by Golden Angel
"Can you stop calling yourself bait?" Brady muttered. Jesse ignored him, holding Eli's gaze with her own, steady and unwavering. She wasn't the only one. Bailey and Bethany were giving him their own stares, although Bethany's was occasionally interrupted as she smacked Steele's hand away from her as he tried to poke her and gain her attention.
Sighing, Eli ran his hand through his hair, rumpling it further, and gave them a half-smile. "Well, it's an option."
From the way he said it, Jesse got the feeling he hadn't actually expected any takers.
Just as they were finishing up a discussion about increasing safety measures around the Peak, including restricting the Bunson siblings', Jesse's, and Daniel's access to the outside, there was a knock on the door. The door opened and Dr. Phil, Steele's retired medic who was supposed to let Doc handle everything but usually managed to get his hands dirty as well, poked his head in. He was Eli's uncle, he looked just like Santa Claus, and he was one of Jesse's favorite people. Even Bethany and Bailey, who were wary around Doc, couldn't help but smile when they saw him.
"Hello there," he said, his eyes crinkling as he smiled, ignoring his nephew's exaggerated sigh.
"When you knock, it's customary to let people say 'who is it?' or 'come in' before just opening the door," Eli said, giving his uncle a look, which Dr. Phil completely ignored.
"Just thought you'd like to know, Brock's surgery went well and he should be waking up soon," Dr. Phil said cheerfully, completely unperturbed by his nephew or the classified nature of the meeting he'd just interrupted.
Immediately, Brady, Brice, Bethany, and Bailey swung their heads to look at Eli. He waved his hand. "You guys are dismissed, go, we don't need you for this next part anyway."
"I'll meet up with you in a bit," Steele said to his mate as Bethany rose.
Brady tugged on Jesse's hand as she stood up, surprising her with his refusal to relinquish it. "Come on, let's go," he said, sounding impatient.
"You can go on without me," she said, although she didn't protest as he pulled her along in his wake out the door. Brice and Bailey were already halfway down the hall ahead of them.
"Nope, you're coming with me to check on Brock and then we're going to talk," he said, sounding determined. Jesse felt her eyebrows raise, but she didn't protest.
Her heart suddenly felt a little lighter, an emotion she fought against... just in case what Brady wanted to talk about wasn't what she thought he wanted to talk about. If it wasn't, then they were going to have another talk after whatever it was he wanted to talk about.
Chapter 13
"He looks so... pale," Brice said, reaching out and poking Brock's lax cheek.
Bethany elbowed him. "Don't poke him."
"What? He's not awake, he'll never know," Brice said, grinning, but Brady could see the concern in his eyes. It was weird to stand there over Brock, knowing their brother couldn't hear them, seeing him all battered and stitched up.
"Oh good, you're all here," said a mellifluous voice from the doorway. They all turned to see Doc standing there, a white lab coat hanging open over a shirt with the Little Mermaid swimming on the front of it. Her red hair was ruthlessly pulled back in a tight bun and she was holding a file folder open in her hands. Just the sight of her made the tension level in the room kick up. Bethany and Bailey relaxed slightly after a moment, but Brady and Brice had more trouble controlling their instinctive reaction. Brady relaxed too, as he felt Jesse's hand on his arm, stroking him soothingly. As she always did, Doc ignored their reaction to her. "Brock's surgery went well. He's got a lot of damage to heal so it's going to take him a couple of days; his body is exhausted from blood loss and keeping him alive. He'll regain full use of his arm, as long as he doesn't overdo it when he wakes up."
"That's great, Doc, thank you," Bethany said, coming around the bed to shake Doc's hand. The redhead brightened, looking pleased at the gesture. Brady always felt a little bad for feeling so uneasy around her, she seemed like a nice woman, but just knowing she was a doctor made him feel anxious. He'd had trouble at the hospital at Lakewood at first too, although as he'd gotten to know the people working there he'd eventually relaxed, just like Bethany and Bailey had relaxed around Doc.
He'd relax around her too, once he got to know her better.
"Do you know when he'll wake up?" Brady asked, putting his hand over Jesse's and basking in the warmth of her fingers on his arm.
"Any minute now," Doc said, shooting an amused glance at Brice, who was back to poking his brother's cheek. "So you might want to watch where you put your fingers."
"Fine," Brice said, sitting back with a pout. He obviously wasn't brave enough to keep poking Brock when there was a chance he might get caught by the man in question. As the youngest, Brice was definitely the most annoying, but he wasn't suicidal.
Jesse's hand, which Brady was keeping entwined with his own, tugged slightly as she leaned backwards. He glanced down at her to see her looking around uncomfortably. When she saw him looking, she met his gaze, and shrugged in response to his inquiring eyebrow. Obviously she didn't want to talk right now.
"He's opening his eyes!" Bailey squealed, and Brady's head snapped around.
Bailey was leaning over Brock, her face only inches away from his, as his eyelashes fluttered. As the youngest and the baby girl of the family, she could get away with doing that. Brice or Brady would probably get a slap to the side of their heads if they tried getting into Brock's face like that, especially while he was waking up.
Pulling Jesse along with him, Brady joined his family in crowding Brock's bedside. No one else was going to get in his face like Bailey was, but they still all got as close as they could, eager to see their brother open his eyes. This was the worst any of them had ever been injured - even Dr. Montgomery's experiments had never done anything that might cause permanent damage. Not that Brock's injury would have been totally permanent, but if it had healed wrong they would have had to do a lot of damage to undo the healing and then set it correctly and re-heal it.
Aware of Jesse trying to pull away again, Brady let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist. She let out an exasperated sigh as he tucked her into his side.
Unable to hide his smile, Brady leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Stop trying to pull away, you're part of the family too."
She went rigid with surprise against him, but Brady ignored it as Brock finally opened his eyes and scowled up at his baby sister. Bailey squealed with glee.
"Why, Bailey?" Brock asked, his voice gravelly, rough, and full of resignation. He scowled deeper as he tried to shift and found his left shoulder and arm completely immobilized by the bandage.
"Because I'm so happy to seeeeeeeeeee you," Bailey crowed, leaning down to give him a kiss on the forehead, before straightening up so that she was no longer literally hovering over him.
Brock's eyes flicked around to his family and the tiniest smile curved his lips, relief in his eyes as he saw everyone was accounted for. And Brady didn't miss the fact that he obviously included Jesse in that count, which made his chest feel warm. His siblings knew how much she meant to him, even if he'd been reluctant to fully act on it. Now that he was determined to, he was happy to see they already considered her one of their own.
"Water," said Doc from behind them, making everyone turn slightly to see her. She held up a glass of water with a straw in it, stepping up to the bed and holding it out where Brock could easily reach it with his good arm.
Instead of taking it, Brock looked at the glass suspiciously. With an exasperated sigh, Bethany took it from Doc and held it out to Brock. He accepted the glass but took a sniff of it before putting the straw to his lips. Unlike Brady and Brice, Brock hadn't spent much time getting to know the staff at the Lakewood hospital. He was still the most suspicious and the most closed off to outsiders, which was part of why him accepting Jesse was such a big deal to Brady.
"I'll leave you all to it," Doc said cheerfully, but Brady could hear a touch of str
ain in her voice. Bethany and Bailey both glared at Brock. "Just let the nurse know if you need anything."
She'd barely walked out the door before Bethany and Bailey were already scolding Brock.
"Rude!"
"Seriously, Brock, that was uncalled for."
Rolling his eyes, Brock finished his water and leaned back against the pillow. "If all you're going to do is blather, you should go."
"Nope, you're stuck with us," Bethany said. "We've been worried about you."
"Plus we need to get you up to date," Brice offered, almost like a peace offering. "We just had a meeting with Eli that you should know about."
"Jesse and I are going to go," Brady said, patting Brock's leg. His brother opened his eyes to look over at him, one side of his lips lifting up in a half-smile. "We have some things to talk about too."
"Oh, we don't have to-"
"Good luck!" Bailey said, cutting Jesse off as she obviously tried to demure.
"Get back to us later."
"We'll fill Brock in."
His siblings practically pushed him and Jesse out the door, completely ignoring her protests that seeing Brock was more important. Brady felt fine. He'd seen Brock, Brock was obviously going to recover, and their siblings would watch over him. If he needed anything, Bethany would make sure he'd get it, Bailey would try to anticipate all his needs, and Brice would annoy the ever-loving-hell out of him to hide his relief that Brock had escaped relatively unscathed. And they'd get him up to speed on everything Eli had told them.
All in all, Brady was unnecessary to the proceedings. It felt strange to step out of his role as the leader of the siblings, but... Jesse was just as, if not more, important to him and it was time for him to act like it.
Once they were in the hallway, the door firmly shut behind them by Bailey, Jesse finally succeeded in pulling away from him, standing so they were facing each other. Her stance was uncertain as she looked up at him, rubbing her palms on the side of her jeans. The scoop neck shirt she was wearing showed a good swath of pale, unmarked skin, which made his beast growl as his eyes lingered on it. The beast wanted to mark her up, show everyone she was taken.
But they really needed to talk about that first.
"So... you wanted to talk?" Jesse asked, getting right down to business. Good. But... wrong location.
"Yeah, let's go to your place," he said.
Jesse gave him a firm look. "We're not doing anything naughty," she warned, as she turned to go down the hall.
Slinging his arm over her shoulder, Brady pulled her into his side. "Of course not. Not until after we talk."
The look she gave him just made his grin widen.
******
Fortunately, Daniel wasn't home. Jesse texted him while they were on the way to the apartment and he was with his friends. She was sure they were all jazzed up from the attack, wanting to be together, which made her happy. Staying here was definitely the right choice, although she'd have to fill him in on the stricter security measures later.
Seated across the table from Brady, Jesse ordered her unruly heart to chill out. Being here with him again was making her remember the last time they'd been here... when he'd said goodbye and left. She'd been focused on making a memory then and she'd be lying if she said she didn't remember it constantly. However, she wasn't sure that was a good thing either.
She was feeling strangely antagonistic right now.
Being dragged along by the guy who had dumped her, acting like he'd never done any such thing when he returned... Well, let's just say the warm fuzzies of having him show up in the nick of time to chase off Eli's Evil Brother and his henchmen was starting to fade. She was still happy to see him. A little too happy.
If this was going to be some kind of "let's be together while I'm here" talk, then she was going to need some distance and separation from him. Because that was definitely not okay with her.
Lifting her glass of water to her lips, she stared at him. She was so not going to be the one to speak first. Why that was important to her, she didn't know, but it was. He was looking back at her, the same softness in his eyes that she'd seen when he'd been staring at her in the conference room. Like he was drinking in the sight of her, memorizing it.
"So," she said, when she put the water down, breaking her determination not to be the one to talk first but... she needed him to stop looking at her like that or she was going to have a much harder time resisting him. "What did you want to talk about?"
"I've missed you," he said simply and completely sincerely.
Jesse's traitorous heart skipped a little beat. "I've missed you too. What else?"
He grinned at her. "You're sexy when you're bossy."
"Is that really want you wanted to talk about?" she asked archly, raising her eyebrow at him.
"Of course not." The grin he was giving her shifted, making him look almost nervous. Which, on a guy his size, with his muscles, came off as stupidly adorable. He was way too good at making her feel all squishy and soft inside. "I missed you, and I don't want to miss you anymore."
Tapping her fingernails against her water glass, Jesse stared at him. Waiting. He stared back at her.
"I don't know what that means," she said finally. She knew what she hoped it meant, but even if it meant what she thought it meant she didn't know if that was really a good thing. She wanted it to be a good thing.
"It means..." He fiddled with his glass, focusing on it rather than on her, before taking a deep breath. "It means I'm not going back to Lakewood. I'm going to stay here, at the Peak. If you want me here."
He peeked at her, almost like a little boy, checking to see her reaction.
Jesse felt... frozen. "If you stayed here, what would that make us?"
"A couple, I hope. I like you, Jesse. Hell, I think I'm half in love with you. I don't want to be away from you again. I'm not saying I made a mistake before, because I think I learned just how deep my feelings for you go during our time apart and how essential you are to my happiness, but I don't want to do it again."
It was everything she wanted to hear. 95% of her melted on the spot. But...
"What about stopping The Company? Are you really going to be okay with staying here while your brothers and the others are out hunting down The Company?"
What she really wanted to ask was - will you leave me again?
It had been hard enough this time, saying goodbye to him knowing they were going to be just friends; she couldn't even imagine how much harder it would be if he left her like that again.
"I don't need to be on every little raid," he said seriously, leaning forward and reaching his hands across the table. Jesse found herself reaching back, wanting his touch. His hands were smooth, warm, and he interlocked his fingers with her, a touch she immediately found soothing. "I'm not saying I won't ever go out on a mission again, but I'll be happy doing them with Steele's pack. Unless Eli finds The Company's headquarters; I'd probably want to be there for that. But I want my home base to be wherever you are. I don't want to be friends, I want to be more, and I want to make it work."
She bit down on her lower lip, holding back more questions while her brain raced along furiously. As much as she wanted to throw herself across the table at him, she was still holding back for some reason. There was still a small thread of fear worming through her heart.
Abandonment issues?
Maybe.
Letting go of her hand, Brady reached across the table to gently thumb her lower lip, so that she released it from her teeth.
"You don't have to give me an answer right away," he said, squeezing the hand he was still holding. "I know you weren't expecting this and I wouldn't be surprised if you're worried I'll change my mind again." His hazel eyes were dead serious now, but also filled with warmth, and understanding, and patience. "I'm going to stay and we're going to date, and you're going to see that I'm not going to leave. Okay?"
"Okay," Jesse whispered, agreeing before she could overthink it.
"Good." Brady stood up, pulling her up with him and into his arms, so quickly she didn't have time to protest before he took her lips in a searing kiss.
Jesse melted into him, basking in his warmth and the feel of his arms around her. Then, as soon as she realized how quickly she'd melted, she stiffened, and Brady ended the kiss.
"Now let's watch a movie."
"A movie?" she asked, feeling even more off balance.
"Yeah, I'm almost finished with the last Harry Potter book, so let's start the movies," he said cheerfully, pulling her along with him into the other room. Jesse went with him, suddenly suspicious that he was pulling a version of Netflix and Chill on her.
She was all set to rebuff him, but he was the perfect gentleman. While he kept his arm around her the entire movie, and tilted his body to encourage her to snuggle into him, he didn't try a single move. Not even an "accidental" brush of his hand over her breast. Instead he seemed entirely focused on the movie, only occasionally looking at her during particularly funny parts as though he wanted her to share his enjoyment.
Eventually Jesse relaxed and was able to enjoy herself.
They ate dinner with his family and Daniel, in Brock's hospital room. She had the feeling her brother had only come along because he wanted to make sure she was okay after spending the day with his friends, because as soon as he was done eating he was off to go hang out with them again. Everyone else seemed to find it completely normal that she and Brady were joined at the hip, which made things less awkward than they could have been.
Bailey and Bethany didn't even tease her, they just acted like it was expected that Brady would eat with her on his lap and constantly be touching her. Daniel raised his eyebrows, but that was his only reaction. She wasn't really counting on a reaction from Brock, but even Brice just acted like it was totally normal, even though she'd been expecting him to tease Brady relentlessly... because that was just the kind of guy he was.