Morningstar Quickies

But ... but ... but...

Another long day at the office. I don't wanna be here, especially not when my thoughts are...

"Hey, babe."

I'm melting in my chair right away. "Corporal Connor," I say a lot quieter than intended. There's a certain intensity to his voice that I'm not used to. He was always fun, and flirty, but this? This is different.

"How are you?" He's sitting on my desk, looking at me, distracting me.

"Question is how are you?" I get up and he actually draws me in, his hands on my hips. He seems tired, his eyes having lost a little of their shine.

"I'm waiting for you to make me better," he admits and I grit my teeth.

"Jesse," I start, but he interrupts me with a sad grin.

"I must've been a bad boy if you call me Jesse."

I roll my eyes and then reach out to wrap my arms around his neck, hugging him for a very long moment.

"I can't, Jazz. I don't have the time. My head's full and my hands already busy enough."

"Sammy," he pleads and I pull back.

"How bad?" is all I ask and he finally pushes me away, starting to pace my tiny office. I shake my head, being able to read him better than anyone. It had been hell.

"Bad. Very bad. So much has changed, and even if Tessa would be ready to see me again ... I can't. It's all down the drain."

I sure as hell don't want to hear that. Not at all. "You're killing me," I fuss and he turns back to me with haunted eyes.

"Not you..."

He leaves the words hanging between us and I grit my teeth. Yes, I do want to know what happened to him, but I can't. I don't have the time. And their story was supposed to be over.

"God, Jazz," I sigh and he spins around, knowing exactly that I'm about to crack.

"You should give us that chance, Sammy."

Oh wow, Tessa!

"Tessy! Hey! I can't believe..." My eyes fall on her and I'm choking on my words. She looks almost as bad as Jazz. What the hell happened to those two? Tessa stands by the door and throws a glance at Jesse, who's standing at the window. I swear, the sadness in that look is almost palpable. It's not the happy reunion I've expected. In fact, there's nothing that feels like a reunion at all, and it makes me even more curious.

"Uhm, guys?" I hate to interrupt them, but while so much needs to be said, they just stay quiet.

Jazz wakes from his stupor, shakes his head and comes around the desk to kiss my forehead. "I have to go, I can't be here," he states towards me and then leaves the room, careful to not brush up again Tessa, who's still in the doorframe.

This was more than weird. Tears fill Tessa's eyes and I offer her a chair.

"This wasn't ... isn't what I expected, and I have no idea what's going on," she whispers and I shrug. No one knows what's going on, but I have a feeling that none of us will have another quiet night until someone decides to sort this mess out.

"Tessa..."

"Don't turn me down. You've seen us back then, and you've seen that just a second ago. How can you still think about refusing us?"

"What if there is no longer an 'us' for you?" I ask and she wraps her arms around herself, keeping herself together.

"We won't ever know unless you stop being stubborn. People want to know. Jazz wants to know ... hell, he needs to know. Everyone does. Don't you want it for them? For yourself? I can you be so careless? So..." She shakes her head, her hazel eyes blazing.

"I'm not, Tessa. I have other people to deal with. And you ..." God, why is that so hard?

"I want you happy, Tessa. You deserve to be happy, but what if...?"

She gets up and walks to the door. With her hand on the knob she turns back to me.

"Guess we'll never find out," she mumbles sadly and then leaves, too.

I rub my fingertips across the bridge of my nose before rubbing my palms together. I don't have the time, I really don't, but ... but ... but...

My screen flickers as I open the blank page.