"Hey, cop!" Stacy strode up to the plane just as Kurt left and Kassandra was about to board. She had some things to say, and didn't want anyone else at the Institute to hear. She didn't want anyone thinking she was going soft. Or willing to socialize with law enforcement. "We gotta talk."

"Ja?"

"Listen." Stacy lowered her voice. "I just wanted to say thanks for trying to save our butts out there at the X-Ranch."

Kassandra smiled. "Bitte. But it's not as if my efforts did much good."

"Can't blame you for trying, though. But we need to talk about something else. I've seen plenty of weird real-life soap operas, a couple going on right now in that mansion. Logan and anyone else who can smell it may be fine with it, but this is just too weird, even for me. What's this thing you've got going on with Wagner?"

Much to Stacy's surprise, Kassandra did not deny anything, behave defensively, or act at all like a woman put on the spot.

"I might as well be upfront. You're almost as good as an empath."

"No kidding, Captain Obvious. You knew his name. You said something in German. And you topped it off with the pheromones. Good girls like you never fire off so many like this over guys they've just met, especially if the guy wears a collar. Something's up."

Kassandra sighed. "Remember how you found Kurt back there in Montana? Don't tell him unless you want to do similar damage. He needs to remember this on his own. Everyone knows this but him, right now. But he's been one of my best friends for, oh, about ten years, give or take. And they erased it all."

Stacy could hardly believe her ears. It was bad enough that they murdered what few friends she had. It was bad enough that they tried to kill her. But at least they had the decency to let her keep what few happy memories she had. If anything could possibly be worse, this was it.

"Well, what's a soap opera without someone getting amnesia, anyway?" Kassandra said, her attempt at humor failing utterly to mask her bitterness.

"There's more to it than that. Level with me, hon. You and he weren't 'just friends,' were you?"

Kassandra could argue quite effectively that even those in the most platonic relationships deserved more than to be labeled "just" friends, that such a friendship was just as important, if not more so, than any other sort of relationship, and that she'd be content if she and Kurt were "just" friends. She would have technically been telling the truth. But Stacy would know she was also dodging the question. She morosely shook her head. "Not to sound judgmental, Stacy, but I always knew you were wasting your talents at the X-Ranch. Someone as perceptive as you would be a terrific counselor. Or detective."

"You're not making fun of me, are you?"

"Not at all. Oh, and by the way, you'll have some good friends among the X-Men as long as you make no assumptions about how they like you. Warren in particular. Tschüß!" Kassandra closed the cockpit.

Well that tore it. Stacy didn't know what Kassandra meant about Worthington, but a cop who'd already gone to a bit of trouble on a prostitute's behalf, and then respected her enough to admit honestly why she radiated heartbreak, rather than keep up some futile pretext of toughness, deserved more than a mere thank you. What was the one thing that cop wanted most? For Kurt to remember her? Maybe for them to pick up wherever they'd left off? There were ways to go about reminding him that that hadn't even occurred to Kassandra. That cop most certainly would not help him forget his collar. She was far too much of a good girl for that. Well, Stacy wasn't. And for a fuzzy blue guy with funny ears and a tail, Kurt was kind of cute anyway.

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