In all honesty, Jennifer was surprised it hadn't happened sooner. She'd been in Haven all of a month and she'd seen things that she was sure would rattle a normal person, let alone someone who's initiation into Troubled life involved thinking she was crazy for six months.
A panic attack had been biding it's time in her for a while now. She was just glad, distantly, that it only reached it's full swing as she pulled up to the Rouge. She'd left the Herald, feeling anxious about the amount of research she was going to have to do to on Haven in order to come up with plausible cover stories for the Trouble-related chaos but who can possibly come up with a cover story for all those deaths? And there's only going to be more and more suffering and more guns and more people looking at her and asking her what she hears and–
And she couldn't breathe. Her heart was hammering in her chest, it felt like her lungs were in a vice, she was crying so hard she couldn't see straight, and she was shaking so badly she was surprised that she actually managed to have a grip on her phone tight enough to hit her speed dial to call Duke.
He picked up within the first couple of rings and sounded excited, "Hey! You headed home?"
"U-u-um," Jennifer stammered, barely managing to form the words.
"Jennifer? Jennifer, what's wrong?" Duke asked, already sensing that something was very wrong.
"A-a-are you–are you b-busy?" She barely gasped between words.
"Where are you? What happened?" Duke asked, using his "I'm already out the door just give me a direction" voice.
"I-I-I'm h-here, I'm-I'm in m-my c-car but-but I d-don't th-think I c-c–I can't–" before she could get the words out he'd opened her car door, startling her more, but she was already reaching for him as he reached around her and undid her seat belt.
"Hey," He said quietly as her arms trembled around his neck, "it's okay, you're okay."
She was shaking so violently that Duke didn't even bother asking if she could stand on her own, he just hooked one arm under her legs and wrapped the other around her waist. He carried her from the car as she kept trying to talk to him, taking them down into the stateroom of the Rouge.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry, I-I was j-just–I c-couldn't–Th-there's j-just so–there's s-so much and-and I-I d-don't–how d-do you–,"
He sat them on the couch, Jennifer curling up into him, as he rocked her gently, "Sh, sh, Jen, it's okay."
She shook her head against his neck, still shaking and tightening her grip on him, "No. No, i-it's not, Duke! Wh-what if y-you–I-I d-don't want to lose y–"
He shifted slightly, nudging her head off of his shoulder, and held her face in his hands, "Hey. None of that."
"But–"
"Sh. Jennifer I'm here. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
She touched his face as she stared at him, her breathing slowing, if only slightly, and she nodded in response. He smiled slightly at her and kissed her eyes, swiping at the tears under her eyes with his thumbs, "Just…just focus on breathing, okay?"
She nodded again, moving her head from his hands so it rested on his shoulder and curling further into his lap. He rubbed her back as she took shaking breaths to try to calm down. Slowly, her breathing evened, until she fell asleep, her arms still tight around his neck.