"Cole?"

He turned slowly to his Sensei's voice. "Yes, Sensei?" Seeing him standing there in the hallway looking sombre wasn't a feeling he enjoyed.

"Zane mentioned of our imminent journey to the city?" Wu started and stroked his long beard. "What he may have forgotten to mention was that after we have spoken with Mr Borg we will be making a quick detour to the Tea shop. Jay will be recuperating there until he is fully recovered from his injuries."

Cole thought about it for a few seconds and no more. A part of this plan, he wasn't sure about but he never thought to question his elder, until now. "Wouldn't we be better if we stayed together? You know, stronger as a team?"

"I see your anxieties Cole, I understand these worries. Maybe you can rest assured, knowing that he will make a full and uneventful recovery away from any further danger."

"Uhm, I-I guess. I guess you're right." He sheepishly rubbed his hand through his hair "How long are we talking about here?"

"Hmm, I believe the adage is 'how long is a piece of string?'" He smiled, but Cole wasn't smiling with him.

"Until he is recovered from his injuries and when he is back to peak physical fitness, then he will be welcomed back on board to fight alongside."

"Well, if you believe that's the way to go, then I'll accept it, I mean I trust your judgement and wisdom Sensei. I'll tell him then?"

"Please, I think it may sound better coming from you."

I seriously doubt that! Cole thought but nodded to his sensei before he left.

Cole bid his sensei a quick goodbye and with a heavy heart, he carried the tray of food carefully.

He had taken the stack of pancakes and two plates with two tumblers of water, all balanced precariously on the small tray he'd been given. He approached the room and edged in backwards, due to the lack of free hands.

A smile crept onto his face when he saw Misako in the room, at least Jay hadn't been alone for too long. "How did he sleep?" He asked as he settled the tray of food next to the makeshift hospital bed.

"Actually, quite well. He's stirring now though. Plus we've managed to get him to drink a herbal healing tea." She washed his face as he lay still, running the cloth down his chest yet avoiding the wound dressing. "Do you want to tell him?"

Cole nodded. "It might sound better coming from me, is that what you're saying?"

All Misako did was smile at Cole, that told him all he needed to know. She removed the cloth from Jay's face and dabbed it dry with a towel.

His colourless eyes were now open, in a bleary fashion. He rubbed at them and looked at his immediate surroundings. Remembering some of what happened last night, the ankle pain was the only thing he remembered, he couldn't for the life of him, understand why his chest was aching again.

Stupid shark!

"M-morning C-Cole." Jay managed to gasp out. He sat with some help from Misako and a few extra pillows behind his back. She soon left to get her own breakfast, leaving both Cole and Jay to talk.

"Morning sleepy head, quite a busy night huh?" He said with a small grin.

Jay shuddered, just thinking about it made his hairs stand on end. "Don't even go there, I'm not going in the sea ever again…"

"You shouldn't let fear guide you, otherwise everything that scares you would keep you away from everything and anything. You'd end up living in a bubble, or being wrapped in cotton wool."

"Well it's easy to say that I guess, but you weren't the one with a shark after you."

"But you're still here now, still alive. It was only a bite." He said as he scooped two of the five stack onto Jay's plate. "The thing that got you back on that bed was the stitches that were done in a rush."

Cole watched as Jay stroked his fingers over the dressing on his chest, it looked like it had recently been changed, the smallest amount of blood could be seen.

Resuming his focus on his pancakes, Cole began pouring way too much sauce on Jay's pancakes whilst filling his own tumbler with water. "Zane reckons you need help with eating your breakfast? I said I could do it for you."

Jay cocked his head at Cole. "Yeah, but you'd just eat it for me too, right?"

Shrugging, he looked back at his brother, "Maybe…." He paused with a sideways smirk.

"Nah, pancakes aren't my thing." He smiled but it was hiding a fib. "Look, just because it's got the word 'cakes' in doesn't mean I'd eat them all."

His scarred eyebrow was still raised, looking down at Cole with a knowing look. "Yeah right, I know you too well, you're a sucker for anything sweet!"

Jay attempted to grab at the plate but winced as he stretched. He recoiled slightly. "Maybe a little bit of help wouldn't go amiss." He said with a hint of a smile.

Cole had already cut up the pancakes into small manageable bites, much to Jay's annoyance and added way too much cream and fudge sauce to be considered a breakfast item. It looked more like a desert than anything.

He scooped a small piece in his own mouth before passing the plate to Jay to watch his coordination skills. Jay took the plate slowly, his hand was shaking slightly. Zane had mentioned it could be a side effect of the strong sedative used last night.

It would wear off eventually, besides the pain he was feeling was a sure sign that the pain relief was finally wearing off. "How ya feeling this morning?" He asked, watching from the corner of his eye as Jay struggled to lift the fork to his mouth using his usual hand. He soon switched to his other.

Cole had no idea that Jay was ambidextrous, he wondered if he was when using weapons too.

"I feel…" He paused to think about it, wiping the sauce from his chin. "Tired and sore." He wiggled his foot.

Cole nodded, "To be expected!" He looked back down at his own plate and began pushing the food around on it. "Uhm have you kept in touch with…Skye?" He mumbled almost incoherently.

He could tell Jay was piqued by the mention of her name, "No." Came the quick and sharp reply.

"She said, it was too risky. She'd lose too much and she'd worked so hard for four years."

"So?" Cole inquired again. "You going to meet her again or what?" He still hadn't looked up to meet his questioning eyes.

"No!"

"Why?"

"She made it painfully clear that what I thought we had was just a fling, a bit of fun. It wasn't love, Cole….it was just a bit of harmless fun." He looked down for a split second and his smile faltered.

His colourless eyes were suddenly scrutinising Cole's rich green orbs. "I broke up with her. Although to be fair, it was never a relationship, to begin with, she kinda took advantage and I didn't say no." He sighed and pushed his half-eaten food away. "She was just what I needed, an 'amuse bouche' haa."

He took a short breath in, deep breaths still hurt. Still, he wanted to try and move the conversation on and the topic off him. "What about you and Rose?" If Cole could inquire about Skye then Jay could do the same. Besides, Jay thought that it was odd that Cole had pretty much written her off too, he wanted to know why.

Cole shifted uncomfortably. "Seeing her, it's still up in the air, still open." He gestured Jay to keep eating, noticing he'd only eaten half a pancake.

"I swear if you don't eat that pancake I'll feed it to you myself." Cole eyed it as lay mostly untouched with a large dollop of whip cream.

Jay wasn't perturbed by that threat of a 'mother hen' and the humiliation of being fed, if anything he shrugged, testing Cole to see if he would even dare.

He soon grabbed the plate when Cole made an attempt to grab at it first.

"Maybe…." He shoved a small mouthful in, chewing it carefully. "We should knock it on the head ya know….focus on ourselves." He said, trying to gauge any sort of reaction from Cole.

"It's not like we're having any luck with the opposite sex..." Cole replied. "Honestly, if we're being truthful."

"Speaking for yourself you mean?" He said with a smirk and then held onto cot bed rails as he felt a sudden lurch. "Nya seems okay at the moment, well, closer than she has been for months."

Noticing his sudden unease, Cole was quick to calm. "We're flying to the city, got a meeting with Borg Enterprises in a couple of hours." His strong hand came to rest on Jay's. "She's still got some explaining to do, she left you out there."

"It wasn't her fault, Cole," Jay paused and looked down in defeat. "It was mine, I shouldn't have gone in the water after eating. It's swimming 101, right?"

"Besides, she'll just shrug it off anyway. Just easier to accept the blame and move on." He sounded dejected but carried on eating even though he felt full.

"Why are we travelling to see Borg?" He asked. He had finally pushed his plate away and belched, holding his chest tightly as a stinging pain came back to haunt him.

"Something to do with the EMFG pieces going missing."

"I didn't even know we'd managed to acquire any." Jay looked puzzled for a split second. "When exactly did you find the time to get those bits?"

"When they made their initial escape." He said it like it was obvious.

"Zane said that when the charge was initially emitted from the device, the casing cracked with the force. The gap created, allowed for some important components to fall out."

"Do they know?"

Cole looked back at Jay, "Yeah I figure they do now. The pieces we found have somehow gone missing. No traces, they just disappeared." He grabbed Jay's plate and placed it back on the tray.

"That's why we're going back to the city, although, Lloyd thinks it might be best to drop you off at the Tea shop. Wu has sorta agreed with him, he thinks you'll be safer there."

Jay frowned a little at the unasked for mollycoddling. "We'd be safer if we stuck together."

Cole removed his hand from Jay's grasp. "You'll be safer at the Tea shop, it's in the middle of nowhere, as much healing tea as you can drink. Plus the surroundings are relaxing, it's zen like."

"Do I get a say in this Cole?" Jay cocked his eyebrow and sighed when Cole shook his head.

Cole stood up slowly, "Jay it's for your own good. We're going to the city first then we'll be dropping you off at the tea shop. You're too ill to come out on missions and having you on board puts you at more risk."

"Fine, if you think that's best. I still think it's stupid and pointless." He tailed off towards the end.

Cole nodded and hugged his brother gently, he missed the last part of what Jay had muttered under his breath. "We all do, Jay. At least until you're well enough that is. Then you'll have to get your level of fitness back."

He released him from the hug. "Wu said it might take some time though, sorry Bro. It is what it is." He scooped up the tray and smiled sadly at Jay, noting his face didn't reciprocate any emotion at all.

"Get some rest Jay, I'll come in and see you later."