Chapter 3: Irrational Fear

"You threw my clothes out, didn't you?" Joyce wondered, not surprised, but irritated all the same. Shane didn't respond as she dragged her suitcase into the living and he headed up the stairs. She ran after him with her bag, pulling her new little knife and iPod from her pockets.

"Do you know how much money I spent on all those clothes?" she wondered then scoffed when he still didn't respond. "Of course you don't. You don't realize the value of designer duds."

"Hurry up and change, then meet me downstairs," he ordered, handing her the bag full of her clothes and she snatched it from him. She turned on her heel toward his room and he headed downstairs.

Closing the door behind her, Joyce tossed the bag onto the bed then her knife and iPod so she could change. As she began changing she couldn't help but sneer at the memory of Shane ruining her look before they'd gone to the store. Well, it was about to get worse. She went to the bag and pulled out one of the white shirts, a pair of pants and one of the belts and began dressing, leaving her boots on. She didn't feel like wrestling with those things again.

Joyce sighed once she pulled on her clothes and looked across the room to see a full length mirror and her reflection in it. She wanted so much to pull the pants to hip huggers and knot the shirt at least in the back, but she knew the reaction she'd get from Shane. She looked at the pile of clothes that were Shane's and decided she'd at least fold them and put them on his bed.

"He didn't have to buy that knife for me," she muttered to herself, gathering the clothes. "It'll be a sort of thank you for it."

She didn't hear Shane open the door or see him appear in the doorway as she folded his pants then rolled his belt up to place everything in a neat pile. He couldn't help but smirk at the fact that she played tough but she ended up folding his clothes instead of leaving them in a pile on the floor.

"Ok," she sighed to herself and grabbed her knife and iPod to shove them into her pockets then grabbed her bag of clothes. "Better get down there before he makes me drop and give him twenty." She turned and jumped with a start when she saw the very man she was grumbling about.

"Thanks for folding my clothes," he smirked. "Getting a head start on your chores, are we?"

"Whatever," she groaned and itched at her arm then pulled her sleeve up to eye the tattoo on her upper arm. "Oh, man! It's coming off!"

"What is that?" Shane demanded, pointing at the tattoo. Joyce glanced at it then looked back at him.

"What? You've never seen a tattoo before?" she retorted and he glared at her.

"You're gonna take that off," he ordered and she looked at him incredulously but he didn't let her say anything when he boomed, "Now!"

She jumped but didn't move and only placed a hand on her hip as she glared at him.

"It'll come off eventually," she retorted. "Just chill, ok?"

Shane growled in irritation and grabbed her wrist to drag her to the bathroom.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" she shrieked, struggling against him and dropping her bag of clothes. "It's coming off already! Just give it a few days!"

He didn't respond as they entered the bathroom and he shoved her to sit on the edge of the tub. She sat in a huff as he rummaged through a cabinet for alcohol and cotton balls then frowned when she heard some shuffling behind her. She turned to see what was shuffling in the toilet and heard a quack then saw a duck flapping its wings rapidly. Joyce's eyes went wide and she screamed as she scrambled to her feet and ran out of the room and all the way down the stairs to the family room. Shane frowned and saw her dash out of the room then looked at the duck.

"Oh, hey Gary," he smiled, cotton balls and alcohol in hand. He turned to the door and headed out down the stairs to the family room. He looked around and finally saw Joyce's frightened emerald eyes staring over the top of the couch at him.

"You didn't say anything about a duck," she shuddered from behind the couch. "What's it doing here?!"

"He's the family pet," Shane frowned in confused wonder. "His name is Gary."

"You didn't say anything about a duck!" she snapped and Shane's frown deepened as he headed around to sit with her on the couch.

"What difference does it make?" he wondered, grabbing the wrist of the arm with the tattoo in one hand, the bottle of alcohol in the other. Realization dawned on him and he looked up at her as she took the cotton balls into her lap.

"You're afraid of ducks," he stated and she looked at him with wide eyes.

"I'm not 'afraid' of them," she lied, pulling out a cotton ball and shoving it in his hand. "I don't like them."

"Why not?" he wondered, putting some alcohol on the cotton ball and dabbing it on her arm.

"What do you care?" she snapped, yanking her arm away and grabbing the cotton ball to take off her tattoo herself. "Just keep it away from me and we won't have a problem."

"The duck goes where the duck wants to go," Shane replied. "You'll just have to keep yourself away from it."

"I was right, you don't care," she thought aloud, rubbing off the remains of the tattoo.

"I care," he corrected, and stood from the couch to head toward the kitchen, but Joyce didn't notice. "I wouldn't ask if I didn't care."

Joyce continued rubbing at her tattoo and heard water run then footsteps coming back to her. She glanced up to see Shane sit next to her again with a wet cloth and when she finally finished rubbing the tattoo away he slapped her hand away and placed it on her arm. She cried out with a start when the cool cloth touched her heated skin and looked at him with wide eyes filled with question.

"See?" he smirked. "I care."

"Whatever," she scoffed and held the cloth on her arm as he glared at her.

"I've been going easy on you all day," he reminded her and her eyes widened in disbelief.

"You call this easy?!" she wondered if she'd heard right. "You put this stupid bracelet on me…!" She thrust her wrist with the tracking device on it into his face. "You threw out my clothes, made me get new, stupid, military clothes and you're not gonna do anything about the duck! To top it off, my mom is leaving me here for undetermined amount of time, and I don't like you!"

"Imagine how hurt I am," he replied sarcastically as he stood and stared her down. "Shane Wolfe's Boot Camp officially starts now! You'll start by cleaning this place spotless. No highway option."

"W-What do you mean 'spotless'?" she chuckled nervously.

Shane raised an eyebrow and replied, "What do you think I mean?"

"Don't make me clean!" she pleaded. "I hate cleaning!"

"Too bad," he replied and headed for the kitchen again. Joyce's jaw went slack as she stared at his back as he left. She suddenly clapped her mouth shut and scoffed as she pulled the damp cloth from her arm and tossed it onto the coffee table then placed her feet on the table and leaned back on the couch. She pulled her iPod out, shoved the earphones in her ears and raised her arms to cradle her head in her hands.

Shane walked by, but she didn't notice as he glanced at her incredulously but said nothing. He headed up the stairs while Joyce tapped her toes to the beat of her music and bobbed her head he came back a few short moments later, Gary the duck in his hands, quaking slightly.

Shane moved silently and whispered to Gary to keep quiet as they reached the couch. He placed the duck next to Joyce a few inches away on the head of the couch and Gary began waddling with a bit of difficulty toward her as she continued to bob her head t the music, her eyes closed to savor it.

When Gary got close enough to her, he nipped at her elbow and she jumped with a start as she mouthed "Ow" then looked in Gary's direction. She screamed and flew from the couch to run toward the stairs but Shane grabbed her arm mid-run. Gary flew from the couch and began waddling around to follow Joyce. She let out another scream and grabbed Shane's arm to shove him at the duck.

"Get it away!" she shouted, hiding behind him as Gary only waddled and quacked around Shane's feet and toward Joyce. She screamed once more and jumped onto Shane's back when Gary got too close. "Get it away! Get it away!"

"Get off of me!" Shane shouted, set off balance by her sudden action. He spun around trying to knock her off but her arms were tightly around his neck. He gripped her wrists that she'd locked around his neck and flipped her off of his back and onto her back on the couch as he stood at the side of the couch.

"Hey!" Joyce shouted, turning onto her stomach on the couch to stare at him angrily. She yanked the earphones from her ears and sat up to shove them in her pocket. "What the hell was that?!"

"Watch your mouth!" Shane roared back at her. "And don't ever do that again! You're no child, so quit acting like it!"

"You put the duck next to me!" she reminded him, standing. "If anything you're the child!"

"Get cleaning," Shane ordered, ignoring her comment. He approached her as she started fiddling with her iPod again and snatched it from her.

"Hey!" she shouted, going after him to get it back but he held it up in the air and pushed her back by her shoulder.

"This will only distract you," he explained. "You're not here for fun."

"It won't distract me, I promise," she argued. "It'll help me concentrate, honestly. It's like white noise. Please?"

Shane searched her eyes and expression, looking for the truth. He'd seen Zoe doing other things while she was listening to her iPod, and she'd end up getting a lot of things done. He couldn't understand it, but this generation was so different from his military lifestyle. He guessed it wouldn't hurt if he gave it back. If she didn't do what he ordered her to do he'd take it away again.

He handed her iPod back to her and her face lit up, genuinely when he did. She glanced up at him as she shoved the ear-buds in her ears and started sifting through her music on her iPod.

"Thanks," she muttered then flipped some of her hair from her gaze as she looked back at him. "My mom took it away from my earlier, but she doesn't understand that I really need my music. I wouldn't be able to work without it."

"If she took it from you, how'd you get it back?" Shane wondered with a frown and Joyce gave a sly smirk.

"I'm also a very good pick-pocket," she replied proudly. Shane glared at her and went to take the iPod back but she quickly recoiled. "Wait! Give me a chance to show you I can work with it! Please?"

"You shouldn't be proud about being a pick-pocket thief!" he snapped.

"I'm no thief!" she snapped back. "I only steal stuff back that mom has taken from me! How can I steal what's mine?!"

"You still shouldn't be proud of it," he repeated. "No more of that either!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she groaned, waving him off and placing her hands on her hips. "Where do you want me to start?"

"The kitchen," Shane instructed. "Take out the trash, sweep and mop the floor, clean the counter, wash the dishes---"

"Yes, Sir, I know what I have to do to clean the kitchen," Joyce interrupted and scoffed as she headed for the kitchen. Shane sighed tiredly and turned to look at Gary as he quaked and waddled toward him. He glanced toward the kitchen and picked up the duck carefully.

"Sorry, Gary," he said, heading toward the bathroom and placing the duck in the bathtub again. "You'll have to stay here for a while if I want her to get anything done. You can go out in the pool later."

Gary quaked in response and Shane smiled before leaving and shutting the door on his way out. He hurried down the stairs and headed toward the kitchen again. As he rounded the corner he saw Joyce dancing to her iPod and cocked his head at her slightly. She was doing the dishes and dancing in place but she was moving around an awful lot. Zoe did the same thing, but this girl was all over the place. Maybe it was the type of music she was listening to?

He shook his thoughts away. He had come in here to tell her something important…about the duck.

"Hey," he called, but she only continued dancing and washing the dishes. He sighed and walked toward her to tap her on the shoulder. She jumped with a start and turned to him, pulling an ear-bud from one of her ears as she stared wide questioning eyes at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Tell me when you're gonna go to the bathroom," he said and she turned to face him completely.

"Monitoring my bathroom time?" she wondered sarcastically and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"The duck is in the bathroom," he replied simply and watched in slight amusement when her eyes widened and her sarcastic smirk dropped.

"Oh," she said in a low voice as she straightened. "O-Ok then. I'll tell you if I need to…ya know." She turned back to the dishes and Shane let out a chuckle making her turn and glare at him but he headed down the hall.

"Dinner will be at nineteen hundred hours," he called and Joyce rolled her eyes, shoving the ear-bud back in to listen to her iPod. She couldn't help but smile at seeing him cross his arms over his chest…the way his biceps flexed when he did it. She shook her head violently.

"Stop it!" she shouted at herself silently. "You can't do that! Like he'd go for you, anyway, you delinquent!" She couldn't help but smile again. "At least he cared enough to lock the duck away somewhere." She shivered in disgust. "Nasty thing."


A/N: well, i figured she should have a really weird irrational fear cause she thinks she's so bad ass. reviews?