"Find them?"

It was the first thing Trent asked when he answered the phone.

"Yeah. They were there. Drunk." Metal adjusted his hat and sank onto the couch, glancing in the direction of the hall.

"Shit. Didn't think Clay was doing too bad with it all…and Jess…"

"Jess doesn't drink." Metal finished grimly. "Found out why she was though."

"Yeah?"

"She's scared we're gonna die."

"Oh."

Trent went quiet for a minute and Metal got lost momentarily in his own thought process, starting from when he started to get worried about Jess.

He'd thought it odd that she left the car at home, but he knew he'd heard her come home around 9am when he was on the couch, so she'd done it on purpose. Given that she was her own person he let it go telling himself she was fine and could make her own decisions. After all, technically she was an adult no matter how much he saw her as his much younger kid sister (niece or even daughter might be a little more accurate, but he refused to acknowledge how old he was getting).

But then she didn't come home when she usually did on Fridays.

He let that go until 5:10 when he finally caved and texted her. It took all of twenty minutes after that for him to give in to the annoying, gnawing, nagging worry and he called her. As a rule, Metal was aware of how overprotective he could be if he wasn't careful, so he actively tried to let Jess be responsible for herself. Mostly.

Today was different though. The longer he thought about where she could have gotten off to, the more images of dead, trafficked girls flooded his mind and the need to know she was ok grew unbearable.

He called twice more before phoning Jason. They spent the next hour trying to get hold of her before they, as a team, figured out that Clay was missing too. Sonny and Brock got put in charge of finding him with Trent because Sonny mentioned something about him being off since the spin up.

For some reason it never occurred to them that the two would be together.

By 9pm Ray, Jason and himself had convinced Lisa to bend the rules a little and ping Jess's phone. That gave them a general location at least to look for her since she wasn't at school, or the barn, or with Pauline, or at work, or at the Bulkhead, the library, coffee shop and finally, she wasn't at Ray's house.

Concern increased when they saw it pinged along the shoreline.

He called again and the relief when her drunk ass finally answered the phone was undeniable. Then the pieces fell together when she started rambling about being at the beach watching the sun go down while Clay and her bonded over their shitty childhoods. The fact they got drunk during that conversation gave a tiny bit of charity to why Jess was drinking, but still. The kid didn't get drunk. Only time she had in the length Metal'd known her was when she'd been upset over Christmas plans falling through with her dad.

Then there was that broken, pleading request before she fell asleep that made him promise not to die. That had sunk deeper than the damn knife that stabbed him.

"Metal!"

"What?"

"I asked how bad they were, how drunk?"

"Jess tried to bring home a dead racoon for you to fix."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah. She had it in a cooler and Clay named it Fred. It was going to be her 'attack racoon'."

There was the softest of laughs on the other end of the phone and Metal, tired as he was, couldn't help the smile that surfaced because, pissed as he was, there was no denying how damn funny those two were.

"Then I had to separate them on the drive home because they couldn't behave themselves and wouldn't stop horsing around."

"Wow…wait…you didn't pull those stitches, right?"

"Nope. Jess ain't that heavy."

"You picked her up?! Metal! You're killin me here! What part of don't lift anything don't you understand!?"

"I lifted with my knees. I'm fine."

"You're lucky I'm not there to kick your ass, you know that?"

"I'm fine. Stitches are fine."

"Yeah, so why are you callin me then?"

Sobering, Metal rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Life was so much easier when the only people I had in it were my team."

"People who understand the job and the risks."

"Yeah." Metal glanced towards Jess's door again and sighed, "What the hell am I gonna do with this? She literally went out and got drunk because she couldn't accept how scared she is that we could die."

"Sounds like she's learning bad habits from us."

"Not funny," Metal growled.

"No. I know." Trent sighed. "I really have no answers for you, buddy. I still pretend nothing bad happens to me with my younger sisters, and they're Clay's age."

"Still pissed at that shit for getting so drunk." Metal snarled suddenly. "He shouldn't have done that, not when they were alone out there."

"I'm not saying he should have either, but he's been too quiet. Maybe this was just what he needed? Jess has a weird effect on us. It's like she's got this crazy ability to mend broken things in others just by spending time with them."

"Yeah, and at what cost?! Her breaking instead?"

The words snapped from his mouth before he could stop them.

"Scott…she's not as fragile as all that and you know it."

Drawing a calming breath, he closed his eyes and leaned back into the couch.

"Fair enough."

"You alright, or do you want company."

"It's been a long week, Trent. Get some rest and stop worrying about everyone but yourself."

"Fuck. Call a guy out, why don't you."

"Come by tomorrow for lunch."

"Right. I'll drag the others along too?"

"Probably not a bad idea."

As much as he hated to admit it, a little team building by way of community nonsense might be what they needed as a team. That…and Jess might do better seeing them all physically safe and sound.

The utter humiliation Jess felt when she emerged from her room the next morning was crushing when the full force of just how inconsiderate she'd been clicked into place. The fact that Ray, Jason and Scott came to find her was unavoidable. She didn't even want to know how long they'd been looking for her, but she knew it had to have been some time after she muted her phone.

And she didn't know how ticked off Scott was right now. That scared her.

Knowing there was no getting around it and that she had to face him eventually, Jess dragged herself to the kitchen, praying that maybe there was an off chance her housemate wasn't home and feeling that this was becoming a common theme in her life. Slinking out of her room wondering if her pseudo protector was mad at her for some dumb shit she did.

The sound of the TV greeted her ears shortly before Scott's voice did.

"About time you got up."

Scott's tone was neutral and unreadable as he watched sports. Jess couldn't tell if he was angry with her still or not.

"Hey." Jess croaked, headed for the sink and got water. The sun was obnoxiously bright today and her head was pounding. What the hell had she been thinking?!

"Get something to eat."

Grimacing, Jess mumbled, "Not really hungry."

"Eat anyway." Scott ordered gruffly. "You'll feel better. Food's on the stove."

Jess wasn't really sure if she deserved to feel better, but the fact that there was food made and saved for her forced her into eating because she never wanted to seem like she wasn't grateful. Like he usually was on these matters, Scott ended up being right. She did feel a little better after eating.

The second she had her dishes washed, Scott flicked off the TV and she felt her stomach flip uncomfortably.

"What do you have planned for today?"

"Not much. I have to go to the greenhouse and water my plants. The people in charge of it over the weekend haven't been doing it right, so I told them to leave them alone and I'd do it." Hesitating, Jess grabbed a towel and started drying the dishes and putting them away just so she wouldn't have to make eye contact when he made his way over. "Pauline mentioned riding this afternoon. Might go do that…and I have an assignment due next week I should probably start."

"When are you headed to the greenhouse?" He asked, stepping in beside her and washing his cup in the sink. The fact she couldn't get a read on his mood was freaking her out a bit and anxiety turned in her stomach painfully. What comfort the food she ate gave her initially was going sour fast.

"Soon, I think."

"Mind if I tag along?"

The request surprised her to no end, but Jess wasn't about to deny it because she desperately wanted to be in his good graces again.

"Yes. I mean, no," Struggling now and dropping the towel on the floor because she fumbled while hanging it back up, Jess waved her hands helplessly, "I mean, sure! Tag along."

"Uh huh." Scott leaned back against the counter and folded his arms, waiting.

Jess stood there, facing him finally and fidgeting with the towel for a minute before that long, unreadable stare broke her and she started babbling.

"I'm so sorry. I…I don't know what got into me and I figured we would be back sooner, but then I thought it would be a good idea to drink and we got carried away so then…and you were sleeping when I brought the car home, so I didn't want to wake you up to tell you I didn't have placement and that Clay and I were going hiking instead and then I also didn't want to say anything because I had this stupid moment of," Jess paused, swinging the towel as she tried to find the right words. "I don't even know what! I just…I just told myself I would text you later and that it was fine, and then I forgot to and my phone got put on mute because my mom called me and…I really sorry. I should have texted you."

"Yup."

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Yeah, Jess. I am." The words were soft, but dangerously so. Like it was so deliberate so that he didn't start yelling at her and there was a sudden, sharp, underlying rage. "Do you have any idea how fuckin worried I was not knowing where you were or if you were safe!?"

Hanging her head, Jess felt the full weight of guilt as the thought of what Clay told her the night before about the trafficked girls slipped into her brain.

"That's fair." She mumbled, "Especially after everything that happened with the mis-"

Jess cut herself off before she could finish the sentence with an icy wash of dread, but the damage was already started.

"Especially after everything that happened with the what ?"

Jess went still, hands frozen in the middle of running the dish towel through her fingers. There was an unbelievably hard edge to his tone now.

"Nothing." She said too quickly, eyes widening with the mental 'oh shit'. Her head started to pound and she felt sick to her stomach again. "I..I'm just really sorry I worried you. It won't happen again. I gotta go water my plants."

Taking the dish towel with her, Jess started from the kitchen, absolute panic rushing in now because not only could she clearly remember that Clay told her not to tell anyone what he shared about the mission, but now she'd gone and blabbed it to the one person he specifically said would kill him if he ever found out she knew and said person was already pissed off with her which was recipe for complete disaster. This was bad. This was very very bad. What had she done?!

"Get. Back. Here."

The words came through grit teeth and sent a shiver up her spine.

"It was nothing! Forgot I even said anything!" Jess insisted, turning to face him again while still backing away. By now her heart was in her mouth. She could take it when he was pissed off at her while he was controlled, but right now she could see that same anger from the other night leaking though. She knew she couldn't handle that again this week, especially not when she was hungover.

"When you moved in here, we agreed to deal with issues when they come up." Scott told her, fists resting on the counter top now, knuckles white as he leaned on them. There was a deep furrow between his brows and his words were clipped. "This is definitely an issue we need to deal with. Get back here and talk to me."

Not moving from where she stood halfway between the kitchen and the hallway, Jess blurted, "It wasn't Clay's fault! He was drunk, and right after he said it he made me promise not to tell anyone and…and I didn't mean to. It just slipped out!"

"What did he tell you?" The barely controlled anger filled the air now. Jess could feel it even though Scott hadn't raised his voice yet.

Shaking her head, Jess fought back tears. "Nothing! It…he…I don't remember. I was drunk."

The second she lied, Jess knew she'd fucked up bad. She'd never seen that kind of furious glare directed at her from the man in front of her before, but it was awful.

"That's complete bullshit and don't ever lie to me like that again." Scott's voice rose this time. "What the hell did he tell you?"

"Scott…I'm…I'm sorry," Jess breathed, detaching from her body as she watched the train wreck unfold. Gut twisting sharply again before he could answer, Jess recognized almost too late the spike in nausea and she dipped sideways down the hall without another word, hand over her mouth.

Behind her she heard Scott swear loudly and the back door opened, then slammed shut.

For the moment Jess didn't care. She flung herself just in time at the toilet and puked. Again, and again, and again. She didn't know how long it took.

Between heaves she started sobbing and that caused a cascade of dry heaves after she'd emptied her stomach. It felt like an eternity of complete misery and she thought she'd never stop heaving, which only scared her more and she kept going.

There was movement to her right that she registered too late when she dragged herself over the toilet and heaved again. When a hand came under her forehead, keeping it from colliding with the edge of the seat and another touched her back, Jess jerked away violently. The hand holding her head was all that stopped her from clipping the side of her skull off the wall and the other one that touched her back hooked around her side, keeping her balanced on her knees and from falling on the floor mid-heave.

"Easy, kid."

Jess wouldn't describe Scott's voice as gentle or lacking anger, but it was calmed enough for her to accept his help. She never heard him come back into the house from outside so she didn't know how long he'd been in the house while she was puking.

"I'm sorry!" Jess whimpered between gasping for air as she shook from head to toe. She hated throwing up and this was the worst hangover ever.

"Slow things down, pipsqueak." The hand on her back rubbed a soothing circle when she dry heaved a final time while the owner released a tired exhale. "That's it. Calm down. You're ok."

"I'm so sorry!" She cried again, leaning over the toilet and trying to catch her breath.

"Me too, but it can wait. Let's get you calmed down and cleaned up."

"Please don't be mad at Clay! He was just trying to help me understand." The pitiful wail filled the space between them.

Scott didn't answer, instead he carefully lowered her to the floor and propped her up against the wall. Then he grabbed a cloth and soaked it with warm water.

"Think you may want to have a shower, kid," He said, handing her the cloth and taking a good look at her. "The washcloth isn't going to do much this time. You got it in your hair."

"I'm sorry." She mumbled thickly, a steady stream of tears still rushing down her face.

"Once was enough, kid. Stop apologizing."

"Don't be mad at Clay! Please! It's my fault-"

"Jess," Scott's eyes flashed with warning and his jaw was set in stone. "Clay is not your problem to worry about and you don't get to take responsibility for his actions."

"He was just trying to help!"

"Look. I am still unbelievably pissed off right now. Take your shower, calm down. We'll talk after, when I'm more cooled off. Got it?"

"Bravo's the only family Clay has! I can't be the one who gets him in trouble and then have people mad at him because- because he hates it as much as I do and I know what that feels like and I don't w-want that for him and it was my fault we were drinking in the first place and…and I wasn't supposed to say anything!"

Not answering, Scott got up, grabbed two towels from the cupboard, pointedly set them on the counter for her and then gestured to the shower while flicking on the light, the fan and then closing the door behind him.

With little other choice since he'd clearly stated they weren't discussing this further right now, Jess dragged herself off the floor and turned on the water, still crying and trying to get a grip.

She stayed there longer than she probably otherwise would, running through the situation over and over until she'd mentally beat herself up so bad that she was numb.

Mostly she was afraid of what this would do to the sibling relationship Clay and her formed, and how it would affect the rest of his relationships with his brothers if they all found out. She wasn't even sure how big a deal it was that he told her about it. Sometimes the boys shared stories about 'work' and other times they would be completely vague, so she was never sure what they were and weren't' supposed to share. Then add that to Scott being ticked right off and her having a complete breakdown over that…shesh, how pathetic was she?

When the water went cold, Jess got out, wrapped in the towels and slipped into her room to get dressed.

She was so tempted to stay hidden in her room, but after about fifteen minutes, Scott came to find her.

The knock at her door was light.

"Jess, can we finish this, please?" Scott asked from the other side of the door when she didn't answer right away.

Forcing her feet to move, Jess crossed the room and opened her door slowly, eyes glued to the ground and shoulders tight. Under the fringes of her hair she could see Scott standing there, arms crossed as he stared down at her.

"First off, just confirming that you threw up because you're hungover and that coupled with the fact that conflict upsets you sent your stomach over the edge…not because you thought I was going to hurt you for any reason. Verbally or physically."

Nodding miserably, Jess mumbled, "That would be correct. You're kinda scary when you're angry, but I know you won't ever hurt me."

"Good. Just making sure. I know I got a little hotter under the collar than I like to admit. I'm sorry it scared you."

Guilt over her reaction blossomed further as she thought about the fact he hadn't even really raised his voice and in all fairness had been in control of himself. She just…freaked out anyway. No wonder he kept feeling like he needed to bring it up and make sure she actually trusted him. He must think she didn't and it made her miserable.

"It's ok. I'm sorry. I overreacted, it wasn't you- I'm just. I'm sorry."

"Stop it." Annoyance flickered through the space between them and Scott reached out, putting an arm around her and gently gripping the back of her neck to guide her into the hall. "Let's go talk."

They ended up outside, on the back porch where the crisp air cooled Jess's senses and they were side by side on the steps again, just like they had months ago.

"What did Clay tell you? And don't leave anything out. It won't hurt or help him. Just tell me the truth."

Drawing a shaky breath, Jess braced herself.

"I was, um, complaining about Jason, Trent, and Brock…and you, just a little bit… about how you were all being kinda overprotective after the whole thing earlier this week? You know. Anyway, I asked if they were being like that because they think I'm weak and fragile, which I totally get. I kind of am a ridiculously over sensitive and emotionally unstable person. Just look how bad I handled shit today…and I got drunk last night and was totally a mess and-" Jess paused when Scott cracked his knuckles in response to her self-deprecating speech, a subtle indication that he wasn't happy about it. "Anyway, um, Clay said it wasn't because of that and that you all just had a really bad week. He said it was because the spin up went bad…and he told me about the girls that you guys went to rescue and that three died…and that…that you tried to save one of them when the building collapsed, but she…um…died anyway. Said you got hurt trying to protect her, and that Sonny and Trent were with the other two who died. That's all…oh, and he said you wouldn't like me knowing about all that and not to tell you…which…well…yeah. Guess that ship has sailed."

"He didn't say anything else? Nothing about what happened before or after that?"

"No. He really hardly told me anything."

"Good. You don't need to hear it. Wasn't pretty."

"Doesn't change anything." Jess muttered, using her outside voice instead of her inside voice by accident.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Nothing!"

"No, if you've got something to say, say it."

Gathering courage, Jess watched a bunch of clouds flow by through the too bright sky.

"It's just…I get you guys not wanting me to know stuff that goes on, and that you can't tell me much about anything because that's just the rules, but also…honestly sometimes it's scarier not knowing why you're suddenly acting a different way, and wondering…how bad was it? What does it do to you? Are you actually going to be ok this time…like…mentally, emotionally and physically?" Jess pulled at her sleeves and shivered, wrapping her arms around herself and plowing on because now it was too late to stop. "You think it's keeping me safe, not telling me anything at all, and saving me from worrying, but…sometimes it's worse not knowing and letting my own imagination make shit up…cause…yeah, I might not really know what you see or what you do, but I'm not naive enough to think the world is all sunshine and roses. I know horrible stuff happens to good people, and I know you see it."

"Jess, just because you know about those things, doesn't mean I'm gonna tell you about it after a bad spin up." Scott wasn't angry with her, but he was completely unmovable in his opinion. "I see evil. I shoot people who have done terrible things, and I don't lose sleep over it. Maybe I should, I don't know, but I don't. I lose sleep over the ones I can't save. The people I lost. I lose sleep over the messed up shit and in the end have to accept that it's war and it is what it is. I'm never telling you that stuff, Jess. Period."

"I'm not asking you to!" Jess hurried to say. "I just…I'm just telling you that it's hard, whether you tell me or not…and sometimes it feels harder not knowing. Like…if I had known about the stuff with the trafficking and the girls maybe I wouldn't have been so frustrated about everyone checking in and being overprotective and then maybe I wouldn't have been an idiot and not texted you and gotten drunk!"

"Or maybe," Scott growled softly, "You just need to trust us when we ain't talkin and if we're being overbearing, it's probably for a reason and you can still just tell us to back off if it's too much."

"I guess." Jess accepted with some defeat, not wanting to make him mad again by arguing.

"Answer me honestly," Scott exhaled slowly and glanced at her with a wrinkle between his brows. "Do you really think it's going to change anything for the better if I tell you what we see and why there are demons in our minds some days? You hate Game of Thrones for a reason, you don't watch the news because it upsets you and you get understandably upset about certain kinds of violence when we're watching shows or movies, which is why we swap the channels or skip ahead quickly for you when it comes up so you don't have to see it. Do you really want examples of those things happening in real life when there is nothing you can do to change any of it in the context that we would be telling it?"

"No…I guess not, when you put it that way." Thinking about it, Jess felt smaller, a little dumb and terribly naive after all. "Doesn't that, I don't know, make me kinda pathetic?"

"No! For fuck sake, Jess! It makes you innocent ! It means you haven't gotten used to it to the point of it not bothering you anymore. More importantly it reminds me why we do what we do!" Scott cracked his knuckles again and his knee bounced slightly as he worked to find his next words. "There are times now that I see the world through your eyes instead of my own, and that's a good thing. It makes me a better person, and a better operator. Being sensitive like you are isn't pathetic, kid. Just means you're still safe from it all, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I never want you to see the shit I've seen. Ever. I don't even want you knowing about the terrible stuff you've already seen and experienced. You're not a little kid, please don't think I'm calling you that, but…Jess, if I could spare you the knowledge of the dark places in the world, I would."

"I know. But I do know about them. I have seen some of them…not like…the way you have, of course but- and I know you get shot at. And I know you do other crazy, real life superhero stuff…and it scares me because…I don't want to lose you, or the others, and not knowing how close it was or how you got hurt just-" Tears sprang back into her eyes and Jess swore, rubbing at them with the palms of her hands. "I keep crying! Damn it!"

"We're gonna be ok, pipsqueak. All of us."

"You don't know that though!" Jess cried with frustration.

"In the context of this week, and today? Yeah, I do know!" Scott hesitated and added, "I mean, within reason of course. Anyone can die at any point, Jess and we can't control it. That's just life. Fuck, you could die in a car accident on the way to school just as easily as I can get shot at work. Do you think I don't worry about you too? Because you should probably have figured out by now that I do!"

"That's different!" Jess protested, "I don't run into fights like you guys. Statically you're more likely to get hurt than I am and…I always knew that from the start of hanging around Bravo, but now it's different! Now it's real!"

"Jess, I'm not gonna die. I already told you that."

"You literally just said we can't control it."

"I know, but not everyone is me. I totally can control it. I just glare at death and he goes away to rethink his decisions."

"That's not funny, Scott!" Jess whined, leaning her head into him and shivering again. It was cooler outside than she was dressed for. "I'm serious! I…I can't! I don't want you to die!"

"Well, it's a good thing I'm really good at my job and so are my teammates." Scott sighed and brought his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder lightly to warm her up a bit. "Take a breath, pipsqueak. You're not wrong. We have a dangerous job and yeah, we lose people. But you also need to remember why we do what we do. To keep you safe. To keep others safe. To fight evil. At the end of the day, if I die doing that then it's worth it."

"I still don't want to lose you." Jess burst into tears and turned her face into his shirt.

"Relax, kid. I'm not dead yet. Even if I do die, I promise to come harass you from beyond the grave, ok? And you won't be alone. You still have the rest of those knuckleheads, and Naima, Emma, Mikey. You always have a family still, even without me-"

"NO!" Jess smacked her fist into the step beside her. "I can't! I can't- Please just promise to always come back? That all of you will always come back? I don't care if it's an empty promise, just tell me again that you will and…and I'll believe you."

"I promise we will always do everything in our power to come home and give you a hard time about eating, sleeping and not texting when you aren't coming home on time." Scott wrapped both arms around her and squeezed, resting his chin on her head. "And if I ever die, I promise to haunt you so you don't miss me."

"I choose not to believe in ghosts. They creep me out." Jess muttered, voice muffled between sobs.

"Then you're really going to be freaked out if that happens." Scott snorted suddenly and his shoulders shifted with a chuckle. "And I'll have so much fun with it! I already know what I'll do with your computer the first time you stay up all night with those video games. Oh,and when you don't eat properly I'll leave messages written in ketchup on the counter!"

"Leave my poor computer alone and also, that's really creepy and I'll think it's blood! Don't you dare!" Jess told him with a half-hearted glare when she lifted her head.

"Alright, fine. No ketchup. I'll use mustard instead…or maybe your damn Nutella."

"You're not funny and you aren't allowed to do that because you just promised not to die!"

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Scott shrugged and there was the lightest note to his gruff tone. "Ah, well. Would have been fun though."

"Fun for you." Jess huffed, tears slowing down again.

"Hey! It could be fun for you too! Just think how well we could prank Sonny!"

"I didn't even know you were the pranking type!" Jess blurted.

Scott grinned suddenly. "Oh, you have no idea. And you never will."

"Why?!"

"Because you can't keep a secret and Sonny still doesn't know about the pranks I pull on him, so I can't let you in on it!"

"But you just did!"

"No, that's only if I die."

"This is the dumbest conversation!" Jess raged, half laughing now and half crying.

"Jess," Scott went serious and gentle suddenly. "It's ok to be scared, but you can't live in fear of us dying, alright? Don't borrow trouble when we've got enough as it is."

"I'll try…but I can't promise anything."

"Fair enough. Can we at least agree that you come talk to me next time you're worried instead of going MIA and getting drunk on the beach and trying to bring home 'attack' raccoons?"

Jess went still, straining to remember before she gasped, "Oh my gosh! I picked up a dead racoon! Did someone make sure I washed my hands!? What if it had rabies before it died!?"

"You are fine, it was a small one and looked like it was hit by a bike or something." Jess could feel the man chuckling now, which she decided was a good sign.

"Oh good. I really didn't want to add another hospital visit to my list this week."

"Yeah, me too." Sobering again, Scott's voice took on a serious edge. "Look, pipsqueak, we really can't have a repeat of last night. At the end of the day, you are your own person and you're responsible for yourself, but I'm not gonna lie, all kinds of really dark worries crept in when you didn't answer the phone and you didn't come home."

"I'm sorry!"

"No, we did that already. Not looking for more apologizing, I know you're sorry. We need to come up with a solution, and one that makes sure you don't end up feeling like I'm being overbearing, because as you may have figured out already, us Frogmen don't do well at times with the 'not being overprotective' thing."

"I feel like all of this could have mostly been avoided if I had just been considerate and texted you to let you know my typical plans changed and when I would probably be home."

"Yeah, that would have helped a lot."

"So why don't we just say I'll text you and let you know if I'm doing something different than normal and won't be home when I normally am?"

"You ok with that?"

"Yeah, I feel like it's fair enough. I mean…" Jess hesitated. "The girls and I at Ingrid used to keep tabs on each other, especially when they would be out on dates. I probably worried the most out of all of them, so I really am sorry for causing that for you last night."

"I know, pips. Let it go." Scott tapped a thumb on her shoulder, his arm still wrapped around her and keeping her warm. "I think it might be fair too then if I try to let you know too if I won't be home as usual."

"Well, I mean, you already do that."

"I mean not just with spin ups. It's fair for you to know if I'll be out for the night or not."

"You…you won't mind?"

"Kinda sets a double standard if you're the only one being considerate."

"Ok, well…let's do that then and I won't go MIA again without telling you?"

"Good enough for me." Scott shifted and pulled out his phone. "Should we be going and taking care of those plants of yours?"

"Oh! Shit! Yes!"

"Let's go then." He looked down at his shirt and pulled it away from him a little as he frowned. "Ahhh, I guess it's not too wet. I'll leave it. You really like makin more work for me, huh."

"Sorry."

"Teasing, pips. Let's go."

"Which car are we taking?" Jess asked, welcoming the distraction from being upset over the idea of something happening to him and also comforted by the words exchanged and the resolution of last night. In a weird way it actually did make her feel better with the teasing idea that Scott would haunt her for fun if anything ever happened to him. While ghosts creeped her out (she both did and didn't believe in them, despite what she said), part of her was willing to hope it was possible, if only to have Scott close to her still even if the unthinkable happened.

"Let's take yours, but I'm driving."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Jess agreed, following him out the door when he snagged up his set of keys for the Civic. "I'm really hungover. It sucks."

"Uh huh," Unlocking the car doors, Scott moved to get into the driver's seat.

Jess caught the smirk that played around his mouth when he moved the seat back significantly from where it was originally.

"What?!" She squawked as she clicked her seatbelt.

"Nothing. I just sometimes forget how short you are."

"I'm not that short!"

"Really! You're what…5'0?"

"I am 5'2, thank you very much!"

"Oh, yeah. My bad." Scott smirked again and pulled out of the driveway smoothly. "That's still ridiculously short, kid."

"Not everyone can be all big and 6'0 tall!"

"That is true. We do need feisty shorties around."

Frowning, Jess looked out the window and huffed, "I'm not feisty."

Scott snorted and said deadpan, "Yeah, and I'm not scary."

Jess side eyed him. "You're less scary than you were when I met you."

"Damn it. I must be slipping." Scott took a breath and flicked on his sunglasses. "While I'm thinking of it, what can I do, in the future…to keep you from getting so upset when I'm mad or you think I might be so pissed off that you puke."

"Oh…um," Jess rocked uncomfortably in her seat and looked out the window again. "Well, I mean that could have just been because of the hangover. I…I don't think there really is anything you can do. You weren't…you weren't being scary …and you weren't yelling at me or anything. It's just, and this is going to sound nuts, I can feel it, in the air, when people get mad, and then I start to panic and everything just spirals from there."

"Ok. So next time, why don't we agree that you tell me when you're getting scared. That way we take a break and I'll cool down rather than push you to that place again. I wasn't aware of how it was affecting you. I thought I was being controlled enough."

"You were," Jess protested, eager to absolve him of any guilt he might be experiencing. "I'm just…broken."

"I know, kid, so let's keep working towards putting you back together. Does that plan sound ok?"

"I'll try. I'm not great at voicing stuff when I'm spiraling like that."

"It's ok. I'll keep an eye open for it next time."

Jess sighed and put her head on the window. "I really do hate conflict."

"I thought we did not too bad, despite the puking."

"I guess that's true, but I still hate conflict." Jess drew a short breath and added, "So does Clay…not that he'd ever let any of you see it…and I guess I probably shouldn't have told you that either because he told me in confidence. Shit. I'm such a blabbermouth! I just…I'm scared that it'll cause problems and stuff for him, and then he'll be mad at me."

"It'll be ok, pips. Promise."

"You're not still mad at him?"

"Oh! I'm still pissed." Scott glanced at her and a grim smile flickered over his face. "But it will still be ok."

"Are you going to beat him up?"

"No," Scott sounded disappointed. "Trent won't let me until I heal more."

"Good."

"The boys are coming for lunch." Scott told her, stopping at the traffic lights and peering with mild interest around at the world outside the car. "I seem to recall Jason grounded you, so you probably shouldn't go to the barn today."

That forced Jess head to the side, mouth open in disbelief as she stared at him. "I'm sorry, what now?!"

"Don't recall he grounded you and Clay?" Scott asked, he seemed completely serious and that worried Jess to no end. "It was shortly after you called him dad."

"Shit…I did call him dad again, didn't I…" Jess moaned, putting her hands over her face. "I'm starting to think I shouldn't drink ever again."

"That is entirely up to you."

"Jason's not gonna actually enforce the whole 'grounding' thing, right?"

"I am not getting involved."

"Seriously!?"

"Yup. That's a you an him problem."

"He can't ground me!"

"You tell him that at lunch."

"I really can't tell if you're getting me all wound up on purpose or not."

"Good."

Jess grumbled under her breath, mildly worried that maybe he was serious and that Jason really was going to get all stubborn about the whole 'grounded' thing. Regardless, she was glad things were mostly cleared up between her and Scott, back to normal. She hoped.