The next day he's up before her and making smoothies. She wakes to the noise of the blender and kicks herself for not setting an alarm. She knows how these guys work and that they are always awake in the early morning hours. She hates feeling like a freeloader here in his home.

When she comes out dressed for the day, he turns to stare at her. "Ems I'm so sorry I woke you. I was just grabbing something quick before I headed out to PT. You should go back to bed."

She nods. Suddenly bummed about him being gone for a bit.

"There's extra smoothie if you want some," he says by way of apology gesturing at the blender while grabbing his keys.

"Work hard," she calls to his retreating back.

She drinks the leftover smoothie and tries to settle into bad TV once again, but she can't shake the thought that she hasn't helped out at all. She decides she'd rather be useful. So, she goes through his cabinets until she locates his cleaning supplies. Then she sets to work on sprucing the place up. She dusts, sweeps, mops, and vacuums. He's still not back. So she starts in the bathroom.

When he walks in he can't help but notice that the space is much cleaner and he smells bleach. The shower is running and her music is up. He's willing to bet she hasn't heard the door. He wants out of the walking boot, and he's starving. He sets the bags of burgers and the shakes down and wanders into the bathroom to find her scrubbing the shower. "Wow, Ems! It looks amazing but you should come eat."

She jumps at the sound of his voice. "Sure what do you want me to make for lunch."

He chuckles. "You don't have to take care of me, Ems. I brought home burgers and shakes."

She smiles. They pass an amicable lunch. She asks about PT and he tells her its going well. His eyes say otherwise. "Tell me what is bothering you then."

His first impulse is to lie, but she looks so trustworthy and she hasn't judged him yet. So uncharacteristically Clay finds himself opening up. "I'm getting stronger but my balance is terrible. The therapist says for some people balance after an ankle fracture is a lifelong problem."

She suddenly understands why he hasn't wanted to sit home alone with these thoughts of possibly not returning to operating. "Well we will just have to work on your balance extra hard then."

He smirks. She would work the problem. "I'm not sure I know how to do any more than I currently am, Emma"

"Easy. I'll help you. Show me the exercises."

They spend another couple of hours practicing all his balance exercises, which he is ashamed to admit wipes him out. He doesn't put up too much of a fight when she says she is making dinner. And after dinner, it's him dozing on the couch.

She nudges him awake. "Come on, sunshine, let's go to bed."

"This is my bed," he mumbles.

"Two nights is too long for me to kick you out of your bed, Clay. I can stay out here tonight."

"Absolutely not," he says with all the force he can muster.

"You are so stubborn, Spenser," she mutters. "Fine, we'll share the bed."

He goes from being completely exhausted to every nerve ending in his body wide awake. "How exactly does this work?"

She leads him to bed and says, "I'm going to brush my teeth. I'll be back in a minute." Okay, so this is definitely the boldest move I've ever made. I've never shared a bed with a guy and here I am inviting dad's rookie to bed.

He thinks for a moment about the logistics of this. Normally he sleeps in boxers, but he decides a T-shirt and sleep pants will have to do for tonight. Maybe I should get us separate blankets? He decides that's probably overkill. After all, he has loads of self-control honed from sniper time. Right?

She climbs into bed next to him and they both turn to be back to back. Somehow not looking at the other makes this feel less intimate and less like a violation of everything Jason would want them to be doing. She's thinking about how mad her dad would be at Clay and feels driven to protect him some. He's thinking about not doing anything that her dad wouldn't be able to forgive.