Got halfway through writing this, and started feeling sick. Turns out I had some kind of virus for a few days. I'm feeling much better now, though, so here we go! A bit more of filler in this chapter, but I hope it's not too big of a let-down. I don't want to jinx myself, but I'll just say that I have nothing planned for tomorrow but staying home, sooo... :)

The first thing he notices is how small her house is. The back door leads him into her bedroom, a cramped space with a bed, night stand, cabinet, and vanity. All of the furniture is very simple and wood; obviously the cheapest beginner set, most of which came with the house. Clothes and random items he doesn't really care about are strewn about the room, and the bed is wrinkled and unmade.

'What a slob! But somehow, I'm not surprised,' he muses. After trying the first door he sees and finding nothing but an equally messy bathroom, he takes the other door and hopes he won't trip on something. Through the door is a kitchen and breakfast area, with room for a small table, and a miniature TV sits on the counter top. It's actually somewhat clean, and a small dog bed sits in a corner, with food and water bowls next to it. Within minutes, Jamie is able to find the dog's bag of food, and gives it enough to last the night and next morning. As the dog begins to dig in with a fervor, Jamie refills the water bowl while he's at it.

And then the phone starts to ring. Scared out of his wits by the sudden loud noise, Jamie jumps and fumbles with the water bowl. Water sloshes all over the floor, but Jamie's not worried about that. The phone rings again.

'Everyone in town knows what happened to her, so… Wh-who's calling?!'

With a shaking hand and heart pounding in his ribcage, he swallows and picks up the phone. It takes an eternity for the phone to reach his ear. Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump.

"He…Hello—?"

"WAZZAAAAAAAP!" bellows a gravelly voice, but it's not on the phone—

'Oh Dear Goddess he's right behind me!'

—and Jamie screams as loud as he can, falling to the ground. His first instinct is to run and hide, or find a weapon, but when he hears the laughing and the whooping above him the paralyzing fear melts into red hot anger.

Twisting around, he sees Joe almost doubled over with laughter.

"D-dude!" he gasps, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "I had no idea you were so freakin' hilarious! Aaaahahahaha! Oh my Goddess, that was totally awesome!" paying no mind to Jamie's poisonous glare, the hyper fisherman cackles on.

"JOE!" Jamie screams. "What in the hell are you doing?!"

He straightens up and catches his breath. "Wh-what? Oh. That." As Jamie stands and dusts himself off, still furious, Joe wipes away tears of laughter.

"Well Ray and I were fishing on the other side of the river," he explains, "And when we saw that the light in Tina's house was on, we got a little concerned someone might have broken in. But then we realized that any burglar with a brain would probably leave the lights off, and Ray dared me to go scare the pants off of whoever it was. When I saw it was you though, I almost expected you to kill me! Haha! Funny, huh?" he finished, still grinning.

"Oh you'll wish I would have killed you when I'm through with you," Jamie seethes, more wrathful than ever before. Reflexes developed from years of working with sharp objects and fishing skills kick in and Joe starts running just as Jamie lunges forward. The rancher manages to grab a fistful of his vest, but Joe wrenches out of his grip and zips through the open back door and into the night. Too frustrated to care about locking the door, Jamie chases after him, determined to teach the prankster a lesson.

Which is exactly what happens about ten minutes later, as Jamie finally corners Joe near the town square and tackles him. "Aaah!" Joe yelps, "Dude, c'mon, don't kill me! It was all a joke! I'm sorry!"

Completely ignoring him, Jamie pins the fisherman and straddles him. "This will teach you to do something as stupid as sneaking up on me!" he roars, and gives Joe a forceful punch right to the forehead.

"Ooooow! Goddess, man, that hurt!" Joe hissed, face twisted in pain.

"And don't you ever try something stupid like that again, idiot!" he snapped, his voice overlapping Joe's complaint.

Joe opens his mouth to make a snide retort, but before he can say anything the two are interrupted by a high, feminine voice.

"Oh my goodness, what on earth are you two doing?!" gasps Maria. The two young men pause in their scuffle and look to her. Drawing her lips into a thin line, she berates the boys. "I should hope two grown men would know better than to solve things with violence! It's barbaric!" And Jamie recalls her father saying something similar just last month about that huge food fight during the Egg Festival. He remembers Tina covered in all sorts of pastry and mess, and with her in mind his eyes dart between the fisherman beneath him and the librarian.

"Wait a minute," he interjects, "Didn't you guys go off to the city to see about Tina?"

"Get off of him and maybe we'll tell you," Maria states sternly.

Joe pipes up with a scowl, "Yeah, what she said!"

Deciding he can take care of Joe later, because he's sure he hasn't learned his lesson, Jamie begrudgingly stands. "Alright," he grunts, "Spill."

Maria straightens her back and clears her throat. "It's very simple, really. We followed the ambulance to the hospital, where I gave the front desk Tina's medical file. We stayed for a while, but Tina was still unconscious. Visiting hours ended, and the hospital wouldn't allow us to stay overnight because we're not family-"

"Which is totally stupid!" Joe cuts in.

"-so obviously, we came back." Jamie nods, ready to leave after hearing what he needs to, when his line of sight falls to the west end of town. The end of town where Tina's farm is, and her stupid dog, and the lights that have been left on.

"When will she get back?" he asks, hoping they don't get the wrong idea.

This time, it's Joe who answers the question. "The doctors say if she doesn't have any problems overnight, she can be released next afternoon."

Jamie nods again. "That's good," he murmurs, more to himself than the others.

Joe furrows his brow, puzzled that anti-social Jamie would ask so many questions about another person. The cogs turn in his brain, and he grins like a sly fox when the imaginary light bulb in his psyche blinks to life.

"Yo, Jamie," he drawls casually, "Why do you care so much anyway? I thought you didn't like Tina. Or were you just-" Before he can even finish, Jamie cuts him off with an already prepared answer.

"D- don't go making any stupid assumptions!" he barks, unable to stop himself from stuttering. "The longer my rival stays cooped up in some hospital, the longer she goes without getting a thrashing from me! It wouldn't do to have her forget her duty as my rival, now would it? I can't just sitting here waiting around for her to... to... Ugh, just forget it!" he groans, drained. Maybe he's tired because it's late at night now, and he's usually in bed by then. Maybe it's because he had to spend so much extra energy taking care of Tina's work and her dog, and chase down Joe to beat some sense into him. Maybe it's just the stress and anger that all of it has brought on him.

But it's certainly not because he's worried about Tina. No, there's no way it could be because he simply can't stand thinking about her right now. The words that he's trying to say don't stick in his throat because he knows he doesn't mean them. Confused and too tired to even be properly mad, he turns away from them and hastens off towards his home.

"We're going back in the morning to visit her and find out when she'll be released," Maria says softly, and Jamie pauses. "It's Montgomery General Hospital. She's in room 394. You're welcome to come along, if you want."

His first instinct is to say no; to say that he doesn't care to go all that way just to visit. As long as she'll be back, why should he even waste time with sentimental things like visits? What, did he have to bring flowers, too? But then he flashes back to the way she looked, lying on the sand with blue lips. It occurs to him that he left the lights in her house on, and he left the back door wide open.

"What time are you leaving?" he asks.

Be honest; how was it? I think I do better writing in present tense. Sorry if that sort of thing throws anyone off. Anyways, I'll get right to the next one! I hope you guys don't find this one too boring. I just think this story would get tedious if it focused purely on Jamie and Tina constantly. It'd be like watching Friends, but only the parts with Rachel and Ross. Sooner or later, we'd get burnt out on it! :P Then again, too much filler is never a good thing...

(Did anyone get the Harry Potter reference?)