The weather was dismal and Jacen King was not in a good mood. This was the kind of day that just made a person want to curse at mother nature. Why in the world couldn't she make up her mind? Was it snowing? No. Was it raining? No. It was sleeting. This was that miserable time when things were completely frozen but they sure weren't liquid either. Even New York drivers struggled in this type of weather and Jacen was just waiting for his cell phone to ring as the understaffed police force called in even S.W.A.T. team members to help take care of traffic snarles and accident reports.

After parking his truck Jacen walked under the cloudy sky, the collar of his black leather jacket turned up against the wind and cold as he just tried to make it to the one place of refuge he had at the moment. A little out of the way coffee shop known simply as 'Caffeine'. It was just a block or two away from Times Square, far enough off of the beaten path that they weren't mobbed but yet close enough that they were slowly rising in popularity. It was one of the few places that wasn't a national chain yet still knew how to brew a decent cup of coffee. Combine that with the free internet access and they were a dream haven away from the world for at least a few moments.

Stepping through the door Jacen slipped off his jacket, immediately appreciating the warmth of the room. Here he would have an opportunity to be out of the house but still relatively close to work if a call came through. Slipping a battered sherlock holmes paperback out of his jacket pocket the S.W.A.T. officer walked up to the counter to place his very simple order.

"One large black coffee please."

"Would you care for a pastry or sandwich to go with that today?"

"Uh... pressed ham and cheese would be great." Jacen replied after a moment of thought. If he did get the call out to work there was no telling when he might get a chance to eat so it was a good idea to at least nibble on something now. He could always throw it in the truck to eat during some moment of quiet later in the day should it be necessary.

A few moments later, after retrieving both his coffee and the ceramic plate with his steaming sandwich on it, Jacen wandered over to a table near the window. It was always easier to appreciate the interior warmth when you could still see the outside misery.

Kealey still liked to people watch. It was like a little penance that she set herself every now and then when she felt like she hadn't been doing enough to help, and a coffee shop was the perfect place to do it. Not one of the megacoffee shops owned by a company so large that they barely even knew what coffee was anymore. No, there were too many people there who were simply looking for liquid consciousness. Kealey needed a place where people sat down to drink their coffee, sat down long enough that she could find out what they needed and decide if she should give it to them.

It was a dangerous business and if Kealey wasn't sure about something, or a person, then she didn't help them. She hadn't been that discriminate at first, but the more she'd thought on the practice, the more Kealey had started to worry. What if the apprehension she'd pushed away from that woman had encouraged her to do something illegal? Or what if the sadness she'd eliminated from that man had been a healthy part of a healing process? That was the problem with not understanding the thoughts behind an emotion. So, for the most part, Kealey just watched.

Sometimes though, the situation worked out. For example, a little girl in the shop this morning had been sad, her mother was leaving town on a business trip and was going to miss her choir concert that night. Kealey had heard that much from her spot at the next table and had done her best to make the little girl's tears go away. It might be a temporary fix, but at least she'd have happy time with her mother before she went on her trip. There was also the little boy who was practicing a speech over and over, the notecards shaking in his hands as he closed his eyes and tried to call up the words from memory with marginal success. She'd pushed away his nerves, and once they were gone his confidence had grown on its own with the boy's success. It was a good day.

Well, in theory it was a good day. The weather she observed through the windows left something to be desired and as the sleet hit and bounced and coated the streets, she congratulated herself on her ugg boots. It had been them or heels, and these would be far more simple to get around in. The weather also meant that people wanted to be inside, so there were lots of people for her to watch.

Kealey hadn't found any other promising prospects though. Too often adults felt emotions for specific reasons. Without knowing what the reasons were, Kealey couldn't help them in good conscious. It didn't mean that she wasn't curious though, and the more she worked with her powers, the easier it was for her to exist in the constant hum of emotion she felt from other people.

The woman to her left was calm and collected, she felt ready for whatever it was that was happening that day. Kealey envied her a little, some people had things so figured out. The man two tables over was another story, he was depressed, lonely, and he kept looking longingly at a woman in the opposite corner of the shop. Kealey had a feeling she knew what was going on there, but still didn't know enough to intervene. It would have to wait.

Kealey's eyes scanned the the people one by one, picking out their emotions as she moved past them. It was almost like a stock ticker, until her eyes fell on the man sitting next to the window. Her eyes stopped, then narrowed slightly, then grew so wide they rivaled the saucer her espresso cup was sitting on.

She'd stood before she knew what she was doing and was across the room before it could register that she was doing something she'd never imagine doing under normal circumstances. Sliding into the seat across from the man, Kealey stared at him for a moment, blue eyes intense as she tried one more time to feel what the man was feeling. It didn't work.

"I....I can't feel you." she said, her Irish accent thick with the emotion she was feeling. "Please tell me you're real and I'm not going even more crazy."

The Hound Of The Baskervilles was a classic piece of fiction that showed Sherlock Holmes at his finest. From sending Watson to do the first bit of investigating which he ultimately failed at to searching the house and bog all by himself Sherlock once proved that he was one of the most brilliant literary detectives. Which realy meant that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the real genius. He thought of clues and possibilities that most people would never even consider.

Sipping at his coffee, Jacen ignored his sandwich for the moment, determined to get through another page or two before he gave into the temtation that was slowly cooling on the plate beside him. He had read this book multiple times but each time he read it he found something new and intriguing. Details that he might have missed in previous reads lept off the page to inspire him to be an even better cop.

Suddenly Jacen realized he wasn't alone. Lifting his gaze he found himself locking in on a pair of piercing blue eyes that were staring at him as though they could see to the very depths of his soul. Who was this? A fortune teller or someone? A person that would perhaps guide him along the road of destiny?

"I....I can't feel you."

Or not. Apparently it was just yet one more foreign woman that was just a mite strange. And what did she mean by feeling him? Was she trying to turn a trick or something?

"Please tell me you're real and I'm not going even more crazy."

Jacen slowly leaned back in his chair, closing the book with one finger held between the pages to keep his spot for when he could go back to the book. "I'm quite real but as to whether you're going more crazy or not you'd have to ask a psychiatrist. I'm just a cop. Nothing special or fantastic so I really can't answer your question."

Reaching his free hand over the cop picked half of his sandwich and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully as he looked at the young woman.

"What do you mean you can't feel me?" He finally asked after swallowing that first bite, "Last time I checked you never even touched me."

He lifted his head from his book when she spoke. Well, that was a good indication that when he spoke his words were true. He was recommending a psychiatrist to tell her whether or not she was crazy though, no surprise there. Keaely shook her head, embarrassment coloring her pale face crimson as she realized that she'd just crossed a room and sat down next to a total stranger, raving like a loon about not being able to feel him. The fact still remained though, she couldn't feel him.

He was a cop, Kealey hadn't seen a uniform though, just a black leather jacket. A black leather jacket that was somewhat similar to hers, though she doubted the man across from her was wearing sweater dress with tights underneath. None of that really mattered though. Kealey's hand was creeping towards her loose curls and she grabbed one, worrying it between her fingers as the man asked what she meant about not being able to feel him.

"I'm so sorry." She said, the regret and embarrassment still written clearly on her face. "I've never done a thing like this in my whole long life, it was incredibly rude. It's just that...well almost as long as I can remember I've felt everything that everyone within two or three meters of me was feeling. You're a blank page...you have to be feeling something." Kealey realized she was rambling and shook her head slowly, looking at the man.

"Look," she said, turning to the man she'd been thinking about earlier, the lonely one she figured had a crush on the regular in the back of the shop, "That man is..." Nothing. She couldn't feel a thing. "That man..." she tried again, concentrating this time, trying to push her own emotions out of the way so she could tell. Still nothing. Her heart was slamming against her rib cage by this point and Kealey could feel her hands shaking as she put them on the table in front of her. Maybe she was going crazy. It was silent though. Completely silent. Not the silence that reigned when the teacher came in and pulled her nails across the slate in a noisy classroom, a different silence all together. All Kealey could feel was herself, and she was a wreck.

"I didn't touch you." Kealey whispered, eyes turning back to the man, "but something happened when I looked at you. I can't feel anyone now." Kealey's eyes were welling up slightly, "Are you doing something, or am I going crazy?"

Looking at the young woman, Jacen waited for her to give her response. He had been feeling relatively comfortable in his brown work boots, denim jeans, and long sleeve burgundy dress shirt with the top two buttons undone to reveal the white t-shirt beneath. Had been comfortable with had being the operative word. When this woman approached it was as though a cold chill came over him.

"I can't be a mutant... can't be! Why do people keep doing this to me?" Thoughts ran through the man's mind as he fought off the urge to grab the leather jacket off the back of his chair and once again slip it on.

"I do feel emotion if that's what you mean." Jacen replied with raised eyebrow, doing his best to tamp down the panic that was threatening to well up within him. Other cops sometimes came to this coffee shop and if one of them heard that he was a mutant then noone would be willing to work with him. He'd be an outcast until he quit or retired.

Apparently right then the young woman decided to demonstrate her power and she began to look around the room. But with each person as she focused on them, her eyes seemed to widen in panic. It was an outward panic that reflected the inward battle that Jacen was no fighting.

"Look, I'm... I'm a mutant. Just like you." Jacen hissed quietly as he leaned across the table, keeping his voice low so that only she would over hear, "And that's what happens. I stop other mutants. I don't have any control and I don't even know when it happens. I'm just like anybody else you might meet on the street. No special senses I just stop other mutants powers."

Why did this have to be happening to him? He had some semblence of a normal life and yet now people kept getting thrown in his circle that were screwing up that life! He wasn't a mutant! Unless he was with his blond um-friend, he would never ever admit that he was a mutant. It just wasn't allowable for someone like him!

He admitted that he felt emotion, of course he did...that hadn't been what Kealey had meant at all. She'd just meant that she knew that he was feeling something, but that she didn't feel it. It had been a rhetorical statement though, and Kealey wasn't going to respond to it. She was obviously distraught and her explanations were leaving something to be desired. A lot to be desired. The panic wasn't going away though and that was the most shocking thing of all.

There was too much, all these feelings inside of her, and Kealey knew they were all hers. It was amazing, and terrifying at the same time. For years she'd been lucky if she could sort out a single emotion of her own to feel at a time, now she was bathing in them. She was nervous, she was thrilled, she was terrified, she was...so many things all at once.

The man was explaining now, his voice was low and Kealey didn't need her powers to hear, and see the tension in his voice. Looking around the coffee shop again, Kealey nodded slowly, marveling in the emotional silence that was eveloping her as she sat at the table across from this man. Why was he speaking so quietly? Kealey looked at the man for a few moments, puzzled, then she remembered where she was.

Mutants had been forced to hide for so long in New York that even though that awful Registration Act was over so many were still hesitant to admit who and what they were. Humans were also reluctant to accept mutants into society again after they'd been conditioned for so long to hate and be afraid. The man's words sunk in though and Kealey's eyes widened again. "So...you.." she said, voice lowered to match the man's, then she just nodded, trying to figure out how to put into words what she was feeling.

"It's amazing..." she finally settled on, a wide, bright grin spreading across her features. "You have no idea how amazing it is..." her eyes were welling up again, and Kealey swallowed hard, taking a few deep breaths to calm her turbulent emotions...her emotions. "I...I won't bother you anymore..." she said, "but would you mind terribly if I sat here a while longer? I'll understand completely if you want me to go away...it's just that...for the last fourteen years I've been so confused...and...I can think."

The slight Irish brogue of the woman's words made him want to trust her. It made him want to relax his guard at least enough to be friendly but Jacen still wasn't comfortable with this part of his life being on display. If he was a mutant, and he sure as well wasn't admitting it, then he just wanted privacy. If people didn't bother him then he wouldn't bother them. That was a fair deal wasn't it?

"Yeah... go ahead." He spoke quietly after a few moments of just staring at the woman. Slowly leaning back in his chair he dropped his eyes and focused on eating his sandwich. Was he hungry? Not really but it was something he could do that would mean he could ignore the woman that sat there. Maybe if he was quiet long enough she'd leave on her own. Maybe she'd let him get back to his peace.

In a few minutes all that was left of the sandwich was a few crumbs on the plate. Taking a sip of his coffee Jacen opened the book and return to reading. Maybe Sherlock Holmes had been a mutant. That would explain why he noticed so many things that his fellow humans missed. Maybe it really was something more than just good training maybe it had been a gift. And if that were true, then was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle a mutant to have the wisdom to write about something like this? How many famous people over the centuries were really mutants that just tried to fit in. How many miraculous things had happened because someone's genetics were just a little screwy?

The bell to the front door jingled and automatically Jacen glanced up only to freeze. Two of the guys from his S.W.A.T. team had just walked in and even though they hadn't noticed him yet it was only a matter of time. "Shit!" He swore in his mind as he tried to figure out what to do.

"The name's Jacen King by the way." He suddenly spoke up to his table companion as his eyes dropped back to the book in front of him, "What's yours?"

Kealey could feel her cheeks coloring as the man looked at her, prolonged eye contact was something she'd never been comfortable with. There was something so intimate about holding someone's gaze. Kealey had a rare flashback of her mother, she'd always said that the eyes were windows to the soul. The memory was bittersweet and the feeling was so strong and evident and hers that Kealey was nearly overwhelmed again. She really needed to get herself together. Kealey shut her eyes for a moment and just felt, a small, content smile curving her lips.

It was nearly astonishing to Kealey how badly she'd done over the years with the meditation techniques that Mother Superior had taught her. Only now, in the silence could Kealey tell how quiet it really was when a person could only feel what was inside their own head.

The man said that she could stay, and Kealey just nodded her head, wishing he'd decided to be talkative as he stared at his sandwich. Kealey knew this man was uncomfortable with her sitting there, but this was just too much...too good to walk away from just yet. The man didn't want her there though, Kealey could tell when he all but attacked his sandwich and returned to reading his book, she just couldn't seem to get up and walk away though so she looked at the same people she'd been studying before, wondering if she'd have been able to figure out those things without her powers. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she watched the man. That's how she saw his reaction when the two men walked in.

Kealey had been watching people long enough to know that certain facial expressions were associated with certain feelings, and just like before when she'd known how uncomfortable the man was with her presence, Kealey saw the panic before he looked back down at his book. Then he spoke. Now he wanted to chat. Kealey smiled and nodded, it was the least she could do.

"I'm Kealey, Kealey Quinn." she said, forgoing the holding out of her hand that she'd have usually done. "Nice to meet you Jacen. You said you were a police officer. You're not in uniform though. A day off then?" she said, looking at him even though he wasn't looking at her.

"A day on call." Jacen replied with a slight grin, doing his best to focus on the young woman in front of him while ignoring the other officers. If they saw him busy in conversation with someone they might leave him alone which would keep him under the radar as a mutant for a little longer. "No... I'm not a mutant. I'm just a person."

"When the weather is this bad a lot of times they'll put all of the officers on notice in case they have to call us in. I'm on notice so I figured I should grab a sandwich and coffee just on the off chance they call me in." Idle conversation was good. Idle conversation was safe. If they could just stay on these kinds of topics he might even be able to enjoy this little chat. "When you're on duty you never know when you'll get a chance to grab some food."

Reaching over the police officer grabbed his coffee cup and took a sip, checking on the other two officers with his peripheral vision. They were finally ordering their own coffees but it looked like they were ordering to go. That was a blessing. Once they left Jacen would once again be safe... at least temporarily.

"So what brings you out in this weather Kealey? Obviously you're not on call with the police department."

His attention was back on her and when he pointed out that he was 'on call' he smiled. That must be what it was like to enjoy your job. Not that Kealey disliked hers, but it had always felt more like a stepping stone than a career. If a person could be happy about being on call on a day like this, then they must like their job. Then again, Kealey didn't actually know that the man was happy. Other people she'd met were good at schooling their face one way while they really felt another.

Jacen pointed out that when the weather was bad, all the police officers got put on call to help out if the ones that were on duty got too busy themselves. It made sense, but it was something that Kealey had never thought about, she tilted her head and nodded slowly, "That makes sense, but you know, I'd never actually thought about how a situation like this would work. They never put librarians on call, not even at the main branch."

It was odd, after the near panic she'd seen on his face when the two men walked into the coffee shop, Jacen had become a study in ignoring their presence. Kealey figured she'd been bold enough coming over her, so she wasn't going to ask. Besides, what she was getting out of sitting by Jacen was so much more than she could possibly give him by not being obnoxious that she decided silence on the matter was by far the best option.

He asked what she was doing out on a day like today and Kealey shrugged her shoulders, "I have to work in an hour or so," she said, "And I'm afraid that cooking fantastic breakfasts and brewing wonderful coffee are not things that are an intricate part of my skill set."

It was weird, sitting here and having a conversation, not being able to feel what the other person was feeling in reaction to the things she was saying. Kealey was curious, but something was telling her to hold her questions of that nature back and she frowned slightly, trying to figure out what to say if not that.

"The weather is rather dismal though, isn't it? People always try to say that Ireland has an awful climate, but I'm starting to wonder if this winter is ever going to end." There, the weather was always a safe topic, right?

So in very short order Jacen had found out quite a bit of information about the young woman that currently sat across from him. He had to wonder if she was normally this free and open with strangers but if she was used to sending other people's emotions then it made sense she might treat him different than she treated other people. Maybe she was being more open with him than she was with others and then again maybe she was just young and innocent. There was really no way to tell.

"No, I guess they don't normally need to put librarians on call." Jacen responded with a slight chuckle. He could actually feel himself beginning to relax a little bit as the officers that had entered a few moments before took their coffees and turns around, heading back for the door without even glancing around. He was in the clear! They hadn't seen him and they weren't going to think he might be a mutant. YES!

"Are you from Ireland?" Even though New York City was probably one of the biggest melting pots in all of america, it was still interesting to meet someone from another country. Jacen had spent plenty of time out of the states but all of that had been combat related so he'd never made it into Europe. Ireland had always sounded like an interesting place to visit and here he was talking to someone that was from Ireland. Go figure. "Thankfully we don't get weather like this to often. A few days a year but that's about it. But, tell me about Ireland. What's the weather like? The food any good? Why'd you decide to leave?"

It was rapid fire questioning but for the moment that was how Jacen felt most comfortable. Besides, if you asked the questions fast enough a person might not realize they were giving out personal information, like why they moved away from someplace, until after they'd already said it.

He chuckled, and that made Kealey relax more, without his emotions to let her know what was going on, she had to rely on the same things everyone else did when they met a person and were feeling them out in a social setting.

"Yeah," she said, chuckling herself and returning the smile, "My job isn't nearly as essential to civilization as yours though, so if the keeper of the religious and philosophy section doesn't show up to work, the city doesn't fall into chaos. In fact...if none of the librarians showed up the city would probably still function just fine..."

Weather led to talk of Ireland, something Kealey was infinitely comfortable talking about and she smiled again, even more broadly as the rapid fire of questions came from the man. This was way better than when he'd been doing everything he could to ignore her. Kealey was happy, she was so happy, but she wasn't going to think about the fact that it was temporary. She was just going to savor it while it lasted. Now, onto the questions.

"Yes, I'm really from Ireland...of the boat is the term I think they use." she said, still smiling slightly, "The weather there...is chilly and damp most of the time, but it can get very warm in the summers."

He wanted to know about food? Kealey grinned, "And the food...mostly just the things that you hear about in Britain and the like. Bangers and mash, fish and chips." she stopped for a moment and closed her eyes, "Oh what I wouldn't give for a good fish and chips shop. The nuns where I grew up would bring us fish and chips once a month...and every Friday during Lent."

Then the last question, Kealey sobered slightly from happy memories of fish and chips. People had reacted so strangely to her when she gave them the full reason for ending up in New York. Truth here made sense though, maybe not the whole truth, "Well...that's a very long story actually." she said, eyes averting slightly, "To make it shorter...the nuns at the convent I was raised at thought that I was meant for bigger, better things than a nun's life. So they sent me to Dublin. From there I heard about all the awful things happening to mutants in the states, so I thought I'd come to help...only by the time I got here...everything was over."

Kealey stopped there, that was probably enough. At least for the time being, "What about you?" she said, "I'm starting to think that nobody in New York is actually from New York."

"Well, unfortunately you still have yet to meet someone that is really from New York." Jacen replied with a slight grin. The door had firmly shut on his two fellow police officers and now he was completely comfortable in the young woman's presence once more. Heck, in one way it was even kind of nice to get a chance to talk to other mutants. A chance to show just how normal mutants could really be.

"I grew up in Florida actually. I was part of the school swimming team and grew up pretty normally for the most part. Nowhere near as interesting as living in a convent I'm sure." Jacen was not a devout Catholic. Honestly he wasn't a devout anything and he didn't even really know if he believed in a god. For the most part he just didn't think about it and that was the way he liked it. Honestly, it was a scary thought no matter what the answer was when it came to some god.

"I moved to New York after a stint working over seas. Nothing glamerous but it paid the bills." He was proud of his time in the military but sometimes that scared off people. Even though most Americans respected the military they were often over-awed and sometimes even afraid when they encountered soldiers that had actually faced life or death situations in combat. "I joined the police department soon after moving here. I was here during the Registration fiasco but I was actually sent to Washington D.C. to participate in some training exercising during most of it."

Even for someone that had never been in the camps, Jacen didn't like to remember the images he had seen. It hadn't been a pretty sight for anyone that wasn't actually insane. "And to be quite honest, I only discovered I was... special a few weeks ago. Up until then I just lived life like any other normal guy."

Taking another sip of his coffee Jacen idly scanned the room, taking in the other people that were sitting nearby. It was kind of odd to think that only a few minutes before Kealey had been feeling the emotions of everyone in this room. How did someone handle that? It was quite possible to be in a room where one person was feeling hate, another person joy, another fear, and possibly even lust. How could a person's mind handle so many conflicting emotions all at once?

"How do you handle it?" Jacen asked as he turned his gaze back to Kealey, "How do you deal with so many emotions at once?"

"It sounds like I'll have to keep looking then." Kealey said to the revelation that Jacen wasn't a native New Yorker, either. He said he was from Florida, "Sunny Florida, huh?" Kealey said, tilting her head slightly, "I've heard that it warm there all year, 'round." she added, "My sister and I had Mickey and Minnie mouse on the walls of our room." she added softly. More bittersweet memories. "And there was absolutely nothing interesting in this convent, besides me. I was a bit of a spectacle" She didn't explain about her past, it was too much too soon. Such a sad story would ruin the easy rapport she'd developed with this man.

Jacen distracted Kealey from those thoughts though. He seemed willing to talk about himself, unlike someone Kealey had met in New York. Jacen didn't seemed scared to talk about himself, his powers, or his past. At least now that the two men had left the coffee shop. He'd worked overseas, but never somewhere that had brought him to Europe, then he'd come here and became a Police Officer. He was built, Kealey knwe that much looking at him, he'd either been a mercenary or some kind of military guy.

Natural curiosity overwhelmed her sense of propriety again. "Military?" she said, remembering the Irish military officers who'd come to pull her from the rubble of the school. Then Jacen asked what probably could have been a million dollar question before she'd come over and sat down at the table. Kealey would have simply shrugged her shoulders and said that her powers were what they were. Now though, so much had changed, in such a short amount of time. Jacen had also just found out he was a mutant, he'd been a "normal" guy until then.

"I've known since I was 12." she said softly, "And I found out in a way that no person on Earth should have to find out something like that." She paused for a moment, then sighed, "I can't hardly believe it's been

An hour ago...if you'd have asked me that question, my answer would have been so different." she said softly, her tone getting more serious as she looked back at Jacen and met his gaze, "I thought I'd gotten so good at blocking most of it out." she shook her head, "I haven't. How do I deal?" she said, a slightly bitter twist coming to her lips, "Sometimes I don't. I couldn't at all, for a very long time. That's because I don't just know what a person feels...I feel it too...so many conflicting emotions. Things I don't want to feel...things I never wanted to know." her gaze dropped,

"That's why I was acting so strange at first. This is the first time in fourteen years that I've been sure what I'm feeling is really me. At first it was like I'd gone deaf...but it's more like I was deaf and now I can hear myself again. So, I guess I should stop being rude and say Thanks." Kealey smiled again, genuinely, then did her best to turn the conversation back to Jacen.

"What about you? Can you switch off and on? Does it work the same on everyone? What about people who aren't special? Does it do anything to them?" Rapid Fire questioning ftw.

Something about Kealey's expression told Jacen that now was not the time to ask about her sister. That might be something that should never be discussed especially with a new aquaintance like this. There was really no reason to think that this would be anything more than a pleasant, one time conversation. New York was a big city and it was quite possible to meet someone once and then never bump into them again but who knew what the future might hold.

"Military is right. Army. I spent most of my time in Afghanistan and Iraq." He admitted with just a hint of pride. Since he'd never been to Ireland he had no reason to think about the fact that the military was more prevalent there than it was in the states. He just figured that she had made a lucky guess but that was no reason not to praise her for it. "Good observation."

As the young woman began to speak about living with her gift, Jacen did his best to imagine what it must be like. Living with your own emotions was bad enough but if you actually had to face what every person around you was feeling... it would be enough to drive most people mad. Sure there were people that wore their emotions on their sleeve and anyone could know what they were feeling at any time but most people were so good at wearing emotional masks that it would be extremely disconcerting to know what they were really feeling.

"I'm sure it would be hard." Jacen said quietly, his eyes comforting as he reached across the table to give one of Kealey's hands a quick reassuring squeeze, "But even when you say you don't deal very well I think that you're selling yourself short. Just in the little time we've had to talk you've proven yourself to be a well adjusted lady so obviously you've been able to over come it for the most part."

Apparently Kealey was ready to get back to a much lighter topic so, as her lips curved back up into a bright smile, she began her own rapid fire questioning. For a moment Jacen just chuckled as he tried to come up with the answers to all of the woman's questions. For a conversation that had started out a little on the curt side it had actually turned into something very pleasant.

"As far as I know I can't switch my ability off and on because I don't even know that I'm doing anything." Jacen said with a slight shrug as he leaned back in his chair, removing his hand from Kealey's and once again picking up his coffee cup, "Until another mutant asked me what in the world I was doing to them I didn't know there was anything different about me. None of my fellow police officer or my friend seemed to be any different when I was around so I guess they don't get affected by it but I don't know."

Unless Jacen was willing to admit a little more publicly that he was a mutant, there was really no way for him to test out his ability. Showing up at one of the mutant schools wasn't a good idea when his ability might be the cause of mass histeria or a riot of some type. Besides, there was no way he could ever learn to control something he couldn't even feel... was there?