"You know, when I agreed to do a triathlon with you I did so under the impression that it was going to be swimming in a lake or a pool, not the ocean."

"We live in Virginia Beach," Zoe laughed. "Why would you think the swimming portion would be in a lake?"

"I don't know, I was being optimistic?" Jess shivered as they descended onto the beach and the roll of the waves grew louder. "Why can't we just do a duathlon?"

"You are so lame, you know that? It's just water! You'll be fine!"

"There are sharks and jellyfish along with goodness knows what else out there!" Jess argued. "And it's cold!"

"Chiiickennnn. Thought you were from Maine and that 'the cold didn't bother you'?" Zoe skipped down towards the water, utterly in her element. The girl was practically born in the ocean. "Come on! It'll be great and you're wearing a wetsuit, so you'll be warm and float better."

There weren't that many people on the beach this early, and Jess had secretly been hoping no one would be there to see how much of a baby she was. Luck didn't seem to be on her side today.

"Hey, looks like they're running some drills over there," Zoe called cheerily. "That's cool!"

Jess followed her finger point and felt dread bubbling up inside. Military dudes. Great. They'd probably be laughing at her in no time.

Right now they were standing together getting yelled at by someone, but looked ready to get in the water.

"Are you sure we can be down here while they are?"

"Oh heck yeah! If it's not marked off then we can be here. I've done it tons of times! They're great competition too if they start swimming buoys." Zoe was already dropping her stuff and stripping down to her swimwear. "Jess…relax! They're doing their own thing and aren't paying any attention to us. Besides…aren't those the guys you go sit with sometimes at the Bulkhead?"

Head snapping back to take a closer look, Jess couldn't decide if she felt better or worse.

"Shit. It is them!"

"Well, then see? You've got no problems! It's just your knights in shining armor!"

Jess glared at her housemate as she tossed her stuff on the sand. "They are not my knights in shining armor. They're friends. That's it."

"You spent Christmas with them and now you get invited to family events like every other week. Sounds like you guys are all more than friends. Wonder which one likes you the best!"

"It is not every other week and ew. Don't be gross. It's absolutely not like that and you know it. They're like brothers and uncles to me! Don't be so weird!"

"Awww…that's really cute and so wholesome! Maybe I should start singing about it, REALLY LOUD!" Zoe threatened as she danced backwards into the swallows of the ocean.

"Don't you dare!" Jess cried, panicking because she knew with the way the wind was blowing their voices were going to carry better to the navy men down the beach.

"Get in the water and I won't!"

"You are a horrible person!" Jess hurried down to the water's edge, grimacing at the mounds of seaweed spotting the beach. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a few heads turn towards them slightly.

"Ah, but you still love me."

"Not always!" Jess cast a worried look up the beach at the group training. She calmed a little when they seemed to be packing up. She didn't want them thinking she was following them around and if she was lucky they didn't recognize her.

"Singing will commence in-"

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Geez you are such a jerk!" Jess waded in slowly, watching as her feet disappeared when the water got deeper. The water wasn't that clear with all the recent storms they'd had. "Eww! I just stepped on something squishy!"

"Get over it!"

"I can't do this. I'm going to drown before we ever make the first buoy."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "You are an exceptional swimmer in the pool, Jess. You'll be just fine."

"Ahhhhh….I hate this!" Jess followed Zoe further into the water, arms pulled to her chest.

Zoe laughed, put on her goggles and dove under the next wave with all the grace of a dolphin. She surfaced a few feet further out. "Hurry up!"

Completely rational fears flooded Jess's mind as she reluctantly put on her goggles and followed. She got ten strokes of free swim in before she turned her head to breath and got a face full of salt water.

Coughing and spluttering, Jess stopped and went to put her foot down only to find she couldn't touch anymore.

"Zoe! Wait up!" She called between coughs as she tread water. Something poky and slimy touched her leg and got tangled briefly around her ankle when she kicked. Jess squealed way louder than she meant to. "ZOE!"

The other girl popped her head up and turned back, treading water effortlessly in the rocking waves. "What?!"

"Something touched me!"

"It was probably just seaweed!"

"Ewww! No, it's a rotting fish! Ewewewewew!" Jess splashed at the floating carcass tangled in seaweed frantically, trying to move it away from her.

Unable to see the bottom and feeling the current tugging her out further toward the immensely of the sea, Jess shook her head. "Nope. I can't. I can't do this. You go. I'll forfeit."

Zoe laughed again and started swimming back to her even as Jess was retreating back to the beach. "Jess…you gotta give it a better chance than that!"

'Nope!" Jess shuddered a little more dramatically than she meant to as she tried to shake off the recalled feeling of the thing touching her. "I'm not going back in there. Brrrr…that was disgusting!"

"Quitter!" Zoe called.

Jess turned back to face her and walked backwards out of the water. "I am not a quitter. I just have a very healthy sense of survival and I'm not getting eaten by sea monsters."

"You are ridiculous! It was just a dead fish! What kind of a tough, backwoods hunting girl are you!?"

"The kind that doesn't swim in the ocean!" Jess crossed her arms over her chest and shivered, dripping in the early morning air.

"Oh, come on, Jess! Pleaassseee!? It'll be fun once you get onto it!"

"No friggin way. You aren't getting me back in that water."

"I bet your friends could get you back in the water."

"Leave them out of this!"

"Maybe I'll have to ask if they'll toss you in for me! I'm sure they wouldn't approve of you quitting so quickly…especially not big bad navy guys like them."

"Don't even think about it!" Jess growled.

Zoe opened her mouth to say something, but before she could her eyes traveled just over Jess's shoulder and a huge smile crossed her face.

Unnerved, Jess forced herself to stay still. "I know you're just being dumb and trying to get me to look over my shoulder."

Covering her mouth with her hand and holding in a laugh, Zoe kept looking over her shoulder. "If you say so!"

"Stop. There's nothing there! They already left the beach!"

She looked over her shoulder too and jumped out of her skin while Zoe peeled with laughter.

"Sshhhittt!" Jess danced back towards the water a few steps as the seven guys behind her laughed. "How in the hell do you do that!?"

"It's pretty easy actually." Jason told her, looming the closest in the half circle around her. "You don't really pay that close attention."

Jess made a face.

"Thanks," She said dryly.

"Whatcha doing out here?" Sonny asked.

"She's being a baby and a quitter, that's what." Zoe answered from the water, shaking her black curls and grinning when Jess glared at her.

"Oh, shut up. I am not!" Jess huffed and picked a piece of seaweed off her arm with a grimace. "I'm not quitting. I'm just taking a break."

"Yeah? For how long?" Zoe asked smugly.

"Maybe a few minutes. Hours? Days? Who knows, it could be months."

"Is this for that triathlon you mentioned a while back?" Scott asked casually as the group shifted the semi circle.

"Yes…hey…what are you guys doing…?"

"And this is the first time you've actually gotten in the water to train?" Clay caught her attention now, bringing her head to the other side of the growing circle.

"Of course not!" Jess tried not to be offended. "I've gotten in the pool a bunch over the past few weeks!"

"But you're only just getting in open water now?" Brock shook his head. "You might want to rethink that strategy."

"I have!" Jess said brightly. "I'm switching to a duathlon. No ocean required!"

"I think you're giving up too easily."

Jess flinched at Scott's voice suddenly so close beside her and looked up to find he'd circled round just to her left.

Eyes widening, Jess ducked to her right towards the only gap left in the tightening circle, holding up a finger and singing, "No…nonononono. You stay right there! I'm not going back in! There are dead fish and other gross things out there!"

"Ah, hell, Jess," Sonny said, "There are a whole heck of a lot more bodies out there rotting than just little fish."

"That is true." Ray said conversationally.

"Huge whales." added Trent.

"Old ships and planes," said Brock thoughtfully.

"Human remains." Said Scott utterly deadpan before allowing a tiny smirk when Jess shot him a look that said, 'Seriously, dude!?'.

"Yeah. Metal would know." Clay laughed. "He put some of them there."

"Look." Jess would have been nearly out of the ring now except they kept shifting 'casually' and getting her closed off again, "First off, that got a little darker than it needed to be. We are not in the DC Universe. Second, none of that makes me feel any better about going back out there! Thirdly, getting ambushed and tossed into the ocean was not on the welcome brochure when you guys took me in!"

"You clearly didn't read it properly." Said Clay. "It was front and center, first page, third paragraph. 'Brothers of Bravo may choose to harass and tease adopted members at any point of their choosing, including but not limited to; scaring the shit out of them, dunking them in water and giving them a hard time about everything'."

The chuckles that came from around her didn't help the rush of adrenaline crawling up her back. The gap was closing. They were cutting her escape, those assholes. A mix of affection and genuine dread turned in Jess's gut as her heartrate picked up. This was hilarious, terrifying and fun all at once.

"Don't you have places to be?" Jess asked hopefully as she kept looking for a way out. "Other people to torment? This is hardly fair, you know that right?"

"Nah, we're all done for the day. Been out here a while." Jason told her, smiling. "But, she's right, boys. This isn't exactly fair or much of a challenge for us."

"Thank you!"

"We'll turn it into one last training exercise. Here's how it'll go," Jason kept talking and Jess swore loudly, looking up at the heavens. "Jess, if you can make it to the rocks down there we'll leave you alone and we won't toss you in the water. If we catch you, you have to swim out to that buoy. Twice."

"That is not-" Jess looked over at Zoe who still sat in the water, taking it all in. "Zoe!? A little help?"

Zoe snorted, "What the hell am I going to do? Besides, this is the best thing that's happened all week! I'm not gonna interfere!"

"You are the worst friend ever!"

Jess flicked her eyes around the group nervously and considered the distance she would have to cover across the beach.

"How far do you think you'll get, Jess?" Zoe called cheerily.

"Not far enough," Jess murmured woefully before feeling a spark of fire return that she'd started showing around her friends in the recent months. "Who put you guys in charge of making me get in the water anyway!?"

"Um, you did." Trent said calmly.

"What!? WHEN!?"

"Day before Christmas you told Scott you might need some help getting in the water because the ocean scares the shit out of you," Jason told her, clearly enjoying himself way too much at her expense like the rest of them. "By default that gives him the right to enlist us to help."

"This is not what I meant!" Jess spluttered as waved her hands around, gesturing at their 'looming' figures. She focused in on Scott and shook her head without any true irritation. "And you! First you snitched on me to Naima about my eating habits, and now this?"

Jason perked up instantly, "Wait, hold up. What eating habits are these?"

Realizing her mistake too late, Jess muttered, "Oh, for the love of-"

Glancing over her shoulder again at the rocks, Jess bit back a groan. It was too far.

"Damn. She's thinking about running, boys." Sonny drawled. "Get ready, boys."

"You are all the worst." She growled, taking off through the gap they'd opened for her and sprinting as fast as she could.

"Go Jess! GO! You're doing great! Sort of!" Zoe bellowed.

Sprinting hadn't ever been something she enjoyed, but Jess was determined to give it her all because not only did she not want to swim the buoy twice, the tiny competitive side of her wanted to outrun them and make them eat crow.

She didn't.

Less than 200 meters later Jess was caught around the middle and lifted into the air as both bodies came to a stop.

Then Sonny practically dropped her back on her feet again and proceeded to double over, hands on his knees, sides heaving.

Jess stared at him, only puffing a little from the short sprint. She was surprised he was the first to catch her. "Hey, I thought you hated running!"

"I do hate runnin." Sonny wheezed.

The others were closing now too and suddenly it occurred to Jess that Sonny had let her go. Did that really count as having caught her?

"Sonny! You had her! What'd you let her go for?!" Jason yelled, picking up speed again as Jess grinned with a wild spark of hope and took off again.

"Sorry Jas," Sonny waved the rest past him before half-heartedly tagging along.

Laughing now, Jess could nearly taste triumph as the rocks drew closer.

Almost there.

There was heavy running behind her. Someone was catching up. She risked a glance over her shoulder to see Jason and Scott nearly within arms reach.

Eye's widening, Jess tried to push harder, gasping, "Shit!"

Hands grabbed her from both sides, dragging her only a little roughly to a stop.

"And, you are caught. Again. Time for a swim." Jason puffed as he and Metal wasted no time propelling her towards the water, one on either side of her.

"I'm not going back in." Jess gasped tugging her arms uselessly as they neared the surf.

Jason laughed. "A deal's a deal. You lost. You swim."

"That wasn't a fair deal!" Jess cried indignantly as cold water rushed over her again and they dragged her deeper with each step.

"Sure it was." Scott said lightly, still catching his breath. "You nearly made it too. Shouldn't have looked back. You lost that tiny edge you had."

"Ughhh…" Jess started to tread water when they let her go in open water where she couldn't touch. They were further out than she'd gone before and discomfort kicked into high gear. "Ok…but, actually I am genuinely terrified to be out here right now. Can we please go back in?"

"Nothing to be scared of." Jason told her seriously as he checked to see if the rest of his men were doing what they were supposed to and coming into the water as well. "Just don't think about it and you'll be fine."

"Just don't think about it!?" Jess squawked, "After all those lovely imagines you guys put in my head about-"

A wave caught her in the face, cutting her off. She spluttered, coughing and spitting the water from her mouth. She inhaled a lot of it.

"You're alright." A hand caught her elbow, keeping her above water. "Just get it out and breathe."

"Thank you," Jess croaked.

"You good?" Jason asked, letting her go when she nodded. "Good. Now start swimming or we'll leave you out here by yourself."

"I'm starting to really understand those drawbacks Clay mentioned." Jess moaned as she spied the buoy, put her goggles on and started swimming. Around her, eight others joined her, including Zoe who had invited herself to the party. The other girl blazed past them all like the well trained open-water swimmer that she was. Clay took that as a challenge so he and Brock tried to catch up.

Jess only made it halfway before the dark depths got in her head and she stopped swimming.

"Come on. Keep going, you're almost there."

"I still have to swim back again!" Jess whispered, all playful complaints and enjoyment from before gone from her face. "I can't do this. I need to get out!"

"You are doing this, Jess." Metal told her patiently. "Just get out of your head and you'll be ok. Promise. We're all right here."

"I don't like this!" Jess said, a panic welling up in her chest.

"Neither does Sonny!" Trent told her, getting splashed by the Texan as he swam past them, not stopping to talk. "He's scared of sharks and he sinks like a stone in the water."

"Stop sharin my deep dark secrets," Sonny yelled as he paused in his regular stroke to lift his head up.. "Hurry up, Jess. Longer you stay still the easier target you are for some hungry sea creature. Let's get this over with. Besides, you got Full Metal swimming next to you. He'll just punch whatever creature tries to eat ya and it'll be fine."

"You need to work on that pep talk there, buddy." Trent said as he followed.

Seeing the logic in Sonny's reasoning, Jess forced herself to keep swimming.

"I still hate this." She muttered before starting out again through the waves.

Scott and Jason stayed on either side of her and Ray swam a few feet in front, boxing her in. By the time she got back to shore she was cold, tired and mentally drained. She was the last one on dry land.

"See! That wasn't so bad was it?" Zoe looked way too chipper for someone who had swam laps around Jess and raced two Navy Seals to the second buoy. "Only once more now!"

Jess sat down on the sand with a soft groan. "I kinda hate you right now, Zoe."

"Hey! What are you doing?" Jason swatted her shoulder lightly. "No sitting down. We're heading back out. Let's go. Waves aren't getting any smaller."

Knowing better than to argue, no matter how dang tempting it was, Jess hauled herself up muttering, "I should never have gotten out of bed today."

"Just some friendly advice, but if you keep that kind of attitude up and you'll end up doing it a third time." Clay warned lightly as he passed her and headed back into the water.

The second round was ten times harder. She could triple the needed distance in the pool comfortably, but out in the waves she had to fight twice as hard to make ground. They stayed in a pack this time, grounded closer together in a way that made swimming less scary and also harder all at once. She had to be way more careful not to kick anyone in the face and swim in a straight line.

"Keep track of where you're headed." Scott told her when she stopped for a second, utterly exhausted and only three quarters of the way there. "Track the buoy every few strokes so you don't go the wrong way. Don't rely on the people around you to know where they are going when you're actually doing the event. They might not know what they're doing. Track it yourself."

Jess just nodded and kept going, plodding along one arm after another and kicking. Three waves later, right by the buoy she got another face full of water when she missed her timing for breathing on a bigger wave.

Choking slightly, Jess had to stop swimming, this time struggling to stay above water.

"Okay. That's it. You're done. Come here." Jason said, stopping the group and coming towards her.

"I'll swim back." Jess growled through her last cough, moving to start swimming again and only half believing she could make it back to shore. "Came this far."

"You really going to be that stubborn about it after all the hassle of getting you in the water to begin with?" Sonny called. "Jas is offering you an easy way back to shore."

"I'm fine." Jess lied. She hated feeling weak. Zoe was still full of piss and vinegar, splashing back towards shore like a powerful machine. They'd planned to swim two buoys in a row when they started down here today. Jess had been utterly confident that she'd trained enough for that. She could swim three times the distance with decent speeds even when she was in calmer water!

Now here she was, weak as a drowned kitten and choking on her own pride.

A hand came around her elbow and she was tugged through the water into someone like it was nothing.

"Hey!" Jess protested, turning to look at the person and finding herself face to face with Full Metal. He didn't look overly happy with her and for some reason that was so much worse than any of the extremely loud lectures she's gotten from her family over the years. She shut down instantly and whispered, "Sorry."

"I admire the spirit, kid, but you're being stupid. You're taking a break."

"I-can…" Jess trailed off her weak argument when she spotted the warning in her friend's eye and she had to accept the realities. She wasn't strong enough to make it back and as humbling as that was, Jess had to accept it. "Fine. Can't."

"Good choice." Scott stated with a tiny bit of gruff sarcasm. "Not that we'd give you one out here on this."

The bite in the sarcasm dug much deeper than was probably intended, but Jess was tired and feeling dumb enough already, so she took it to heart.

"Alright boys." Jason's voice was close to her other side now. "Time to practice water rescue swimming. Jess, you're the body. Let's get moving. Timer is running."

"I'm sorry." Jess mumbled again, a flush making it up her cheeks which was impressive given how cold she was.

"What are you apologizing for?" Ray asked as he moved in to take his turn as 'rescuer'. "This is an exercise for us as much as it is for getting you over your fear of the ocean, now relax and play the part. You're not helping us while we do this, you're not moving, or kicking. Got it? Let us do the work or there's no point to it."

They took turns swimming her back towards shore with varied techniques, working quietly and with complete focus on their 'mission'. It was polar opposite to what she was used to with them, as if a flip had been switched and she was with completely different people. In turn Jess didn't speak unless spoken to, afraid to mess up.

Metal went last and when Trent passed her off to him, Jess unconsciously tensed because by now she had convinced herself they were all mad at her, him especially.

"You doing ok?" He asked as his arm looped up under her and started towing.

"Yeah." Jess kept looking up at the sky.

"That didn't sound too convincing and you're too tense, kid. May as well be dragging a plank of wood through the water."

"Sorry." Jess forced herself to relax and mimic an unconscious person.

"You know, it could be worse." Scott commented. "Jason could have had us towing you in using a technique where both bodies go under and resurface at regular intervals to breathe."

"That sounds terrifying!" Jess went tense again at the thought and Scott shook her a little, wordlessly reminding her to relax.

"It's not the most fun, but it gets the job done when you're dragging someone heavy." Scott stopped swimming. "We're three quarters back. Jason said if you were up to it you could swim the rest if you want to, but you have to stay with the group. We're doing water to dry land in partners for the last bit. You're too small for it to be much of a practice, so you'll just have to tag along behind or off to the side as we come in. Got it?"

"Yes." Jess nodded and started treading water when he let her go. Her muscles hated her for it, but it wasn't as bad after the break.

She followed them, only vaguely interested in how the whole exercise worked because she was too focused on moving. By the time she got to shore her legs were shaking with the effort to support her and she was freezing.

"You made it!" Zoe cheered, utterly oblivious to Jess's embarrassment over having to get towed in most of the way. "Man, it got wavey! Good thing we were out with them! But hey! You did the distance we'll go for the Tri three times in a row, so you should be just fine on the day off! Good job!"

Jess made a non communicative noise as she peeled off her wetsuit down to her swimwear and wrapped in her towel, trying to get warm. Her hoodie and sweatpants went over top soon after.

"Excellent swim, girls!" Trent said, smiling as he passed them on his way off the beach.

"Yeah, thanks for letting us join you!" Brock agreed, drying his hair at the same time as walking after Trent. "You did great!"

"Aw. They are so nice!" Zoe whispered, watching them leave. "No wonder you like spending time with them!"

Emotions started to swell up for seemingly no good reason and Jess started to pack up her stuff a little more forcefully than she needed to, avoiding eye contact as Ray, Clay and Sonny filed past next.

Three shadows paused next to her.

"Hey."

Jess forced herself to look up at Sonny. He had his fist out for a knuckle bump. "Good work there, little ocean fearing buddy. You crushed it out there."

"Don't really feel like I did." Jess mumbled, half-heartedly meeting the bump with her own fist.

"That's just the exhaustion talking, Jess." Clay said quietly as he and Sonny moved off with some uncertainty.

Ray nodded, holding out his own fist bump. "Clay's right. You'll feel better about it later. You should be proud of yourself."

Jess managed a semi real smile. "Thanks guys. See you around?"

The three exchanged an uncomfortable look before Ray took point.

"Guess no one mentioned it yet, but…our deployment got bumped up. We're headed out tomorrow."

"Oh." Jess heard herself saying. Inside she was shattered. She'd been purposely not thinking about them leaving the country soon for months at a time into a war zone. Naima had mentioned it was coming up, Jess just hadn't processed it yet. "Right. I-I guess I won't see you for a while then."

"Not for about three to four months." Clay told her. "But, we'll be back, so keep our table warm at the Bulkhead, ok?"

"Yeah, don't let any little chumps steal it." Said Ray a little too lightly and smiling.

"Right." Jess nodded. "I'll take care of it."

"Take care of yourself, sweet Jess!" Sonny waved as he walked off. "Keep away from any boys while we're away. We like to vet these fellows and hold them over an open fire for a bit before they get to date our sisters."

Jess stared after them, motionless with stuff hanging half out of her bag still.

"You ok, Jess?" Zoe asked softly. "Jess?"

"I don't know." Jess said, her voice sounding fuzzy in her own ears.

"Why wouldn't she be ok?"

Jason and Scott's approach startled her out of her trance a bit and she fumbled to keep backing her bag and mind numb and reeling.

"They just said you were getting deployed early." Zoe answered for her, all brightness lacking from her usually sweet and bubbly tone.

"Right. That." Jason watched Jess try and fail to zip her bag up twice before walking over and taking it from her shaking hands. He closed it on the first try. "Zoe, would you give us a minute?"

"Sure…Jess, I'll be in the car." Zoe hurried off, casting a worried backward glance at her friend as she went.

Once the three of them were alone, Jason said, "Look at me, Jess."

She bit her lips together and inspected her sweater instead, picking sand off of it uselessly.

"Come on." Jason stepped closer, speaking gentler than before. "Look up. That's it. What are those? Tears? Get over here."

Jess fought a losing battle against the sob ripping up her throat and muffled it in Jason's shirt when he pulled her into a hug.

"Hey…it's ok." He said, cupping the back of her head and rubbing her back with the other hand. "It's going to be ok. I promise."

"I'm sorry-"

"Cut that out. No apologies. This got a little sprung on you and you're tired." Jason told her in an extremely serious 'dad' voice. "Now why are you crying?"

"I don't know!"

"Oh good." Jason tightened his arms. "Then let me give you the same speech I give Emma and Mikey. We're headed into a war zone, yeah, but with brothers we trust more than anything watching our back every step of the way. We'll be ok, Jess. Alright?"

Jess nodded and tried not to cling too tight to one of the seven men she'd grown to appreciate and love so damn much.

"I'm going to let you and Full Metal here talk for a bit, cause I think he's got some more he'd like to say to you, but Jess? Don't get lost in the negative. We'll be home in no time. Period. Got it?"

Still crying as he gently broke away, Jess murmured, "Got it."

"See you around, kid."

Jason left and Metal approached her silently, face expressionless as he studied her.

"Wanna know what the only thing that scares me is?" He asked, utterly deadpan as he pulled her into a bear hug that she willingly returned.

Jess sniffled, "What."

"Me."

Jess's crying paused as she processed the words and then she started to laugh and cry at the same time.

"You're going to look after yourself while we're away. Got it?" Scott's voice was rougher than normal. "Eat right, don't stay up too late playing those damn games and get out of that house more than once a day."

Jess nodded mutely.

"And you're going to keep swimming out there and do that Tri. We didn't make you go out there today for nothing and the only reason we pushed so hard was because we knew today was the only chance until after we got back."

"You guys are all going to come back safe, right?" Jess asked, knowing it wasn't a promise any of them could truly make her and still wanting him to lie to her.

"Sure we'll be safe. We're the most dangerous SOB's you've ever met, kid. Nothing's gonna happen to us."

"I really love you guys." Jess sobbed, the truth popping out before she could stop it.

"Good thing too, cause I think we're all pretty dang fond of you too, kid." Scott squeezed her tighter, driving home the translation of fond.