The ride home had been nothing if not harrowing. Not to insinuate that Logan's driving was anything but perfect, or his manner anything but calm. No, the nerves came all from Maria and Emily and the evening's trials.
By the time they departed Logan's company, at Maria's apartment, both were convinced that the two transgenics were much more injured than either had first suspected. Brave soldier masks didn't make up for a mother's intuition, and their own injuries were enough to cause doubt to Max and Alec's protestations of being fine.
Still suitably shocked, Maria quickly invited Emily to stay the night with her – neither particularly wanted to be alone. Such a violent encounter had been the furthest from their minds until that night – though from the subsequent explanation provided, it seemed that Alec and Max dealt with it frequently enough.
A new layer of guilt was taking its time settling in, as the two women began to get more of a sense of their children. They were soldiers for a reason: the battle was far from over.
Gratefully accepting some ice from Maria, Emily tried to find voice to her thoughts. "After all that… Do you think they're really okay?"
Not questioning whether her friend was asking about mental or physical circumstances, Maria joined her on the couch and answered. "I think they will be."
Seemingly satisfied, Emily nodded. "To see those… men… and to think that they go through it so often…" she could feel the familiar chains of guilt and wonder settling on her shoulders. Right next to the tragedy of Ben. "They're so young, Maria, and we…"
This time, Maria didn't wait for Emily to finish. Instead cutting her off with much the same sentiment, "And we're supposed to be the protectors, but what good were we? They were more worried about us." She could still see Max coming towards her, only to be caught by one of those 'familiars.'
"I look at them," Emily shook her head, "and I want to kiss it all better. Make it all go away. But I don't even know what it 'all' is, or how I can try to make it better, when it's all my fault."
Wincing, Maria couldn't help but agree, "We didn't know. And now we don't know them." Bitterly, she stood, pacing gently in response to her own soreness and sick heart, "Hell, we don't even know this world, Emily. We've been locked away – being instead of living."
For along time, there was silence from the two women. Both were lost in thoughts and imagined ghosts of pains. It wasn't the first time they had discussed all this, but it was the first time they had seen – first hand – what this life really was like.
Eventually, Emily spoke up. Quietly, but decisively, "We have to learn how to live in the world again, before we try to understand theirs."
"You mean; we need to go away so that they don't have to look after us."
It wasn't a mean reply, only a statement of the facts, and so Emily treated it as such. "I mean that we need time to discover ourselves," she smiled slightly, "and they need time to learn about each other."
At this, Maria nodded. Both women were well aware that there was a romance brewing between Emily's son and Maria's daughter, and Maria wasn't naïve enough to think that having long-lost-parents around helped matters. "I'm afraid that we'll lose them."
Slowly, though, the idea was taking hold, edging its way into plans and thoughts. Almost catching herself unaware, Emily realized that she'd already decided – sometime after explanations, sitting in that car, wondering what was really going on. "If we stayed, the loss would be worse."