"Maybe we should all have a pill." Angus said observing Jessica with a calmness he didn't feel. She was terrified. Absolutely terrified.
"Maybe." Jessica agreed. "Sean and the others." She began when silence had dragged on for too long, "Should leave. I know it's not fair to you ... it decreases our odds of fighting Earl, but Earl will follow the boys. If Sean and everyone else go back home now Earl will never even know to look for them." She looked around at the men as the suggestion sank in, "There would be less of us to protect the boys though. I don't know what's better."
"I've never seen you so worried about something Jess." Jim said.
"If we were dealing with Daryl or Paul, or anyone whose only interest was in having a gunfight," Jessica shrugged, "It would be easy. But Earl. He doesn't come to kill, he comes to capture, and torture. I mean, poisoned wells and gassing? How can you ever be sure you've accounted for the right things ... or everything?"
"You and the boys should go with Sean." Riley said.
"No!" Jessica almost yelled, bolting up on Josh's lap. "I'm staying with you no matter what. Please ..." she said looking around at the men, "Please don't ever even consider sending me away for any reason. Please."
"Okay, okay Jess, shhhh, it's okay." Josh said in a soothing tone and pulled her back against him. She looked between Riley and Angus.
"Promise me!" she demanded.
It took a few minutes but eventually they nodded. Relief had her collapsing against Josh.
"But the boys, I don't know. I want them as far from danger as possible but if Earl is chasing them he'll chase them to Sean's place. I think we can limit the number of people who get hurt if we keep the boys with us."
"Okay." Riley said, "I'll talk to Sean about it."
"And I think we have to learn more about Earl." Scott said, "If we want to cover all possibilities we need to know how he operates."
"I'll go through the videos." Jim said, "Here in the studio so no one else needs to hear or see them. I'll start tonight."
"We'll help you." Scott said indicating Riley with his head.
Jessica shook even harder.
"I think that's enough for tonight." Angus caressing Jessica's head with his hand.
"Two more things." Jessica managed. Her teeth were chattering so hard it was getting hard to understand her. "The boys have a lot of energy that needs to be directed."
"You don't say ..." Riley said managing a smile in an attempt to calm Jessica.
Jessica smiled back. "Yes, I do. Working out, training, chores, all help but we should do things with them. Dog training, horseback riding, working on the cars, motorbiking, going to the pond ... definitely going to the pond. They need a chance to be kids again, and have some happiness even for a little while."
"In case things go horribly, horribly wrong?" Angus asked in a quiet voice.
Jessica nodded. "I was thinking that maybe tomorrow we could go into town with them. Buy them some new clothes. What they have now barely rates as rags."
"That'll make the girls happy." Josh said, "More dolls to dress up."
That brought on some laughter and helped decrease the tension a lot.
"Was there something else?" Riley asked but his tone and expression implied that he wasn't sure he could handle anything else.
Jessica nodded with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Will you sing for me?"
"Hell yeah." Riley said in pleasant surprise. He looked back at the instruments and microphones.
"Just here, with me." Jessica said motioning Riley, Angus, Scott and Jim closer. "I want to be close to you. Oh, before that ..." Jessica said looking at Angus, "You had issues you wanted to discuss ..."
Angus nodded. "But they can wait. They're not that important."
"You're sure?" Jessica asked.
"Positive." Angus said.
The men moved as close to her as they could get and sang.
An hour later Jessica had stopped shaking and they were all more relaxed than they had been in what seemed like days.
When Jessica's phone rang there was momentary panic but when Jessica dug her phone out of her back pocket and heard calmness in Leah's voice the unexpected phone call seemed less ominous.
"Hey." Leah said, "I didn't want to walk in on anything so I thought I'd call. The boys are ready for bed and want to say goodnight to you and the guys."
"Oh, okay, we'll be right over." Jessica said.
She smiled at the men, "The boys want to say goodnight. You know, if you're going to be out here all night." Jessica said to Riley, Scott and Jim, "maybe the boys should all sleep in the bedrooms. I won't be able to sleep until you come to bed. We can sleep in the living room." She looked at Angus and Josh, "You guys should sleep because of patrols but if a small light won't bother you I'll just do my homework on the couch or something."
Angus nodded, "I think Chris went into town today and picked up extra air mattresses. I think boys were falling out of bed there were so many packed in there. So, I guess you're not planning on taking any meds?"
"Give them to the boys. I'd prefer that they sleep."
Back in the house it took a half hour extra to get the big mattress out of Jessica and the men's room, blow up the mattresses for the boys and get them all arranged in the rooms. And then Tom kept insisting that Jessica take the med he was supposed to take. The dark rings under her eyes and paleness of her skin seemed to be affecting everybody, But his repeated pleas were met by steadfast refusal from Jessica. Finally Angus had to step in and although he spoke incredibly gently ... for Angus, the affect was immediate. With a 'yes sir, sorry sir' Tom swallowed the pill and went to bed.
Angus smiled when Jessica rolled her eyes at him, "I guess being scary has some advantages." She said.
"Scary? Me?" Angus asked with such a great mixture of mock innocence and hurt that Jessica slid into his arms and laughed into his chest.
Scott and Jim went on patrol and to no one's surprise Jessica went for a shower.
Despite feeling guilty about hogging the shower for so long, Jessica stood under the boiling hot water for at least half an hour. When she finally made her way back into the living room she was shocked to see that all of her men and the others were quietly waiting, getting up when she arrived. No one was on patrol which brought immediate panic.
"What happened?" Jessica asked.
