108: Jonah Has A Bad Day

 "Move in with me. I mean it. Please?" I say with little pauses in between each of the sentences.

I stand back and look at her as she bites her lip. 

"No." she suddenly blurts out just as I thought that pause was going to last a lifetime. When she sees my incredibly disappointed expression, she brings her hand to her mouth almost as if she wishes she could take the word back.

"I'm sorry, Jonah, but don't you think it's a little soon?" she asks as my shoulders droop.

I sigh. "I suppose, yes, but I still want you to."

"Jonah, we barely know each other. Can't we just get to know each other a little more first?" she asks, and I get the feeling that, ironically, she thinks she needs to school me on how relationships work. That mildly pisses me off, and I try to hide it.

"I suppose." I say blandly. Then I change the subject. "The waffles are done. I assume you like waffles?"

Why did I ask her to move in with me right off the bat like that? She's right. We barely know each other. I'd like to change that, though.

"You're not dating anyone else, are you?" I ask.

"No. I try not to do that, date more than one person at a time, that is." she answers without looking up from her plate.

"That's good to hear. So, what are you doing today?"

"I want to go home and just sleep. These waffles are delicious." she says as she attempts to change the subject.

"Thank you, and you could sleep here."

"No, thank you, Jonah. I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed with my own stuff and be able to completely relax and think." she says as she starts talking faster with increased agitation.

What! So I asked you to move in and then offered to let you sleep here!

She obviously is feeling crowded. Fine. I'll back off.

"Alright. I was just offering." I say blandly with a touch of pissed-offedness.

She sighs exasperatedly and pushes away from the table, finished with her waffles.

"I'm going home now. Thank you for everything, Jonah, and I'll see you later I guess?" she asks as she puts her plate in the sink and turns to face me.

"Of course! Any time in the world you want, Kaiti." I say as she walks over and kisses me chastely on the lips before patting my shoulder.

She suddenly looks down at me, smiling, and kisses the tip of her finger before she puts it on the healing bite mark. "I'll call you later." she says before she walks out the door.

She took my line I thought to myself and chuckled in spite of everything.

Changing gears: 3rd person past tense

 There she is John thought to himself. The love of my life. What I wouldn't do for her.

Elena had moved from the couch to upstairs after she knew Xavier and Ben had made it home. She'd asked Xavier to watch Ben once his girlfriend left. Marie had a date tonight.

She sensed someone staring at her as she dozed in a half sleep-like state.

She opened her eyes and closed them again almost immediately. She must be dreaming or hallucinating again. This time the hallucination made John look strange. Still, it was the first hallucination of John she'd had. She decided she must really be missing him alot for her subconscious to make him up for her like that. If only it'd gotten him right.

Temporarily giving up on sleeping, Elena sat up and stretched. As she yawned, she opened her eyes a tiny bit - just to prove herself right. He's still there!

John took two steps around and practically yanked Elena off of the bed.

Elena looked at him with a bewildered and alarmed expression before she asked, "John?"

"Yes."

John didn't give her a chance to ask any more questions. He felt he had wasted enough time when he'd stood there and watched her sleep. His mouth hungrily claimed hers, silencing her for the moment.

Memories of the past few days flew through his mind. What if he'd not come back? What if Monique had gotten away with everything and shot him? He was done with the risks, done with the danger. His wife loved him. His children needed him. He wanted to leave saving the day to the younger generation.

He also wanted to add another member to the younger generation if he could just convince the lady in his arms.

Why is he blond? Elena asked herself. She really didn't care all that much, however. He was home! Home damn it! Had it only been a few days? It felt like months since she'd last seen him. She was glad she wasn't the only one who apparently hated the separation.

She threaded her fingers into his hair and clung to him. She temporarily brought her other had up to his face to assure herself that yes, he was really there, as if the way his tongue caressed hers wasn't enough. 

She whimpered as the horrible memories of the past few days came back to haunt her. The ghosts, the kiss that didn't happen but did unfortunately, the nightmares... and she needed him.

Feeling temporarily sated, John pulled back just enough so he could say, "I missed you. More than you could ever know." His hand repeatedly stroked the side of her face lovingly.

"I missed you too. I've had a horrible few days." she said with a small crack in her voice.

"What's happened?"

"I'm going to sell the bar." she said as a poor response to his question.

"Good. I'm going to retire." he announced, his eyes drinking in her features.

 Elena's eyes widened. "You are?!"

"Yes. It's time I put danger and that type of excitement behind me. I've lost my taste for it." he said to her continued surprised expression. Then his features turned into a small scowl as he asked, "What made these past few days so horrible? I assume it's not entirely due to my absence."

 He kissed her again, quickly but passionately, before he let her respond.

When he pulled away, Elena's face fell. "Oh, John!" she cried. "I think I must be going insane!" She threw her forehead into his shoulder.

Normally, John would chuckle at her silly little notions, but he could tell she was all too serious this time. "Why on earth would you think that?" he asked, petting the back of her head lovingly.

"Nightmares, and I'm seeing things that aren't there. This actually started the day before you left, but I thought it was just because I was back at the bar again."

"You saw things at the bar?"

She nodded her head into his shoulder.

"Anywhere else?" he asked.

She froze for a moment. "No actually, I haven't." She relaxed. "Maybe if I never go back in there it won't happen again."

"I agree, and it's very easy to understand why you would have strange things happen to you after everything that happened in there before." he said and felt relieved when she relaxed.

She pulled her head back and he kissed her once before she asked, "But what about the nightmares? They just won't go away!"

"What are they about?"

Elena shuddered. "Laurie and Greg."

I guess I'll never be able to hear his name on her lips without feeling a pang of jealous anger John thought as he hugged Elena closer to him.

"What do they do?" John asked, making an extreme effort to keep the anger out of his voice.

"Laurie tells me I'll never escape him. That it doesn't matter a whit that he's dead. I also watch him kill Greg over and over." Elena felt John freeze and hold his breath for a moment before he relaxed again. "The first one, nightmare that is, was when I took a nap on the couch in my office."

Elena's eyes widened for a split second as she remembered what happened after the nightmare when she'd called and asked Jonah to stay with her so she wouldn't feel scared while she worked.

"What is it?" John asked, watching her face closely.

Crap! When will I ever learn to remember that he can read me like a book? Elena berated herself.

"It's nothing." she said quickly.

"It's not nothing."

"Nothing to worry about." Elena clarified.

"Good, then you can go ahead and tell me." John almost commanded.

"You don't need to know."

"I don't need to know? Why don't I need to know?"

Elena looked at the floor, avoiding his piercing gaze.

"What happened?!"

"John, calm down! It was a mistake, that's all. A brainless mistake."

John closed his eyes in irritation for a moment. "Elena, if you don't tell me I'm sure what I could imagine it might be would be much worse."

"It was about that nightmare."

"What about that nightmare?"

She shuddered in apprehension.

John's anger melted and got replaced by concern. "Baby," he said in a very gentle voice, "there shouldn't be anything in the world you need to be afraid to tell me. You've already said it was a mistake."

"Jonah kissed me." Elena said incredibly fast and squeezed her eyes shut.

John went stock still. Elena dropped her arms and peeped open her eyes to see his expression. He didn't have one. Fear coursed through her. John's hands then fell to his sides before she took a careful step back.

"Did you kiss him back?" John asked in a controlled monotone.

"I... think I may have responded." she said and he blinked once. "But I didn't ask for it! John, I was never going to tell you because it was a mistake! It meant nothing!"

"My brother. My baby brother! The one I practically raised. The one I allowed, no invited, into my home again when his life was falling down around his ears. And this is how he thanks me?! By kissing my wife?!"

"John calm down." The words flew out of Elena's mouth.

"No. Not this time, Elena! Where is he?!"

"He moved out."

"Where?" John growled. Elena kept silent.

"If you don't tell me, I'll find someone who will!" he threatened before turning to leave.

"Heya, X-man. I heard Jonah moved out. Where'd he move to?" John asked Xavier with a deceptively calm voice.

"Oh! Yeah, he moved into that small two-story across the river that was for sale." Xavier explained.

"Great! Thanks!"

"John!" Elena yelled from upstairs. "Don't!"

"What's going on?" Xavier asked.

At this moment, John didn't care to see the little Greg clone walk into the room to do his homework. He knew it wasn't Ben's fault, but John wished he didn't look so much like his father.

He could hear Elena running down the stairs so he kicked it up a notch.

"What is going on!?!" Xavier yelled now.

"Hopefully nothing. Watch Ben for us." Elena called as she raced after John.

Elena jumped on her scooter to race after John's car.

She caught up to him a little late; they were already at Jonah's. John pounded on the door. They could hear Jonah ask for just a minute.

"John, stop! This is crazy! Honest, it was a mistake!" she pleaded.

John's voice sounded controlled as he said, "Calm down, Elena. I merely want to ask him a question."

"Right." she responded sarcastically.

"Go home." he demanded.

"No. I'm here to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"It would be stupid for you to get in the middle of this."

"I'm already in the middle of this!" she exclaimed as they heard the doorknob turn.

"Hey guys! What's going..." Jonah's chipper voice halted midsentence from the expression on his brother's face.

"Whoa! Blond?" Jonah exclaimed.

"Did you kiss my wife?" John asked in a controlled, almost casual fashion. The underlying anger was evident, however.

Elena whispered while tugging on his jacket, "John, stop."

"I... uh... " Jonah stammered.

"I'll ask again. Did you kiss my wife?" John repeated.

"Listen, John..." Jonah started.

"Did you kiss my wife?!" John asked yet again, this time shoving Jonah back into his house.

Elena looked around quickly to make sure no neighbors were witnessing this.

"John, let me explain..." Jonah stammered.

"I'm only going to ask you this one more time, Jonah." John warned.

Elena was getting angry. John wasn't listening to a word she said. She closed the front door and stood there, fuming.

"John," Jonah started up again, "everyone makes mistakes."

"Did you... kiss my wife?" John asked again, sounding, to Elena, like a broken record.

"It was an accident!" Jonah hollered.

"John!!" Elena screamed as John's fist slammed into Jonah's jaw, sending him sprawling on the floor beneath him.

"Listen to me and listen well, baby brother." John said as he knelt down into Jonah's face. He was so angry he couldn't stop clenching his hands. "If you touch my wife again I'll make sure you never give me any nieces and nephews." John's voice was deathly cold.

"John!" Elena gasped. "How can you say that? Why are you blaming only him?" she asked and mentally kicked herself.

"Because I know him, Elena." John responded, keeping his eyes on his brother's face. "He's a spoiled brat. He just can't ever seem to understand that he can't have everything he wants just because he wants it. I've not a doubt in my mind he's almost totally responsible."

John straightened, and Jonah rolled over and worked on getting up off of the floor.

"Don't forget what I said, baby brother." John threatened as he turned to head out the door.

John wordlessly grabbed Elena's hand as she whispered harshly to him, "What part of mistake do you not understand, John? It was an awkward moment we'd all rather forget."

"You don't know him like I do, Elena." he said, still not looking at her. The two of them heard Jonah cussing under his breath as he tried out his jaw.

"Let's discuss this more at home." John said calmly to Elena as the two of them left Jonah's new house.