"Darling, I told you, Jessie needs me right now" her mother said by way of greeting her.
She guessed she could have knocked, but it was her mother's house. It was only logical that Jess would have told her mom this was happening.
"Um" Natalie started, "Jess invited me"
"That doesn't make any sense" Viki said.
"I don't know what to tell you, stranger things have happened"
"Let me talk to Jessie before you make yourself at home"
"You know I didn't get to pack any of my stuff, so honestly it won't take much time at all"
"Just wait a minute, please"
"Yeah, sure" Natalie said, and waited in the foyer while her mom disappeared. She sighed. This was not what she expected. Why would Jess have not told her mom?
There came a knocking at the door. She debated not answering it, but her mom and Louis were nowhere to be seen, and the knocking came again. She took a few steps to pull the door opened, and was surprised to Jared with his bags on the other side.
"What- " she couldn't even form the question.
"Jess invited me to stay" Jared took a step in.
"She did?"
"She said she knew I had nowhere to go, which is true, I don't want to run Roxy up a bill or anything" he trailed off, "anyway, she said she wanted to try to work through forgiving me, but that it wasn't possible if we stayed away from each other. Then she said, she knew – "
"Knew what?"
"that I was interested in you and that you were reluctant to return those feelings and if we were under the same roof- " he paused, "You had no idea I would be here – I'm sorry I should go back to – "
"No one is going anywhere" Jess proclaimed as she made her way down the stairs.
"Jess, how are you?" Natalie asked.
"You know" she shrugged, and wiped a tear.
"I'm sorry" Natalie said.
"It'll be so great to have you both here"
"Jess, he and I are not – "
"Oh, I had thought –" she paused, "well, anyway, I need to forgive Jared, too. And I won't do that if he's far away" she paused, "and maybe if I can do that, Mom can – " they all looked to Viki.
"Don't worry about your mom" Viki said, "Charlie and I – that's not for you to worry about"
"He's out of the hospital" Jared said, "If you wanted to know"
"I'm glad to hear that"
"So, it's settled. You're both staying and helping out with the kid- kids" she rubbed her belly, "Thank you so much"
"Um, Natalie, I guess you can unpack in your room, can you show Jared to Kevin's room?"
"I got it" Jess said, "I'm sure you want to get settled"
"thanks" Natalie said, and she let Jess and Jared head up before her, "Mom, I assumed she told you"
"I don't know why she didn't, especially Jared" she said, "you and him - ?"
"No" Natalie said, "very much not"
"Why does Jessie think you are?"
"I did know before Dorian made it public, and he did kiss me, and he does have feelings for me, but-" she shook her head.
"Why did you keep that secret?"
"Dad thought it was the best course of action"
"Your father knew?"
"Oh yeah" she said, "this whole situation – he knew it was going on, Jared had started working on projects that I okayed, that didn't help, but yeah, dad knew, about five minutes after I did"
"Why is your father blaming you then?"
"I wish I knew, Mom"
"I'm so sorry honey, I should have – "
"Don't worry about it. Jess needed you"
Viki smiled, "Roxy put you up?"
"She did"
"Any run-ins with John and Talia?"
Natalie took a deep breath in, "Fortunately not"
"I'm sorry again"
"It's not your fault. It's Dorian's"
"I won't argue that point" Viki said, "Your sister is in a lot of pain"
"I know" she said, "and I got this"
"I'm happy you're home honey"
"Thanks mom"
His phone dinged. He picked it up.
Settled in.
"Natalie?" Talia asked.
He nodded.
"She, okay?"
"yeah" he said, "she's back at her mom's"
"that's good it blew over so fast" she batted her eyes at him.
"Too fast" he said.
"You didn't want her to go"
"I'm not just being selfish"
"I think you're being selfish"
"I can't quite explain it, I just got a bad feeling about it"
"I think it's going to be okay" Talia said, "she's smart, she'll know if something goes wrong"
"maybe" he said, "like I said, I can't explain it"