I have a lot of personal head-canons when it comes to the ADJL universe. Mainly, I envision the dragons as larger and more animalistic. If you're coming here from my Secret Trio comic, this takes place before the events of my comic. But after the events of the show, so general spoiler warning. Specially, this story references events from the Hong Kong Longs.

Jake was stuck babysitting Haley once again. He was idly flipping through the TV channels, desperately trying to find something good to watch before he started eating dinner. It was warmed up leftovers from a meal his mom made yesterday: Char Siu with broccoli over rice. Haley, whom he was only vaguely keeping on eye on, was in the other room at the kitchen table. Haley had been irritable lately, probably because she was so tired. After a heated argument amongst her children one day, Mom admitted to Jake that Haley had been having nightmares lately. Jake was still pretty pissed because he'd had his fair share of nightmares after becoming the American Dragon, too. Susan urged him to be sympathetic towards Haley and asked him to babysit her while they were away for the weekend. Apparently, Haley had been spending almost every night in their parent's bed. So, although she didn't outright say it, Jake had a feeling they weren't even going somewhere fun. They were probably just booking a motel and getting a good nights' sleep.

If he were honest, he was surprised. It had been a while since his parents went out for a date. His family had been on edge ever since the Dark Dragon incident. Their shared trauma almost overshadowed the joy of Dad finally being in on the dragon secret which, in of itself, was both a blessing and curse. On one hand, they no longer had to lie to him and figure out ways to sneak around. On the other hand, the once normal man's world had been turned totally upside down. There was now an entire world full of dangerous creatures that he learned were his son's enemies. Not to mention he almost fainted when he found out Haley had also started her dragon training. She was only meant to be a back-up for Jake. So, she was rarely in the field. However, the fact she had already been in the battlefield on multiple occasions upset Jake too, he had to admit. Yet, it was a lifestyle she had to get used to. It didn't take long for him, so he knew Haley would be just fine.

"JAKE!" Haley yelled from the kitchen, jolting the namesake up from the couch.

He put his food down in a panic, but that short amount of time allowed him to process that her tone of voice was demanding, not destressed.

When he got to the kitchen, Haley, not even looking up from her homework, asked, "What's seventy-two divided by eight?"

"Whaaat? Haley Long, Miss 'I know everything', needs help with her homework?" Jake responded.

"Just answer the question," Haley demanded, finally looking Jake in the eyes. Her glare deadly.

"Woah woah, chill," Jake said, sitting down at the table. "Aren't I supposed to help you and not just say the answer?"

"Whatever, you probably don't even know the answer." Haley dismissed him, going back to staring at the paper. Her eyes had bags under them, and her pencil shook ever so slightly in her hand.

Jake's initial instinct was to retort with another insult, but he knew that wouldn't help the situation right now. "How about you take a little break and come back to this later?"

"Do you know what time it is already? If I don't get this done, my grades with drop! Then Oliva Peers will have something else to hold over my head. Heck, I may even be kicked out of my school! It's for gifted children you know! I can't just skip homework like you do," Haley's rant probably would have continued if Jake didn't pick up said homework and burn it up with his dragon fire.

Leaving Haley to her horrified screaming, Jake returned to watching TV in the living room.

There was more yelling involved and quite a bit more fire-burnt items before the two settled in their own rooms. Jake occupied himself with his DS but soon grew bored and sleepy. Glancing at the clock, Jake was startled to see how late it had gotten. It had been two hours since he last saw or even heard from Haley. Jake hesitated since he was still a little heated from their argument. However, he took some deep breaths and tried to keep a level head. The words his mother spoke to him a year ago always stung him in moments like this, "She looks up to you, Jake." He was a magical defender and mediator for crying out loud. He knew he had to be the bigger person.

Jake wasn't mature enough to admit wrong-doing though. Not yet at least. Instead, he gathered what he needed to get ready for bed. He knew once he left his room and headed to the bathroom, Haley would make her appearance. They would have their traditional race to the bathroom. Jake would let her win, they'd throw some friendlier insults at each other, and then they would depart ways. Jake didn't know how to explain why that substituted as an apology, but he knew Haley would get it.

However, this isn't what happened. As a matter of fact, nothing happened. Jake got his PJs and headed to the bathroom. He made it there completely uninterrupted. Staring in the direction of Haley's bedroom door, Jake attempted to coax Haley out. Just in case she had headphones in or something. "Yo, giving me all the hot water tonight? You shouldn't have!" He teased loudly.

Haley not responding immediately sent him into a panic. He wasn't sure why exactly, but having a life full of danger and crime-fighting probably didn't help. "Ear of the dragon," he whispered to himself. He didn't need to say his powers out loud to use them, but it did help him focus; the actual important factor in using dragon abilities. Jake expected to hear the muffled sounds of a struggle or the wind blowing through an empty window. Instead, he heard crying. There was a tense couple of seconds where Jake didn't know what to do. Haley might be a kid, but she was a tough kid. He wasn't used to seeing or hearing, in this case, her crying. He was sure she cried plenty, but he wasn't usually the person she wanted to cry in front of. That thought stung.

Mustering his strength, Jake approached Haley's door. Releasing a sigh of tension, he opened the door. The lights were off so the room was dark. Jake didn't initially see Haley nor did he hear her cries anymore. Using his dragon powers, Jake was able to quickly find Haley hiding under her bed. She was curled up in dragon-form and turned away from him. "Haley?" Jake said, reaching to touch her. She let out a soft hiss when he touched her shoulder. "Come on Haley, you can't still be made at me?"

Haley rolled over to face Jake. "Of course I'm still mad, but that's not it..." she trailed off.

"Huh?"

"I stopped being mad-mad awhile ago, but I didn't want to be the first to apologize. Then, I thought I saw something in the closet. I'm sure it's nothing, but I froze! Can you check it out?"

"Come on out and let's check it out together," Jake said, extending his hand to his little sister.

"O-okay," she hesitantly took it and crawled out from under the bed.

Her closet was located on the other side of the bed from where the two stood. "Dragon-up!" Jake exclaimed as he transformed into a dragon and leapt over Haley's bed. Landing on all-fours, he used his tail to whip open the closet door. There was nothing in the closest except for Haley's perfectly color-organized clothes. Jake knew Haley was mainly worried about Shadow Demons, so he stuck his head in, illuminating the small space with fire-glow from is nostrils. "Cost is clear partner," Jake stated as he closed the closet door.

Haley's little dragon head was peering over the bed at him. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned on her bedside lamp. "I feel like I'm going crazy."

"Nah, well, maybe a little- but it's cool," Jake interjected as he climbed his large dragon form onto Haley's bed.

"No, it's not! I can't sleep, I can't eat, my grades are suffering! I was trying to nap a little bit ago because I was so tired, but I couldn't! How do I fix this? How am I ever to be the American Dragon if I can't handle even one battle without being helped or becoming traumatized!"

Jake winced at her use of words like "suffering" and "trauma." He felt like he was the only person in the world with an 8-year-old sister who used such language seriously.

Haley paced as she continued her rant, "If I don't get my grades up, I'll be kicked out of my gifted school, and if that happens, how will I get a scholarship for college?! Will I even have time for college? One of use has to go to college-"

Her last statement cut off by a pillow smacking her across the face.

"JAKE!" Haley screamed, grabbing the pillow and throwing it back.

But he deflected it with another pillow that he already had in his claws.

A short pillow fight broke out between them that ultimately ended in Haley's near suffocation. After Haley finally cried uncle, Jake let her up. They were both laughing as they ignored the total mess that was caused by two dragons having a minor war. Haley was apparently ready for round two though when she flicked the end of his snout with her tail and grabbed her PJs, running towards the bathroom. "Hey!" Jake yelled as he chased after her down the hall.

When they came back in the room, Haley collapsed on her bed. They had deformed back into humans when they got ready for bed. He could tell she was exhausted because she kept having to blink her eyes open while she was brushing her teeth earlier. Jake chuckled as he picked up the toppled over lamp on the floor and placed it back onto the nightstand. Seeing Haley's body dangling halfway off the bed, Jake grabbed her by the ankles and tossed her body further onto the bed. Haley laughing the whole time.

Turning off the lamp, Jake started walking toward the door.

"Wait!" Haley yelled as she sat straight up in bed.

"Geez Haley, do you know how many heart attacks you've given me today?" Jake said, recovering from the sudden mood shift.

"I know I need to get over it at some point, but-" Haley trained off, obviously embarrassed and Jake felt like he knew why.

"Okay, okay. Don't need to get sappy. Be right back," Jake shrugged as he left the room, returning a moment later with his blanket and pillow.

Squeezing onto Haley's small bed sounded like a nightmare, so he came up with a brilliant idea. "How 'bout we make a fort?" He asked as he begun pulling at Haley's sheets. She seemed unsure at first, probably hesitant to ruin her perfectly made bed. However, whatever fraction of childishness she had left in her took over. She got down off the bed and pulled over her lounge chair from the corner. Jake was impressed she had the self control to keep it clean instead of using it as a laundry basket like he did with his.

Haley's perfectionism turned Jake's sloppy tent idea into a legitimate fort with a comfortable pillow nest inside. "It's just like in old storybooks," Haley said, willing her form back into a dragon, "See? A pillow hoard!"

Jake was thoroughly tired at this point. It being way later than when they usually go to bed. However, he couldn't help but smile since It'd been a while since Haley said something that suited her age. Jake played along and morphed into a dragon as well. Pushing Haley aside and curling himself into a ball in the middle of the pillow bed. Haley protested lightly before jumping in the middle of Jake's curled body. It wasn't long before she was purring in her sleep. Jake's tail swished up and turned off the lamp.