A/N - I know I should be working on Baby Blue Eyes, but this story just took over my head and demanded to be written. The title is from the George Strait song of the same name.

Jacob Stone sighed as he finally closed his suitcase, zipping it up tight. One suitcase, it was all he needed. He travelled light, and if he realized he needed anything along the way then he'd pick it up during the trip.

He took one last glance around his apartment to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, or left anything turned on. Confident that he was all set to hit the road, Jake picked up his suitcase and headed out the door.

The glare from the sun hit his eyes as soon as Jake stepped outside. He kept a pair of sunglasses in his truck, but they weren't going to do him much good in that moment. Instead, he tugged down the brim of the ballcap he had thrown on that morning, having been too exhausted to bother styling his hair into its usual fauxhawk. Jake was an early riser and normally loved mornings. With everything that had been going on lately, however, he found himself completely drained and he had struggled to get out of bed so early on that particularly morning.

Jake began to walk down the front stoop, making his way towards his truck which he had parked along the curb. However, he soon realized that his truck wasn't the only thing there. There, leaning with her back against the bed of his pickup, was Cassandra Cillian. She was dressed in a black sweater with thin white stripes and a white collar, and a dark red skirt. Jake chuckled when he noticed that her tights were made to look like white cats. It was just so Cassandra. At least her black Converse sneakers looked practical.

"Of course she's here." He thought to himself. She would never let him leave without making sure things were okay between them. It was sweet, really, but Jake wasn't exactly in the mood for sweet. He took a deep breath to mentally prepare himself for the conversation he knew he was about to have, and then briskly approached her, his eyes never quite meeting hers.

"What are you doin' here, Cassandra?" Stone asked a little too sharply. He winced, realizing how harsh he sounded. Jake didn't need to look at her to see the hurt in her eyes.

"Baird said you were going away for awhile," she answered quietly.

"That's the plan," he softened his voice, though he remained adamant.

"Where are you going?" Cassandra asked as Jake tossed his suitcase into the truck bed.

"Nope, no way. Sorry, Cass," Jake shook his head. "I ain't telling you that. If I do, you'll just use the back door to try and find me."

She didn't try and argue, which told Jake that his theory was right. Instead they stood in awkward silence for another minute before she spoke up again, her voice still quiet.

"Why aren't you using the back door?"

"I need some time to think," Jake kicked at the ground. "Can't think of a better place to do that than the open road."

Cassandra nodded in understanding. "How long will you be gone for?"

"I don't know, Cass," he shrugged. He hadn't really given it much thought. He knew his destination was about a two or three day drive away, depending on how many stops he took. That meant he would likely be spending almost a week on the road, and he wasn't planning on dedicating that much time and effort into driving somewhere just for the day. He anticipated staying at least a week at his destination, maybe even longer.

It was then that Jake noticed there was another suitcase in the back of his truck. How long had that been sitting there?

"Uh, Cassandra? What the hell is that?" he gestured at the other bag.

"I was worried that you would say you weren't coming back," she hesitated to answer.

"Well, I am," Jake answered, annoyance creeping into his voice. This conversation was taking too long. He wanted nothing more than to just get on the road and get the hell out of there.

"When? she asked again.

"I told ya, Cassandra. I don't know."

Cassandra shook her head, visibly preparing herself to stand her ground. Jake could see that she was obviously out of her comfort zone.

"That's not good enough, Stone," she stated, her voice shaky though he could tell she was trying to stay strong. "I can't let you go if I'm not absolutely sure that you're coming back in the foreseeable future."

"So, what? You were planning to come with me?" Jake snapped.

"I need some kind of assurance that you're coming back," Cassandra said, slowly regaining her cool. "The only way I can see that happening is if I go, too."

"No way, Cassandra!" Jake shook his head firmly. "That ain't happening."

"Jake, you're hurting," Cassandra tried to reason with him. "And maybe right now you feel like you want to escape the world, run away from everything...everyone who cares about you. I get that. Believe me, Jacob, I get that!" The use of both versions of his first name did not go unnoticed by Stone.

Cassandra hesitated before finishing her statement. "But sometimes what you want isn't what you need. Eventually you're going to realize that you've run too far, that there's no going back. No matter how much you might want to, you can't always go back."

Jake sighed, trying to see things her way. Cassandra looked close to tears and he realized that her little speech had probably hit closer to home than she intended it to. "And you think coming with me is going to prevent that?" he asked.

"I'll be your tether to the world," Cassandra forced a slight smile. "I'll make sure you don't completely lose sight of yourself."

Jake scratched the back of his head as he let Cassandra's words sink in. He really didn't want anyone tagging along with him, but he especially didn't want to be around Cassandra right now. He didn't know what it was exactly, but being around the redhead just made his whole body ache these days.

But he also knew that there was no arguing with Cassandra Cillian.

"Three days," he held up three fingers to emphasize his point. "It's going to take me about three days to get to my destination. I let you tag along for those three days, then if all's good we call Jenkins and have him set up the door to take you home. And when you go home, you stay home. You don't use the door to come back for me. Deal?"

"And if everything isn't okay?" she asked skeptically.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Jake stated, though in his head he knew everything would be fine. There was no way he was letting Cassandra invade his entire trip.

Cassandra nodded and a wide smile slowly crept onto her face. "Deal!" she exclaimed before eagerly running to and climbing into the passenger seat of his truck.

Jake closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. What had he just agreed to? Shaking his head at himself, he opened his eyes and slowly made his way around to the driver's side before climbing into the truck himself. This was going to be a long three days.