Drift POV

Jamie ended up waking up, crying in the middle of the night for the past five days. She didn't want to sleep at all last night. I think she did that on purpose, so she'd sleep all day since it was Christmas. We slept in her room at the house. Crosshairs enjoyed joking that we'd be doing something other than sleeping. Ten in the morning, Jamie's mom was yelling down the stairs for her to come up.

"No," Jamie says in a sad tone. Jamie didn't fall asleep until five in the morning. She was so tired and heartbroken Buddy wasn't here for her to spoil. I let her sleep for two more hours, but her mom was getting pissed. Now Jamie's older brother and family are here.

"She shouldn't have a problem with me being upstairs," I say, "you want Crosshairs to come here?" Jamie nods. I waited for Jamie to get dressed and for Crosshairs.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? We weren't invited this time."

"I don't think she will have a good afternoon without us."

"It's about time," Crosshairs jokes. We didn't expect Jamie to hug him and start crying. He crouched down to hug her, "It's ok."

I let her cry for a few minutes before calming her and wiping the tears, "Go upstairs. We'll be up in a few," I tell her. Jamie hugged me before going upstairs.

"There's no way she just got that depressed,' Crosshairs comments.

"Jamie can't keep emotions bottled up like J.R., or Jayce when she wants to. This has to be part of the delayed grieving. Periods of sadness, but one day, it just all comes out. Though she's been crying the past five nights."

"Are you going to be ok?"

"Yeah. Even if I wasn't, how am I going to leave without upsetting Jamie more?"

This was close to a repeat of Thanksgiving, minus the back pain. This time, it was harder for Jamie to keep it together. Again, I don't know if she was full before leaving the table and going to pet Storm. She was weeping. I don't know what Crosshairs and I hated more, seeing her upset or how the family doesn't seem to care. After five minutes, Jamie got up and left the room.

"Assholes," Crosshairs mumbles, "How blind are they that they can't see how upset she is? "

"Same as Thanksgiving when they couldn't see how much pain she was in."

Jamie sat in the living room for the next hour, eventually watching T.V. with the older nephew. Her older brothers and family left an hour later, and immediately her mom showed how pissed she was at Jamie. Even I wanted to yell at her.

"Thanks for ruining a nice Christmas," She said before giving Jamie her gifts. I know Jamie would have been happy to get the book she wanted until her dad lectures her how it's a collectible, and she can't look at it. She was too depressed to care. We stayed in the house for a half-hour before Jamie wanted to go back to the base.

Cade POV

We had a great night planned when Crosshairs, Drift, and Jamie got back. Jayce tells me it's the first time friends have been around during Christmas. I knew it wasn't a good afternoon when Jamie ran past me and upstairs. Jayce and J.R. did not like seeing that.

"What happened?" Hound asks.

I was angry at what Drift told us. I don't know if I was angry, my friend was treated like that by her own family or thinking how can a parent not notice their child is upset?

"That's it. I'm going to deal with this,"

"No, Cade, just leave them. Jamie needs us," Crosshairs told me, which was unexpected. Bee, Hound, and I stayed with Jayce and J.R. They wanted to see Jamie, but that wasn't a good idea in their current mental state.

Jamie POV

I lie on my bed, trying not to cry, but it's a challenge.

"Come here," I hear Drift say as he picked me up and sat on the bed with me on his lap. Crosshairs sat next to him. I ended up bawling, "It's ok," Drift says as he hugged me. I feel like I can't stop crying. I didn't know how long I'd been crying before I started coughing.

"Here," Crosshairs says, handing me my water bottle. I had a little water to stop the coughing before hugging Drift and continuing to cry. Crosshairs got up to leave, but I grabbed his hand. I know he's just sitting here while Drift hugs me, but I want him to stay.

"I'll come back," he says as he wiped the tears from my eyes. I hated watching him leave the room. Felt like he was leaving the dimension for days.

"Come on, I think laying down will help," Drift says as he moves onto the bed and tries to lay me down, but I tightened my grip, "too tight, Jamie," oops, I loosened my grip a little. I heard Drift open one of the nightstand drawers and move things around before closing it again, "you don't have any tissues and won't let me leave to get some, will you?"

"No," I say in a sad tone. Drift sighed and started rubbing my back. I stopped crying, but tears kept rolling down my face.

Drift POV

I knew this would happen but still hated hearing her cry. At least I got her to stop crying for now. I don't think she's letting me go or will want to leave the room tonight. Crosshairs came back five minutes later. He sat on the bed next to me and pulled out some tissues from his pocket.

"Figured you'd need these," He says before wiping Jamie's eyes and nose and taking her hand, "it's ok, we'll get through this."

I waited another ten minutes before seeing if Jamie wanted to go downstairs though I figured she'd say no. I turned the T.V. on before leaving the room. Jamie hated I was leaving.

"I'll be back," I said and kissed her forehead before Crosshairs hugged her. I worried she'd start crying again.

"So, is Jamie coming downstairs tonight?" Cade asked.

"No," I sighed, "I knew this would happen, but I hate it."

"I hate hearing how she's been crying," Cade tells me,

"Everyone hates it." I looked at Jayce and J.R., who seemed not to know what's going on.

"They know," Cade tells me, "we tried not to tell them but-."

"I don't think we could have avoided telling them. It will not be a good night."

I didn't want to stay away from Jamie for long, not sure how long she'd be ok with me not being with her, but I had to go for a drive. I can't wait until the girls go to sleep. I didn't know Jayce followed me to the garage until she grabbed my hand before I opened the car door.

"What's wrong?" I asked, seeing how upset she was. She hugged me and started tearing up. How long has she been trying not to cry? "why don't you come with me?"

She nods before going to sit on the passenger side of my alt mode. She was quiet on the drive to the beach. It's the only place close to the property that's quiet so I can destress. I'm sure the others also come here. It was too cold to sit on the beach even though there's no snow.

I sat on the passenger side of my alt mode, holding Jayce. This time, I wasn't worried about trying to figure out what is bothering Jayce.

"She's very depressed now," Jayce says and bit her lip. I knew she was trying not to cry.

"Jayce, you know it's better to cry."

"I'm tired of crying. I'm tired of all this," she didn't want to cry but ended up crying anyway.

"I know, we'll get through this," I say as I hug her. I knew it; she's been trying not to cry. I came here to destress, and having Jayce with me isn't helping, but she should cry now. I worry she will have a nightmare about finding Jamie dead or the one I've been having. That is if she will sleep tonight. My phone was vibrating. I forget to text one of the others that Jayce is with me. I can't text them at the moment, so I called Hound, worried I'd be told J.R. is panicking. Even Hound lectured me how we're lucky J.R. hasn't noticed Jayce left. With Jayce crying, it was hard to talk, so we ended the call. It's a little cold tonight, but I think a walk would help Jayce.

"Come on, I think a walk will do you good," I say while opening the car door. I can not let her know I was also trying to destress. We walked for ten minutes before turning around and going back to my alt mode.

"Ready to go back?" I asked. Jayce shook her head no, "I know you don't want to see how depressed Jamie is now, but you can't stay away until she feels better."

"I want to go home." I know she meant back to her dimension. I didn't know what to say. She wants to get away from the situation, which is usually a good thing. However, for her, she'll still worry about Jamie, and we'd worry she'd take her life in her dimension. Not to mention Jamie and J.R will not like that she left, "I know, Jamie and J.R. will be upset, but I don't think I can hide how depressed I am."