The next half-an-hour was a roller-coaster of emotions for Jason. The initial shock and embarrassment from being walked in on turned into tearful and joyous, but also careful, hugs with his parents. Jason had been living alone for a while and it had been several months since he'd seen his parents. To finally have them there by his side to support him in a difficult time was relieving.

Jason's mom, whose name was Kate, was kneeling by the bed. "Are you ok, sweetie?" she cried while holding his bandaged hand and caressing his tentacles.

"I-I'm ok, mum." Jason sniffed with bleary eyes and a red face. He was a little embarrassed to be called such a childish name by his mother, but that wasn't very important right now. "The doctors said I'm going to be fine."

"I'm so sorry we couldn't be here sooner, son." Jason's dad, who went by the name of Michael, said somberly. He sat, barely awake, on the edge of the bed with dark bags under his eyes. "We couldn't get a flight so we drove all night and day."

"It's fine." Jason shook his head. "Thanks for coming all this way so quickly. I'm so glad you're here."

"Of course, my boy." Michael affirmed. "We would do it all again if we had to."

While the Inkling family cried and hugged together for a while, the only Octoling in the room sat in silence, watching them. Thea had never even seen Jason cry before, but it was nice to see him cry so openly with his family. While Thea was glad to see Jason reunited with his parents, to see them so happy together stung the old wound in her heart. The wound that only the love from her parents could heal, but never would. Nevertheless, she smiled for Jason, and respectfully sat and listened.

The Inkling family spent some more time together on the bed, happy to be in each other's arms to comfort one another. Eventually, their tears were spent and they became emotionally drained.

Jason's dad stood up, rubbed his heavy eyes again, and crossed his arms. "So what happened, son?" he asked with a frown. "Why are you in the hospital...like this?" He then lowered his voice slightly and smirked. "And who is this girl?"

Both Thea and Jason blushed. They couldn't have picked a worse time to have their first kiss.

Jason's mom, Kate, eyed Thea over her shoulder with a calm but teasing smile. "And an Octoling no less. I would also like to know a bit more about her."

Jason didn't immediately answer, worried about what his parents would think of him and Thea. He bit his lip and stared at the bedsheets that covered his weak and aching body. How in the world was he going to explain everything and not sound crazy? He slowly lifted his bad arm to look at the bandages and dried blood and ink. "Well," he thought to himself, "things have been crazy!"

"C'mon, Jason. What happened?" Michael said a bit more sternly.

Jason looked at Thea. She had her face turned down slightly but she looked into his eyes as he did her. She gave a small smile and a nod, letting him know she was ok. Jason sighed. He resolved himself to just be honest and to start at the beginning.

For the next half-an-hour, Jason explained everything that had happened from the day he met Thea, starting from their first chance encounter with the hooded mugger all the way to their latest.

"Ok, so I was walking home with the groceries for my birthday, and when I passed an alleyway I heard..."

He explained where and what Thea had come from, and why he decided to let an illegal immigrant stay in his apartment. Why he spent his hard-earned money on buying her clothes and essentials, how he got her a job at the restaurant and began teaching her the Inkling language. He explained everything in detail, sometimes rambling on about something unimportant before being interrupted by his parents who reminded him to stay on topic.

"Right, yeah. So anyway, I figured that if she was going to get anywhere in Inkopolis she would need to learn to speak and write fluent Inkling. So we stopped by the library to get some textbooks and study guides..."

His parents sat in chairs, listening quietly. They only interrupted to ask for clarification on details or quick questions. Michael looked to be on the brink of consciousness. He was propping his head up on his arm and taking slow blinks. Jason wasn't sure if he was talking too fast for him to get all the information or too slow.

Kate didn't look to be in much better condition. She couldn't stop herself from yawning every few minutes, causing everyone else to instinctively yawn shortly after her. She apologised after each one, but everyone knew they needed sleep soon. She slouched in her chair, barely awake, but still listening to Jason and trying to process all the information.

"...so after some practice, Thea got quite good at the job and Mr Kepton was happy to give her work..."

Jason continued on to tell them about the birthday dinner and dance and introducing Thea to his friends. About playing turf wars and the golden toothpick. About the incident that led to a chase through the city streets, and about their making up in the alleyway. About how they found the knife that led them back to the Nautical Diner and Harry.

"...and I, stupidly, ran all the way back to the restaurant to go confront him...because I'm stupid..."

Jason recounted the fight. He glossed over the technicalities but explained where and how he got injured. He had his parents' full attention as he described his heroic and idiotic confrontation. Their faces showed real concern and shock as they listened to the story. Even Thea winced at the painful images Jason's words portrayed.

"... then he just...stabbed me in the chest and ran towards the restaurant, probably in a blind craze. But Emily was there and she grabbed him and...and then I don't remember much else. I just remember Thea running up to me as I blacked out. And then I woke up in the hospital."

Jason's parents stared at him for a little while. Jason took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Me and Thea had a talk. We apologised to each other and...uh...kissed for the first time...which you saw, and now we're not sure what to do." Jason paused for a moment before wrapping up. "And that's it. Now you know everything."

Kate, Michael, and Thea all sighed. The long story was finally over. Kate and Michael exchanged glances at each other as they processed it all. Thea fidgeted with her fingers, not knowing what to do or say now.

Jason shook his head. "I know it sounds crazy. But it's all true. And...I'm so, so sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

A few more seconds of silence passed before Michael stood up. He ran his fingers across his tentacles and rubbed his sleepy eyes. "Ok. Kate, can I talk with you for a minute?" he asked as he motioned for the door. Kate didn't respond at first, her sleep-deprived brain taking extra time to process his words.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sure." She got up from her seat a little wobbly and joined her husband just outside the room and out of earshot. They stood on the outside, talking with hushed voices while looking back and forth between themselves and the two kids inside. Thea made her way over to Jason and kneeled at the side of the bed.

"What are they saying?" Thea whispered.

"I don't know." Jason whispered back. "Maybe they're just figuring out how to go on from here. Or maybe they think I've gone insane."

Thea smiled at his joke but her expression quickly fell again. "Do you think they'll split us up? Or turn me in to the police?" Jason turned to face her and gazed into her wondrous eyes. "I don't want to leave you, Jason. You're my best friend...and I love you."

Jason's heart skipped a beat at those words. The feeling of knowing that someone that actually loved him, aside from his immediate family, was just indescribable. He wished he could just forget about the hospital, forget about his parents, and forget about the scumbag that tried to take their lives. He wished he could just leap up and just embrace her. Hold her in his arms and kiss her again, let her know that she was safe and that everything would be alright. But he couldn't.

Jason reached out with his bad arm and held Thea's hand in his. "I love you too. I love so, so much Thea." He gently squeezed her hand.

Thea looked at their hands clasped together and her attention was drawn to his arm. She saw the long line of dried blood and ink in the bandage. It looked similar to the fading scar running down her own arm. She felt strangely comforted that he would take a blow like that for her.

"Thea, I can't promise that we will be together for much longer. The police will probably be looking for us soon to conduct their investigations, and they might split us up. And..." Jason began to choke up. "And they might decide to send you back to the Octarian underground. I-I might never see you again."

Thea's face fell. She knew it was true. They were in deep trouble.

"And even if you're not deported and I'm not convicted, we've certainly lost our jobs and my parents might not even approve of you staying with me."

"Why not?" Thea asked.

Jason's face flushed. "Uh...well, you know…'cause you're Octarian and...well, you're a girl and I'm a boy and usually when they're alone together, uh...it's just...ah, never mind."

Thea giggled at Jason. She found him so cute when he got embarrassed, but her cheeriness quickly faded as she was brought back to reality. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "So...is it hopeless? Is it all over for us?"

"Well, the odds certainly don't look very good for us right now."

Jason looked over to where his parents stood in the doorway. They were watching him and Thea, still talking quietly amongst themselves. They looked as if they were about to faint, but also like they were waiting for him and Thea to do or say something. He decided to try lifting Thea's spirit a bit.

"Well, Thea, I think there's always hope. Even when times are tough, or when there seems to be no way out, there is still hope. Even if things go wrong for us, and everything falls apart, there is still hope." Jason smiled and shook his head. "I know this sounds...really, really cheesy, but I believe it to be true. Because as long as you still have air in your lungs and your heart is still pumping blood through your veins, there's always hope."

Thea, still holding onto Jason's hand, made a puzzled expression. "But how? How can you know that?"

Jason nodded his head in understanding her confusion. He motioned to himself on the bed. "Look at me, Thea. I'm a wreck. I'll be here for a while. And I'll probably have scars on my body for the rest of my life. But I'll live. I'll get to walk again and maybe get a different job. And, hey, maybe even play turf wars again!

And you, Thea. You were trapped underground for your entire life and in an oppressive army program for years! That sounds pretty hopeless. And when that creep came after you with a freaking knife in a dark alleyway with no one around to help you, you would've felt hopeless! But guess what? You're still here, alive and well! There's always a way out of a hopeless situation, even if you don't see it!"

"Like...when you just happened to be walking by the alleyway and stepped in to save me?" Thea asked, slowly starting to catch on to what Jason was getting at.

"Exactly! But it would've been too late to help if you hadn't fought for your life. That's why you have to keep fighting. You need to keep searching for the answer because you never know when you'll find it or it might turn up." Jason grinned with excitement, realising the words he was saying actually sounded sort of profound.

"But what about when you fail? Or when no one comes to the rescue and things get worse?" Thea asked.

"Well, that's when you learn from your mistakes and move on. You try again and again for as long as you can." Jason answered with a shrug.

"No, no." Thea shook her head. "I mean when there really is no way out. Like if I really was going to die in that alley."

"Uh, well..." Jason thought for a moment. This was a tough question. Eventually, he had an answer. "...we can't truly know that. We can never truly say that there isn't a way out of trouble because we can't see the future. But our attitude affects our thoughts and our thoughts affect our actions. So as long as we stay trapped in a state of hopelessness in our minds, we will never overcome the challenges we face."

Thea began to smile a little. She understood what Jason was saying. "So, if we...uh, when we go to court, we stay hopeful and fight as best we can. Because it only becomes hopeless when we give up hoping. And if we fail, then we still shouldn't give up hope. We still have a chance to find a way out of it, but not if we give up hoping."

"Yes! And even if we have to go our separate ways..." Jason frowned. "Well...I guess I could probably learn to live without you in my life. B-but like I said, we shouldn't dwell on that! We keep our heads up high, put our best foot forward, and work through this...together!"

Thea thought about all Jason had said. As much as her heart was aching at the thought of losing him and being forced back underground, what he was talking about made sense, at least a little. Now was not the time to sulk and mourn their situation. Now was the time to get to work. To find a way forward, to hold onto hope.

Thea leaned into Jason for another gentle hug. "Ok, Jason. I-I'll try to stay hopeful. I'll do whatever I can to help."

Jason did his best to return the gesture. "Thank you, Thea. I'll never give up on you. I will fight to keep you here till the end, whatever that end is. We'll make it through this."

Thea pulled away slightly and smirked at Jason. "Hey, when did you gain this hopeful outlook on life?"

Jason smiled back. "I learned it from you, on your first day with me. You yourself, had a sudden change in attitude the morning you woke up in my apartment."

"Oh, yeah. I guess I did!" Thea smiled back and hugged Jason again.

As the two teens shared their intimate moment, Michael and Kate moved back into the room. "Jason?" Michael called for their attention. Thea moved off of Jason so they could see them better.

Michael sighed and gathered his strength. "Me and Kate have talked and...we're both incredibly proud of you." Jason's face lit up a little. "What you did by taking Thea in was the right thing to do, even though it was risky. It's amazing to hear you have so much compassion for who could've been an enemy. And while it is a bit concerning to us that you've developed feelings for each other so...fast...we can see that it's genuine."

Michael looked over at his wife, who nodded in confirmation and took her turn to speak. "Thea, we're very sorry to hear about your difficult past. We want to help you in any way we can. You deserve to be free, here on the surface, living your best possible life." Thea smiled and blushed at the kind words.

Michael turned to Jason. "Now what you did with Harry was incredibly stupid, I know I don't have to tell you that. You should've gone to the police or the dinner management." Jason winced at his dad's harsh tone. Michael softened his voice a little. "But honestly, I might've done the same."

"No, don't say such rubbish!" hissed Kate.

"No, it's true. Jason, you get your hot-headedness from me. It's gotten me in trouble many times and I'm sorry it's gotten you here too."

Jason lowered his head and nodded. "I'm working on it."

"I know, and you'll get better." his dad affirmed. "You lashed out in a blind rage fueled by a desire for revenge and it came back to bite you...hard. I'm sure you won't ever make that same mistake again."

"Ok, but what's important now is that we don't dwell on past mistakes." Kate rubbed Jason's shoulder. "We need to focus on what we can do now. We need to figure out how we're going to fight the inevitable legal case."

"And we will support you every step of the way." Michael added. "I know how I can get a good lawyer. It will be costly, but...clamnit we have to try!"

Jason started to break down in tears again. The love his parents showed him even after his total screw-up was overwhelming. His mom leaned forward to hug him. "Cod, I love you guys!" he blurted out. "Thank you so much!"

"We love you too, Jason." Kate said softly, ready to cry again herself. "It'll be ok."

Michael joined the hug and rubbed his son's back. "We'll make it through this, together." He then turned to Thea and motioned for her to join them. "You too!"

At first, Thea hesitated, not wanting to intrude. "M-m-me?"

"Come on, Thea!" Jason smiled. "You're part of the family here too!"

Thea's heart melted at the idea of being part of a family again. One that loves and accepted her for who she was with open arms. She slowly moved towards the Inkling family and they pulled her in close. Not a single eye in the room was dry and the sheets on Jason's bed were once again becoming damp with tears.

After a short while the embrace broke up and Jason coughed to clear his throat. "Uh...so does that mean, assuming everything goes well...could Thea, um...maybe continue to stay with me?" he asked hesitantly.

Michael and Kate looked at each other briefly, smiled, then looked back at the two teens. "Well, if that's what she wants..." Kate began.

"Yes!" Thea exclaimed and clutched Jason's hand enthusiastically.

"OW!" Jason cried in pain.

"S-sorry, sorry!" Thea quickly relaxed her grip on his wrist. Michael and Kate laughed.

"You seem like you can take care of yourselves, and you're old enough to make your own decisions. Besides, splitting you two up wouldn't help anything." Kate said with a smile.

"But remember to look out for each other. And no more hanging out in alleyways!" Michael said sternly. "And you each sleep in your own bed!" he said even more sternly, pointing his finger at each of them. "I don't want to hear about any funny business!"

Jason blushed and grimaced at what his father was implying. Thea moved slightly towards Jason's ear and whispered, "Does he mean banging?" Jason blushed even deeper and recoiled away from Thea.

"What?! No, I mean yes! Yes, o-of course! Never even crossed my mind, Dad!" he blurted out with a nervous smile. His parents eyed him suspiciously and Thea fought back a giggle. "I'm serious!"

"Mm-hmm..." Michael hummed flatly. He then yawned and Jason again noticed how weary his parents looked.

"You should go get some sleep." Jason said.

Kate nodded and grabbed her husband's arm. "Come on. I need a shower and a pillow."

Michael hesitated. "You sure you're both ok?" Jason and Thea nodded.

"Yeah, we're ok." Jason sighed. "We just have some thinking to do."

"It was nice to meet you, Mr and Mrs Jason!" Thea said as Michael and Kate rose to leave.

Kate chuckled. "It was nice to meet you too, Thea." she said.

Michael nodded in agreement. "Yes, and we'll see you later this morning."

"Bye, Mum, Dad!" Jason called as his parents left the room. "Thanks so much! Love you!"

"Love you!" Michael and Kate said in unison as they stumbled out of the room to find a place to rest.

A few moments of silence passed between Jason and Thea. They then looked at each other. "Well," Jason began. "that, uh...that wasn't what I imagined introducing you to my parents would be like!" He then chuckled.

"Yeah, same here!" Thea giggled with him. "But they were pretty nice."

Jason nodded. "Yeah, that went a lot better than I thought it would." A few more moments of awkward silence followed before Jason worked up the courage to ask, "Sooooo, uh...do you, do you want to continue what we were doing before we were interrupted?"

Thea frowned slightly. "Ummmm...I actually just want to get some water right now." She started to get up to leave.

"Oh, r-right right!" Jason sputtered quickly after realising how insensitive he must've sounded. "Sorry, that was rude of me to ask! Now is probably not a good time-"

Jason was interrupted by a peck on the cheek from Thea. "It's fine, it's fine!" she said with a giggle. I'll be back soon, and I'll get you some too."

Jason was left stunned in his hospital bed. He touched his cheek as he watched Thea wink at him and leave the room. "Wow..." He flopped back onto his pillow and stared at the ceiling with stars in his eyes.

"Thea?"

"Yeah, Jason?"

"I've been thinking..."

"Hmm, me too."

Several hours had passed since Jason's parents visited their son and his new Octoling girlfriend. The sun was rising in the sky again and the hospital was alive and busy. A nurse had stopped by to check up on Jason and deliver them some snacks. Thea was still visibly nervous and still jumped a little at some of the strange noises coming from the hospital halls, but Jason could see she was getting braver. The two cephalopods had gotten some more sleep and were now spending their time thinking up ways to not end up in jail.

"I've been thinking..." Jason continued. "You said that the Octarian military was disbanded when Octavio was arrested the second time, right?"

"Yeah." Thea nodded slowly. She was sitting in a chair next to Jason's hospital bed. She brushed off the cookie crumbs that littered her lap and took a sip of water to wash down her snack.

"But you said that you weren't allowed to leave? That you were transferred to another training facility?"

"Y-yeah." Thea confirmed with a frown, not sure where Jason was going with this.

"But weren't all Octarian soldiers supposed to be sent home? If they kept troops there by force, wouldn't that violate the de-escalation treaty between our governments?"

Thea pondered on this for a moment. "Y-yeah, I guess so. That's illegal, isn't it?"

"Very illegal!" Jason nodded. "And you said it was a secret facility, right? Separate from the rest of the military."

"Yeah, I don't even know where it was. Our superiors were all very secretive about where we were transferred to, or even what we were training for."

Jason scratched his chin. "Ok, so if the military was secretly going to keep soldiers as part of some secret training program, why would they keep child soldiers? I understand that training children to become soldiers was normal in your military, but surely they would've been relieved of duty after the war ended."

"I think most of them were, but I was among those transferred." Thea said sadly.

"Our government would never let that continue, not after the war had ended." Jason said as he sat up straighter against the back-board of the bed and lowered his voice. "Unless…they don't know..."

Thea leaned forward and lowered her voice to match Jason's. "Don't know?"

Jason stared at the ground in thought. "Is the Octarian government still keeping secrets? They were supposed to surrender certain information and disband most of their forces. And a secret program for training children to become soldiers sounds very much like something our government would put an end to if they knew about it."

"Holy..." Thea whispered. "I never thought about that."

"We might be the only people on this side of the border who know about this." Jason looked up at Thea again and a smile slowly crept over his face. "Thea...I think we just figured out how you can earn your freedom!"

Thea continued to stare at the floor. "Yeah..."

"You can tell them everything!" Jason exclaimed while keeping his voice down. "All the terrible things that they've been doing there! Everyone else that's still stuck in there!"

"Jason, wait-"

"They wouldn't send you back to that if they knew!"

"No-"

"You'd be a hero!"

"Jason!" Thea snapped at the Inkling.

"What?"

Thea didn't answer at first. After a few seconds of silence, she looked up to Jason again with a pained expression before casting her gaze to the floor again. "I've been thinking too."

Jason bit his lower lip, knowing she was not thinking happy thoughts. "Ok?"

Thea was silent again for a few seconds. "I...I've been thinking about...running away."

Jason's mouth slightly hung agape. "Run away? Thea, why?"

"Your people might not believe me. For all they know, I might just be a criminal who's desperate enough to make up some elaborate story to buy time."

Jason stared at Thea in disbelief. "Wha-"

"And even if they do find out that I'm from the military, you might be charged with harbouring, not just an illegal immigrant, but a dangerous soldier!" Thea said with a frown on her face and anger rising in her voice.

Jason couldn't believe what he was hearing. "B-but I thought you wanted to stick together!"

"I did, I mean I do! B-but now I'm thinking that may not be such a good idea." Thea shook her head and rubbed her eyes, trying desperately not to cry. "Maybe I should just go on the run, wait for things to quiet down."

"Thea..." Jason's heart was breaking.

Thea gave a weak smile. "I could still see you in secret. Maybe I could even stay with you. Y'know...hide in your closet or something when people come over-"

"Thea, are you out of your mind?! That's no way to live!" Jason yelled. Thea jumped at his sudden interruption. Jason immediately regretted it and sighed, trying to calm down. "I-I'm sorry."

"Look," Jason said with a quieter tone. "I understand that you're scared. You're scared of the police, and being questioned, and what might happen if things go south, but our best shot at making it through this happens only if we stick together. The best thing we can do is keep our stories straight, just tell the straight-up truth, and watch each other's backs."

"Jason, I can't go back there. I don't think I could live with myself if I was sent back there." Thea took a deep breath and sighed shakily. "But I'm more worried about you. I don't want to get you in trouble."

"And you think running away will fix anything?" Jason scowled. "Thea, the best thing you can do for me is to tell them your side of this crazy story. Without you, I don't have someone to back me up." Jason paused to let that sink in.

Thea stared at Jason's bandaged arm. The white fabric was stained with blood and ink. An indication of the hit he took for revenge on her mugger. His suffering would all be in vain if she fled.

"And think of the other soldiers, left to suffer in an oppressive training facility. Kids just like you...forced to become ammo for a war that's already over. If you could bring their story to light, the government might be able to set them free!"

Thea tensed up at the thought. She subconsciously braced for the wave of darkness and despair to wash over her as it often did when remembering that horrible place, but as her thoughts turned to the people she left behind there, the wave never seemed to arrive. Instead, she felt a twinge of guilt, but also hope.

Thea thought in silence for a minute, weighing options, considering potential outcomes. A swirl of emotions clouded her thoughts. Her breathing quickened as her heart-rate rose. "I...I don't know..." She stood up from her chair, and walked a few steps away from Jason, rubbing her forehead with the palm of her hand. "It's just...just that we've come this far and I don't want to lose it all now."

Jason sat motionless in his bed, his heart aching to comfort the Octoling. He looked down at his broken body and bandages holding him together. He looked at the distance between himself and Thea. "Fuuuuuuu-screw it!"

In one motion Jason flung the sheets off and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Using his good arm and what was left of his core strength, he pulled himself up and shakily rose to his feet. The stitches in his chest were pulled and his legs ached. It hurt like hell and he barely held down a pained groan, but he was up.

Thea immediately turned to face him, shocked he was out of bed. "Jason, no! What are you..."

Jason simply took slow and shaky steps to close the distance and wrapped his good arm around Thea's back. "It's ok." He pulled her close and she wrapped her arms around him to help support him. They stayed in their embrace for a while as they processed their emotions, heads on each other's shoulders.

"It's ok that you're scared, Thea. I'm scared too." Jason sniffed back a running nose. "There's a lot at stake here. But remember what we talked about earlier? We keep holding on to hope. Ok?"

Thea nodded. "Yeah." she said as her voice cracked. She wiped tears from her eyes. "Yeah, I'm trying. It's just... hard."

Jason smiled. "It's never easy. Which is why you're so brave for trying."

In that moment, the simple presence of a loved one was the most comforting thing the two of them could imagine. Jason smiled at the feeling. Thea still didn't smile, clearly still deep in thought, but she looked calmer. He felt Thea slowly move her hand into his and they interlocked fingers.

"Hey, Jason? You here-WOAH!"

Jason and Thea jumped and instantly broke apart. They both turned to see who was standing at the door.

"Ha! I knew it, I knew you guys would get together!"

"Coddamnit, Sam!" Jason said angrily. "Don't scare us like that!"

Sam started laughing his head off and ran his fingers through his green tentacles. "I'm sorry! I didn't know you were in the middle of something!" he made out between gasps for air. "But, oh my Cod, you two are so cute! Oh, Jason, you sly dogfish!"

Jason blushed beet red. He felt Thea pull her hand from his and he noticed she was looking away, staring at the floor. He made a deadpan sigh. "Damnit, Sam!" he thought to himself.

Sam eventually got over himself and saw Jason and Thea were not happy. "Ok, ok, ok...sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys." He continued to stand in the doorway, smiling at them.

Jason was not smiling and sighed again. "What do you want, Sam?"

Sam was taken aback and snorted. "What do you mean? I wanted to check on you! Arthur called me to explain what happened so I came over at the first chance I could. How are you?"

Jason stared at Sam as if he had asked the most stupid question ever. He looked at Thea, who was still looking away from Sam and then locked eyes with Sam again. "We're fine."

Sam started to get the message that his friends were not so happy to see him. Nevertheless, he cleared his throat, put on his best smile and stepped towards Thea. "Uh...hey, Thea, about what happened before...I just wanted to say-". He was interrupted when Thea suddenly shot daggers with the stare she gave him. She quickly pushed past him and ran out of the room.

"Thea, wait!" Jason called after her and moved toward the doorway to chase her, but the pain in his chest got the better of him and his wobbly legs gave way.

Sam quickly grabbed him and propped Jason on himself. "Oh, Whoah! Hey, you ok, man?" He guided Jason back to his bed.

"I'm fine." Jason groaned. "Coddamnit! She's going to run away!" he thought. He reached the bed and sat down, wincing from the pain all over his body. His mind raced over what to do about Thea. They needed each other.

"Jeez, man. I'm sorry about that, I didn't think she would run away." Sam ran his fingers through his green tentacles nervously. Jason didn't look at him or say anything. "Well, anyway, I wanted to talk about what happened the other day."

Jason slowly turned to look Sam in the eye with a deadly stare. "Sam, you lied to her about me."

Sam twisted his lips. "Yeah, well, I was just trying to get a reaction out of her! I was bored!"

"You called me a pervert!" Jason snapped back with rage.

Sam flinched. He had seen Jason this angry before, but it was always directed at turf war spawn campers, not him. "It was a joke! And I didn't realise-"

"Oh to hell with your jokes, Sam!" Jason shouted. "Thea is not from here! She doesn't fully understand our language! She couldn't possibly know the difference!"

"I couldn't have known it would land you in the hospital! I'm-" Sam clenched his fists and raised his voice to match Jason's.

"I don't blame you for getting me in the hospital, Sam! You're missing the point!" Jason rose to his feet and got in Sam's face, lowering his voice again. "You gave me your word, that you would help me with this! That you would keep your big mouth shut and stay out of trouble, and just...Cod just not screw things up for us!" Jason slammed his bad hand into the mattress, making the bed creak and him cry out in pain and frustration. "Dagh!" He flopped back onto the bed and plopped his head on the pillow.

Sam was frozen in place, not sure what to say or do. The two Inklings just stared at each other for a moment. Jason then turned over onto his side, facing away from Sam. "You should just go, Sam. I have to think and rest."

Sam sighed and took a step towards the bed. "Jason...I'm sorry. Please-"

"Just go." Jason cut him off. "I don't want to talk right now. We can discuss this other time."

Sam's fists clenched at his sides and his brow furrowed. "Fine." he muttered quietly. He turned and quickly left the room before Jason could see his tears.

Jason didn't watch him, instead choosing to stare at nothing out the window. "Basshole."

The chilling sounds of a busy hospital surrounded Thea as she walked the hallway from the stairwell to the hospital reception, but she pushed them out of her head. She needed to be brave...for herself, and for Jason. Although, she didn't feel very brave running away from the confrontation with Sam. She immediately regretted doing so after leaving the room.

She took a deep breath. "I just need to clear my head. Fresh air is what I need." she told herself. "And then I'll go back and face him...I-I'm not a coward!"

The end of the hallway drew near as she briskly walked toward the larger, open space of the main reception. "I'll take a breather, maybe have a drink, collect my thoughts and then go back...No more running away!" Her face was full of determination and her stride showed it too, but it all melted away as she turned the corner at the end of the hallway to see two blue uniforms at the reception desk.

Thea instantly swung back around the corner and tried to calm her breathing and heart rate which were quickly rising. She peeked around the edge of the wall to see the officers wave off the receptionist and start to walk in her direction, slowly though, talking amongst each other.

She ducked for cover again as she wrecked her mind to figure out what to do. She spotted an emergency exit at the other end of the hallway, back from where she came. The warm, golden light from the sun was shining through the window, inviting her out of this horrid place. But what about what Jason had said? What about staying strong, and standing up for herself?

Thea weighed her options, frantically looking around for ideas, but she was out of time. "Squit! I'm sorry, Jason!" she thought, and took off running down the hallway before the officers could see her.

Surprise! I'm back! Did you miss me? No you didn't! It's fine! I'm ok! :')

Alright, serious time now. There you had it, a new chapter. And boy did it kick my a**! What's it been, like two years since the last one? Jeez!

Now look, I'm not gonna waste your time with the story on why I couldn't get this chapter out sooner, 'cause I know you don't care. The important thing is what's next. See, this was my longest chapter yet (the pacing of this story is completely shot), and I still couldn't fit everything I wanted to into it. So I've had to split it. The next one will be really short and I've already started writing it. I'm fairly confident that I can get the next chapter done within a couple of weeks, though judging by my track record, I won't make any promises.

I wanted to thank all of you who reached out in DMs to show your support while you waited and those who left a review asking for more. I'm really sorry things just didn't work out the way I hoped. Also a special thanks to my friends, Muzz and Starlight, for helping to review the chapter for grammar and spelling while I was sleep-deprived yesterday.

Once again, thank you to those of you that, for some reason, came back to read my silly story. In case you haven't been reading these A/Ns, you can follow this story to get updates when new chapters get added, leave a review for bonus ducks (and my self-esteem), and flick me a message if you want into my Discord server where we can chat 'n' stuff.

Until next time,

Dashanerocket.