Disclaimer: Mutants are Marvel's. This story is a part of the Facing The Music timeline and belongs to me. Kyle is Leary's. Please don't put it on your page without asking me first.

    Silence has a language and a feeling of its own. Sometimes it is a warm moment where souls take comfort in the presence of each other. Sometimes it is literally the sense of fulfillment after a heart opens up. And then there are the times that silence is a cold anticipation of forth-coming pain.

    Rahne stared out the car window and blinked as Sam pulled into the small village of Ullapool. "Where do you want to go first?" he repeated his question gently, not sure what to do now. Rahne made a slight movement as she watched her reflection merge with places from her past.

    "Rahne?" he prompted for the third time. Maybe this was way too soon. It had only been two days since Rahne had told him that Craig had died, and now she said she felt ready to make her peace with him. Maybe more time, more talking would be better for her.

    Rahne turned from the window. "The school..." She went back into the terrible silence she had been wrapped in since Sam had landed the Blackbird. Not even her own teammates knew that she was back in Scotland, a sign of how much she was dreading the events of the day. She had justified her decision by explaining that Moira was wrapped up in her work, and she was only going to be in Europe for a day, but Sam could tell there was something that she was trying to herself.

    "It's changed," Sam said, remembering the brief trip he had made to Muir Island as a New Mutant and his one and only encounter with Rahne's father. Small details had changed but, like any small town anywhere, it kept its original feel.

    Rahne shook her head slowly, "Not nearly enough..." She reached for her sweater and wrapped it around her. "Take a left at the pub, and the school should be on your right."

    She was actually cringing now, reverting back into the sad, insecure, and beaten-down Rahne Sinclair before his very eyes. "We don't have ta do this, Rahney," he told her as he cupped her chin in his hands. "We can turn right around and go home."

    Her chin was set and her mind was made up. "A do..." She fingered her golden cross and whispered a prayer. "This place... this town... and Craig are so integrated in muh mind... A need tae come here before A see him."

    "Why?" Sam asked, surprised. "Ah thought ya were home-schooled." Though he had no problem with parents who chose to teach their children themselves, the way Rahne's father handled the situation was horrible.

    "For a long time A was... and then Craig sent me tae school tae see what it was like for the townies, tae be a beacon of light in their darkness." Rahne explained as they pulled up to small school. "It didna work out quite that way..." she whispered as he parked the car.

    Sensing her somberness, Sam said nothing as he parked the rented car and quickly moved around to open her door. When she placed her hand in his, he squeezed it, trying to lend her his strength. She smiled for a second at him before leaning into his frame. "A dinna fit in, not at all, Sam..."

    She closed her eyes and could remember how the dress she had found in the giveaway hamper felt against her skin. The Lacey collar tickled her throat while the long sleeves and long skirt covered every inch of her skin. It was hot, and the dark color trapped the heat. The girls around her wore pants, shorts, and short skirts, much to her surprise. She had never seen young women exposing so much of their bodies and the presence of boys made the act seem scandalous.

    She found her way to her first class and slipped into a seat in the back, wishing to blend in. She sat down next to a girl, tall, thin and absolutely stunning. With black hair and hazel green eyes, Rahne thought Jackie had to be the most beautiful girl that God had ever made.

    Forcing herself back to the present, Rahne started to walk up the stairs. Sam kept a steady grip on her hand as Rahne continued. "The first day there, the first lass A met-Jackie Edwards--- made it her mission in life to make muh life difficult."

    Jackie ran with a clique of girls, the same kind that existed in nearly every school in every country. People who hid their insecurities behind their looks and focused their anger on a select few. The kind of people that it seemed the world was made up of, Rahne discovered as she got older. She fought to hold on to her sense of wonder and ability to find joy in the simple things. Rahne had decided a long time ago not to allow the Jackies of the world to win.

    Sam tried the door and was surprised to find that it was unlocked. "Band always meets here on Saturdays," Rahne explained. Walking through the side door was the first of many tests she intended to place herself through that day. "Jackie and her friends started by doin' little things like tripping me in the hallway, laughing behind muh back, spreading little rumors about me around."

    Back home, Sam had been a rare student who focused as much on sports as he did his schoolwork, but he knew what Rahne was talking about. There were always one or two people that, for some reason, most everybody decided to hate. Li'l Bit was his school's outcast, dismissed for her good looks, her talent, and her mother's occupation. Although Sam wouldn't allow anybody to put her down when he was around, he knew it happened. "They made life hard?" he empathized.

    Rahne passed a classroom and stopped. "Hard was one word for it." She closed her eyes, remembering the small party that Mr. Ferguson had thrown just because it was a beautiful day. It was a perfect day-sunny and comfortable-- the kind Scotts appreciated because of the scarcity of them. Mr. Ferguson had moved the class outside and given each of the students a cone of homemade chocolate ice cream. Jackie had laughed as some dripped down Rahne's hand and onto her dress. "She never missed a chance to hurt me, Sam," Rahne said as she forced her mind to the present.

    **

    When the ice cream that Rahne had been savoring fell off the cone, Jackie pointed out gleefully, "Looks like the doggie had an accident..." Rahne quickly tried to pick up the ice cream with a napkin, but Jackie continued with "She needs a pooper scooper." Now everybody was watching the confrontation.

    Rahne's hands quickly gathered up the melting blob and tossed it into her lunch bag. "Why don't you make her lick it up?" Jackie's friend Beatrice asked.

    One of the most evil grins spread across the other girl's face. "Maybe I should..." There were two Jackies, Rahne quickly discovered. One was polite, sweet and seemingly innocent. The other, the personality she showed when the adults weren't around, was downright cruel when given the chance.

    The young girl looked around as she saw Jackie's gang start to surround her. "Please..." she whispered.

    "Eat your shit, Doggie!" Jackie ordered. Now she was dangerous, almost lethal, enjoying her power.

    One of the schoolchildren who had been watching the confrontation snapped, "Leave her alone!" Jackie turned to the loud mouth, angry that someone had challenged her power.

    Lacey MacGregor was a rare person in the school, someone who had her friends and her self-confidence. She held her head high and didn't play the games that other girls her age played. People like her seemed to just seemed to be born with a sense of who they were and how they related to the world, which made going against the flow so much easier for them.

    Jackie couldn't think for a split second because nobody told her what to do. Teachers thought she was nearly perfect or respected the fact that her father was the principal of the school and her mother came from the second wealthiest family around. Students either feared her or would do anything to be her friend. She parted her lips, ready to say something. The ringing bell drowned out her words.

    **

    "Sounds like Lacey was a real gem," Sam offered after a second. "It would take courage to stand up to someone like Jackie."

    She nodded, "She's the one person in this whole town that A thought might just care aboot me. When Craig declared A needed tae fast tae prove muh worthiness to God, she would slip me food off her plate. She would help me with muh schoolwork in the mornings..."

    "Sounds like ya two were friends."

    "Friendship is between two equals, Sam. Lacey was just kind tae a lost soul." Ruefully, she sighed. "Besides, she was Catholic and Craig hated Catholics."

    When Rahne started to walk on, Sam followed her. "Why do Ah get the feelin' that Jackie did more stuff?"

    "She did." It was strange to remember how many of her school days were tainted by the pain a sadistic person inflicted on her. And Rahne was surprised to realize that she had almost forgotten Lacey over time.

    **

    To a twelve-year-old, getting her first period was a very big thing. It was a symbol that they had arrived at some mysterious point, that they were no longer children but women. Some girls anticipated it by keeping pads in their lockers. Others bragged about getting theirs. As usual, Jackie was the first to get hers and she found a way to rub it in Rahne's face.

    She'd hold porn magazines in front of the girl, making sure that Rahne saw each and every sinful thing shown on the pages. Pamphlets would appear in her locker, warning of STDs and telling her how to get an abortion. Details from sex education books would appear in her schoolbooks.

    But two things stood out in Rahne's mind. The first was when Jackie's friend Patricia spread red dye on Rahne's seat in history. Jackie had made a big deal about the red stain on the back of Rahne's dress. The second was when Angela, another friend of Jackie's, wrote Rahne's name on a tampon and slipped under her desk.

    **

    Now they were in front of the women's locker room. "Ah don't understand," Sam said confused. "How did they get away with it?"

    Rahne pressed one hand against the door, as if trying to decide if she wanted to open it. Softly, Rahne tried to explain the only thing she could think of. "Some teachers did try to stop it when they realized she was two-faced but, when her father was yuir boss, it was a losin' battle. Others were just too lazy to care what happened. And Craig had confronted others about the sins in their lives and A honestly think they thought A deserved it."

    Sam was thinking of the shy teenager that the New Mutants had first met. "No wonder you were so afraid of us..." he realized. "Ah attacked ya the first time---"

    "And A forgave ye," Rahne pointed out, remembering the first time they had met. It was hardly the stuff great romances were made of. Sam had been working for the Hellfire Club at the time and been ordered to attack Xavier. Rahne happened to be in the car at the time.

    "It took a long time before A could forgive muhself." He had been upset with himself for a long time afterwards, not only that he had been used as he had but that he had accepted the lies that he had been handed without questioning them. And the fact that Rahne had not only forgiven him but that forgiveness allowed him to join the New Mutants made things worse.

    "Forgiveness is hard..." Rahne whispered as she pushed on the door. "Hard to take.... and sometimes, hard to give." She closed her eyes and tightened her jaw.

    It was obvious that she didn't want to be in the locker room, so much so that her body was screaming it. Her fists were clenching and unclenching. She was growing paler the longer she stayed at the door. "Ya don't have ta go in..." he whispered.

    Her eyes flew open. "A-A've never been back here." She waited a moment and started to walk in, quick and certain steps towards the shower area. "This place... it has power over me." Moving faster, she forced herself to step into the shower area. "No more... A'm takin' muhself back from Jackie... from what she did..."

    Not sure what to say, Sam watched her as she stood in the middle of the shower area. She looked towards him. "There were rumors that A wasn't clean... that A refused tae shower. The truth was A wasn't part of the clique and A didn't want tae be, so when they stayed in here joking around, A wanted out fast. A was clean!" The desperate tone of voice warned Sam that this was the most painful memory for Rahne.

    "Ah know it," he reassured her. Rahne was fastidious when it came to hygiene. Her sensitive nose wouldn't allow her to be anything less than that. She had forced him to be more careful, even to the point of suggesting deodorants and soaps that were scent free.

    Rahne shook her head. "A-A..." Tears started to roll down her face and she started to shake. Quickly Sam bridged the distance to hold her.

    "Do ya want ta leave?" he asked her as one hand stroked her hair.

    She nodded, deciding that she had passed the test she had set for herself. He helped her to a bench and held her tightly as she told him what had happened in the little room.

    **

    When the water's cold and the company unpleasant, there is very little reason to linger in the shower, Rahne had discovered. Some part of her envied the way the other girls were laughing and enjoying each other's company but she didn't want to be a part of it. Quickly, she washed the dirt and grime off her body, trying to drown out their laughter with the sound of falling water.

    She never knew what caused the change in the room, if she called attention to herself somehow or if what happened next was prearranged. All she knew was that one moment it was light and bouncy in the shower room. The next, two of Jackie's friends were guarding the way in and out.

    When Rahne looked around, she discovered that literally she was trapped in the showers. Friends of Jackie's were blocking her from leaving, blocking others from entering. "What?" she whispered.

    That was Rahne's last clear memory of the events in the showers. Too many times, she had forced herself not to remember what happened next. The events, now that she wanted to remember them, seemed like an old, poorly stored movie, complete with bumps, white space and the occasional missing seconds.

    Jackie poured some shower gel onto Rahne's washcloth and demanded she clean herself-everywhere. There was no place to hide from the cold, cruel, curious eyes that were fixed on her. Rahne's body burned from shame as she forced herself to move the washcloth around on her body. Panicked, she looked around, hoping for deliverance.

    Rahne's body tingled as she stood there, hoping, praying for help, for the earth to swallow her whole. This was wrong. This defied the very definition of wrong. Somebody had to stand up for her, to say no more. Like a pack of dogs, nobody was going to dare risk crossing the alpha. A few of the girls also trapped in the room looked away as Rahne's hand traveled lower and lower and moved between her legs. Jackie just smiled.

    The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. "Please..." Rahne whispered to her attacker. "Just let me go..." Too ashamed and afraid, she couldn't even look the other girl.

    Jackie gestured, and her friends let the girls leave. One or two of them tapped Rahne on the arm as if to say that they were sorry, that they were just as powerless as she had been.

    **

    There were no words to describe Sam's feelings as she told him what happened. He knew that there was that side to human nature, he had seen it. But to imagine it happening to someone like Rahne... incomprehensible. He held her as she sobbed.

    Comforted by the silence, she found her voice. "Lacey found out what happened and she... believed the best of people. She told the coach..."

    "And Jackie finally got what was coming to her?" he asked hopefully.

    "Nae." Rahne squeezed his hand as she battled with herself to find the words to explain what happened next. "The next day, he made me stand up in front of the class, made me tell him what happened... made me listen as the girls told their lies. And he said that... he never said that what they did was wrong."

    Something powerful started to build in Sam as he heard those words, something very primitive. "That was a violation!" he snapped. There wasn't a right word to describe that level of torment. "And it was ignored?"

    She nodded, tears running down her face. "It was easier to pretend it didn't happen on his watch than to do the paperwork." All the comments Rahne had made about hating the people in her town made sense to him. "And no one really, truly had the power or cared enough to stand up to Jackie."

    After a long moment, he asked cautiously, "What happened next?"

    Rahne sprang to her feet and started to leave the area. She had come back, faced her fears, and didn't need to stay in the little room any longer. "After the shower?" she asked. Sam nodded. "A realized... Jackie had been given carte blanche in this school. She could do anything she wanted tae anybody she wanted and A wasn't ever goin' tae be safe... but at the same time, it wasn't like A could just run away from home, ye know?"

    He wrapped a supportive arm around her and pulled her towards him. Thinking back to his days in a normal school, he sighed as he realized that what had happened to Rahne could have happened anywhere, any time. Where he came from, all a person needed was to be able to throw a football well or be from the right family, and he or she could have gotten away with nearly anything, including murder. "A know."

    "But A... A couldn't tell him what happened—it was tae private. Sae A asked him tae let me go back tae him teachin' me." As bad as her education had been before she went to school, and as erratic as her father's moods were, it was still better than going to school. "He never asked a question, jist let me come back."

    They quickly exited the school and got back into the car as Rahne was talking. "Where to next?" Sam asked quietly.

    Rahne closed her eyes, lost in memories. "Doc Samson said that it sounded like Craig suffered from manic depression, delusions, and alcoholism. Not the healthiest things to pass on to a kid."

    He reached over and touched her shoulder, waiting until she turned to him. Sam smiled and kissed her cheek. "Ah think they'd get your lovin' heart, kindness, and gentleness, personally." He squeezed her hand with his other hand, knowing she hated to be to get physical in public. "Yer father was mentally ill, Rahne."

    She smiled back at him. "And there were good times with him, Sam..." They were rare enough to baffle a young child, but they were there. Picnics, Sunday school games, and, once, a used bike. Like treats to lab mice, they appeared seemingly out of the blue, leaving her and her foster brother to always wonder what they had done that was right, and what they'd done more of that was so wrong. "Once in a while, he was kind."

    She closed her eyes, and tried to replace the image of Craig beating her with him giving her a sweet. "A donnea think he was evil like Jackie was, at least. The evil that was in him came from the chemical balance in him mind—not from his heart."

    "What ever happened to her?" Sam asked cautiously, almost wanting her to have stayed in the village so he could have a confrontation with her.

    The momentary peace Rahne felt faded when he asked that. "A did," she answered him cryptically. Hand on the car door, she told him, "Follow me."

    The town of Ullapool was smaller than Sam had first realized. Everything was within easy walking distance, much to his surprise. But then, Rahne had spent a while in the place, and knew the shortcuts. It took four minutes to leave the school and get to the parsonage.

    "We moved a lot.... usually churches either got tired of Craig's hate or he felt led by God to move on," she explained as she stood outside the house she had lived in until manifesting her mutant powers. "This town was a rarity for us—we stayed about a year before A left. He must have loved the area. He stayed around until his death."

    She turned to go to the cemetery, as if wanting to go the newly dug grave. Biting her lip, she turned back towards Sam. "A'm nae ready yet," she whispered. "A need tae go someplace else first." She led him into the woods surrounding the village.

    He nodded, allowing her to lead the way. After a minute, Rahne whispered, "A may have at least one sibling. A had a foster brother... and then there was the girl that Craig was chasing when we met for the last time..."

    He said nothing but lifted his eyebrow. Family was the central thing in his life and it would drive him crazy to have a missing brother or sister. He still missed his twin sister, Elizabeth, who had died when they were just babies.

    Rahne looked at him, knowing that he was thinking of Elizabeth. "Does Bit know why ye donnea call her Elizabeth?"

    Sam nodded. "Li'l Bit fits her better... unusual and different. Short and spirited, as she calls it." Once his best friend had found out about his sister, she refused to be called anything but Li'l Bit in Cumberland Gap.

    Rahne nodded, trying not to think about Kyle and Bridget. It didn't work. "A may call them soon," she decided. "But Bridget has a father and mother she loves."

    Sam smiled and hugged her to him. "Then ask them if it's possible and see what they want ta do... she may not be at a point in her life where she can accept a sister." She nodded, slowly. "Or she might not be your sister..." he pointed out. "Ya have a foster brother?"

    Rahne stopped in the woods and pointed. "Tis is where Mummy rescued me." It had been a lucky encounter, Moira finding Rahne as the mob did. "She saved me life that night."

    "Ah think ya saved her life," he pointed out. Rahne had given up a lot to be in Scotland with her adoptive mother when Moira needed her the most. Hank had admitted that having Rahne around actually gave Moira motivation to fight Legacy. Sam, knowing how important it for the two women to be together, had even made plans to move to Scotland after they got married.

    "Never as much as she saved mine," Rahne disagreed. She smiled fondly at the spot and decided to move on. "One more place ta go before A talk ta Craig."

    Sensing the need to change the subject to something totally random, Sam asked, "Do you want to make some Stain Glass Cookies when we get back to Snow Valley?" They were staying at Emma's to keep an eye on a friend while she adjusted to her sister's absence. "Celeste likes ta cook."

    The look that Rahne shot him was one of pure impish mischief. Their one and only attempt at making Stain Glass Cookies had turned into an exercise in frustration. They had to run out twice to the grocery store to get the ingredients. The hard candy they were supposed to crush had rapidly disappeared, which meant a trip to the candy store in the mall. Sam got his revenge for having to suffer mall traffic a week before Christmas with a girlfriend who loved to shop when they discovered they needed a mallet to crush the candy. Rahne had to walk around for an hour and half as Sam ohhed and ahhed over the newest gadgets and cookbooks. Finally, once they had everything together, the instructions they were using had turned out to be woefully lacking. But, they had laughed so much at the process that they had forgotten the difficulties.

    She smiled at him and relaxed for a change. "Way tae type A for that," she decided. Changing the subject again, for a momentary laugh, "Maybe ye could teach her tae burp the alphabet like ye did me?" That had happened one night after Rahne had been suffering from what Hank had determined to be gas. Sam sat her down with a large bottle of Dr. Pepper and taught her how to burp to get rid of it. For some oddball reason, that was one of her fondest romantic memories of Sam, right up with the first time he had brought her roses.

    Sam shook his head as they entered the town area. "Don't think that will ever happen." Rahne's face lost the jovial look as she approached an alleyway next to a dressmaker's shop. "What happened here?"

    Rahne closed her eyes. "Remember when A said A happened to Jackie?" It was an unpleasant memory, one that was tough to face because she had never really, truly been sorry for what had happened in that alleyway. "She and her friends had me trapped here... and A wolved out for the first time." She entered the alleyway and started to explain what had happened.

    **

    Even though Rahne was no longer in school, Jackie and her friends didn't let up on her. Seeing that they had won once, they continued to terrorize the girl whenever they saw her in the town. That summer afternoon was no exception.

    Rahne hadn't been feeling well. She had spent most of the day in the coolness of the church, trying to avoid sudden movements that might make her migraine worse. But the bulletins had to be picked up from the printers for the next service, and she was the one that was supposed to do it. Knowing better than to shirk her job any longer, especially since the Reverend was in a particularly foul mood, she had quietly made her way into the town.

    Her nerve endings were itching, feeling like they were trying to push something out, and her jaw and teeth were aching, as if they were actually going to change shape. Sights and sounds were much brighter and more real to her on the way into the town. Emotionally, she was tense, ready to jump at the slightest thing. The sound of a squirrel scampering across a tree branch made her want to follow it. Whatever was the matter with her was definitely unusual. But at the same time, Rahne wasn't afraid of the pain or the small transformations she sensed in her body. It felt so natural to her.

    She had picked up the papers and started back to the church when she saw Jackie and her pack following her. Quickly, they surrounded her and knocked the bulletins out of her hands and into a small puddle. A growl of frustration escaped her lips as something animalistic stirred in her. For the first time, Rahne turned around and faced the group who had made her life hell. "What do ye want?" she demanded.

    Jackie actually stopped for a brief second and looked at her. She was so used to getting a rise out of Rahne just by messing her that this stunned her. "I think you know..." It was time that the small games ended and Jackie proved who was in charge, once and for all.

    Any other time, Rahne would have backed away from the challenge but, at this moment, she literally felt different, as if a stranger was in her body. She could have sworn she smelled a slight whiff of fear drift off the bully as Rahne stepped into the alleyway. Her muscles were actually tensing and contracting as she prepared herself for this. Her foster brother had warned her that this day might come, and even taught her how to hit if it ever did.

    Aggression grew as Jackie knocked her to the ground and hit her in the face. And then, Rahne's mutant power started to manifest. Long, sharp teeth dug into the bully's hand as Rahne became a wolf.

    Around her, the group started to scream in terror, calling her a mutant as the cooper taste of blood started to provoke a wild rage in Rahne. Some part of her stopped herself from attacking the neck or the chest as she continued to bite Jackie, mangling flesh, and breaking bones. For one brief second, Rahne gave into the fever and was tempted to go for the jugular.

    Looking down at the other girl, Rahne paused. Her animal instincts were running wild yet her moral convictions held her bound. If she could have, if she had been able to break out of her wolfen form, Rahne would have told the child she was sorry. Instead, she turned and ran, trying to stay one step ahead of the mob that had formed.

    **

    Sam bit his tongue, trying to comprehend all angles of Rahne's story before he spoke. Maybe he was too close to the situation, too much in love with her to say what she did was really wrong. "Did you..." he trailed off, afraid of the answer.

    She shook her head. "She's alive... but she'll never win any beauty pageants." Rahne had tried to make amends when she was older, but never could find the words.

    "The outside is as ugly as the inside," a woman said from where she stood at the end of the alleyway. The woman was uniquely beautiful, mainly because she broke all the standard rules of beauty. Her clothing looked like it came from her mother's attic, and she wasn't thin. Her eyebrows were too big, her nose too wide, and her lips were just too cartoonish to be believed. On anybody else, it would have looked terrible but she made it work in a very old-fashion sort of way.

    "Lacey!" Rahne identified her with a smile. Walking over, she started to shake her hand. Lacey grabbed the other woman's hands in hers and smiled.

    "Kyle asked me tae keep an eye oot for ye," she explained as her eyes sparkled. "Its sae great tae see ye again." Quickly, she ushered them inside the dressmaker's store, which was called "A Touch of Lace."

    Because Lacey had spent three years at the Royal School of Needlework, she took tea time very seriously. Between sweet cookies and warm tea served from an assortment of rose teacups, she started to fill in the blanks for Rahne. "Kyle came here after the Reverend had his stroke—"

    "A never knew he was sae sick," Rahne said, surprised. Although she wouldn't have really known how to react, she wished she had been told.

    "Kyle dinnea feel it was for the best," Lacey explained. "Although the stroke totally changed the Reverend's personality—he was actually kind and guid—Kyle knew ye were busy taken' care of the woman who took ye in, and happy for a change." Her voice had a gentle tone as she mentioned Moira, a sign of how beloved the doctor was.

    "Sounds like ye and muh foster brother were guid friends," Rahne commented as she tried to picture a kind Craig.

    A small, wishful smile was her answer. "Aye, but he is married tae his ministry and A wanted a family." Almost in an attempt to change the subject, she added, "He's back at his Kirk now but he wanted ye tae know that the Reverend wanted ye tae have this." She moved quickly across the room, and reached into a wooden box on the mantle place. Quickly, she pulled out a framed picture and an envelope. "Craig said it was a picture of yuir birth mother... and these papers are yuir birth certificate and the last address we could find for Hester Sinclair."

    Stunned, Rahne took them from her. Sam leaned over and touched the picture she was holding. The woman in it wasn't what Rahne would have pictured her mother as looking like. Hannah was an average woman, slightly on the tall side, slightly on the plump side, with long red, curly hair and blue eyes. He pointed to them and smiled, "That's where you got them from."

    Rahne nodded as she stared at the picture. Slowly, she ran her hand across the woman's face. "Muh birth mum... do ye know if she wanted tae put me up for adoption?"

    Lacey nodded. "She had her problems at the time, Rahne... he said she didn't want you to grow up with them. But she loved you." A slogan flashed through Rahne's mind, one she had seen at a pro-life rally--'Life, what a loving choice.'

    Rahne opened the envelope next, trying to imagine what her birth mother sounded like, how she laughed, and what made her laugh. She read the address carefully, trying to come to a decision. Did she want to follow up on this?

    She knew how her mother spoke and what made her laugh. She knew what made Moira cry. She knew her real mother, the one that loved her unconditionally, the one that made the choice to raise her. And she knew she wouldn't search for this woman without her mother's consent. "It might be nice tae find her... tae know muh medical history," she added. "But she might have a family now, people that donnea know aboot me. A can't jist call her up and ask her if she wants tae see me," she vocalized her decision. "Not without muh mum's approval."

    It was a choice she had made a long time ago, Rahne realized, startled. Otherwise, she would have taken Kitty up on her offer to help her find her birth mother, or even asked Pete to help a long time ago. Her time with the New Mutants taught her that family was who you made it to be.

    Lacey smiled gently and added, "It was an old address anyways... Kyle couldn't find her when he went looking."

    Rahne tucked the information back into the envelope and asked, "Where is he?"

    A shadow flashed in the other woman's eyes, giving the impression that she had known the man well. "He's in Edinburgh... A have his number around here." She quickly started to dig through papers, trying to find her address book.

    "Maybe later," Rahne said as Sam leaned forward. He knew that these were her choices to make and the best thing he could do was let her make them. He set down his empty cup and Lacey quickly offered to fill it up again. He shook his head. "Please," she answered the other woman's look.

    "Ya do the tapestries?" Sam asked, looking at the wall hanging. The ornate decorations looked handmade but, for the life of him, he couldn't imagine anyone taking the time to handstitch the tapestries.

    "A designed a few," Lacey answered, knowing he was trying to keep the topic light for a few minutes. "The rest are muh samplers."

    She started to explain her job, and at Rahne's request, brought out a few christening gowns she had made. Artfully, the seamstress managed to sell Rahne on the idea of matching christening gowns for Kurt's daughters, weaving ideas for the borders with local gossip, catching the other woman up with the going-ons of a few of her old classmates.

    **

    After saying their goodbyes, Rahne nodded to Sam. It was time to go to the cemetery and do what she had come to do. It was time to make her peace with her father. He waited at the gate while she made her way to the plot. This was something she had to do alone.

    Rahne stared at the tombstone and stroked the date engraved on it. She was no closer to finding the words she needed to say now than when they came to this town. Something caught in her throat as she looked at her reflection in the stone.

    What did her father give to her? What was his legacy in her? She didn't know the answer to those questions. "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things," she whispered a verse to herself as she struggled to remember the good. She was going to let all the bitterness go, bury it with him. Her life wasn't going to be tainted by his sickness any more.

    On occasion, he had been nice. He remembered her birthday almost every year. He never asked why she wanted to leave the school and he nearly always had something for her to eat, provided she acted as he wanted her to. Those things she could remember.

    A wave of pity washed over her as she realized how little she could say that was nice about him. That feeling was followed by one of regret as she stood up. He had always hated what he was the most. Alcohol, even when he was drunk. Sexual immorality, even when he slept around. Mutants.... Rahne stopped mid thought.

    Craig couldn't have been a mutant. That was the one thing he despised more than anything in the world. He would claim that people where justified in what they thought about them– every vile detail. And, Rahne remembered, he knew what she had been thinking, wanting. He attacked people for their sins, the ones he couldn't have known about– unless they were thinking about them.

    Numbed, Rahne's mind started to flash details. Telepaths were more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs, trying to shut out the noise of other minds. They were more likely to be insane. And strokes, fundamental changes in brain chemistry, tended to shut down the telepathic nerve centers. Like her computer puzzle, her mind went to automatic solve mode as she put the pieces together. No wonder he was so likely to fly off the handle, given the slightest offense.

    "Thank ye..." she whispered to the tomb as she realized what his legacy was to her, what he had done to make her so unique. And she meant it. The best thing in her life, next to her love for Sam, was her ability to turn into a wolf. She was freer in that body than she ever was in her own.

    Truth reared its ugly head at that moment. Even if her father was a mutant, it didn't explain or excuse her suffering or his behavior. She couldn't take the easy way out and excuse his actions.

    There could only be one truthful thing Rahne could say to the man now, "A'm sorry A never knew a kind human father," she whispered. "Ye dinnae have tae take me in, dinnae have tae raise me..."

    Tears welled up in her eyes as she remembered her dream parents, the perfect ones that always regretted giving her up. The ones that searched long and hard for her, hoping to take her in and make her a part of her family. Instead, she found a mother in a woman who didn't know she needed a daughter to love and a family in a group of outcasts. And she was grateful for each and every heart she loved.

    That graditude was something real she could hold on to, Rahne realized. If her father had never tried to own up to what he had done, taken her in and tried in his own troubled way to be a parent, she never would have discovered her family. "Ye dinnea have tae," Rahne repeated, "but A am happy with the way muh life turned out."

    A sense of completeness filled her soul, letting her know she had said enough, that she had made her peace with her father. She cast one last look at the marker before standing up. Subconsciously, she brushed the dirt off of her knees and hands before turning towards her boyfriend. Somewhere in her writer's mind, she knew she was turning away from the past and embracing her future, but all she knew was that she wanted to be at the place where the heart called home.

    If they hurried, they could catch the ferry to Muir Island.