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Tarin went and repeated something that she had told him on a number of occasions when he had commented, or gone ahead and done, something on his own because it was hard or bad and he hadn't wanted to involve her in it.

Lee pulled back enough so that she could look up at Tarin with a pout. "You're not supposed to use my own logic against me," she complained. Then she leaned in and kissed Tarin. "Thank you."

They were quiet for a moment, but then Tarin started speaking again. Suggesting the Italian restaurant they had gone to for their first date. And that he could adjust some appointments around so he could get home earlier on Thursday.

"That would be amazing, Tarin," Lee said, genuinely grateful for the offer. "And they did have good food, didn't they? I'll have to pick up a take out menu so we can order.

"The good news is that means we'll have the menu so we can order again in the future," Lee smiled up at Tarin as she said that, really liking the idea.

Lee nodded when Tarin commented it was good that her mother was going to try to explain to her father. "I'm sure there's going to be more questions," Lee replied. "But at least we aren't going to have to start from nothing again." Starting from nothing and answering every question about who Tarin was and how he was a different person from her ex-husband.

Thursday was very soon, and even without all of the questions that everyone always seemed to ask because of who they both were and were dating, Lee knew that having dinner with her parents would be a lot for Tarin. Hell, it was a lot for her much of the time. And though Tarin had been doing so much better at not running away from emotionally intense or overwhelming situations, there was a part of Lee that would not be surprised if he had done that now. At least temporarily.

So Lee smiled as she let out the breath she had held when she heard what Tarin said. "Help me figure out what to order for dinner?" Lee asked. "And try to help me not to worry too much between now and then?"

It really would be nice to not have to explain about who she was dating. At least not beyond the normal who he is and how they met kinds of things. But the fact was, she probably would have to do all of this explaining to anyone who had known the man she had married.

"She did ask some of those questions," Lee said softly as she rested her head against Tarin's shoulder again. "But most of it seemed to be about the rift and asking about how Kevin's doing with all of it. Honestly, I'm still not sure if she understands what the rift is, but she did say she would tell my father so I don't have to go through it all again." Which Lee was actually a little surprised about when it happened.

Though Lee did know she had trouble remembering how much progress her parents, her mother in particular, had made over the years when she was stressed.

Tarin wanted to know when this dinner with her parents was going to happen. "Thursday?" Lee said simply, then held her breath. If she was nervous and worried about it, Lee wasn't sure how Tarin would react finding out it was so soon.

Lee nodded, giving a small, slightly sad smile when Will admitted that he didn't get what her powers were. Of course he didn't. She hadn't told him exactly what her powers were, just bits and pieces like having too much energy tonight.

There were people, like her brother Robert, who didn't get her powers after multiple full explanations.

But Lee had prodded quite deeply into Will's mutation standing there in the middle of the park. And despite almost no one actually knowing that he was even a mutant, he had shared that information with her. Especially with how many times she had tried to stress to Will that things were better now, it was only right that she share with him.

"I siphon energy from people," Lee started explaining. "Generally just a little bit from everyone in the area around me. So when there are a lot of people around, like in a crowded bar or today at the airport, I end up with far too much energy. When that happens, I can't sleep until I burn through that energy. Without this run, going to the airport would probably have kept me awake for about 60 hours." Lee said that entire thing like it was no big deal. Because to her, it really wasn't. 60 hours wasn't even the longest that she had been awake in the last 6 months, never mind the longest she'd ever been awake.

"But if I'm not around people, I'm not getting any energy," Lee continued. "Literally."

Lee didn't move as she felt Tarin making his way into the apartment other than to close her eyes. She knew what he did when he came home because he did it every single night.

Plus, she could feel exactly where he was in the apartment.

But instead of him walking around to the front of the couch to sit down, he stopped behind her and Lee opened her eyes to look up at Tarin as his hands came to rest on the couch beside her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lee said, though her voice didn't sound completely sure of that. "I just spent the last 30? 45? Minutes on the phone with my mother. They're coming to visit. And they want to have dinner."

Lee had been on the phone for over half an hour. With her mother. Which meant that it felt like she had been on the phone for hours.

Lee had gotten a message from her mother that they, both of Lee's parents, were coming down to New York and they were hoping to spend time with Kevin before school started. And have dinner with the two of them.

That is how things normally went when her parents visited. There would be a dinner with the four of them (five when Rachel had still lived in the apartment), and Kevin would hang out with his grandparents around the city for a day or two. Sometimes, if they were in the city longer, Kevin was able to talk Lee into having a second dinner.

And things had been going better as the years went on, even if Lee still wasn't ready or able to spend an entire day with them.

But even if Tarin managed to avoid seeing them during their visit, Lee wasn't going to be able to hide Tarin's presence in her life. Not that she felt she needed to. But she didn't want there to end up being a fight about it like there had been with Robert with Kevin in the apartment.

So Lee had actually called her mother to tell her about what was going on. At least in as much detail as they needed to know.

And then her mother had proceeded to ask questions for the next thirty minutes. Like with Josh, her parents had never really understood what the rift was. But her mother was now asking the same questions again in different ways, and Lee was just tired of it all.

Then Lee heard the key in the door and was more than happy to use the ready excuse. "Look mum, I really need to go," she said into the phone. "Ok, yes. Ok mum. I'll see you then." Lee didn't wait to hear what else her mother said as she tried to prolong the call, she just hung up and let the phone fall to the couch beside her as her head fell back.

Tarin agreed that he would let her know if and when he was going to take a look at that spirit again. "Thanks," she said softly. They didn't know what was going on with this spirit, and that was what had Lee so worried about Tarin looking at it again. Since he said that the spirit wasn't doing anything, Tarin should have had no trouble breaking the link earlier. And yet, he had struggled, with the situation getting to the point that Lee was about to force the link to break, one way or another.

She…it just felt like a better idea for her to be there, just in case.

He was going to go grab a sandwich. "That place does have good sandwiches," Lee said with a smile at Tarin. "I'd like that. How long do you have before your next appointment?"