Thanks so much to those who reviewed the last chapter! It was fun having a little less angst and a little more of a chance for Jess to support Adam. :) Wedding day countdown for these two has me so excited, and I think it will be within the next couple chapters. (It may take more if Adam ends up getting a bachelor's party, ha!) Let me know your thoughts and if there's anything you're hoping to see leading up to the wedding day, or on that day.

Chapter 47

Jess stepped through the sliding doors that opened into the main lobby of Med. She was thankful she was able to avoid the ER entrance, which meant avoiding Will. No way did she want either of her brothers know that today was her psych evaluation to return to work. It was bad enough that Adam knew.

Adam had stopped by on his way to work with donuts and a kiss getting her to promise she'd call afterward. Jess had reluctantly promised and Adam had tilted her chin up with a gentle hand.

"I know you don't want to think about any of that. But you're strong, you can do this. I took the afternoon off. I'll pick you up and we'll go to a meeting."

She had given him a wavery smile and nodded, not able to say anything, which didn't matter because her father had come into the kitchen at that moment.

Adam hadn't pulled away. Just pressed a soft kiss to her lips and said he'd see her later.

"Morning Pat," he had greeted her dad and picked up a Starbucks cup from the counter. "There's a coffee for you over on the table."

Her dad had grunted in response, but thankfully it hadn't shaken Adam. He had given her a quick wink before heading out the door to work.

The lobby of Med was filled with people rushing to appointments, meetings, and out the door.

The office for her evaluation was on the third floor, so she headed for the bank of elevators and punched the button to go up.

She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets to hide the shaking. One of the elevators dinged and the doors opened.

Head down, she started toward it.

"Jess?"

She looked up at Mouse's voice.

He was exiting the elevator, smiling at her. Jess made an effort to smile back.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" Remembering it was a hospital, she frowned. "Are you ok?"

"What? Yeah, yeah, of course." Mouse gave her a lopsided grin to reassure her. "I was stopping by to see Sarah."

At the reassurance, Jess' heart rate slowed. "How is she—and you? How's it going?"

Someone bumped against them to get into the elevator and Mouse took a few steps out of the way, Jess following him to the edge of the lobby.

"It's good…great," he said. "She's really special."

Jess could feel her own face relaxing into a smile that matched his. "So are you. You deserve someone special."

Mouse's grin softened. "Yeah. Well, I had someone special with you. You know. Just bad timing."

The squeeze around her heart was bittersweet. Jess looked away, changing the subject. "And the timing is right with Sarah? She's ok with you heading back overseas?"

Mouse bounced lightly on his toes, giving a shrug. "I'm thinking…maybe I'll stay around here. She was telling me about this business that does surveillance and cyber security for VIPs. Thinking maybe I'd start up my own thing like that."

Jess met his eyes, could see his uncertainty at actually saying it out loud.

"I think that…" she took a deep breath. "I think that anything that keeps you around is a good thing."

They looked at each other, the memories of what they had shared, of what Mouse had done for her, growing more sweet than bitter.

A harried man with his coat slung over his arm, carrying a briefcase, bumped against Jess with a distracted apology, breaking the moment.

Jess cleared her throat. "I should get going." She took a shuffling step back, but Mouse stopped her with a light touch to her arm. He rested his hand there.

"You ok?" he asked. "Are you here for an appointment?"

Jess tried to shrug off his concern. "Yeah, fine, just seeing a shrink about what happened last week."

Mouse didn't take her words at face value, studying her face. His hand tapped against his thigh as he looked at her. When he finally spoke, he gave her arm a squeeze. "If you're ever not fine…you know I'll always be here for you."

Jess blinked back the tears that burned and threatened. Impulsively, she gave him a tight hug. "Same for you," she said. "You're a good friend, Mouse and I'm really happy for you and Sarah."

He squeezed her back. "You know, our timing wasn't right, but you and Ruzek are right on the mark. Ruzek's a lucky guy."

Jess gave a little sniff as she let go, embarrassed at her show of emotion. Mouse stuffed his hands in his pants pockets. "So Saturday's the big day," he said, bringing things back to steadier ground.

"Yeah. You'll be there?" Jess asked.

Mouse gave her his best lopsided grin. "Wouldn't miss it."

And then they were heading their separate ways. Jess ducked into an elevator as the doors slid closed, looking out at Mouse heading for the parking lot. He turned and gave her a quick wave before the door slid shut.

Jess took a deep breath. It was shaky and she tried for another one. Anything to get herself under control and prove to some old man that she was fine to return to work.

She checked in at the right department and took a seat. She barely had time to choose an outdated magazine when one of the dark paneled office doors open and Sarah Reese stepped out.

"Jessica?" she asked, glancing down at a clipboard.

Jess hesitated. This was not the psychiatrist she had expected.

"That's…that's me," she said.

Sarah faltered briefly before giving Jess a hesitant smile. "Well come on in."

Jess followed her into her office and stood uncomfortably.

Sarah moved toward a chair, but didn't sit. "Look, if this is awkward or uncomfortable for you, I can ask Dr. Charles—"

"No," Jess said quickly. "I'd rather do this with you."

Sarah's smile looked a little more sincere then and she motioned for Jess to take a seat.

"I'm sorry, Jess. I didn't realize…CFD didn't fill out all your information when they faxed the evaluation request."

Jess shook her head to brush off the apology.

Sarah set her clipboard aside. "Why don't you start by telling me what happened last week."

#

Adam glanced at his phone again. This was reminding him way too much of when he was waiting to hear from Jess and she was being held hostage while he sat behind his desk.

"What is it?" Jay asked from across the bullpen.

Adam shook his head. Jess hadn't wanted her brothers to know about her appointment and he wasn't going to be the one to give her up.

He fought the urge to check his phone again, to text and ask where she was. No way was she still meeting with the shrink. He tried not to think about all the corners someone could find drugs to score near the hospital.

The sound of someone getting buzzed up drew his attention. Jess made her way up the stairs, still moving slower than usual, but without the constant grimace of pain.

When she saw him, she gave him a smile. Adam pushed back his chair, looking for any of the tells she wanted a fix.

With a steady hand, she held up one of the plastic bags she carried. "Meatball subs and chips," she said.

"Sounds good," he answered. He crossed to her, giving her a quick kiss and using the closeness to check her pupils.

"I'm clean," she whispered to him, no offense in her tone.

Adam pulled back and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm actually…good," she said, sounding confused by the idea.

"That's really good to hear," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her toward the break room.

"So you bring Ruzek lunch and ignore your own brother?" Jay asked as they passed his desk.

Jess dropped the second bag on his desk. "For you and Erin," she said with a small smile.

While Jess took the sandwiches, and dug at the bottom of the bag for napkins, Adam grabbed a couple bottled waters from the fridge. He tried not to make it too obvious that he was trying to see how she really was.

"So the eval went ok?" he finally asked, lowering himself into the chair next to hers.

Jess shrugged then nodded. "I got cleared to go back to work."

Adam lifted his plastic bottle in a salute. "Good for you."

Jess opened her own bottle and took a drink while Adam tried to find the way to ask what he really needed to.

"And you really are good? Not just cleared for duty, but good?" he asked. He winced at how doubtful he sounded.

Jess set down her water and lifted a shoulder. "I am for today," she said. "And that's what it's supposed to be about, right? One day at a time or whatever?"

Adam nodded, pulling her hand into his. "One day at a time." He lifted her hand and pressed a lingering kiss against her palm. "And I plan to be there for every one of those days."

Jess leaned over to meet his kiss, their lunch forgotten.

#