"Rosco?" Jamie called peering down at the garden from her window.
The shadowy figure beckoned to her. Jaime silently crept down the stairs. As she walked out into the garden, Jaime felt the damp grass tickle the bottom of her feet. "Who's out here?"
Suddenly the darkened figure appeared from behind a tree. "Jaime," he whispered.
As she wearily approached the stranger, Jaime felt an unusual pull toward him. It was as though she floated across the garden into the waiting arms of the faceless stranger. "Who are you?" Jaime demanded.
The moonlight then lit across her face. "You know who it is…"
Jaime gasped and suddenly found herself face to face with Jason. "Jason?"
"Are you okay?" he asked concerned. "You were kind of talking in your sleep."
"What?" Jaime asked confused. She sat up and looked around. Why was she lying down? Why was she in her bedroom? "How did I get here?"
Jason smiled. "You've been up here since supper. Why?"
Jaime rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "No," she said groggily. "Never mind. I must have been dreaming."
"Okay," Jason said slowly. "Did you want to talk about it?"
Jaime sat silently for a moment, her thoughts on a distant memory. Then with a jolt she shook her head and smiled at Jason. "No that's okay," she said dismissively, hitting him lightly on the shoulder.
She rose from her bed and walked over to her dresser. Grabbing an elastic and a brush she pulled her long thick black hair into a ponytail. "Besides," Jaime chuckled. "You're due for a whoopin'!"
Jason smirked as he stood up. "Oh really? I don't know about that!"
Jaime bit her lip. "Believe it!" she laughed. "No holding back tonight."
His eyes widened and he shook his head as he stretched out. "I don't know about that Ms. Nam. I happen to have been working out."
Jaie rolled her eyes and shoved him playfully out the door. "I'll meet you in the gym in 5 then?" Jaime sighed. "Then we'll see who's getting who!"
As soon as the door closed, Jaime rested her head on the back of the door. An image of Rosco's face flashed before her. Jaime shook her head and went to change for her sparring match.
***
Jason wiped the sweat from his eyes. "You're a little rusty there," he teased Jaime.
His sparring partner was not amused. "You try being locked in a room for almost 2 weeks and then you tell me I'm rusty!" Jaime challenged.
Jason smirked, but quickly raised his left arm to block the oncoming right hook. "It's good to hear you joke about it," he siad as he threw a couple of jabs to keep her off guard and surprised her with a kick to the calf.
Jaime swiveled and tagged him on his side. "I guess. I'm tired of people asking FYI, though."
Jason's vision was focused on Jaime's moving shoulders, trying to anticipate her next attack. "It's not good to keep things bottled up you know?"
Suddenly Jaime's guard dropped and she was holding her stomach laughing. "Do you know how ironic that is coming from you?" Jaime asked.
Jason paused and looked at Jaime, who was now crouched down on one knee. "Breather?" Jason suggested.
Jaime nodded. "Jason, what if I kept asking about things you didn't want to think about? Like, Are you and Elizabeth ever going to get together?" Jaime continued and plied him with inane questions until Jason put up his hands in mock surrender.
"All right! All right!" Jason laughed, throwing Jaime a towel. "But you do admit that you've got to let it out sometime?"
Jaime mopped the sweat off her forehead with the edge of the towel she'd just thrown around her neck. "Again, no. I don't!" she sighed. "Look, this is just something I don't want to talk about or even think about. It's bad enough I have to dream about it, I don't want to think about it during my waking moments too."
Jason nodded his head. "I'm sorry. But I'm just worried. You've been pretending it's okay, when I know it isn't. The dreams prove it. Maybe it'll help to talk it out?" Jason coaxed. "You know I'm good at keeping secrets."
Jaime peered at him in such a hopeless state that Jason's chest tightened. He could kill Rosco for doing this to her. If he ever got his hands on him…
"There isn't much to tell," Jaime finally spoke, "I woke up in this dingy basement blindfolded. Then they moved me upstairs into a different room. I was kept in there the remainder of the stay."
Stay? Jason was confused. "Don't you mean kidnapping?"
Jaime looked hesitant, like she was hiding something. "I guess. But that's just it. I mean he threatened me in the beginning, but he was nice most of the time. And Donnie told me there was no ransom demand. So what was he after? I got the feeling that someone else was running the show. He was pretty decent."
Her voice trailed off as she shrugged. "You can't be serious Jaime! He kills people for a living. He's ruthless. He wasn't Sorel's enforcer for nothing!"
He hated the words that seemed to be pouring out of her mouth. Her demeanor, her eyes, everything told him that Jaime didn't blame Rosco for the kidnapping. He had her completely snowed. Yet what was he after? Jason shook his head. He would figure that out soon enough. "He kidnapped you Jaime, and that's it! There's no hidden motives. He hated your father and that was the reason he took you."
Jaime drank out of her water bottle seemingly unreponsive to the facts. "And I'm okay. Can we stop talking about this and get back to this?" Jaime challenged.
Jason reluctantly agreed. They fought for another 15 minutes. Jaime seemed more focused, more intense after their discussion. Suddenly Jaime dropped her guard before Jason realized it and his fist made contact with her jaw. "Are you all right?" Jason cried, dropping to the floor beside the dazed fighter.
"Uh," Jaime stumbled. "Yeah. I think so. Think we could call it a draw?"
"I don't know, I've got you right where I want you!" Jason teased. "Are you forfeiting?"
Jaime rolled her eyes. "Hey I thought I was supposed to take it easy? Wasn't quite expecting to get knocked a round when calling a time out?" she laughed, holding her jaw.
He examined her face. "I don't think I hit you hard enough to cause a bruise," Jason commented.
"Well that's a relief!" Jaime said sarcastically. "Help me up!"
Jason pulled her to her feet. "Do you think you can make it to your room all right?"
Jaime it him. "I'm not a sissy. I can take a hit." Jaime stuck her tongue out before she disappeared through the door.
Jason also headed back to his room to clean up. As he was about to head to the shower, there was a quiet knock on the door. Jason pulled a bathrobe on and jogged over to the entrance. "Yes?" Jason greeted as he opened the door.
Standing in the doorway was an embarrassed Elizabeth. "Hey Jason," she smiled sheepishly. "I can come back…sorry." Elizabeth turned around to leave, but Jason pulled her into his room.
"No, it's okay. What's wrong?" Jason frowned.
Elizabeth swallowed, "I, uh, was wondering if Jaime had said anything?" she inquired nervously. As Elizabeth surveyed the room, Jason could feel her awkwardness.
Jason shook his head. "No. Well, no, she something about it. But she should be the one to tell you," he explained.
He hated not telling her, but Jason couldn't break Jaime's trust.
Elizabeth shook her head profusely and protested. "No Jason! I totally understand! I mean, I know how great it is to know that I can talk to you without having to worry about you telling anyone what I might have said."
Jason smiled. "I'm glad. I think she just needs time," he explained scratching his head.
Elizabeth smiled in return. "That's okay."
Unexpectedly an awkward silence fell upon them. "Well, uh," Elizabeth stuttered, finally breaking the silence. "I'd better get going. You probably want to shower."
Elizabeth blushed, which made Jason smile. "Wait," Jason exclaimed, reaching out to stop the exiting brunette.
"What?"
Jason felt his heart beat faster with Elizabeth an arm's length away. "I was just thinking you maybe could talk to her," Jason suggested. "I got the feeling she was hiding something and I think that she might not feel as awkward talking to you about it?"
Elizabeth's grey eyes twinkled as she nodded. "Sure!" Elizabeth agreed.
Jason smiled. "Great."
His hand lingered on her arm. "Well," Jason mumbled. "Goodnight."
Elizabeth tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah," she grinned. "Goodnight."
Jason waited until Elizabeth closed the door before heading to the shower. He would need a cold one tonight.