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Things were happening in slow-motion again, and Kealey watched in horror as a massive fist came sailing through the air in a flurried rush of panic and fear. The cop acted fast, and Kealey had to admire how cool he kept in spite of the situation at hand. He heaved, and Kealey winced at the emotions Andrew felt as he was pulled inside. There were certain things people felt when they were in pain, and Andrew had them in spades.

She hadn’t thought she’d hit Mittens hard enough to do any real damage, but the blond watched in horror as the big man toppled through the hole he’d just made with his fist. It was a long way down.

Kealey rushed forward and looked down, desperately trying to seek out the emotions of the man on the ground. There weren’t any.

For a horrible moment, Kealey wondered if she’d killed the man. Then, the cop came forward and yelled something out. Mittens was alive. The blond let out breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding and stood for a moment on legs that wobbled so much she almost sat down.

”Thanks for the assist. You okay?”

Kealey turned and nodded mutely for a moment while she searched for a voice that was being tamped down by a rolling feeling in her stomach.

”It’s what we do. I’m Kealey Quinn, I’m a trainee with the X-Men, and this is….”

Ghost?

Where had she gone? Kealey turned a few confused circles, looking for her partner and starting to panic all over again. There were a lot of emotions in this room, weeping relief, diminishing fear, confusion, and Ghost was gone. She’d been by Mittens…had something happened when she fell?

Kealey was just about to start freaking out when Ghost’s voice floated up from down below.

The blond stared down at the ground again, watching in slight horror as the obviously unconscious body of Mittens tried to sit up and immediately had several guns clicked in its general direction.

Kealey turned to ask the cop for help and realized he wasn’t there anymore. He was cuffing bad guys.

”Officer!” she called in his direction…”I’m going to need your help. My partner is…inside of the ring-leader down there and your partners are making it hard for her to reassert herself…can you ask them to back off? I promise you he won‘t be going anywhere.”

Now it was all over. Kealey looked around…this had not gone as smoothly as they had hoped…but nobody was dead. Not even the bad guy. He’d live to stand trial and go to jail. It was a relief. Ghost would have things sorted out in a moment, and they could all go home.

It was such a relief that Kealey did the only thing she could with a her head throbbing so steadily and so many emotions rolling around inside of her.

She found the nearest potted plant and promptly emptied her stomach.

First Mission….accomplished.

The bus had been early for once, with nobody really needing to get on and off between the FIT campus and NYU. It was a rare occasion, and it also meant that the bus was relatively empty. It made things so much easier for Kealey when that was the case. Busses were always a problem…possibly because of the close proximity of all the passengers. More likely because of the fact that everyone who rode the NYC busses seemed to be in a perpetual state of emotional turmoil.

This, however, was not the case, and it had Kealey in an excellent mood. It also had her arriving at the NYU campus a good twenty minutes early. It was a nice, autumn day though, and she simply found a park bench near the appropriate building to sit on while she waited for classes to get out.

There were a lot of people on the NYU campus, and Kealey chalked it up to the fact that she was there in the middle of the day during classes. There were varying degrees of different emotions, and for a few moments she simply sat and stared into space. It was a bit overwhelming and the feelings made her antsy. She needed distraction while she waited.

Kealey opened the messenger bag she’d made for classes this year, and pulled out a slightly rumpled newspaper shed found in the desk she’d chosen that morning for her first class. Kealey wasn’t a big newspaper reader, but with nothing else to distract her, it would have to do.

Blue eyes skimmed headlines until they settled on one pertaining to the very place she sat. Apparently a big name comedian had dropped into a NYU class recently and unexpected. The story was interesting, the students had been thrilled, and something about the name of the class and professor rung a bell in Kealey’s head. Hadn’t Shin mentioned something similar in conversation?

She’d have to ask.

In the meantime she continued to read, waiting for Shin to exit the building and hoping she’d be able to keep herself together emotionally for the rest of her stay on campus.

When she’d crawled into her bed next to Shin, Kealey hadn’t known if she’d be able to fall back asleep. Sometimes that was a difficult thing to do, once she’d been woken up. It was dark in the room, and just a little bit chilly, something that wasn’t going to change any time soon. Shin had been in possession of all the blankets.

She’d managed. Snuggling had ensued, and in far less time than she’d estimated, Kealey had fallen asleep.

She dreamed about Happy Feet.

It had been a long time since she and Shin had watched the movie, but there it was. The penguins were everywhere, singing their heart songs and milling around. The babies were so cute…so fluffy. But it was cold. Kealey shivered, making her way through the penguins and trying to figure out exactly what it was she was supposed to be singing.

A fluffy little baby penguin approached as Kealey danced from foot to foot, trying to warm herself up.

It asked her why she was hopping around like that. She said she was cold. It made sense. The baby followed suit. The movement attracted attention, and slowly but surely more penguins joined in the little dance as Kealey continued to move around the penguin houses, looking for a jacket or blanket and failing miserably.

Finally, she came to a dark but cozy looking cave. An entourage of baby penguins followed as Kealey made her way towards what seemed to be a wall of warmth. It was dark, but when she found it, Kealey laid down in the soft pillowy snow, snuggling close. The babies must have realized she was cold, because they huddled around too, and Kealey sighed happily…

Then there was a small earthquake.

The scene shifted to the familiar blackness of the backs of her eyelids, then the dim interior of her room as her eyes snapped open. She wasn’t in a cave….she was in her bed. Those weren’t baby penguins…those were plushies, and that wall of warmth. Well, it was a wall of warmth, but it was Shin.

He’d brought her cake, and now he was hugging her.

She shifted slightly, eyes finding Shin’s and she smiled sleepily and snuggled closer for warmth. ”Morning?” she said a bit sheepishly, ”You stole my blanket again.”

It definitely was a cake. Kealey stared at the cake, then turned her head to look at the clock again. Shin spoke, explained, and Kealey blinked once, twice, her still groggy mind trying to comprehend exactly what her boyfriend was saying.

He’d stolen the cake from Andrew…then iced it….then brought it to her. She dumbly took the proffered confectionary and stood in the doorway for a moment to process things while Shin made his way into her room.

”That was really nice of you guys…I’m glad you get along. He’s nice. You were busy when I brought him back here, so I got him set up with a room.”

She wasn’t irritated about getting woken up, not at all. She was just sleepy still, and her brain was taking a while to process emotions and words as they happened. Eventually everything clicked into place and she turned, shutting her door with her foot and moving to put the cake on top of some sketches that were sitting on her desk. Then she flipped on a light…they had to see to eat.

Shin wanted her to cut the cake, and said he was tired. Kealey really wasn’t all that surprised. He had to be running on fumes 90 percent of the time, with as much as he did. It was a little ridiculous, and something she’d been meaning to talk to him about.

She needed to wake up first, though. Cake would help.

Kealey glanced around the room, wondering exactly what she was supposed to cut the cake with, and how exactly they were supposed to eat it. She spied her fabric cutting shears and made a decision. As long as the cake was cut…eating could be accomplished.

Kealey opened the shears and used them like a knife, cutting two relatively small pieces from the cake. It was awful late for something so sweet. Kealey yawned again, wondering how she was going to get the cake off the plate and over to Shin on the bed. Why was she so sleepy still…she turned to ask exactly how this whole thing was going to work and simply stood for a moment, torn between laughing, and aww’ing out loud.

Shin was sleeping in her bed. Snuggling himself. Well…the plushie of himself. Kealey stood and watched for a moment, not long enough to be creepy, but long enough to shake her head and smile before she put the scissors down.

What now?

She really wasn’t all that hungry…more than anything she was sleepy. She eyed the bed, Shin had stolen the covers. Another chuckle, and Kealey made her way in that direction, flipping off the light as she went. She wasn’t going to wake him up…not when he slept so little, and at such strange hours. She’d just have to live with the fact that she wouldn’t be getting any more blankets for the rest of the night. Oh well. She’d have to find another way to keep warm, wouldn’t she?

Kealey Quinn liked to sleep. She always had, she probably always would. When she thought about it, she could remember her mother laughingly admonishing her for being a slug-a-bed while everyone else was already awake on the rare days both parents were off work. It had also been one of the difficult things about living in the convent after the bombing…the nuns rose early and expected the same of their charge.

The freedom of New York had brought back some old habits, and one of them was sleeping. Pillows, and blankets, and soft beds with plushies that she and Shin had made themselves. Kealey was wrapped in those blankets, surrounded by those pillows, curled up on the bed with plushies surrounding and protecting her as was their duty. She was fast asleep, had been for a few hours. It was almost a miracle that she heard the Shin knocking. Knocking at her chamber door.

At the first soft sound, a blond head shifted on its pillows, a grumpy little sound escaping it, as its owner tried to burrow deeper into the covers. The second, louder, knock produced raised eyebrows and fists that rubbed sleepy eyes. The third, loudest knock pulled those eyes open to glance blearily at the clock on Kealey’s night stand. She’d been having such a lovely dream…

The lights were staying off, she thought, sleepy mind still trying to claw its way to full consciousness as she pulled herself free from the sheets and shivered her way across the room in her shorts and tank top. It was too late/early to worry about finding anything else.

Kealey opened the door and squinted at the bright light as she found herself face to face with the only person she wasn’t angry to see at this time of night/morning.

”Shin….” she yawned with a sleepy smile, rubbing that silly eye again and taking a moment to assess his emotions and make sure nothing was wrong. Her mind was still bleary…but he actually seemed to be in a rather good mood…and…he…had…a…cake.

”Hi…is that a cake?” she said, stepping back into the room to make room for him to enter.

Oh man…she’d made things even worse when she’d admitted her powers. Now, not only was the kid uncomfortable, he was embarrassed and a million other mortified things that a person did not want to bring out in a teenager. Kealey ran a hand through her hair and sighed over the hum of the dryer…how could she fix this now?

The silence stretched, the dryer dried…Kealey made a job offer.

The emotions changed, and Kealey sighed in relief. She really did need to be more careful with the younger mutants…they were so uncomfortable about things sometimes. Then again…she’d always known she needed to be more careful with disclosures about her own powers. It took a certain kind of person to be okay with someone knowing their emotions.

Lance asked if she had another hair dryer, and Kealey grinned, shutting off the one in her hand for the moment and holding it out to her new assistant.

”I’ll go borrow another one. You go ahead and take this, and you can get started while I‘m gone.”