Jenna's POV

I found a rose made of chocolate on my desk on my first day back at work. I smiled at it and tucked it in my purse, wondering who it was from.

I had made the excuse of my uncle suddenly developing pneumonia and dying for being gone two weeks. The chief greeted me with a scrowl and a glare at my high turtleneck shirt. At lunch, Peter slid into the seat in the break room next to me.

"Been gone a while. Missed you."

I smiled quietly to myself.

It had been two weeks since I'd arrived home. Jonah, Noah, and I did not speak of what I'd done. There was something different though. A tension gone from the air. Darry and I were friendly, like we had been while we were sleeping together, and he never ceased to impress me with his slightly masked concern for everyone he close to him. He had proven as much the night I'd come home. He was someone I trusted. Someone I cared about. And that never seemed to end well for me.

I woke early, jogged around the block, air nipping roughly at my skin, waving to Darry as he drank coffee on his front porch, steam rising from the cup and his breath visible in the cold air. I jogged up to his porch, smiling brightly, cheeks flushed from my cold run. "You know, you're absolutely crazy to be jogging. It's fuckin' twenty degrees out." His eyes were still heavy with sleep, his mouth curling into a lazy, warm smile that warmed me even more than my jog had.

"Well, I'm out excersin', generatin' my own body heat. You're sittin' here shiverin' your ass off." I teased, smiling.

"I'll get warm enough later, we just got a contract for a big Soc house, starting roofing today." He smiled lopsidedly again, and I couldn't helping smiling back. "I'll see you later than, I needa shower and getta work."

He waved as I walked back, and I couldn't feel the cold any longer

At lunch, I sneaked a small look at my book, Gone With Wind, recommended to me by Noah, who'd raved about it. I was only about one-ninth of the way through, just getting to the part where Scarlett has moved to Atlanta with her son after her first husband died. A loud rap on my desk interrupted my reading and I pushed my closed my book hurriedly and turned, smiling brightly. I slumped with relief when I saw it was only Peter. We occasionally had lunch together, and he sometimes stopped by my desk to say hello. He was a handsome guy, brown eyes, strong jaw, pale blond hair that was a bit long. I wouldn't mind having dinner with him, he was nice, and he was sweet and brave, though not incredibly smart.

He leaned on my desk, smiling shyly. "Hey, Jenna, I was wondering... you...you know...if you...are you available... if you can...Doyouwanttohavedinner with me?"

I smiled assuredly, charmed at his awkwardness. "I'd love to Peter. When?"

He broke out in a brilliant grin. "Okay. I was thinking tomorrow, I'll pick you up at six, take you to dinner?"

I nodded, smiling. "That'd be great." I gave him my address and he couldn't seem to stop smiling. I liked the sight of him happy.

Darry's POV

When I arrived home from work it was already dark outside. I saw Pony and Soda, sitting in front of the television. Steve was passed out at the foot of the couch. I went in, ruffling Pony's hair, then started dinner. Suddenly, through the screen door, shouts and the scuffling of feet came. "Darry, Darry! We needa first aid kit!" Jenna voice, worried and commanding, reached my ears. I grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink and ran into the living room. Jenna and Noah were supporting Johnny's weight, a gash on his face, bleeding profusely, blood soaking through his shirt, and one of his hands bent strangely.

Pony and Soda moved quickly off the couch, and Noah laid Johnny on the couch, and we watched as Jenna worked anxiously over Johnny, her hands skilled and dexterous. Pony ran to get towels to lay on the couch without being asked. Jenna carefully stanched the bleeding on Johnny's torso, and he passed out halfway through her process of setting his wrist. He flinched and groaned in his pain, and it hurt to hear. She began stitching up the cut on his cheek, and asked calmly for Noah to run and grab the morphine, needle, and pain-killer from her medicine cabinet. He returned just thirty seconds later, and she slowly injected Johnny with the morphine. She stood up finally and we all released a breathe we had been holding. She went to wash her hands, and for the first time, I noticed what she was wearing.

Jenna's elegant neck and collar-bone were emphasised by the scoop neck collar of her dress, her figure luscious in her red dress. Fluttering around her knees, and coupled with a pair of strappy red heels, her legs were long and lean and gorgeous. Her hair was in soft waves, pins pushing it just out of her face. Her mouth was scarlet red and she managed to look perfectly put together, despite just spending 15 minutes stitching up a bleeding boy. She was a vision.

"Guys, I think ya' can handle this. Give Johnny two painkillers when he wakes up, and in one hour, give 'im another shot of morphine if I'm not back ina hour. I gotta get goin', there's a guy from work comin' by, and he'll find Johnny and take him to a home or somethin'." Jenna pushed her hair out of her face and gave us a small smile, looking worried. I watched through the curtains of the kitchen window as she ran across the lawn, meeting a man walking up her driveway who held a banquet of roses.

I felt a sharp pang in my abdomen as she kissed him on the cheek and smiled brightly at him.