Well, they weren't exactly roses. Nor were they clover, his self acclaimed favorite. But they were hand picked. And she thought they would liven up the sad barren inside of the Iris clinic at least until Sebastian could no longer stand the smell of them and took a nibble. The thought made her smile every time she thought of it. It was just so... different from her perceived normal. A little quirk that she felt was hers to enjoy.

Ghost had gotten off work at a more respectable hour. Having hired a competent manager to divide out some of her time at the store, she was able to cut back on her hours considerably. As much as she loved the store, she was running herself a bit ragged with her lack of delegation. So delegate she had. And now she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself.

So she took a walk in the not so distant park. In her wanderings she came across a field of mostly yellow flowers. Wild flowers with jagged petal tips, some with rounded edges, and some with sunny green middles. It was like someone had opened a package of yellow, butter, and white wild flowers and let them fly on the wind in this particular meadow where they had taken root and sprouted.

She deemed that the bright and happy yellow faces of the flowers would do the Iris Clinic good. So after gathering the most cheerful bunch she could manage, she set off for the Clinic. Once there, she knocked casually on the door before trying it. It was usually open at this hour when Sebastian was mending some crack in the floor boards or something.

"Good evening! I brought you some..." She had pushed open the front door and as usual someone was behind the desk. It was not, however, who she thought it would be. She tried very hard not to be too disappointed as her yellow bouquet was lowered a bit sheepishly. "You're... back." There was nothing in her voice but surprise. To top off Garrett's back-ness, he also had a stubbly growth of hair. Ghost actually looked around to make certain she had not wandered into the future somehow.

It looked very much akin to the present if she had wandered across a time warp. Ghost closed the door behind herself. "Have a vase?"

Bureaucracy had become something of a hobby for Garrett since his short tenure as Sanctuary Director. It was so perfectly natural to fill in all of the boxes, to cross T's and dot I's. Poor Sebastian seemed like he was as antique as the furniture and knickknacks he collected. He could see the old codger staring willfully at the papers, wishing the things away. There was also the distinct possibility that he might eat them. Either way, Garrett had certainly found his niche, though a computer would be an excellent addition.

Tax forms were sorted to the side, with small post-it notes affixed to the places where Sebastian would need to sign or where he would need input from his partner. It was difficult, to say the least, to avoid fudging the paperwork after basically fabricating KP's ledgers for months. He kept his conscience clear and every once in a while, he would put the peen and paper down and close his eyes, giving his will and intention a moment to sync back up.

During one of these brief meditations, the door outside opened, bringing a familiar scent on the wind. The scent of his honey eyed angel, the woman who haunted his dreams for so long. Opening his eyes and looking over, he saw that she was quite real. She was also surprised, bringing a nice bouquet of flowers for someone. The look on her face excluded Garrett from the equation, leaving deduction to point at his friend and partner. It was beyond logical, really, as the two both exuded a special sort of formality and politeness. It had never occurred to him how much they made a good couple, most likely due to his previous blinding obsession.

" Seeing ghosts?" Garrett stood out of respect and friendship, smiling at someone who was at once intimate and a stranger. The future had held them close and the past had pushed them apart. Now was the present, so he felt they would do best by standing on common ground. His eyes scanned the bouquet, which dropped in disappointment due to their recipient not being the one behind the desk. " Vase. Hmm, I believe Sebastian had a water pitcher and glasses out. Let me go see."

Garrett stepped out of sight and poured two glasses of ice water, straining the ice off into a separate glass, so as not to shock the lovely flowers. Returning with the glasses, he set them down on the desk and then stepped away once more, returning with the pitcher. He placed it on the counter of the desk and flourished slightly with his hand before taking a seat again. No reason to intimidate the poor girl. She had certainly suffered enough of a shock.

When you do not know what to say, say nothing. It was an adage she was raised to believe. It often kept her mouth from getting away from her too. But somehow saying nothing sort of felt like an insult to her once boy friend, future lover, and current... friend. Friend was what they had decided on that rainy night when Garrett had offered drinks and Ghost was almost certain he hadn't meant tea or coffee.

It took her longer than was polite to put her face back together into the shape of usual feigned bright cheer. The cheeriness was easier to slip into than most other faces, though. And she wanted to not look shell shocked when he came back, pitcher in hand. And of course he had to make the ghost joke.

She slipped her shoes off at the door and walked with flower meadow touched feet. She wasn't leaving a dirt trail, but her tootsies weren't exactly company worthy in their cleanliness. Ghost sidled up to the desk holding up her meager bouquet to the cups, trying to decide it the water glasses were for the people to sip on or for the flowers. Also, the pitcher could have been what he had intended her to stick the flowers in, but she hadn't left them with long enough stems for that. Choices, choices.

"You have to tell me what he does." It would be likely that she would not be here when Sebastian returned from his errand, whatever it might be. "Sniff them, enjoy looking at them, or eat them... Maybe all three, but the order is important." Because looking at them while munching on one was different from just plain enjoying the view.

Ghost decided on using a cup. Not the ice cup, but a cup all the same. What she was really doing was stalling. Once she had the flowers in the cup and had fluffed them somewhat, there was nothing left to distract her from the man behind the desk.

"I am sorry for the trouble that destroying Haywire might have caused you, but thank you anyway.. for doing what the X-men couldn't." Maybe they would have gotten there, maybe not. By the time she'd helped David track it down, it was out of the building and rerouted, then just as suddenly off the map.

She was so very thankful that he had averted the future where where out of the so many bad things that happened, perhaps their coming together wasn't all bad. It was his future self that she had a hard time not seeing when she looked at Garret with his stubbly hair. And it was hard to not want to rub her hands on it. That was something the future her was allowed, but at present was not polite between friends on ground washed clean and new.

With his return and bringing of water, Garrett noticed that Maya had done a stellar job of containing her emotions. She was always very good at that. He was happy to see her and his infectious smile could not be contained. Nor would he attempt to contain it. Life was precious and the love of a friend was something never to toy with. She was looking over the choices he had given her for the flowers. He knew that the space of the activity gave her a mundane task to keep her attention, rather than stare into his eyes. It was similar to smoothing her skirt out.

"You have to tell me what he does. Sniff them, enjoy looking at them, or eat them... Maybe all three, but the order is important." he nodded." Of course I will. I'm sorry if my appearance threw you a curve. I hope it's a happy surprise." He filed his papers together and lifted them on their edge, tapping them into a neat pile before placing them to the side. She had a look like a poor child in a candy store might, eyes perusing something that appeared out of reach, yet remained tantalizing and desirable. Garrett wasn't one to be a scrooge. The sparkle gleamed in his eye as he leaned his head forward toward her. "Go ahead, it's soft. If anyone deserves to feel my new hair, it would be you."

"I am sorry for the trouble that destroying Haywire might have caused you, but thank you anyway.. for doing what the X-men couldn't." Garrett never expected so much as a pat on the back for what he had done. Someone had to take the fall, to push beyond the barriers. Millions would survive and live on their lives without so much of an inkling of the great disaster that had been averted. He just wasn't the ticker tape type. " You know, the more I look at it, the more I see it. You two are a match made in heaven. Sebastian keeps tripping over himself with apologies and amendments as well. It really isn't necessary. There's really no use in all of this sadness and apology. Let's just be happy that none of it happened." He looked down at the the desk and fiddled with his pen, before raising his head and looking back into the pools of warm molasses. " Of course, I am glad that some of it did. I will always have the future to remember."

He invited her to touch it. She only hesitated a breath before closing that distance and rubbing her cool fingers along Garrett's scalp. It was soft and prickly in the way that short hair could be sometimes. It made her smile and remember how Garrett had liked her running her fingers through his hair in the future. A thought that surfaced with muddled feelings.

He seemed quite content to talk to the second to last button on her blouse. Match made in heaven? That wasn't exactly the response she was expecting. "I didn't mean it as an apology. It was supposed to be more gratitude than apology." And if he misunderstood that then that was probably because she had resisted bowing. It really cleared up things once people saw the right kind of bow.

After one last good scrub, she let him have his head back. "I am happy that none of it happened." She bristled defensively. "And you are too otherwise you wouldn't have done it." Obviously things were changing already. There was no reason to run off to Europe if the Gulf Stream stayed as steady as ever. And it seemed that it would now that the mutant accidents that supposedly lead up to it's collapse were averted with the destruction of Haywire.

Ghost leaned back against the desk corner and turned back to fluff the backside of the flowers. In all honesty the cup could use a few more.

"Of course, I am glad that some of it did. I will always have the future to remember."

She glanced back at him and he looked quite serious. A sigh. "But it's a future averted. I'm not sure any of those events will come to pass." There was no emphasis on the any, but he should know that without events playing out as they had and with her current affairs she couldn't quite envision any of those future rendezvous happening. Ghost plucked out a sweet little buttercup and tucked it behind Garrett's ear. Just for funzies.

Her small and light fingers caressed his scalp. The blistering cold of the Arctic blew across his neck, allowing a small shiver.With one touch, he knew that he would never be over her. No longer would he pine from afar, nor would he make a play in what appeared to be a burgeoning bond between his friends. He would always love her, though. Time could go whichever way it liked."I didn't mean it as an apology. It was supposed to be more gratitude than apology."

Always the ambassador. She put up her wall of explanation immediately, as thick and impermeable as a wall of fog." The X-Men do what they can.They certainly train enough.""I am happy that none of it happened.And you are too otherwise you wouldn't have done it."Garrett knew why he had done it. To be honest, I never thought about anyone else when I did what I did. I only thought about the monastery and so many emissaries of peace, along the treasured waterfalls and simple corridors. Great men and women who would never be slaughtered like pigs by an impotent Chinese dictator. I thought about the irony of genocide when it is turned one way or another. It is no better for humans than it would be for us." He closed his eyes and pressed fist into open palm, honoring his master and his brothers and sisters.

The still pools of honey looked back at him at his mention of the future, but her face echoed his own acceptance of its place in another time."But it's a future averted. I'm not sure any of those events will come to pass." Garrett nodded in agreement and smiled at her as she tucked the flower behind his ear." You are alive, though. And now we have ten years to ensure you don't dissipate and suffer the way you did. If I have to resign our time together as memory, I would do so a thousand times so that you might experience a full and happy life, whoever it might be with." It was true. Seeing her now and feeling her solid fingers touch him without strain or duress was worth everything he could lose. Besides, if it was a dream, why worry?

It was kind of humorous to hear him in one breath say that he didn't think of anyone, and yet in the next breath dedicate his actions to the future people he wished to save. He did it for someone. Lots of someones, actually. Probably for all the someones even if he wasn't going to admit it.

"You are alive, though."

"To be fair, I'm not sure that I was ever not alive in the ten years or even in the time after the Controlled Burn." She teased. It wasn't as awkward as she'd imagined it. The passage of time, or at least perceived passage of time, coupled with current and future events made it hard to be mad at him. Not that she had been mad at him... more scared.

He just left after the Brawl. And then he joined the Order and did who knows what until after the future dream. At that time, he had talked and Ghost had listened, but they hadn't gotten anywhere. He was lost to her and would probably remain that way.

She'd been shown how very quickly his mind could change about anything, including herself. He just didn't seem to understand what had been wrong and she didn't have the courage to explain it. In the end they had just let go... at least, she had. And she hoped one day he would too.

And yet here he was like a breath of the old Garrett, almost like his scary days had never passed. "I would rather avoid fading this time around." But she wouldn't exactly call it suffering. More prolonged numbness. "I'm not sure where to start looking in to that issue, but we do have time. Not a full ten years, but still..." Her hand passed over the spot at her ribs that always grew cold at Sebastian's healing touch. The bullet. She couldn't remember if it'd been there in the future or not.

"To be fair, I'm not sure that I was ever not alive in the ten years or even in the time after the Controlled Burn." True that. Who knew what was real anymore? Garrett could see the look in her face. She desperately wanted to change the subject and move away from his eyes. He really had to get over her, somehow. The closest he had ever come to moving on was his mention of a rain check to Jaxon Kane. The torch he was carrying was becoming dead weight. If the future taught him anything, it was the precious delicacy of the present.

The mention of those times and his desire to help in the moving process spurned a question of his own. " Do you ever wonder if Jude is real? I have been trying to resist the urge to look for Pete. Of course, everything we do now changes things, so maybe those things are best left untouched.""Lots of things were better that way. "I would rather avoid fading this time around. I'm not sure where to start looking in to that issue, but we do have time. Not a full ten years, but still..." Their seated and standing positions were odd. Garrett stood and walked over to the door, opening it to allow fresh air in. They could both appreciate that.

" Sebastian will probably be gone for a bit and I'm sure he will know who the flowers are for. Why don't we go have our drinks now? It can be tea, coffee, or any other beverage that suits you. Food wouldn't kill me, either." As a matter of reflex, anyone's touch brought on their neural map now, if even for a momentary recognition of systems. Garrett could see a spot in her chest, near where her fingers were touching, that was an anomaly in what he had seen before. Was she injured? Perhaps they could talk about it on the way.

"Do you ever wonder if Jude is real?"

The thought was a little startling. Of course she had never wondered if he were real. He was. She had touched him and known him... in a time that would never be maybe but it was no less real, right? She never once considered that their younger tagalongs were fiction. "If they do exist, they would already. Jude would be... wow, nine years old."

Talk about robbing the cradle! And if her memories were correct and the past that was now had played out as it did in that future up until the time that they changed it... Jude was in England somewhere in the foster system. "It would it be all kinds of wrong to go over and adopt him, wouldn't it?"

That didn't mean that the idea wasn't firmly fixed in her mind that she needed to visit Europe now. She had to tell anyone she could find that Haywire was gone. The crisis had been averted. That much she already had planned. But now she wanted to spy on Jude. To make sure he was real... and that everything was going well for his real, nine year old self.

"Food doesn't sound so horrible." And tea very rarely sounded horrible. Ghost pushed away from the desk and went to slip her shoes back on. No shirt, no shoes... "Your pick? I've been most places right around the store."

"If they do exist, they would already. Jude would be... wow, nine years old. It would it be all kinds of wrong to go over and adopt him, wouldn't it?" Garrett had never realized the age difference was so great between Maya and Jude. Of course, the last time he was anywhere near Jude for long, the only thing he could recall was a couch. His mind fought hard to not give his eyes away on that one." I suppose anything is possible now. I am sure you would make a great Mom to someone."

Enough of that. She was ready to go and he was very ready. Of course, she deferred to him on the destination. It almost seemed like he could catch aglimpse of impish delight in her eyes, considering her knowledge of his distaste for making choices like that. " Funny, I would think since you know the area best, you would make the best choice. I am more interested in the coffee aspect of the equation, personally. So, where has the best coffee?" it was a not so subtle deflection of the topic. Besides, another annoying trait would only make his candidacy for more than friendship further in her mind. Can you go farther than deep space?

Garrett stepped out onto the stoop and held the door open for her, keys in hand. Sebastian had his own and there was no need for squatters or others to help themselves while they were gone. Most mutants could find their own way in, if it was that important. he suspected flak for deferral, so he tried to soften it up a bit." I feel like a visitor again in the big city, so why not let a local show me around?" Lame. But maybe it would work.

"I think I'd make a lovely mother too." She grinned at the back of his head as he locked up, but there was enough smile in her voice that he need not even actually see it to know of its existence. "But I still have plenty of growing up left to do before all that." Ghost never imagined herself married to anyone let alone with child or raising a child. All those things were far off in her future.

Ghost wrinkled her nose at Garrett dodging out of restaurant choice. Some people were just so indecisive. It was sort of nice to be able to wrinkle her nose at someone, though.

"Fine, fine." She waved the excuses out of the air with her grimy hands as if they were offensive things out to take away her decisiveness. "There is a cafe with a terrace. Aurum said the coffee was nutty or robust or something. I think it's foul, but you might like it." Ghost liked the cafe with the terrace because of the outside tables and the lattice that was covered in ivy and some small white flower.

It was also just about half way between the store and the clinic. Not too close back to home base. Ghost opened the wrought iron fence to let herself in and continued to hold it open for Garrett. "The upstairs terrace is nice or the tables out here are fine by me. Unless you're too much a tourist and can't find them, of course." There was a flash of pink tongue as she closed the gate. Surely he wouldn't object to outside since he had suggested it for fresh air.

The place was a classic French-American bistro. Baguettes, coffee, wine and some simple pasta or chicken dishes. It seemed more focused on drinks and desserts than actual food, but that was also fine by Ghost. They had excellent fruit tartlets and a rather decent wait staff.

"I think I'd make a lovely mother too."

Of course she would. The idea had crossed his mind at least a dozen times in Antarctica, but any chance of that now went the way of the polar bears. He could hear happiness and warmth in her voice as she agreed with him and then went on to explain that motherhood was far down the line from this point in time. At least she was pleasant and the initial ice had been broken. Garrett suspected(hoped?) that the two of them would become much better friends now that everything else had passed.

It appeared that his feeble deflection had somehow been effective and he no longer had to choose. This was a good thing. He had made enough choices lately and was no longer interested, even in the choice of wall colors. That is why Garrett had defaulted all decorative options of the office to Sebastian. He would probably then default to Maya. She was bubbling about the coffee and someone named Aurum's opinion." Who's Aurum?" Maybe an employee of hers.

In a return gesture of his own opening of doors, she now swung the small gate open for him. He made a small flourish with his hand." Why thank you, young lady." He looked around at the place as she spoke of its terraces and she also flung the tourist comment back at him. Garrett stuck his hands in his pockets and made a decision. " Upstairs seems nice. A better view and some more privacy. Lead the way, librarian." Poking fun at each other felt nice.

Aurum? Heh. It was sort of funny for Garrett not to know. It was something so much a part of her every day life that it was just wrong for Garrett not to know. "Aurum is my full time barista... barrister... coffee man, you know. We work together just about every day." And he, like Shin, had become a trusted friend because of it. He even came to save her from the green eyed man.

She of course, explained all of this in her best librarian voice on their way to the top terrace. The breeze was better up there. It was a good choice.

Ghost took her seat in a chair near the wrought iron fence meant to keep casual passersby from falling off the roof. It wasn't all that child friendly with the broken glass bottles. It was meant to keep the pigeons at bay, but they found other places to perch and leave their presents. The green wine bottles reflected the light of the day's sun.

The waitress was cute in her green and white stripped half-apron. Her hair was brown and cut in harsh but fashionable lines. Ghost ordered a spinach quiche, lemon iced tea, and berry bread pudding. She wasn't feeling the tartlet today. "So you're business partners with Sebastian? Friends too..." It wasn't all that strange that they had become friends. Maybe it was Sebastian who had brought him out of the dark place. Or maybe it was Garrett, himself, he seemed to be made of shifting sands.

"Aurum is my full time barista... barrister... coffee man, you know. We work together just about every day." Garrett vaguely remembered a man behind the coffee counter when he had visited Maya before all of this occurred. He just took him as some random employee, a piece of background scenery. It put things into perspective more for him. He really had been away from her a long time.Just because she had been on his mind and in his life in a dream was hardly enough for him to think that they had a healthy, friendly relationship. "Oh, yeah. I vaguely remember him."

They took their seats at a table. The upstairs terrace was a lovely idea, as the weather was nice and the breeze blew over them. The waitress took Maya's order, which seemed hearty by her standards. " Coffee. Big one." He made a gesture with his hands to indicate a big one. The waitress started to spin through the grand list of blends, flavors, and the like. Garrett just put his hand up to her." I trust you. I am sure you have excellent taste." The waitress seemed pleased by the comment, smirked slightly, and went on her merry way. This put the two friends back into conversation time.

"So you're business partners with Sebastian? Friends too..." Garrett tapped his fingers along the table's surface, his eyes scanning the perfect clouds. " You know what's funny about that? We barely knew each other prior to the KP incident. He worked in the Infirmary next door to my office at the Sanctuary. I felt drawn to him after seeing him help you there." He tried to avoid thinking about bloody Ghost in a coat, shivering and crying." I am just a student of destiny. He asked me to help him get rid of Haywire. Of course, once I shot Syn, we were bound together by infamy. He saved my life when I made it back here. He's an amazing man. Abyss just about beat me to death for killing his sister." He looked back over to find the waitress, not so smirky anymore as she nervously set his coffee down.

So until Sebastian healed her... they had hardly spoken. That probably didn't mean anything. They would have met some day anyway. "Sebastian has saved me a few times now." She was trying to make less of it by vaguing it up a bit. It had been more than once, but physically not more than twice.

Ghost reached across the table to cover the tap, tap, tapping finger. Nervous? The nerve man? Nah. She cleared her hands off the table in preparation for the approaching waitress. It looked like she at least had their drinks.

"...He asked me to help him get rid of Haywire. Of course, once I shot Syn, we were bound together by infamy. He saved my life when I made it back here. He's an amazing man. Abyss just about beat me to death for killing his sister."

And he tried to make less of his situation by casualizing it. The waitress wasn't the only one surprised. "Whoa." Ghost caught a dipping cup before hot coffee was spilled all across Garrett's lap and set the cup in front of the man, the murderer, sitting across the table from her.

"He's just being melodramatic." She hoped. The waitress nodded a little too swiftly, fashionable hair swinging as she placed Ghost's quiche and tea in front of her and made herself exceedingly scarce.

"You are just being melodramatic, right? Syn's not really dead?" Not that the woman was a friend of Ghost's, but if she was dead that made Garrett a murderer. A casual murderer by his tone. Of course why else would he say it...? "It's hard to believe you shot her... or anyone shot her for that matter." She was the dark queen of the violent New York rabble. To casually talk about her death in bright light over quiche and caffeine was a strange juxtaposition. It just felt very far away and unreal.