By the time Jess was discharged and on her way out of the hospital with Trent and Scott, she was too drained to really think about how she felt about not going home.

Part of her knew she should be worrying about staying with Scott, fretting about being a burden or invading his space and having him decide she wasn't worth the headache once he saw what really went on with her at every hour of the day. Her housemates said she was a special brand of crazy sometimes but that they liked her despite her quirks. They were also their own brand of crazy, so it seemed a fair exchange. Scott, on the other hand, was nothing like her housemates and there was a genuine fear that once he saw more past the surface of who she was he'd cut ties.

She was already kicking herself for asking him and Trent to stay when the doc talked to her. How pathetic was she? She was pretty sure the answer was extremely pathetic, especially after filling out all the lifestyle and health questionnaires that seemed to only further highlight how terribly she looked after herself. At least she'd kept those private. She didn't want them to know how ridiculous she was.

With those dismal, self deprecating thoughts, she backpedaled from all the ground she'd made in believing Bravo had taken her in because they liked her and not because they felt like for some reason they had to.

Thankfully, none of that could surface right now as she stared out the window of Scott's truck. She'd cried enough to leave a damp spot on his shirt already and there was no way she was making more of a fuss because she was feeling so shitty about herself.

A traitorous little voice in the back of her head whispered that maybe her mom was right. Maybe she was hopeless at standing on her own two feet and there was no way out. She'd end up back home with the woman one way or another.

"Jess."

Scott drew her from the numb place in her head.

"Yeah." She kept her head against the window glass.

"If this isn't what you want, you just say so. I won't be offended and I'll take you to Ingrid. We'll figure out how to make things work there, if you want."

Somewhere in her head it clicked that she had a choice in all of this and that Scott was talking to her a little too gently again. Those two facts alone dragged the truth from her lips.

"I'm, ah, kinda scared to go home right now…is…is that ok?"

"I figured that was the case and yes. It's ok."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. You still have to put up with having Bravo and company mother henning you for the next couple weeks."

"H-how's it going to work…with you working and stuff…"

"We're still off on leave for another week or so. Then it's back to training and fairly typical days unless we get spun up. We'll figure that out. Don't worry about it."

"Do you think I should get a restraining order against my mom?"

A cop had been by, just before they left, to take her statement about what happened between Bravo and her mom. The lady had been lovely and supportive, even suggesting that she had grounds to get a restraining order. Jess hadn't been sure. It seemed so drastic.

"That's a decision only you can make."

"Right," Jess started to shut down again.

Scott made a soft grumbling noise before saying, "Look. If it were me, I'd go for it."

"It just seems…so…I don't know. Final? Dramatic?"

"Jess, think about what she's done. You have every right to want to keep her way."

Readjusting her head against the glass so it was cool in a new spot, grounding her with the texture and sensation, Jess mumbled, "I can't believe she spied on me. It's like…a whole new level for her."

"Yeah, it's pretty low."

"I don't know what to do."

"You have time to think, kid. It's not a problem that needs to be solved today."

They pulled into the drive of a small, white, one story house and Jess registered that they were there. She'd run past his house a few times now over the past few months whenever she went out, mapping a route that put her in 'friendly' territory at least seventy percent of the time.

Trent's car was already parked on the curb behind another truck.

"Stay there. Don't try to get out yet." Scott ordered when she reached for the door handle.

She waited as he circled round to her door and opened it.

"Arm around my neck."

"I can walk-"

"Not up the stairs you aren't, and I'm not gonna lie to you, pipsqueak, but you're lookin pale again. Let's not push it today, alright?"

The weight of truth in his words crashed heavily on Jess and she suddenly felt every inch of aching exhaustion in her bones.

She slipped an arm around his burly neck and shoulders like he'd asked and let him pluck her from the truck.

"There really isn't anything to you, is there." He commented gruffly as they walked up the path to the stairs.

"So they tell me," Jess didn't mean to say the defeated words out loud, but it left her lips clearly into the air around them with all the misery she'd been bottling up for the last two hours.

"I'm teasing you…you know that, right?" Scott slowed his step a little and Jess could hear the abnormal uncertainty in his voice. If she'd braved a glance she would have seen regret coloring the lines around his mouth as he put the pieces together. He'd overstepped.

Closing her eyes so she couldn't see the look on his face, Jess dropped her head onto his shoulder and mumbled, "Sorry…I know that…I'm just tired…i-it's ok."

"Hm," Scott climbed the small number of stairs. "Fair enough. Let's get you inside, get some food and water into you and then you can sleep."

Trent opened the door for them, and a few moments later Jess was brought through the small entryway and into a cozy open concept kitchen/living room area. It was warm, orderly and there was at least half of Bravo already in the kitchen, joking around as they chopped veggies and washed fruit.

"Do you want it quiet and to be by yourself, or background noise with people." Scott asked as they moved further into the small house. "Options are the couch or the bed in the spare room."

"People, please?." Jess whispered. "I-is that ok? I'm know I'm not really great company right now-"

The idea of being alone was unbearable despite her growing fear that they would suddenly decide this was too much hassle and send her packing.

"Don't need to be good company. I spend time with Sonny. He's about a hundred times worse than you could ever be when he's bad company and we still like him. Come to think of it, Jason can get be pretty awful company some days too, and we definitely all still like him."

Scott plopped her down carefully onto one of the two couches, tugged her shoes off, guided her painlessly so she was curled in a comfy position and then flicked the only throw blanket over her.

"Close your eyes for a bit. Ignore the morons in the kitchen. We'll wake you when it's time to eat."

Tears started to pool again.

"I can't stop crying!" She muttered as she rubbed at the wet trails angrily.

"Hey," A hand took her wrist firmly when she rammed her palm a little too hard into her eye. "It's ok. You're just tired. Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Can't help it. It's a gift." Jess said without any real humor despite the attempt.

Scott chuckled anyway and shook his head as he patted her on the head twice, "Oh, I know."

Hearing him laugh made Jess feel a little better and a smile twitched around her mouth as she snuggled into the couch.

"Get some rest. Don't worry about the clowns over there. They understand better than you might think."

"Thank you," Jess whispered, finally tilting her chin so she could look at him properly. "For all this…you really didn't have to."

Something sparked in his eye, replacing some of the well hidden concern and he smirked. "I told you. Don't thank me yet. You'll be tired of all of us by day three, at the latest. I guarantee it. And yes. We did. We're not very good at only going half in on anything."

With Jess tucked away on the couch, Metal went to see the damage to his cooking space. He'd been a little reluctant to let them in there without his supervision, but it was for Jess, so he sucked it up.

"How's she doing?" Brock asked quietly, glancing over at the small lump on the couch.

"Exhausted. Emotional. Lots of tears. About what you'd expect given the circumstances." Metal was careful to keep his voice down. "Got a look in her eye I don't like."

"What do you mean?" Trent's attention switched from scolding Sonny and Clay for throwing food at each other.

Metal shrugged as he flicked on the kettle. "Don't know. Just a look that's way too detached and distant. You'll know it when you see it."

"Give her a few nights. She'll probably even out," Trent mused. "We still thinking about a movie or do you think she's too tired to have us all here."

"Think there's a chance she'll want some bodies around her," Metal picked through the new items in his cupboards that the boys had picked up and found the tea he was looking for. "She wasn't thrilled with the idea of being alone when I offered it as an option."

"So movie night?" Sonny asked hopefully, bouncing into the conversation like the child that he was some days.

"We'll ask her, but yeah. I'm thinking it might be a go," Metal tossed the teabag in a mug and poured the water in.

"Hey, didn't know you were a tea drinker, big guy," Sonny peered at it with a mix of interest and disgust. "What is that, chamomile?"

"Some mix of that, yeah. And I don't. Jess does. Even when her cupboards were bare at Christmas she still had an alarming collection of tea and coffee." Pausing as he went to take Jess the tea, Metal added with a low, warning growl, "Do me a favor and don't tease her too much for a bit."

"Aww, but I love teasin her!" Sonny all but whined.

"Yeah, well, if you make her cry then you're dealing with making it better on your own."

"You know, I kinda like him better when he's not being a momma bear over his little cub," Sonny whispered to Brock as Metal moved off.

Brock handed him a plate and said, "You're gonna get your ass handed to you if you aren't careful, and it won't just be by him."

"Alright, alright, message received loud and clear. Teasing to the minimum. Promise. You all act like I don't know how to be sensitive!"

"You don't, Sonny." Clay smirked.

"I assure you, each and every one of my lady friends thinks that the heart of Sonny Quinn is extremely sensitive."

"Sonny, shut up and take this to Jess," Trent tossed a bowl of tempting berries into his hands with a half laugh. "She at least thinks you're amusing, most days."

An hour later the boys had managed to entice Jess into eating a bowl of blueberries, two cups of applesauce, a smoothie (with a decent serving of spinach and protein powder hidden in it) and finally some more soup with her meds.

Their method was simple and effective. Distraction via a movie of her choice, which ended up being Thor Ragnarock, and quietly placing new items of food within her arms reach. After that it was as simple as nudging her with foot or wordlessly poking her whenever she stopped eating for too long.

After the tea Scott had brought her and the bowl of berries that Sonny presented to her, Jess started to feel better again. Once the berries were gone the other food grew more appetizing and with each light, unassuming thing she ate, her stomach twisted less and less. Things didn't feel so rotten and she perked up a bit. She was still unexplainably shy with them all of the sudden, but she found herself properly enjoying the company instead of worrying about everything under the sun.

She sat tucked between Sonny and Metal for the first half of the movie because when she got up to use the washroom and come back to eat, she'd moved to the middle of the empty couch. That had opened the opportunity for some friendly crowding on Sonny's part when he came to sit down and an avenue of escape was offered on Scott's part on her other side. The man sent quiet warning glares at the Texan whenever he started to get a little much for Jess's energy level that night.

By the midpoint mark of the movie Jess was drowsy and trying not to tip sideways.

"Should we be putting you to bed there, little ocean-fearing buddy?" Sonny asked when she tipped into his shoulder. He would have lifted his arm and let her fall asleep against him, but she jerked awake so quickly when her head dropped that he didn't have the chance.

Jess fought to make her eyes focus on the screen, sleepiness chasing away the shy feelings from earlier.

"No…not yet," She said, fighting the soreness of her abdomen and temptation to go to bed, "I wanna wait for the 'get help' part…aww…poor Hulk…"

Beside her she felt Scott and Sonny shift so she had more room and then a hand gently grabbed the top of her head and tugged her ever so slightly sideways.

She turned her head and saw Scott had a pillow waiting just like last time. He didn't look at her, just kept watching the movie and letting her decide for herself while keeping the inviting weight of his hand on the top of her head.

Damn it. He'd found her biggest weakness.

Jess gave in without much of a mental debate. She knew Scott felt her nod because he moved his hand from her head and looped his arm around her back instead to help her curl up on her side. Sonny automatically snagged her legs up with one hand and set them across his knees so she could stretch out a little more as Scott slouched down with his feet on the coffee table. Her head ended up being cradled comfortably on the pillow as it rested against his middle.

"Am I the only one who thinks Valkyrie is like Lisa?" Clay suddenly asked, pretending not to notice the two skullcrushers treating Jess like she was a princess. He was dying to give them a hard time, but didn't have the heart to do so with Jess there.

"Oh, there are absolutely some similarities." Trent agreed.

"Watching this definitely confirms that Metal is the Hulk," Brock commented, knowing he could get away with it without any retaliation right now. Scott wouldn't budge to take a swat at him as long as Jess had her head resting on him. "They even have the same mannerisms."

Jess snorted on a giggle, making the comment worth it.

"Just remember what Hulk does to his friends, little man," Metal rumbled, dropping a hand onto Jess's head and absentmindedly starting to fiddle with her hair, palming it back from her forehead slowly. "I could slam you into the ground just like him any day."

"Did you know they basically made up dialogue on the go for this whole movie?" Jess asked sleepily as she watched through half closed eyes. She'd stayed quiet most of the movie except to snort back a giggle or laugh occasionally. Tension slipped away from her body just like it had the last time Metal brushed her hair back from her forehead at the hospital, confirming that it was her kryptonite and the quickest way to coax her into falling asleep or calm her down.

"Did they?" Sonny was genuinely newly informed of that titbit. "Well shoot, that just makes this even more of my new favorite movie!"

"Uh huh. That's why it's so funny and doesn't seem forced." Jess told him as she rubbed one of her eyes and yawned. Dang it, she was never going to make it to the 'get help' part.

She held on, barely, and had a good little giggle over her favorite part before finally accepting defeat and closing her eyes.

Metal kept her asleep with his simple method and didn't move until the movie was over.

Without a word, they all set about different tasks. Trent did a quiet vitals check for Jess. Clay cleaned up the living room. Brock washed the few dishes that were left. Sonny slipped down the hall to the spare room and made sure the covers of the bed were thrown back. The plush blankets and pillows were Jess's. He'd brought them along when he stopped at her house for a few more of the things Naima sent him for. There was nothing better than having your own comforts when you were feeling crummy.

Once that was done, Trent picked Jess up from where she was properly snuggled against Metal and carried her to her room.

She mumbled something incoherent when he lifted her, half protesting being moved from the warmth of her spot before burrowing into his shoulder instead and sighing. Trent's heart melted a little even though he grew up with four sisters and liked to think he was immune.

Metal was right. She was too light and he could count her ribs.

While the others let themselves out, Metal followed Trent down the short hall and helped get Jess tucked in.

"Right," Trent said softly as soon as the door was closed. "I'll be on the couch. Oh, and Brock said to watch out for nightmares."

Metal rubbed his face and nodded, "Yeah. It's probably the meds and fuckin stress over her mom."

"She seemed better towards the end."

"Yeah. We'll see how she does tomorrow."