The Calm Before The Storm.
AN: Another middle of the morning fan fiction. I will edit this again sometime tomorrow. Sorry in advance for the errors you're sure to find.
Enjoy, Review.
Chapter One – Anticlimactic
Kyle hadn't known what to do. How were you supposed to handle finding out something so life altering? He had searched so hard to find one sign that Cassidy had been lying. A shift in heart beat, a breaking of eye contact, anything to erase what this new information meant, and the things that it changed.
He knew he had been so close to hurting that man, to preventing him from hurting the people he loved. He didn't regret feeling the need to protect his loved ones, but he was relieved that he hadn't had to go that far. That new information although scary in itself had been what he'd need to clear his mind, to think more rationally.
He hadn't killed Cassidy.
Instead he knocked him out and tied him up. He knew that his family and the people who loved him wouldn't have been happy if he'd killed Cassidy. Even if it meant they were no longer in danger from him. He was able to realize there was only one reasonable thing to do in this situation.
He'd called Foss, who had shown up immediately. It had happened so quickly he was still wrapping his mind around it. Foss had taken Cassidy and Kyle now waited for his family to come home. He knew what he had to do and it was going to be difficult but the hardest things always were.
Minutes passed with an agonizing slowness. They could have been hours for as long as they seemed to drag on. He was sitting on the living room couch lost in thought, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Cassidy could be his brother. That the horrible man who'd killed Jessi's mother, threatened his family could have the same genes running through him. It wasn't comforting.
Kyle was so trapped in his own mind that he didn't notice Jessi until she was standing in front of him. Looking up into her eyes he felt almost all the anxiety he was feeling melt away. He quickly stood and pulled her into his arms, needing to be close to her, to allow her to calm him for once.
It worked, the minute they touched a calm spread through him. He turned his head into her hair smiling at the scent of her shampoo, his arms tightening their hold on her. He waited for her to react in kind, to tighten her hold on him as well but she loosened hers.
He pulled back suddenly to look into her eyes to see what was wrong. Did she no longer want him? Was he stepping over a line he wasn't aware of? Did she know? All of these questions ran through his mind before he saw her glance to her right at the front door. He turned his head that direction too.
Amanda had thought when she told Jessi that she was going to tell Kyle that she wanted him back, that she wouldn't actually have anything to worry about. Of course Kyle would pick her, he loved her, and now she had an idea of what his secret was. Now they could just be honest and everything would go back to how it had been before.
Telling Jessi was just an olive branch on her way back into Kyle's life.
How wrong she'd been.
Amanda glanced over at Jessi as she drove them back. It wasn't exactly an awkward silence but she was curious as to what Jessi was thinking. She'd been very quiet since reading that file regarding the origins of 781227. Amanda hadn't read what was in the file, deciding she was going to ask Kyle what it said after he had looked at it himself.
They pulled up in front of the Trager home and immediately knew something wasn't right, all of the lights were off. They both jumped out of the car, Jessi was already walking through the door when Amanda reached the sidewalk, she ran up the walk way and followed through the door. She heard Jessi say Kyle's name and looked over to see him sitting on the couch.
He looked so lost, it was unsettling to see, but what he did next was harder. He stood and pulled Jessi into his arms. Holding her so tightly it was as if he were conveying in that one moment that he couldn't survive without her. Amanda watched as the crease in his brow evened out and a smile spread over his face in contentment.
She couldn't breathe, the image branding itself into her head. She wanted to turn and walk away but she was frozen in place. Forced to watch the fear spread across his face when Jessi pulled away from him, to see him only just now notice her presence as an after thought. She opened her mouth to speak.
"Kyle! What happened? Why didn't you show up at the Rack? We were so worried!" Amanda turned to see Nicole rushing through the door followed by the rest of the Trager family. Someone flipped the switch and the scene that was now running through Amanda mind was put on pause so explanations could be given.
Kyle sat back down on the couch preparing to explain. Jessi sat down next to him and everyone moved closer encouraging him to tell the story. She stood back a little not sure if she should stay for this, but not willing to leave on her own.
She listened as Kyle told the family that he came home from the warehouse to find the house completely empty. How he had been scared something had happened to them. When he said this, his hand grabbed Jessi's in a subconscious gesture as though still unsure she was safe.
He continued on in his story, explaining that he and Cassidy had fought. He paused glancing at Nicole before explaining that he had Cassidy's throat in his hands and was choking him, when Cassidy told him that Grace Kingsley was his mother too. This time Amanda watched as his gaze flicker to Jessi's a fear hidden in them. Jessi only tightened her grip on Kyle's hand and that seemed to reassure him.
Amanda listened quietly as Kyle explained the rest of what happened and as Jessi explained where the two of them had been. It was strange watching Kyle with Jessi, so much had changed. Before, he wouldn't have sat that close to Jessi when she was in the room.
Before… she was realizing he hadn't had feelings for Jessi, or at least he hadn't taken time to realize them. She had done this, pushed them together when she pushed him away.
As the stories wrapped up, she heard Kyle explain that Foss was going to stop by in the morning to go over a plan of what was next. He suggested they all get some sleep. Nicole nodded saying that would probably be for the best. She hugged both Kyle and Jessi before turning to herd the rest of the family out of the room; she gave Amanda a smile as she walked past.
She watched both Kyle and Jessi rise from the couch hands still entangled. Jessi turned and whispered something before extracting her hands from his and leaving them alone. She gave Amanda a small nod on her way to the back of the house.
"Amanda…"
Finding out the truth about Kyle had felt a little anticlimactic after the night she'd had, but she had been glad to know the truth. He had told her the short story, explaining that it was too late to get into a detailed conversation. He told her goodnight and walked her to the door before she could even think about bringing up a conversation about them.
Not that it would have been the right time.
Jessi had forced herself not to listen in on what ever Kyle and Amanda were talking about. Instead opting to focus on changing for bed, and thinking about the night they'd just had. She couldn't believe that Cassidy was Kyle's brother. It changed so much, and she realized with a small smile to herself it changed nothing. She still loved Kyle, even more so now when realizing he could have been like Cassidy but wasn't.
She heard Kyle close the front door, and walk down the hall to his room. She laid down when she heard him close his door behind him.
Sleeping seemed like an impossible idea after everything. She really wanted to be near Kyle, to be holding his hand again. She smiled at the new memories she'd gained tonight. Of Kyle holding her, and needing her to calm him, to help him clear his thoughts. It was so different being the giver, and she realized it was so much more fulfilling.
Jessi rolled over to force herself into a slumber when her door opened and Kyle walked in. He closed the door behind him, and stood there looking at her a small frown on his face.
"I can't sleep so far away from you…" Kyle said hesitantly, "at least not tonight." He looked at her and she realized he wasn't sure if she would let him stay.
Jessi smiled and moved over making room for him to climb in with her. She pulled the comforter up around the both of them. She was laying on her left side looking at him and he was mimicking her looking at her almost as though it were the first time he was seeing her.
There was an electrical current in the air between them and she wanted to scoot closer to him, but she wasn't sure what he wanted right now. She decided to focus on making sure Kyle got what he needed not on what she wanted. 'Be the giver,' she thought to herself.
"Can… Can I hold you?" Jessi looked at him wondering if he had actually said that, or if she was projecting.
"What?" Jessi asked unsure.
"I feel like your so far away still, can I hold you?" Kyle explained, "Unless you don't want-"
Jessi cut Kyle off, scooting closer to him. He wrapped his left arm around her holding her tightly against him. Jessi smiled to herself and felt a calm spread over the both of them.
Things were changing all around them, and the morning would bring so many new questions and situations, but this moment right now. The two of them and their calm was all the mattered, as long as they had this to fall back on they could make it through the rest.
Chp1/End.
AN: I will honestly admit that as of this moment I have only a vague idea of where this story is going. I just was finally hit with a writing bug again. I needed to do something… so here it is… I'm doing the whole "what next" season four-ish type story.
Plus that ending feels so rushed and "BLAH" but I'm sleepy and really just want to put this up to see if its even worth fixing…
Please review let me know if I should bother continuing or if I should just let this be a oneshot until I come up with something more original.