>>Take the day off. You work harder than I do, and this isn’t a request I see you working I’ll put you on a plane myself.

Kate smiled at the kind order. Sam was always so caring in his own way. Kate knew that for all his sweet talking and silliness he really was one of the best people she knew. It was no wonder she had had such a crush on him.

>>Well that was awkward… lot of tension between you two or something?

Her smile faded, “I don’t think he is particularly happy with me at the moment.”

>>You hungry? I could call in a pizza if you’d like?

Ahh, Pizza. The one thing that further bonded Kate and Sam together, “Sure. I have a feeling this is going to take some time and we are quickly approaching dinner for me.”

>>Been a while, next time you’d leave I’d like a little notice. Had some of us worried when you just upped and left, I take it you found what you were looking for?

“To tell you the truth I have no idea. In all actuality I think I may have gotten what I needed, but what I wanted I’m not so sure about.” Kate paused looking down at her hands as she thought of the best words to say. How do you tell a person you know cares about you like family most of the time that you’re sorry but... She took a deep breath before looking back at the handsome brown haired man across from her, “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, but I couldn’t tell you. I knew if I looked you in the eye I would lose my nerve. The letter was vague because I didn’t know where I was going and I didn’t know what I was doing so I told you everything I could. And once I was gone I didn’t call because, at first, I was scared it or you would drag me back here, and then… I got comfortable. So, I put it off and I put it off and I put it off until I couldn’t anymore. Which is where we are now.”

Kate focused her eyes on Sam’s face to watch his reaction as she spoke. She would not have been surprised at all if he turned upset at her words. She knew they were not the nicest in the world but they were the truth.

”You end up leaving on bad terms with him or something?” Sam asked curiously as his hand already reached down towards his cell phone readying a call for the meal that made everything easier to talk about. Sam smirked as he dialed the number and placed the order for the pizza, once the call was made he hung up and made note of the time difference from Rome where she was all this time. Sam continued to keep that he knew where she was and what she was doing most of the time, after all he did make the promise to keep an eye on her, it just happened to be not his eye in Rome.

Sam made note of the newly colored hair as it shook as the facial features of the owners changed as she described what had been discovered in her time away. Sam smirked at her excuse for not telling him or any others that she was leaving, he even laughed slightly when she said ‘eye’. ”Clearly you don’t know me, I’m notorious for vanishing without a trace for weeks on end. Heck we have half a dozen rooms here of people who disappear for years on end. Streak,” Sam pointed to the desk across the room from them, ”he is mansion staff and a member of the X-men vanishes for more than I can count for months on end.”

Nodding his head he concluded, ”I was tempted to drag you back from Rome but I decided to take other measures.” Sam said being vague and not looking at her as he looked down at some of the paper work and moved it from his desk to a bookshelf behind him to be filed for later.

”I figured the change of pace and being on your own was good for you, a good learning experience.” Sam paused and questioned, ”The scenery in the city was awe-inspiring wasn’t it?”

After a second passed he looked back to Kate with a mischievous smile, ”So I’m not complaining but if you aren’t sure you found what you were looking for why come back here? I take it something happened?” Sam questioned already knowing the answer to his own question seeing as Kate pointed out that only Sam could have helped her with her problem which meant it was most likely mutation related.

>>You end up leaving on bad terms with him or something?

“No. More like returned on them. He is a little upset I left in the first place.” Kate watched as Sam pulled out his phone and ordered them the pizza. Kate smiled as she thought about how he had come to save her using pizza, forsaking all injury to help her out. At the time she had really taken things like that for granted. She had been so caught up in herself she barely noticed her friends trying to support and help her though it all.

Once he placed the phone back onto the desk she tried her best to explain herself. He was one of the people that she felt she owed an explanation to and she was sure as hell going to try and give it.

>>Clearly you don’t know me, I’m notorious for vanishing without a trace for weeks on end. Heck we have half a dozen rooms here of people who disappear for years on end. Streak, he is mansion staff and a member of the X-men vanishes for more than I can count for months on end. I was tempted to drag you back from Rome but I decided to take other measures. I figured the change of pace and being on your own was good for you, a good learning experience. The scenery in the city was awe-inspiring wasn’t it?

All Kate could do was sit with her mouth open in shock at the words that had just come out of Sam’s mouth, “How did you…” As it all set in she was less surprised. Sam had defiantly lived quite a life, that was for sure, and it wasn’t hard to think that he had the resources and ability to find someone if he really wanted to. It wasn’t like she had even tried to hide where she was. She used credit cards, accessed her accounts and did everything under her actual name. If someone wanted to find her they didn’t have to look very hard. If they knew how that was.

>>So I’m not complaining but if you aren’t sure you found what you were looking for why come back here? I take it something happened?

The question pulled her from her thoughts in moments. This was it. This was what she had come here for. “I think I’m losing control of my mutation, Sam.”

”It’s hard to see anyone leave but it happens and it takes some time to get use to the idea of change.” Sam said as he nodded his head once then turned his attention to the girl. The hardest part was always to adapt to the changes that unfolded at the mansion. Sam too hated to see so much change from the first time he entered the mansion. The hardest part was the one that set some of the changes in motion.

Sam smirked when she asked the question and figured she should have known him a little better than she apparently did. He promised her mother after all and when Sam makes a promise he tends to keep, even if he has to call in a favor or two.

”Oh?” Sam asked his eyebrow rising as he focused his eye on the girl he added a tone of surprise but he wasn’t if she wasn’t working on control during her second life across the lake then it was going to become a problem if her mutations kept growing like they often do. ”I take it your power is too much for you to control sometimes?” Sam asked curiously already knowing the answer.

”You didn’t set anything on fire did you?” Sam asked teasing inappropriately trying to ease the severity of her problem.

>>Oh? I take it your power is too much for you to control sometimes? You didn’t set anything on fire did you?

Kate new that the question was joking but sadly Sam was far more right then he realized. “Actually Sam, I have. First my boyfriends bedroom and then a small café in the center of the city. The latter of the two was… well… let’s just say there were reasons that could have caused it. But the second one was completely unexpected. I was having a conversation and simply waved my hand and set the tablecloth next to us on fire. It didn’t take long for the entire table to be up in flames and the café soon followed. You know how hot my flames can be.” Kate thought back to the terrifying moment when she realized she that this was more than just her emotions getting a little lost on her. Something was greatly wrong and she knew it in her gut, “Sam this could just be growing beyond what I am capable of controlling but I really don’t think so. I have this feeling that there is something terribly wrong going on and you are the only person who can help me.” Her eyes pleaded with him to take this seriously. Kate was terrified of what was on the other side of this problem. And terrified of going the same way her father had. People these days are even less understanding then they were back then because they actually know what mutants are to the full extent of their abilities.

Kate sat in silence after the last words left her lips. All she could do was wait and see what Sam would do.

Flattered by her thought process Sam doubted he was the only one that could have helped but he was defiantly the one who most likely had an idea how to handle the growth seeing as their abilities were so similar. ”Was anyone injured?” Sam asked curiously hoping the answer was no. The last thing he wanted on Kate’s plate was the death of someone she seemed to be doing well since the death of her mother.

Sam nodded his head slightly familiar with the lack of control over a mutation. He had seen it before and had experienced it before as well. His heat sense still goes out of control every now and then and when he first grew into his mutation, it made it impossible to get close to people without freezing them solid and that was only the first time he lost control.

”Time,” Sam said as he looked to Kate trying to cheer her up slightly, ”will be easiest way to discover the control you need.” Sam looked down and lifted his hand up a block of ice small and cool quickly formed in his hand. Perfectly cubed Sam set it on the desk to his right and looked back at Kate. ”Five years ago if I tried creating this half the room would have been covered in frost. Two years ago the object would have fell apart or melted the second I looked away from it.”

Picking up the cube Sam tossed it behind him and seconds the construct broke apart and shattered before it hit the books behind him. ”Think of it like a pet. If I didn’t give Bruno give him exercise he’d have all that pent up energy and when I least expect I’d walk into my room with it half chewed and completely destroyed.” Sam thought for a second hoping the analogy he stated made sense.

”What I’m trying to say is there is nothing wrong with you, you just need to discover what the problem is. Normally I’d say let’s recreate the scenes that caused you to lose control but…” Sam smirked, ”I got a feeling this is just emotion based. Which has happened to me as well once or twice.”

>>Was anyone injured?

“Thankfully no but I don’t know if that will be the case next time. That’s why I’m here. I couldn’t live with myself if something like what happened to my dad happens. Sure he was the only one hurt then but he was lucky he only melted a statue.” Kate’s face was serious and covered with a mixture of terror and concern. She had always been so afraid of hurting someone and as of right now it was more than a possibility.

>>Time will be easiest way to discover the control you need. Five years ago if I tried creating this half the room would have been covered in frost. Two years ago the object would have fell apart or melted the second I looked away from it.

“But Sam.. I had control. I had a lot of control because I am always so scared of losing it. With my mutation it only takes one slip up to kill someone. I mean I maimed my nurse maid when I was 12. This isn’t just growth or something like that. This is different and I can feel it.” Kate truly was desperate. Every moment of every day she could feel the elemental inside of her… a part of her, but latly it felt different. It felt frantic and detached. Something was wrong and something told her it was only going to get worse.

>>What I’m trying to say is there is nothing wrong with you, you just need to discover what the problem is. Normally I’d say let’s recreate the scenes that caused you to lose control but… I got a feeling this is just emotion based. Which has happened to me as well once or twice.

“Sam…” Tears started to form in her eyes. Something she found herself powerless to prevent no matter how much she wanted to stay strong, “I’m so very afraid. I know you are one of the only people I can’t hurt. I could kill you but I know you can stop me before it makes it.” Kate looked out the large windows of the office and paused for a moment, “I’m sure you are more than right. I mean I thought I had gotten all of that stuff in check but I could be wrong. I was in such a dark and terrible place when I left here that it is hard to say if it is all gone.” She looked back at him hoping he had the words she needed to hear. She hoped that he could tell her it would all be alright and she would believe it. But sadly she was starting to wonder if it would really all be okay.

Sam shook his head slightly as he looked to the girl who was on the verge of tears before he finally saw the tears form. ”You misunderstand, you had control but then your mutation grew, what I was getting at with my ice box, our powers constantly grow, they take new shapes and continue to manifest in different ways. What I’m trying to say is you simply need to recover control over you gifts.” he silenced himself as she continued on to show how afraid of herself she had become.

”Your not the only one that could kill if you lost control Kate,” Sam said trailing off letting her figure out what he meant by his statement. Sam shook his head, ”The dark your talking about never really leaves us, we learn from it and adapt. A los—“ Sam caught himself and shook his head, ”What you went through you shouldn’t have to runaway from, you need to accept it, it is a part of life just like growing up is.”

Before she could look away from his direction to the window Sam stood and closed the distance walking around the desk till he had his hand on her shoulder and he felt the heat her body gave off. She had control yes but with Sam’s sensitivity to sudden changes in temperature he could feel her heat she was warmer than most.

Sam looked to the clock behind his head and nodded his head, ”Alright how about you and me go to the danger room and we can really see what has changed. Sides I think the pizza is here.” he paused and put his other hand on her oppisite shoulder and smiled, ”Cheer, up we can figure this out alright? Now let’s see a smile?”

Kate looked up at him with tears still in her eyes and sniffled listening closely to him musing. He was right. She was probably panicking over nothing. Her powers have always been a little wonky and this could be just want he says. They are growing and that was all. Soon she would have a grasp on them again and everything would be fine. She had loosened up a lot lately after all.

And he was right once again. She knew that other people were just as deadly as her and sure she had really only met Sam but there had to be others. Sure she had done terrible things accidentally but by what she knew so had Sam.

Kate looked straight into Sam’s eyes as he placed his hand on her shoulder. His touch was cold in comparison to her own skin and it sent a chill down her spin and she shivered ever so slightly. I took a deep breath and tired to ignore it. She had once had a silly school girl crush on this man but now she was in a serious relationship and Albert was all that mattered. She was not going to let herself get pulled in by that silly smile and bright blue eyes again. She shivered again as his second hand hit her shoulder and tried her best to cover it up. The last thing she needed was for Sam to go all smart ass on her. She smiled weakly and shook her head in agreement. The only thing she could do was try and fix it with some practice. She had come for that after all. She had come to let Sam help her out of this rut and that is just what she was going to let him do. “Sounds like a plan. I am rather hungry and working on some stuff in the danger room can’t hurt right?” She surged and stood waiting for him to lead the way.

Walking out of his office Sam made sure Kate was close behind as Sam continued, ”Here I thought that was the main reason you came back, not many places in the world like the Danger Room. Right? Can turn your flame on and off without burning anything or anyone?” Sam asked curiously as they headed toward the front door walking past a few kids who gave a look in awe as Kate walked by with a new hair color. ”This place is safe.” Sam summed up to himself more than to Kate.

Rounding the corner Sam opened the front door and saw another student walking with his boxes of pizza he had just ordered for himself and Kate. He knew he was the one who ordered it solely because the kid walking with it looked like he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to. ”I believe those are mine.” Sam said as he walked closer. It was Shane a mutant Sam had brought in off the streets who wasn’t able to keep his feet on the ground he was what Sam called an air walker. “Sam I uh…” before he could argue Sam patted the kid on the head before scooping the pizza boxes away from him. ”Thanks Shane!” Sam said as he continued on.

Once in the elevator Sam looked back to Kate and smiled, ”It’s good to have you back though, even if it is just for a while.” the elevator doors shut with a ding and opened with one. Walking onto the metallic surface Sam headed to the danger room. The doors opened with a whoosh and they entered Sam opened the box and offered a slice to Kate as they walked further into the room till they were at the center.

”So where you want to start?” Sam asked as he removed a slice of pizza for himself and took a bite of it.

"I know it's safe. That's why I chose to come back to it. That and you. I know that I could have problems here and not be persecuted or judged for it and you would help me with them." Kate was oblivious to the onlookers as they walked through the hall. She had always known that she was pretty but she had never really known how much so, and the blonde hair kind of just added to that, "And in all truth I haven't really tried to work with my flames much lately. I have done the basic release every day but that was always minor and I have only ever lost control of that maybe once. It grew a little bigger then I had intended."

Kate chuckled as she watched Sam take their pizzas away from an unexpecting student who had thought he had gotten pizza without needing to call only moments earlier. Some things never seemed to change. Sam was always so great with every kid in this place. He had this way of being both their friend and in charge all at the same time. Kate smiled fondly as she reminised in her own head and heard nothign that Sam said to her, if he said anything that was. She wasn't really sure is he had or not.

The ding of the elevator brought her back to earth just in time to hear Sam speaking to her, "I'm happy to be back. And I have no idea how long it will be. I mean I do have Juliard if I want to go. but I don't know how long I will be here and I dont' wnat to take the spot of some other student if I am only going to leave." Kate shifted awkwardly not sure what he was going to say about the school thing. She knew he would want her to go but she didn't realy want him to guilt her into it. If she was going to go to school then she had to do it for herself, not him.

Kate took the slice of pizza and thought about Sam's question, "I dont' know really. Where do you think we shoudl start? You are the expert after all." She took a bite of her pizza as she waited. It was barely warm, but she didn't' risk heating it in-case something went wrong and she lit Sam on fire.

The pizza was devoured in a matter of seconds, Sam was hungry after all and it was easy enough to replace. Another slice in hand Sam gestured forward with his hand and took a step back, ”No expert, just went through some similar things. Some things…” he paused for a second took a bite and then added, ”Nothing wrong with an education,” another bite, ”But you can make your own decisions, if you have a spot left for you at Julliard it is because you deserved it.” Sam took another bite and then raised his shoulders in a shrug.

”How about we start with the basics?” Sam asked as he walked closer to the boxes of pizza that were now in the center of the room and removed another slice before turning and hoping from step to step creating a few feet in distance. ”Let’s see a flame? Should be simple enough right?” Sam asked, ”Or did you get a little too rusty enjoying the luxuries in Rome?”

He took another bite of his pizza and added, ”Have been there before, I know the scenery can get a bit distracting.” Sam smirked and quickly closed his good eye playing a wink if she could recognize it. ”Just show me what you can do, ya?”

Kate smiled at Sam’s kindness. He was right. She had worked her ass off to earn that spot and she should probably keep it. It meant that she wouldn’t be back in Italy till at least December but that was a sacrifice she could probably live with. There was the American Thanksgiving vacation to do a short visit after all. Not to mention Albee could always come to New York if he really wanted to. He had offered before she had even left. That had to mean that he was willing to if need be. She made a mental note to call him later and talk to him about Julliard and the possibility that she would be here longer then she had originally told him.

“Sure,” Kate smirked at him knowing she hadn’t gotten that bad while she was doing her growing up. Sure she had spent a lot of time shopping and going out and hanging in. She hadn’t had much time to do real practice of her power. Not to mention that there weren’t many places that a fire elemental could just let loose that she had access to in Rome. Kate took a deep breath to try and calm herself as she finished the last of her second slice of pizza before moving away from the box. Didn’t want to risk burning up their dinner. She took a moment to fully concentrate on her task, as not to let things go haywire. She lifted her hands up in fists before flinging them back down so they were held out in front of her with gently burning flames formed in each one. She smiled feeling the control and knowing that this time she may not mess things up.

”Alright, now continue.” Sam said as he raised his free hand pointing to an area that was barren except for a small layer of ice that was quickly forming and growing under Sam’s careful gaze. A figure started to form and Sam nodded his head over, ”Think you could melt him down as well?” Sam asked as he looked back to Kate. He knew she’d feel the cold but it was only more motivation for her to warm said spot up.

Taking another bite of his pizza Sam looked up to the danger room and had the room create a few more targets for Kate to hit (as well as activate the cameras and thermal sensors for the session). She could create flames and hit targets but that was the easy part wasn’t it? If she was able to show Sam what the problem was then he should be able to create something to help her with her struggle.

Unfortunately that would require her to lose control, something she seemed to be focused on not doing out of fear for simply losing control or because she didn’t want to harm Sam either way something needed to change so Sam could help her. Focusing on his mutation he decided to help quicken the process by fluctuating the temperature around Kate, making it cold, to releasing his grasp to making it cold again. He repeated the process silently while chewing on his pizza hoping that she wouldn’t notice what he was doing as she took out the targets.

Kate watched as the mammoth golem began to form in front of her. She needed to concentrate. Sure they were here to show Sam what was going wrong but she wanted nothing more than for everything to go right. For nothing to go wrong right out of the gate and for her to seem fine even if it was for only a day. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, looking down to the heated core of her. In and out. Her hands lay idly by her sides. In and out. She turned her palms to face the thing in front of her. In and out. It was an eternity in her mind but only a few seconds from the first breath to the fire that erupted from the center of her palms. Two solid streams of bright white light that did not bend or fold until the crashed into the creature and her eyes opened. She lifted her arms to meet in the middle of her joining the two streams and never taking her eyes off the golem. It moved and dodged trying desperately to escape the 1500 degree Celsius heat, but it was only making it melt faster spreading the heat to each part of its body.

Kate could see the targets appear above her and removed a hand cautiously from the golem’s stream. Keeping the thing in her peripheral she darted her eyes from target to target letting off short aimed blasts and leaving each smoldering before returning her attention to the larger of her problems. She was so concentrated she didn’t even notice the temperature lowering around her for more than a second before her body instinctually compensated by rising her own temperature as something primal began to rise to the surface and push its way out. It was then that the monster started making it’s way towards her no longer dodging the stream and walking with purpose as if it could feel the weakness bubbling up within her.

Kate began to panic slightly knowing that if it closed in on her there was no way she could stop it from hurting her. She didn’t have the strength to resist such a creature even at it’s now diminished size it had to be at least a 6 feet tall and the size of your average high school football player. And with every step the creature took the still burning embers on the forgotten targets grew brighter and brighter and brighter until they burst into flames and engulfed the metal around them, melting it on contact. Only a few more steps before the golem closed the gap…1…2…and then she bubbled over and the stream before her exploded with so much heat that the ice of the golem expanded so rapidly that it simply exploded into a million little shards flying off in every direction. And as they came towards her, Kate watched them melt only inches before they should have hit her skin.

Kate was left standing in the center of the danger room her clothes singed and slightly tattered. She once again closed her eyes and focused with all her might on the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, trying desperately to both slow it and her heart beat. She did not take the time to look around as she did not want to see the carnage she had left behind.