"Berto," Tabitha started, "Could you sit down, please?" There was something about her tone of voice that told her boyfriend that she needed him.

He sat down like she asked. "What's the matter?"

Tabitha sighed and turned to Berto. "I might have AIDS." Berto closed his eyes for a second, fought to keep his temper under control, and then walked over to hug his girlfriend. Tabitha backed out of the hug and held up her hands. She needed to tell him this part of her past without his support.

It was hard to do. She had buried so much of what she had done to survive on the streets, hidden it away behind a dark cover. She couldn't bring herself to tell her ex-boyfriend Sam about it, even though she knew he had guessed most of it. Even surrounded by his love, she didn't want to face up to what she had done. He was too good to love her as she really was, she felt at the time, but she now knew it was part of her coping method.

Licking her lips, she started. "Micky, a friend of mine when I lived on the streets, died of AIDS last week." She paused for a second to pull herself together. "It was one of the coldest nights in the history of New York City and the shelters were full at noon. There was no way in hell I could get a warm place unless I could pay for it and this guy Jim was offering to pay good money for pictures. So Micky and I agreed." Her voice grew bitter as she added, "It's not like we hadn't turned tricks before."

Berto started to cuss in his native Portuguese, cursing both the man that offered the money and those that bought the pictures. Tabitha stopped him, knowing that she had to say what happened now or she'd lose her courage. "When we got there, there was a girl- Laura. She thought she'd be alone. Jim was already feeling her up, and reminding her every time she wanted to stop that he wouldn't pay her until the session was over. Then he motioned for us to come over..." Tabitha broke down crying at that point. "She didn't know what she was in for. I didn't really know either."

She allowed Berto to hug her and soothe her. She felt safe in his arms. He waited for the tears to stop and then spoke from his heart. "I'm glad you could trust me with this." Sam had had a little talk with his best friend about Tabitha, and he already knew part of her story.

His next words couldn't have come from the man he had been before he started dating Tabitha, "We need to get you tested, so I know how to help you."

Tabitha nodded reluctantly. After all this time, it was time to pay the piper. Berto continued, "I need to know how to help you. What do you want done?"

The last thing she wanted was for the whole mansion to know her business. And if she turned to Hank or Moira for testing, then they would, thanks to the infamous mutant gossip. "I need to get out of here."

Berto nodded. "We can go see Sam and Rahne and stay at their place. No one will question us going and Rahne works at the AIDS Hospice."

She shook her head, "They might look down at me." Rahne had changed since they were in the New Mutants but, in the back of her mind, the were-woman was still the little miss goody two shoes who would recoil in shock when asked to run an HIV test on her.

Berto shook his head. "They wouldn't be my friends if they did." Tabitha agreed to go. "Why don't you go pack and I'll handle things here?"

"I'll pack your stuff," Tabitha offered as she got up.

"Thanks." He watched her leave the room. Then, he started to get angry at such an unjust situation.

***

Rec room was the right name for the place, Cable thought as he surveyed the damage. Berto was sitting on the couch. "Tabs and I are going to see Sam and Rahne. We won't be back for a week." It was a statement of fact, not a request for permission.

Nate started to disagree with his student, but Logan, on his way for a beer run, stopped him. "Tell Sam I said 'Hi.'" Berto nodded and then went to pull the car around.

Nate turned to the shorter man and demanded, "What was that about?" He had been gone for the past week.

Logan pointed to Tabitha, standing at the door with suitcases in her hands. He knew the look in her eyes. "Her past must have caught up with her." He started to set the coffee table back up. "Goin' ta clean up after yer student?"

Cable used his telekinetic ability to quickly clean up. Then he called Sam to let him know that his best friend was on his way.

Sam picked up on the first ring. "Rahney?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

"Just me. Anything the matter?" Mentally, he reached out and tried to access the problem. It was hard to stop fathering the younger man.

"Rahne's stayin' with a girl from the hospice tonight." Rahne had called earlier and told Sam that Rachel was fading fast and none of her family could get there in time. "Ah can't help but worry."

"Berto and Tabitha are on the way. I don't know the situation, but she looks like she's been though hell."

Sam nodded, making a mental leap. "I'll leave the light on for them." It wasn't hard to imagine what was going on.

"Thanks." The older man hung up the phone and sighed. It was hard when the children grew up.

***

Thanks to Sam's phone call, Rahne knew to force a smile on her face as she walked into their apartment. Tabitha and Berto had arrived an hour ago, and Sam was making small talk with them. Rahne hung up her jacket carefully so she didn't expose the empty glass tube.

"How's the research, hun?" Sam asked as he hugged her. Tactfully, neither of them wanted to say what Rahne was really doing at the hospice.

Rachel Flowers was putting up a good fight and nurse Halloway had agreed to sit with her until Rahne got back. The poor child was five years old. "It's goin'. I just came here tae say hi tae our guests." She gratefully sipped the cup of tea that Sam handed her. He had gone out and got the kind she liked, which made her smile.

"Paige's workin' ta close tonight and then stayin' with her friend." Laura had been kind enough to agree to let Paige spend the night at her house when Sam asked. Rahne nodded, catching the fact that he had arranged to keep Tab's AIDS test as quiet as possible.

Tabitha sighed. "We came because we need you to ..." Her voice faded as she looked the innocent girl in the eyes. "I might have AIDS."

Rahne smiled at her, "God never gives us more than we can handle. If ye do, A'll help ye get settled intae a guid program." Tabitha nodded. "A have some stuff sae A can draw a sample right now, if ye like, and send it off tonight tae the lab."

Tabitha nodded. "Thanks." Rahne started to pull the stuff out of her lab coat as Berto looked at her. "Could you hold my hand?" Berto nodded.

Rahne had practiced for hours to learn how to draw blood quickly and easily. She smoothly slipped on her gloves and asked, "Which arm?"

Tabitha pointed to her left one, and Rahne tied on the tourniquet. "Thanks, Rahne. I mean, we've never been friends or anything, but this means a lot to me."

Rahne smiled as she said, "A can forget if ye can. Fresh start and all."

Tabitha winced as the needle pricked her skin. It was no accident that Rahne had everything she needed to draw a sample here instead of making her come down to the outreach center. And it meant a lot to her. "You have changed. The girl I thought I knew would look at this as me being a tramp or something."

Sam smiled as Rahne disagreed. "There are things out of our control. A just had tae grow up enough tae learn it." Rahne slipped the vial into the box and smiled at the other woman. She handed her a piece of cotton and had Tabitha bend her arm back. "The lab's a little backed up, but A'll rush the test though."

"Thanks." Berto and Tabitha said at the same time.

Rahne smiled slightly at them as she left.

***

Laura Kirk English couldn't sleep. Every time she tried, she had the same dream again. She was fifteen years old, desperate, and in the studio of the man that hung around her apartment building.

"Take the shirt off," Jim started, and she did as he told her. "Now the skirt." She blinked back her tears and reminded herself that her mother needed the medicine the money would buy. She stepped out of her clothes and watched as he came over to pose her.

"Doing good," he told her as he ran his hand up her leg. "Now, for these pictures-"

It wasn't too late, she could get up and run away, she reminded herself. He spotted the look of rebellion in her eyes and shook his head. "I'm not paying you until I'm done, Laura." Then he motioned for his surprise.

Two teenagers walked over. One male, one female. The girl looked her in her eyes and whispered, "Just don't think about it. Just don't let your mind be here."

Laura took the blonde girl's advice and tried not to think for the next few hours. After it was all over, the blonde helped Laura dress. "We do what we have to," she told the young girl. "And I hope this was a have to for you."

Laura nodded and headed for the street. Jim followed her outside. "Any time you want to do another session--"

There was no way. "I'm not going back- I can't do it."

Jim fixed his evil stare on her, "You will. When you need the money again, you will."

Later, he handed the photographs to her mother and all hell broke loose.

***

Laura climbed out of bed, careful not to step on the sleeping Paige, and ran into the bathroom. It only took the dream to make her feel dirty again. She climbed into the shower and started to suds up.

She was responsible for the fire that killed her mother. After her mother saw the pictures and they fought, she burned them in the basement and ran off. The ashes relit and started a fire that burned down her Single Residence Only apartment complex, trapping her mother inside. Laura ran away for good.

Luck smiled on her then, and she found her way into Brooke English's shelter. After confronting Brooke about the condition of her shelter, she ran again and found Janet and Pierce. After a magical summer in the woods, Brooke took her in and, with time and tears, they became a family.

Then Jim re-entered the picture. This time, he was up to something else, but Laura didn't know what. Something was keeping him in Pine Valley, something more than the plane crash that nearly killed Brooke and him. Since he came back, he had been tormenting her.

Jim was crazy, she knew that. But what did he want?

***

Rahne came home again around three in the morning, and found Sam waiting up for her. "Thanks," she told him as he hugged her. "A needed that."

Rachel had died half an hour ago with Rahne and Allie holding her hands. She knew she wasn't suppose to have favorites, but Rachel had managed to win Rahne's heart. There was nothing more that girl wanted than to be held or read to. And now she was dead.

"Ah can't sleep until Ah know yer home," Sam explained. Rahne smiled at him, taking comfort in the fact he cared that deeply for her. "And Ah wanted ta be up for Berto ta talk ta later."

Rahne shook her head. There were times when her decision not to have sex before marriage made her seem so old-fashioned but, on nights like tonight, it seemed a very modern choice. What was once called safe sex was only safer sex; the only truly safe sex was inside a long-term monogamous relationship. AIDS hurt so many people.

Sam looked at his girlfriend and knew what she was thinking. If Tabitha was positive then so many people would be affected. He knew enough about life on the streets to know that her choices were basically earn money or die, and he was glad he had never had to make that decision. Rahne squeezed his hand.

After a minute, she asked, "What are the sleepin' arrangements?"

There had been no thought about that. Regardless of what Tabs and Berto did or didn't do at the mansion, Sam had to think of the example he set for Paige. "Tabitha is in Paige's room tonight, tomorrow she can bunk with you or on the couch. Berto got the cot in my room."

Rahne kissed Sam goodnight and went briskly into her room. She needed to have some prayer time before she went to sleep. What is, is. But she knew that she could talk to God about what the future held. And tonight she had two special families to pray for. The Flowers and X-Force.

***

Sam sighed as Rahne left the room. One thing was for sure, since coming to Pine Valley, he hadn't had enough time to focus on his private worries. He was plain too busy working, running a house, and helping his friends. And when he had a spare second, he could always worry about what was keeping Li'l Bit from picking up the phone and calling him. _Maybe_, he thought ruefully, _if the X-Men were required to spend time away from the mansion, we wouldn't be so hung up on what the world thought of mutants._

Berto walked out of his room. "Thought I heard Rahne."

"Ya did, but she went on ta bed." Sam motioned to Rahne's closed door.

"I wanted to thank her again for helping Tabitha." Berto sat down at the table across from Sam. "What I'd really like to do is get my hands on the creep responsible for taking those pictures."

That was an idea Sam could agree with in theory. However, as a big brother and future father, he had a big difference of opinion about a critical point. To his mind, the soft core porn, the R rated movies, and the people who watched them were responsible for hard core stuff. It was like when he made the transition from science fiction to horror books. He wanted more, and became increasingly desensitized to what he read. What once would have made him put down the book was commonplace before he stopped. "How big is yer collection of Playboy?"

Berto started to get mad at his friend, but then stopped. Sam had a point. "It's gone when I get back." Funny, he'd always viewed Sam's opinion on horror films and such as a throwback to his country boy roots. Now, he understood the point that his friend was trying to make. "But I still want to get my hands on the photographer."

Sam nodded. "So would Ah. He's scum."

Berto buried his face in his hands. "What if Tabs is HIV positive? I love her."

At times like this, Sam felt his immortality stronger than ever. He knew he was going to outlive his friends and family. "Ah don't know, but ya'll find a way."

Shaking his head, Berto sighed. Sam knew what he was feeling more than anybody he knew. "Our future together..."

"How long do Ah really have with her? Is it fair ta her that Ah stick around? How could Ah stand ta lose her?" Sam recited the list of questions he had floating around his head. Berto nodded at each of them.

They didn't notice Tabitha standing at the door, unable to sleep. Berto added in the one thought he had been thinking all night. "How can I let her know I'm here for her no matter what?"

"Like that, Berto." They turned to find her standing in the doorway. "I couldn't sleep."

She sat down in Berto's lap. "Kept thinking, what if I am HIV positive? What does that mean for the team?" That wasn't a new worry for either of the men. "And for us? I went into shock when I found out, and I'm just now starting to wake up."

Rahne walked out, wearing Sam's Atlanta Braves T-shirt, which came down to her knees. "Nurse Hathaway sent home some samples of sleeping pills if ye think that'll help." Tabitha nodded, so Rahne started to fish them out of her purse.

"I just want to hit something. Do something." Tabitha explained as she took the pills.

Sam got up and got her a glass of water. "Ah'll get ya a guest pass to the gym in the morn," he offered, knowing that exercise kept Tab's mind off her troubles. She swallowed the drink.

"Thanks." Tabitha laid her head on Berto's chest.

Sam then noticed what Rahne was wearing. "That's my shirt!"

Rahne shook her head, "Ye dinnae sort the laundry sae when Paige handed it to me, A took it." She liked wearing Sam's clothes.

Berto and Tabitha started giggling at the domestic scene before them. "Ah like it better on ya." Sam blushed a little. "Does that mean Ah get ta wear yer DC-Talk shirt?"

Rahne shook her head, "Paige snatched it this mornin' and ye have my Newsboys one already. See, ye should be folding the clothes." She was holding Sam's Shana Twain t-shirt hostage for a good meal later this week.

Berto whispered into Tab's ear, "They're like an old married couple already." Tabitha nodded. Watching them bicker made her feel better.

"Ah told ya, there are some things a man shouldn't know. Like what his girlfriend's underwear looks like." They both detested laundry, so usually Paige would trade cleaning the kitchen so they could get out of it.

"Sae it's okay for me tae know that yer a boxer type of guy?" Rahne shot back. Tabitha laughed out loud, and they took it as a sign that her mind was off the test.

Sam continued, "Umm... that's why Paige is supposed ta handle the laundry." He was getting better about blushing.

Rahne turned to the other couple and explained. "Sam handles the food, and Paige and A do the cleaning. It doesn't work out that way." Most Saturdays, Paige had to work, and Sam's and Rahne's work hours varied. Often, what was done got done on the spur of the moment.

"Ah still cook. Last time ya cooked-" Rahne had been extremely tired that night and fell asleep at the kitchen table, letting the pot of water boil dry.

Rahne laughed and hugged Sam. "Ye'll never let me live it down, will ye?" She mock pouted and Sam kissed her.

Turning towards Berto, Sam explained. "There's a reason the pizza number is first on the list of emergency phone numbers- and the fire department is second." Tabitha laughed and yawned at the same time.

"Thanks guys, but I have to go to bed." She kissed Berto goodnight and then impulsively hugged Rahne. "Thanks for everything."

"Night," Rahne called as she headed back towards her room.