not like another parent, as Tarin had said, but he did care about Alice, probably more so than he did about the other students in the school.

Then Tarin was hugging her again, and Lee returned the embrace just as tightly. They had gotten through horrible things before, many times, often things more dire than what they were currently facing. The problem was, those times Lee had been able to do something about it, had had some way to fight back. Now, she didn't, and it felt that much harder.

He might have pulled himself together, but Lee knew that Tarin still needed her to be strong, so she didn't say anything, simply nodded against his shoulder. They had gotten through everything that had been thrown at them to date, and though she was only six, Alice was their daughter through and through. They'd find a way through this somehow.

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

Days. Her baby had been locked up in that small glass room, she hadn't been able to go in to see Alice for days. Sure, Lee was able to stand outside, look in through the glass as if she were watching some animal at the zoo, but it was far from being the same as actually walking in there and wrapping her arms around her daughter.

And, true to form, DocProf had kicked her out of the infirmary altogether at night. He'd never let her spend the night there unless she was actually a patient too. Something about she needed to stay strong, for Alice, and that'd be easier to do if she was actually sleeping in her own bed rather than in the infirmary.

So first thing in the morning, coffee in hand, Lee would return to the infirmary to see how her daughter had faired over night. Lee didn't need the coffee, Tarin was still there with her. But the warmth of the mug, the smell of the coffee, the familiarity, it was comfort.

Stepping into the area where Alice's isolation room was, Lee panicked at first: the bed was empty. Where was her baby? What had happened? Why hadn't DocProf called them? What was going on?

Rushing over to the window, Lee stopped and heaved a sigh of relief as she saw her daughter sitting on the floor, drawing. Placing a hand over her now racing heart, Lee watched the scene, Alice not even knowing she was being watched as she drew.

And then a smile slowly started creeping across Lee's face. Yes, Alice hadn't slept the entire time since she had been brought here, and she had drawn a bit, but this morning she was actually out of bed of her own accord, something Lee hadn't seen happen so far. And she was looking healthier. Not healthy, far from healthy, but healthier.

"Oh thank goodness," Lee breathed in relief, simply watching her daughter sit there drawing.

As had been the routine since Alice had caught Haywire, Tarin woke up alone in the room that he and Lee shared. Over the years, Lee had learned incredible control over her powers and it wasn’t rare that she made it up before Tarin, but it had been even more extreme in the time since Alice had taken ill.

Lee was nowhere to be found, not even in the shower and Tarin was slightly surprised by this, though he knew she would have woke him if something had happened. Reassuring himself with that, he took his time, running through the shower and grabbing a bagel from the kitchen before heading down to the infirmary.

According to DocProf, Alice was ‘out of the woods’. There had been a few tense days, more tense than they’d had any right to be when one as young as Alice was concerned. She’d made it through though, and more and more, their daughter was returning to normal. She’d even been coloring over the past few days. That was definitely a good sign. Lee still insisted on hovering though, and Tarin left her to it.

By the time he made it down to the infirmary, Lee was standing at the glass, coffee in hand and a smile plastered on her face. A smile? Tarin’s eyebrow rose as he approached his wife, that was something he hadn’t seen in far too long, a real smile. Coffee and bagel in hand, Tarin approached the glass and looked at the bed…the empty bed.

Why was Lee smiling at the empty bed? Then Tarin realized that Lee wasn’t looking at the empty bed at all, her gaze was directed somewhere else entirely. Following it, Tarin saw what Lee was smiling at, and smiled too. There was Alice , still looking tired, still looking a little peaked, but sitting on the floor and coloring with vigor.

He said, leaning over to give Lee a quick kiss on the cheek. “This is definitely encouraging. Maybe tomorrow I don’t have to wake up cold and alone.”

Alice was actually out of bed and colouring. Lee couldn't have expressed how happy she was to see that, to see her daughter sitting there doing that. Sure, Alice still looked tired, still looked a little out of it, but she was up.

Then Lee felt someone walking up behind her, and her smile grew the slightest bit. "Hi hon," she said softly in greeting as the man drew up close to her, not even turning to look at him; she didn't want to have to take her eyes off her daughter just yet.

Next thing Lee knew, she was feeling Tarin kissing her on the cheek and hearing him speak. "Well, you wouldn't have to if you'd wake up earlier," Lee said, turning slightly toward her husband with a raised eyebrow.

Turning back to look through the window into her daughter's room, the smile slid off her face as Lee saw Alice scrambling backward on the floor toward her bed, crayons clutched to her chest, her drawings still sitting on the floor where she had been sitting. A scared look on her face.

"What the hell is going on?" Lee asked, stepping forward despite the small distance that was between her and the window. "What's wrong? Where's Doc?"

"Well, if someone didn't keep me up half most nights because she can't keep her hands off me, maybe I'd feel like I could get up earlier."

Lee was centered completely on Alice though and Tarin wondered if she'd even really realize what he'd said. They'd grown so comfortable with one another, though, Tarin was sure Lee would have some idea of what he'd said. Well, he was sure about that until Alice started scrambling backwards across the floor.

Lee panicked, of course, and started yelling for Doc. Tarin stepped up to the window though, "Lee, chill, if she was sick there's no way she'd be able to move that fast. Closer to the window Tarin went, peering in and onto the floor. Had Alice seen a bug? That didn't make sense though, their little girl had always been anything but squeamish.

Into the room Tarin peered, watching out of the corner of his eye as Alice started to relax, then leaned forward, peering as he was at her drawing on the floor. It was a puppy, it moved.

The puppy on the paper was wagging its tail, sitting and staring at Alice with a head tilted to the side. "Oh. My. God." Tarin said, turning back to Lee, "Uh...I think the mystery of Alice's abilities is going to be solved a little sooner than we originally thought..."

By this time Alice had recovered from the shock and had scooped up the puppy which was vigorously licking her face. Tarin just stared...it looked just ilke the picture she'd drawn...colors slightly outside the lines, and all.

"Wow." he breathed.

Lee was about to react to Tarin's comment about their nights, maybe by hitting his shoulder gently, or maybe pointing out that he had just as much trouble, if not more, keeping his hands off her. Then Lee thought of the best option, threatening to do exactly what it was Tarin was saying then and make suer that she kept her hands off him. It would be a completely joking threat, but a threat nonetheless.

But none of those reactions were expressed because Alice had scrambled across the floor and Lee was standing at the window panicking as she looked in at her daughter.

Tarin was trying to calm her down, trying to point out that Alice wouldn't be moving that fast if something had really been wrong. He did have a bit of a point there, Lee realized, but at the same time, their daughter didn't move like that, didn't have that kind of look on her face, didn't just stop drawing for no reason. There was something wrong, Lee was sure of it.

But then Tarin was talking again, and just what he said, the tone of voice he was using, made Lee turn to look at him briefly before her eyes shot back to Alice. The mystery of her powers....

And then Lee saw it, saw the drawing on the paper moving, saw Alice moving toward the paper, scooping a coloured dog off the page and let it start licking her face.

Lee took a deep breath, her hand moving forward to the sill of the window she was standing in front of, leaning there, using that to help her keep her feet.

Tarin's response to seeing that pretty much summed it all up. But at the same time 'wow', just that one simple word, was no where near enough.

"She's..." Lee said softly, just gazing into the isolation room for another couple moments before turning to Tarin and throwing her arms around his neck. "Oh thank god! She's going to be ok..."

Tarin turned around in time to catch his wife. That was something. She was throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him so tight that he thought he was probably going to pass out from the hold she had. It was enough, it had finally been enough to convince Lee that Alice was going to be okay. Really okay. Tarin had to admit, he was relieved too.

Alice was so young though. Had anyone as young as Alice ever had their powers manifest? Was there any kind of side effect for child that young being able to use their powers? Was her growth going to be stunted…was everything going to be okay? Those were questions for Doc…and speak of the devil he was approaching right then and there.

”I heard you two making a commotion and thought I’d….wow….”

“Yeah…that’s pretty much what I said…” Tarin commented, untangling Lee’s arms from around his neck. “Have we ever seen anything like this before with Haywire? Is it just a side effect…or do you think this is permanent? Is this what Alice is going to be able to do forever?”

Tarin was getting more concerned as Lee was getting less concerned. Her powers showing up had probably been more difficult than they had any right to be…but even in adolescence people were better equipped to deal with things like that than they were in early childhood. “What does this mean?”

Tarin didn't say anything after she had thrown her arms around his neck, hadn't done anything, and since they weren't yet allowed to go into the room to see Alice because of the risk of catching Haywire themselves, Lee settled for keeping her arms tightly and securely around her husband's neck.

At least she did until she heard DocProf's voice and felt Tarin starting to try and pry her arms from around him. He didn't exactly have a lot of practise doing that over the years, but feeling his hands trying to tug her arms down, trying to loosen her grip, Lee let go. But she stayed close to him, not moving away, simply turning so that she could look at the Doc.

Just as Tarin started asking questions about Alice.

Now he was the one who sounded like they were worrying, sounded overly concerned. Asking if Alice would be alright with her displaying powers this young.

Though, Lee realized, her eyes drifting back to her daughter who was now playing with that puppy who had come off the page, Tarin did have some valid concerns there, things that Lee hadn't actually thought about. Getting their own powers had been hard, and while Alice had grown up in a building full of mutants, with two mutant parents, simply getting her powers wouldn't be that hard for the girl, Lee thought. But having her powers emerge as a result of her having Haywire...and if they came early, what kind of additional complications could there be?

"Actually, Tarin, I'm not sure."

Hearing the words, Lee's eyes shot back to the Doctor's standing beside them, the concern and worry that had left when she had seen that her daughter was going to be alright now back in full force. "What do you mean you're not sure?"

"Well, I don't recall ever hearing about a case quite like Alice's before, Lee. The survival rate for humans has never been very high, and most children Alice's age are assumed to be human until powers emerge. There have been a couple cases where kids born with visible mutations have gotten Haywire at a young age, but I don't think anyone has had quite this happen."

Lee simply stared at DocProf for a minute before her eyes drifted back to her daughter. Her little girl who was still stuck in the isolation room. "So in short, you have no idea," Lee said, her voice quiet. "Do you have any idea how much longer I have to wait before I can hold her again?"