Hannah didn't need the Drift to know that something was up with Jazmine. She'd grown sullen, speaking only when she was spoken to, and even then she spoke mainly in one word answers and short, irritable sentences. She seemed to be off in her own world for most of the time.

Hannah didn't need the Drift to know what had caused this odd change in behaviour. She didn't miss the way the Jazmine's eyes would frequently seek out the location of the blonde mechanic, and then, when she'd found her, look around for Chuck's hulking figure. Whenever she found them a decent distance apart, she'd sort of smirk to herself before wiping her expression blank when she remembered that she wasn't alone. Other times, when she found them together (which was more often than Hannah was sure that Jazmine would have liked) her mood would only increase.

They were reaching the two and a half day mark of Jazmine's envy-fuelled mood when Hannah decided to intervene. She'd left her be, up until that moment, because she knew that Jazmine thought that she was hiding her feelings oh so well, but Jazmine had never been very good at hiding what was written all over her face.

"Do you remember when I fancied Jack Gilbert?" Hannah asked. Jazmine pulled her gaze away from where Natalya was affectionately pushing Chuck's hair back out of his face and laughing enthusiastically at something he said.

"Who?" She didn't look pleased to have been dragged away from her staring contest with the Russian beauty, who, Hannah was fairly sure, knew that Jazmine was watching and thus acted accordingly. It really wouldn't have surprised her in the slightest if Natalya was acting under Chuck's instructions.

"When I was fourteen? You don't remember? He was tall, dark hair, Casey Gilbert's brother? No? Never mind. The point is, I used to flirt with other guys to try and make him jealous."

"What are you saying? That I should flirt with someone to try and make Chuck jealous? Why would I even want to do that?"

Hannah suppressed a grin. "I never actually said anything about Chuck," Jazmine had walked straight into the trap that Hannah hadn't even been aware that she was setting. The girl had it bad. "It's funny how you jumped to that conclusion." She'd never before seen Jazmine actually develop romantic feelings for anyone. It was sort of hilarious, watching her trying to deal with having developed feelings for Chuck Hansen of all people, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Hilarious but worrying at the same time. "My point is, you're playing right into Chuck's hands. He's sat over there letting Natalya play with his hair and giggle at his jokes because he knows full well that you are sat over here watching! He's flirting with her because he's trying to make you jealous, and you could not be making it any clearer that it's working!"

"Working? It's not working. I don't care who Chuck flirts with."

"Really? Because you've been in a bad mood for the past two days now, and I don't think you've actually taken your eyes off of him in the past hour."

"I don't like Chuck." Damn, she was stubborn. Hannah knew better than to push her. The more she was pushed, the further back she'd regress.

"That's fine, I'm not going to ask you to declare your undying love for him. When you decide whether or not you have feelings for him is entirely up to you, but just believe me when I say that he's playing a game with you right now, and you're losing."

Though it pained her to admit it, she didn't think Hannah was wrong. As Hannah had been telling her story about Jake someone or other, she'd been remembering a time way back when. It was years before the first Kaiju event. Her mom had been alive and cancer-free, her dad had been present and her brothers had been…well, they'd been her brothers. She knew a lot of people who couldn't stand their siblings, but Jazmine had loved hers more than anything in the world. More so than her parents, even.

Jazmine had been seven, Raleigh eleven, and Yancy fourteen. Yancy was completely and utterly in love with a girl Jazmine barely remembered. She couldn't remember her name, nor how Yancy knew her, but she remembered her long, dark hair and the way that her voice sounded like wind chimes. Of course Yancy was in love with her. Everyone knew, including the girl, but Yancy had insisted on acting like an asshole. He'd ignore her, talking to her only if she spoke to him first, and even then he only spoke to her in an off-hand sort of way. He would flirt with her friends and be secretly overjoyed when she became jealous.

When Jazmine had asked him about it, he'd explained all about playing hard to get. Raleigh had rolled his eyes and called him an idiot. Yancy had shot back that he was too young, and that he didn't understand the callings of true love. He hadn't been intending to be an asshole, he was just being a teenager.

Chuck, on the other hand, well, she was fairly certain that he was intending to be an asshole. He was trying his best to get a rise out of her, and it had been working.

Why was it working?

She knew exactly why it was working. She knew why it was working and she knew why she cared and why Chuck was succeeding in making her jealous, but she'd never admit it. She'd take it to the grave if she had to, which was actually very likely to happen in her line of work.

Why him? Out of all the people she knew, out of all the people at the Shatterdome, why did it have to be him?

Over Hannah's shoulder, she saw Natalya place a kiss on Chuck's cheek and bestow upon him a suggestive smile before getting up and leaving. A fierce determination rose up in Jazmine. If it was a game Chuck wanted, them it was a game that he'd get. She'd be playing by her own rules, though, and her rules didn't exactly make for fair play.