"Kelly, will you calm down? It's only Jell-o," I laughed.

Despite popular belief about hospital gelatin desserts, the jell-o at Norfolk was really rather good. Lake was upset because they'd brought him lime, which he hated no matter the quality of the jell-o. Although, it was more about the fact he was still in the hospital than the jell-o.

He needed to get out of that hospital. I was this close to breaking him out.

Groaning, he folded his arms over his chest and did his version of pouting which included a menacing glare and grumpy expression. "I'm fucking sick of this food," he grumbled.

I pressed a kiss to his cheek, "No, you're fucking sick of this hospital. You just want to make your own damn jell-o." His expression failed for a moment, a small smirk showing through at my profanity.

"I want my ice cream," he muttered, reminding me of a four-year-old.

Smiling, I said in a feigned teacher tone, "Well, if you're a nice boy and say please then I'll go and get you some before your bedtime." I received a glare and then got tickled mercilessly in the side. I was in the middle of begging him to stop amongst bouts of laughter when the door opened.

We were both so used to our visitors just being Arianna, Red, Doc, or LT that neither of us took much notice until the loud throat clearing a moment later. Our heads shot up to see Lake's doctor in the doorway. He was looking at us like we'd suddenly grown extra limbs—apparently an intimidating guy like Lake wasn't supposed to be tickling me—but neither of us moved from our entwined position. I just leaned back to settle on his chest more comfortably. I'd gotten over my shyness about being close to Lake in front of people. I was just far too comfortable to really mind.

Seeing that we weren't going to move anymore, I assumed, the doctor cleared his throat again. This time, he smiled, "Well, petty officer, I've got some good news for you. You're going to be on mandatory leave for at least the next two months, perhaps more if physical therapy deems it necessary, but from today on you are released from the hospital."

Lake's face lit up like he was that four-year-old and he'd just woken up on Christmas morning. We were out in less than two hours.

"But Lake, where are we going?" I asked that night as he pulled me out of his apartment. I was venturing forth without crutches when I felt up to it and was beginning to be very happy with my decision as his arm snaked around my waist.

"You'll see." He wrapped his arm more firmly around me as I flinched at the autumn cool that wormed its way through his sweatshirt when we got outside. He even put the heater on for me when we got into his truck. My persistent fear was embarrassing, but it was still there, dogging my every step. The fact that Lake understood made it better.

I sat in the warmth of the truck as he drove us off base, me wondering where on earth we were going. Every time I asked he just smirked and refused to look over at me. It was really quite infuriating. When I told him as much he grinned even wider. Sometimes, Lake really annoyed me.

Huffing to myself, I sat with my arms crossed in the passenger seat when we pulled up to a Walgreens. Rolling his eyes, Lake chided, "Stop whining and get out of the truck, Jess."

Suddenly smiling, I rolled my eyes back and acquiesced. I was ready to throw some smart comment at him as I met him in front of the truck. However, he leaned down and kissed me before I could get the chance. "Come on," he stated while taking my hand and pulling me forward before I could gather my bearings.

I was still slightly inebriated on his kiss and didn't realize where we were headed until we came to a stop. I found myself looking at a wall of nail polish. When I glanced out of the corner of my eye, I saw the grin on Lake's face. "Pick one."

Squeezing his hand, I said, "You know, you really are an incredibly sweet man. No matter what you want people to think of you."

Grinning, he squeezed back, "Don't know what you're talking about, Jess."

"Sure you do," I quipped, bumping him with my hip. I'd seen the way the cashiers and other customers looked as us when we came in. It was a mixture of fear at the ripped man with the mohawk and confusion as to why I was holding his hand. Either Lake didn't mind or he was just very, very used to it. If it didn't bother him, it didn't bother me. I knew what the truth was. I think he actually rather liked being intimidating in his own way. It probably kept the idle chatter from strangers that he disliked so much from happening.

After I picked out a dark, deep blue with sparkles in it, he asked, "So, what do I have for food in my house? I didn't check."

Laughing, I shook my head, "You're such a guy!"

Raising his eyebrows, he questioned, "Would you rather I not be?"

I glared, "No. And besides beer, you've only got orange juice and a bunch of pop tarts."

"Well, at least the beer is covered."

Immediately pushing him away from that particular cooler, I ordered, "Oh no you don't, Mr. Pain Medication. Don't even think about it."

"You're no fun."

"I'll live with the fact," I laughed. "Come on. I can get stuff to cook. You can at least cook a little, can't you?" He glared at me. I took that as a yes.

We ended up back home within the hour. Well, we ended up back at his apartment in the hour. I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't really my home, no matter how right it sounded. We were both a bit too injured still to make a big night on the town, which was fine with me. Any date that involved me being able to walk around in pajamas was awesome in my book.

After returning, I put on said pajamas. These had evolved into my own plaid pajama shorts coupled with one of Lake's large Navy shirts. I switched them out every so often. I liked it when they smelled like him. Breaking out my new nail polish, I climbed up onto one of his barstools, putting my feet up on the other one.

Just as I was finishing on my last toe, he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I smiled and leaned back into him. We just stood there like that for a long time. Finally, I glanced back at him, smile still firmly in place, "Thanks for my first date, Kelly."

He leaned down and kissed me before replying, "Haven't you had ones before this one?"

"None that mattered." I got up and kissed him once more, beyond happy that I got to do that all the time now, before asking, "So, what do you want to help me make for supper? You allergic to anything?"

Following me to the other side of the island, hand never leaving the small of my back, he shook his head, "Nope. I'm the lucky one of the family."

Smiling, I nodded, "Me, too. Arianna's allergic to everything it seems."

"Poor Doc."

We continued chatting like that as I began gathering the stuff to make lasagna. Ari always teased me that I should be Garfield's owner because it was kind of my specialty. I just liked making all the layers. I made Lake help me out with everything, much to his amusement. Apparently me ordering him around like LT made for funny first date memories. It made me warm and fuzzy that we could do something so simple and domestic and still have fun with it.

There was none of that first date awkwardness, either. Though, by that point, if we had, I'd say there was something wrong with us. We'd been through far too much to be like middle schoolers.

I'd just put the pan in the oven, when I felt myself being lifted onto the counter. Squeaking with surprise, a smile had just taken form on my face when it was ambushed. Wrapping his arms around my waist, Lake's mouth was soon on mine, kissing every thought out of my head. My stomach began to shiver, making goose bumps appear on every exposed surface of my skin as we passed the place we'd gotten to the other night with our first real kiss.

It had been a few days, but we hadn't been as intense as that first time when we'd been interrupted. I wasn't the kind who usually initiated these things and I got the feeling Lake wanted to "do things right." He wanted to take me out on dates and make our relationship feel like it had a fairly normal basis. We already had all the basis we needed, but that didn't mean it wasn't nice to go back to the beginning.

At that moment, however, I wasn't thinking about any of that. I wasn't thinking about anything at all except the swell in my chest, the shiver going all the way to my toes, and the way Lake's tongue was sliding against mine. I heard myself moan as my arms wrapped tightly around his neck, needing something to ground me so I wouldn't melt onto the counter.

The kiss intensified to the point where my legs were wrapped around his waist and his hands were up my shirt, clutching my back, running down my skin. From there, my hand had slid up his neck to play in his hair.

A loud knock at the door broke the moment, leaving us breathless and shaking. Red's muffled voice came through the wood a moment later, "Hey, Lake! Open up."

Groaning in annoyance, Lake dropped his head to lean on my shoulder, "I love him like a brother, but Goddammit I hate him."

I let out a breathy laugh, running my hand through his mohawk to try and make it appear less mussed—and because I just liked to touch him. "My thoughts exactly."

Grinning when he stood straight, Lake pressed his forehead to mine for a moment, "I love you, Jess."

Closing my eyes at the feel of him so close and his words on my skin, I replied, "I love you, too."

I had just said the three little words—the three little words of doom in my case generally—and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. I didn't need to think about it; I just knew.

Before either of us could move from that position, Red got impatient and opened the door, letting himself in. As soon as he saw us a large grin appeared on his face.

"You know there's a door for a fucking reason, right," Lake stated with dry exasperation.

"There's also a lock. It's not my fault ya don't use the fucking thing." Not missing a beat, Red smiled at me, "Hey, babe. Am I interrupting somethin'?"

I smirked, "Not yet." He slipped from his leaning position against the island at the same time that Lake stumbled on his way to close the door. Giggling hysterically, I took in the shock on their faces. It was priceless. Apparently shy little Jess wasn't supposed to make such comments. I found it hilarious.

Finally getting a hold on his thought processing abilities, Red shook his head and demanded, "Lake, how come you always get the good ones?"

"Because I'm better looking."

As Red's head turned towards mine, Lake's followed. I found both staring at me expectantly. Holding up my hands, I looked from one to the other, "Oh, no. Don't you guys dare put me in the middle of this!"

At my panic, they grinned. Red held out a hand that Lake immediately slapped. I rolled my eyes, smiling in spite of myself. Men…

Red hung around for the next couple hours, eating a good portion of the lasagna, which didn't really surprise me. He and Lake ate like horses. For as much as they worked out, I counted myself lucky to get any of the food. Red talked about their training and what they'd been dong the past few days. I could tell that Lake missed it.

It helped immensely that he was out of the hospital, but he needed to get out there and do his thing again.

Red also let us know that our isolation with each other was coming to a swift end. Lake mumbled something along the lines of, "It hasn't already?" We exchanged a grin at that.

Red continued, apparently not hearing him, "Yeah, tomorrow's Saturday and the Patriots are playing. Amy told LT she might come around, too."

So my suspicions were correct. Lake's place was where the football was watched. I groaned a bit, causing their gazes to fall on me. Red rolled his eyes, "Don't tell me you're one of those women that hate football."

Lake smirked, leaning back in his chair, "Oh, she doesn't mind football. She's just scared we're gonna start rattling off stats and bore her to death."

My eyes widened. I hadn't told him that. How did he know? Raising an eyebrow, I ordered, "You stop it with your SEAL mind reading tricks, mister." His faced pulled into a full-sized grin at that. "It's not me you have to worry about. I'll go with the flow."

Red interrupted with a smirk, "Right. You're never bossy."

"Honey, meet my mom sometime." The death glare that appeared on Lake's face gave Red all the more information he needed on that subject. "It's Arianna you're going to have problems with. She hates football."

Lake shrugged, "That's Doc's problem."

Laughing, I joked, "Band of brothers, my ass."

"Oh," Red continued, shifting slightly uncomfortably in his seat. I'd learned that with these guys, that didn't necessarily mean awkwardness or embarrassment. No, with them it meant hiding their feelings. That's why it didn't surprise me when he said, "Slo's funeral is Sunday, too." We were all very quiet for a while.

After I refused to help them with dishes, we found ourselves on Lake's couch. I dozed on his side as he and Red commenced killing each other and funny-looking aliens on Halo. The last thing I remembered that night was Red screaming, "You son of a bitch! I can't believe you stuck me!" before Lake violently shushed him.

I shot straight up as I felt my head being plunged underwater, eyes of my dead students staring up at me from the bottom of the tank. I'd woken up before I could more than glance at a pair of large, green ones: small mercies. Chest heaving as I attempted to get control of my breathing, I looked around to find myself alone in Lake's bedroom.

The clock on his nightstand read 2:37 so I was surprised to hear Red's voice coming from the living room along with Lake's. Given they weren't swearing at each other like pirates, I assumed they'd stopped playing Halo. Grabbing the black comforter, I swung myself out of bed, wrapping it around me to fight back the shivers. On shaking legs and a pained knee I stumbled into the other room.

Both looked up at me, but I laid down in between them on the couch before either could say a thing. I laid my head against his chest, my ear over his heart, and wrapped my arms around his waist.

Lake was alive. I could feel his heart beating. Now I could sleep.

I was out again before they said anything.