>> “Tarin’s been telling me that almost from the day we met…But that we have to create our own sense of normalcy. This…is part of that. He’s at home right now, supposed to be napping, because the little one had us up five times last night…I know it’s not going to last, something is going to happen, but I’m loving every minute of it.”

Jorge frowned just slightly as he listened to the woman talk. It was almost good that she did not delude herself into the idea of have perfect happiness and perfect joy for the rest of her life. The problem was that it was also quite depressing. To know that no matter how happy you make yourself that life will always be there to bring you down was absolutely horrible, but it was the truth about life. Life had a tendency to knock you off your pedestal the second that you find any sort of joy.

The same thing happened to him when he was fifteen and at the beach with the girl of his dreams. That was how he both discovered he was a mutant and lost her at the same time. That was life for you.

Another drink of his water and Jorge glanced once more to the child. So much hope, so many endless possibilities and yet…what was it all for? Would the child be subjected to the same horrors of life that his mother and father had to endure? Will he become a mutant and have to face the same problems that all mutants face today? Will he turn out bad and have to one day be hunted down and arrested by an old hobbling Detective Cervantes who refused to give up his job? There were so many pathways, so many uncertainties…and yet she took it in stride.

Looking upon Lee, Jorge had to admit how much he admired the young woman. She was not going to allow herself to succumb to the depression about the unknown future, nor was she going to delude herself into believing that life was going to be happy go lucky for the rest of her days. She had experience and she learned the most important rule that anyone can learn…

“Live and enjoy life while you can,” Jorge smiled a little to himself and drank another bit of his water. “Mi padre used to tell that to me all the time when my sister and I were growing up in California. It took a long time for me to truly understand that.” He smirked a little at the memory. “Guess it was sound advice.”

As she finished speaking, Lee looked back over at Detective Cervantes. She could be wrong, but he didn’t seem overly happy to hear what she had just said.

Either that, or Lee didn’t know the man’s facial expressions very well, which she certainly didn’t. Not that it mattered all that much. Lee was happier than she ever thought she would be in the situation she was now it, happier than she thought she’d be having a family. And she had much fewer worries about her powers than she had thought she would. They were still there, of course, but there were much fewer of them.

The fact remained, something was bound to happen at some point, whether it was a spirit bursting into their lives causing problems, a zealot breaking into their apartment to hold a gun on them, or something even she couldn’t imagine at the moment. But something always happened.

Lifting her coffee cup, Lee finished what was in it, then sat there looking at the empty cup for a second. Though she was able (and willing) to drink a little more caffeine now that the baby was born, she was still no where close to her pre-pregnancy consumption levels due to the whole breastfeeding thing.

Setting the cup back on the table, Lee looked at the detective. “I should probably get going before I drink more coffee than I’m supposed to,” she informed him. “Plus, he’s probably going to be wanting fed again soon.”

The conversation had slowly slipped to a halt. It could simply be because there was really little more to discuss. She had called this meeting to learn more about Anton and what fate befell him, but there was little he could tell her. The man vanished like a sneeze in the wind. There was simply nothing else to go on, but at least there was no other proof that he was doing this to someone else. That right there would have been horrible if they could not catch him before he did it again. Then again, who’s to say that the man is even still in this city? He could be terrorizing another.

The thoughts all made Jorge just a little more glum. He really wanted to find that freakshow before he did it again. Inevitably he would do it again. Perps like that…it’s in their nature to repeat their patterns. No matter how close they came to being captured the last time, they would always continue, they could not help themselves.

And Jorge definitely wanted to bring him down. Especially for having done this to a pregnant woman. She was not hurt but still, it was a terrifying incident to live through. Who knows how far he’ll go next time. There may not be a cop stumbling onto his hideout next time to save his next victim.

But the detective had to shake these thoughts off. There was no use in over thinking the situation. He would simply have to trust that Anton’s fate could be found out in time.

Sitting there though, Lee made the first move. It was obvious that it was time to leave…

>> “I should probably get going before I drink more coffee than I’m supposed to…Plus, he’s probably going to be wanting fed again soon.”

“Oh, of course,” he said as he slipped out of the booth waved the waitress over so he could get the check. As she was ringing things up, Jorge turned back to Lee with a small smile. “You know, if you want the company, I can walk you home. It would at least help me feel like I am accomplishing my job to the fullest.”

After she said that she should probably be getting going, Detective Cervantes moved faster than she did. He was up, out of the booth, and waving over the waitress before Lee had even had a chance to stand up.

It didn’t take long for Lee to make sure she was ready to go, checking that Kevin was properly settled in his stroller, while Jorge was settling up the cheque. While she had been planning to cover the cheque, it really wasn’t worth fighting over.

It really didn’t take long for both of them to be ready to leave the diner, and Lee was getting ready to say goodbye to the detective when he offered to walk her home. “That’d be nice,” Lee said, slowly maneuvering the stroller out of the diner. Then she smile over her shoulder at Jorge. “Though how is walking me home part of your job?”

>> “That’d be nice…Though how is walking me home part of your job?”

“Oh, you know, could be dangerous pot holes, puddles, things like that,” he grinned as he walked along with her. “Or I could be simply trying to get out of returning to the precinct too soon. Stuffy in there.”

Jorge chuckled as he stepped outside with Lee and enjoyed the fresh air. Their meeting done, Jorge wanted to make sure that the young mother made it home safely. It was a simple as that. Though he knew she was not his responsibility, it really got to him that he could not capture the monster that had kidnapped her and held her for long. It many ways, when cops take cases like this, they need closure just as much as the victims. To know that because of them, because they couldn’t get there in time or because they simply could not find the perp, there was always a fear of them striking again. Of making someone else suffer or, worst of all, targeting the person they had just rescued once again. It was maddening.

So, because of this, Jorge would not hold himself personally responsible for keeping Lee safe whenever she needed the help. He hoped that she will keep him in mind and call him whenever she needed assistance.

Strolling through the streets of New York, watching every shadowy corner and keeping an eye on passing citizens, Jorge really wanted to almost chuckle at himself for how seriously he took his job. He acted more like Lee’s bodyguard than simply a cop walking her home. He definitely needed to loosen up some.

With a long breath, he smiled over at Lee, stepped over….what he hoped was old, discard burrito, and continued on by her side.

“If you don’t mind my asking,” he said, trying to continue their small talk. “Have you lived in New York long? I’ve only been here about a year, always curious how others view the city.”

Dangerous potholes and puddles. "Well, I'm glad you're here in that case," Lee said, casting a teasing smile toward the detective. "I'd forgotten how dangerous those make the walk home."

It didn't take long to make it out of the diner, and sure enough, Detective Cervantes was right there, watching out for her. Very closely, Lee noticed with a glance over her shoulder.

"I don't think you need to watch out for me that carefully, Detective," Lee said. "I think between the two of us, we'll be able to see any potholes or puddles soon enough to avoid them."

But how long had she been in the city? Frowning slightly in thought, that crease forming between her eyebrows, Lee walked in silence for a few moments as she tried to remember. "It feels like forever, in a way," she finally said. "But in a good way, if you know what I mean." Another pause as she did a bit of mental math. "I met Tarin about four years ago, had been in the city for maybe a year before that.

"But the city?" Lee went on to say. "I couldn't imagine living anywhere else."

>> "Well, I'm glad you're here in that case…I'd forgotten how dangerous those make the walk home…I don't think you need to watch out for me that carefully, Detective…I think between the two of us, we'll be able to see any potholes or puddles soon enough to avoid them."

Jorge smirked but he did not really respond to Lee’s commentary. He knew that she caught onto the bull of his excuse for walking her home. The truth was he really was just trying to watch out for her. For a moment he felt like her bodyguard, eyeing dangerous spots, keeping himself ready to pounce in case someone jumps out at them. It was his job to keep her safe and sound and all that…then again…it really wasn’t. It was just Jorge’s need to save everyone that made him want to protect her.

But…she never asked for his protection. She did not even seem all that upset or scared when he announced that Anton had not been caught yet. She just…accepted it. As it if were a normal thing she would just have to deal with rather than do anything about. That was a great way to look at life. He hoped he could keep that same optimism

It was only then, as he stepped over another fallen beer bottle, that he heard her reply to his question about New York.

>> "It feels like forever, in a way…But in a good way, if you know what I mean…I met Tarin about four years ago, had been in the city for maybe a year before that…But the city? I couldn't imagine living anywhere else."

“Five years, impressive,” Jorge said with a nod as he continued on with their casual stroll. “That’s good that you find the city so alluring. I’m…beginning to sense a bit of the magic in it myself,” he chuckled as he walked. “Though I don’t know if I will really ever get used to the winters here. Back in Miami, no matter the season it was pretty warm. Kind of difficult to have to acclimate yourself to a whole new environment after spending the majority of your life to a certain kind.”

He sighed in a reminiscent manner but that quickly evaporated as he looked about at the large buildings and the multitude of people. The sky in New York was different, he could tell that much. The buildings were taller, the sun did not shine as bright and in some places there was not as much color as Miami…but there was a still a life energy about New York. A mixing pot of cultures and lively hoods that had its own enrapturing affect.

He nodded, hands in his pockets as he mumbled. “But…the city’s really growing on me as well. I’m glad I came.”

Lee smiled as she heard the cop mention winters here. “Well, I’m not sure about actually getting used to them, but apparently they do get easier to deal with over time,” she told him. “At least it seems that way. Tarin’s from Texas, and he doesn’t complain about freezing to death at the thought of having to go outside in January nearly as much as he used to.”

It was true, Lee thought as they continued walking down the street. Each year seemed to bring at least a bit less complaining about the cold. Sure, the complaints were still there, some of them even from her on occasion, but considering the fact that when they had first met, Tarin had thought it was freezing out when it was still autumn, it was a vast improvement.

“Yeah,” Lee said with a shrug. “I’m not really sure what it is, me and Tarin can’t seem to figure it out, but there’s just something about this city. It’s…home.”

>> “Well, I’m not sure about actually getting used to them, but apparently they do get easier to deal with over time…At least it seems that way. Tarin’s from Texas, and he doesn’t complain about freezing to death at the thought of having to go outside in January nearly as much as he used to.”

Jorge grinned as he walked on, unable to shake the thought from his head. The Texan in New York trying to get used to the winters. It doubted it was much different than himself when he spent his first winter in the city. The sudden dropping of temperature daily, the need to buy new layered clothes just to go outside for the mail, the fact that he had nearly forgotten that the sky was blue because it was always gray; his first winter and Jorge had almost allowed himself to feel bleak.

But it never went to that. Luckily he had good friends and a girlfriend in order to help him cope with the fact that it was now winter in a strange city. That definitely helped in the end, to be surrounded by a new family and a new love.

>> “Yeah…I’m not really sure what it is, me and Tarin can’t seem to figure it out, but there’s just something about this city. It’s…home.”

Jorge nodded in understanding. “I get that,” he said as he walked, hands in his pockets. He had finally started to relax so he was not so jumpy around every single man or woman who crossed them. “New York does seem to have a lifeblood you don’t feel anywhere else. Not that no where can feel like home instead of New York, but…I’m in no rush to return to Miami.”

A glance into the stroller and he saw that the small Kevin was still soundly asleep. From what he had experienced before, that had to be the most well behaved child he had ever seen. Then again, most of the babies he had seen were the result of 9-1-1 calls or they needed rescuing. So, he really could not blame those children for being fussy. Kevin, though, seemed perfectly at peace with the world. Jorge hooped that feeling would stick with him.

A small contented sigh and Jorge toyed with the contents of his pockets momentarily. This was nice. It was…almost as if he were making a friend. Odd for the hard-nosed detective; well…he’d never admit it. He liked both Tarin and Lee. It was just unfortunate how he had to meet them. Hopefully such things would not follow them again. They deserved the break.

The detective seemed to understand what she was saying about New York. It really wasn’t something you could explain, you had to feel it.

Kevin was definitely being good that day. Not that he was normally a particularly bad baby or anything, but he was doing really well with not being fussy that day. Though, Lee knew, that would likely change before too much longer, since he would be starting to get hungry soon.

“So why did you decide to come to New York?” Lee asked after a few more moments of silence. “I’m not trying to pry, I’m just curious.” Cause really, he was a cop who was also a mutant. Life must have been pretty decent before he came to New York.