Somehow... this wasn't what Andrea had expected.

Upon returning home from the hospital, she hadn't expected to find Alli sitting in her room, hunkered down on her bed like she had been living there for the past month. She also didn't expect to receive a verbal pounding from the slim girl, or and emotional breakdown after. She... really hadn't thought her friendship meant that much to the girl. She had been wrong, or course. Alli spent an hour looking her over, examining stitches, remarking on what the wounds on her head looked like under her hair, and attempting to wrestle the bandages off of Sloth's body.

Eventually the girl got tired fell asleep next to Andrea in her bed. The Greek had never been so happy in all her life to hear silence. Nothing. Unfortunately, as much of a blessing as it was, it also left room for sleep to wiggle its way behind her eyes and tempt her. Andrea fear it about as much as she feared being alone.The darkness behind her eyes was fraught with horrid memories and cold sweats... she did not wish to go there anytime soon. With a wince, she propped herself up in bed and cast a tired glance at the girl snoring softly beside her. She smiled, and carefully clambered out of bed.

Since she had gotten home she had been rather obsessed with keeping the light in her room on. As well as stashing away all of the pills she had been given. A short trip to the infirmary had ended with her arms laden with painkillers and things she had never even heard of before. She was more than a little frightened of trying them... As such, she had chosen to skip doses when she could, and some pain killers were ignored all together. She tried to think back to what Jorge had said, and clung to it desperately. Once she was off the meds the dreams would stop. The gorgon eyed a little orange bottle on her dressed, and chose to ignore it. It was for her various wounds, to numb everything... or so she assumed. She was determined to recover as fast as possible, and never think of the incident again.

Andrea paused by her bedroom door when she heard the blue scaled mutant on her bed mumble and roll over. She spared a soft giggle, then departed into the hallway. It was still light enough out that she didn't feel the claws of fear gripping her heart quite as hard as they normally did. She was hungry, but had all but banned herself from the kitchens. Someone had put work into cleaning up the horrid mess she had made, and she didn't feel like chancing anything. Instead, she shuffled through her wallet to see how much savings she had left. Not very much, but it would do. As she padded out toward the golden doors, she finalized her decision on what she wanted. She wanted ice cream, and she knew just the place for it...

Sleeping is lame, especially when it has to happen at night.

Why, you ask?

Because there are more important things for aspiring superheroes to be doing in the dark of night. That's when crime happens the most, after all, so that's when the Order should be most active in protecting those within its territory from villainy and scum. As an Order member (albeit the youngest and least-informed one), Kaitlyn occasionally felt obliged to patrol the streets of central Brooklyn at night. The other Order members were probably already doing stuff like this, or so Kaitlyn assumed, so why shouldn't she?

The youngest Orderling had been acting as a vigilante for almost a month, now, entirely of her own volition, keeping the streets safe from robbers, muggers, and (if she needed to blow off steam) the occasional jaywalker or litterer. Occasionally, she thought about all of the normal kids of the world, with their normal parents in normal homes, living normal lives at normal schools and going to bed at normal times. Those normal kids didn't have to fight for anything; they had nice parents who cut the crust off of the bread in the sandwiches for school lunches, celebrated birthdays, and gave gifts on Christmas.

Kaitlyn was much cooler than any of those kids, because she was a superhero and they weren't.

This is why Kaitlyn was awake this late, dressed in dark clothing and black sneakers that blended in with the night, heading straight for the street.

On the way, the ten-year-old spied a green-skinned mutant who very closely resembled Andrea. Clearly, this was not Andrea herself, because Andrea had a bunch of snakes on her head. This one just had lumps on her head with stitches in them. Right where Andrea's snakes were supposed to be. But that was okay, because as Kaitlyn closed the distance between herself and this newcomer, she would come to realize that this poor, broken, miserable-looking creature couldn't possibly be

“...Andrea?” Kaitlyn didn't want to believe what she was seeing. “What happened!?”

Lacking her coat, she felt more or less naked out on the street. skin peeking out from under a shirt that was much to big for her, and a legs peeking out from under shorts that were becoming far to tight. Fingering her glasses momentarily, Andrea's attention was everywhere but the one place if should have been. She was eying the shadows, the people who happened to be on the street, her toes wiggling below her in her sandals... she didn't even hear someone approaching her.

"Andrea?"

The Greek jumped like someone had electrocuted her, and flipped around in the air to face the owner of the voice, just as she finished what she was saying. She was proud of herself for not outright screaming... but didn't deserve a pat on the back seeing as it was only due to her breath being caught in her throat. Her hand went to her chest, fingers clasped dramatically in the fabric of her shirt and she blinked at the girl like a deer caught in headlights.

Then she remembered who it was. "Kaitlyn?! What are you doing out here? This is-..." She forced herself to take a breath, dropped the motherly tone, and ran a hand through her snake-less hair. Which hurt... a lot. She winced before continuing. "Sorry...I-...i'm a little jumpy. This is not the type of place to walk around in the streets by yourself, though.." She barely felt safe walking around in the daylight anymore, let alone at night time. What was a child doing out by herself?

Touching her scalp tenderly, Andrea chewed on her bottom lip and eyed the girl. What was she supposed to say to the girl, when it came to why all of her little serpents were missing? She was drawing a blank, and that left her with the truth. Luckily for her... Sloth chose to wiggle around on her shoulders until he was free enough to see kaitlyn. His pink tongue flicked out, and he reached the length of his body out toward her. Andrea let her hand rest on his body... just in case, and licked her lips. "...Oh... I was going to go get some ice cream. Would you like to come with me Kaitlyn?" She wasn't about to let the girl wander around alone, now that she knew she was out here. Andrea adopted a nervous little smile, and tucked her other hand into her pocket.

Andrea was acting... weird, to say the least. With a concerned look on her face, Kaitlyn watched the green mutant go from completely surprised at the child's very presence, to maternal and protective, to apologetic, all in a matter of seconds. And Kaitlyn's question never really got an answer; Andrea just stood there for a second, with her biggest, and only remaining hair-snake poking its head out at the little redhead.

It wouldn't have taken an expert to figure out that something was wrong with Andrea right now.

>>"...Oh... I was going to go get some ice cream. Would you like to come with me Kaitlyn?"

Well, Kaitlyn was going to do her aspiring-superhero-patrol-thing, but...

“Sure!”

She didn't need much persuading when ice cream was involved. Besides, Andrea was nice, and she looked like she needed some protecting right now. And the last two times Kaitlyn went on her nightly crusades against villainy, she never found anything worth stopping. This sounded like a lot more fun than just walking around alone for a while.

Kaitlyn allowed Andrea to lead the way for a while, then she piped up again: “So, what happened to your snake-hair?”

The girl accepted, and Andrea nodded and managed a real, if timid, smile. it wold be nice at least, to have someone she was comfortable with by her side... Even if she would have to stare into the shadows ten times harder now, because of the paranoid gripping the back of her neck. She could handle getting attacked... damage done to her person was painful and traumatic, but she could handle it... mostly... but Kaitlyn? Andrea would never forgive herself if an innocent child were harmed in her company.

"Okay then... we shall go get ice cream. I know a nice little place where they let you put anything you want on your cone." Yes... that would be nice. A cheerful distraction from pain medication and broken parts. As if to remind her of her condition, her ankle twanged painfully. Ever the trooper, or stubborn fool, Andrea chose to ignore the pain and instead lifted a hand to scratch at her shoulder. The bandaged, stitched wound underneath itched something horrible, and since she refused to take the medication allotted to her, she was doomed to suffer with occasional throbbing pain and near constant itching.

“So, what happened to your snake-hair?”

She cringed, and attempted to cover it up with a little nervous laugh. Kaitlyn was a child... ever curious, and full of questions. She couldn't blame her either... The last time she had seen her, her hair had been alive with angry, hissing snakes. A ball of fear and worry knotted itself together in her stomach, and she unconsciously gripped at her shoulder. "Well... Kaitlyn, I ran into a very, very bad man." Or a lion... most likely both. She shivered, not wishing to think back on the incident. Each cut... the feeling of a blade sinking into her shoulder... A large cats tongue eagerly lapping away blood and sweat. A shudder rolled down her spine, and she gulped to clear her throat of the lump that had formed in it. "I met a very bad man, and he... hurt me."

How was one supposed to explain such a thing to a child? Her lips thinned out into a little line, and she sucked in a shaky breath. Time to put on the reassuring smile, and lighten the mood. "But it's okay. I got away, and a very good friend of mine, an officer, is going to find him before he can hurt anyone else." She nodded, more to reassure herself than Kaitlyn, and cleared her throat. "Say, what kind of ice cream do you like best?"

>>"Well... Kaitlyn, I ran into a very, very bad man... I met a very bad man, and he... hurt me."

Andrea had to struggle to even say that much, pausing here and there just to shudder. Though she would never willingly admit it to anyone, least of all herself, Kaitlyn knew something about how Andrea felt. She'd been there before. She went there whenever she thought about her old home, or about her father. Those were memories that she could do without.

>>"But it's okay. I got away, and a very good friend of mine, an officer, is going to find him before he can hurt anyone else."

The little redhead looked up at Andrea, seeing her own warped reflection in the gorgon's sunglasses, observing the smiles that they each made a conscious effort to display.

>>"Say, what kind of ice cream do you like best?"

Kaitlyn took a few moments to think about this, bringing her hand to her chin and letting out a low “hmm...” as she did so, just to show how mentally invested she was in this decision. Once this question had received due deliberation, she spoke: “Pistachio! I got some of that kind by sneaking around in the kitchen once, and it was awesome.”

A few moments of silence followed. Then, suddenly, Kaitlyn seized Andrea in a hug, stopping both of them in their tracks.

She chuckled, listening to the girl explain why she liked that particular flavor of ice cream. "Sneaking, huh? Why were you sneaking?"

She tried her best to angle a motherly frown at Kait, but ended up grinning instead. It sounded like what she had been doing for the past few months. Sulking around in rooms after people had vacated them, slipping into the kitchen late at night to raid the fridge when no one was looking. She toyed with the idea of reaching out put a hand gently on the girl's shoulder.. like people did in the movies when comforting someone. Like a parent to a child... but ended up fiddling with her own fingers instead. Kaitlyn had her own family somewhere, her own parents. She didnt' need an overly concerned freak preaching at her or acting like a-

The child turned and hugged her in one swift motion, effectively knocking all of the thoughts out of Andrea's head. She was stunned for a moment, frozen as she stared down at the top of the girls head. She was unfamiliar with such things still, hugging and holding people.. but, looking at the child she let her instincts take over and wrapped her arms gently around Kaitlyn. Her eyes slipped closed and she smiled warmly, stroking the girls hair like Andrea's mother had once done to her.

"You know what kind I like? Chocolate with gummy worms mixed in..." She found herself wondering where the child's parents were... or if she even had any, for that matter. The Greek had only ever seen Kaitlyn at the Sanctuary... and the one instance at Verdy's birthday. She opened her eyes again, and fought away the sadness that always lurked behind her heart. She had met the child on one of her happiest days, when she had been at her best. She had to live up to that... "I never knew they could do that, until I came here. Why don't we make tonight crazy ice cream night, huh? We'll eat as much as we can, until we are stuffed and can't possibly eat anymore... what do you say?"

“Sure!”

Kaitlyn looked up from her hug at Andrea, her arms slowly returning to her side. And with that, they were done talking about how she lost her snake hair. On to bigger, better, and more delicious things. Like ice cream.

“So, which ice cream place were you talking about?” Chances are, the girl already knew where it was, as well as a shortcut there. And if it was the place Kaitlyn was thinking about, she might even know the name of one of the girls who worked there at night. Molly.

Last time Kaitlyn went there, Molly gave her free ice cream! She was really nice, but she seemed kind of upset when Kaitlyn said she had to get going. The ice cream server even offered more free ice cream if she would just stay a bit longer. Really, in retrospect, the whole situation seemed a little odd to the Orderling. But free ice cream was free ice cream. Maybe she would be able to score some for Andrea, too, this time.

It was settled then!

Much ice cream would be had, and many many unwanted pounds would be dealt with later. "...The place i had in mind isn't far away from what I can remember... I went there once a while ago." Come to think of it, the name was a bit blurry on her mind.... she just couldn't quite remember.

"I've only ever been there once, but from what I can remember the people were very friendly and the ice cream was very, very tasty!" The Greek grinned at her younger companion again, tucking her hands into her pockets. It was refreshing, to say the least, being around someone who didn't make her feel silly for being...well, for being herself. She had always liked children for that reason. Thoughts of cold confections and silliness dragged her aback to memory lane, happily this time to more enjoyable instances. She remembered Aurum treating her to her very first cold treat in America... and she could partly remember going out for ice cream with Saphirus... up until everything got blurry and confusing.

"You know, when I first came here a friend of mine convinced me that the headache you get from eating too much ice cream can be deadly." She giggled at herself, and shot an embarrassed look at Kaitlyn. Inside, she wanted to honestly tell herself that she had learned more about everyday things, things that were common sense to most people at least.... but she'd be lying to herself. If anything, she had only gotten worse.

Everything was so much more confusing and stressful now... which was exactly why she was going to avoid such thoughts in Kaitlyn's company.
"Thankfully, another friend straightened that out for me."