God Bless NBC and affiliates for this show, which I claim no ownership or other forms of connection to the wonderment that is American Dreams.

[x] Countdown to meeting Will Estes (hopefully!!!): Sixteen hours and fifty- eight minutes :^D [x]

The next morning, Meg awoke to a silent house. It was Sunday. Mom had taken Will and Patty to church and Dad was probably at the other store restocking with Henry and Sam.

That only left J.J.

Meg pulled her robe on and walked down to the landing. The bathroom door was shut and Meg heard the sink running. She sighed and went back into her room to change.

Fifteen minutes later, she came out and noticed the bathroom empty. The mirror was fogged with a circle wiped in the middle for J.J. to see himself. Meg smelled aftershave.

"J.J.?" she called into the house.

"Kitchen." he answered. Meg took a deep breath and prepared for another glimpse at the war-weary Jack not the football star J.J.

As she made her way into the kitchen, she was taken aback- almost as much as when she had first seen him yesterday.

"Morning." he said, offering her a plate of toast and eggs.

"Wow." answered Meg. J.J. had showered and shaved and had cut and styled his hair back to its former self. And instead of dusty dirty fatigues, he now donned a blue dress shirt and jeans.

"It's just toast." he said. Meg smiled and hugged him.

"Welcome home, J.J." she said. J.J. sighed and rubbed his chin with his hand.

"The only hard thing is how am I going to save leftovers from my meals?" he joked.

"J.J.!" squealed Meg. J.J. laughed and for the first time since he'd been home- it was a real laugh.

"Meg, I want to say sorry for last night-" began J.J. Meg put up her hands.

"It's okay." she said.

"No, it's not. I attacked my little sister. That's not okay." said J.J. firmly. Meg chewed and her toast in her mouth went to ash.

"It's just when I was over there- in Vietnam- I trained to do that. I had to basically sleep with one eye open and if someone woke me up aburptly I had to attack. I didn;t know if it was a friend or foe." explained J.J.

"I can't believe you were there. It just seems so awful." offered Meg. J.J. nodded.

"Alot of guys died. But alot of them fought for their country and died for their country. They died with nobility." said J.J.

"Dying is not noble. It's horrifying, J.J." said Meg.

"Meg, you've never seen it." countered J.J. Meg felt a fight coming on- one she couldn't win- so she backed down.

"Have you talked to Beth?" she asked, changing the subject. J.J. shrugged.

"Well?" asked Meg, curious.

"Not really." he admitted. Meg went wide-eyed.

"Before you give me the speech on how she's my dream girl and my life and the one I'm supposed to marry, just let my live my own life." said J.J.

"It's not that! I just bit my tongue!" cried Meg, sticking out the wounded body part and inspecting it. J.J. laughed and handed her a glass of water.

"I don't care what you do with Beth." said Meg, gulping the water. "It's your life, like you said, not anyone else's to interfere with."

J.J. smiled and hugged her.

"Thanks." he said. Meg returned the smile and the hug.

"Hey, what're you doing today?" asked J.J. Meg shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing." she replied.

"Come out with me. Show me around town, now that you're the big bad East Catholic superstar." teased J.J. Meg rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure you really care about the record shop and Georgia's haircut!" laughed Meg.

"It's not about the Vietcong, the jungle, or rations. Sounds perfect!" Meg had no clue what the 'Vietcong' were but understood J.J.'s needs. She grabbed her coat and said, "Am I driving?"