When Jenny woke and came into the room she was surprised to see Erik and Tony talking. She figured it was a guy from the town stopped in to see Jack. Jethro and Jack were both reading the paper or rather Jack was reading and Jethro was finally asleep in the armchair. Jenny walked toward the group smiling at Tony who smiled back engrossed in his game of checkers with Erik. Jack looked up from the table and greeted her.

"How'd you sleep?"

"I slept really well thank you. How long has Jethro been out?"

"Maybe an hour. Coffee?"

"Yeah, Tony you get some sleep?" asked Jenny knowing how hard he'd pushed himself the last twenty-four hours or so.

"Yeah, I did thanks,"

"Who's your friend?" she asked taking the coffee from Jack

"Erik, I'm a friend of Cassie's. We had plans the other night and when she didn't show I came to see what happened. What is your relation to Cassie?"

"A friend of the family. Did you call everyone Tony?"

"Yeah, they all want to be here badly. I had to give Abby to Gibbs she was crying so hard. How long before we go back?"

"Let Jet sleep some more," said Jenny looking at him fondly.

"I can't believe they tried to keep all this to themselves for so long. Must have been eating em alive. The idea of Jethro losing Cassie had to be almost unbearable."

"Yeah, there's a lot of the unbearable lose type going around. Palmer not only planned the engagement he a d minister on standby," said Tony

"Oh, she was engaged?" said Eric surprised to be finding this entire happenings out last.

"Um no, see there was another guy who thought that he'd lose her…it didn't work out," said Tony cutting himself off before he started something.

"She never mentioned it. I can see why. Anyone know what is really going on? How bad are things?" asked Erik. Jethro woke from his sleep and looked around at the faces. He saw Erik and worry crossed his face. Jenny smiled at him as he got up and went to the small kitchen area. She followed him along with Jack. Jethro got some coffee in his cup and set it down on the counter. Jen came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. He turned and faced her pulling her close for a minute.

"What does he know?"

"Not much right now I figured you'd want to tell him. She didn't say anything to him. What are the doctors saying Jethro how bad?"

"She's got to be back in good counts before they can give her anything. Her levels dropped significantly over the last week. How did I not know this? Jen if she wouldn't have collapsed she might have died and I…"

"Shhh, she's going to be fine Jethro. You two will need to talk at some point, but right now we need to help her get her strength back. What happened with Abby?"

"I told her Cass was fine and I'd call her first if anything happened. She was actually packing a bag while talking to me. We should get back up there," said Jethro looking at her. Jen smiled at him reassuringly. He could overhear the conversation between the boys and Tony had starting trying to out best Eric. He needed to stop before someone got hurt.

"Ok enough you two. The last thing we need is a brawl in here. Let's pack up," he said pointing to the door. Tony looked at Eric who looked at Tony and they both got up and headed out the door. Jethro chuckled at them both as Jenny and Jack both followed suit. The ride to the hospital was one actually in silence. Each person was in deep thought of how they had gotten to this point. How was it that they'd come so close to the edge of this drop off cliff and were on the mists of falling when something held them back for a little while longer. The only thing was what was going to stop them from falling off the next time or even at any moment. Cassie was the answer and the key to all of their fears. She was the one holding the balance of life in check at the moment. One wrong move or choice would make all of them fall a very long way down into the abyss. An abyss that none of them wanted to face or ever know about for a very long time.