Emily and Antonio trade off staying with Jayden. Jarrell gets on better with Emily, but she can't stay every night; even with the bells to let her sleep, it wears her down.
Antonio wears out faster. He doesn't trust Jarrell, stays up all night to make sure he isn't trying anything. He grows quiet and short tempered; the others notice, because Jayden's doing better, joining in more, more like himself.
Mia takes Antonio aside one day to try and help. Antonio stonewalls as best he can, but it's a lost cause and he knows it. Mia never stops when she's trying to help someone.
"Jayden's sleepwalking," he says finally. "It's freaking him out, he's afraid he'll do something while he's asleep, so I've been staying with him. Emily's spelling me."
"Why not just tell us?"
Antonio looks vaguely embarrassed. "You know Jayden. He asked me to help, but he didn't want anyone else to know. Emily just overheard us one day, we asked her not to tell. He's embarrassed and he doesn't want to worry you guys."
"That's silly," Mia protests. "We're his team. That's what we're here for."
"You know it and I know it, pretty lady, but try convincing him. It's working, anyway, he's been better now that he knows we're watching."
"He doesn't remember what he does while he's asleep?"
"No," Antonio says warily.
"Then it doesn't matter which of us is with him, he won't remember anyway."
"He wakes up pretty much without warning. I don't think it's a good idea."
"Well, you need more rest than you're getting. Take an afternoon off. Jayden's hardly going to sleepwalk anywhere in the middle of the day."
"All right," Antonio surrenders. "I'll go lie down."
Mia watches him leave before going to find Emily. She's training with Jayden, laughing as she ducks and twists. Jayden's grinning; they're closer to playing than real training.
Mia catches Emily's eye; she says something to Jayden and backs off, coming to join Mia. "What's up?" she asks, snatching a towel to wipe her face.
"I talked to Antonio," Mia says softly. Emily glances at Jayden; he's moved into a solo pattern, but Mia's fairly sure he's watching them.
"Oh?" Emily says finally.
"He told me about Jayden sleepwalking. You should have told us."
"Sleepwalking," Emily repeats. "You know Jayden, he didn't want to worry you."
"We're his team," Mia reminds her.
"I know."
"You should let us help."
Emily glances at Jayden, who's still diligently pretending not to watch them. "If I promise to call you if I need you," she says softly, "will you – please – not tell the others?"
"All right," Mia agrees. She thinks she probably shouldn't; the point of a team is to help each other – but she knows Jayden, and this is the kind of thing he'd want to face alone. "Promise you'll ask for help, and I'll leave it alone."
"Thank you," Emily says gratefully.
"I sent Antonio to get some rest. Maybe you should get some too."
"No, I'm fine. Honest." She looks at Jayden again.
"I'll train," Mia offers.
"You should both be training," Kevin says from behind them. "Why is Jayden the only one doing any work? Where's Mike?"
"Haven't seen him." Emily holds out a hand for him to help her up. "And where have you been? We've been training for ages." Jayden's still moving through his solo pattern, but he's laughing softly. Mia's glad to see it.
"In fact, I think we're nearly due a break," Emily continues blithely, stepping neatly into Jayden's pattern. The two spar for a moment before breaking off; Jayden's smiling, and Mia has to grin at the look on Kevin's face.
Kevin sighs, mock put upon, and turns to her. "Want to see if we can show them up?"
"Sure," Mia agrees, and they lock swords.
She watches Jayden for a while after that. Fights are still hard for him; Octoroo occasionally turns up to yell at him, and there's often a glowing gap nearby. Master Xandred never calls out, not that they hear, but Jayden is always tense until he can get back inside the Shiba House's walls, behind the wards that keep the Nighlok out.
Outside of fights he's better than he has been in a long time. He joins in with the team without being dragged, not just for training or meals but when they're playing games or just hanging out. Now that she's watching for it, Mia can see a fine tension in him as each evening wears on; but it's not anything the others will pick up on, and whenever it gets stronger than usual Emily or Antonio will say or do something to head it off.
Kevin doesn't seem to have noticed anything is off, even though either Antonio sleeps in Jayden's room or Jayden sleeps in Emily's each night. If it's Jayden in Emily's, though, he waits until the house is quiet before going in, so maybe the others just haven't noticed; Mia wouldn't have if she wasn't looking for it. She thinks, sometimes, that Mike knows something; she catches him watching Jayden with an odd look in his eyes. He never brings it up, though, and Jayden doesn't turn to him the way he does to Antonio.
She stumbles across Emily and Jayden in the living room, early one morning. They're talking quietly, but Jayden falls silent when he sees her; Emily gets up, suddenly flustered, and ushers her into the corridor.
"Is he sleeping right now?" Mia asks, peering around her. Jayden's staring at his hands, elbows braced on his knees. "His eyes are open."
"Yeah, I know, he always does that. He'll probably wake up soon. You're up early."
"I set my alarm wrong, it went off too early. I thought sleepwalking happened earlier in the night."
"What?"
"I looked it up. It happens early in the night."
Emily shrugs. "I don't know. This is usually when it happens for Jayden."
"Emily," he says abruptly.
She turns, crossing to crouch beside him. "Lie down," she murmurs. He obeys and she says without turning, "Mia, please go. He's waking up."
Mia slips into the kitchen, closing the door most of the way and listening quietly. Jayden's apparently used to waking up outside his room; he's disoriented for a moment, but it quickly fades and within a minute he and Emily are talking perfectly normally.
Emily comes to join Mia after a few minutes, starting tea. Mia glances through the gap; the Lion Zord is wandering around the tabletop, and Jayden's watching it. Or – on second thoughts, he's not actually watching it. It just happens to be in front of him. He's not even focused on it.
"He walks every night?" she asks finally, turning to Emily.
"Not every night. Even when he does, he doesn't always leave his room. Sometimes he just sits in bed and does nothing." The kettle whistles and she turns to deal with it.
"What were you talking about?"
"It isn't really talking. He says something, I say something, he says something totally different – it's not a conversation."
Jayden slides open the door. "Emily, is...oh. Morning, Mia. I didn't realise you were up."
"Just got here," she says easily. "If I'd known Emily had tea on this early I might get up earlier every day."
"Special occasion." Emily hands her a cup and puts another on the counter; Jayden pads in, sitting carefully on the edge of a stool.
"What's special about it?" Mia asks.
Emily shrugs. "It's Wednesday. Sometimes you have to celebrate the little things... Jayden?"
"Nothing." He waves her off, carefully putting his cup down one-handed. He's pinching the bridge of his nose, face twisted in pain. "Headache. It's nothing. I'm just going to go outside, get some air."
"Want me to come?" Emily asks, but she doesn't look surprised when he gestures no.
"Is that normal?" Mia murmurs, watching him go.
"Not always." Emily shrugs. "He'd tell us if he wasn't all right."
"Would he?"
"Yes. He's learned that much."
"Well, whatever you two are doing, it's obviously working."
Emily smiles, collecting the cups and turning away to wash them, and Mia goes to start her day.