Chapter 12

Don't you want to see?
Don't you want peace?
Come to me,
allow my embrace.
I only want to hold you close,
so you don't leave,
so you will always be safe,
in the arms of my sweet escape.
I offer you Sanctuary from a place that only wants to hurt you.
I offer you so much.
Why don't you except?
Can't you see?
I am your friend.
I am your only friend.
They all want to hurt you,
use you,
throw you away.
They won't help you.
Only I will help you,
come to me.
Let me hold you close,
let me keep you safe from all others.
Let me,
let me,
Let me hold your soul.

/-/-/

If there is one thing I hate about drinking night, is the next morning. The hangover is always killer, and wastelanders don't get hangover days. My body wasn't going to let me sleep anymore, that was for sure. Regardless of the pounding headache, I knew I had to get up.

A soft weight on my chest was enough excuse, however to just lay there and suffer in my agony. Besides, my will was taking a rain check, and I don't think I could drag myself out of this house if it was on fire. Okay, maybe not on fire, but something like that.

I glanced up, the motion more painful than it should have been, and found something warm, orange and fuzzy nestled right in my cleavage. I thought for a moment, trying to remember how exactly Daxter came to be on my chest, or where he had come from in the first place.

The horror of the moment suddenly struck me, and I almost screamed. Jak's first encounter with me in a year and I was drunker than that snake in Robin Hood. Oh dear God, help me now. If he wasn't going to kill me before, he was now. I was going to be extra dead, pulverized dead, smashed with a bulldozer, the torched by the fire-breather.

There was loud knocking on my door a moment later that drove me upward, regardless of the pain in my head. Daxter squawked indignantly as he was thrown off my chest and onto my legs, where he was thrown in my frenzy, to the floor. There was a window in the living room that lead out to the ocean. I needed a nice swim this morning. A person at the door? I don't what you're talking about.

Jak must have sensed my urge to flee as he kicked down my door like it was a piece of paper, not a sheet of metal bolted to the wall. I froze in my mad dash for the window and just stared at him as he came at me.

"Jak! How nice it is to see you, when did you get here? It's nice to see you in Spargus. Where have you been? How have you been?"

"I'd love to ask you the same question," he snapped. Oh yeah, he was pissed.

"Oh, you know. I've been fine."

"Tox," he warned. "Where the hell have you been?"

"No profanity in the house, dear." Jeez, I could be little shit…

"Tox!"

"No yelling either." –Giggle-

That seemed to be the last straw for him as he moved forward and grabbed at the cloth of my shirt, taking a good chunk of my bra with it, and pulling closer.

"My goodness, Jak. I knew you liked me but not like that. Naughty, naughty. I prefer someone more gentle anyway."

Jak growled, something very scary this close to him. "Where. Have. You. Been?"

Oh yes, very scary, indeed. "Oh, you know. Here and there, hither and thither, and yet over yonder." I pointed down at where his hand was grabbing my shirt. "Now, dearest," I put on my sweetest 'wife' voice I could muster. "If you keep holding me like that, you're going to stretch my shirt. That would make me very mad. I'll make you have to waste the money to buy me a new one."

He let go with an exasperated sigh, one he used when he deemed me a lost cause. I almost danced in my victory, when he caught sight of my hands. The fingers had that charred quality they got whenever I woke up after a weird dream. I don't know the purpose, but it was a consistency.

"What is that?" The question was innocent enough, but the tone was offending. I needed an out anyway…

"What?" I accused. "You think I can't take care of myself? You think I'm helpless? Is it 'cause I'm a girl?" I gasped, but inside I was cracking up. He looked so frightened by my sudden fury. "You are sexist!" I announced it like I was announcing the end of the world, and Daxter, who was watching from the relative safety of the coach, bust up laughing.

"Jak!" He snorted between peels of laughter. "I haven't seen you this scared since Keira accused you of steeling her zoomer!"

"And a zoomer thief!" I had crossed my arms and was making a point of glaring ridiculously at him. "Jak, I am truly appalled."

The eco warrior, finally found the humor and grinned darkly. "Tox, I'm going to really jack you up one of these times."

I raised my eyebrow at him, but he didn't seem to know what at. I looked over at Daxter, who looked like he was trying to fight an inner explosion. He failed and him wails of laughter, joined with mine, echoed through the small apartment.

"What?" Jak asked innocently.

"'Jack me up'?" I was bent nearly double, holding my aching gut as realization and a stupid grin spread across his face. I hadn't seen him smile like before, and that more than anything, made me feel good about this meeting.

"Come on, Blondie. Let's go get some breakfast, and I'll fill you in the details."

He looked at funny for a minute. "Really? No funny business? Just straight answers?"

"Straighter than a homophobe."

XXX

A/N: Can't you tell Tox has fun with Jak? Only with Jak does she get witty for some reason. It's beyond me as well. Leave me a note.

Broken Wolf/D.R.M.