Lee was out. She was going to be out for a while because this was the first time Tarin had convinced her to do what she'd said she would and hang out with her brother. For some reason, it was so important to Tarin that Lee make those reconnection with at least her siblings. Mostly, he figured this was because of the success he'd had with his family. Though admittedly, his parents had never locked him in a room once they found out he was a mutant.

This was an opportunity though, and Tarin sat at the small table that was in the alcove they used as a dining nook. In his hand was the portable phone they used as a land line and the fingers of his free hand drummed on the table over and over. He was going to call Ash.

Somehow Lee had his number, and Tarin had taken it from her, and he was going to use it. He was going to get to the bottom of what he'd seen that night in the graveyard. Lee had tried to contact him time and time again while Tarin had been in the coma. Nothing had come of it. He was running, and he was hiding. He was doing the same thing that he condemned Tarin for. Tarin knew why too. Ash had a secret. The same secret that Tarin hadn't been able to keep when his powers had manifested.

The phone beeped when Tarin pushed the talk button and he was nervous in spite of himself as he dialed the numbers on the phone. It went to voice mail. No big surprise there. Tarin didn't know if Ash would recognize this number, but the way he'd been screening out Lee's calls, the likelihood of him answering had been slim to none. That didn't mean his brother wasn't getting the call. Tarin had a feeling that if there was a person in the world who had their phone on them 24/7, it was Ash.

"Ash, I'll keep this short and sweet. We need to talk. I was there, in some capacity, that night in the graveyard. There's some things we need to hash out. Don't play games, call me back soon."

The good news was that Lee had stopped trying to call him as frequently. Ash could only guess that was because, according to what Josh had told him, that Tarin was out of the coma. And while Ash was glad his brother was doing better, he was still not exactly willing to talk to his younger brother or his new wife.

And while she wasn't calling almost every day like she had been, Tarin's wife was still calling, and so Ash was still needing to screen his calls.

However, this time he didn't need to screen his calls. He had been sitting in his hotel room in New York, on the phone with the office in Dallas, and when he hung up, Ash found that he had a voice mail.

"Ash, I'll keep this short and sweet. We need to talk. I was there, in some capacity, that night in the graveyard. There's some things we need to hash out. Don't play games, call me back soon."

Letting his phone fall into his lap, Ash scrubbed his hands over his face for a couple moments before picking the phone up again. Redialling the last number to have called him, Ash held the phone to his ear and waited for the other end to be picked up.

"Tarin, this has got to stop," Ash said, only waiting long enough to hear his brother's voice when the ringing stopped. "Some of us actually have work to do and don't have time to deal with almost constant phone calls from you and Lee."

He was screening the calls. The phone in Tarin's hand rang not too long after he'd finished his voice mail. Tarin hit the talk button and said hello.

An eyebrow raised as Tarin listened to his brother's voice on the other end of the phone. It was strange how a person could convey so much malice without being face to face. Ouch, he cut to the quick with the insults too. That, Tarin knew how to deal with though.

"Ash...cut the bullshit." he said, as soon as his brother had stopped. "We're going to talk. I let you run from me in Texas like a whiney little girl because I was too caught up in Lee to waste time on your angst. We've got two options for how we're going to handle this now." Tarin paused to let his own jibes sink in, then spoke again, standing up as he talked to pace.

"I do have a job...a job you couldn't do if you wanted to. So cut that crap too. Now, option number one. We talk about this like we're civilized human beings. Or number two, I call mom. Don't think that just because we're both in our thirties I won't do it." More time to let it sink into his fun-hating brother's thick ass skull.

"Now. I'm not sure you understood what I meant in my voicemail. I was there in the graveyard Ash. I saw you dressed up like something out of the comic books we used to steal from Josh. The ball's in your court. If you're in New York, I suggest we do this face to face."

As Tarin started speaking, Ash pinched the bridge of his nose. This was why he hadn't returned any of those phone calls he'd been getting over the last month and a half. Ash didn't want to talk about anything that had happened that night he'd found Tarin in the graveyard and taken him to the mansion.

Oh, Tarin had let him run away while they had been in Texas over Christmas, had he? Ash was about growl back about that when Tarin went on to threaten to tell their mother like they were ten years old.

"You'll call mom?" Ash asked, incredulous that his brother would go to that length simply to try and get them to talk.

The problematic part of that was, both their mother, and Josh, had already been on him for more than a month to talk to first Lee, and now Tarin. If he actually called their mother, Ash would never hear the end of it.

But Tarin did not seem to be giving up on this. Lee hadn't given up on calling for a whole month. More than a month, actually.

And how the hell did Tarin see what he had been wearing that night? Ash had tried to wake his brother up, he'd been out cold, no response at all. There was no way Tarin could have seen it. Unless one of the people who had seen him at the mansion had told Lee how he'd been dressed. But if that was the case, why hadn't Lee mentioned that in any of her messages? Not all of those had been overly polite.

"Fine," Ash finally agreed through gritted teeth. "Where?"

"I will. Just you watch Ashley Brooks." Tarin said, pulling out the big guns. Mama Brooks was a force to be reckoned with, and Tarin knew that she'd already been pressuring Ash to get in touch with him. He knew, because he'd already called her. This would be a secondary call, just to push the envelope.

What was that Tarin heard? Was that someone's teeth grinding into the mouthpiece of the phone? He was sure when the voice ground out through what had to be gritted teeth. Tarin grinned broadly at the phone. He knew a win when he saw it. Whether Ash wanted it or not, Tarin was going to get some answers. His brother was a mutant, his older brother was a mutant. That meant that if they hadn't manifested at the same time, it had been soon. For years while he'd still been in Texas, Ash had known they were the same. Known and never said anything. Bullshit, and Tarin was going to get his say.

"Mine and Lee's apartment." Tarin said congenially, then started giving directions. "I've got scotch, but if you want anything else. It's going to be BYOB."

As soon as Tarin had finished giving directions, Ash hung up his phone without another word. Then he paced around his hotel room for the next ten minutes, debating what to do next. He considered just not going to meet Tarin, of going out to see about making more progress on his case, or even just staying in his hotel room. The problem was, with how Tarin had said it, Ash knew that his brother would go ahead and call their mother, and then Ash would never hear the end of it.

Finally fifteen minutes later, Ash left his room and made his way down to the street, hailing a cab and giving the address.

It really didn't take too long before Ash was climbing back out of the cab and walking up to an apartment building door. After buzzing up, Ash walked through the door and up the stairs, finally coming to a halt in front of the door Tarin's door, Ash raised his hand to knock.

The moment the door opened, Ash moved to walk in. "You want to talk?" He asked. "So where's that Scotch?"

The first thing Tarin did after hanging up the phone was head to the kitchen for the scotch. There was a brand new, unopened bottle up there. He'd had to go buy one after Lee had broken the last over Rupert's head. Tarin's lip curled slightly and for the hundredth time since he'd woken up from the coma Tarin wished that he and Lee had taken the idea of killing the man and hiding him in a closet for thirty years more seriously.

Glasses, they needed glasses to drink Scotch. Tarin had never drank with his brother, but any man who was a man drank Scotch...Tarin figured Ash would partake.

That's why, by the time his brother buzzed to be let in, Tarin had the scotch sitting out, and the glasses facing each other on the table. It was like a showdown. A showdown between brothers.

The knock on the door came and Tarin answered it. Ash didn't wait for an invitation, he just walked past Tarin. "On the table." he said, following Ash to the glasses and pouring liberal amounts of liquid into each.

"Start talking." Tarin said, moving to his appointed side of the table and sitting down. "When exactly did you know that you were a mutant?" he said, staring intently at his brother and not mincing words. "And why the hell did you leave me in that private hell?" he said, voice growing a little more harsh.

"You let them drag me off to a mental hospital Ash." Brown eyes were accusing now as they looked across at a face that he'd known so well for so many years. "How could you hide that?"

On the table. That wasn't a bad place for the Scotch, Ash thought, but a better place would be in his hand, and the best place would be in his stomach. So Ash made his way further into the apartment, spotted the bottle of Scotch on the table, as well as a couple of glasses.

At least his brother was prepared.

Ash waited just long enough for Tarin to finish pouring the Scotch into both glasses before he picked up the one on his side of the table and took a hearty mouthful before following Tarin's lead and sitting down.

Only for Ash to stand back up, glass in hand, to start pacing as he heard Tarin speak. The pacing didn't last long, though, as Tarin started accusing him.

"How did I let them drag you off?" Ash asked, turning to face his younger brother. "You said you saw dad! How does that tell me, tell anyone, that you were a mutant?

"We were all upset, Tarin, but the night after the funeral you claimed to see dad! How could we see that as anything other than grief?"

Tarin shook his head slowly as his brother started pacing in the room, back and forth he went, obviously uncomfortable with the turn that the conversation had taken. The funny thing was, Tarin hadn’t intended for it to go there at all. It had all just kind of fallen out of his mouth when he started to speak.

“I said I saw dad because I did see dad.” Tarin said softly, “You have no idea what that was like. They all made me think I was crazy…all the poking and prodding and endless series of questions.” Tarin took another drink at the childhood memories he’d tried really hard to get rid of. His glass was already 2/3 empty. Good thing the bottle was still pretty full.

Ash pointed out again that they had thought he had some sort of dementia brought on by grief when their dad died and Tarin sighed and rubbed his eyes, “I can understand that, at first, but when the medication and the sedatives and all the treatments didn’t work…Jesus Ash…you had to have known by then…you’re older than me. When none of those things worked, it didn’t occur to you that maybe..just maybe we were alike?”

Tarin drained his glass. It had been a long time since he’d thought of these things, “I’m not playing a blame game here. I’m over it all..well obviously not completely…but I didn’t bring you here to try and blame you for everything bad that’s happened in my life. I just don’t understand why you hate me so much now…”

It was true, Tarin didn’t understand. It didn’t make sense. That was what this was about.

Tarin was laying this on him now, blaming him for not having realized that Tarin was a mutant too, all because he was the older brother.

"By one year, Tarin," Ash pointed out. "I'm older by one year. So I was supposed to realize that at 13 when mom and the doctors were all saying you lost your mind?

"I should have known, should I?" Ash said, then shook his head and downed the rest of his Scotch. "Even if I had figured it out earlier," Ash continued, setting his glass down heavily on the table and reaching for the bottle. "But after dad, and then everything with you, I didn't want mom to have to deal with finding out about me, too."

The Scotch had been repoured, his glass was full again, and Ash stepped away from the table just in time to hear Tarin's last comment. "I just don’t understand why you hate me so much now…”

"Don't you understand?" Ash asked, turning back to face Tarin. "I hate what you put mom through, leaving like that, with no word. She's been worried and stressed all these years, because of you. As if she didn't have enough hardship in her life before that. And then you come back, and she welcomes you back with open arms like nothing happened."

Tarin watched Ash in slight disbelief as he explained his reasoning. He hadn't been mature enough at 13 to realize that his own brother wasn't clinically insane...but he'd been mature enough to be noble and hold back the information that another one of her sons was a mutant. It made no sense, absolutely no sense.

More Scotch made sense though, and down the hatch it went. Ash was refilling, at least he was a real man and could handle his scotch. The conversation, on the other hand, was something entirely different. Ash wasn't handling it well at all. His answers seemed to make even less sense as he continued to talk.

"You're so noble Ash." Tarin said, shaking his head, venom in his voice, "You know, I didn't ask for all that to happen to me. I was just a kid. Do you think I liked what was happening to me? Do you think I had a clue...do you know what it's like to have everyone convinced you're crazy as a loon? No...you wouldn't. You can hide what you are."

Then they were there. The crux of the issue. The real reason for all the bitter hatred that Ash had demonstrated. "That's why?" Tarin said, lips twisting into a bitter smile, "You're angry because I left and she accepted me back?" Tarin laughed, but it wasn't a laugh of mirth...no it was something else entirely.

"She took me back because after I explained why I left...she understood. Have you ever heard Ash? I left for the exact reason you're condemning me for. Do you know what I did? Do you have any clue? If you think I put her through a lot while I was home, you have no idea what would have happened if I'd have stayed."

That had been it, the real crux of the issue. If he'd stayed there'd have been judgement, jail possibly...blame...it still horrified Tarin to think about it. It hadn't even been an option. "And if you think I haven't punished myself over what happened that day more than you possibly ever could...you're so wrong Ash."

Tarin paused a moment and set his glass on the table, leaning back in his chair, "I had no idea you were still playing the jealous middle child though. Frankly I'm disappointed."

He said he wasn't going to play the blame game, wasn't going to lay this all at his feet, and yet that's what pretty much every word that came out of Tarin's mouth seemed like. Saying that he had no idea what Tarin had gone through, had no idea what it was like to have everyone think he was crazy, to think that he himself was crazy, because Ash had been able to hide his powers.

"Yeah I can hide my powers," Ash said, his voice bitter, the anger still clearly present. "I only worried every night that I would slip, that I wouldn't be able to keep control and that you and Josh would see, that you two would tell mom. I didn't want her worrying even more, worrying about me too."

Tarin tried to claim that him leaving had been the best thing for him to have done as far as their mother was concerned, and Ash shook his head. How in the world could Tarin really think that? Tarin hadn't been there to see how their mother had been in the days, weeks, months after Tarin had left home. How could he say that was better?

Next thing Ash knew, he saw Tarin leaning back in his seat, as if relaxing. "I had no idea you were still playing the jealous middle child though. Frankly I'm disappointed."

"Alright," Ash said, stepping forward and slamming his still half full glass down on the table. "You wanted to talk, we talked." Turning, Ash marched toward the door.

Tarin looked at Ash in disbelief, but part of him understood. Understood that fear of someone finding out what they were. That fear of someone not understanding that it was out of their control. He nodded his head and ran a hand through his multi-hued hair. "I just wish I would have had the luxury of hiding it." he said quietly. "Did you know that I see things from them? Most specifically, how they died. I shouldn't be blaming you, Ash, I really shouldn't. I just felt so alone sometimes, you know?"

He'd gone too far though. Tarin mourned for the scotch as wave of the amber liquid sloshed over the side of the glass when Ash slammed it down. He was leaving. After all this time, Tarin had gotten him to come and talk, then ran him off with poisonous, pointless words.

"Ash...wait." Tarin said, pushing his chair back and taking a couple jogging steps to catch up with his older brother, "Just wait."

Tarin felt like he should apologize, but he wasn't exactly sure for what. His words had been true enough, that had been how he'd felt at the time, "I was out of line with that...and I didn't ask you to come here so I could lecture you. I don't know what just happened. I opened my mouth and it just wouldn't stop."

That was the best Tarin could do. If Ash needed or wanted more right now, it was going to be too much and they were going to end up right back where they started.

"I know I tore people apart when I left, but it was easier than putting mom through what would have happened if I stayed." Tarin said softly, looking away from his brother, "Didn't they tell you what happened? Why I left? Nobody ever told you that I killed people? The spirits aren't the half of it Ash. I told you that day in the street that I'm dangerous."

There was no way that Ash could know all of that. Tarin had to believe that if his brother knew what he'd done, he wouldn't be holding the running against him that way. "Just stay for a while longer. Please? No more whiny baby of the family nonsense. I promise."

Ash was half way to the door when he heard Tarin's voice behind him asking him not to go. He stopped, but he didn't turn around to face his younger brother. Not that that really mattered, since Tarin stepped around in front of him.

"You leaving was easier on mom than staying would have been?" Ash asked incredulously. How could Tarin really think that, he hadn't seen what their mother went through after he had left.

That wasn't everything. Tarin went on to ask if any one had told him that he'd killed, to say that he was dangerous. Ash simply blinked. No, he hadn't actually heard that, he hadn't exactly stayed in the room long enough to hear anything like that when Josh was talking about Tarin. But he killed people?

Ash just stood there staring. He couldn't see it, couldn't imagine Tarin having killed someone. Even as kids, before their father had died, Tarin had always been the most laid back. Even in pee-wee football, Tarin had been hesitant about hitting the other kids at times. Though, Ash realized as he remembered that, it might have also been because Tarin had always been a bit on the small side for his age.

But actually, really hurt someone? And not only hurt, but kill someone? Ash had a hard time imagining his brother doing that.

"Stay?" he asked with a slight shake of his head. "What's the big deal about me staying? I've already come and we've already talked. How is staying going to help anything?"

Ash stopped, but he still didn’t get it. How could he get it? If what he said was true and he really didn’t know about what Tarin had done to make him leave that summer day so many years ago, there wasn’t any possible way he could understand.

“It was easier Ash.”

He could almost see the wheels turning in his brother’s head as he thought about what Tarin was telling him. He wasn’t moving towards the door any more, though. He was staying, at least for the time being. Tarin relaxed, just a little bit, not knowing what to say and giving Ash the chance to work out what he wanted to do.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours, but was in reality only a couple moments, Ash spoke. A couple moments out of all the years that Ash had been so bitter, so hurt by what Tarin had done to their family.

“Staying will help, because if nothing else…when you’ll leave...I’m hoping you’ll understand. I’m not expecting forgiveness Ash. I never expected that out of any of you and I’ve never asked for it. Mom and Josh did that all of their own volition, and I’m thankful for it every day.”

Tarin glanced back at the glass and the bottle of liquor on the table, then back to his brother, “Besides…there’s a whole lot of scotch left and Lee won’t touch the stuff.”