hold me really tight (until the stars look big) - I

'That's completely fine, though,' Mica says. She hums a song, steps out of the elevator and walks towards the R8.

Jael

"If I get the chance of going to my parents, would you want to come with me? I'm not sure how they'll react." She laughs nervously. "They might as well lock me up in my room if they happen to be home to catch me..."

Mica shrugs, not committing to anything. 'I guess we could try. Tate should come with, too, though. Or at least a third person.'

Jael

She nods, throwing the bags onto the back seat of the car. "He might not want me to go at all," she says. She smiles a bit. "Are you feeling alright, though? Or aren't you tired all the time yet?"

Mica smiles sadly and looks up at Jael guiltily. 'I'm just a little tired.'

Jael

"I would drive," she said, "but I don't have a driver's license." She grins. "Let's go."

Mica opens the car door and puts in the keys. 'Alright then.'

Jael

They're back at the house in less than one hour. Jael's getting tense again. She doesn't really want to go back to this whole thing with Tate and can't imagine what will happen if Mica leaves again. She hesitates getting out of the car, staring at the huge villa, chewing her lower lip.

Mica opens Jael's door and rolls her eyes. 'Seriously, get out of the car. Tate's not going to eat you.'

Jael

She grabs a bunch of the bags. 'Sorry,' she mutters and steps out of the car. The Jael from the shopping mall is gone again.

She walks into the house with her arms full of bags and rings the bell. Mica has a key, obviously, but her hands are full and really, Tate isn't ever doing anything that she could interrupt. At the very best, he's reading a book.
She shudders involuntarily when she thinks about having to tell him about the baby and the worried look on her face is still prominent when the door opens.
'What's wrong?' is the first thing Tate asks while stepping aside to let them in.

Jael

She notices the tensity that's back again and drops the bags in the kitchen to give Mica an encouraging squeeze in her shoulder. She smiles, an I'm-sure-you-can-handle-this-smile.

Mica drops the bags next to Jael's and smiles, sits down and points to Tate and then to the chair at the opposite side of the table. 'You, sit,' she says. Then, to Jael: 'You, sit, too.'

Jael

She sits down next to Tate, somehow a bit amused by the surprised look on Tate's face and the way Mica is bossing around.

'Okay,' she says, inhaling and exhaling deeply before repeating: 'Okay. Here we go.' Mica shakes her head, looks at Jael, then locks her eyes with Tate and says: 'Vince knocked me up.' Then, when Tate opens his mouth to say something: 'And I'm keeping them.'

Jael

She glances at Tate, but can't read the look on his face. She bites her lower lip.

'Them?' Tate sputters. 'Plural?'
Mica shrugs. 'Twins. The guy must have super sperm or something.' She acts like it's nothing, like she's not about to cry, but her eyes are watery and her lip shakes and she smiles, a small upcurl of the corners of her mouth.
The boy in front of her grins, widely, and takes her hand. 'You are growing two menaces who are going to tear down my house and my bank account, you know that, right?'
She nods, smiling, looking at Tate and at Jael, who has an unreadable expression on her face and two teeth sunken down in her lower lip, and laughs.

Jael

She can't help but laugh too, though it doesn't come naturally. 'She told me on our way to the mall…' she adds. 'I think it's amazing. I can't wait until they're born.'
As soon as she realizes what she said her cheeks fluster. She didn't plan on telling Tate she wants to stay yet.

Tate and Mica both look at her surprised (and Tate a bit confused), but don't say anything. Then, Mica looks down.
'I haven't told Vinnie yet, though? I don't really know what he's going to say, honestly. I'm telling him tonight.'
Tate rolls his eyes. 'He's going to be so excited, believe me.'

Jael

She smiles a little and stays silent, kicks out her shoes and gets up. 'I'm going to take those bags to my… to the guest room.' She wants to give them some time.

Mica looks up, smiles, nods. Tate stares at her in wonder, noticing the little slip, noticing the blush. He then looks at Mica, who asks: 'Do you really think he'll want them? You know what happened before...'
Tate rolls his eyes. 'It's been years. He might be ready now.'

Jael

She drops the bags on her bed and sits down with a deep sigh. She'll thank Tate tonight, for the clothes…
She empties the bags one by one, admiring the clothes and lingerie, admiring Mica's good taste (Mica decided on most of the clothes and adjusted to Jael's style perfectly).

Mica leaves, kisses Tate's cheek, trembling hands and tense shoulders all the way home. She sits in the driveway for a while.
Tate walks upstairs and knocks on Jael's door.

Jael

'Come in!' She's folding her new clothes to put them away in the closet. Even her voice is more lively than before she went with Mica.

Tate enters, smiles when he sees her liveliness. 'How was it? Did you get everything you need?'

Jael

She turns to him and gives him a shy smile. 'Yeah, pretty much everything important.' She sits down on the bed. 'Thank you. I want to pay you back, though… It's too much.'

Tate shakes his head. He sits down next to her, looks at the ceiling with an amused smirk curling his lips up. 'Really, don't do that.' He looks cocky, probably. He looks confident. He is. Tate knows the effect he has on people. When he walks in the room, people immediately think he's having more sex than anyone else in the room. He knows. He knows people want him. He knows how to use his body, his beauty to his own advantage.
Just—just not with her. He looks at her, a bit unsure, a bit weird, a bit too confident but too nervous. 'Consider it a part of my apologies.'

Jael

'Don't be stupid,' she bites. 'You don't have to apologize. I haven't forgiven you yet but it's fine. You weren't there when you killed Tina and you weren't--you aren't that person.' She smiles a bit. 'I'm paying you back.'

Tate looks at her incredulously. 'I kidnapped you,' he says. 'I put a dead body next to you in the backseat, robbed you of all your belongings and scarred you for life. You're okay with that? You're on your way to forgive me?'

Jael

'No, I'm not okay with that,' she says, a bit quieter now. 'But yes, I'm on my way to forgive you. What else is there for me? I don't want to go home.' Now she said it.

Tate raises his eyebrows. 'You don't want to go home?'

Jael

'No, I don't.' She takes a deep breath and stands, starts to put the last clothes in the closet to keep her hands busy. 'I hate home.' Her voice is unstable.

Tate frowns, confused. He keeps silent, doesn't know what to say.

Jael

She turns to him, back leaning against the wooden closet door. 'They're both really expensive dentists, my parents... and I guess it's not a lie to say they're really rich too.' She shrugs. 'They want me to become a doctor. I told them I didn't want that,  that I wanted to live my life instead of being choked in a doctor's office and having to examine sick people. Can you picture me doing that? Because I can't.' She gets angrier and angrier, her voice gets harder and sharper. 'I had a boyfriend up until three months ago. They made me break up with him because he would've been a bad influence. It was either that or they'd cut off everything I still had.' She's tearing up now. 'The night you kidnapped me I had a big fight with them and I threatened to run away. My dad… kind of hit me.' She looks away. 'I don't want to go home.'

Tate nearly growled. He stares at her, wordlessly, unable to process everything. Flashes of Macy come to his vision, things he tried to forget, things he still tries to forget. He sees the handprint on her left cheek and blinks, projects the same handprint on Jael's cheek, only bigger, her father's. He shakes his head. 'God dammit.'

Jael

She takes a deep breath and sits down next to him. 'I need to go home, though. To tell them I'm fine, to pick up my things. I--Honestly, I don't care if they think I'm dead but there are people out there giving away fucking flyers and if I don't tell them I'm okay they'll take away my dog and bring him to a shelter or they'll just--' Her voice breaks.

Tate nods, 'Mica told me. We're going to get your stuff and then you're staying here until...' He doesn't finish the sentence, trails off, doesn't even know how to finish it.

Jael

She wipes away her tears and nods a bit. 'Thank you,' she whispers, not sureher voice works again. 'You'll love him. The dog, I mean. If you're okay with him staying here, though…' She gives him a slight smile.

Tate nods. 'Yeah, sure.'

Jael

She heaved a quiet sigh. 'What do you want to eat? We can cook together if you want to.' She looked at him, a playful smile crossing her face.

Tate's eyes go wide. 'Um... I don't really care? I'm not--I'm terrible in the kitchen, though. There's a reason Mica banned me from there.'

Jael

She can't help but laugh. 'Come on, it can't be that bad. That first egg the first morning was okay.' She grins and gets up, grabs his hand. 'Come on, I'm going to make burritos. It's easy.'

Tate grins. 'Burritos? It sounds difficult. No: It sounds dangerous.'

Jael

'They are. Now come,' she says, trying to pull him to his feet, but he's heavy and of course strong and she fails. 'Come on!' She laughs again.

Tate gets up, rolls his eyes and grins. 'Your a menace. I hope you know me cooking will be you cooking while I sit in the kitchen and criticise everything you do.'

Jael

'Don't jump to conclusions,' she warns him while dragging him downstairs. She lets him go when they're in the kitchen. 'I'm going to make the mix for the pancakes first, so… Maybe you could cut the chicken.' She crosses her amrs, dark eyes fixed on his. 'The meat is in the fridge.'

Tate raises his eyebrows. 'How do you know what meat I have in my fridge?' he asks while looking for the chicken. 'Even I don't know what meat I have in my fridge.'

Jael

She snorts. 'I've been cooking for you for the last two days. Of course I know what meat you have in your fridge. I have to search for everything. Seeing things three times makes you remember.' She smiles. 'Just cut away the blood and the muscles and please try not to gag because that will make me throw up.'

Tate eyes the meat carefully, getting a knife and staring at the pink things as if they're going to run away. 'I absolutely abhor this. Literally. This is so gross. Jael, this is so gross. If I wanted to see this, I would've become a chef. You can still back out now, we can order a pizza. C'mon.'

Jael

She just stands there observing hem, ultimately enjoying what she sees. 'You're afraid of two pieces of chicken?' There's a laugh in her voice. 'Come on. It's just chicken. It's not like they'll eat you. Usually it's the other way around.'