"And you're sure you're all right?" Jake pressed.

Haley rolled her eyes at him. "I wouldn't have told you that I was all right if I wasn't. You worry too much, Jake."

"You're my little sister," Jake replied, studying the checker board that Haley had set up on the coffee table at their parents' house. "It's my job to worry about you."

"Well, I'm going to be all right," Haley said confidently. "It's my job as a little sister to worry about you, though, and I don't know if you're going to be all right."

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked, nudging his checker forward. "I'm absolutely fine."

"I don't think you are. I think that you're conflicted over Rose and that it's tearing you apart because you don't know what to do." She glanced at him. "King me, by the way."

"You're too smart for your own good," Jake grumbled, kinging her checker. "Okay, Miss Wisdom, what do you think I should do?"

"What have other people told you to do?"

"Trixie wants me to walk away from Rose completely. Spud wants me to work on our relationship and try to date other people. Fu hasn't said anything and I'm not prompting Mom's opinion from her."

"I think Spud is smart. I think you and Rose need to build a new foundation."

"You think I should try and meet new people?" Jake clarified.

"Uhm … I think you should be more open to the idea of meeting new people. I know you love her; I really do. I just think that you might need to realize she's not the only girl you have the ability to love."

He was tempted to storm out on Haley, just like he had his friends. Just like they had, she had suggested that Rose wasn't the one for him. Instead of abandoning her, Jake stayed silent, focused on their checker game, and thought about all of the reasons that he was so sure that Rose was the only one for him. She had been there for him; she knew him. Who was to say, though, that someone else couldn't be there for him; that someone else could know him on the same level she did?

Jake knew that someone else could be there for him. Whether that other girl be human or magical didn't matter; she would be able to support him. Not all magical/human relationships ended up the way that his mother's and father's did: in most relationships, the magical being revealed to the human being. Sometimes, that didn't work out and a memory blank had to be performed on the now in-the-know human. (He didn't consider his and Rose's relationship to be a human/magical one; she had already known of the magical community long before he had known her.)

As for the last part of the question … Well, Jake would have to say 'no' to that one. Was there a possibility for another girl to know him differently than Rose did? Absolutely. But Rose knew him in a way that not even his little sister or best friends – the people who knew him best, who had known him the longest – knew him. He doubted that he would ever be able to find that connection, that passion, in another person. She had fought for his life when he had given up on it. She had struggled to save him from a fate worse than death. Perhaps it was because of this that he was so unwilling to accept her recent actions.

"Jake," Haley prompted. "What do you think?"

"I think you should king me," he replied.

He had nothing left to say.

(-.-)

Rose sat with her feet tucked up under her, on her old bed at the Huntsquarters. Nicholas was slouched in the armchair in the corner of the room and she couldn't take her eyes off him. He, in turn, was watching her.

"I'm not mad at you anymore," came the robotic voice. Nicholas, whose vocal cords had been irrevocably damaged by her, was rendered completely silent. Kyle, however, had commissioned a voice box for him. He could either wear a tiny keyboard attached to his arm or he could use his cell phone and actually text the voice box that hung around his neck. It was no bigger than an average necklace pendent and was hardly noticeable.

"Really?" Rose gasped, staring incredulously at him. No one had said that to her.

"Really," the voice came back again. "I won't say I understand your actions because, honestly, I thought we meant more to you than that; Jake, at least, meant more to you than that. But I heard how the Master hurt you. I can see the pain in your eyes now. And, maybe I'm being a fool but I believe you. You've convinced me you're sorry and that you want to atone."

A semblance of a smile, so long gone from her face, began to rise.

"And I miss you. I miss you being my friend. I don't like being scared of you; I don't like being intimidated by you. I don't think I'm being sentimental at all. Kyle thinks I am but, you know him."

She did.

"Nicholas, I'm so, so, sorry."

"You don't have to say it again. I know, okay?"

Rose smiled at him and he smiled back.

Then Kyle burst through the door, talking as he entered.

"Between the branches, Fu, and I we have decided what we are going to do with you on a permanent basis," he announced to Rose.

She didn't even ask what her fate was to be. She just waited to hear it.

"The first thing is that we want you to start taking the sedatives again; the ones that the old Master had you on."

"All right," Rose agreed.

Immediately, Kyle pulled out a large bottle of white. "Two every eight hours, starting now."

Rose nodded and took the bottle from him. She put two pills in her mouth and dry swallowed.

"We've also decided that you will continue to stay with Jake and Fu, as the majority of the Clan is still uncomfortable with the idea of you being here. You will stay here one night a week and, perhaps in the future, we will increase that until you are living here full time again. We are not expelling you from the Clan. We expect you to retain your title as Huntsmistress. We expect you to allow Nicholas and I to continue our role of Branch Heads here, though with slightly more authority; authority that you will be surrendering. We expect you to be available for consultation. We also expect that your tracker be available to every Branch Head from now on. However, should your tracker become inactive for any reason, you will immediately be assumed a threat and a manhunt will be issued. Do you understand these expectations and do you oppose any of them?"

"I understand," Rose confirmed. "And I find them fair considering the situation. However, may I may one suggestion? If my tracker were to expire for any reason, I believe that you should make a phone call to me. I will reveal my position and await you there. If I don't answer the phone call, then you may consider me a threat."

"I'll bring your suggestion under review," Kyle agreed, and then he heaved a sigh. "Sorry I'm being so rough, Rose. We're friends. I know we're friends and everything but I'm still finding it so hard to understand you or forgive you."

"I understand. It's okay, Kyle. It is. I know that I still have a lot to prove to you."

Kyle nodded and gave her a slight smile. "Let's get you back to Jake's, okay?"

"Kay."

(-.-)

"Fu's over at Veronica's," Jake explained. "I don't think he likes spending time here a lot since Gramps, you know."

Rose nodded and set the little kitchen table with just two places. Jake was standing in the kitchen, making spaghetti.

She remembered when he had cooked for her in the past. When she would come up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing his neck, distracting him from whatever he was doing. Or when he was baking and would demand that she help him frost cakes, though she didn't like being in the kitchen at all. Jake would always make it worth it though, smearing frosting across her lips and kissing it off.

Rose thought of what would happen now, if she were to come up behind him. He wouldn't take it as a cute, flirty gesture. No; she was a threat now. He would assume that she was trying to kill or hurt him, and he would hurt her to ensure his own life.

She touched her stomach, of the scars that he'd caused. They'd hurt each other before; had left permanent marks on one another's body. However, that was before they knew the person behind the mask and the dragon persona, respectively. They hadn't laid a hand on each other since.

But she knew she couldn't blame Jake for hurting her. He'd thought she was aiming at Haley, not the Master. If their situations had been reversed, and she thought that he was out for Nicholas or Kyle, she would have lashed out at him as well. She knew that she wasn't acting like herself and she'd brought this on herself.

As Jake dished the pasta out onto their plates, she wondered if he would kiss her again tonight. He rarely did; he barely even looked at her, let alone touched her. Yet, sometimes, this look would come into his eye and, before she knew it, they were wrapped around one another. It was only for a moment, though, because then his pain would come flooding back into his eyes and he would turn away from her again.

"Oh!" Rose exclaimed as they were about to start dinner.

"Oh what?" Jake questioned.

Rose reached for her bag and pulled out the pill bottle Kyle had given her earlier.

"They put my back on sedatives," Rose explained, knocking two of the white pills out of their container. "They're less scared of me that way."

Jake reached out and caught her wrist before she could lift the pills up to her mouth.

"How many doses of that have you taken?" He asked.

"Just the first one, eight hours ago; two pills. Why?"

"I don't want you taking them."

"Why? I thought you'd be on board with this. If my reflexes are back down to that of a regular human's then I'm less of a threat. You can control me better. Even I can see that I'm better this way."

"You're not better this way," Jake told her, though he didn't elaborate. "And if they have a problem, they can answer to me and I'll toast their asses. If you're in my house, then you're on my rules. And I don't want you taking them while you're here."

Rose put the pills back in the bottle and put the bottle away. Though she didn't understand Jake's reasoning, she thought that it was a step in the right direction. He liked her the way she was; the way she was supposed to be. It made her extraordinarily happy – this thought that he was protecting her made her overly content.

That night, when she was lying in his bed and he was on the floor, it gave her the strength to say, "You don't have to sleep on the floor. You can come up here. It's big enough that we don't have to touch. It's more comfortable here."

She waited a breathless moment for him to respond. Then, he rose from the floor – a shapeless figure in the night. He tossed his pillow next to her head. Rose scooted as close to the wall as she could possibly get to make room for him. He lay down on his side and fluffed the comforter over her.

Even though the weather was getting warmer, Rose grabbed onto the comforter and nestled into it. She loved being warm, which is why, when they shared a bed, Rose usually ended up snuggled into Jake. He always emitted an intense heat.

Tonight, though, she would have to be conscious to not end up twined around him. It would only be awkward for them both.

(-.-)

The morning light streamed in through the window, though it didn't disturb the still-sleeping Rose. Jake, however, was already awake and had been for a while. She had shifted in her sleep, bringing her head onto his chest like she always did. His arm was going numb from where she was laying but he didn't have the heart to move her.

It all felt so normal. It felt like nothing had happened and he desperately wanted to believe that it hadn't. He wanted to wake her up with a morning kiss and cuddle her, talking about everything and nothing all at once.

Was Jake ready for things to feel that normal? Absolutely not; and he knew it. He knew that if he kissed her now, nudging her awake, it would only hurt him a few minutes after because she would look at him and it would all come crashing back: the death of Gramps; the betrayal of Rose; the near-death of Haley.

Even as he thought of this, thought of the pain that would come to them if he kissed her now, he was doing it. He was sliding his fingers up her jawline, making her shake her head slightly, resisting the wake-up call. But as he was more insistent, her eyes began to open. Her saw a flash of blue before he pressed his lips to hers.

Immediately, she became animated under him. She arched into him, and he held her there, half over her as he was. He kissed her until he was out of breath and then he kissed her again. He wasn't ready to let go of her as she was now; innocent in the morning light. Everything seemed so hopeful in the dawn hours and he feared that, if he let her go now, it would all fade away and she would be completely and utterly gone.

I don't own anything recognizable.

~TLL~