Description: She hadn't wanted to risk her pride but, by telling him her problems, she had done so anyway.

AN: This is set between "Grounded" and "Crushed" and is based on the former. Enjoy!

Jessica sat, her hands absently fiddling with the material of her dress. Though she had proved to herself (and to the others) that she wasn't useless, part of her still felt that way. It hadn't been easy for her, trying to work out how to counter the effects of Obscurio's spell when she hadn't a clue how it worked. In the end, however, she had figured it out with the guidance of Supreme Luminous.

As she sighed miserably, she didn't realize that she was no longer alone. Toby stood in the doorway watching her. She had been acting strangely all day and he was determined to get to the bottom of the problem.

"You okay?" He asked as he moved forward to stand beside her. She looked up at him and gave him an unconvincing smile.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jessica replied, sounding confused. He gave her a don't avoid the question look.

"You tell me. You're the one that's been acting weird all day!" Toby said, wondering what was wrong with her. As far as he could remember, it had all started when they had laughed at her for not being able to use the balloon tank... "Wait, is this about earlier? You know you could have just asked for our help."

Jessica's head snapped up when he said this and she said, "I couldn't, though, could I?" She sighed heavily. "I was too worried about my pride to ask for help, just like when I was trying to help you guys in Gorm- Razzle knew the answer and I wouldn't let him help me. Probably because I wanted to prove to you guys that I wasn't useless!"

Toby noted that she still sounded a little upset so he placed his hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "We don't think you're useless, Jess. You came through in the end."

She felt slightly comforted when he said this but she still felt like blaming herself for something. "Only because Supreme Luminous helped me. If I hadn't had his guidance, the outcome might have been a lot different. You guys could have been hurt or...or worse!"

Toby's eyes widened in alarm when he saw that she was crying. He had never had to deal with a crying Jessica before and, if he was being perfectly honest, he didn't have a clue what to do. "How do you stop a girl from crying? Come on, Toby, think!" He muttered to himself, knowing that it was probably the wrong time for one of his jokes.

She looked at him suddenly, looking so woebegone and fragile that Toby felt the need to hug her. Well, I suppose it would cheer her up. These were his thoughts as he carefully hugged her, never having done it before and he certainly didn't want to make things any worse. It wasn't as uncomfortable as he had thought it would be- in fact he was kind of enjoying the moment they were having together.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Jessica mumbled, her head buried in his shoulder. She felt a lot better after his comforting words.

His reply was simple. "Yeah."

Neither of them felt they would have cared if somebody happened to walk in on them. "We all have to deal with pride at some point." Toby said wisely. "Remember when you and I were competing in the judo tournament?" Jessica nodded and looked confused so he elaborated, "I really wanted to tell you how much I admired your skill but I was too determined to beat you- plus I didn't want to risk my pride."

"We both let our prides get in the way that time." Jessica said, smiling. "But we came to our senses in the end- well, mainly because we lost."

Toby smiled back. "Or maybe it's because we just decided to swallow our pride and forget about our problems. And in case you hadn't noticed, that's exactly what we're doing right now."

"Huh?" Jessica was nonplussed. "What are you talking about?"

He grinned at her and replied, "Well, we both just admitted things we would have been too proud to admit in the past. That just proves that we can deal with our pride...sometimes."

Suspiciously, she asked, "Sometimes? In case you don't remember, I was beating you in the judo tournament."

"Only by one point!" He said indignantly. "And, besides, I wasn't even trying all that hard. I could have beaten you easily if I'd wanted to!"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, really?" She asked, sounding amused.

"Ye-" Toby trailed off as he realized the irony. They looked at each other, stunned, before they burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

They had learned the hard way that pride comes before a fall but now they knew that they had each other to pick them up when one of them was knocked down.

AN: Geez, I must have changed my mind about this chapter a dozen times! I'd start writing it as one thing and then change my mind- which is why it took so long to write this one.