Disclaimer: I do not own Madam Secretary or any of its characters used in this story. What is written here is for entertainment purposes only. No infringement is intended and no profits are being made from this story.
Alison shakily swung open the door to her brother's room, walked inside and immediately seated herself on Jason's bed.
"What are you doing here?" Jason asked her, barely looking up from his computer screen where he was currently racing cars.
"How can you be playing games online when our house just got hacked? Aren't you scared?" Alison asked, grabbing a pillow and cradling it to her chest.
"What do you think I'm playing for? I'm keeping my mind off it. And for your information, this game's offline."
Alison sighed. Using gadgets might work for her brother, but it wouldn't for her. It only reminded her of how this whole mess was made possible, and her thoughts drifted to her laptop and phone, both of which were untouched since the intrusion an hour ago.
"Can I sleep here?" she asked, sliding a hand across the bed spread. Her request answering Jason's earlier question.
"Why?" asked Jason, even though he knew full well the reason why. He was shaken from the incident too, but he wasn't going to admit that to his sister.
Alison shrugged but with his back to her, Jason didn't see. However Jason did feel his sister's paranoia and fear; it was palpable in the air, her silence more deafening than when she opened her mouth to speak.
Sighing, he exited his game and swiveled his chair around to face her. She looked small and helpless on his bed. "Nobody's gonna kill you in your sleep if that's what you're worried about. And even if you slept here, what makes you think the stalker wouldn't kill you? He'd kill us both."
Alison rolled his eyes at his insensitivity. "I wasn't thinking about that but thank you for putting the thought in my head," she said sarcastically. "As if I wasn't paranoid enough."
Jason sighed. "We can't fit in my bed, doofus."
Alison perked up, smiling. Jason's consideration of the size of the bed meant he was entertaining the thought and that was all she needed. "Then I'll bring a sleeping bag. You won't even know I'm here."
Jason grew quiet, thinking about the request. He couldn't deny that he had been entertaining the thought of bunking in with their dad since their mom wasn't coming home tonight. Alison sleeping in his room would definitely take care of that problem.
Ali would no doubt hog the floor space too and Jason might step on her in the middle of the night. Then again, maybe tripping over her wouldn't be too bad. It'd certainly be a fun story to tell. It'd be like all the other times they got into fist fights when they were younger.
"Fine," he relented and Alison bounced off his bed, running out of the room to grab the sleeping bag she had already prepared in case he said yes.
She came back, grinning. "This can be like a sleepover and we can talk about your girlfriends and what girl-speak you need translated."
Jason rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless. He was close with his sisters but with Alison more so due to their three-year age gap. So, asking Alison for girl advice and sharing details of his dates and crushes with her weren't uncommon or undesired. She would even play his wingwoman, although, her degree of enthusiasm in the job meant that he rarely asked her to be so.
She dumped her sleeping bag on his floor, and then settled herself on it. "So, tell me about Tammy," she stated, referring to the girl Jason began dating recently.
Jason raised a brow at her. "What makes you think I'll be forthcoming with the details? It's only been like the third date."
"Because I need to stop thinking about a stalker killing me in my sleep which is all your fault for mentioning it, so, spill."
Jason sighed once more. "Well, she kissed me goodbye on the cheek on our second date."
Alison's squealed. "AND? What did you do?"
Jason fought the urge to match the look of delight on her face, the heat rising to his cheeks betraying him. "Nothing! I mean, I wasn't expecting it, okay."
"Wow. Didn't you tell me she was shy? And yet she kissed you first!"
"I know. So, I asked her out again to see if you know, maybe that was a one time thing, and then she kissed me again! So now I'm thinking about maybe turning my head when she does it and then actually kiss her kiss her."
Alison laughed. "Or you could just kiss her straight up, I don't think she'd mind."
"Of course, you'd say that. You like kissing all of your boyfriends."
"Not anymore," said Alison under her breath.
Jason frowned down at her. "What do you mean?"
Alison shook her head, refusing to talk about it. She crawled under her sleeping bag.
Jason nudged her body with his foot, determined to get an answer.
"Cut it out," scowled Alison.
"Hey, I gave you what you asked for. Now, you need to give me something too. What? You're not into boys now? Because if you're gay I'm totally fine with that."
Alison shook her head. "It's not that. It's just... Ever since we had this stalker, I can't help but suspect every guy that shows an interest in me."
Jason folded his arms, not knowing how to reply to that. Eventually, he decided on what their dad told them before, "The FBI will catch the stalker soon."
Alison scoffed. "Since when do you trust in establishments and systems?"
"I don't." Jason got up, switched off the lights, and got into his own bed. "But you do. And if the bad guys made you distrust the people meant to protect you, that means they've won, haven't they?"
Alison considered that, mulling it over. Sleeping in Jason's room was supposed to take her mind off the stalker but here she was, contemplating about it.
She glanced up at her brother's form. He was her younger brother, her little brother. She was supposed to be protecting him, comforting him, and yet he was the one helping her tonight. She smiled lightly to herself. At least there was still a few men she could trust.
She gazed up at the ceiling again, noticing that although Jason switched off the lights, he kept his computer light on. Maybe he wasn't as unaffected as he seemed.
Alison closed her eyes, telling herself she'd protect her brother in her own way, trusting in the FBI for the both of them no matter how difficult that was to do. And then she fell asleep, ignoring the alarm sensors that echoed distantly in the back of her head.
A/N: Tell me what you think!