The day was beautiful; the sun was shining, burning away the last of the morning coolness, only a few wisps of clouds were visible. The top of the slightly sloping hill was about a miles from the fairgrounds. A dirt road came out of the woods and wound away to join the main road. At the edge of the wood, just off the road, two cars were parked. Jean, Scott, Katherine and Peter were a few hundred yards away playing Frisbee. Thomas and Henry were snuggled together in the shade of a tree, keeping watch on the picnic baskets.

Thomas chuckled as Henry started nibbling his neck, trying to get him off, but he couldn't get the leverage, as his aggressor well knew. "Stop," he barely managed to say between breath, "I think," he laughed as Henry assaulted his neck again, "I think she's coming."

Henry immediately sobered up, "are you sure it's her?"

Thomas threw him a look promising vengeance before closing his eyes and sending his senses along the shadows. "I'm not sure, the vehicle doesn't feel familiar." He focused on what he was feeling, forming a shape each time the vehicle passed through a shadow. "It's a pickup," he said frowning.

"I can hear it now," Henry said. He got off Thomas and sat up; Ororo had taken the Mustang to go see Bishop. It would be asking for even more trouble for just any passerby to see two men in an embrace.

An old pickup broke out of the tree line and parked next to the other cars. Ororo got out of the passenger side wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a plaid flannel shirt tied over her breasts and waved at them. A muscular black man wearing jeans and a matching flannel shirt got out of the driver's side and reached in the back of the pickup for a wicker basket. Even though he knew he was coming, Henry found his hands clenching into fist and a severe desire to go pound Bishop's face in. Thomas placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it for comfort.

Henry closed his eyes and forced himself to relax with a deep breath. "Ororo's here," he said loudly as he stood. He kept an eye on Scott as the four stopped playing and moved closer, waving in greeting.

Scott was the first one to notice something odd, slowing his pace. A moment after that everyone else stopped moving. "What the fuck is he doing here?" Scott yelled as he walked past everyone, his eyes glowing red. Katherine and Peter had apprehension etched on their faces. Jean looked around not understanding what was happening. Thomas stayed in the shade of the tree ready to intervene if things got out of hand. Ororo placed herself in front of Bishop to shield him and Henry blocked Scott's path.

"Get out of my way Mac," Scott said through clenched teeth.

"No," Henry replied, "He's here with Ororo,"

"I don't fucking care who he's with he tried to kill me and I'm going to return the favor."

Henry put a hand on his chest and pushed him back. "No, you're not. You're so angry that you're forgetting that he's just going to absorb your beam. This is supposed to be a day to for us to enjoy ourselves. I'm not going to let you ruin it."

Scott looked at him in disbelief, "I'm ruining it? What the fuck are you doing defending him? Don't you remember what he did to us?"

Henry looked over his shoulder at Bishop, his hatred chipping away at his control and he knew it showed in his face. "Yes, I remember," he said looking back at Scott, "but he's trying to go straight. Ororo asked me to make sure you didn't do anything to him."

"Straight? The fucker's a killer, there's no way someone like him could ever go straight. You should be helping me take him down, not protecting him" Scott claimed.

Henry's eye darkened, "OK, that's enough," he said grabbing Scott by the shoulder and pulling him. "Me and your boyfriend are going to go have a talk," he told Jean as he walked by her, "please don't eavesdrop." Scott protested and tried to get free.

Henry let him go, almost throwing him to the ground when they were far enough that no one would hear their conversation. "What the hell's wrong with you, where do you get off calling him irredeemable?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Scott said as he regained his footing.

Henry studied him for a moment. "The Hausenbauchs," he said in an even tone.

Scott reeled in reaction. Henry might as well have punched him in the stomach instead. "I thought we both swore never to bring them up again." Scott said after getting over the shock. He again saw the house burning in his memory.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd become so full of yourself and actually forgot what we did to them," Henry said crossing his arms over his chest.

Scott looked at his feet, "We didn't have a choice."

"Bullshit!"

Scott took a step back at the anger behind the word.

"Tell me Scott," Henry said with a growling voice, "exactly when did we not have a choice? When we broke into their house? When we tied them up because they came home early? Or maybe it was went we set the house on fire, with them still inside? When was it that we didn't have a choice Scott?"

"Damnit! They'd seen us, they would have called the cops, what were we supposed to do? Just sit there and wait for them to send our asses to jail?" Scott said with exasperation, as if he'd gone over this time and time again.

"We could have run, we'd done it before. We did it because we'd started feeling at home and we didn't want to abandon that. We decided that their lives weren't worth all that, so we killed them."

"Don't you think I don't know that!" Scott screamed, "Every time I'd hear a siren I knew they were coming for me. It took years for the nightmares to stop. Haven't I fucking paid enough to make up for that mistake? I've made sure their kids' kids had money to go to college, I've convinced I don't know how many Renegades to go straight. Hell I help out at the orphanage. I've paid for the screw up and I've become a better person, doesn't that count for anything?"

"Then why won't you give Bishop a chance to do the same?" Henry said his voice calm and even, "his crimes are no where near as bad as ours is." Scott almost said something to that but the look in Henry's eyes stopped him. "He has killed people, and he has killed more than we did, but he was just following orders, he didn't have an emotional involvement in those he killed, it's just a war. It's a screwed up and useless war, but they always are. What we did was a conscious decision. We decided our lives were worth more then theirs. We are the ones who committed the worst crime."

"What do you want me to do," Scott asked through clench teeth, "just forgive him, kiss him on the cheeks and act like nothing ever happened?"

"No, I don't expect you to do any of that, but I expect you to respect Ororo's wishes and give him a chance to show he can change," Henry studied Scott for a moment, "You know what? I'm not even going to expect that of you. Just make sure you give him a wide berth and don't start anything. We're here to enjoy the day. If you can't manage that with him here then I suggest you go home," having said that he turned and walked back to Thomas.

Scott stayed there, trying to figure out how to deal with this, Henry had never stood in his way before. They were comrade in arms, always side by side no matter the crazy scheme they attempted. He felt Jean walk up behind him.

"Is everything ok?" She asked him as she put a hand on his shoulders. He turned to look at her, feeling completely lost and she hugged him tightly