Disclaimer: Not mine

Notes: Spoilers for up to 'Future Unknown'

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I honestly thought she'd think it was funny.

I mean, it's Katie. The only other person here who has a sense of humor. And yeah, I know that sounds more than a little jerky on my part, but it's true. Lucas has pretty much shut himself off from the rest of us, and Jen is... interesting, but even worse (but I can't really blame her for that). Trip is nice, but he's so quiet that it's hard to tell how he feels about anything sometimes.

Katie's different. I could tell from the very beginning.

She has to be, because why else would she grab me in a painfully tight hug (after our second battle together, no less)? And even if I did bruise a few ribs in the process, that meant more to me than I could ever say: I had... learned a lot about myself in the past couple days when I met Jen and her teammates. A lot of things I didn't like. And after my second chance, I was fully expecting them to send me on my way. After how I treated their mission like a game, I could understand.

But then Katie said that they couldn't have caught the mutant without me (and that comment had to have a hand in influencing Jen's decision) and then hugged me. And it didn't stop there. She helped me move into the clock tower, laughed at my jokes, talked to me when anyone else would... they're all my friends now, but I think Katie was the first one.

I really didn't think out of all of them, she'd take the idea that the future might change the hardest. She was always so upbeat, so ready to take the worst events head on-- and when she wasn't, I could always pull her out if it. So when I noticed she had distanced herself from the group, I did what I always did in this kind of situation: I made light of it.

What's wrong-- you don't like it here?

It's fine here. But it's your world. Not mine. She sounded like her heart was about to break.

And then she was gone, not even noticing that she'd dropped her photo. I gave into my curiosity and gave it a look over.

I'd never seen any of them before in my life, but I knew instantly that they were her family-- and that they all loved each other a lot.

Now I have no idea what to do. I want to talk to her again, explain that I didn't mean to hurt her... but with my track record, I don't think that's a good idea. And it would just be another case of me trying to avoid responsibility. All I can do right now is wait for her to bring herself out of it, to realize that she can't worry over this forever.

And I know that she will. After all, she's got everything to fight for.