Xaviers!

Natalie knocks on Ashlie's door. It's probably not hard for Ashlie to tell who it is, much in the way a telepath can tell who is outside their door.

"Come in." As usual Ashlie is a torrent of data with a very tight data stream tethering her to the network around her. It makes it almost hard to make out the more regular signals around her from more regular equipment.

Natalie blinks a little. It's been a bit since she's looked at Ashlie, but she recovers. "I wanted to talk to you about Shari. I was wondering if it would be okay for her to leave campus over the holidays."

There's not much of a reaction on Ashlie's face, but Natalie can sense the fluctuations in the program happening.

"To what end?"

"I was planning on asking her to spend the holidays with me. It's usually just my mum and I."

"Oh. And this was solely your idea? She hasn't asked you to?"

Natalie tilts her head, "No, she hasn't. She has expressed romantic interest in me, so that may have influenced my decision, but she doesn't know I'm even talking to you about this and I haven't said anything to her about it yet."

"If she wanted to leave there is technically nothing stopping her. But I would appreciate it if you would keep me up to date about her whereabouts while you're away."

"You still don't trust her," Natalie observes without a hint of accusation.

"I have to weigh my trust against the safety of the school. I'm just being cautious. You don't have to tell her."

"I also don't have to like it," Natalie says a little frostily, "especially since you're asking me to weigh my desire to see her have a good Christmas against my desire to be honest with her."

"She'd probably rather be under surveillance by you than me. I'm sorry to put you in this spot, but you came here asking for permission, so you were already aware that this might be an issue. There's no simple answer to this situation."

"There is a simple answer. You could trust her," Natalie points out, "but you've already assessed that idea and discarded it, so there's no point in arguing it with you."

"That's not simple, that's convenient. I can't afford to ignore the possibility she's not being honest with us, as minuscule as it might be. I'm sorry."

"No. You're not," Natalie says matter-of-factly. "I'll let you know what she's up to, but she's going to know I'm doing it." She turns towards the door, "You know, you're more human than most people realize. You're making decisions based on the smallest probability event. Next thing you know, you'll be playing the national lottery."

"No, that would be if I relied on a disaster being undone after the fact again." Ashlie says with bit of a frown settling on her face for just a moment. "Happy Holidays, Natalie."

Reminding Natalie of the disaster at the Point seemed to have pushed several bad buttons, because all Ashlie got in response was a formal "Thank you, Headmistress" before Natalie slipped out the door.