Lee watched as she threw Tarin back into the apartment, to the ground. Watched as he kinda bounced against the floor, as he curled up into a bit of a ball. He didn't seem to be having the easiest time breathing, the wind must have been knocked out of him, but that really wasn't all that surprising considering the fact that he had just run through a window, and then been caught and thrown back into the building by her.

But Lee really didn't care about that much. Let him not be able to breath. It might actually help get the spirit out of Tarin's body.

"Like I said," Lee said, advancing on Tarin's balled up form on the floor. "Who are you to decide he should die simply because you did? That he doesn't deserve to live if you can't?"

Reaching him, Lee dropped to her knees, taking a deep breath as she looked at Tarin. It looked like him, the voice sounded like him, but how he was looking at her, with anger in his eyes, was definitely not Tarin. "If that's how the world worked," Lee pointed out, her hand reaching out to grasp Tarin's bare wrist in her hand. "You wouldn't have had any happiness at any point before you died. And would have died a lot sooner, just because someone else had lost loved ones."

The spirit hadn't expected Lee to be nearly as strong, or as fast as she was. Tarin wondered if that was because she'd so rarely had to use those particular powers, maybe he really didn't think about them that much. It was a saving grace to be completely honest, because Lee had managed to save him. Again.

Tarin refused to dwell on the matter any longer though, it was something that they'd talked about the last time, when he'd run to Maine, no dwelling on what he obviously couldn't control.

His body was writhing on the ground, struggling to breathe and rolling in the glass that had fallen to the floor. Lee was speaking, strong words and the spirit was starting to fail, especially as she reached out and grabbed ahold of Tarin's wrist again. He braced himself for more energy to leave his body, but the fact of the matter was that there was far more energy to be taken from the spirit...and take Lee did, faster than he'd ever felt her do it before. She was really angry.

"I....just...wanted....to live....and love...." The spirit gasped, adding drama to insult to injury as it started to lose its grip on Tarin's mind and body. As the spirit's energy started to fade, physical conciousness started to flood back to Tarin's writhing form on the floor. The glass hurt...and it was hard to breathe...and he could feel Lee's hand wrapped firmly around his wrist. He willed it to work faster.

The spirit spoke again, locking eyes with Lee, so that Tarin could feel the intensity flooding between them. "He's lucky...." it gasped softly as it's very being started to dissolve under the intense draining form Lee and it's absolute refusal to give up Tarin's body. "I did love her though...cherish it...."

Bullshit...Tarin couldn't help but think, You're a selfish prick who wanted what wasn't rightfully yours...this is what happens...

The spirit threw it's head back and screamed a tortured scream as the last life energy was sucked from it's form, leaving Tarin to fall completely limp to the floor. He could feel again, he could feel it all, and he feebly reached to Lee's hand, batting gently at it as his whole body shook wit hte effort of movement.

"God...." He groaned softly, eyes refusing to open, even too look at Lee, "it hurts Lee..." he said, cradling his right arm against his ribs and trying to block out the stinging bites the glass had taken here and there.

"You got it...he's really gone..." he whispered, forcing his eyes open through sheer will and meeting Lee's, his eyes traveled over the havoc that had been wrought over the past few minutes before his eyes started to drift shut everything hurt...and he was so tired. "I'm going to summon that bastard back to fix the window...." he managed before falling quiet, his breathing shallow and soft, but steady.

In a way, Lee wished that the spirit who had merged with Tarin wanted to hurt her in some way, wished that it was fighting back against her rather than simply laying there. But rather than fight, all the spirit did was speak as she drained him. And strange though it was, the spirit's words caused a pang to twist in Lee's stomach. If that's really all the spirit was wanting, to be able to live and love after it's life had been ended before its time...

Still, even though Lee could somewhat understand the reasoning, she did not ease up on the siphoning; the spirit was trying to do to Tarin the same thing that had been done to it, end his life early, cause him not to be able to be with her, and Lee was not about to let that happen for any reason.

But then Lee heard a scream and saw Tarin's body fall limp to the floor. Did that mean...? But she had already drained Tarin enough for him to pass out from exhaustion once that night, and the spirit had still been there. How did she know it was gone now? So she kept her hand on Tarin's wrist, though her anger had faded slightly and she wasn't trying to pull quite as much energy into her.

Lee was looking down at Tarin's face, his eyes closed, when she felt something on her hand. Moving her eyes, Lee saw Tarin's other hand swatting at her, not hard enough to have any hope of actually getting her to let go, but enough to get his point across. Words followed, and Lee jumped slightly, loosening her grasp but not stopping the contact she had with Tarin's skin. Had she been holding his wrist too tight, so it hurt him, or was he talking about other pains?

Then Tarin's eyes were open, looking at her, as he said the spirit was gone. But too soon, much too soon, he was looking around at the mess the apartment was now in. "And how do I know?" Lee whispered in return. "I thought it was gone the last time, too." His next comment did help a bit, saying he was going to summon the spirit back to fix the window since Lee couldn't ever remember talk about Tarin's powers while he was merged on any occasion, but his eyes were already closed again.

It was quiet...very very quiet, though Tarin could still feel the hard floor and the sharp splinters of glass poking into his body as he lay on the floor of the apartment. He was tired, more tired than he'd ever been in his entire life. His body ached simply from the act of breathing, nauseated by the thought of further movement, so he stayed where he was, not oblivious to the small pains and discomforts but too far gone to care.

He could hear the indecision in Lee's voice though, and she still hadn't released his wrist, even if the pressure from her fingers had decreased greatly. He knew he'd probably be in trouble though if she didn't let go soon. As much effort as the smallest things seemed now, too much more and he didn't know what would happen. That level of exhaustion was something Tarin was not familiar with and honestly didn't want to be. Forcing his eyes open even though they felt like 1000 lb garage doors, Tarin found Lee's eyes again, finding words to answer her questions and attempt to eliminate her doubt.

"Not you...the cuts...so tired..." Tarin paused there and smiled, "It's gone darlin'...you did a marvelous job..." he said, his words slurring slightly from the exertion, his eyes traveled to the hand still wrapped around his wrist, "though, if you don't let go of me soon we're going to have more problems to deal with...It's alright Lee, I promise." Tarin wracked his brain, trying to figure out something he could say or do that Lee would only recognize...it was so difficult to think though, he'd simply have to trust her to know it was him now.

"

Even though she hadn't voiced her worry when Tarin said that it hurt, he seemed to know what she was thinking. Or maybe it was just because of how she had loosened her grip on his wrist.

But his eyes were open, and he was looking at her. And smiling when he told her how good of a job she had done. That in itself made Lee think, realize, that maybe it had actually worked this time. Who other than Tarin, after all, would think she'd done a good thing by draining this much energy from them, and then thank her with a smile?

Even with the pain he said he was in, and with how tired he was, the look Tarin was directing her told Lee with more certainty than his words had. There was just something about the way Tarin looked at her when he was himself. Even after all these months, Lee still couldn't put a name or label to it to describe what it was specifically, but she knew it was there now when it hadn't been earlier.

Lee jumped again when Tarin's eyes drifted down to her hand still on his wrist and he spoke again. Even before he had finished speaking, Lee withdrew her hand and was scrambling backward on the floor, making the few inches that had been between them grow to a few feet.

"Sorry," Lee whispered once she had stopped moving, doing everything she could possibly do to stop the siphoning, though that had never happened before. "I didn't throw you too hard, did I? It's just I didn't realize it was actually going to take you through the window, and then I couldn't get there before you hit..."

Lee didn't now what to believe, and Tarin didn't blame her. Not at all. This spirit had been far smarter than the others...at least so far. She looked at him closely though and seemed to come to a decision, then she was scooting away from him as fast as she could, increasing the distance between them so she didn't drain him any further. Despite the fact that he knew it was for the best, Tarin wished that Lee were closer, holding him.

Tarin looked at Lee across the space that she'd put between them, but didn't move, he was simply too tired to move. When she asked if she'd thrown him too hard he tried to shake his head and groaned at the effort, "No." he whispered, "Probably not hard enough..." his voice was soft and strained, but it sounded loud in the apartment and a cool breeze flitted in through the window which was apparently going to remain open for the night.

"I didn't realize it either..." Tarin said, letting his eyes slip closed again, "I'm just glad that this time...." he paused and drifted for a second, then returned to his thoughts, "I'm just glad that this time it didn't want to hurt you...don't care 'bout me...as long as you're safe..."

Tarin's voice had gotten softer and softer as he spoke, and by the end of the last sentence it was barely audible and the words were slurred with the exhaustion that pulled him down into the quiet dark. He would rest, then worry about the window.

Tarin's words in answer to her question, though whispered, were more than Lee wanted to hear. And while yes, it was nice not to have to deal with some psycho taking over Tarin's body and trying to kill her, that didn't make what he had just said any easier.

"You know, it wouldn't exactly be a picnic for me either if you had actually made it the rest of the way out that window," Lee pointed out, her voice also a whisper. "You going off and getting yourself killed, simply to keep me from getting hurt is not an option and never will be, Tarin."

Lee wasn't sure if Tarin had actually heard her, though, since by the time she had finished speaking, he was quite obviously passed out. Taking a deep breath, Lee looked around the apartment and only just realized how much of a mess the place was after what had happened.

And then there was the fact that while Lee knew she needed to move Tarin, get him into bed or at least on the couch so he could rest more comfortably, she also knew she should limit contact as much as possible, and it would be hard to do that while also getting rid of any glass shards in his clothing. The cuts on his face also needed dealt with, but none of them looked very bad at all, they could wait at least for a while.

But first things first. Climbing to her feet, Lee grabbed a heavy blanket from the closet to cover the broken window with, at least for the time being. Then she went into her room to change into pajama pants and a t-shirt; she hated cleaning up like this while wearing a skirt.

Rupert was in a good mood. The best he'd been in for weeks. It had been his day off. The sun had been shining, the wind had been tolerably above zero, the snow had retreated to cringing piles between dumpsters in alleyways that were always in shade. He hadn't run into a single freak. Not one he knew, not one he didn't know, not one who randomly starting showing off in the streets like a walking flashlight and not one who didn't know how to just lay low and pretend to be human. It had been a truly relaxing day. He'd taken his dogs for a walk, vacuumed the ferret hair off of his couch, and mopped the kitchen floor until it shone. He'd even gotten up on a chair and industriously dusted off the top of the cabinets. He'd made himself chicken alfredo from scratch. Then he'd gone to church, and hung out with the youth group. To crown that all off, he'd just gone to a movie. Right now he was walking home. He intended to sleep in late, because he intended to call out sick next morning. In his hand was a half-finished bag of cold movie popcorn with extra butter sauce. He reached in for another artery clogging handful.

That's approximately the time that he was showered in glass.

"Son of a--!"

He looked up just in time to catch a shard of glass above his eyebrow, and a good look at the man being pulled back in through the apartment window by someone who seemed to be moving too fast. A memory of brandy served in teacups flashed before Rupert's eyes. That man was Tarin, if the males of his kind could even be called "men".

"--bitch." He finished lamely, as a stream of blood veiled over half of his vision. He picked the glass shard out, and clapped a hand over the cut. It wasn't large, but it stung like hell to the touch. Bright shards of glass glittered in the streetlight, from inside of his popcorn. Rupert stood where he was.

Clearly, this was his own fault. He'd been having too nice of a day. His guardian angel had just been saving the best for last; if Rupert was surprised right now, or filled with unreasonable rage, it was his own fault. Obviously, this had been coming. Obviously. He couldn't have a single day go by where he didn't have to deal with the freaks.

Tarin was in trouble. Clearly. And he wasn't half bad, as muties went. At the least he kept liquor at his work: he couldn't be that bad. So if someone up there was shoving him out through windows and then dragging him back in... Yeah. Rupert sighed, and moved towards the door. He dropped his glass-laced popcorn into a trash can along the way. On second thought: he fished it back out. Maybe he could rub it in the face of whoever was up there, just waiting to further kill his nice day. It was the best weapon he had on him. Rupert really needed to start carrying his gun again.

In any case, it wasn't long--even thought he didn't hurry--before he was standing outside the apartment door. If this was some kind of mutant domestic dispute, so help him, he was going to give that man an earful about couples' counseling.

He knocked despondently on the door with one hand. The other was still held against the bleeding cut above his eyebrow. He was wearing his typical off-duty clothing: black sweat pants and a Black Sabbath sweat shirt. He had a silver hoop through his left ear. He had a bag of popcorn tucked into his elbow, and a few shards of glass sparkling like fairy dust in his black hair. He couldn't help but think he looked more like some kind of street thug looking for drug money than a cop. He let his hand fall, and stared at the door with a deadpan look. He wasn't feeling motivated enough to scowl.

Lee was just coming out of her bedroom after changing when she heard a knock on the door to the apartment. She froze. She and Tarin didn't know many people, at least not on friendly or familiar enough terms that they knew where they lived, and the few that did know where they lived wouldn't be coming to visit at this time of night. Not without some prior warning, or at least not with that calm of a knock.

But even without that, after what had just happened with Tarin, with the window breaking as he went through it, Lee stood there terrified for a few moments wondering who it could possibly be on the other side of the door.

Quietly walking over, Lee looked through the peephole. And breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it wasn't a cop, though the fact that she didn't recognize the man, who looked to be about her age, didn't help her feel that much better. For a second, Lee considered not answering the door at all, but then thought better of it. The noise from the window breaking had probably been fairly loud; if she didn't answer the door, this guy might think it had been someone breaking in and call the police anyway.

Taking a deep breath, Lee glanced back at Tarin, who was still soundly passed out on the floor. Turning back to the door, Lee quietly turned the locks and opened the door a few inches. "Can I help you?" She asked, her voice soft yet guarded.

> "Can I help you?"

The woman who answered the door was of an average height for a woman on the East Coast, an average build for someone who didn't glut themselves on McGrease King's every lunch break, and an age that wasn't much off from his own. She looked entirely unexceptional. With his luck, she could throw people through walls.

"Ah, yes. Yes, you can." He answered, continuing his deadpan. "Two questions. First: Are you done pushing Tarin through windows yet? The second... no, actually that summed it up. Now, do you want to prove to me that he's all right so that I can go home and try to salvage my night, or do you want to do something stupid?" He really hoped she didn't do something stupid. All the stupid options he could think of weren't too great for his own health.

For the first few seconds, the man on the other side of the door simply looked at her, appraised her. For the most part, Lee was used to that even if her current clothing didn't invite it the same way what she had worn for the date would have. But this was different. This guy seemed to be looking at her in a much more calculating, though detached way than most guys.

Then he spoke, and Lee thought she felt her heart stop. At least until it jumped up into her throat a moment later, where it started to pound at an insane rate.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Tarin's sleeping. It is late, you know," Lee said, growing even more worried. If this guy had actually seen Tarin going out the window like that, had he seen her?

But if he had actually seen that, why was he simply standing here so calmly, asking about Tarin, yet not explaining who he was? Wait, he knew Tarin?!? He had called him by name, after all, but Lee was sure she didn't even recognize him from anywhere, ever. "How the hell do you know Tarin?"

The woman's reaction was textbook rushed cover-up. First, the denial mixed with excuses:

> "I don't know what you're talking about, Tarin's sleeping. It is late, you know."

Then, the more processed reply; the one that let him know his words had finally been sorted past her base emotions into the rest of her brain:

> "How the hell do you know Tarin?"

Rupert continued his level stare at the woman. "I'm a friend of his. Somewhat. Since you were playing games with his face and a glass plane, can I assume you're the girlfriend?" He reappraised her; a young pretty little thing, wasn't she? Tarin hadn't been wearing a wedding ring, as far as Rupert could remember; that could mean nothing, or a lot of things. "Or the mistress, maybe? Did he try to break it off with you?"

"Listen, I just want to check that he's still breathing. Conscious, too. I'm not leaving until I know he's in there with you voluntarily. And if you're thinking of getting rid of me, one way of the other..." He fished in his pants pocket. He might not carry his gun everywhere, but he certainly carried his badge: he held it up nonchalantly. "I'd reconsider. This doesn't have to be a big scene, Miss. I'm just a concerned man, checking on a friend. Neither of us want to get the rest of my friends involved, now do we?" He tilted the badge back and forth, reflecting the hallway light across its surface meaningfully.

Somewhat of a friend. Lee could only wonder what exactly that could mean, considering the fact that Tarin had never mentioned this guy to her. But the fact of the matter was that he had seen at least a good portion of what had happened at the window. And luckily, he didn't seem to be calling the cops on them. He simply seemed curious or possibly worried about Tarin, though which it was was a little hard to tell based on his tone of voice.

"No, he tripped and hit the window," Lee explained. At least it was closer to the truth than what this guy was accusing her of. "I was trying to help him back in through the window. And yeah, I'm something like that," Lee said, her thumb absently playing with her engagement ring as she spoke. Obviously, this guy wasn't much of a friend if he didn't know she was Tarin's fiancee. "And no, he wasn't trying to break things off with me.

"But I can assure you, Tarin's fine," Lee continued, trying to resolve the situation without having to let this guy into the apartment. "Like I said, he's sleeping, but fine. I'll get him to call you tomorrow. You understand, I don't just let strangers in-"

Shit, shit, shit! Lee's words cut off as she saw the man produce a badge and wave it in her face. The guy hadn't called the cops because he was one. What the hell was she supposed to do now? He was a cop, and he knew Tarin, had seen what had happened at the window. But he couldn't possibly know everything, not even close. The guy was a cop, and Tarin was still here, with no collar or bracelet, the same with her. How the hell was she going to explain this?

"You can try waking him up," Lee said quietly, sure the worry was now evident on her face and in her voice as she opened the door up a couple more inches. "But it's been a very long day, and Tarin's a really heavy sleeper."

"A really heavy sleeper," Rupert repeated levelly, staring at the woman a moment longer. Simply... staring. "Right." He wondered if she sounded sincere to her own ears. To his, she sounded like she was still struggling to scrape together a good alibi. Then again, Rupert did tend to go into situations thinking the worst of people, especially when those situations involved acquaintances of his nearly going out a window. He noted the engagement ring as she played with it; he searched his memories again, trying to remember if Tarin had been wearing one. He hadn't really been paying attention to marital statuses when he'd met the guy. He couldn't remember. Not that it changed anything.

His eyes flicked to the door that the woman was hiding behind. She'd opened it a few inches further; it wasn't exactly an invitation, but she wasn't exactly propping chairs under the doorknob, either. He could push it open if he wanted. And what was he going to find? Either Tarin was okay and would wonder why the hell the bigoted cop from the other day was at his doorstep, or Tarin would be in trouble and Rupert would be severely outgunned. This was ill thought out, but he couldn't think of what else to do. It wasn't like he could very well call in back-up; not with Tarin involved. He looked at the woman again, and reached out a hand to push open the door. Then he strode right on in before he could think better of it.

'A really heavy sleeper' was not what Rupert saw. What Rupert saw was a man on the floor with blood crusted over his face. Unconscious, or worse. He hurried to the body, crouching down next to the man's neck on the far side; where he could keep an eye on the woman as he checked for a pulse. Still beating. Still breathing, as well.

"Tarin," Rupert said levelly, not taking his eyes off of the woman, "can you hear me? Tarin?" He shook the man's shoulder. Yeah. Yeah, this hadn't been well thought out. Tarin was unconscious, and Rupert was effectively alone with a freak who even a fellow mutant couldn't beat.

The man, the cop, didn't seem to believe her when Lee said that Tarin was a very heavy sleeper. Though, considering he had seen Tarin partially through the window, it was sort of understandable. But still, couldn't the guy simply leave them alone?

Even after she had opened the door a bit wider and stepped partway aside, the man simply stood there watching her, appraising her for a few more moments. What was he trying to figure out, Lee wondered.

Finally, he entered, and after quick glance into the empty hallway, Lee closed the door. It was only then, as she saw the man hurrying over to Tarin's side, that Lee realized the good side of this horrible turn of events: the man was alone and didn't seem to have a radio with him. If things did end up going bad, and even if the guy was a cop, they did stand at least a bit of a chance. If only Tarin were actually awake, they'd have a better chance of actually getting away.

"I told you he's a heavy sleeper," Lee said softly, walking toward the two men slowly, stopping about five feet away. "But go ahead and wake him up. It'll make getting him into bed so much easier. And do you mind if I go get a cloth or something? I didn't exactly have a chance to clean him up before you got here."