It was coming less often, and Lee was able to fight the temptation to look every time, but she was still feeling that strange energy coming from seemingly nowhere. She'd been at the mansion, Tarin in a coma, for more than two weeks, and her powers still seemed to be on the fritz. Though she was starting to wonder about that, too, after her meeting with Slate.

Whatever the reason for those feelings were, Lee had finally decided to take Sam up on his offer to help her work out her problems with her powers. She didn't exactly have a whole lot of control over things at the moment, so she should at least work on controlling her powers better.

Plus, DocProf was making her spend at least two hours a day not in the infirmary, so she may as well do something more productive than walking around the hallways of the mansion.

So following the directions Sam had given her, Lee left the infirmary and made her way to where Sam said they did their power training. Not that Lee really thought they needed to be in a special room for it, it wasn't as if she was going to be really doing anything she already wasn't doing in the rest of the mansion. But Sam had agreed to help her, and that's where he said they should do it, so she went.

Reaching what she believed was her destination based on what Sam had told her, Lee stepped inside after huge metal doors whooshed open. "Sam?" She called, glancing around the room. "Are you here yet?"

The Danger Room was dimly lit as rain smacked against his face making his vision hazy, his hands up in a fighting stance Sam did his best to keep his distance from his assailants. There were three of them and for the time being Sam had a small scratch on his side. This training scenario was different for his usual battle royal where he would pummel, smash, and clobber. This scenario was all about Sam using his opponent’s momentum against them.

It had been a while since he used something other than his normal training and it was a good change, a punch came and Sam spun with it forcing his arm around forcing the thugs head to the side forcing him to fall over. When one fell another would charge and Sam was ready, a kick aimed at his head forced Sam to fall backwards. His feet planted he contracted his stomach muscles and used his stomach to force himself up into a tackle of the thug forcing the man to the ground.

Grinning an in a what looked like a sloppy stance Sam took his drunken fist style without thinking about it and waited till the last thug came his way, Sam in the opposite direction of the oncoming roundhouse hook punch. Blocking with his arm Sam grabbed the back of the man’s neck and jumped and spun sending the man flying, in the spin he saw Lee at the entrance. Landing on the ground Sam smiled looked up and said, “Simulation over!”

Turning his head slightly and wiping the water from his face Sam waved to Lee and said, “Hey Lee, How you doing today?” walking over to her he wished he had a shirt somewhere around here, he knew that if Tarin was up and about he most likely would have gotten a dirty look or something along those lines.

Stepping a bit further into the room, Lee continued to look around. And was confused. Was that rain? But, they were inside, and not even that, they were down in the basement. There were how many stories between them and the sky?

Then Lee heard Sam's voice and turned her head to see Sam wiping water from his face. Shirtless. Definitely not what Lee had been expecting., but somehow, it must have been raining,, since Lee saw that Sam's bare chest was also dripping wet.

How was she doing? Lee shrugged her left shoulder, a left over habit from when her right collar bone had been broken. "About the same as always," she said a moment later, walking further into the room that was no longer raining. Cocking her head to the side slightly, Lee looked at Sam for a moment before she spoke again. "So, how do we do this? I mean, there's no one else here..."

It took Sam a minute to figure out what she was talking about but as she got closer to the center of the danger room Sam snapped his fingers and said, “That’s right our people radar thing is on the fritz right?” Looking around Sam tried to think how that would work then he said, “people radar needs people doesn’t it?” it was more of a rhetorical question as Sam activated his powers as ice formed to his body absorbing all of the extra water on his skin then it quickly fell off.

“Well I have an idea,” Sam said trying the best to keep a straight face, “Computer,” Sam yelled, “clones!” just as he finished his statement the room filled up with about fifteen clones of Sam, “How bout you find me in a group?” he asked as he walked into the group as the clones mixed in with Sam.

“Ready when you are Lee,” Sam said as him and all the clones mimicked his mouth movement making it almost impossible to tell where the original was. Sam and the clones made a single file line all facing Lee with a big grin on their face. Sam was the second closest to the center of the room, he figured if she guessed she would have guessed one farther down the line.

Lee nodded as Sam said that having people there would help her figure out her people radar thing. And then he seemed to have an idea, and called out. And then, suddenly, somehow, there were a lot of Sams standing there in front of her. But Lee didn't feel any increase in energy, it didn't feel like there were a dozen or more people standing there in front of her, it was the same as when it had just been her and Sam in the room.

Well, she knew that it couldn't be real, how could there suddenly be multiple Sams standing in front of her? Still, Lee frowned. It seemed even stranger to see that many people standing in front of her and not feel that kind of energy than it had to feel energy but not see anyone.

"Find you?" Lee asked, an eyebrow raising as the frown slowly disappeared from her face. This could be interesting, actually, a real use for her powers that, while she had somewhat thought about before, she'd never really had the chance to try. About the most they had done along these lines before this was helped keep Tarin from sneaking up and startling her, at least as long as she hadn't been extremely distracted.

The Sams were all spread out in a line in front of her, pretty much shoulder to shoulder, so they were about as close as they could be without one being behind another. Stepping forward, Lee concentrated on her siphoning. The energy was coming from in front of her. Great, like that really helped, they were all in front of her. The frown was gone from her face by this point, but instead Lee started worrying her bottom lip as she moved, trying to narrow down where exactly the energy she was feeling was coming from.

Moving toward one end of the line as she focused more on the energy than where she actually was, Lee had gotten to the point where she was about three Sams from the end, just less that five feet away, when Lee stopped, her head cocked to the side. Then she looked down the line, toward the far end. A moment later, Lee started walking further down the line, still keeping about five feet from the Sams.

She was almost to the end of the line, maybe four Sams from the end, when Lee stopped and looked behind her, back down the line. She'd passed whichever Sam was the real Sam, and the energy was coming from behind her now. Walking back the way she had come from, slower this time, Lee ended up stopping between two of them, her eyes scrunched closed, biting her bottom lip, as she focused. Lee could tell the energy was coming from in front of her, but she was still about five feet away. If she could get closer, reach out her hand, she'd be able to feel which side the energy spiked on.

But she needed to finish this, make a decision, whether she was right or wrong. That's part of what this whole thing was about, to get better, to be able to use this more easily. So Lee stepped forward a couple paces, opening her eyes as she did so. But her lip was still between her teeth.

Then Lee made a guess, reaching out her hand to touch the arm of the Sam on her left.

Trying hard not to move as Lee passed him he kept his eyes forward, the clones were nothing more than light as of right now, so they didn’t really give off body heat or anything. Sam wondered if body heat was what Lee absorbed, what else could it be? Noticing her making her way back towards him and the clone to his right Sam blinked as he felt her hand on her arm, “Seems like that was the right choice,” Sam said as he watched the clones disappear as the simulation was over.

Smiling to Lee he said, “So what exactly did you say was wrong with your radar?” his head tilted as he crouched on the ground and started to stretch his legs a little before shooting back up to his normal height which was taller than Lee. “I have a few more ideas,” Sam said as he looked at his phone, “How does your power work in crowds?”

If she wanted to work on her power one of the best ways he could think of would be putting it into a controlled situation containing a lot of people. Seeing that they were in the mansion only made it that much easier to help her. Losing his train of thought Sam said, “Might be easier if you explain to me how your radar works,” he grinned and continued, “Be easier to decided how exactly we should go with your training.”

The moment that her fingers touched Sam's arm, Lee knew that she had chosen correctly; the amount of energy flowing into her, even just through her fingertips, seemed to jump drastically. It was no where near enough that Sam would even notice, Lee knew, but it was still drastic, to her.

Her lip slipping out from between her lips, Lee couldn't help but smile slightly as she pulled her hand away from Sam. She'd actually done it, she'd never actually managed to do that before, not that she had exactly tried before now.

Then Sam asked what was wrong with her powers, and how it worked in crowds. Lee's slight smile disappeared and her head dropped slightly. "What's wrong with my siphoning?" Lee asked with a slight shake of her head. This was something that she hadn't actually said to anyone yet, she wasn't sure how anyone would actually take it. Even she thought she might be going crazy because she was feeling it, so what was Sam to think?

"I keep feeling someone, like they're walking into the room," Lee said softly, her eyes still on the floor rather than looking at Sam. "But there's not always someone there..."

He wanted to work in a crowd, wanted to know how exactly her powers worked? Heh. Lee wasn't exactly sure how they worked, just that they did, so how was she supposed to fully explain this to Sam?

"Crowds...are hard," Lee continued, finally looking back up at Sam. "I mean, they're great for me getting energy, but there's just too many people for me to focus like in here. I don't know, I just...feel the energy. If there's only a few, I can, for the most part, tell where it's coming from, but if there's too many people like in a crowd, it just feels like the energy is everywhere."

As her head dropped Sam thought she was about to divulge a secret of some kind. “Feeling someone?” Sam repeated with his head tilted slightly as if he was a parrot of some kind repeating everything he heard. “Do people have a feel different feel to them, you know when your siphoning from them?” he asked curiously he tried not to look around to see if someone was following her Sam had run into a few mutants that were good at making them selves impossible to see but then again the one he knew the most about in the New York area used shadows. “You feeling that person now?”

Walking around Lee, Sam circled her looking in every direction, “I don’t see anyone…” said Sam as he waved his hands about trying to swat away what ever could be in the air. Looking around her he frowned noticing the lack of shadows in the well lit Danger Room, ‘couldn’t be the shadow guy’ thought Sam as he circled back to the front of Lee.

With a smile on his face Sam asked, “Have you ever tried focusing on one person in a crowd?” he smiled as he pointed to the Danger Room exit, “Classes are getting out in a few minutes, if you want I can find a blindfold and some headphones for you,” he started walking to the exit, “Might be able to figure your limits out.”

Lee was looking down, so she didn't see Sam's head tilted to the side as he questioned what she had said. However, she did hear his tone of voice, and just nodded slightly at first.

Then she heard his next question and her eyes shot up to Sam again. Did people feel differently? "No," Lee said slowly. "People all feel about the same, the difference is where they are. I mean, it feels different if I'm touching someone rather than them standing ten feet away, but otherwise, no, everyone feels the same.

"Now?" Lee then asked, glancing around her, her brow furrowed. "No, I'm not. It's not all the time, just sometimes," Lee explained, her voice still quiet, as she watched Sam walking around her. "Mostly when I'm alone, I'll feel the energy, but no one's there. And then it just disappears."

Lee sighed, then continued on in even more of a whisper as her eyes lowered again. "It almost seems like I'm hearing voices, or seeing things, but with energy..."

Lee took a deep breath and looked back up at Sam after that confession. There, she'd said it, all but admitted to him that she thought she was crazy because of what she was feeling.

Only to see Sam smiling at her as he asked more about crowds. Trying to focus on one person while in a crowd? Lee really wasn't sure how that would work. "No, I haven't tried that before." Then she blinked, almost dumbfounded, as Sam said he could grab a blindfold and headphones for her. "What?" She asked. Why would she need those, how could they help with anything? Honestly, she couldn't figure it out as Sam was walking toward the door, so she asked straight out, still standing where he had left her. "Headphones and a blindfold? How is that going to help me in a crowd?"

Hearing the whisper as he began moving Sam turned around and gently grabbed her by the wrist making sure she would follow, “Just because you hear or see something doesn’t make you crazy,” Sam let out a small laugh and said, “I have heard a few voices from time to time…” Sam’s mind immediately shot to the harmonious voice of the golems in his head, mainly they were urges but when he used them the urge felt stronger and often could be heard, it was a pain in the butt drowning them out but they were worth it.

Continuing his talk as he pulled Lee in the direction of the God Room of the Danger Room he said, “Your going through a lot of stress right now you’d have to have a heart as cold as mine not to be disturbed by Tarin in his current situation.” He let the pun about his cold heart sit as he grabbed his Ipod, which he left up in the room along with a clean hand towel, which he had yet to use. “Here,” Sam said as he handed the ipod to her with his form fitting head phones and then handed her the hand towel after he folded up so it would just cover her eyes when she put it on.

Smiling to her he said, “In a few minutes classes get out so we are going to walk back to my office through the sea of kids, your going to follow me and trying to avoid running into anyone else, I’ll stay as close as you need me to okay?” Sam asked as he walked her back down from the god room and then to the elevator that took them to the main floor where the classrooms were, “I’ll be right here so just reach out if you need me, we start as soon as you put those on and the bell rings,” he paused as he pointed down the hall, “I’ll give your arm a tug when the classes are let out, so crank up the Ipod and put that towel on.”

Lee was shocked. Before she had even really had much of a chance to react, Sam had grabbed her wrist and was pulling her along behind him. What did he think she was going to do, stand there and not listen after she had been the one to ask for help? Sure, she might not understand, and yes she might question what he was saying, but that didn't mean she was necessarily going to outright say no to anything he suggested.

Despite those thoughts, Lee followed Sam as he dragged her out of the room. And that was the other reason she didn't pull away, he was touching her, someone was actually touching her, and for more than just a brief, light touch as something was passed. She had just been so tired recently; having not really been around all that many people, not really touching anyone, she'd had so much less energy than she had gotten used to over the previous year...

She could take more from him, Sam wouldn't even be able to feel it. Almost immediately, Lee shook that thought off. She didn't need that energy, Sam hadn't offered it, he'd simply said that he would help her try and figure out her powers.

Sam was talking, though, and they had just stepped into another room, so Lee pushed those thoughts of extra siphoning out of her mind and actually listened to Sam. He had heard voices? Lee looked straight at him, unsure what to say. Was he just telling her that to try and make her feel better, or had he actually heard voices? Lee wasn't sure, and with how he laughed, that made it even harder to tell.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that they were mutants, something about that making it easier, making them more susceptible to that kind of thing. Sam heard voices, she was feeling things, Gabe saw the future, Tarin saw and heard things.

No, Lee thought, Tarin wasn't crazy. He might see and hear things that she couldn't, but that didn't make him crazy.

And then Sam was handing her...an iPod and a towel? She looked at the items now in her hands for a couple of moments before turning her eyes back to Sam, the confusion and curiosity probably more than evident on her face. "What-" She started to ask, but was cut off when Sam started to explain on his own.

Which only led to more of that confused and curious expression as Sam led her back out of the room and toward the elevator. "I'm not sure this will work," Lee said slowly, glancing down at the iPod then back up at Sam. "I mean, crowds are...There's so much energy, I'm not sure I'll be able to focus on you."

Though, Lee thought, if it did work, maybe it would lead to her being able to use her powers even more in a crowd, which would help her figure everything out that much more.

"Just...don't let me get lost, ok?" Lee asked, then looked down at the items in her hands. Tying the towel around her eyes would be hard enough without holding the iPod. "Here, help me with this?" Lee asked, holding the towel out to Sam again, then turning around and fitting the earphones in once he had taken the cloth.

This was going to be interesting.

Telling already that she wasn’t to sure about the idea Sam smiled and just said, “Trust me, I’ll be right by your side every step of the way” as he grabbed the towel from Lee’s hands he made sure that it was folded correctly he walked behind Lee and reached around and lifted it over Lee’s eyes and gently pulled back as he tied the towel. Not to tight and not so loose that it would fall right off. Walking in front of her Sam waited for the bell to ring and the students to exit the classes.

Looking back to Lee, Sam made sure she was ready to go, headphones in and towel covering her eyes all she could rely on is her sense of smell and her radar. With her eyes covered it was the first time Sam could actually get a good look at her features without her noticing. Looking back around Sam noticed the clock a minute away from classes letting out. Turning his head back to Lee, Sam’s mind shot back that first “kiss” he had with her and wondered what would have happened if he didn’t try to pull off that stunt.

The saying ‘Time wondering what could have been was time wasted’ ran through Sam’s mind as he shook his head to clear the thoughts. Nothing he could change now, she after all had Tarin and was now married to him. The bell rang, which jogged Sam’s thoughts and reminded him what they were doing. The students started to evacuate the hallway. Without looking Sam shot his hand backwards to grab Lee’s hand and he gave it a tight squeeze as he started to walk pulling her from the entrance to the elevator. Taking a few steps Sam let go but remained a close to Lee.

He turned his back to the crowd and walked backwards facing Lee. He was going to do this all the way down the hall to make sure she doesn’t get lost. A few feet if that, that's how far Sam stayed in front of her at all times.

Sam took the towel back out of her hand, so while he was moving around behind her, Lee fit the headphones in her ears. Once they were in, Lee let her hands drop, out of the way so that Sam could tie the towel around her eyes. And as the world went black, Lee's thumb started moving on the iPod.

Adjusting the music, it was supposed to be loud according to Sam, but Lee didn't want it hurting her ears, she stood there and waited, getting more and more worried as each second ticked by. Yes, she could feel Sam standing there, back in front of her now, that was no problem, but what would happen once the hall filled up. She had never tried anything like this before, after all.

And then Lee felt Sam's hand grabbing hers, squeezing gently. Closing her eyes under the towel, Lee took a deep breath, trying to calm her suddenly pounding heart as Sam pulled her forward. She could feel Sam there, feel his hand, the energy flowing through that touch, as well as feeling him standing in front of her. There was other energy coming toward her, lots of other energy that had to belong to the students. But Lee could still feel Sam, could still tell it was him there.

And then he let go of her. For a moment, Lee panicked; she was blindfolded, other than The Killers blaring in her ears, she couldn't hear anything, and while Lee could feel energy in front of her, she wasn't sure she'd be able to pick out just Sam.

But he had said that he'd stay close to her, that he wouldn't let her get lost. Stepping slowly, unsure because she couldn't see, Lee focused on her siphoning. Was that Sam's energy she could feel in front of her, or was she just imagining that she could pick out his energy as separate from the mass of energy she was feeling all around her?

As they were walking backwards Sam noticed most of the kids were breaking away to notice Professor Sam and a woman walking right behind him with a blindfold on. Noticing one of the mutant kids walking in between him and Lee, Sam grabbed him by the backpack and pulled him out of the way so Lee would still follow him. Gavin was a basic storehouse for energy something that he was afraid might distract Lee. “Gavin back up, doing a little training, don’t forget we have a private lesson today at four with your brothers.”

As Gavin left Sam let the distance between him and Lee close so she would follow him instead of Gavin. Once the gap was closed Sam kept walking backwards yelling at the students that were watching. “Kara you keep staring I’ll make you do laps,” the kids got the message and took off as Sam and Lee rounded the corner to his office.

Opening the door Sam walked inside and waited for Lee to follow. Once inside Sam closed the door and tapped Lee on the shoulder letting her know that the exercise was over. Once she removed the towel and headphones Sam smiled at her and said, “So how did you do?”

It was so weird to be walking along in the dark like she was, unable to know where she was going, unable to see, unable to hear anything but the music from the iPod, unable to feel anything other than the energy. Walking along slowly, step by slow step, following what she hoped was still Sam's energy.

It really was strange. Lee could feel the energy all around, so much of it, she guessed from all the students that were now in the hallways, but she was actually able to pick out Sam as being separate, on his own, definitely where he was rather than simply just part of the crowd. It was something she had never felt before, something she'd never succeeded at trying.

Lee only hoped that by focusing like this, concentrating to actually be able to feel Sam, she wasn't actually taking more energy from him.

Then all of a sudden, there was too much energy there, and Lee couldn't pick Sam out any more. Her steps slowing down, Lee searched frantically, trying to find just one person in the mass of energy she was feeling, but nothing.

Lee had almost come to a stop, was starting to really worry that maybe Sam had continued on, not realizing that she couldn't feel him any more and had slowed down, when she was once again able to make out an individual. Hoping that it was Sam - was he now closer to her than he had been before, is that why she was able to feel him again? - Lee continued walking. And followed that source of energy around a corner.

That was definitely a strange feeling, having the energy moving from in front of her to beside her as she walked, and that's how she knew to turn. It was...well it made sense, but Lee had never done anything like this before, hadn't thought about something like this before now.

The surrounding energy was less now, there wasn't as much of it, so it was easier for Lee to be able to pick Sam out, it didn't take as much focus and concentration. And as such, she was able to walk that much faster. Not her normal speed, not even close, she was still essentially blind and deaf in this experiment, but she was still able to walk a bit faster than she had been.

And because of that, she almost walked right past when Sam made another turn. She noticed, she definitely noticed, but it still took her a step or two extra before she had turned to follow as well.

Before she knew it, really not long at all after that last turn, Lee felt a tap on her shoulder. Did that mean they were done? Sam hadn't touched her since he'd put the blindfold on her other than to tell her to start, so Lee had to assume this touch meant they were done.

Reaching her hands up, Lee pulled the blindfold off, and then pulled the earphones out. Then blinked in the sudden light. Not that it was that bright, but after seeing nothing but black the whole walk there...

“So how did you do?”

How had she done? Lee had been too busy simply focusing on what she was feeling to really think about it. "I was actually able to feel you," she said after a couple moments of thought. "Well, I think I did lose you there for a bit...how many other people were around?"