Her breath hitched slightly at the brush of his fingers on her skin, and the way his hand lingered made her want to turn and kiss him, now before it was too late and she never had the chance again. But the wheels were already in motion and if she stopped now, she might never start again.

"I'm what's known as a mutant," she continued, barreling onward but keeping her gaze firmly on their joined hands because she couldn't bare to see his expression when she told him this. "A human with a genetic difference that results in... special abilities, physical mutations, or sometimes both. Telepathy, flight, the manipulation of magnetic fields, there weren't any limits to what a mutant might end up with, and there was no real way to predict it."

Pressing the back of her free hand to her mouth, she struggled to find the strength for what she needed to say, what had to be said to make him understand, and finally she just blurted out with fear in her voice, "I'm not from this Earth, Steve. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true." That fear of him rejecting her was so deeply set that she couldn't stop her hand clutching tightly at his, as if to keep him there with her just a little longer.