QueenieMeanie: Thank you so much for the review! I admit, the first part was a bit too short, but this one is twice as long, so hopefully that's a bit of an improvement. :D

AN: I had a second chapter up yesterday, but as you can see, this is quite different from that. I decided I needed to give a little more background before I jumped into current time. So here's that. I'm going to use what I had up yesterday (I think), but that's going to go through some massive overhauls too. What can I say, I'm getting picky in my old age. :p

One Year Later…

It seemed like a miracle. With one surgery, Alicia's internal organs had stopped mutating. The damage had not been reversed, but it seemed that her body had adjusted to whatever changes it had made.

Dr.Kullson gave a sigh of relief as he watched the small red headed girl skip out of his office, holding her mother's hand. If all things stayed on their current track, this would be the last appointment on the case.

It wasn't that he didn't like the child or her family, but the circumstances surrounding her were simply too strange for their own good.

Mutants always made for odd cases. He liked working with them, it created a challenge. As far as he knew, he was the only doctor in the hospital that worked exclusively with mutant children.

The Rosen case had seemed hopeless. It didn't mean he would have given up on her, but he was almost at giddy as her father had been when an opportunity had availed itself. Dr.Kullson was forever being chided by his peers for becoming too attached to his patients, but he always figured it made him more attuned to their needs.

But when it came to Dr. Essex… well, Kullson could not deny that the man was brilliant. He was also unnerving, with his odd requests and inability to take no for an answer.

Under normal circumstances, he would not have agreed to work with him. But it seemed there was no other option, as there was nothing he himself could do for the girl. When her parents had agreed, it was officially out of his hands.

The strange doctor had sent in his own small staff to assist him, as he was informed the morning the procedure was to be performed, and Dr.Kullson's presence would not be needed. As an effect, he had never actually met the man. It had angered him, but he could not deny that whatever was done to her had worked.

In their final correspondence, Dr. Essex had left one final instruction: it was imperative that Alicia Rosen's body never be allowed to enter a starvation state.

This had struck Dr.Kullson as odd. Starvation wasn't good for anyone, but most of the time it wasn't lethal if it was stopped quickly enough.

The African-American doctor had seen some strange things in his dealings with mutant children though. But in this day and age, living in the United States of America, he thought starvation would never really be an issue. However, he figured it couldn't hurt to pass the word along to her parents.

Either way, Alicia Rosen was no longer his patient. He wished her nothing but the best, but was quite glad that her well being was out of his hands.

Miriam smiled as she watched her six year old daughter swinging in circles on the tire swing that hung in the middle of the massive playground.

Her giggles were music to her mother's ears. One year ago, she didn't know if Alicia would be alive at this point. She had been so fragile, internal organs mutating completely out of control, so very sick that had refused to even eat near the end.

And now here she was, running around the park on a sunny afternoon with the energy and enthusiasm only children who don't have a care in the world could muster.

She'd be seven soon, and Miriam couldn't help but wonder what a miracle this had been.

Alicia stopped her swinging when she saw a girl a few years older than her sitting by a ficus, playing with the flowers that grew in between its hanging branches.

Her name was Christy, and she was sad.

Alicia didn't know how she knew this, she just did. She didn't look sad though, and this confused the younger girl.

Hopping off the tire, she ran up to the other girl.

"Why are you sad?" Alicia asked, climbing on one of the sprawling roots as she spoke.

"Who are you?" She looked up through her long brown hair, annoyed for having been interrupted in the midst of creating her flower chain.

"I'm Alicia, you're Christy, and you're sad."

"Am not!" She went back to her periwinkles, but her curiosity had been piqued. "How do you know my name?"

"I dunno. I know things." The redhead shrugged, jumping from root to root.

"Like what?"

"You're sad because your daddy went away. But don't worry, he'll come back tonight. He'll bring chocolate ice cream for you and flowers for your mommy."

Christy's mother had hard the conversation between the two, and started to approach, but Miriam rushed over to her daughter, pulling her away while murmuring her apologies for her daughter's behavior.

Alicia did not go quietly. Her mother figured she wouldn't, but it was better to get her out of the way before she exposed herself for what she was.

Not that she would ever use the 'm' word to refer to her daughter, but she was special. Just like she was, but she was too young to understand that one could not run around flaunting telepathic abilities. If she even comprehended what they were in the first place.

"Mommy! What are you doing? She needed help! She was sad, but she didn't have to be 'cause everything was going to be ok!" She whined as her mother pulled her back to their car.

"What have I told you about telling people what's going to happen to them?" Miriam had given this lecture many times, but Alicia simply did not comprehend how important it was to quash abilities like this.

"That people don't like it. But Mommy, you always say that. I can help them though! Make them happy!" The girl didn't understand why she got so mad when she did things like this. In school, her teacher had said you should always try to help people when you could. Why didn't her mother agree with that?

"Alicia! You will not make them happy, you will make them angry." Unmentioned was the fact that behind that anger was fear. When people were afraid, they lashed out. Even at six year old girls.

"It's not fair" The girl pouted as she ran to the passenger side of the minivan and crossed her arms.

Miriam closed her eyes and sighed. She would not get angry, allow herself to loose her temper with her daughter in a public place. Crouching down in front of her daughter, she pulled her into a hug.

No, it was not fair. Life was not fair.

But they could pretend it was, and that was as close as they were going to get. She had been the same way at Alicia's age, until her mother showed her the error of her ways.

If one ignored their mutant abilities, it was almost as though they went away. No one ever had to know the truth, and you could nearly forget it yourself.

Miriam winced as some unseen force pressed against her mental shields, and promptly ignored it.

Delusion becomes reality if you believe strongly enough.

"Sweetheart, what's this?" She had been running her fingers through her daughter's hair, when she noticed the roots had started growing in a different color.

"What's what?" Alicia stepped away from her mother and look up at her inquisitively.

"Nothing dear, it's nothing." She forced an uneasy smile. "Let's go home, hmm?" Her hands had started to tremble slightly as she unlocked the car's doors and started the engine.

Alicia hopped in, and looked at her, face taking on the expression she usually got when trying to read people.

Miriam hadn't noticed it, lost in her own thoughts.

Children's hair color changed as they got older. She had always expected the strawberry blonde hair Alicia had been born with to eventually turn auburn, just as hers had. And these new roots were indeed a darker shade of red.

However that shade of red was not natural.

Maybe it was a phase, perhaps it would change again.

"Mommy?" the girl was now staring at her mother, even more confused than she had been earlier.

"Yes sweetheart?" She kept her eyes on the road and tried to sound as light hearted as possible, despite her worries.

"Why do you act happy when you're really feeling sad?"

It had been a simple question, but it hit her like a bullet. She had no explanations for her daughter. All she could do was raise her to be as normal as possible, and repress all signs of mutant ability. It seemed this was going to be a more difficult thing to do than she thought.

She had no idea what was to come.