Fight Left In Me ✔

Chapter 4 - Truth

Jo wakes up early in the morning, feeling a bit dazed and looks down at her clothes from last night. Jake must have carried her to bed. She suddenly remembers telling him her darkest secrets. She feels lighter now that she has shared it with him, but doubts it will feel that way for him too. It might have made things harder on him. She rubs her eyes and sits up, before stretching her arms out. Better shower first and then try and make coffee before Jake gets up. 

As she walks out of her room, she smells coffee and what seems like eggs and bacon from downstairs. Well so much for beating Jake to it. She quickly showers and gets ready, putting on an off-shoulder shirt she got from Maria, in a nice blue shade with some tight jeans, sneakers and her hair in a braid.

She runs downstairs and finds Jake preparing stuff for breakfast in the cafe. Boiled and scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice, coffee and tea. He puts some of it on a tray and she notices a little glass vase with flowers next to it. Suddenly she feels like she is invading his privacy and stays frozen in the door opening. 

Jake senses her standing there and puts the food down, immediately turning around and spreading his arms wide. "Get over here. I need a hug from my favorite girl." 

Jo runs into his arms and snuggles up to him, without any hesitation. 

"How are you feeling today, hon?", he asks as he plants a kiss on top of her hair. 

Jo steps back a little and looks down at the floor. "I think I should ask you that. It was quite the story I told you yesterday. It can't have been easy to hear." 

Jake places a finger under her chin to lift her head, until her eyes meet his. "I am not going to lie to you. It was really hard to hear all of that, harder than you can ever imagine. But most of all I felt deeply touched that you trusted me enough to share those painful memories and that I finally know what was hiding behind those sad eyes. And it makes me love you even more. I am so damn proud of you girl. And I will protect you as if you were my real sister. You will always have me, no matter what. And I dealt with most of my emotions last night, after I carried you to bed."

Jo raises her eyebrows, wondering what he could have been doing last night. 

"Yeah, not telling you. But I might have told Dart how you got that scar." He softly rubs his thumb over it and sees the worry in Jo's eyes. "I didn't tell him anything else. But I was pretty worked up and he is not stupid. Anyway, I thought you deserved to know. He is a good guy though, he is not going to tell anyone else about it." 

Jo looks into his eyes and trusts him too much to make an issue out of it. It might even be easier if Dart knows something about it already. Saves her from a lot of hiding and pretending, as she tries to get to know him better. That is if she ever gets the chance. 

She is still standing there in thought, when Jake grabs the tray with breakfast and walks towards the door. He looks over his shoulder as he speaks. "Keep an eye on this place for me please. I am off delivering breakfast to Maria."

Jo watches him walk out with a smile, gets some music playing and opens the door to the cafe to let some fresh air in. She pours herself a cup of coffee and leans back behind the bar, humming along to the song. She welcomes the first few guests walking in and helps them with their breakfast wishes, chatting with them happily. 

Breakfast rush is over before she knows it and the people leave with full stomachs and smiles on their faces. Turning up the volume on the stereo, she sings and dances around, cleaning tables and carrying dirty dishes to the kitchen. She feels happy, relaxed and a whole lot lighter than she has felt in a long time.