Jenna's POV

I watched from the rafters of a warehouse in the downtown district of Berlin as Frank, or rather Lukas Richter, closed the warehouse door behind his 'collegues' backs. I lept silently onto the boxes and made my way down.

As I landed in a crouched position behind him, Frank-rather, Lukas- turned and smirked.

"Finely figured it out my darling. It took you long enough."

"Drop the charade Lukas." My body wasand ready, and he stepped casually forward.

"But don't you love this version of me?"

I let my hand fall onto my knife and smiled cruelly at him. I saw a sliver of fear creep into his body.

"Honestly? I don't think I really ever did. After all, the attraction was never really there."

I slipped the knife out of her sheath and lept forward.

Darry's POV

The smell of cigar smoke floated into the house. I looked out the window at Jenna. She was sitting in a chair on her porch, puffing on a smoking cigar calmly, with a flashing silver knife clutched in her fingers.

Jenna had gotten home an hour ago. After embracing Jonah and Noah, she'd quietly told me she'd explain everything in a little bit, then taken to the porch. There was a healing gash running from her collar bone down, disappearing into her shirt.

After another hour, I finally left my curiosity take over. I strode out into the now frosty night, pulling a jacket on, and grabbing an extra.

I draped the extra coat over her. She snapped out of her revere and looked up at me, looking so lost and sad it hurt me. I sat on the rail of the porch next her and took her fourth cigar from her fingers.

I noticed dark dried flecks of some substance at the base of the knife.

"Never seen you smoke before." I commented.

"Calms me down after a mission." She responded quietly. "I owe ya alot Darry. I'm sorry."

"I owe ya an explanation. I used to be parta REFI, a special covert operation that specialized in takin' out threats, collectin' dangerous information, and takin' down terrorist groups. I joined when I was 18, as soon as I graduated. One of the members, Hal, looked into a suspected serial killer in the area, and he took an interest and recommended me. When I joined, I met Frank. He was- supposedly- from New Hampshire, raised by his single father, a drunk, who got into archery and was noticed by REFI. We were partnered together, and I fell in love with him. He was just so..."

Jenna scratched off a bit of the substance of the knife.

"He proposed, but on a mission in Marako, he disappeared. We found evidence he had been killed."

Jenna looked longingly at the pack of cigars. I pulled her up and helped her put the coat on properly, then pulled her into my side because she looked like a kicked little kitten.

"It turns out he was alive and working for a terrorist organization. And he was German and his real name was Lukas Richter. And he's the one who murdered my parents."

"Two months after Frank had supposedly died, I came home from leave and found Mom and Dad murdered. Mom was in her bedroom, on the bed, her favorite..." Her voice broke and I pulled her into a hug. "...favorite song, Day by Day, playing on the radio. She had been strangled with the pearls Dad had given her for their 15th anniversary."

Jenna's head was buried in my chest I held her closer, feeling her fall apart.

"Dad was in the barn, nailed to... with his prized shotgun used to... and Radno, his prized stallion, his legs all broken..."

Jenna's fingers burrowed in my shirt. I rubbed her back. "It's over now. It's done." I whispered to her.

"No. The look on Jonah and Noah's face when they realized... it was my fault. If I'd never gotten involved, their parents would still be alive. I'd ran from the family, and...I hardly knew them anymore! And god, the look on their faces!"

Suddenly Jenna was completely falling apart in my arms. It was terrible, to see someone so strong, so determined, give in to sadness and despair. I let her cry into my shirt, and kissed her head as the sobs quieted.

"You need some sleep." I lead her through her house and tucked her into bed. She sniffled softly, and as I started to step out of the room, I swear I heard her whisper, "If the timing was different, I could fall in love with you..."

I stepped softly into the house and sat in my arm chair, staring out the dark house into the dark night. I nearly jumped out of my skin when Pony appeared by my side.

"I thought you were in bed!" I whisper yelled.

"I was waiting for you to come home." Pony replied quietly, looking at strangely.

"Why?"

"Well... I just was wondering..." Pony hesitated, "Are you in love with Jenna?"

I blinked at the question, and was glad for the darkness that concealed my bewildered expression.

"Well, no. She's... the best friend I've had since Mom and Dad died..." I started.

Pony rocked on his heels. "Best friend?"

I reflected momentarily on this. I remembered the Soc boys I'd played football in high school, and how they'd split as soon as I declined my scholarship and started taking care of my brothers. "Best friend ever."

"But, isn't love having someone whose you're best friend, except with... sex?"

"You're too young to know what sex is Pony." I balked at the idea of Pony, my baby brother, even considering kissing a girl.

"I'm 15. And you didn't answer my question."

I took a deep breathe and thought of what I'd heard Jenna say before she fell asleep. "Honestly, if I had time to be in love with her, I probably would."

"Love doesn't stop for time, does it?"

I sighed. God, I was so tired. "I honestly don't know Pony. But I'm not in love with Jenna."

Pony said nothing else but a quiet goodnight. I went to bed with the image of Jenna curled up in her bed, small and alone, imprinted on the back of my eyelids.