Kurt strained his eyes to see… "There she is!" He exclaimed. "We can catch her!"

He pointed slightly and Brian altered his course to get there. "I can't grab her at this speed… Even trying to be careful I'm too strong!"

"Just fly close. I'll jump off, grab her and then teleport back to where I can grab hold of you – so just stay close as we approach…"

"Gotcha." Brian smiled. You crazy little monkey man…

Lucy ran for the first aid kit … and blinked.

"Whoa." She stopped short. Did I just see…

And she closed her eyes again and the image returned. She was watching Kurt and Brian streak across the sky towards a falling girl.

Forge! She realized. This is what he sees… But… I told him not to…

And she swallowed. And he hasn't…

And she felt a wall in her mind slowly dropping away.

It's not him… It's me… It's us… We're connected. We were … even before he got here… I get it now.

I've been holding him out.

And I can't keep it up.

She swallowed and proceeded towards the first aid kit, but her real task was internal. She was forcing herself to trust.

Forge stood on the balcony, looking out towards the sea when he felt it. "Whoa." He said. "What the…"

And he took several deep breaths… As she flooded in to his mind.

This wasn't my idea. She began. And I don't know why it is… He felt the words as though each were edged like a knife with the emotions that she associated with each. But it's real…

He took to breathing shallowly as he felt her moving in to his mind. She felt like a savagely curious night animal tearing about in his head – but it was more reserved as though she were proceeded by a flood that she had to fight through to do it.

I know. He replied, and he dropped all his defenses, let his thoughts turn away from the girl in the sky and focused solely on his task.

She felt it hit her as he dropped his walls and his mind flooded in to hers.

Suddenly, half her questions had answers. And somehow, she had twice as many questions as before.

Things she had never known existed had histories and purposes she never could have dreamed of – and instinctually, she knew them well.

Forge's astral vision exploded around him. Whoa. He thought. It's like

My senses… She whispered mentally from the other room – although he heard it plainly and he felt her breath on the back of his neck as she 'spoke' the word.

And Forge could see that she was right. Her awareness of the world around her had magnified his astral awareness. He could sense people all across the countryside, as well as fish in the sea and distant boats. Beyond that were vague notions of continents and storms.

Incredible.

He opened his eyes and looked back towards the falling girl. Suddenly he could even smell an electric aroma around her. He could see bruises and scars on her face and her thick red hair – despite her being almost invisible to the naked eye.

This is a lot to take in. He thought back to her and then he turned slightly as she surprised him.

She had slipped up, cautiously, from behind – and taken his hand.

The reporter on the tape smiled at Kitty. She waved at the camera again. "And Hi, Mom and Dad."

The pre-taped reporter laughed. "Can't forget Mom and Dad." He supposed out loud.

Kitty shook her head. "No. You can't."

They began the countdown and the 'on air live' (albeit the same) reporter stood his ground and smiled reassuringly.

Then, just on cue…

"So it seems that Lucy's not the only member of Excalibur to have a slightly skewed past, granted Kitty's arguments with her old professor don't seem quite as obvious when compared with one of the newest members of Excalibur, Miss Tabitha Smith." He smiled warmly. "A lot of you will remember Miss Smith from a rather … wayward moment … where in she was arrested in Scotland, for robbing an English museum. A story that I assure you, is much better when she tells it herself."

And they cut to Tabitha. She was posing for the camera on the hood of Alistaire's mini-cooper while being interviewed.

"So you robbed a museum?" The pre-taped reporter asked.

"Oh, sure." She shrugged. "I wont deny it was wrong, or that… All that time in that Scottish jail didn't do wonders for my morality." She looked relieved. "It's not the sort of thing I'd ever try again… But if I could only explain .."

"Explain what?" He prodded.

She smiled. "Do you like ice cream?" She asked.

"Well, yes." The reporter shifted in his chair.

"Well, I love ice cream… But I try not to eat too much, because it's fattening." She smiled, almost demurely. "But when I decide to just eat some for the fun of it… I go all out." She looked wickedly devious. "I like it with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and nuts…" She cast him a sultry stare. "Now… honestly, you know what I'm talking about, right? When you've already decided to be bad… you might as well do it right, shouldn't you?"

"Well, I suppose…" The reporter shifted in his seat again – from another kind of discomfort this time.

"Then you get it!" She grinned. "That museum was my ice cream!"

Over in Scotland, Jimmy the guard laughed so hard he knocked his reading glasses off his face and people came to see if he was choking.

He beamed in pride and smiled at a perfect stranger.

"That's me' girl." He told the man before turning back to the TV to announce: "Give 'em hell Tabby!"

Scott couldn't contain himself any longer. "How the hell did Kurt keep in touch with all these people?" He blurted out. "Did anyone know that he was keeping in touch with Tabitha?" He asked.

The people who were listening shook their heads 'no'.

"And what about X23… Was he hiding her in his closet or something?"

Logan swallowed. "Yeah… Sounds like something Kurt would do." He said, sinking lower in the chair and pulling his hat down over his eyes.

Rogue wrinkled her nose. "Oh, I hope they aren't datin' again." She shook her head.

Wanda wore a disapproving smirk and nodded in agreement. "He could do way better."

"Definitely." Rogue agreed.

The reporter laughed. "Your ice cream?"

"Sure!" Tabby shrugged. "I didn't want to steal just anything… I wanted something truly incredible… Something historic. And I had to travel across half the globe to get here. And you know why…"

He looked lost. "No. Why?"

"Because England has some of the best stuff ever!" She shook her head and smiled.

"Damn strait!" Called out an assortment of drunken men across the countryside – all of whom received mighty 'harumphs' in return.

"And now… It has you as well." The reporter said. "I heard you signed a two year contract with Excalibur to get yourself out of jail."

"I did." Tabby smiled sadly. "But then, after the contract was signed and I was out, I gave up another two years. So I'm signed on for four years now. This really is where I want to be and I'm getting while the getting is good."

Wow. Mystique shivered. She's matured

"A bold move." The reporter quipped.

"My specialty." She flashed him a bawdy wink and 'shook the goods' a little for the camera.

"I like her!" The man said enthusiastically to Jimmy.

Jimmy shot him a stare. "Watch yerself there…" He warned.

And Tabby laughed again.