Woot! Here we go again!
I don't think I've mentioned it, but. . . I don't own Marvel. If I did, I would be so rich *drooling*
Dark Jaded Rose- Why thankyou! Yeah she is kindly sassy, but it's the southern charm, don't blame her ;)
* * *
And your questions shall be answered. . . peer into my crystal ball. . . or not.
Dark Jaded Rose asked:
Will Natalie be with any of the boys at the institute, or Acolytes maybe?
Piotr's girl answers:
Well I've been pondering the subject. Natalie is very self-conscious, but she acts out-going at the same time. She enjoys stirring things up, then sitting back to watch. So she'll be playing around with different guys, possibly on different teams, if ya didn't catch the boy on the train. (I think everyone knows who it is *hint hint*) Some of it will be friendship, some of it pure insanity, and. . . I'll let you ponder the rest ;)
* * *
Chapter 3- Second Chance
Natalie walked outside of the Bayville Train Station following the boy with the shades and the girl with the white hair. She wondered if the boy with the shades had eyes that changed colors, too. But she didn't ask.
"So, Natalie, you excited about the institute?" the boy, Scott, asked her.
"I guess so, it's all so. . . different."
"Trust me, you'll like it here. And you'll find out that everyone here is unique. It just takes a little getting used to."
"Um, okay."
The white-haired girl stayed silent as they walked to Scott's car.
Natalie grinned and lifted her chin a little. "Nice ride."
"Thanks." The boy smiled at this statement. Natalie laughed to herself.
"Obviously this is one of those kinds that worship their car. He better not get on my bad side." She thought to herself.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Scott asked her as they climbed into his convertible, with Rogue sitting in the back.
"I'm thinking about how I want to wear your jacket, I'm freezing my royal tail off."
"Oh, sorry! I forgot you're not used to this weather!"
He handed her his jacket and she wrapped it around her bare arms. Nice leather. Warm leather. Leather is good. "Thanks." She smiled.
"No problem."
They drove off to the institute. An awkward silence fell upon the three passengers, and after a few minutes, Rogue decided to break it.
"Surf much?"
"Never been."
"Oh, gawd! Ah cain't believe that! I thought ya lived in Floridy!"
"Yeah, I do, but that don't mean I surf." Natalie laughed.
"But ya must go to tha beach a lot." Rogue almost looked a little disappointed.
"Nope, the beach is probably about an hour from mah house. I don't even live close enough to the beach to even bother tryin' ta go. Shoot, if ya really wanna know, I pritty much lived in the sticks."
"Tha wut?"
"Sticks. Woods. I lived in the country. I'm definitely far from what ya might call a 'beach bunny'."
"Oh."
"So much for that stereotype." Rogue thought to herself.
"So, ladies, music?"
Scott turned on the radio to reveal *N'sync.
"What the hell is that?"
Rogue glared at Scott. Natalie glared at Scott, her sunglasses falling down her nose. She quickly pushed them back up.
"Ah hate boy bands!" The two girls shouted in unison.
They stared at each other, eyes wide.
"You're not a telepath, are ya? Or like a channeler or somethin' are ya?" Rogue asked her.
". . . no, not last time I checked. My powers are kinda weird. I'd rather not try anythin' now anyway."
"Nevah asked ya to."
"Okay, it's official that boybands are out." Scott said.
"All boy bands." Natalie corrected him. "They are the work of Satan."
"You sure about that kid?"
"They might as well be."
Rogue decided to interrupt. "Okay, I say Thrice."
Natalie grinned at the goth. "Now we're talkin'."
Scott sighed. "Thrice it is."
Natalie reached over, grinning, and patted the boy on his face. "Ah knew ya weren't that bad, One-eye."
"Sure you didn't."
* * *
A few minutes later, the car pulled through the front gates of the institute. "Home sweet home."
"Oh, wow! This is really it?" Natalie's eyes widened beneath her sunglasses. If one looked closely enough, you could see her eyes brightly sparkling, red, pink, blue, orange, purple, green, yellow, and back again. They were a shining, glittering rainbow of colors, all colors imaginable.
"Yep. Wouldn't have it any other way." Scott answered her.
They drove inside of a parking garage that looked like it could hold about fifty cars.
"Come on, let's go get some food!" Rogue yelled at her, almost smiling.
". . . sure." Natalie smiled and grabbed her backpack to follow, and handed Scott back his jacket. She looked around to see a large black van with an X on the door, a beige SUV, and the sweetest motorcycle she'd ever seen.
"Wow, who's bike?" She pointed.
"Oh, that's Logan's. Ah wouldn't touch it if Ah were ya."
"No prob."
The two girls hurried through a long corridor, and Natalie holding her backpack. Paintings hung all over the walls. Whoever did the decorating for this place sure had a good taste- and a lot of money to throw around.
They walked into what Rogue called a kitchen, and what Natalie saw as a huge indoor restaurant.
"Ya call this a kitchen? It's freakin' huge!"
Rogue just laughed. "Ya amazed by this? Jus' wait til ya see tha rest o' the house!"
Rogue opened the door to the fridge and began to rummage around inside for something to eat. She pulled out two cans of pepsi, and tossed one to Natalie.
"Thanks." Natalie tipped her chin down and stared out the top of her sunglasses. Rogue didn't see.
"No problem."
"Rogue! What did you do with my cd? I like can't find it anywhere. . ."
A tall, skinny brunette with her hair pulled into a sleek ponytail stopped short when she saw Rogue in the fridge, and a strange girl sitting on a stool at the counter, with dark sunglasses pushed up as high as they would go.
"Oh, like you must be new! I'm Kitty." She smiled at her.
"Natalie Wayne." She smiled back.
**Kitty, Rogue, I would like you to meet in the common room. Rogue, please bring our guest with you.**
Rogue lifted her head toward the ceiling, as did Kitty. **Yes professa**
"Natalie, ah think the professa wants ta introduce ya to tha group. Le's go to tha common room."
"Sure." They started to walk out, when Natalie stopped short. The air in front of her face blurred.
Running. Running through woods. It was so dark. It was almost like infrared or something. Natalie watched and became dizzy as she saw light pouring through the tree tops, then sudden jerking. The child ran, jumping over tree roots, bushes, and the like. She could see figures in the distance, with torches. Or were they spears? She couldn't be sure. Suddenly the child turned to see a dark, shadowy siloulette. The man leaned in closer, glaring at the child. He didn't utter a single word.
Natalie jerked up. She was sitting in an armchair. Nearly twenty students and adults sat around this room that she was in. How did she get here?'
"How. . . who brought me in here?"
Natalie reached up to rub the sides of her head. "Are you alright?"
She looked up to see an older hairless man in a wheelchair sitting across from her. She quickly straightened up.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked at him directly over the tops of her shades. "Really."
He saw the sparkling green of her eyes and smiled at her.
"Miss Wayne, you have such lovely eyes. Surely you don't want to hide them."
"I'm fine." She eased back a bit.
"You may take them off when you are ready."
"Thanks."
She glanced around to see everyone. A pretty redheaded girl smiled at her. "My name's Jean!"
"Um, hi Jean."
So gradually, all the students in the room introduced themselves, some more enthusiastic than others. The boy who sat next to her, was his name Kurt? Yeah. The one with blue fur all over him. He kept grinning at her, and shifting. What was his deal?
Natalie finally turned to look at him. "What's up fuzzy?"
"Zo like waz your power Natalie?"
"I, I um. . ." She thought of how to put it.
"I think I can see through other people. I don't know all who. But so far, it's just been kids. In trouble. Like they're lost or something."
She felt eyes on her. Only a few remained in the room. The white-haired African woman, Scott, Rogue, Jean, Kitty, the blue-haired kid, the one named Bobby, and some unpleasant, beastly acting guy remained with the professor. Everyone else had pretty much excused themselves.
"Cool." Bobby was grinning like a maniac. "Kinda like you, Jean."
"Yeah, maybe." The girl smiled. "But she's got a ways to go. And something tells me she's not a complete telepath."
"Thank gawd. Lahk we need another telepath 'rund heah." Rogue rolled her eyes. Jean just glared at her.
Natalie smiled at all of this. "You can do it, Nat." she thought to herself. She reached to her face and slowly pulled off her sunglasses.
They looked at her, especially Scott.
"Okay, well she doesn't shoot lasers out of her eyes." Scott laughed.
"You do?" Natalie asked him.
"Yeah."
"Cool."
"But like I don't get it." Kitty started. "Professor, you said she had pretty GREEN eyes. Am I going blind, or do they look brown to you, too?"
Scott, Rogue and Kitty leaned in a little closer. Jean had excused herself to do homework. Bobby and Kurt just hung back and watched, while the African woman and that one guy left. The professor stayed back and smiled to himself.
"Why, yes Kitty, they do look brown."
"Then, like why did you say green?"
"Because", said Natalie, "Sometimes I have green eyes. Sometimes I have brown eyes. Other times I can have red, blue, purple, orange- any color imaginable.
"No way." Said Bobby. "Prove it."
"I can't. It depends on my mood."
"So get happy."
"I can't just do that on a whim!"
"Try harder!" Bobby was yelling at her.
"Daggumit, I'm tryin' to!" Her eyes flickered, then glowed bright orange.
"Whoa! Your eyes! They're. . . orange?"
Natalie gasped, then sat back. Her cheeks turned pink, then her eyes turned a silvery-white, pupils and all.
"You just did that to get a rise out of me." Natalie grinned a little, but it was obvious that she was embarrassed for not seeing what was really going on.
"Well, I wanted to see." Bobby grinned back.
"Alright, children, it's clear that Natalie's eyes can change. Now, let's let her go and get unpacked and rested. You all have school, tomorrow, remember?"
Rogue rolled her eyes. "Raght, school."
Natalie laughed a little, then her eyes flickered purple. "School? We don't go to school here?"
"No, we train students to control their powers here, for the benefit of mankind. We teach them self-control. The world is not ready for us, as you well know."
"Yeah, so says CNN."
Scott laughed. "Bayville's not that bad. . . except for Duncan and his loser friends." He paused for a moment. "And the Brotherhood."
"Who are they?" Natalie asked.
"Zere bad news." Kurt cut in.
"Yeah, they totally hate us too." Said Bobby.
"Except for Shakedown. He's got a thing for Miss Kitty over here." Scott grinned.
"Scott, I like told you already! It's so over between us."
"Sure it is."
Natalie just laughed. "So where am I staying at?"
"I'll like show you your room. Come on!"
They walked upstairs. "Nice staircase. I wouldn't mind tryin' ta slide down this one day."
"Just don't let Mr. Logan catch you."
"Who's that?"
"He was like in the room with us."
"Oh that beastly-lookin' guy?"
Kitty laughed." Yeah, him. But you think he's beastly? Just wait 'til you meet Mr. McCoy. He really is a beast."
Natalie laughed back.
"Okay, like, here's your room." She opened the door.
"Wow." Natalie breathed in. Her eyes were a rainbow of sparkling color.
"Wow, your eyes are so cool!" Kitty exclaimed.
"Oh!" Natalie turned to face her, and her eyes gleamed yellow. "Thanks."
She laughed. "I feel like such a princess with this room."
"Yeah, we all do. Well, see ya in the morning, Nat. Make sure you get up around six. And hurry to breakfast, because Kurt will like so eat it all."
Natalie laughed back. "Thanks Kitty. 'Night." She shut the door behind herself.
Well this would take some getting used to. She smiled as her gaze fell upon a mirror. Her eyes glittered purple. Maybe being a mutant wasn't so bad. . . if she could ever get her powers under control. She was dog-tired of seeing helpless children being hunted. Talk about being emotionally scarred.
She laughed to herself. Her life was so complicated. But didn't people always say that about life, mutant or not? Everyone always acts like they have it so hard on them, that they just can't deal with it all. Everything and everyone was against them.
She sighed, then changed into a white, knee-length gown, and lay back on her bed. She sighed, and thought back to a book she had read in 9th grade. Pollyanna. That girl was a trip. She had a game she always played, what was it? Natalie closed her eyes in thought.
"The glad game." She said aloud. She smiled, and said it again.
The trick was, if she remembered correctly, was that no matter what happened, you had to find something good in every situation, and use it to keep happy. She should start playing it, starting now. What could she be happy about? She sighed, deep in thought, then smiled as she thought of the people at the institute. They were nice, really nice. But she knew that in her dreams tonight, they would probably be filled with these visions. She hoped there was a dream version somewhere deep inside of her of the boy on the train. She barely knew him, but she felt like she really had made a connection with him. She hoped to see him again someday. She had no idea how much of him she would see.
I don't think I've mentioned it, but. . . I don't own Marvel. If I did, I would be so rich *drooling*
Dark Jaded Rose- Why thankyou! Yeah she is kindly sassy, but it's the southern charm, don't blame her ;)
* * *
And your questions shall be answered. . . peer into my crystal ball. . . or not.
Dark Jaded Rose asked:
Will Natalie be with any of the boys at the institute, or Acolytes maybe?
Piotr's girl answers:
Well I've been pondering the subject. Natalie is very self-conscious, but she acts out-going at the same time. She enjoys stirring things up, then sitting back to watch. So she'll be playing around with different guys, possibly on different teams, if ya didn't catch the boy on the train. (I think everyone knows who it is *hint hint*) Some of it will be friendship, some of it pure insanity, and. . . I'll let you ponder the rest ;)
* * *
Chapter 3- Second Chance
Natalie walked outside of the Bayville Train Station following the boy with the shades and the girl with the white hair. She wondered if the boy with the shades had eyes that changed colors, too. But she didn't ask.
"So, Natalie, you excited about the institute?" the boy, Scott, asked her.
"I guess so, it's all so. . . different."
"Trust me, you'll like it here. And you'll find out that everyone here is unique. It just takes a little getting used to."
"Um, okay."
The white-haired girl stayed silent as they walked to Scott's car.
Natalie grinned and lifted her chin a little. "Nice ride."
"Thanks." The boy smiled at this statement. Natalie laughed to herself.
"Obviously this is one of those kinds that worship their car. He better not get on my bad side." She thought to herself.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Scott asked her as they climbed into his convertible, with Rogue sitting in the back.
"I'm thinking about how I want to wear your jacket, I'm freezing my royal tail off."
"Oh, sorry! I forgot you're not used to this weather!"
He handed her his jacket and she wrapped it around her bare arms. Nice leather. Warm leather. Leather is good. "Thanks." She smiled.
"No problem."
They drove off to the institute. An awkward silence fell upon the three passengers, and after a few minutes, Rogue decided to break it.
"Surf much?"
"Never been."
"Oh, gawd! Ah cain't believe that! I thought ya lived in Floridy!"
"Yeah, I do, but that don't mean I surf." Natalie laughed.
"But ya must go to tha beach a lot." Rogue almost looked a little disappointed.
"Nope, the beach is probably about an hour from mah house. I don't even live close enough to the beach to even bother tryin' ta go. Shoot, if ya really wanna know, I pritty much lived in the sticks."
"Tha wut?"
"Sticks. Woods. I lived in the country. I'm definitely far from what ya might call a 'beach bunny'."
"Oh."
"So much for that stereotype." Rogue thought to herself.
"So, ladies, music?"
Scott turned on the radio to reveal *N'sync.
"What the hell is that?"
Rogue glared at Scott. Natalie glared at Scott, her sunglasses falling down her nose. She quickly pushed them back up.
"Ah hate boy bands!" The two girls shouted in unison.
They stared at each other, eyes wide.
"You're not a telepath, are ya? Or like a channeler or somethin' are ya?" Rogue asked her.
". . . no, not last time I checked. My powers are kinda weird. I'd rather not try anythin' now anyway."
"Nevah asked ya to."
"Okay, it's official that boybands are out." Scott said.
"All boy bands." Natalie corrected him. "They are the work of Satan."
"You sure about that kid?"
"They might as well be."
Rogue decided to interrupt. "Okay, I say Thrice."
Natalie grinned at the goth. "Now we're talkin'."
Scott sighed. "Thrice it is."
Natalie reached over, grinning, and patted the boy on his face. "Ah knew ya weren't that bad, One-eye."
"Sure you didn't."
* * *
A few minutes later, the car pulled through the front gates of the institute. "Home sweet home."
"Oh, wow! This is really it?" Natalie's eyes widened beneath her sunglasses. If one looked closely enough, you could see her eyes brightly sparkling, red, pink, blue, orange, purple, green, yellow, and back again. They were a shining, glittering rainbow of colors, all colors imaginable.
"Yep. Wouldn't have it any other way." Scott answered her.
They drove inside of a parking garage that looked like it could hold about fifty cars.
"Come on, let's go get some food!" Rogue yelled at her, almost smiling.
". . . sure." Natalie smiled and grabbed her backpack to follow, and handed Scott back his jacket. She looked around to see a large black van with an X on the door, a beige SUV, and the sweetest motorcycle she'd ever seen.
"Wow, who's bike?" She pointed.
"Oh, that's Logan's. Ah wouldn't touch it if Ah were ya."
"No prob."
The two girls hurried through a long corridor, and Natalie holding her backpack. Paintings hung all over the walls. Whoever did the decorating for this place sure had a good taste- and a lot of money to throw around.
They walked into what Rogue called a kitchen, and what Natalie saw as a huge indoor restaurant.
"Ya call this a kitchen? It's freakin' huge!"
Rogue just laughed. "Ya amazed by this? Jus' wait til ya see tha rest o' the house!"
Rogue opened the door to the fridge and began to rummage around inside for something to eat. She pulled out two cans of pepsi, and tossed one to Natalie.
"Thanks." Natalie tipped her chin down and stared out the top of her sunglasses. Rogue didn't see.
"No problem."
"Rogue! What did you do with my cd? I like can't find it anywhere. . ."
A tall, skinny brunette with her hair pulled into a sleek ponytail stopped short when she saw Rogue in the fridge, and a strange girl sitting on a stool at the counter, with dark sunglasses pushed up as high as they would go.
"Oh, like you must be new! I'm Kitty." She smiled at her.
"Natalie Wayne." She smiled back.
**Kitty, Rogue, I would like you to meet in the common room. Rogue, please bring our guest with you.**
Rogue lifted her head toward the ceiling, as did Kitty. **Yes professa**
"Natalie, ah think the professa wants ta introduce ya to tha group. Le's go to tha common room."
"Sure." They started to walk out, when Natalie stopped short. The air in front of her face blurred.
Running. Running through woods. It was so dark. It was almost like infrared or something. Natalie watched and became dizzy as she saw light pouring through the tree tops, then sudden jerking. The child ran, jumping over tree roots, bushes, and the like. She could see figures in the distance, with torches. Or were they spears? She couldn't be sure. Suddenly the child turned to see a dark, shadowy siloulette. The man leaned in closer, glaring at the child. He didn't utter a single word.
Natalie jerked up. She was sitting in an armchair. Nearly twenty students and adults sat around this room that she was in. How did she get here?'
"How. . . who brought me in here?"
Natalie reached up to rub the sides of her head. "Are you alright?"
She looked up to see an older hairless man in a wheelchair sitting across from her. She quickly straightened up.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked at him directly over the tops of her shades. "Really."
He saw the sparkling green of her eyes and smiled at her.
"Miss Wayne, you have such lovely eyes. Surely you don't want to hide them."
"I'm fine." She eased back a bit.
"You may take them off when you are ready."
"Thanks."
She glanced around to see everyone. A pretty redheaded girl smiled at her. "My name's Jean!"
"Um, hi Jean."
So gradually, all the students in the room introduced themselves, some more enthusiastic than others. The boy who sat next to her, was his name Kurt? Yeah. The one with blue fur all over him. He kept grinning at her, and shifting. What was his deal?
Natalie finally turned to look at him. "What's up fuzzy?"
"Zo like waz your power Natalie?"
"I, I um. . ." She thought of how to put it.
"I think I can see through other people. I don't know all who. But so far, it's just been kids. In trouble. Like they're lost or something."
She felt eyes on her. Only a few remained in the room. The white-haired African woman, Scott, Rogue, Jean, Kitty, the blue-haired kid, the one named Bobby, and some unpleasant, beastly acting guy remained with the professor. Everyone else had pretty much excused themselves.
"Cool." Bobby was grinning like a maniac. "Kinda like you, Jean."
"Yeah, maybe." The girl smiled. "But she's got a ways to go. And something tells me she's not a complete telepath."
"Thank gawd. Lahk we need another telepath 'rund heah." Rogue rolled her eyes. Jean just glared at her.
Natalie smiled at all of this. "You can do it, Nat." she thought to herself. She reached to her face and slowly pulled off her sunglasses.
They looked at her, especially Scott.
"Okay, well she doesn't shoot lasers out of her eyes." Scott laughed.
"You do?" Natalie asked him.
"Yeah."
"Cool."
"But like I don't get it." Kitty started. "Professor, you said she had pretty GREEN eyes. Am I going blind, or do they look brown to you, too?"
Scott, Rogue and Kitty leaned in a little closer. Jean had excused herself to do homework. Bobby and Kurt just hung back and watched, while the African woman and that one guy left. The professor stayed back and smiled to himself.
"Why, yes Kitty, they do look brown."
"Then, like why did you say green?"
"Because", said Natalie, "Sometimes I have green eyes. Sometimes I have brown eyes. Other times I can have red, blue, purple, orange- any color imaginable.
"No way." Said Bobby. "Prove it."
"I can't. It depends on my mood."
"So get happy."
"I can't just do that on a whim!"
"Try harder!" Bobby was yelling at her.
"Daggumit, I'm tryin' to!" Her eyes flickered, then glowed bright orange.
"Whoa! Your eyes! They're. . . orange?"
Natalie gasped, then sat back. Her cheeks turned pink, then her eyes turned a silvery-white, pupils and all.
"You just did that to get a rise out of me." Natalie grinned a little, but it was obvious that she was embarrassed for not seeing what was really going on.
"Well, I wanted to see." Bobby grinned back.
"Alright, children, it's clear that Natalie's eyes can change. Now, let's let her go and get unpacked and rested. You all have school, tomorrow, remember?"
Rogue rolled her eyes. "Raght, school."
Natalie laughed a little, then her eyes flickered purple. "School? We don't go to school here?"
"No, we train students to control their powers here, for the benefit of mankind. We teach them self-control. The world is not ready for us, as you well know."
"Yeah, so says CNN."
Scott laughed. "Bayville's not that bad. . . except for Duncan and his loser friends." He paused for a moment. "And the Brotherhood."
"Who are they?" Natalie asked.
"Zere bad news." Kurt cut in.
"Yeah, they totally hate us too." Said Bobby.
"Except for Shakedown. He's got a thing for Miss Kitty over here." Scott grinned.
"Scott, I like told you already! It's so over between us."
"Sure it is."
Natalie just laughed. "So where am I staying at?"
"I'll like show you your room. Come on!"
They walked upstairs. "Nice staircase. I wouldn't mind tryin' ta slide down this one day."
"Just don't let Mr. Logan catch you."
"Who's that?"
"He was like in the room with us."
"Oh that beastly-lookin' guy?"
Kitty laughed." Yeah, him. But you think he's beastly? Just wait 'til you meet Mr. McCoy. He really is a beast."
Natalie laughed back.
"Okay, like, here's your room." She opened the door.
"Wow." Natalie breathed in. Her eyes were a rainbow of sparkling color.
"Wow, your eyes are so cool!" Kitty exclaimed.
"Oh!" Natalie turned to face her, and her eyes gleamed yellow. "Thanks."
She laughed. "I feel like such a princess with this room."
"Yeah, we all do. Well, see ya in the morning, Nat. Make sure you get up around six. And hurry to breakfast, because Kurt will like so eat it all."
Natalie laughed back. "Thanks Kitty. 'Night." She shut the door behind herself.
Well this would take some getting used to. She smiled as her gaze fell upon a mirror. Her eyes glittered purple. Maybe being a mutant wasn't so bad. . . if she could ever get her powers under control. She was dog-tired of seeing helpless children being hunted. Talk about being emotionally scarred.
She laughed to herself. Her life was so complicated. But didn't people always say that about life, mutant or not? Everyone always acts like they have it so hard on them, that they just can't deal with it all. Everything and everyone was against them.
She sighed, then changed into a white, knee-length gown, and lay back on her bed. She sighed, and thought back to a book she had read in 9th grade. Pollyanna. That girl was a trip. She had a game she always played, what was it? Natalie closed her eyes in thought.
"The glad game." She said aloud. She smiled, and said it again.
The trick was, if she remembered correctly, was that no matter what happened, you had to find something good in every situation, and use it to keep happy. She should start playing it, starting now. What could she be happy about? She sighed, deep in thought, then smiled as she thought of the people at the institute. They were nice, really nice. But she knew that in her dreams tonight, they would probably be filled with these visions. She hoped there was a dream version somewhere deep inside of her of the boy on the train. She barely knew him, but she felt like she really had made a connection with him. She hoped to see him again someday. She had no idea how much of him she would see.