The night's events had made the woman's head spin. She wanted nothing more than to forget that anything happened. She was glad for the company though. She didn't know what she would have done if she had been alone. A small sigh passed through her lips as she looked towards the male. She didn't know how much longer she'd be able to hold it together. Watching the only person in her life slip away. Seeing his dead body. Seeing the flashing lights, the pain washed over her once more. She bit her lip lightly as she pushed herself up from the couch.

It was getting late. She chewed on the inside of her cheek lightly as she fiddled with her fingers. “Thank you so much for sticking around as long as you did today. I know it wasn't the ideal type of day, and besides the events that happened I did enjoy today. It means a lot to me that you decided to stick around. I do have a spare bedroom you can sleep in if you'd like. I'll go and get some extra blankets and pillows for you" she said softly. The words falling from her lips felt foreign.

It was strange to have a man in her home, and not just any man. But someone she had gone to school with. Going down memory lane the way they did was wonderful. She wondered how much more they could find out about one another. Were they really that different? She felt like they were, but at the same time they seemed to fit pretty well together. She shoved those thoughts aside as she went to the hall closet and opened it slowly. She pulled some blankets down from the shelf, along with some pillows and carried them to the spare bedroom.

Would he even stay the night? The thought of the male leaving made her heart skip a beat. Would she be okay to be alone? She felt tears sting her eyes as she stood there gathering herself. She took a deep breath before she wrapped her arms around the small bundle she had gathered. She shut the door and went into the spare room setting the blankets on the bed. She couldn't help but wonder if the male was staying out of pity. Was she really that broken right now? That she needed a babysitter of sorts?

That thought seemed to be funny in her mind since a small smile passed over her lips. She shoved the thoughts out of her mind as she made her way to her bedroom. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it for a moment. She was really dreading this part. She knew the pain would come in waves, and sure enough it did. She had to cover her mouth with her hand as a sob escaped from between her lips. Her heart shattering once more. Everything was crashing down around her, and she didn't know what to do with herself.

In a way she hoped the male would hear and come to her side, but at the same time she didn't want to burden him more than she already had. She slid down onto the floor and had a somewhat good cry, trying to keep as silent as she could for a few minutes. When it finally passed, she pushed herself to her feet slowly and undressed. She changed into her pajama's, drew the blankets down and slipped between the sheets. She curled up and let the pain wash over her once more. She pulled a pillow towards her, and cried herself to sleep.

The next morning.

The sun shone through the blinds making the woman sigh lightly. It had been a rough night. Her head was pounding and her heart felt heavy. Her body was sore and she knew it would be. Then the thoughts from the day before came rushing back. She witnessed her best friend being taken out of his home in a body bag. She had gotten hit by a car almost, and she was still alive. She sighed as she laid there a little while longer. She laid there and realized she might still have company.

She threw the blankets off of her body and found her slippers under the bed. She slipped them onto her feet and then made her way out of the bedroom and down the hall. She noticed the spare room's door was closed. So Jackson had stayed the night. She wondered when he finally went to bed. She sighed lightly as she made her way into the kitchen and started making coffee. She pulled out a frying pan along with some eggs from the fridge. The dishes from the night before still in the sink. Of course she had forgotten.

She went about getting eggs started, along with putting some bread into the toaster. The smell of coffee hit her nose and she felt slightly better. Maybe today would be a bit better. She let herself get wrapped up in her work that she tuned everything else out. She was focused on getting the dishes put into the dishwasher, making sure the coffee didn't burn, and made sure the eggs were cooked perfectly. She slowly started moving around the kitchen a small tune in her head as she moved. She wasn't going to let the dark thoughts enter her mind. At least not right now, she needed to keep herself busy.

As the hour grew later and their talking mellowed out, Jackson found himself once more glancing at Kennedy fiddling with her fingers as she spoke; thanking him for staying, saying she enjoyed the day despite everything, and offering him her spare bedroom. He couldn’t help but smile at that, even if the acknowledgement of the rest of the day had his mind flit back to everything that had happened. It felt like too much for just one day, but at the same time it also felt like it had barely passed any time at all.

”Thanks, I was ready to sit out on the steps so an actual bed sounds nice.” he began, ”And, I enjoyed today too, wish it were better circumstance.”

His gazed moved back towards Kennedy’s face, and found himself wondering, albeit briefly, if they’d ever meet at all if it weren’t for the circumstances. And then his mind was back on the circumstances; the scream, the police, the driver.

As Kennedy left the couch, he remained sitting, debating whether to follow her or not; not knowing whether to offer to help, knowing that he himself would have taken insult. Thus, when he finally rose, he took a detour to grab his phone once more, before glancing towards where Kennedy had left. He caught sight of her disappearing from what he presumed was the spare room and leaving towards her own bedroom, and waited until he heard the door shut behind her to move quietly towards the spare. Though, as he got close, he realised that maybe it was best, just to be certain, to let her know to wake him if anything happened.

However, he did not need to get all that close to her bedroom door before he heard muffled sobs, and decided to turn on his heel back to the spare room. She deserved her space to cry in peace, he knew. The sound bringing back the memory of how he’d first seen her, crying on the lawn in front of that house and asking not to talk about it. The last thing he wanted was to make her feel ashamed for crying, or pressure her to talk about it when she did not. As much as he wanted her to know he was there for her, he knew that everyone grieved differently, and this was the first time she was truly alone without pressure to go anywhere.

Once back in the spare room, he typed out a few texts; his mum not to worry her when he didn’t come down for breakfast on the morrow, and Andrea to give him a final—and most likely unwanted—update about what was going on, before turning on Do Not Disturb and getting ready for bed. Which ended up mostly being piling his clothes except for underwear and his tee on the floor next to the bed, and then fluffing the pillow to both gather his thoughts and stop himself from nosing around the spare room.

Though he still ended up moving over to the window, glancing out into the darkness. It was too dark to really see anything at all, but something about it made a shiver crawl up his spine. And he let out a quiet ’bleh’ sound to centre himself and shake off the feeling. It was too late, he was too tired, and he needed the sleep. And so he moved to the bed, even though he knew, before he even laid down, that it would be restless.

The next morning.

Jackson had woken up a few times throughout the night, and by the fourth the light was strong enough outside that he knew falling back into slumber would be impossible. The itching restlessness to do something was nagging in the back of his mind, as his thoughts drifted back and around to the murder, the whys the hows the whats, and to Kennedy. He knew the two of them would have to be at the police station today, and so regardless of their distractions yesterday she would be forced to think about it again.

He did not get to lay long in silence before he heard a noise, the sound of sizzling butter and puttering coffee. Kennedy was awake. Which meant there was truly no reason for him to stay in bed—a thought he was both thankful for and not.

With a yawn he got up, got dressed in yesterday’s clothing, and quickly tossed the bedsheets back into to a semi orderly state, before heading towards the door. Another yawn escaping him before he pushed the handle down, and a third as he closed the door silently behind him. The hallway looked different, in the morning light. Not that he took much of a look at it, too busy stretching out his back by twisting his torso in various ways, and reminding himself to lift his hand to his mouth when he yawned.

The smell of eggs and coffee became stronger the closer he got to the kitchen, a clattering of ceramics making it feel almost cosy. So similar yet so different from the puttering in his own home. He couldn’t help but smile a little, it felt almost normal, and he wondered if Kennedy felt the same—or if she was fighting off the thoughts of yesterday with every move and task.

”Good,” he announced, interrupted by a yawn spurred on by him intentionally dragging out the vowels, which swallowed the follow up ’morning’ almost completely. He shook his head and tried to clear up the cotton-ball tiredness in his brain.

”You sleep all right?” he asked, then, making a beeline for the stove to look at the eggs, and get a better sniff of the wonderful smell of breakfast. Before reaching for the cupboards as he had the night before with the intent of setting the table, as Kennedy had the food clearly covered.

The woman had tried her best to keep as silent as possible so that way if he wanted to sleep in he could. But soon enough she would see the male. She moved around the kitchen making sure to keep a close eye on the eggs to make sure they didn't burn. When she turned, she spotted Jackson in the doorway and smiled a bit. He shook her head lightly her smile tugging more on the corners of her lips as he tried to speak but was taken over by a yawn. “Good morning to you as well” she said softly as she moved to another cupboard for mugs.

She turned back around to see the male by the stove and then watched as he hunted down plates. It was kind of cute to see the male making himself at home. It felt normal for a change. Yesterday events were still bothering her and she wanted nothing more than to forget them. She knew they were going down to the station and she was dreading it. She then realized he had asked her another question. How did she sleep? It was a rough night to say the least. “To be honest, I didn't sleep well at all.”

“The events kept playing in my mind.. Seeing Xavier's body being taken out in the body bag, being in his house without him being there. Seeing whatever was standing outside near the property line, almost getting it. It was a lot that unfolded. So it's safe to say it was a really shitty night. What about you? Were you comfortable enough? Warm enough?” she asked lightly. Speaking of the events from yesterday made her heart sink. She was going to have to relive everything again in a few short hours and she wasn't looking forward to it.

She placed the mugs down onto the counter as she walked over and stirred the eggs in the pan. She was shorter than Jackson was but she felt safe being so close to him. It wasn't going to always feel that way, but for the time being she had that feeling of safety. She stirred the eggs one last time before removing them from the heat and placing them on a hot pad on the counter in the middle of the kitchen. She then remembered the toast and grabbed the four pieces from the toaster placing them onto a plate.

Soon enough breakfast was ready. She grabbed the coffee pot and filled both mugs with the coffee. “I'm not sure how you take your coffee, of if you just like it black. But there's some coffee creamers in the fridge, and sugar in the bowl next to you” she offered. She put the coffee pot back where it belonged and walked over to the fridge and pulled out the coffee creamer. She would rather her coffee be white, instead of black. The taste was too bitter for her. She popped the lid open and poured some of the coffee into her own mug.

She grabbed a spoon and stirred it, setting the creamer on the counter in case he wanted some. She then sat on one of the stools, grabbed a plate and filled it up with eggs and a couple pieces of toast. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. She placed some butter and jam on her own toast before she took a bite. She let the silence wash over them a little bit longer before speaking again. “I know we need to go to the station, but that's not for another couple of hours. If you need to get some things done please do”

“I was going to take a shower and get the house cleaned up a bit before heading into town. You're more than welcome to come back here if you wanted too, if not I'll just see you at the station” she said in a small voice. A part of her wanted to ask him to come back. She knew he had other things to worry about. She just didn't want to be left alone. She lowered her eyes as she picked up the fork and took a bite of the eggs. Letting her somewhat offer hang in the air between them.

Jackson stopped momentarily, one hand in the cupboard with his fingers touching the cool glaze of a plate, when Kennedy admitted she had not slept well at all. Not wanting to clatter with the plates as if the noise would break the moment. He turned his head towards her, as she continued to speak. Brows knitting together as her tone took on a lighter note, asking him how he slept.

Not knowing whether it was her way of changing the subject or not, especially given the sobbing he had heard the night before, he pressed his lips together and took the plates out, allowing the clattering to fill the breath of silence before speaking, ”Sounds like a shitty night, we could talk about it, if you want. But don’t worry about me, it was comfortable and warm, you’ll have to tell me where you bought that duvet.” he made sure to end it on a light note, just as she had, allowing her the out to ignore his offer if she’d rather not think about it.

As Kennedy came closer to stir the eggs in the pan, the two of them ended up close together, and Jackson took the opportunity to nudge her bicep gently with his elbow, while keeping his head in the cupboard to not invade her space too much, voice a soft whisper given the proximity, ”The eggs smell great.”

When Kennedy moved away with the pan, Jackson found himself trailing the disappearing food, and the hot pad she placed it on. Though pulled away to focus back on grabbing the plates and putting them by the counter as Kennedy moved to fetch the toast. They weren’t as smooth as it was at home in his own kitchen, but working together with their own tasks still felt natural—Although how much of that were them and how much of it was work skill Jackson didn’t know. He wondered whether they’d get into a routine of it, with time, or they’d never talk again once all of this was over.

Jackson couldn’t help but slip into the usual false cockiness he did whenever coffee was brought up; while not much of a coffee snob in truth, working as a barista had lent itself to plenty of moments to tease both coworkers and friends on their drinks and his own, and maybe a joke would help ease her feelings. ”Oh, I’m the guy who pours water in espresso cause the flavours a lot richer than what you get with regular coffee.” he made sure to pitch his voice lower to make sure she knew he was joking as he continued ”Dark as my soul, kinda guy.” before offering her a crooked smile and a wink, certain she already knew him enough to know that he was very much not the broody type.

Curious about it, he picked up the creamer and skimmed the ingredients list before putting it back, and making his way towards where Kennedy sat, joining her on one of the other stools and grabbed first a toast, and then put some eggs on top of it, not bothering with butter for the first slice as he was too eager to take a bite. It was a near thing he almost forgot to blow on it before doing so, but even if he had burned himself it would have been worth it, the thought, as he chewed.

He watched her butter her toast, and ducked his head to try and read the label of the jam while she got some of that on her toast as well. Curious to know more about her, curious to know what was going on, and both itching to find out what the police knew and dreading what the knowledge would to to Kennedy.

When she offered him to come back, it was easy to think of what to say, even if he knew it might be overstepping, he wanted her to know he was there for her—he could always apologise if she said no. Not that that knowledge stopped the words from getting faster as he spoke. ”I could go home and grab necessities if you’d like me to stay a while? I don’t have work until tomorrow, or I could stay and help you clean too if you’d like, or get you something from a café and then come back, post-clean snacks.”