Love You To Death, Chapter Two.

Meg followed Jo into her room, wanting to make sure everything was okay.

"Let me take a look at your head, Jo." Meg said, watching Jo shrug out of her jacket. Jo said nothing and dropped her coat onto the floor. She moved over to the bed, and sat on it, leaning against the wall. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and crossed her arms. She lowered her forehead to her knees, and Meg wondered if Jo had even heard her.

'How could she not have?' Meg thought, moving to the side of the bed.

"Jo!"

Jo's head came up, and she fixed her gaze on Meg,

"Stop ignoring me. Please." Meg said softly. "I just want to make sure you're alright."

Jo held her gaze for a moment, unblinking.

"I am alright. I am not weak. It's not a major wound."

"I know you're not weak, Jo, but..."

"But...?" Jo asked.

"But I worry about you. You're usually never like this. You let me fuss around until my mind is eased that you're okay, and then you tell me how silly I am for worrying. You won't even let me near you." Meg's voice began to tremble. "Either something is really wrong, or...or you're sick of me."

Jo was silent, contemplating her answer. Meg had lowered her gaze, and Jo could tell she was on the verge of crying.

"I believe my withdrawal from you is based on guilt." Jo said quietly.

Meg looked up, but Jo had already put her head back down.

"Guilt...?"

"I have done something to make you lose trust in me. You believe I am weak."

Meg's eyes widened, and she took a step closer. "No! I don't! Why would you think that?"

Jo raised her head to meet Meg's gaze, and her eyes were filled with an emotion Meg couldn't remember ever seeing in Jo before. Hurt. Emotional pain. She looked like a whipped dog.

"Then why else would you put yourself at risk by attacking those cybots? I could have protected you myself. If I'm...not good enough anymore, what other use do you have for me? Will you just...throw me away?"

Meg didn't know what to say. She felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes at the thought of tossing Jo away.

"You...idiot." Meg knelt onto the bed, and crawled to Jo's side. She wrapped her arms around Jo's shoulders, and pulled her close.

"Jo, I could never throw you away. You mean the world to me. You are my world. I've only ever had you, and you've only ever had me. It would kill me to leave your side. I fought because I'm tired of being useless. I want to help. I don't want to see you out there every day, getting smashed up. I never know if the next time I see you off in Django, whether or not it will be the last time I ever see you alive. It hurts me. I want to help, in any way I can. You risk your life, why can't I risk mine?"

Jo's heatbeat quickened as she was pulled tighter to Meg's chest. Meg slowly stroked her hair, fingertips sliding softly down the side of her face. Jo could tell by the shallow, irregular breaths that Meg was trying to stop her tears, yet failing.

"You aren't useless Meg. You're the furthest thing from it. You're my prize for a job well done. Every time I finish a battle, the one thing I want to do above all else is see your smiling face. It`s my job to risk my life. To see that you are safe. As long as I fight for you, you don`t need to put yourself in danger. Because...if something were to happen to you, I don`t know what I would do. Go crazy. Shoot things."

Meg giggled a bit at that.

"Always remember that you have me, Meg. You have me to fight for you, because that is what I was built to do. And I have you. And I want to have you safe and unhurt. So you don't need to fight. You just need to wait for me. Because in the end, I'll always come back to you."

Meg blushed. "It's just...hard, to watch you fight out there. You know how much I care about you, Jo. And if there is ever anything I can do to help, I'm going to do it the best I can."

Jo was silent for a minute. "Can I not talk you out of it?"

Meg shook her head. "I don't think so."

Jo pulled away slowly, and looked her in the eye. "I have to. I'm the killer. My life is already forfeit. You cannot follow my path. I won't allow it."

Meg leaned forward and touched the tip of her nose to Jo's. "If it comes down to your life or theirs, I won't hesitate to pull the trigger. You mean so much more to me than that." She whispered. Jo stared at her unblinkingly, and Meg tried to match her stare, but the strain quickly wore on her eyes. She pulled away, but not before licking the tip of Jo's nose. Jo blinked, and Meg giggled.

"Come on. Enough talk. You're starting to worry me. You've said more in the last five minutes than you do in a week."

Jo was silent, regarding her with a guarded stare.

"Let's shower. We both could use one."

Meg didn't get an answer; she never expected one. Jo merely followed behind her, stripping off her clothes. Meg did the same, and walked into the bathroom. It was a small one-person shower stall, but neither of them minded. The few times they managed to find time to shower together, neither said a word. They just enjoyed the peace and silence, and the feeling of having the other near.

Meg reached in, and turned on the water. Instantly, cold water burst forth from the high-pressure shower head, and Meg withdrew her arm swiftly, shivering.

"Needs to warm up."

Jo thought about asking her why she made that statement every time they were about to shower, when one instance of the episode dictated that it would continue happening every time thereafter, but decided against it. It was most likely one of those human things she knew too little about.

Jo looked at Meg as Meg looked at Jo; Meg smiled softly whilst Jo remained expressionless.

A few seconds later, and the first tendrils of steam began to rise. Meg stuck a hand in tentatively, then giggled and pulled Jo in with her. Jo closed the sliding plexiglass door behind her, and turned to face Meg.

They were chest to chest, the slightly shorter red-haired girl looking up at her emotionless idol with admiration clear on her features. Meg reached up and slipped her arms around Jo's neck.

"Jo..."

"Yes, Meg?"

"You'll never leave me, will you?"

Jo was silent for a moment, then closed her eyes. She put her arms around Meg's waist, and pulled her tight against her body.

Meg barely caught the whisper over the hissing shower.

"Never."

Amy looked up as Meg and Jo entered the kitchen. They were both minimally clothed, though Jo had her guns, and their hair was soaking wet. A snide comment passed through Amy`s head, but she kept it to herself. Jo looked more pensive than usual, and she didn`t want to irritate their warrior.

"Jo, whenever you have time, Leo wants to see you in the hangar." Amy said. Jo glanced at her, and Amy smirked. "Probably wants to give you grief for wrecking Django." She said. "Seriously, why haven't you castrated him for all the lip he gives you?"

Jo didn't answer; she turned and walked away, heading for the hangar. Meg stared after her, but only for a sec. She needed to tend to her rumbling stomach.

"Going to stuff your face again, eh Meg?" Amy prodded. "Get any fatter, and I don't know how Jo will be able to handle looking at you!"

"Shut it, punk." Meg muttered, disregarding her. She paused a second later though, her hand outstretched for the box of cookies on the shelf. A quick moment of indecision, and she grabbed a banana from the counter, peeling it as she muttered under her breath about saucy kids who didn't know their place.

"Don't bad-mouth me, I'm trying to get you laid." Amy snickered, looking her up and down. "At least one of us is trying to, anyway."
Meg looked down at herself. "Whats wrong with me?" She asked, offended.

Amy shook her head, said nothing, and looked out the window.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

Amy suddenly cocked her head to the side. "What's that? Coming, Sei!" She got up from the table, and took off, laughing.

Meg wanted to grab her and wring her neck, but decided against it. She slowly ate the rest of her banana, and disposed of the peel.

Jo walked into the hangar, and was greeted by Leo.

"Hey there, Jo. Got a minute?"

Jo nodded, and stepped closer to the kneeling mechanic. "Yes. I wanted to talk to you about Django."

Leo chuckled, and slowly got up from where he was kneeling by Django.

"Well, what luck. I wanted to talk to you as well."

"Make Django fly." Jo said.

Leo was silent for a minute. "Rather straightforward and to the point, as usual." He remarked. Then he shrugged. "What was with you today?"

Jo stared at him unblinkingly. "Nothing was with me." She answered.

Leo sighed, and wondered how to phrase his question.

"Was...something bothering you? Something on your mind while you were trying to fight?"

Jo looked away from him and gazed up at the damaged cybot.

"No. Why do you ask?"

Leo followed her gaze. "Well, Django has a very sophisticated pilot monitoring system. I don't know too much about it, but Amy showed me how to print out the biometric scans. It showed that you were very troubled during todays battle. You weren't fighting to your full capacity. Not even close. You...struggled, Jo. It wasn't like you."

Jo said nothing, but when her gaze fell back to Leo, the glare was evident. Leo pushed on.

"What was bothering you? Django's self-monitoring system found no software errors, and there were no hardware issues to hinder you or bother you. What was on your mind, Jo? I'm curious." Leo said, trying to coax her into speaking. "Was it Me-"

Before Leo could finish his sentence, Jo had whipped out her gun and leveled it in his face.

"Sei pays you to fix Django. Do not antgonize me. There are many more qualified mechanics where you come from." There was a cold tone to her threat that Leo had never heard her voice take on before, and it startled him. He had jumped profusely when she had pulled her gun on him, though he had come to expect it when she did it to others. Something in the way she spoke to him told him to push the matter no further.

"I...I see...I'm sorry Jo. The matter is clearly none of my concern."

Jo continued to hold his gaze with her own fixed, unblinking stare for a second or two more, before holstering her gun almost as fast as she had drawn it.

"Fix Django." She said coldly, before walking out.

Leo stared after her, before pushing his glasses up on the bridge of nose. Something had gotten into her, that much was clear. There was an issue bothering her, and Meg was part of that.

Leo sighed, and looked back up at Django. It was going to take a lot more work to get it operational, and with this crew, they could find trouble at any time. He knelt back down where he was working previously, and picked up the brass compression fitting. Best to get to work on the essentials. The bodywork could wait. For now.

Jo walked back into the kitchen and her eyes immediately sought out Meg. Not finding her, she proceeded to walk down the hallway toward Meg`s room. She stopped in front of her door, and knocked twice.

There was no answer. Jo grabbed the handle and turned it slowly, opening the door and looking in. The room was empty, and Jo`s eyes narrowed slightly.

Meg picked up Jo`s jacket from the floor, and held it for a moment. She had long ago memorized every line, every pocket, and the way it looked when it was curved around its owner. Meg`s fingers slowly traced over the worn material, and the feel of it was exactly how she had remembered it. Soft, resilient and yet, protective. Meg turned it around and slowly slipped her arms into the sleeves. The heavy coat seemed to embrace her, as Meg lowered her head to the collar and inhaled slowly. The unique scent of Jo clung to the jacket, and Meg felt her heart skip a beat as she was flooded with some of the many memories associated with this jacket, and the scent. The overwhelming feeling of protection and loyal friendship was as unmistakable as the smell of Jo herself, while the jacket was a symbol of everything that Meg and Jo were, and everything they had been through together. This jacket was as durable and long-lasting as their friendship.

Meg smiled, and spun around, arms stretched out. Sometimes, she liked to pretend that she was the strong one, and it was her duty to protect Jo. Red hair flying out in all directions, Meg stopped, facing the door with her right arm outstretched, fingers pointed into a gun, left eye shut and head tilted slightly to the right.

"Bang, you're-JO!" Meg exclaimed. Jo was leaning against the door frame, arms folded over her chest, watching her with a neutral expression. Meg blushed, immediately embarrassed for getting caught acting like a child. "S-sorry, I didn't...see you there." She slowly lowered her arm, and looked away.

Jo straightened up, and slowly walked toward her, arms still crossed. She stopped in front of Meg, and unfolded her arms. She reached forward and grabbed the zippered edges of her jacket, pulling Meg closer until their bodies were touching. Meg looked up at Jo, face still burning. Jo leaned in until her lips were gently pressing against Meg's forehead.

"Jacket looks good on you...Meg." Jo whispered.

A/N: Well, bit shorter this time, although neither of these two chapters are as long as I'm used to. Ah well, chapter 3 shall be rife with epic of all varieties. Reviews are, as always, much appreciated. Let me know what you think so far.